Introduction:

For my internship this semester, I worked at Bandsintown. Bandsintown is the largest

concert discovery platform in the world with over 23 million users. Bandsintown is made of four

main applications: Bandsintown Concerts, Manager, Promoter, and Amplified. The main

application of Bandsintown that fans interact with is Bandsintown Concerts. Bandsintown

Concerts is the mobile app that fans can connect to via Facebook so that their favorite artists

from Facebook, iTunes, and Spotify automatically import into the app. Fans are able to be

notified when their favorite artists come to town and buy tickets directly on the app. On the

artist's side, Bandsintown Manager is used to help artists connect with their fans and fill concert

venues. Artists using the app can send direct messages to their fans or trackers and post their tour

dates on their website without having to manually input each show. Bandsintown Promoter is an

app used by promoters who want to use Bandsintown to reach more fans and promote their

shows to specific fans. This is a great way for artists to fill seats at shows that aren’t sold out yet

since they can contact fans through Bandsintown even if they aren’t trackers of the specific artist.

Bandsintown Amplified is the last element that deals with advertising. Amplified is a platform

that connects brands and fans that the Bandsintown application deems compatible based on their

music taste. There are many interesting correlations between types of music that listeners love

and their buying behaviors. Bandsintown taps into this information to help promote different

companies through targeted advertising.

My work at Bandsintown consisted of liaising with artists, labels, and management

companies to educate them about our new features. I worked with business development on

strategic partnerships and monetization strategies. Each week, I was tasked with different goals

that I needed to accomplish and tasks that I became proficient in. This ranged from basic

knowledge of an artist management team to the steps customers need to take to be promoted by

Bandsintown through Bandsintown Promoter. I had many professional sessions with different

members of the Bandsintown team from the Director of Sales to the Founder. I created many

documents to provide clients with information on how many users the client has and what

Bandsintown can do to promote the client. I looked at the Billboard Hot 100 charts to see what

artists are up and coming to invite them to use our platform. Once I found artists that I believed

were important clients, I would reach out to these artists to set up conference calls to discuss

Bandsintown’s new features. As I progressed throughout my internship, I began to join Artist

Relations calls with clients. I created marketing campaigns to promote the Bandsintown platform

and brainstormed ways to reach out to a greater clientele. By the end of my internship, I was able

to post to Bandsintown social media and website pages to promote the product on my own.

Materials Related to the Organization:

Work Product #1:

Narrative #1:

My first work product is a screenshot of a blog post that I created for the online

Bandsintown Biz Blog. The Big Blog is a place where managers and the artist’s digital

marketing team are able to learn about Bandsintown’s new features and how to use them to

promote their artist. This blog post is about a new “track button” that Bandsintown released

during one of its recent updates. The “track button” is a button that allows fans to instantly

connect with their favorite artists by becoming their “tracker” on Bandsintown. This feature

helps artists gain more trackers on Bandsintown that are notified of upcoming shows in their

area.

For this blog post, I wrote the copy and worked with a graphic designer on the image. I

helped my fellow members of the Artist Relations team reach out to artists that we believed

would be great to promote and are loyal Bandsintown users. I sat down with the graphic designer

and pitched him my ideas about what I wanted the image to look like and worked with him to

make this idea come to life.

I used many aspects of my college education to help me create this marketing material. In

my MKTG 300 class, we are taught about the different aspects of how to create a successful

marketing campaign. One of the biggest things that we focus on is audience. I knew from the

beginning that my audience consisted of managers, promoters, and digital marketers who work

with bands that tour regularly. This audience has very little time to read through long articles and

instructions because they are working with lots of artists and are constantly on the go, therefore I

made the article very straight to the point with a clear main image. In MKTG 300, we also talk

about how the design of the product or service is important to attract potential customers.

Keeping my audience in mind, I made sure that the blog post looked clean and modern since

many of these artist managers are people who are innovative and looking for the next best thing

to promote their artist. These clients do not want an antiquated looking website with lots of extra

information.

