Creative Works Records – About
It is not a mystery why the Recording Business and the Music Industry as awhole has been suffering tremendously – we have moved away from the old model of the business where marketing and sales have been done traditionally. Creative Works originated from the very nucleus of this issue, from two minds who not only have backgrounds from one of the most important Music Schools in the Country but also have been working in all aspects of the industry in one way or another. Through their experience, they and have been observing the faults and positives while focusing on the changes where the strengths would show – digital music sales and new models for online marketing.
Co-Founders Julie Shama and Thomas Hillard are not strangers to the business nor to the concept that ancillary income and opportunities outside of traditional recorded music is where the considerable amount of income for artists come from in today’s time. A Berklee College of Music Graduate and a full-time activist of artist development, Julie Shama has fashioned up quite a name for herself operating truly underground.
With many discussions on the changing music industry and while Julie has been successfully managing deals for her clients through TV and film licensing, Julie and Tom agreed artists could make more and market themselves for much less online, thus in turn make higher returns on their recordings for digital record sales. The two of them reconnected while both living in Los Angeles and decided it was time to develop a new independent “record” company.
And thus began Creative Works Records in 2008. Creative Works is a movement toward the new, innovative way of doing business. It’s unique structure and dedication to grass roots artist development paves the road for the Label to thrive in the new music model by driving artists to a creative environment they can succeed in. Their goal is create career artists, not just novelty acts that some of the other labels are signing these days.
By not depending on recorded material to garner sales for their artists/writers and bring them to success, Creative Works is mainly a digital label, which also utilizes Burnside’s distribution services for necessary physical releases. They seek out and provide opportunities that have consistently driven independent artists to success, such as Motion Picture/Television Placement, Web and Blog attacking, Myspace developing, Public Relations, promotions, sponsorship, tour sponsorship, and lastly management, which has been Julie’s area of focus for the past few years.