Chris Brown has joined RED Distribution as Southeast Regional Director of Promotion, part of the companies new expansion and restructuring of its Promotion department.
Prior to joining the RED Distribution Promotion team, Chris was a salesman for Citadel Communications, where he was named ‘National Salesman of the Year’ for two years in a row. While at Citadel, Chris was also the co-host of Home and Castle Television for two years. Chris joins the Promotion team as Southeast Regional Director.
Others joining the team include Trina Tombrink (V.P. of Promotion & Artist Development), Melanie Scull (V.P. of Pop Promotion), and Franco Iemmello (V.P. of Rhythm Promotion); and promoting Brent Battles (Sr. Director of National Pop Promotion) – all overseen by Danny Buch (SVP of Promotion & Artist Development).
In announcing their new Pop Promotion team, RED Distribution becomes the only independent music company with singles charting at every radio format. Recent successes include Flume (Mom + Pop), Daya (Artbeatz), Shaggy (Brooklyn Knights) and Nelly (RECORDS, LLC) at Pop; Joey Bada$$ (Cinematic) at Rhythm; Keith Sweat (KDS Entertainment/RAL) at Urban AC; Ingrid Michaelson (Cabin 24) and Blue October (MRI) at Hot AC; Dirty Heads (Five Seven) and AWOLNATION (Red Bull Records) at Alternative; Sixx:A.M. (Eleven Seven) and HELLYEAH (Eleven Seven) at Active Rock and St. Paul & The Broken Bones (RECORDS, LLC) at Triple A.
RED Distribution is also the only independent company with multiple songs on the Pop radio charts – previously uncharted territory for Independent Label artists: Flume’s “Never Be Like You” just hit the Top 10 and Daya’s “Sit Still Look Pretty” currently is #12 and climbing. Daya is the only Independent label star to boast three multi-platinum charting hits in her debut year, with “Hide Away”/ “Sit Still, Look Pretty” (Artbeatz) and “Don’t Let Me Down” with The Chainsmokers (Columbia).
RED’s SVP of Promotion, Danny Buch, commented, “RED is breaking boundaries with our bolstered Promotion team. These newly appointed members will help increase our overall radio exposure, as well as position us better to compete alongside the majors at Pop radio. I am thankful for RED President Bob Morelli’s support as we welcome these new additions to our Promotion staff.”
Trina Tombrink – Trina spent the past seven years as the head of Triple A Promotion & Artist Development at Republic Records. She launched and developed artists such as Florence + The Machine, Of Monsters And Men, Lorde, Ben Howard and James Bay. She created radio marketing strategies for high profile releases such as Rolling Stones re-issues, Keith Richards’ recent solo album, Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder, The Avett Brothers and for the Oscar-winning documentary film AMY, about Amy Winehouse. Before Republic, Trina began her label career at Columbia Records, where she spent 17 years holding various positions in Promotion, including 10 years running the Triple A department. Over her many years at Columbia, she implemented the radio campaigns for Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, John Mellencamp, David Gilmour, John Mayer, Train and many others. Trina joins RED Distribution’s Promotion team as the V.P. of Promotion and Artist Development.
Franco Iemmello – Franco is an incredibly seasoned promotion executive. He began his career with Jelly Bean Publishing, moving on to Island Def Jam as National Director of Rhythm & Crossover promotion in 1993. While at Def Jam, Franco structured national comprehensive promotion campaigns by spearheading the introduction of newly signed artists to nightclubs, radio stations and DJs across the country. Following his time at Def Jam, Franco joined Warner Brothers Records in 2000 as the SVP of Rhythm & Crossover Promotion, where he led the setup and execution of national radio airplay for Warner Brothers, delivering the first #1 single at rhythm radio (with Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say”) since 1998. Following his position at Warner Brothers, Franco spent two years at Capitol Music, from 2012 to 2014, as VP of Rhythm & Crossover Promotion. While at Capitol, Franco played an instrumental role in marketing and promoting artist singles from Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez, Sam Smith and David Guetta to the millennial and post millennial demographics. Franco joins RED Distribution’s Promotion team as the V.P. of Rhythm Promotion.
Melanie Scull – Melanie Scull began her career at Capitol Records, where she spent nine years working with artists from Snoop Dogg to Coldplay and launched Katy Perry’s career. Melanie held various positions at Capitol Records, including Texas and Los Angeles Regional Promotion Representative and Sr. Director of Pop Promotion. Melanie then joined In2une Music, where she spent almost three years as V.P. of Promotion and Marketing. Last summer, while at In2une, Melanie made history by delivering the first #1 record by an independent artist to Pop radio with Major Lazer’s “Lean On.” Melanie joins RED Distribution’s promotion team as VP of Pop Promotion.
Brent Battles – Brent joined the RED Distribution Promotion team with ten years of radio experience at major market radio stations, and as an NTR specialist in Detroit, Minneapolis and Philadelphia. Following his beginnings as an NTR specialist, he spent seven years at Reprise Records as the National Director of Rock/Alternative Promotion. At RED, Brent initially handled the Southeast region, but was promoted to Sr. Director of National Pop Promotion after only nine months.
