WORK SMARTER MUSIC MARKETING

Work smarter not harder.

- ABOUT US -

Founded in 2021 by Kenny Feinstein and Jessica Babin, Work Smarter Music Marketing has worked with hundreds of artists, both big and small, as well as music associations, festivals, music series, venues, radio shows, labels, promoters, & more.

We are an alternative to big marketing agencies & the mainstream music industry. We grew up in the era of social media & independent artists and are self-taught, so we are not hung up on the way music marketing used to be done in the past. We come from a DIY punk ethos & believe that any artist or music event can become both socially & financially successful with the right online marketing.

Kenny is a lifetime touring musician himself and has firsthand knowledge of the music industry from the perspective of an artist. Our first client was Kenny's own band, Water Tower, and in just a couple years we were able to resurrect the band, create viral content, grow their social media following to over 113K followers, monetize that following, turn followers into superfans, sell out shows, get scores of endorsements & sponsorships, raise their rates by 50x, and get placed on some of the biggest festival bills including Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Vans Warped Tour.

Following our success with Water Tower, we went on to work with other artists. Some of our achievements in the past couple years include:

-running a successful e-mail marketing campaign for Hillary Klug's album Kickstarter that raised over $26,000, growing her social media by over half a million followers, and filming viral content that grossed over 60M views

-growing Matt Axton's social media from a few thousand followers to over 48K, monetizing his content to cover the cost of our services, running successful advertising campaigns for his singles that resulted in over 30K streams

-elevating the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival brand from a low budget community event to a nationally recognized festival with social media & dark ads, increasing ticket sales for 3 years in a row while also raising ticket prices

-most recently, growing The Sullivan Sister's social media by over 2K followers in one month & increasing views by over 305K

- OUR CLIENTS -

CURRENT ROSTER:

- WATER TOWER

-KENNY FEINSTEIN

-NICK HEXUM

-THE RIES BROTHERS

-SITTING ON SATURN

-HILLARY KLUG

-MATT AXTON

-MIKE RUFO

-VALERIE CELESTE

-GLASS CITIES

-INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION

-CALIFORNIA BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION

-TOPANGA BANJO FIDDLE CONTEST & FOLK FESTIVAL

-TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

-REDDING ROOTS REVIVAL

-LONG BEACH BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

-SANTA CRUZ BREWGRASS FESTIVAL

-HUCK FINN JUBILEE

-TAHOE JOY FESTIVAL

-CBA FATHER'S DAY FESTIVAL

-AMERICANA JOY MUSIC SERIES

-HILLBILLY HYPE HOUSE MUSIC SERIES

-THE ALEX THEATRE

-THE WILDWOOD FLOWER RADIO HOUR (KXLU)

-SKP LABEL

-SOUND BISCUIT LABEL

-GRAND OLE COUNTRY BUNKER PROMOTIONS

-PLANET BLUEGRASS

-ALLGRASS MUSIC

-PRESTON THOMPSON GUITARS

PAST CLIENTS:

-311

-RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

-SISTER SADIE

-TIGRAN HAMASYAN

-THE SULLIVAN SISTERS

-JESSE & WILLOW

-TED RUSSELL KAMP

-LISA SANDERS

-HARRY KATZ & THE PISTACHIOS

-ABBY POSNER

-MATT MICHIENZIE BAND

-TAYLOR KROPP

-PI JACOBS

-RYAN HAHN & THE BELIEVERS

-IKES CREEK

-NORA GERMAIN

-LAUREN & SILAS

-ROSY NOLAN

-WEST OF TEXAS

-GOLDEN SHOALS

-THE GUESTHOUSE

-THE STATE COMEDY TROUPE

-MOTOWN EXPLOSION MUSICAL

-SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN' FESTIVAL

-WILD RECORDS

-EVNSONG PROMOTIONS

-STELLAR SHOWS PROMOTIONS

-AMERICANALAND MUSIC VIDEO SERIES

-JULIAN FAMILY FIDDLE CAMP

- MEET THE TEAM -

KENNY FEINSTEIN

Co-founder Kenny Feinstein has over 20 years of experience in the music industry as the frontman, manager, and booker of the independent bluegrass band Water Tower. He has also worked as a busker, a session musician, a touring support musician, a producer, a music teacher, a booker & organizer for festivals, an expert consultant, and life coach.

In 2020 he took over marketing for Water Tower after spending thousands on agencies and coming to the conclusion that the marketing industry was stuck in the past and unequipped to help modern bands make it in today's online world. He was so successful that it changed the trajectory of the band and other bands started coming to him for help.

In 2021 he recruited his best friend Jessica Babin to help him and together they founded Work Smarter Music Marketing.

Kenny specializes in marketing consulting and working one-on-one with artists, bands, and festivals to develop strategies for building their brands and monetizing their businesses.

Kenny has a degree in Jazz from the University of Oregon and is also a certified nutritionist.

JESSICA BABIN

Co-founder Jessica Babin is a social media expert and online marketing specialist with a background in IT. She specializes in social media marketing and content creation.

In 2021 she moved to Los Angeles and discovered a passion for music marketing after assisting Kenny with online marketing and PR for Water Tower. She quickly became Water Tower's social media manager, video editor, and touring content videographer, and started taking on clients as a freelance marketer, before co-founding Work Smarter with Kenny.

She has worked with hundreds of clients including artists/bands, festivals, radio shows, music series, venues, and influencers to elevate, expand, and monetize their online presence. Her scope of work with clients ranges from social media management, video editing, email management and marketing, website design, website optimization, PR, online advertising, brand deal acquisition, and/or consulting to on-site social media content videography and content creation coaching.

TOMMY DRINKARD

Tommy Drinkard is a full-time musician, music producer, and online marketing expert. He tours and releases music as a member of Water Tower, Tommy Drinkard & the Remedy, and his solo project, Tommy Drinkard.

Through his work on social media ad campaigns for Water Tower since 2020, he has been instrumental in the band's recent online & offline success.

As Tommy Drinkard and Tommy Drinkard & the Remedy he has generated over 2 million streams through organic social media, online marketing, and ad campaigns and his songs have been saved to over 30K personal playlists in the last two years.

Tommy has a degree in Guitar Performance from Los Angeles College of Music.

JOHN SELTZER

John Seltzer is a musician and experienced event production professional. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, he managed operations at the 3,000-seat Palace Theatre in Albany, NY and advanced hundreds of shows in coordination with promoters and tour managers. He also assisted in the recording & production of radio promos, gaining experience in media workflows and audience-facing content.

He assists with content creation, videography, and ads for Water Tower and other clients.

He is a current full-time touring member of Water Tower and the newest member of Work Smarter.

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Here is some of the viral content we've made with clients.

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Some of the viral content we've created with clients.

Sierra Ferrell, Water Tower, Bar Jay Bar, & Nick Hexum - Handsome Molly

Hillary Klug & Water Tower - Lonesome Road Blues

Water Tower - Sittin' On Top of the World (Live at Telluride Bluegrass)

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