Red Brick Songs may be a newish player among Canada’s indie music publishers, but the company is stacked with administrative and A&R talent and is well positioned to compete in the international market.
Red Brick is an offshoot of Casablanca Media Publishing; the custom imprint was formed in 2011 following the death of Casablanca co-founder Ed Glinert. “Red Brick has a different strategic focus,” explains company President Jennifer Mitchell, “and more actively signs songwriters directly to worldwide deals than was the case with Casablanca.”
In five short years, Red Brick has built up an impressive roster of emerging talents, including artists PS I Love You, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Andy Shauf, Cuff The Duke, Library Voices and You Say Party, among others.
“We love working with songwriters that are willing to take risks and to work out of their comfort zone for the right opportunities.” – Jennifer Mitchell of Red Brick Songs
“We sign songwriters based on a combination of talent, ambition, and attitude,” explains Mitchell. “First and foremost they need to be talented, but they also need to be motivated to continue to grow as a songwriter and to push their creative boundaries. We love working with songwriters that are willing to take risks and to work out of their comfort zone for the right opportunities. Our A&R team consists of Jana Cleland (Vice President), Amy Eligh (Creative Director), and Chris Robinson (Creative Manager), each of whom brings a different perspective to our discussions.
“We’ve made it our goal to help songwriters achieve new levels of success through multi-media song placement, royalty administration and career/creative development,” continues Mitchell. “From landing national and international placements, to creating opportunities for songwriters to collaborate, to promoting songs to the world, our dedicated staff are here to support our songwriters through mentorship, networking and promotion. We help songwriters fully realize their potential and connect them to the industry in a way that ensures their future growth and creative integrity”
And how is the strategy paying off? “We worked closely with Joshua Robinson, a young songwriter/artist from the U.S., to market his independently released singles, including in-house promotion to blogs,” says Mitchell. “This resulted in a No. 1 on the Hype Machine charts. Not long after, he had offers from all the major labels and large indies, and ultimately signed to Republic Records in the U.S.
“We also worked with another songwriter, Jeen O’Brien, to help her break into another market. We thought she had the talent to write outside of her usual style and take on the lucrative Japanese market. We found the right partner in Japan and gave some key input into her writing style that allowed her to write a single that’s been cut by a new Japanese girl band being released on Avex.”
And while it’s a long way from Toronto to Tokyo, Mitchell says the Red Brick team believes “our relationships with other publishers, labels, music supervisors, and other creative partners around the world are the key to our success, and allow us to foster meaningful connections between songwriters within the global creative community.”