Matt's Career Capsule
I made the natural transition into the music industry following my first three years out of college teaching high school English and journalism in Franklin, TN. Sort of miraculously, I was hired into Provident Label Group’s Promotions Department in 2007 with incredibly few qualifications. I began independent promotions at the end of 2009.

 

1. Tell us about what's new with you, your latest adventures, happenings at Matt Ingle Promotions?

Secretly? Every year, I wonder if I’m approaching the end of my time as an independent promoter. That, maybe I’ve worn out my welcome and/or don’t have an adequate enough passion in me to sustain this kind of fervent work behavior. Maybe I’ll get bored. Or boring. Yet every year truly improves on the year before, for me. That trend continues in 2015, with promotion campaigns on big songs from Building 429, Lecrae, Danny Gokey, Mat Kearney, Plumb & Lincoln Brewster, as well as seeing Radio embrace new artists I’m very fond of, like Finding Favour, Kyle Sherman Newport, and Consumed By Fire. I have lots of great promo trips planned for this summer (definitely adventures) and, always, great conversations with programmers--at least a dozen of them turn into hour-long, two-sided therapy sessions. Even when I start the call asserting, “OK, I have to make this call…relatively...short.” Sharing and listening to stories is my weakness. Fortunately, storytelling is what this job’s really all about. ...And being concise. I’m still working on that...

2. Since you have a such a busy schedule, how do you best manage your responsibilities and priorities?

As a father, my biggest priority by far is being available to my kids, Alex (8) and Evelyn (5). My time with them is invaluable, so I do short promotional trips, opposed to being out all week. And the biggest thing? I do my best to stay off of most social media. I keep Facebook or Twitter off of my phone and check Instagram only a couple of times daily. I enjoy staying connected with people and the marketing opportunities social media provides, but I don’t love the loss of time and usually never think “Wow, I’m so glad I did that” after this kind of socializing/stalking. So, taking out that distraction helps me get a lot accomplished—like writing massive answers to these questions.

3. Complete this sentence: The best way to get a new artist recognized is to____________?

Genuinely and actively engage with people. Some might say, “Write hit songs,” but there have been tons of amazing songs never see a chart because gatekeepers don’t know enough about the artist who recorded it. When a new artist can build deep, meaningful, beyond-transactional relationships with people through sharing stories AND create compelling art—in light of their stories—there’s a much greater potential to stand out amongst the masses.

4. Generally speaking how do you see the state of Christian radio?

From my perspective, it feels like it’s in a better place than it’s ever been from a listener/consumer-reaction and retention standpoint. And that answer is about as general as it gets, right there.

5. Regarding record sales how has it changed ....please explain?

I started label life at the time singles-centric iTunes/digital retail was becoming more ubiquitous, so I’ll never know what it was like to work in the music industry when people were regularly paying $18 for a CD that featured one hit song. I’m far from an expert at this stuff, but as streaming continues its inevitable takeover of how people consume music, it’s clear that record sales (physical & digital) will continue to decline. So, now, consumers can spend $10/month to stream nearly all of the music in the world on Spotify instead of nearly twice that cost for one (1) studio album. I’m still grateful that streaming has helped alleviate music piracy, where no one was making ANY money.

6. What promotions with radio have you been involved with personally that are most memorable?

There have been tons, but the first that comes to mind is when the now-defunct Provident band Nevertheless released “Sleeping In” and we had this great idea of camping outside of CHR/Rock radio stations and greeting the morning shows with breakfast from our tent. I think everyone in the band threw up during that week because of the weird hours and overconsumption of Shake ’n’ Pour Bisquick. More recently, it was the months (and months)-long pursuit of getting Danny Gokey’s “Hope In Front of Me” to #1 at AC. Chris Hauser and I would wake up and call each other at 5 a.m. to watch the charts and strategize how we could make sure it happened. We were probably just insanely slap-happy, but I’ll never forget how much we laughed on the phone on the Monday morning we realized we sealed the deal (with YOUR help!). The latest Building 429 “Impossible" add campaign with PLG, Hauser, Katie Green and me was a blast, too. We had a huge goal and worked incredibly hard to make it happen. Being that this was his first major task after taking over as VP of Promotions at the label, it was particularly meaningful and an honor to work alongside my close friend Andrew Patton during that promotion. 

7. Do you feel the record/radio relationship is still as important as it has been in the past...........explain how its same/different?

It’s hard to imagine the record industry and radio not co-existing and growing together and still finding success. Especially in our format, where the songs are created to serve as an eternal hope and comfort to people tuning into Christian radio, searching for just that. Artists need Radio to broadcast that message to the masses and Radio needs artists to equip them with creative/meaningful songs to serve their audience excellently.

8. There are still some big markets without a CCM station, why do you think that is?

Going by my experience in this realm, I’ll offer this professional thought: I can’t even pretend to know, other than I’m sure it’s crazy expensive. 

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