MarkitAds

Community Musician

Challenge

Scott hired MarkitAds to solve a credibility and legitimacy gap as a first-time founder in the music space. To attract investors and partners for Community Musician, he needed to establish himself as a credible thought leader and industry expert, but he lacked the media presence and public recognition to bridge the jump from a corporate finance background (former CFO at Bank of America) to a music/tech startup. He specifically needed major media placements to build his personal brand and authoritative content that positions him as an expert investors would take seriously. This urgency was heightened by prior bad experiences with unreliable PR vendors that produced low-quality “grocery store rag” coverage or fabricated outcomes. The mandate was clear: secure legitimate, verifiable coverage in respected outlets to create durable professional credibility.

Markit’s Solution

MarkitAds executed a pure earned-media program to build Scott’s authority and investor-facing credibility. We developed a tight founder narrative and media kit, then targeted top-tier business and tech outlets along with authoritative music trades, securing a mix of exclusive founder profiles, reported features, and contributed op-eds. Our team supplied editors with clear angles, data points, and third-party validation to position Scott as a go-to expert on music-tech, NFC collectibles, and rehearsal-studio economics. We coordinated interviews and press briefings, managed approvals, and maintained a rolling cadence of story pitches so coverage stacked over time, creating a searchable footprint of major placements that investors and partners recognize and trust.

Outcome

MarkitAds secured seven major placements for Scott Arey—USA Today, Mashable, Men’s Journal, International Business Times, Daily Caller, Tech Times, and Flaunt—spanning mainstream and specialized business/tech outlets. The campaign generated an estimated 1.7 million readers across the seven articles, based on typical per-article traffic benchmarks for each publication. Coverage consistently positioned Scott’s move from former Bank of America CFO to music-tech founder, spotlighting Community Musician and his Fortune 500 pedigree. We reinforced the narrative with a cohesive brand build, including a new website and SEO, and documented every story in a centralized newsroom at communitymusician.com/newsroom. All seven placements were delivered in roughly eight months, demonstrating efficient execution and our ability to secure guaranteed, reputable coverage while shaping a credible founder narrative.

Community Musician connects local artists and fans through tap-to-play NFC music cards that unlock tracks and perks. It’s also building a nationwide network of rehearsal studios that serve as community hubs and drive artist discovery.

What we did