Established informally and separately as ITD Concerts August 2002 and The Rebourne Artists Network early 2003, Rebourne Entertainment took shape 2004 as a combined entity.  Still an unofficial volunteer effort operated by husband and wife team Bill and Holly Simmers, our internet resources are shared with Rebourne Strategies, our official Website development and hosting business (formerly known as Thunder Graphics Internet 1997-2003).

My husband Bill is the drummer for Crossway Worship Band here in Memphis and I was one of their primary songwriters for a while and sang with the band for 10 years. As we began to write and record our own music and seek opportunity to play in our community and sell it online or in stores, I began to see how impossible it seemed. So I took on the title of "Marketing Director" on a mission to see how far we could go if we gave it all we had and didn't take no for an answer or give up.

I visited a lot of venues, restaurants, gas stations, and other unlikely places for a gig or that might sell our CD's. And after a lot of rejects I realized that if only 20% of people are open to you then you just have to meet more people to increase the quantity! I walked around and around the walls of the music industry seeking cracks in the requirements of representation. Every time someone said "you can't do that without representation" we became more determined to create whatever company or entity we needed and represent ourselves and our a few new friends.

In August of 2002, ITD (Inspirational Throw-Down!) Concerts was born and our first free outdoor community concert featuring several Mid-south Christian artists from varied backgrounds was held outside a small restaurant called "Mr. T's Wings & More" in Bartlett, a suburb of Memphis. We also became hosts to the first CDBaby-sponsor Relay Tour called "TOUR BABY" making national headlines and hitting Memphis in October 2002.

But 1 month prior, in September 2002, I suddenly contracted an unknown rare strain of West Nile Virus with meningitis and polio-myelitis (severe muscle loss and paralysis) which almost took my life. (See my story on http://westnileinfo.info/about.htm)  I've had ups and downs in my on-going recovery but I came out of it with a sheer determination to "live out loud" and take risks to make a difference. I knew then more than ever that God is in charge of my coming and going and nothing can take me out before His time.

In early 2003, I made a commitment to God that any door He opened to Crossway, I would take everyone I knew through it so other bands would not have to do all of this from scratch every time, but could benefit from our breakthroughs and good or bad experiences. God has a great sense of humor because He took me up on that knowing at the time I knew about 9 other artists but He could introduce me to the world. By summer I had concerts scheduled all over town 2-3 times a week. They were all free and no one was getting paid, including our sound guys who were so gallant to spend their time and equipment on this mission. But everyone could it was the right thing at the right time for our city.

By the end of the summer we had 25 artists, then 40, and then we began hearing from many of you in other states saying "we don't have anything like this in our area, can we join Rebourne?" So our vision expanded to a national network of 75 Christian and positive music artists by Jan 2004 and 150 by that spring. Two years later there is an obvious new atmosphere and an outpouring of positive indie music in the streets.  Supportive welcoming attitudes towards Indies and Christian artists have developed in more venues and the organizations that rally and rule musicians in the area. We've even seen evidence of fresh air flowing back into the churches bringing new life and opinions to stagnating waters there.

In 2005, with over 250 artists nationwide, we felt compelled to create an Rebourne Radio (a live 24/7 internet radio station) to help our artists gain radio play. While listener support was strong in the beginning we soon found out most artists want to be played but they themselves seldom listened to it or rallied others to. So without that mutual support we had no reason to continue pushing the Christian indie format. But there was a strong cry from Memphis musicians for radio support they weren't getting from our local stations. So we converted ours to a wider span of music featuring Memphis area music.

Now, remembering our original goal to break down walls, bring artists together, and advance the whole indie 'revolution' focusing on positive impact artists, our focus changes about every 6 months so that we can continue to fill the greatest voids. As new support and opportunities come on the scene for indies, we turn our attention to where it is still lacking as we follow the trends. For instance, most indies didn't have a website 2002-2003 so we first created a large web presence for bands to be listed and found by each other, by venues, and by new fans. That was our forte and an obvious beginning to invest our talents in developing the scene. We had an online store for CD sales for a while but once the bigger stores became open to selling indie music, we took it down and began to funnel you to those websites.

But we also had to dig in and build relationships with venue owners and church leaders, to break down barriers, old perceptions, past experience and 'the way its always been done'.  We brought new vision to some, made it easy for them to test new ideas without a budget right away so they could see what works best for their area and audiences. And more specifically, we helped club owners and festival planners to reconsider adding Christian, positive perspective, family bands into the mix - those who can restore hope and vision to a community in the midst of war, poverty, disease and mass destruction. AND we helped church leaders realize the need to "chill out" and plan a few "no agenda" events now and then that just rebuild community relationships and allow people to have fun together in a safe, values reinforcing atmosphere without feeling the need to preach at people or accomplish something to brag about later -- like how many people they offended last night... [begin soapbox].

So... once venues became open to booking indies we turned our attention to promotion then radio play. As opportunities grew the venues required more credentials but most artists didn't have a decent demo and the digital media options online were not as many as they've grown to now.  So we wrote articles and vendor recommendations to educate artists on developing their craft, growing a loyal fan base, and working hard to promote shows, sell merch, and earn a record label attention - not wait for it. And now that quality recordings are more affordable and outlets to share, sell, and download them are massive, we are turning our attention to strengthening our relationships among industry and community leaders, to gaining venue partners outside of Memphis. We are also heading into our 2nd semester organizing booking for The Acoustic Spoon in Memphis and partnering with several festivals planners this fall.

We have also adopted our first 2 bands Perspective and Hey Heidi-Rae to take their image, branding, and online reach to the next level. There has also been a great need for distribution to stores across the nation in order to be considered for play on national radio networks, related royalties, and official recording credits considered for voting status in The Recording Academy (Grammy people). But this summer has been an amazing time for breakthroughs in all of those realms.

You see, we want to help you do well individually, but we also want to advance the entire collective of positive impact indie artists to make a bigger impact, as a whole in the common market. When it comes to distribution of your recordings, the key is to make yourself available to everyone whether they know you or not.  You should sell stuff on your Website for sure, but don't stop there just because it makes you the most profit. Get your music into every single crack in the wall, making it easily found by anyone who passes by in the outer world and might never make it to your site on their own. Leave the odds in God's hands, but do the work He's given you brains, feet and hands to do. And pleeeze don't wait on a label to do it for you - they are investors and they will choose artists who are already working hard!

Now one last thing, to be clear on who we target to work with. Bill and I have decided not to spend our free-time helping people share music that degrades the human condition or who are just in it for profit and have no ethics or camaraderie. But we do have a greater vision that just helping Christian artists sing about God to other Christians or evangelize the community, though there is beauty, depth and value in all of that. We especially want to be there for artists who have chosen to step outside the norm, beyond the security of church support, and perform in the common market. Performing music that encourages family values, real relationships, and hopeful answers to tough struggles, reinforces a sense of family and community. And people need to hear more about the better things in life that are so easy to loose sight of in these trying days of war, poverty, disease, disasters, and corrupt politics. We also expect our artists to show respect and gratitude towards churches and club owners who've chosen to bring you in, and to waitresses, other artists, fans, and the sound tech teams as well.

So I wish you all the best and hope to get to know more of you personally, even though we've grown to over 500 artists now. I personally take time to browse through every new band, vocal or instrumental group, rapper, songwriter or recording artist that takes time to register a profile online with us! If you haven't joined Rebourne yet, I hope you will today!  http://rebourne.net/joinrebourne.asp

Blessings,
Holly Simmers
Rebourne Entertainment
1102 Llano Cove
Memphis, TN 38134-7908