Music industry veteran David M. Ross has been tapped to head HitShop Records’ marketing department. In his new position as VP Marketing, Ross will focus on strategies to better connect the label and its artists with media and industry gatekeepers. Among his duties will be the innovation of soon-to-debut branded content channel, Nekst.biz.
“The addition of David Ross to our executive staff is a giant leap forward for HitShop’s futuristic music model,” shares HitShop President, Skip Bishop. “David’s forward-thinking brilliance and his clear analytical understanding of the contemporary marketplace embody the vision and strategy that we are pursuing at HitShop. In order to fuel the continuing additions to our artistic and cutting-edge roster, we’ll require the music industry’s brightest minds. We certainly have achieved that by bringing David to our team.”
Ross founded MusicRow magazine which he sold in 2008 and wrote his first book, Secrets Of The List, published in 2012.
Ross says, “I’ve watched and respected Skip Bishop’s tremendous accomplishments for many years. When he suggested this HitShop role and I realized it would utilize many of the skills I’ve refined and used throughout my career, it was an easy choice. Plus I’ve always had a secret passion to work at a record label. Even in the short time I’ve been with this talented group of committed professionals, it’s already feeling like a home run.”
The 411 with David Ross:
Will you elaborate on HitShop’s new content channel, Nekst.biz?
The new channel is essentially a branded content concept similar to what is already being done by corporations like Expedia, Facebook, Coca-Cola, Toshiba, Red Bull and many more. It’s an innovative way to engage the community and to my knowledge no one has tried it in country music. Our hope is to fill a niche and not duplicate or get in the way of any of the excellent trade publications, like MusicRow, Billboard, Aircheck and All Access that are serving the community with breaking news and daily updates.
What are you most excited about at HitShop?
HitShop is a great entrepreneurial challenge. Building a new label using cutting edge tactics and innovative new media music discovery strategies—the Hitshop vision—is a perfect fit for me. For example, we just released an EP from Weston Burt and it debuted at No. 18 on the iTunes chart. That’s pretty incredible considering Weston has yet to gain traction at country radio. A lot of digital dials got turned in that process. Tim Gerst who heads the digital department is deranged, but simply brilliant. And of course we still acknowledge the power and importance of radio airplay.
Describe some of the other areas of marketing that you will be involved in.
I’m also really excited about the chance to help build the roster with Skip Bishop from the ground up. We just signed Natalie Stovall and The Drive and I promise you they are incredible. Paul Worley is producing them, which says a lot. And we have a bunch of cool announcements lining up over the next few weeks that we can’t wait to tell everyone about. I share Skip’s vision that the best way to insure a label does well in the commerce department is to present cutting edge, artistic music and that’s our mission.
Ross can be reached at [email protected]