Cory Marks Who I Am
Friday, August 7th saw Canadian star Cory Marks make his debut on Better Noise Music with the release of his album WHO I AM. The album has been acclaimed by critics and fans alike, resulting in Top 5 iTunes chart entries all around the world.
"In a year where rock music struggled to find its footing on the album and song charts, a hard-rock and country crossover from newcomer Cory Marks has been a breakout success" – Billboard Magazine
Cory Marks was humbled by the result, "I'm so grateful to the staff at Better Noise Music for their planning and guidance leading up my album release. The support from radio, social media and from all my new fans has been incredible to see. Even though my tour with Gord Bamford was cancelled due to covid, I can't wait to get out and tour behind this album".
Marks recorded with award-winning producer Kevin Churko. The two worked together in Churko's Las Vegas studio, capturing the energy and electricity of Cory's live show. It was a natural partnership. Like Cory, Kevin had grown up playing drums, eventually expanding his career to include collaborations with country artists like Shania Twain and rock icons like Ozzy Osbourne.
"We both appreciate country music greats like Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, but we love the heavier side of rock & roll and metal, too," Cory says of his producer and mentor. "We decided to mash it all together. It's funny, because when I was growing up, my favorite records were Ozzy records. I dreamt of having that kind of production on one of my own records. Sure enough, seven years into my career, I've partnered with the producer who worked on all those albums. What a cool circle."
Melanie Rodriguez, Director, Product Management at Better Noise Music explained the data was spiking on Cory. "We knew we had something special when Cory Marks debut track "Outlaws and Outsiders" (ft Ivan Moody, Travis Tritt and Mick Mars) started showing up on the top 10 USA discovery Shazam charts alongside pop, R&b, rock and alternative acts like Black Eyed Peas, Billy Joe Armstrong and G-Easy, Cory Marks was engaging every time people heard the song, they reached for their phone and shazam'd it".
The project grew through the spring into summer, with Cory dropping videos for "Better Off", followed by another video for "Blame it on the Double", then came"Devil's Grin" and lastly the instant Country classic "Drive". The album had a surprise for fans, as on album release day a video for album track "Out in the Rain" featuring Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, one of the stand-out tracks on the album.
Rose Slanic, GM Better Noise Music and MD Canada explained the plan for Cory's release,"The roll-out for the project was focused on building the audience through engagement with tracks and content releases, so that country radio could confidently add Cory Marks to their playlists. We had built an audience that we could show to programmers to put them at ease about the tracks - they were engaging and out-performing other tracks on the playlist. Outlaws and Outsiders went top 10 active rock as a result, #1 rock in UK and #3 in German rock radio."
DSP partners supported Cory on day of album release with adds at Spotify to New Music Friday Canada, Rock Rotation, Live Country, Just Rock!, Apple Music's New Music Daily, Soundcheck, Broken Down, Breaking Hard Rock, Today's Country, Canada's Country, Country Caffeine, Country Risers and Back Porch Country, Amazon Music's Acoustic Chill, plus cover image and adds to Introducing Country and Breakthrough Rock, with Pandora adding to Country Rock radio, Acoustic Country Radio and Backroads playlist.
"The plan does not stop at album release…" added Lisa Buckler, CMO Better Noise Music,"Cory's music has been chosen by the directors to be in 2 upcoming film releases. "Outlaws & Outsiders" is included in SNO BABIES movie (out 29th September – Director Bridget Smith), a powerful film that deals with the topic of substance use disorder, and then into 2021 Cory's song "Blame It On The Double," will appear on the soundtrack of another Better Noise Films movie, THE RETALIATORS."
Joe McFadden, Chief Commercial Officer, Better Noise Music has been tracking the pre-orders and week 1 sales and knew BNM had a winner on their hands, "The charts in Cory's home market of Canada (#3 country, #4 all genres), and across the border in the USA (#2 country and #7 all genres), back up the audience building strategy, and the global roll-out of the plan resulted in top 5 charts country charts in Australia (#2 Country), UK (#3 Country #1 most played radio rock track) and top 20 charts in iTunes all genre categories including Itunes GSA territories (#15 All Genres and #3 Rock Radio)."
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