In terms of new knowledge, I developed my writing skills to learn how to write in a

specific voice. I have never had to represent a company that is not myself in writing so I did

much research on the voice of Bandsintown. I discovered that Bandsintown writers typically use

very simple language and key words such as “easy” and “quickly” to make the product

applicable to anyone. When I wrote this blog post, I made sure to reflect the voice of

Bandsintown so my post flowed effortlessly with the other blog posts that have been posted

before mine. I also learned how to use certain colors to remind readers of the reason they are

reading the post – the product. The color of the Bandsintown logo is a very distinct teal color that

is used repeatedly in the heading, background, and actual tracker button in the blog post. The

only colors really used in the blog post are the Bandsintown signature teal, black, and white to

make the post clean and cohesive. It is very clear where I want the readers to focus on when I use

the bright teal color. I am continuing to develop my technique of color since it is a very effective

way to market a product without being too bold and irritating.

Work Product #2:

Narrative #2:

For my second work product, I included another blog post that I posted on the

Bandsintown Biz Blog about a new update. With this new update, artists are able to post

customized messages to their fans directly on the app. Bands can post any message from pictures

at a show to announcements for a new tour. Each band’s trackers will receive push notifications

of these posts so trackers will receive the information instantly. This is a great feature since

artists will be able to personally reach out to fans at specific shows and connect with fans in a

more personal way than other social media platform can provide.

For this blog post, I was given the idea of what to talk about and freedom to do whatever

I liked with it. I decided to stay with the simplicity of other Bandsintown blog posts so I wrote

the copy and worked with a graphic designer to create the image. I reached out to the band, Walk

the Moon, for permission to use their image. I researched the band’s Twitter and Facebook

accounts to see what kind of messages they posted regularly. Next, I created a message that is

very similar to what they would post. The band sent me an image that they wanted to be featured

and I put it all together to create this sample activity feed post.

I used much knowledge that I learned from my upper division marketing classes to make

this blog post. I took a class abroad called “Persuasive Strategies in Marketing” that was very

beneficial to making this post. In that class, I learned about the different aspects of a marketing

material from the colors to the copy. We had to create a campaign for our company of choice in

the class and analyze made other companies’ advertisement campaigns for our final. When

making this blog post, I looked back at the different information that I looked at when doing my

assignment for my class abroad. I made sure to figure out who my audience was and how to

write my copy for a target audience. I knew that my audience was managers and publicists for

bands so I shaped the blog post to be straight to the point and informative. The layout of the blog

is very simple with a headline, a few lines of text, and an image explaining all of the information

from the copy.

I developed many new skills while making this blog post. One of the most important

things I learned was how to choose and work with a client to create marketing materials. I spent

much time trying to figure out what band I wanted to represent the Bandsintown image. I had a

list of a few potential bands, but found that Walk the Moon would be the best representative of

the Bandsintown brand. Walk the Moon has been a loyal Bandsintown user for years and offers a

very positive image as a band. I decided to reach out to the manager of the band and

communicated my ideas about how I wanted to feature Walk the Moon. It was very important for

me to be clear to the manager and show that I just needed their permission to feature the band. It

was a new experience to work with a manager since I had to learn how to communicate

effectively and clearly so that the manager knew my intentions for the blog post. In the end, my

communication skills improved greatly and I was able to form a great relationship between Walk

the Moon and Bandsintown. It was my goal to improve relations between Bandsintown and

Walk the Moon and have them mutually benefit from this blog post.

Work Product #3:

Narrative #3:

My third work product is a Bandsintown Fast Facts document. Fast Facts is a document

that shows all of the artists from a specific record label or management company. These

documents typically include artists that the company requests or specifically works for. My job

was to scale down the list of artists by looking at each artist’s website to see if the band is

currently on tour. Each Fast Facts includes the artist name, number of Bandsintown trackers, and

if the artist uses Bandsintown on their Facebook or website. I like to include the total amount of

trackers that the company has on Bandsintown towards the top so that the client knows the

amount of people Bandsintown is reaching out to for their company. This is an important

marketing tactic since besides the title, this headline is the first thing that the reader will see. This

number draws the reader in and peaks their interest in the rest of the document. Fast Facts are

made to be used directly on conference calls with customers. At Bandsintown, I would use an

online sharing system where we sent a link to the customer so that they would see a presentation

of all that we have to offer. Towards the end of this presentation, we would show the Fast Facts

for their specific company. This was a great way to customize the presentation for the client.

When I first started at Bandsintown, a Fast Facts template was already created so it was

my job to research and fill in the information in the appropriate categories. I gathered the

information from the Bandsintown website, Facebook, and the artist’s website. I also used many

artist databases that listed the artists from each company so that I would have the most accurate

list of current touring artists. I was in charge of creating a perfect final product so I had to make

sure that the format and font of each Fast Facts was perfect before it was sent to my manager.

