Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassie Petrey. She and her team share their story with us below:
Cassie Petrey is co-founder of Crowd Surf, a leading marketing and music management firm working with some of the world’s most recognizable entertainers and brands.
Artists such as Camila Cabello, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, AJR, Leslie Odom Jr., Jimmie Allen, Eric Church, Guns n’ Roses, Duran Duran and many more have all turned to Crowd Surf for transformative marketing campaigns over the years.
Tech giants Apple and Google and labels such as Universal Music Group, Disney Music Group, Sony, Warner, BMG and Hollywood Records are also among past and present Crowd Surf clients.
Her multi-faceted company — co-founded with partner Jade Driver in 2007 — powers careers and businesses through organic connections with consumers.
Working with Crowd Surf teams in Los Angeles, Nashville and New York, Petrey specialize in custom marketing, social engagement, artist development and brand strategy.
Starting at age 17 as a college rep for Warner Music Group, Petrey was among the first in the music industry to recognize the vast marketing potential of nascent mid-2000s platforms Myspace and Facebook.
Her development of some of the industry’s earliest artist pages led to a full-time position in Warner’s Nashville office where she oversaw social networking campaigns for label stars, including Faith Hill and Blake Shelton.
“Artists should be where people are,” Petrey has long said of Crowd Surf’s chief goal. “Suddenly in 2008-09 everyone was on Facebook — but artists weren’t. The challenge was, how do we get artists on Facebook? How do we get Facebook to add artist pages with no limit on followers?”
Educating tech execs was second-nature to Petrey who credits much of her success to a simple idea: “I never stop thinking like a fan.”
It was her ‘tween admiration for the Backstreet Boys that led her, at age 12, to create Backstreet Asylum, a weekly newsletter that soon reached fans worldwide. Years later she was part of the team that introduced the guys to millions of next-generation fans, sealing the band’s decades-long superstardom.
Crowd Surf also works with numerous legacy artists and catalogs, devising digital strategy for the music of John Fogerty, Neil Diamond, Iron Maiden, The Supremes and many others.
Labels and estate managers for 20th Century greats Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry, Barry White and more also bank on Crowd Surf to ensure iconic works remain at the forefront of pop culture.
Crowd Surf’s founders have been named to power lists in both Variety and Billboard, as well as to Forbes’ annual “30 Under 30” feature. Petrey and Driver have been featured speakers at SXSW, New Music Seminar and other conferences, including the recent inaugural Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi featuring Hillary Clinton and other global pacesetters.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Two of my biggest challenges have been…
Staffing – Growing up, you learn “treat people as you want to be treated.” I learned the hard way that this is bad in business. Everyone in different, and we’re motivated by different things. We need to treat people how they should be treated, not how we personally want to be treated. There’s a pretty big difference.
Criticism and Control – Learning that it’s important to listen to learn, but that the only person who needs to be proud of you is yourself. Criticism, feedback, and trolls can be useful because you can see a perspective that you don’t have. However, the only person that has all the facts on your own personal experience with a situation is yourself. You can’t control how other people feel about you, but you can push yourself to do your best in every situation.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My business partner Jade Driver. We don’t agree on everything, but we agree on the big-picture stuff that really really matters.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.crowdsurf.net
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/cassiepetrey
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/cassiepetrey
