The Marketing Musician: From Business Printing to Passion Project
Leslie Rich // Rocket Soul Choir
Like so many in the music industry, singer, songwriter and guitar player Leslie Rich’s story includes a day job that supports his passion. Initially leveraging Smartpress products for his employer’s business printing, Rich now composes print marketing collateral for his passion, too.
Playing with Print
Forming the band Rocket Soul Choir in 1994, Rich has been playing and performing for decades. Hailing from Northern Ireland, he emigrated to Minnesota in 2004 and officially became a citizen in 2017.
At the nonprofit Living Word Christian Center, Rich has printed a wide array of marketing pieces. That first-hand experience of business printing gave him the tools to create a lyric book with a perfect binding, square-shaped thank you postcards and unique pin backers out of custom business cards for Rocket Soul Choir.
We chatted with Rich about his online printing path, making design and format choices with his wife and how print not only boosts awareness about the band, but also connections among fans.
From Day Job to Dream
How has your business printing experience for Living Word Christian Center influenced your printing decisions for Rocket Soul Choir?
Leslie Rich: “Living Word has a large amount of print jobs from week to week and it has given me the opportunity to essentially pre-test print solutions for my own project.”
How does your print design process for Living Word differ from your process for personal projects?
“This is an interesting question, as the process just happens to be the exact same! Jen Rich is both the lead designer at Living Word and my wife. We work directly every day on print projects. She was instrumental in pulling the design and illustration ideas together to create a cohesive suite of products for this album (‘The Butcher Boy’) release.
“We’re inspired by other husband/wife design teams [and] are sounding boards for each other’s creativity, switching roles between designer, project manager and client, as needed.”
Did any strategies, from paper stocks to finishing, translate from Living Word projects to Rocket Soul Choir ones?
“Absolutely! I could confidently gauge how fans of the band would react to certain printed pieces based on the real world feedback from clients at Living Word.”
A Kickstarter campaign helped your promotional pieces come to fruition. Tell us about it.
“We had completely funded the recording portion of the album and were wrapping up planning of the release when we had an opportunity to work with a publicist, which of course, costs money.
“The band started to come up with creative ideas for how to pay for this crucial bit of help. That led to a number of ideas that made crowdfunding sound really fun. We created a ton of content to keep our fans engaged and employed a ‘street team’ that would regularly share and repost content online.
“The quality of rewards and the pre-planning of social content is what allowed us to be 67% funded within the first two days. The campaign was ultimately funded 140%.”
Advertising & Albums
What are your creative priorities when designing print for Rocket Soul Choir? What was the vision for this particular project?
“The priority is always to create quality products that show we take what we do seriously. As independent musicians, we feel it’s important to give the music the best chance to make a great first impression.
“We also think it’s important to create a story even before the music is played. This is why we build the visual aspect of each recording – so the album art and merchandise are cohesive.
“The design for ‘The Butcher Boy’ grew out of an illustration I did of a pig, independently of the song and the album. Once it was completed, I started to see how it could be the basis for assets surrounding the album, which at that time hadn’t been named.”
PERFECT BOUND BOOK: 100# COATED MATTE WHITE COVER WITH 100# TEXT INTERIOR PAGES, 5 X 7″
Why did you want to create a Lyric and Story Book with Perfect Bound Booklets?
“We created the lyric book to not only share the lyrics to the songs, but also tell the story about them and us. We also included stories behind the recording and recipes of the meals that fueled the sessions.
“I was a chef long before I emigrated to the U.S., and Pete (the drummer) is a fantastic home cook – baking and cooking is another creative outlet for us. Mealtimes at the studio were a great way to unwind and bond, and therefore integral to making the record.
“We wanted to let our fans in on the process and so provided this book as one of our Kickstarter rewards.”
Why did you choose the perfect bound format for your booklet printing?
“I wanted this book to live on fans’ bookshelves as a reminder of us and this record. In my mind, being perfect bound, the spine would be clearly visible no matter where it was placed. We also felt it [was] a little more ‘substantial’.”
POSTCARDS: 130# UNCOATED SMOOTH COVER, 4 X 4″
You personalized Postcards in a really cool way. What was the idea behind your Lyric Postcards?
“I wanted to hand write personal and direct thank yous to everyone that helped fund the Kickstarter campaign. The idea for the designs came from an illustration I did of a cage fighter shouting.
“When I showed it to Jen, I said it would make a funny illustration to go along with the lyric, ‘One of us is shy and won’t say a word,’ from a song on the album called ‘If Love is Nothing Wrong.’ I came up with other funny or sardonic illustrations to go along with the remaining songs. They became the postcards [and] they’re included in every shipment.”
Why did you choose the Uncoated Smooth – White stock and 130# cover weight for your custom postcards?
“To literally lend weight to it. We were incredibly grateful to have been funded so successfully and so quickly. It [was] important to us that our fans felt everything they received was of a high standard.”
Tell us about your experience using our Versions feature for your postcard printing.
“Versions is a great tool that Smartpress provides. I’ve used the feature many times in my day job and with the Lyric Cards all having the same specifications, it made perfect sense to utilize it.”
You turned custom Business Cards into pin backers – and even added a fold. Where did that creative idea come from?
“This was actually a fantastic idea that Jen had. With so many people downloading music, having a physical CD isn’t as important as it once was. At the same time, selling a download card on the website or at a show just doesn’t feel substantial enough.
“Jen always wanted to create enamel pins, so her idea was we could create a pin and the backer card would contain a download code. It gives our fans the feeling of paying for something they can hold in their hand or wear to show their support.
“The fold was a very basic security measure to protect the code until purchased. It also helped us create a mini reveal, much like you would when opening a CD case or record gate fold.”
“We knew that Smartpress was capable of matching our choices.”
Your designs feature very specific colors and detailed graphics. How was the proofing process for you?
“With Jen and I regularly being the proofers and approvers of projects at Living Word, we already knew what to expect. One of Jen’s strengths as a designer and illustrator is her eye for color and building color palettes.
“Although the illustration dictated those colors somewhat, it required something that would translate across multiple vendors using multiple mediums. We knew that Smartpress was capable of matching our choices.”
In Tune & On Target
How did this print initiative help you achieve your strategic goals? What feedback have you received from your fans?
“We wanted to create something cohesive that would be quickly recognizable amongst the noise of other music releases and to engage our fans. The speed in which our Kickstarter was funded, the increased engagement on our social channels and our rising success on streaming platforms have all shown that our fans are connecting, despite the band being limited to online promotion.
“I have no doubt when we start performing live again later this spring, that the physical merchandise will really come into its own.”
What impresses you most about an online printer like Smartpress?
“Consistent quality. I knew that going into this project, but it holds a little more weight when it happens to be a project you’ve poured all your creativity into.”
Tips & Tricks for Business Printing or Passion Projects
Whether you’re leading the team or leading the band (or both), use these helpful hints to create brilliant print with our online printing services:
- Complete your custom book printing with shrink wrapping. It’s a great way to keep product catalogs and lookbooks organized and protected until you’re ready to use them.
- Add unexpected excitement to business printing with perforated marketing postcards. Create tear-off loyalty cards, instant RSVPs, custom drink tickets and more.
- Make a memorable impression with Soft Touch laminate on personalized business cards. This sensory, suede-like finish ensures your cards stand out among the crowd.
Dive into other business printing wins and passion project progress:
