“Bands are brands,” says Kristyn Corder, who launched East Nashville Underground, a seasonal music festival showcasing local bands, with her husband, Jared, in spring 2011.(photo: Sanford Myers / The Tennessean)
Next Up | Kristyn Corder
Age: 32
Job: creative director and co-CEO, East Nashville Underground
Solid foundation: Kristyn Corder has what she calls the makings for a “PR personality.” Maybe a dead giveaway was the four years she spent earning a degree in performing arts at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. Corder has the bubbly disposition and people skills of a publicist, along with the mind for synthesizing swirling ideas into viable business pitches.
This ability came in handy for a creative project she and her husband, Jared, launched in early spring 2011. Entering its eighth season in 2013, East Nashville Underground is a quarterly local music festival featuring Nashville’s grittiest — and what the Corders and 1,500 audience members deem the greatest — music acts.
The couple’s business venture has amped up considerably in the past 18 months. From a true dirt-floor basement near Five Points in East Nashville, the low-key house concerts Jared hosted were attracting a following that was more characteristic of The Basement, the established Eighth Avenue concert venue. When the house’s capacity capped at around 220 attendees, Corder aptly said, “Jared, this is a thing,” and got to work developing the Underground brand.
Stocking the toolbox: Corder’s experience working in corporate public relations in Los Angeles, then freelancing in Asheville, N.C., laid the groundwork for what she would accomplish with East Nashville Underground. After moving to Nashville, Corder brought her knowledge for the finesse of solid branding to a role as a publicist for health care professionals.
Yet, in her free time, Corder was befriending musicians. She found that their needs were the same as her clients in the medical field.
“Bands are brands,” Corder says, and require the same focus on creative development as any other industry. While helping to intentionally craft the vibe of artists’ brands and increase visibility, Corder identified the need to more explicitly define her own brand. She founded Apple Road, a boutique PR and media firm, to marry her PR skill set with the need she saw in the musical community for a honed approach to brand development.
Parallel growth: Kristyn and Jared moved forward with Underground at the same time, and Corder’s businesses mutually built off one another. She was careful not to negatively exploit the untapped potential of Underground. The last thing she wanted to hear, she said, was, “Here is Jared, who is doing this cool thing. And here comes his (then) girlfriend, Kristyn, who is going to brand it and market it.”
She wanted to maintain an accessible community feel as the tone for the brand she sought to sculpt. She took an organic approach to Underground, pinpointing new opportunities for growth while remaining true to the edgy, rock ’n’ roll feel of the original house shows.
That meant being especially selective with partnerships. While the Corders shied away from corporate entities, the pair saw an opportunity for media sponsorship with Lightning 100 radio as a good fit based on a shared demographic and commitment to indie cool.
The Corders independently fund Underground, paying each of the 20 bands in every festival’s seasonal lineup. Guests pay $25 for the entire weekend, running from Friday to Saturday night, including Saturday’s day shows. The upcoming festival will be hosted at The East Room on Gallatin Road on February 15 and 16. Past festivals have featured bands including Blackfoot Gypsies and Ravello, and Corder says attendance across seven seasons has grown from 100 to 1,500.
The Underground brand has evolved into a community experience, welcoming featured artists into an expanding Nashville-centric music family. This year the Corders will take 13 bands previously featured by East Nashville Underground to Austin’s South by Southwest festival, the ultimate music industry networking event, Corder says.
— Elayna Schranz
The Tennessean
Submit Next Up candidates — executives or business owners 35 and younger — to lwilliams@tennessean.com. Include background and contact information.
