Unstaged’s Rich Lehrfeld & Brad Minor – HuffPost 10.7.11

Mike Ragogna: Guys, what advice do you have for new artists?

Rich Lehrfeld: To embrace new technology and new ways to communicate, and be very vigilant in building up your fan base in unique and different ways. We have a very cluttered, fragmented, and busy world, and people have a lot of choices. So, people (should) really spend a lot of effort building relationships with fans, embracing new technologies, and embracing new ways of communication, and spending the time is number one. Of course, you have to have talent and a wonderful vision; but you also have to spend much more time figuring out how to engage fans.

MR: Brad, what about you?

Brad Minor: It’s all about building a community and really empowering fans to have a voice and feeling they are a part of their music career. So, for example, with the Unstaged series, it gives them that platform to say, “What about playing this song?” or “Can I view (it) from this vantage point? It’s all about having them be open to empowering their fans and engage in a dialogue with them.