 "Photo: Emily Kinsolving, Daily Texan Staff")
The offices of the newly formed Transmission Entertainment look less like offices than they do a communal gathering place, a location for music lovers to get together and talk about the newest buzz bands. Essentially, that’s what they are. There are no charts on the wall analyzing the biggest selling bands, determining which will make the most money. It’s all about what bands the company likes — the bands that they think people need to see.
“We aren’t just flushing random shows through random venues,” said Spencer Sharp, who handles legal counsel, artist management and various other aspects for the company. “Every show we do is something that people want to see presented in a way that’s relevant. The whole idea behind the company is quality instead of quantity.”
Transmission Entertainment was formed in July of last year by Club de Ville owner Michael Terrazas, former Emo’s talent buyer Graham Williams and Mohawk owner James Moody. The group books exclusively at Terrazas’ and Moody’s clubs, as well as at Lamberts and Red 7.
“Some companies feel like they have to hook people,” Sharp said. “With us, we still have to sell what we do, but it’s like if a friend comes up and tells you to check out a band because you trust their musical taste. We’re selling to people we know and like to hang out with.”
This “friends” strategy is evident in the company’s Web site, which shies away from the more corporate look of other booking companies sites, like C3, and opts instead for a younger feel, functioning much like a blog. The site includes a calendar of upcoming events but also daily posts about up-and-coming artists, interviews with more established acts and live recording sessions. Any person that wants to contribute to the site is allowed to, making it a must-go-to place for all things music related.
“We feel like the majority of our customers are people who are web savvy, and most of the information they get about music in general comes from the web,” Sharp said. “It made perfect sense to have a site where everything we do is offered on that site.”
The belief in their customers’ web proficiency lends itself naturally to a focus on the younger crowd and students, evidenced by the group’s street team, which Sharp said usually consists of between 20 and 30 members.
“It’s a lot of guerrilla marketing,” said Reagan Ward, street team coordinator and advertising junior. “I keep up with all the Transmission shows and make sure that each street team member knows about them and has adequate materials to promote those shows.”
Just over a year into normal operations, the company is already branching out into artist management, signing the hugely popular Austin act White Denim. The band will be releasing their next album exclusively through the Transmission Web site in mid-October before the release of the physical CD, scheduled to come out shortly thereafter.
“It’s not so much a label aspect. We’re not looking to sign a ton of bands and turn a huge profit,” Sharp said. “With that said, we feel it’s important for a local company to support a local band that we think is going places, and White Denim is a band we all love.”
As of now, Transmission is preparing for the annual Fun Fun Fest, a two-day festival that provides an alternative to the Austin City Limits event thanks to the inclusion of many lesser known bands. The company is making a huge push to ward students, offering discounted tickets to the festival for UT students.
“I haven’t seen a company speak directly to students, not in New York, not in L.A., not anywhere,” Sharp said. “These discounted tickets are just the beginning. Eventually we’re going to start doing events catered toward UT and doing shows in the area.”
It’s safe to say that the company has big plans, and local booker Rosa Madriz claims it’s only a matter of time before Transmission Entertainment goes national.
“We want to showcase Austin outside of here,” Madriz said. “What we’re doing here and the bands that are playing here, people outside of Texas should know about.”
Sharp elaborates on this goal and said that the company isn’t looking to be the only one that books music in Austin but simply the best.
“If you think of something music-wise happening in Austin, we want that to be us,” Sharp said. “The focus on quality and relevance doesn’t seem to be there with anyone else’s stuff, but it’s there with ours.”
