Digital Marketing Strategies with Music Ally

General Workshop : November 9 & 11 (open to all applicants)

Mentoring Session : November 17 (applicants selected by committee)

Kultur | lx is thrilled to be working with Music Ally for our first ever music industry-focused workshops and training sessions. As a global leader in digital training for the music industry, Music Ally has trained thousands of industry professionals and artists. A knowledge and skills company, it provides insight to indies, publishers, major labels as well as artists and managers globally. Music Ally’s mission is to help the music industry embrace digital platforms and build sustainable careers for artists across the globe. 

Of particular relevance to this project is Music Ally’s global efforts to support developing regions working with partners to democratise access to the best information and training resources with social impact at the core. Sharing Music Ally’s core values, Kultur | lx has identified a need to support the Luxembourgish music sector with a series of professional development workshops with a particular focus on music business fundamentals, release marketing and fan-base growth.

We look forward to welcoming you to our first workshops on November 9 and 11 focused on Digital Marketing Strategies. Music Ally will also be hosting private mentoring sessions on November 17 (applicants selected by a committee). What should you expect to learn about?

• Social Media Best Practices and Content Strategy Tips (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik-Tok and YouTube)
• Introduction to Digital Advertising (focus on Facebook, Instagram and Google Ads)
• Marketing on a Budget
• Interactive panel discussions with international artists, curated and moderated by Music Ally.
  • We are inviting two artists, one from the Pop/Rock/Hip-Hop space and the other from the Jazz and Classical space to discuss how they built their online brand/presence. Includes an interactive Q&A portion.

More information :

The Music Ally Experts:

Kushal Patel – Head of Training

Kushal (or Kush for short) is Music Ally’s Head of Training, responsible for delivering digital strategy workshops and consultancy to record labels, management agencies, industry trade bodies and universities. Kush also works across Music Ally’s marketing services roster and has worked on campaigns for the likes of Hollywood Records, Blue Raincoat Music and Rare Sound.

His past music industry experience ranges from playlist pitching at independent label AntiFragile Music to social media management at music marketing agency Burstimo. His diverse professional background offers him a unique perspective on a range of artist marketing strategies.

Marlen Hüllbrock – Head of Marketing Services

Marlen has been working at Music Ally since 2019 and now heads up their Marketing Services department, supporting management and label clients in all things digital marketing. She’s also part of Music Ally’s Training team, where she develops and delivers digital marketing training to a wide range of industry clients. Before joining Music Ally, Marlen worked within Universal Music’s brand partnerships team in Germany and Switzerland and completed an MA in Music Business Management at the University of Westminster.

Patrick Ross – COO

Originally from Atlanta, GA, Patrick went to Belmont University in Nashville, TN to learn the music business. In 2007 he escaped to the UK, for various reasons he can’t go into, and has been working in the UK music industry ever since. He started out working with indie labels and artists, doing what he called “web presence management”, making dope MySpace pages and being just about the only person with access to Facebook Ads in the UK. (As they only let Americans book them back then.) He served as Head of Digital Marketing for digital distributor AWAL, and eventually VP, Digital Marketing for Kobalt’s Music Recordings and Label Services division. 

2018 saw him join Music Ally, where he is now COO, and oversees company operations including digital marketing campaigns and business strategy, as well as training the global music industry. He also lectures at The University of Westminster, Falmouth University.

Genre-Specific Panelists:

Mike Casey – Jazz

Mike Casey is a melody poet. The story-telling songwriter, producer, & sonic alchemist is a multi-talented force whose soul stirring saxophone sound and creative phrasing reaches out with love & embraces your musical desires, one note at a time.

Bringing the joy of jazz across genre lines to a diverse audience around the world, Mike’s music has passed 15 million streams since 2017 with support from the BBC, HuffPost, Forbes, NPR, Downbeat, JazzTimes, Jazz FM, Spotify’s “Best Jazz of 2020”, the front page of NFT platform OpenSea & countless others. In 2020, his trio was 1 of 5 global finalists in the largest ensemble based competition in jazz: the DC Jazz Festival’s “DC Jazz Prix”. Cognitive dissonance is a core concept in Mike’s work, which has brought him to notable stages like the Kennedy Center, BRIC, Auditori Nacional, Minton’s, Ginny’s, Jamboree, & Future Music Forum.

Merlin Sutter & Kate Piatkowska, Rock/Metal

Merlin Sutter

The recipient of a prestigious Swiss Music Award established himself as a musician in 2005, when he joined what would become Switzerland’s most accomplished metal band to date, Eluveitie, fresh out of high school. Following his departure from Eluveitie after eleven years, seven albums and numerous world tours across 50+ countries, Merlin continues to create music with the Swiss progressive rock trio Cellar Darling. Beyond performing, Merlin’s experiences gained on his journey, from living on rehearsal room couches to getting his bands signed, funded and onto global touring careers, form the basis for his artist management work today. Merlin co-founded artist management and e-commerce company based in London, Klang Machine Music Ltd, along with Kate Piatkowska.

Kate Piatkowska

Kate started her adventures in music in 2002 as a sound engineer at London’s legendary music venue, The Underworld. She has toured the world extensively since 2005 with rock and metal bands including Finntroll, Carcass, Eluveitie, Immortal, Amon Amarth, and Monster Magnet, soon expanding into tour and production management and, eventually, into artist management. After recognising the importance of fan relationships and direct-to-fan commerce, she steered her management company towards a focus on e-commerce and merchandising. At Klang Machine Music Ltd, Kate is focused on managing a select roster of rock and metal clients and overseeing the launch of Black Tee Merch, the company’s print-on-demand merchandising brand.

David Skudlik, Classical

David Skudlik is a cultural entrepreneur living in Munich. Since 2018, he’s developing David’s Dearest to promote exciting musicians as well as their music and to curate and present interdisciplinary concert formats, all while still expanding his existing agency business, providing tailor-made websites and social media consulting to artists, agencies, festivals and presenters.

During his time at school and university, he co-founded the accessory label RAPHAEL ROGGENDORF and then started an artist agency working with soloists and chamber music ensembles from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic and concert presenters all around the world. He has been a proud member of the GLOBAL SHAPERS and SANDBOX for many years.