These Fast Facts were typically made minutes before meetings so they had to be in presentable

condition for clients to see. Information could not be incorrect since each company only

represents a few artists that they are very familiar with. Any small mistake could be the

difference between having more faithful users and losing a big client.

To make these Fast Facts documents, I used many different skills from my college

education. Most of the skills I used were from my ITMG 100 and ECON 216 classes. In ITMG

100, we made Excel documents and learned how to create spreadsheets. Without ITMG 100, I

would not have been able to successfully make these charts. ITMG 100 taught me many

functions in Microsoft Office that I had no knowledge in, so it was very valuable for me to learn

how to use them correctly and apply them to documents like these. In ECON 216, my final was

to make a formal study of a topic. I was assigned to do a project on divorce rates in the United

States and had to make an entire study that provided everything from graphs to an analysis essay

of information pertaining to the subject. Format was a large part of my grade on that final so it

was imperative that I made the document look the best I possibly could. Like with Fast Facts, I

had to have colors that corresponded with the graphs and know my audience. ECON 216 was a

very important class for learning how to make professional research projects. We had to act like

we were sending information to very important people so the project was treated as if this was a

document at work that needed to be completed. I think that having a large emphasis on the

professionalism of this project made me learn how to act in the business world and translated

very well into my work when I make Fast Facts.

By making Fast Facts for Bandsintown, I developed many skills that will help me with

my future career. The most important aspect that I took away from making Fast Facts was how to

be professional and timely. Many of these Fast Facts were made just before a conference call so I

had to learn to manage my time and work under pressure. Usually with class assignments, I have

deadlines of a few days or weeks. Having a deadline of only a few hours or sometimes less than

that became very stressful. I had to learn how to deal with time management and prioritize what I

had to do at work. There were many times that I had other things that I needed to complete, but I

learned that I should focus on projects that had a strict deadline instead of working on other

projects that were not as important. I also learned how important it is to double check your work.

Most times, my manager did not look over my work with Fast Facts because the deadline was so

short. It was my responsibility to make sure that everything in the document was perfect and

ready to present to clients. It would be a huge embarrassment personally and for the company if I

spelt an artist name wrong or had any sort of error on the page. This would be a very

unprofessional mistake and I know that there would be big consequences if I did something

wrong. Fast Facts, while simple and monotonous to do, was a very important part of developing

my professionalism in the business world. My boss gave me much responsibility by letting me

take on such an important task and I made sure to produce the best work possible.

Work Product #4:

Narrative #4:

My fourth work product is an Excel document that I created for my boss to organize his

meetings at SXSW. SXSW is a large music conference in Austin, Texas where people from the

music industry meet and conduct business. People from all over the world come to SXSW to

learn about what is new in the music business and make connections. Executives from record

companies, talent agencies, and even musicians connect in Austin to expand their network and

learn more about the music industry. I made this Excel document to help my boss organize all of

his meetings and make sure that he meets with as many people as possible. The list is organized

by type of company and then sorted by name, contact information, and meeting scheduled. I

highlighted green if there was a successful meeting scheduled and then red if there is no

possibility of a meeting. I helped my boss reach out to these professionals to connect with them

at SXSW through a social media network on the SXSW website.

I was in charge of every aspect of this document. It was my job to research who was

going to be at SXSW through the SXSW online forum and then determine who would be a good

company to meet up with. From there, I gathered information on a specific person from the

company. I researched the employee’s contact information and title, then determined if it would

be valuable for my boss to reach out to them. I compiled all of this information into an Excel

document with each label signifying the type of company that the employee worked for. I made

sure that the document was easy to read and helpful for my boss when he was choosing who to

schedule meetings with. I also had to consistently update the document and make sure that

everything was up to date. I would have to check my emails daily to make any changes or

updates to the schedule so everything was perfect when my boss arrived in Austin for his

meetings.

I used many skills and prior knowledge to help me make this document. One of the most

helpful classes I have taken during my college career was ITMG 100. This course taught me how

to use everything in Microsoft Office at a very proficient manner especially with Microsoft

Excel. When I was taking the course, I didn’t realize how many functions that I did not know

how to do and was pleasantly surprised when I learned about all the things one can do with

Excel. Excel is such an important tool in the business world and especially for my internship

because it keeps a company organized. If I didn’t take ITMG 100, I would not have been able to

complete this work product nor would I have been able to complete many of the job

requirements that I had. I needed my prior knowledge from ITMG for everything from shading

in certain rows to freezing columns so I was able to reference them when scrolling down my

document. Another class that was important to my success in creating this SXSW document was

MGMT 300. In MGMT 300, we learned how to prioritize and act at different levels of

management. When I was contacting these companies for my boss, I used my MGMT 300

knowledge of the structure of a company to figure out who to contact. It is very important to

contact the correct person because they would help me reach other people in the company.

MGMT 300 taught me how to read people, especially in this case through emails, to see how

interested they are and what motivates them. I found that not everyone was interested in talking

to Bandsintown so I had to differentiate who would be a great person for my boss to talk with.

Even though I am very familiar with Excel from previous classes, I feel that I developed

many skills when completing this task. This SXSW document was the product of many weeks of

hard work and preparation. I learned how to create a document from scratch and develop it after

given only a small request. It was difficult at first to truly understand what my boss wanted from

me, but I soon realized what he wanted. I liked working on this document because I was able to

see who was going to what events and determine what events were the most important at SXSW.

Not all meetings were done in a meeting space since there are so many different networking

events at SXSW, so I had to find the best possible way for my boss to meet with as many people

as possible. I learned much about SXSW and business conferences through my work. I always

thought that SXSW was just a music festival. I soon realized that SXSW is a huge networking

event for professionals of all backgrounds in the music industry to expand their business. I

believe that my work in making this document helped improve my Excel and communication

skills immensely.

Work Product #5:

Narrative #5:

For my final work product, I have included a screenshot of a document that I worked on

throughout the semester during my time at Bandsintown. This document details and organizes all

of the meetings that my Artist Relations managers had each month. The document simply lists

the company name and band roster as well as comments about goals for the conference call.

Each heading had a few questions about if the artist has Bandsintown on their website or

Facebook. The document also has questions about if the client knows about different tools that

Bandsintown offers including analytics, the promoter portal, and the widget tool. This document

was made on Google docs so that everyone on the team was able to access the document at any

time.

It was my job to input every meeting that either manager had and update the document

before and after the meeting occurred. Before the meeting, I wrote down what company they had

spoken to and what bands that company was focusing on at the time. I would include basic goals

such as if there was a website widget installed and if the company was knowledgeable about

certain components of Bandsintown. It was my job to make sure that these question headings

were up to date with the new Bandsintown features introduced during the time of my internship.

I would update the document a few weeks after the conference call to see if the client had

followed through and installed Bandsintown to their website or Facebook page. I would

constantly check to make sure that this information was up to date since some bands downloaded

Bandsintown weeks after the conference call.

There were many skills from my time at USD that I used to make and work on this

document. One of the most important classes that helped with my development was my DSCI

300 class. In DSCI, we made many Excel documents that needed to be very organized and

updated constantly. I learned how to use Excel at a very high level in ITMG 100, but DSCI 300

helped me further my Excel skills and learn how to use it in a professional setting. I liked how

we had realistic situations such as how efficient a company was working through the use of

simulation and how many materials to use when fulfilling a special order of clothing. These

problems made the situations feel very realistic since I had to prepare documents that were

graded very carefully and helped the in-class company make important decisions. DSCI 300 also

helped me personally in making decisions. There were many times at work where I was not sure

what to prioritize since I was given many tasks to do at one time. I looked back on my decision

making from DSCI 300 to learn how to make educated decisions on what to do first and how I

should go about each situation.

Working on this Management Meetings Executive Summary was a huge responsibility

and gave me much knowledge that I know will be very important in my future career. One of the

biggest things I learned was how to decide when to follow up with users. There were many times

when companies did not install Bandsintown even after having a conference call with an Artist

Relations employee. At first, I thought that almost everyone would change to Bandsintown after

talking to an employee since they all seemed very positive and interested in the product on the

phone. I soon realized that many companies seemed interested on the call, but truly do not have

the time to look into Bandsintown on their own. It was very important that I made sure this

document was up to date and accurate since following up was a large part of the Artist Relations

process. If I found that an artist did not install the widget to their website, it was important to

reach out to the company that represents them again so they are reminded to install the widget.

Many more companies were willing to install Bandsintown after receiving a follow up message

and appreciated the personal approach. It was great that I was able to work on this document for

the entire semester so I could see my progress and the turnaround rate for artists who installed

the widget during my time at Bandsintown.