Kaitlin Beard has been in rock bands for years. The Everett singer currently takes the stage with a group called In The Between, performing at bars and nightclubs in hopes that she might one day play music for a living.
Beard, 32, moved a little closer to that dream in May by signing with London Tone Music, a record label in Shoreline. Unlike most music industry deals, though, hers was for just one song.
“Hinder,” the hard rock ballad she recorded in August, is part of the project 52×52: A Year in Your Ear, in which London Tone releases a new song each week for the duration of 2014. So far the label has put out 39 singles, available on iTunes and streaming on Spotify and SoundCloud.com.
Most of the musicians hail from the Pacific Northwest. They range from up-and-coming to established, from folk and pop to jazz and country. The only requirement is that their song has never been commercially distributed.
“All these bands in the local market are people who are striving to learn, and grow, and do what they need to do to make this passion a full-time occupation,” said Jeffrey Ross, one of five partners at London Tone Music Group.
Ross, whose claim to fame is discovering Kenny G, is one half of the consulting company 2 Jeffs on Music. He and partner Jeff Heiman run the business side of the 52×52 project.
“To find those talents, to develop their careers even two or three notches above where they are, is really quite satisfying,” Heiman said. “We’re helping to build their foundation — their fan base, their social media, the attention they get from press and radio — to a point where they get bigger locally, and then can spread out regionally.”
Beard and bandmate Shane Scot, 39, were introduced to Ross and Heiman after competing in a battle of the bands at the Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle. They said joining 52×52 was a no-brainer.
“It’s like, what do we have to lose?” Beard said. “We have everything to gain. If this gets us out there — puts our name a little further than we could have on our own — then that’s what we gain.”
The songs are recorded at London Bridge Studio in Shoreline, the birthplace of platinum albums by Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Blind Melon and Candlebox in the 1990s. More recently, it’s hosted acts like 3 Doors Down, Nickelback and OneRepublic.
The rich history of the studio is part of 52×52’s pitch to young artists: Come stand where the masters once stood — and where elite engineers are mixing tracks — and record a song.
“It’s breathtaking when you go in there,” Beard said. “There are artists on the wall that I’ve been listening to since the late ’80s. I remember recording in that room and I was thinking, ‘I should go barefoot.’ Because I’m sure they were sweating just as much as I was, if not more.”
A couple of members of the Italian grunge band Neodea, who recorded a song for 52×52, fell to their knees and kissed the parking lot as they walked up to the studio.
“Everything they’ve ever loved came out of London Bridge,” Heiman said.
The other three partners of London Tone are the owners of the studio, Jonathan Plum, Geoff Ott and Eric Lilavois. They handle the production aspect of 52×52. Heiman met them while serving as president of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Grammys.
“They had this germ of an idea to do something once a week,” Heiman recalled.
But they had no experience with distribution. That’s where the marketing and management skills of the two Jeffs came in handy.
“We didn’t know much about that side,” said London Bridge owner Plum. “We were focused on recording the music, not so much getting it out there and making money from the music.”
The five of them sat down to talk about the project in October 2012 and formed London Tone Music Group the next April. The first song in the 52×52 catalog, “Pilots” by 48-year-old Kim Virant of Seattle, came out on Jan. 20.
Since then they’ve tackled tracks from a mixed bag of genres: garage rock, indie rock, hip-hop, R&B, electronica, alternative country, grunge, world music and even a children’s song.
“The musical consumer has changed,” Ross said. “Particularly young people — they don’t necessarily just focus on one genre of music. It’s not unlikely for someone to like a rap song and also listen to a country song.”
Still, Ross drew a line when the project began: “I said no polka music,” he recalled.
“Right,” Heiman said. “But if we get a good polka artist, we will.”
The 52×52 project
Learn more about the 52×52 project at londontonemusic.com. Listen to the songs at soundcloud.com/londontonemusic52x52. Musicians can apply to be part of the project on Sonicbids.com, a networking site for people in the music industry. All submissions are considered, whether the artist has a large regional following or no following at all.
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