May 19th, 2011 
If there’s anything I’ve learned from E! True Hollywood Story, it’s that living like a rockstar means (A) you get free stuff all the time, and (B) there’s never a dull moment. With the universal slogan of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll and an endless supply of gift baskets, how could “boredom” be in any musician’s vocabulary? Quite easily, apparently. According to Christina Martin, life on the road is not just an incessant barrage of questionable substances, underage groupies, and complimentary merchandise. In fact, she has staked her career on it, founding a niche company called Backstage Artist Lounge (BAL) that has helped eliminate the ennui associated with living on a tour bus while also redefining marketing and branding in the music industry for nearly six years.
Christina Martin. Photo courtesy of Clinton Wallace
The path leading to BAL’s creation was certainly not a traditional one. A graduate of Colorado University, Martin gave up a cushy, fast track career in finance at STW Fixed Income Management, LLC to pursue marketing and PR in Hollywood, and considering the industry is so hard to break into, she was forced to do a lot of self-promotion. “I just started showing up places in Hollywood—every red carpet, awards show, film festival, fashion week,” she says. “I went to everything where it was ‘the place to be,’ offering help to people who needed product placement or marketing strategies and to celebrities who needed PR counseling. And I got better with every client.”
In 2006, Martin landed a project in the music industry through radio station KROQ, co-hosting a private event for the bands Wolfmother, Foo Fighters, and Fallout Boy. That function showed her that her passions and strengths were more suited to the music business, inspiring her to focus less on a career with the Hollywood elite and concentrate instead on one in music; Martin’s acute understanding of the PR world helped illuminate the glaring disconnect between the advertising and music industries, helping her to realize a need that had to be met. To Martin, the idea of a company that seamlessly integrated music and marketing seemed like the only logical step, and as such, BAL was born. Not only would the company play to her business savvy, it would also allow her to prioritize the clientele she cared for most. “I think the need for BAL was clear in the changes within both the music industry and the advertising industry,” she says. “In music, as labels struggled and album sales disappeared, the industry was looking for solutions. In advertising, traditional methods were out thanks to the nature of new media, so brand integration was king. BAL is a harbinger of brand integration and experiential marketing solutions for advertisers who need to engage customers.”
Christina with Puddle of Mudd. Photo courtesy of www.backstageartistlounge.com
Martin’s goal was to travel with bands and set up a backstage wonderland of products and services that both promoted their music and supported their sponsors The company landed its first tour date in 2007 at St. Louis’ Pointfest, the largest one-day rock festival in the country. At the time, Martin and her team produced a backstage environment that is merely a shadow of the work she does today—no décor, no ambiance—just a few products on tables from a dozen or so sponsors. Regardless, the work she did got the attention of Interscope Records, which subsequently began to refer BAL to other artists. “We started with one tour date in 2007, then the following year we had eight or so,” she says. “In 2009, I got rid of all my other clients and worked solely on creating a model for music festivals and tours, and we ended up with fifteen or seventeen tours that year. In 2010, we had thirty-six dates, and this year, we have over forty.” And the atmosphere has changed quite a bit as well: it’s not uncommon to find musicians fiddling with wireless mics, amps, or guitars, taking belly dancing classes, visiting a hair, makeup, or tattoo artist, riding motorcycles, or braving a rock climbing wall, all courtesy of BAL’s 130-plus sponsors. “It’s like Rolling Stone come to life,” Martin says.
It’s obvious that the music industry is responding positively to Martin’s idea of a rockstar’s paradise, and her various sponsors are thankful as well. “Nowadays, we have about 30 sponsors per tour date, and they have hundreds of deals in place with hundreds of bands,” she says. “Either they’re backstage in person or they ship their stuff out to us. Our sponsors are our promotional vehicle, and we help grow the business of the companies that support us.” For the most part, BAL and their current sponsors cater to rock bands like Korn, Hollywood Undead, Papa Roach, and Sevendust, but they are hoping to expand their client base and break into different musical genres. “We had to pass on Lil’ Wayne’s show in New York this year, but we got to do Kid Rock’s tour, Eminem’s tour, and Big Boi’s tour last year. We’re also in the process of negotiating our first country music tour,” she says.
Photo courtesy of Backstage Artist Lounge.
While BAL certainly makes the life of a rockstar that much easier, what’s really spectacular about the company is its heart for charity work. The company works closely with the Make-A-Wish foundation as well as Amnesty International to provide auction items and guest appearances. “Make-A-Wish came to our headquarters last year and we went though all of the requests relating to music,” she says. “We looked for wishes that dealt with artists BAL is close with and made them happen. If you can do something really great for someone, why wouldn’t you do it?” In its six years, BAL has partnered with its sponsors and bands to donate signed guitars, snowboards, and skateboards among other things to various charities for auctions. “We have charities designated by bands or sponsors at almost every event of ours,” Martin says.
At the end of the day, BAL is rooted in its love for music and its flair for marketing. More than that, though, it is run by people who love what they do and believe in their ability to affect others. “Our whole point of being on tour is to support the band, promote, their music, turn new people onto it, and do positive things for society,” Martin says. “ The message we try to communicate to kids and fans is always that you can do anything you want. Just go for it; that’s the approach you should have in life.” For Martin and the other members of what she calls the BAL mafia, they live and breathe the company’s slogan: On Tour Forever. To them, life is one big tour, and they’re in it for the long haul.
[...] product exposure companies like the Men Pen can’t get anywhere else. Under the direction of PR expert Christina Martin, Backstage Artist Lounge tours with some of the biggest (and most up-and-coming) rock concerts in [...]
Christina Martin is my idol!!!