One of the most important things in almost any business, big or small, is its network of contacts. In the case of Easy Sound, the label I managed for about three years, we were no different. But, being separated by time zones and many state lines, it was hard to keep track of who we all knew, who talked to whom and what about. I tried keeping track in Asana and a simple google spreadsheet, but found that there were too many moving parts, and it was getting too cluttered.
Enter Airtable - basically a spreadsheet on steroids. I used it to build a database for all of our contacts, full of cross-referencing and all sorts of searchability. I was able to incorporate info and contacts across a number of fields, such as physical & digital retail, print and online press, in-person recording sessions, terrestrial and internet radio, etc. All of that was now in one place, and could be tracked back to specific releases. So - you could easily click on a release and see which independent retailers received promo goods (and what they were), which had been contacted for an in-store performance, what radio stations have been in touch and are supporting the record, what live session opportunities have been pitched .. the list goes on. This was a great place to keep tabs on ongoing conversations - so if I pitched for a certain band to hold an in-store performance in St. Paul, MN, my co-workers could see that and not double-up. This cross-referencing also allowed us to search broadly by “opportunity-type,” so if we wanted to see (for instance) all of the options for live sessions in the US, it’s a matter of a few clicks. Or all of the indie retailers in Minnesota. The sorting options are endless. The best part is you can view those lists, and quickly see who has supported what in the past, who is currently “in talks” about any of our artists, who has been pitched to multiple times and never responds…
At the risk of geeking out too much, I digress. Basically, I used Airtable to create the ultimate searchable and refinable cross-referenced contacts database for a modern company working remotely, in an industry that is changing all the time.