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| About the founder: Craig A. Mason's involvement in the Christian music scene began when as a teen in 1985 he accepted Christ at a Petra concert in Hagerstown, MD. Experiencing first hand the power that music could have in changing a life, he realized that he had to one day be involved in Christian music on some level. While in college, Craig started a Christian Rock show on the campus radio station at Shippensburg University. A few years later he became an on-air personality at WVMM in Harrisburg/Grantham, PA and had a highly popular Friday evening show. During this time Craig was employed at a design/marketing firm when Charlie Peacock quite unexpectedly contacted him via email. Craig and Charlie exchanged a number of emails about Macs, music and interactive content. A few months later Charlie flew Mr. Mason to Nashville as a consultant to help with the setup of Re:Think Interactive. While in Nashville, Craig met another Craig... Craig Hansen, who at the time was a producer/engineer for Charlie Peacock Productions. Mr. Hansen offered Craig a position as Creative Director with his newly formed company NetCentral, which was the first Christian Web Portal. NetCentral's offices were located within the CCM Communications building, which allowed Craig an incredible amount of exposure to Christian artists and label reps. While working in the CCM Communications offices, Craig gained a reputation for recognizing independent Christian talent and artists began sending him their materials. One of these artists, Caedmon's Call, was submitted by their then manager, Kirby Trapolino (founder of Grassroots Music). Knowing he was hearing something special in their first project, "My Calm/Your Storm", Craig began taking the band's music around to various labels. He got the same story at each label: "They sound great, but we couldn't market that sound." Craig then decided to start a Web site to promote Caedmon's Call and other indie artists he had discovered; that is how unsigned-indie.com came to be. Craig began freelancing on the side, creating album covers and enhanced CDs for various record labels and artists. His freelance work then led to starting his own business, Craig A. Mason & Associates. After less than two years in business he had garnered two Dove Awards for Enhanced CDs created for Michael W. Smith and Ginny Owens and four Dove Nominations for other Enhanced CDs and Album Covers for artists such as Plumb, Steve Green and Fluffy Vs. Fantasmic. A few years later, while working in the graphics department at Benson Records, his unsigned-indie.com site was discovered via word of mouth by the newly created musicforce.com. They contacted Craig and offered him a position as Director of Independent Artist Relations and he was put in charge of indieforce.com. During that time, he started Indieforce Radio, began writing indie reviews for Christian Single Magazine and helped organize Indiefest 2000 in the Washington, DC area. Little did he know that the Vice President of Word Records had been checking out his work and became very much interested in what he was doing with indieforce. In early 2000 he was contacted by the then VP of Word, Elisa Elder and soon after was offered an A&R position at Word Records. Craig immediately began working to sign his favorite indie band downhere. Downhere were his first signing and garnered a New Artist Of The Year nomination at the 2001 Dove Awards. Craig also signed and A&Red veteran artist Wes King to Word Artisan, and was then given a Squint Records band called 38th Parallel, whom he A&Red in late 2001. 38th Parallel were nominated for Best Rock Album Of The Year at the 2002 Doves. Other artists Craig worked with at Word/Squint included Kelly Mintor and Sarah Masen whose project he was working on when Word/Squint was purchased by Warner Brothers. As is the case with most label buyouts, a majority of the label's employees and artists were severed. Craig was one of those casualties. Craig is currently in a Marketing position in Nashville and still has his business on the side. His desire to help the Christian Indie artist remains as passionate as ever which is why indieforce.com is and will remain a top priority for him. |
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Quotables: "Craig Mason has a list of accomplishments that would make him an asset at any company. Working with Craig on What Matters Most was the best record making experience of my career." "If it wasn't for Craig and his perseverance in pursuing us as well as his representation and support of us to our label home, I honestly don't believe we would be where we are today. I was often humbled throughout the signing and recording process at the lengths Craig would go to to ensure that we (as his artists) were taken good care of and treated well. Whether it was letting us crash at his place during our very first few days here in Nashville or helping get website glitches figured out, Craig was always willing to help out and go the extra mile..." "Since the first day I met Craig Mason his support for us has never wavered. When Craig finds something he believes in he'll give his all to make sure that "thing" is successful. If I ever have any questions about the independent music scene Craig is the man that I go to first. If we meet another act on the road chances are that somehow Craig already has their disc and remembers listening to it and is able to tell us a little about them. His experience with running unsigned-indie.com and his computer savvy make him a valuable guy to have around for any record company!" "Craig Mason has a unique set of skills that any company would find particularly useful in this brave new age of making music and finding artists. He has remarkable Internet savvy and computer knowledge (only Steve Jobs knows more about Apples.) His work on his indie site reveals his web artistry as well as his initiative in discovering new artists and helping them find their voice. Downhere is a prime example of his industry in looking far and wide for exceptional talent. And he loves it. You can't teach passion." "Craig's enthusiasm for his work is sparkly and full of hope. My experiences working with him have always included a genuine excitement and drive for getting my music out there for people to hear. For this I am grateful." "The unusual combination of creativity, technical savvy, and maturity make Craig Mason an invaluable asset to the CCM industry during these pivotal days. His commitment to substance and style, vision and practicality, orthodoxy and orthopraxy is altogether refreshing." "Several years ago, when my firm was representing Musicforce.com, I told the executives there about a friend of mine who designed and ran this incredible website called unsigned-indie.com. I told them that they needed to hire Craig Mason because he would add a unique dimension to what they were doing at Musicforce.com. When they met Craig, they immediately agreed! Craig has an uncanny ability to scope out the fresh talent before others are aware of it, and he knows how to nurture that talent and create a buzz around it. Craig Mason would be a great asset to any company." |
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