Internet Entrepreneur Connects Bands with Fans

By Jen Thomas - March 13, 2008
iBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD - Independent musicians looking to jump-start their careers but don't know the what, where or how now have a one-stop resource for everything a startup artist needs.

Over the last several years, Worthington businessman David Pollard has been working to create a mini-empire of online music sites that will transform the way artists market themselves and deliver their music to fans.

"About a year ago, I started tinkering around in the music industry and I realized, like many other people, that it was really changing. With the advent of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, the music industry, whether it wants to or not, is moving in a new direction," said Pollard.

With a goal of bringing simplicity and accessibility to the indie musicians of the world, Pollard first bought MuzikReviews.com, a company that specializes in artist promotion and public relations, from Adams' Keith Hannaleck last year. And last month, Pollard launched MyBandsMusic.com, a social networking site for musicians that allows artists and fans to download music, create profiles and provide feedback.

"We're trying to create a community of musicians and music lovers," said Pollard, adding that 250 musicians have already signed onto My Bands Music. "Our sites have everything a band needs to manage their own marketing and fan base and we provide it in one place for them."

Pollard has also created Missing Beat Music, dedicated to gaining exposure for indie artists and signed his first artist, La Fleur Fatale, a Swedish psychedelic rock 'n' roll band with a unique sound. The group of companies sets up musicians with everything from music reviews and downloads for fans to fully-functional Web sites (like www.swedishinvasion.com for La Fleur Fatale)and representation to tour agents and record labels.

"We offer services ranging from least-touch, pure dot-com marketing services to high-touch management. We tried to replicate all the functionality that is available on the Internet and put it on tightly-focused Web sites concentrating on music," said Pollard. "We're basically doing what record labels used to do for them but don't do anymore."

Pollard's flagship business, global recruiting firm TalentFusion, is based in the city and serves clients such as Wells Fargo, Disney Publishing Worldwide and Unisys. He and his wife relocated from Boston back to the western part of the state, where they were both born and raised, full time in 2000 and began to create their self-funded music venture.

(Hannaleck, who provides music reviews to iBerkshires through MuzikReviews, also works for TalentFusion.)

"We're bootstrapping this thing," he said.

And Pollard isn't measuring success in dollars.

"Our vision is to help bands come through our process and see success. We're not looking for these sites to generate what we need to make a living. We just want to help artists get through the confusion, the mess. We'll know we're successful when one of our artists makes it," he said.

"I told Keith [Hannaleck] that within three or four years, either he or this company has to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Anything less than that is unacceptable," he said