Introducing Our Business Experts: Loft Music

Client: Claire Tustin

Problem:

Claire is an experienced musician and theatrical performer who has spent a large part of her career developing creative content for established external companies such as Sage Gateshead and Music for Hospitals and Care. She was very keen to develop her own original music identity and release music and creative content under her own brand name. Claire had all the creative skills to do this but needed some assistance to realise it as a creative business in its own right.

Solution:

After our initial meeting it was clear that Claire’s main target audiences were young children and their parents and grandparents, so we set out to create a brand and identity that would reach out to and resonate well with that chosen market. This involved a variety of work together including branding and image development, release management, on and off-line activities including essential social media promotion, royalties and neighbouring rights, e-commerce, and video platform management.

Results:

This resulted in a series of music releases under her own name Claire Tustin on Spotify, iTunes and all the major digital platforms, as well as a physical CD that was distributed regionally and is available on Bandcamp. To compliment this, a standout Youtube channel was created under the brand name Lullaboogaloo which incorporates the music with informative videos about nature, aimed at this same core demographic. This brand development work has been also highlighted by a strong and consistent social media presence.

Andrew concluded’ “I can only expect Claire’s brand to go from strength to strength. She has made a brilliant start to her stand-alone creative identity/business and has been a great person to work with over the 12 hours.”

Claire Tustin commented on the Generator business coaching experience:

“I approached Generator in August 2018 after hearing from a friend (Dan Brady from King Bee) that I might be able to get some business coaching from Andrew Archer. I had 12 hours of Andrew’s time and cannot stress enough how helpful, and transformational I have found it to be. I came to him with an inkling of an idea and some mediocre recordings of songs that I’d written for children. I had little or no knowledge about how to begin to market them, or myself. Andrew was very encouraging, realistic and honest, offering lots of practical advice, and together we concocted a plan to create a business; me, as a solo song writer and performer.

Since then, with a lot of his help, I have recorded an album of children’s songs, co-created art work for it and am about to order 500 of them to sell, at my workshops, at performances and in a shop in Whitley Bay. I have created a social media presence “Lullaboogaloo” on

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, learned how to edit video, and have recorded and shared 5 YouTube music videos. I have learned how to upload songs via Emu Bands onto streaming platforms and create smart URLs to market them. My next chapter will be trying to use these platforms to develop more of a following so I can actually make some money out of it, but I’m really pleased with what I have achieved in seven months, whilst working and being a mum to my kids. None of this would have been possible without the guidance, signposting and support from Andrew via Generator, and I am really, really grateful for the help I have received so far. THANK YOU.”