Former Blog of Eric S. Townsend » music industry

New Logo Design, ID and Bio — Kontinental

etownsend — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:01:48 +0000

completed an identity refresh this morning for kontinental, an entertainment venture with ties in africa, europe and north america. i created the original logo in 2007, with three key changes enabled this past week. drop the word “entertainment” from the entity name. revise the color palette to a cool gray and two shades of gold. introduce new iconography — a winged hero and a cheetah.

click on to read the biography i crafted for kontinental’s founder, nana opoku.

MEET NANA OPOKU

Funny how a life and love of entertainment can spring from such unusual circumstances.

At the age of 10, I dressed in my mother’s clothes, shoes, dress, and earrings. I know what you’re thinking — but hang with me for a bit longer here. My mother was admitted to the hospital and was not responding to the care being administered by its staff. Doctors were worried that she might never recover. My grandfather encouraged me to try and lift my mother’s spirits. That’s when the cross-dressing idea came to me. When my mother saw me in costume, tears rolled down her cheeks. She could see herself clearly in her son. Tears turned to smiles, and smiles turned to laughter. Filling her heart with joy began to cure where medical attention could not.

From this day onward, I set out to entertain the world. I had found my calling and nothing was going to stand in my way.

Throughout my childhood and teen years in Ghana (Africa), entertainment played an essential role in my life. I wanted to learn all about the craft in its many forms — and I wanted to study, live and learn through the lens of its gifts. Artform became lifeline. There were parties, concerts and more. I began to taste make and DJ along the way. I was always looking to entertain my friends and family. Traveling to England on holidays exposed me to the music scene in particular. Days spent at The Garage, the farms in North London and nightclubs in Brixton all made me appreciate entertainment still further.

As a high school freshman, I signed my first music deal with Magic and King T, a local rap group. I recorded a few tracks songs with them and even got some airplay on the radio. I completed a few other records with local groups, and I even got the chance to be featured on some tracks. Throughout high school, I was prominent in the entertainment scene. I was DJ, MC, artist, videographer, manager — whatever would make time in a boarding school less horrible than it was. One of my most proud accomplishments was getting the school to update their entertainment system with new speakers, CD players and a mixer. It was not easy to get the principal to invest in these things. I took persistence. NOTT was a group that I founded on campus that earned me the nickname Phubu da Dinosaur. These formative years were a great experience that laid an even stronger foundation for things to come.

After high school, I moved to the United States. I wasted no time in advancing my studies. I read business journals. I followed the U.S. entertainment industry closely, observing its mechanics and trend setting. On February 22, 2006, I founded Kontinental Entertainment and signed my first act to a one album deal. “Primary Hearing” by Jamal Langley (a.k.a. Mally Mall) was an immediate success and is regarded as one of the strongest hip hop albums to come out on the Northern Virginia area in recent years. We sold over 5,000 copies independently in the first three months.

Through the process of the mastering the record, I met Eric “9Davine” Townsend of SplashKit at one of his collaborator’s establishments, Cue Recording. An excellent musician and astute businessman, Townsend was formulating an independent music festival and looking for a partner in the venture. We quickly hit it off. Together, we created H3Festival in ear;y 2007 and staged it successfully at the top music venue under 250 seats in the United States (as rated by Paste Magazine) — Jammin’ Java (Vienna VA-USA). The festival was a unique blend of live entertainment that introduced the region’s top songwriting, poetry and comedy talent. Through this experience, we helped audiences to discover Dustin Conley (Buster Brown Band) and Edith Sodolo (a.k.a. Deja Belle). I co-produced Conley’s debut, 1.21 Jiggywatts Live! We introduced Sodolo to local guitar virtuoso Vinnie Parrish and helped the duet claim the grand prize in 2008’s Capital Star talent competition.

Kontinental is committed to growth into a top-notch entertainment company, bringing joy to hearts all over the world. Our broad view and embrace of diversely different styles of entertainment are what make us special. The coming years will be eventful for the company, as we expand our influence to new marketplaces.

Kontinental —OUR WORLD!

Search Engine Minimization

etownsend — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:31:20 +0000

my phone is blowing up with folks wanting more visitors at their websites. there are a few things to consider as the catch-all “seo” leaves your tongue. 1) everyone wants more online visitors, which makes the marketplace very competitive, which means it’s not silver bullet marketing; 2) the best in seo simply gets you “on the grid” — which means people will find you somewhere along the results returned by google but not in the top 5 positions where over 75% of traffic gravitates; 3) seo can only succeed where real research in engaged — meaning that it takes a smart, intuitive marketer to navigate google data, to separate the real opportunities from millions of searches and to leverage that knowledge for results at your website; 4) seo means search engine optimization, which is misleading — it should be “search engine minimization” since it’s the least you can do for your website to get into the game (too many think it’s ALL they need to do); 5) the real difference is made with search engine marketing (sem) where you commit a budget to an ongoing campaign of measures that raise your optimized website in the rankings. a pro can prioritize which measures bring the greatest return in the near-term.

