A2IM: American Association of Independent Music

The Professional Alliance of Innovation & Development, PAID, Inc., powers the brands of its celebrity and corporate clientele. The company is a veritable one-stop shop with a full suite of services, integrated or a la carte, ranging from web-design and content management, to mobile and social media marketing, product development and product creation, video production, live event VIP ticketing programs and merchandise warehousing and fulfillment. Supporting these services, PAID continues to demonstrate success in creating and implementing comprehensive, strategically sustainable, digitally focused marketing campaigns that build customer data bases for their clients - completely owned and controlled by their clients. Building two-way, direct-to consumer communication channels grows the client customer base in size, in loyalty, and in revenues. The result - PAID’s services give their clients the opportunity to get more and to own more of the business they generate than ever before. But this business model, which has become the framework for one of the most successful companies of its kind in the country, took years to shape. PAID’s success didn’t come overnight. “My brother Greg and I started the company in 1999 as an online sports memorabilia company,” said Rich Rotman, PAID COO. “And things were good, until a runaway freight train called eBay appeared. We knew that we’d have to adapt, take chances and create our own opportunities.” So in 2001, out of necessity and eBay’s dominance in the marketplace, PAID shifted its business model. Initially, PAID became a Platinum seller of sports and Hollywood memorabilia on eBay and one of the most respected memorabilia vendors in the industry. As a natural outgrowth of promoting celebrity memorabilia, PAID began hosting celebrity-based websites, focusing on content and general information, before progressing to support blogs, community forums, fan-integrated widgets and comprehensive ecommerce solutions. Many in the industry at the time saw this work as cutting edge, and necessary to embrace in order to ensure the future of their businesses. The age of building online communities and one-to-one relationships between brand and consumer had arrived. Investing millions in web development and web management technology, PAID was preparing to be a leader in the space. Then, in 2004, things changed dramatically for PAID when the Rotman brothers met Aerosmith and the band’s long-time representative, Keith Garde. “The company was unlike anything I’d seen before,” said Garde. “They were well ahead of the curve. They took advantage of the technology that they used for their online auction company’s transactions and utilized their creativity and resources to build out incredibly dynamic platforms and websites. This helped us to expand Aerosmith’s business and develop new sources of revenue – separate and apart from touring and album sales.” Garde predicted then, what would become practice later. That in Aerosmith, PAID had what it needed to build, execute and prove its model. That success with Aerosmith would provide opportunity, and that opportunity would lead to greater success. “The change was readily apparent,” said Garde. “PAID attracted more and more fans to the band’s website to get information and band access, find music and buy tickets online. PAID succeeded in expanding Aerosmith’s audience – especially among gen Y. To date, the band’s online fan community has grown to more than two million members, including registered members of Aeroforceone.com and Aerosmith’s Facebook community.” But that wasn’t all. “PAID exceeded expectations,” added Garde. “PAID was supporting the band’s brand in so many ways; overseeing the band’s likeness, image and content in the development of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith™, as well as creating marketing materials, web-based marketing campaigns, and producing television and web-distributed commercial spots.” The model had worked. PAID had increased, cultivated and energized a fanatical Aerosmith online community. The band had established a direct-to-fan communication channel with their fan community -- and their fans were now communicating with each other like never before! During this time, the Rotman’s and Garde had forged a formidable alliance that had proven to be a winning formula for Aerosmith. Additionally, they recognized the potential power of combining the two companies. And they were ready. PAID’s complement of merchandising, fulfillment, customer services and patented technology, combined with Garde’s expertise as a talent manager, marketer, award-winning video producer and business executive saw the two companies merge in 2006. “The Rotman’s and I had been kicking around the idea of working together since 2005,” said Garde. “They had really impressed me with what they were doing for Aerosmith and other clients I had subsequently brought in to PAID. So when the prospect of joining forces presented itself, we sealed the deal. It was really an exciting time, filled with nothing but possibility.” And there has been no looking back since. In their time working together, the Rotman’s and Garde have continued to increase revenue for PAID and its clientele. Innovative and nimble, PAID has proven capable of remaining stable, while providing revenue generating services within the context of the changing landscape that is the entertainment industry today. The Company has placed itself at the forefront of VIP ticketing practices and further enhanced and developed its web platform and technological capabilities. PAID has created groundbreaking marketing initiatives, and web and social marketing campaigns that have increased traffic, business and brand awareness for its clientele. PAID’s emphasis on building and managing customer databases for its clients has dramatically increased clients’ direct-to-consumer marketing capabilities. Simply put, the company has managed to stay ahead of the ever-changing business environment of celebrity and corporate-based brand support and marketing endeavors. From Aerosmith, whose relationship with PAID has continued to this day, to Carly Simon, the Moody Blues, Global Merchandising Services, Inc. (Slayer, Motorhead, etc.), Stand Up 2 Cancer, the Professional Bull Riders Association, Run-DMC and CBS TV’s The Bold and the Beautiful, with a global audience of 35 million viewers a day, among many others, PAID’s diverse clientele has reaped all of the rewards. Further, PAID’s staff, with Garde, PAID’s president of Celebrity Services leading the business development and marketing charge, have found themselves at the forefront of the ever-continuing debate on Internet issues facing the entertainment industry today. Garde relishes these challenges and embraces these growth opportunities as PAID continues to find solutions that generate revenues by combining the traditional with the cutting edge. The entertainment industry is undergoing seismic shifts, including: sales of recorded music and concert tickets in dramatic decline; the evolution of digital distribution and file-sharing networks that have devastated brick and mortar and online music and video retailers; emergence of 360 deals as record labels attempt to capture a share of ticket, merchandise, video, gaming and other promotional revenues to replace recorded music sales revenues; massive consolidation of commercial radio; the advent of social media as the primary communication channel with fans; and the merger of powerful promoter and ticketing organizations. Within the context of these massive changes, PAID has powered revenue expansion for its clients despite the steep challenges that the industry is working to overcome. “It’s taking the entertainment industry time to adapt,” said Garde. “Understandable in light of the fact that record labels, promoters, distributors and media companies have had to alter and adapt to a new and mandatory function of their businesses. In many ways this has given us an advantage because, unencumbered by legacy practices, we’ve been able to develop and provide the innovative interactive branding and multimedia services that have been lacking in the industry as a whole.” He noted, “An artist’s celebrity life is relatively short, and a corporate brand requires strategic thinking and an understanding of market conditions. They both need companies like PAID– to care for their brands, to create communities and to build reliable, sustainable direct-to-consumer communication and marketing channels they can own – and that is ultimately what we do.” “The good news is that artists can earn money on their websites with their web presence at the core of their branding model. We’ve proven that. More good news is that artists can develop, own, control and market directly to their customer database enabling meaningful, compelling direct-to-fan relationships. We’ve proven that. Even more good news is that the technology clearly exists to keep things fresh and new. We’ve proven that. And we will continue to prove even more in the future.”