A cool thing happened the other day when Ryan Hiller signed with Pacific Records. First and foremost, a really freaking talented musician got a big vote of confidence from industry experts. Secondly, we witnessed the first "GigTown Discovery" go down, as Pacific Records would never have been aware of Ryan if not for GigTown. Let's take a look at how this all happened.
When the idea for GigTown was conceived, Ryan Hiller was the first musician that we talked to. Ryan was in a band called "The Tailchasers" along with Mike Stone, one of my dad's friends and business partners. So we asked Mike for an introduction and sat down with Ryan. After running through the idea, he gave us confidence that we were onto something, and of course knocked down other assumptions we were making, ultimately helping shape the direction of the company from the start. As we got going, Ryan helped us get the word out to San Diego artists and pretty early on we had some really talented people on board. One of the cool things about that was the fact that, as more talented local artists got on board, it gave us a new perspective on the local talent pool and led us to the realization that Ryan Hiller is not just a talented artist, he's pretty much a badass.
As our team developed the product and things continued to take shape, we reached out through other connections to anyone and everyone who could help us get more artists signed up. That led us to Brian Witkin and Pat Pickslay at Pacific Records. We teamed up on some really cool events in the Valley View Casino Center as well as an awesome tailgate party for SDSU before the Poinsettia Bowl. Pacific signed up their artists Sandollar, Social Club, Super Groupie and more, bringing a new vibe to the 50-some artists that were signed up at the time. We helped get them a few gigs, they brought more artists on board, it's been a win-win from the beginning!
As time passed, we got to know Brian and Pat better from different events and just being in the music community together. They are really good dudes. I still vividly remember Pat making my day when he left me a voicemail telling me how he was grabbing an iced drink to escape the San Diego summer, checked out what was going on on the GigTown app, discovered an artist playing in the same plaza and had a great experience checking her out. Although a signing did not result, he remarked that it made for a "seamless and convenient" experience vetting an artist.Pretty soon we were telling Brian and Pat whenever we came across artists that sounded awesome. It happens a lot, which is one of the coolest things about GigTown. They always took our recommendations seriously and often wound up in conversations or even auditions with the artists. Ryan Hiller was one of those artists, and after Ryan met the guys and did an audition at Pacific, the rest is history. We're proud that Ryan, one of my best friends and earliest members of the GigTown family, is teaming up with Pacific Records, who we are also proud to call partners. It's a crazy industry we're in, but when we all work together these kinds of win-win-wins do happen!
