Paper Garden Launches Lovely Hearts Club Blog & Blast

October 5th, 2010 by Trenton

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Clinton Hill, Brooklyn: Paper Garden Records, the Brooklyn indie label + publicity company we profiled in July, has created a new promotional vehicle for independent artists with its “Lovely Hearts Club” blog and new music blast.

The Lovely Hearts Club: Paper Garden Records' new blog + music blast

Designed to introduce emerging bands to the press and industry professionals including music supervisors, booking agents, managers, record labels, promoters, venues, fans and lifestyle outlets, the Lovely Hearts Club acts as a one-off promotional campaign for artists and a new industry tastemaker.

“This idea was spawned when we were in Montreal and Toronto, immersing ourselves in these different cities and starting to work with more international bands,” says Paper Garden founder Bryan Vaughan.

“We’re discovering bands in different ways in our travels — going out to shows, meeting people and finding out what people are excited about in these other markets. We wanted to spread the word about the undiscovered and emerging bands that we love, while finding a way to work with these bands on an affordable, industry-wide promotional campaign.”

Operated separately from Paper Garden Records and Publicity, the Lovely Hearts Club presents two artists each week in e-blasts featuring an MP3 and/or video, some information about the artist and their upcoming tour dates. A blog post about the band lives and gets cataloged (LHC #1, 2, 3) at http://www.thelovelyheartsclub.com.

LHC #1: Toronto's Freedom or Death

Introduced last week, the Lovely Hearts Club’s first artists were Toronto-based folktronica duo Freedom or Death followed by Omaha orchestral-folk band Midwest Dilemma.

“The first two artists will compliment each other really well,” notes Vaughan. “We have a bunch lined up for our first two months, and overall, we’re going to be working with a diverse roster — we have a couple electronic acts, some indie rock, some hip-hop and singer/songwriters.”

Lovely Hearts Club crosses the concepts of the modern music blog with the old-school record label’s “singles club” model, says Vaughan. “Record labels used to put out 7” singles as a kind of test run and if that did well, they’d get to work on a full album,” he notes. “Here, obviously it’s all digital, but we’ll be able to track activity and report feedback to the band from the promotion, and then it will all be cataloged on the website and be a part of a growing roster and community there.”

Additionally, Paper Garden will serve as the liaison between the artist and inquiring minds, i.e. a music supervisor who’s interested in a song sent his way via Lovely Hearts Club.

“Initially, this feedback will go through us, and then we’ll either connect the two parties directly or continue to act as the go-between – that will be decided on a case by case basis,” says Vaughan. “But we can help the band by working in that capacity, representing them for a licensing opportunity, for instance, if that’s needed.”

In this way, Vaughan grows his business as far as the number of bands his team is working with on some level, and raises the profile of his label and publicity company as far as their influence and scope.

Named for The Beatles’ Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Lovely Hearts Club parallels many ideas from this legendary piece of music history, says Vaughan. “For The Beatles, it was further experimentation into their sound, a point of incorporating elements of all types of genres into what became a loose concept album based on a fictitious band.

“For Paper Garden, it is an experiment in an ever-changing music industry and an exploration into our diverse taste in music, creating a destination for those with open eyes and ears.”

For more information and to sign up for the Lovely Hearts Club transmissions, visit http://www.thelovelyheartsclub.com.