Authority Marketing

etownsend — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:42:50 +0000

i’m not talking about promoting your local police organization here. authority marketing is walking the walk. marketing without authority is blowing hot air. so, how do you achieve authority? research. writing. publishing. relevance. credibility. consistency. 1) research — don’t jump to conclusions on efforts…circle the subject, learn something new every day, then proceed; 2) writing — putting words to paper helps to form, anchor and mature thoughts; 3) publishing — blogging, article marketing and more put your authority to the test by interacting with audiences and forcing you to defend your ideas and knowledge; 4) relevance — much like the factors that google uses to rank websites, make sure what you’re saying and doing has momentum, is in the news, has significant interest, etc; 5) credibility — search for consensus (especially pros who also speak on your subject matter) and pursue third party endorsements (testimonials, panel invites, etc); 6) consistency — stay on subject(s) for a prolonged period of time (establish longevity, focus, commitment, passion, etc), though it’s not necessary to hold the same perspective(s) and opinions (showing a progression in thought is positive in that it communicates consideration, balance, flexibility, humility, maturity, etc).

Townsend Backs Pepsi Refresh Project Entrant

etownsend — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:51:33 +0000

i joined forces today with jeff campbell of local non-profit hungry for music in his quest to finish in first or second place overall in voting for the pepsi refresh project. currently, they are ranked #1 in their category but #12 overall. at stake is a $250,000 grant that would allow his organization to place 10,000 musical instruments in the hands of 10,000 under-privileged kids. being an accomplished independent musician (9davine) and partner in a recording industry business (splashkit), this was a no brainer for me. jeff and i are brainstorming internet marketing strategies that could make the difference in the near-term. voting ends on february 28th.

Indie.Arie at Cue Recording (SplashKit Partner)

etownsend — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:58:40 +0000

check the following videos from studio a at cue recording (falls church va). in intimate footage, indie.arie performs and talks about her grammy nominations. created for the 52nd annual grammy award awards and the national geographic/music voyager series. jeff jeffrey, cue’s owner, and i have been experts in splashkit since its founding in 2005.

Photographs From “Meet The Doggetts”

etownsend — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:50:48 +0000

my promotion and co-production of “meet the doggetts” this past wednesday at jammin’ java was a sold out concert. jammin’ java is one of the top 40 music venues in the United States. the acts put in remarkable performances and the vibe was amazing. you simply don’t see families with this much talent. to see it all come together with the father, mother, three sons and one daughter on one stage to close the night was unforgettable. i can only think of the jacksons in the same light as this show, and that’s exactly the house music when the lights went up. big shout out to daniel and jonathan at jammin’ java, as well as all of the doggetts and their supporting musicians. bravo!

DVD Clip From Dick Kaufmann Live

etownsend — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:57:38 +0000

one of the highlights in 2009 for me was the late september concert by dick kaufmann and his backing band chaise lounge at the atlas performing arts center in washington dc. presenting a concert is a significant technical and branding challenge that includes hiring a crew, positioning cameras, orchestrating coverage of everything from solos to audience moments, working with an editor to maximize the audio and video, art directing the packaging, and much more. i had a great time on this project! enjoy the below clip for “blue skies” and stay tuned for the dick kaufmann live dvd.

Townsend Sings in 9Davine Clip (Savannah GA)

etownsend — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:33:32 +0000

uploaded a video for my song “key won’t unlock the door” as performed at forsythe park in savannah ga yesterday morning. 22 inches of snow in fairfax va. lush foliage deeper south. a red ribbon and wreath on every lamppost to remind you it is indeed year’s end. compare this take against the studio version and lyrics. still working on the best settings from my camcorder to imovie to vimeo (so cut a brother some slack for a minute). to explore other original compositions, please visit the official 9Davine website. look for additional videos over the coming days and weeks from points along 95 south. after a two year layoff, 9Davine returns to the stage on february 8th (my birthday). details coming soon!

Advance Preview of the Dick Kaufmann Live DVD

etownsend — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:55:33 +0000

watch the below intro clip to the forthcoming dick kaufmann live DVD, co-produced by splashkit experts eric s. townsend and greg berger. conceptually, we were going after the type of lead-in you’d expect before an hbo comedy special. in addition to providing some roving camera work and art direction, i designed the packaging for the CD that’s featured in one of the scenes. the concert celebrated dick’s 70th birthday and took place at the historic atlas performing arts center in washington dc. it was the culmination of a lifelong dream for kaufmann to perform his favorite 20th century classics with the backing of a professional big band like chaise lounge. i like how the intro ends — with dick waiting backstage before the first note. watch carefully and you’ll catch a glimpse of his smile. i imagine it’s quite difficult to contain one’s excitement just before fulfilling a half century-held desire.

“Deep in December, It’s Nice to Remember…”

etownsend — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:12:13 +0000

when i look back on a year that’s nearly complete, my mind continues to recall one experience before all others. in september, my client dick kaufmann achieved his lifelong dream of headlining a big band concert. what’s remarkable is that he held out for more than half a century before taking to the spotlight at 70 years young. i can’t point to a single client over the years who displayed more class, passion, intelligence, charm and charisma than dick did throughout the process. for that alone, i am grateful to have been there with him. dick’s concert is being readied for packaging this weekend as dick kaufmann live. listen below to a selection from the companion studio record, try to remember. the lyric “deep in december, it’s nice to remember…” seems perfect for tonight’s coming snow. kaufmann collaborated on this song and others with grammy award-winning musical director lee musiker, the man behind the music for tony bennett and barbara cook. impressive.

02 Try To Remember
Dick Kaufmann’s Try to Remember