Thinking Beyond The Cube...
Greater Los Angeles Area
- Current
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- Founder/Editor-In-Chief at CWG Magazine
- Freelance Project Manager at Killer Cali
- Past
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- Business/Legal Affairs Analyst at The Walt Disney Company
- New Media Manager at Gorgeous PR
- New Media/Publicity Coordinator at Sabre Entertainment
- New Media Coordinator at Minty Fresh Records
- Publicity/New Media at Skank
- Marketing Intern at Eastern Illinois University Concert Board
- Education
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- Roosevelt University
- Recommended
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3 people have recommended Jim - Connections
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123
connections
- Industry
- Music
- Websites
Jim Markunas’s Summary
A natural promoter, Jim got his start shamelessly promoting local bands at the age of 15.
His passion for music and knack for promotion carried him through the college music scene, and landed him a gig working with SONOR, LLC on a state-wide advertising campaign for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Gaining his own local buzz for promoting bands, shock-rock outfit, Skank, recruited Jim to handle their publicity and street marketing. The notoriety of Skank landed Jim an internship with the ADA-distributed Minty Fresh Records.
After working New Media for roster artist, The Living Blue, Jim moved to Los Angeles, to get his start in the West-Coast music industry.
While making his mark in L.A., Jim handled personal appearances for music industry veterans Mick Fleetwood and Nicholas Gunn. He also promoted the late James Brown’s last concert appearance.
After the success of Nicholas Gunn’s “Beyond Grand Canyon Tour,” Jim was tapped by Gorgeous PR to head their New Media division. Helping to create the department from scratch, Jim wasted no time in securing a weekly TV show for Myspace celebrity Metal Sanaz on MusicPlus TV, introducing the band Truckee Brothers to world-wide internet radio, and helping Airplay Direct with their second “All Things Digital” competition.
Having a desire to learn the back-end of the industry, Jim spent a year working in the Music Royalties Department at the The Walt Disney Company. Jim handled royalty accounting for Walt Disney Records, Hollywood Records, Lyric Street Records, Miramax Pictures and Mammoth Records. In his time with the company, Jim helped reduce the royalty accrual by $10 million and helped implement several key work-flow processing solutions.
Jim Markunas’s Specialties:
Marketing, new media, music finance, publicity, advertising, music royalties.
Jim Markunas’s Experience
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Founder/Editor-In-Chief
CWG Magazine
(Music industry)
February 2008 — Present (1 year 10 months)
Founded CWG Magazine, an e-zine covering the trends in music from major to independent. By utilizing grassroots digital promotion through online social networks, was able to lead the magazine and its staff of 30 writers to a national audience of 24,000 readers. Our great content and readership led to established relationships with online advertising affiliates and an international readership.
•Supervise and manage a team of 30 notable and experienced staff writers.
•Partnered with Amazon and iTunes to increase affiliate advertising sales; significantly increased new media revenue for CWG, and all 4 major labels. -
Freelance Project Manager
Killer Cali
(Music industry)
December 2001 — Present (8 years )
Responsible for using my new media expertise to revolutionize client campaigns on a shoestring budget. In addition to creating and revolutionizing online presence for my clients, I put a special emphasis on setting up clients to bring in digital revenue and teaching clients how to make money off their brand in innovative ways through ad-supported models, affiliates and increasing sales efficiency.
•Designed new media plan for Walt Disney Records that would significantly increase digital revenue for the label group through affiliate ads, ad-supported music video revenue and pertinent point of sale/electronic sell-through processes.
•Rivaling Legacy Recordings' version of jazz legend Miles Davis' Myspace page, transformed the Miles Davis Estate's official Myspace into on online store; significantly increasing digital sales of catalog recordings and turning the page into a destination for Miles Davis news and products.
•Handled Myspace outreach and digital media planning for the late James Brown's very last concert performance; ran online contest for over 4,000 fans.
•Handled online press, street team management and traditional publicity for shock rock act, Skank. The coordination of street promotion and press increased concert attendance from 85 people to 475 per show. -
Business/Legal Affairs Analyst
The Walt Disney Company
(Public Company; DIS; Information Technology and Services industry)
August 2007 — October 2008 (1 year 3 months)
Significantly reduced phonographic record royalty accrual, solely managed and accounted for high-profile royalty accounts, including: Queen, Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, Atreyu, Indigo Girls, and solely managed and accounted for royalties for high-profile A&R executives, including Jon Lind, Doug Howard, and Jerry Bruckheimer. Also responsible for training new hires to brief complex agreements and prepare high-profile royalty statements.
•Analyzed/briefed over 500 artist, producer and master use license agreements for Walt Disney Records/Pictures, Hollywood Records, and Miramax.
•Reduced phonographic record royalty by $10,000,000 through analysis of agreements, data entry into Citrix-based royalty system, and income recovery processes.
•Presented plan to senior management to solve fragmented workflow processes; plan was implemented and successfully increased efficiency of workflow by 40%.
•Prepared training materials for future management and financial analysts. -
New Media Manager
Gorgeous PR
(Music industry)
February 2007 — August 2007 (7 months)
Responsible for leading media planning processes and implementation/analysis of marketing plans and brand initiatives, management of budgets, digital media planning and ad-buying. Managing all online marketing, publicity, Internet radio promotion, supervision of interns and new media coordinators.
•Formed strategic partnerships with the Truckee Brothers, AOL Music, SaveInternetRadio.org and 30 other internet radio stations for industry-wide "Save Internet Radio" campaign; this increased brand visibility for artist, and increased press leverage.
•Invented and implemented online promotional process that increased digital artist visibility through asset integration; artist impressions increased by 200%.
•Secured Myspace celebrity, Metal Sanaz her own weekly TV show on MusicPlus TV.
•Handled all digital and print advertising purchases for ad-buying division. -
New Media/Publicity Coordinator
Sabre Entertainment
(Music industry)
August 2006 — January 2007 (6 months)
Responsible for high-level client management and brand initiatives across digital, in-person, print, terrestrial radio, and TV platforms. In addition to handling all client new media initiatives, I handled TV, radio and personal appearances for Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac and Nicholas Gunn.
•Helped Launch Mick Fleetwood's wine label through radio appearances, Myspace outreach and multiple in-store appearances at Costco; sales and availability of wine increased from 10 units a month in one local Gelson's market to 30,000 units a month in multiple Gelson's stores and state-wide through a strategic partnership with Costco.
•Coordinated and managed regional network TV and Borders Books tour for flutist Nicholas Gunn; sales of "Beyond Grand Canyon" increased significantly along with press visibility. -
New Media Coordinator
Minty Fresh Records
(Music industry)
December 2005 — June 2006 (7 months)
Coordinated with Minty Fresh Records' in-house publicity department to further online presence and promotion for roster artists. Responsibilities included authoring strategic briefs for marketing initiatives, collaborating with publicity team on ensuring consistent brand representation across any and all digital platforms.
•Launched strategic partnership with Audio Lunchbox to increase digital record sales for The Living Blue.
•Created digital singles club to mirror Sub Pop Records' early 90s "Singles Club" in an online forum.
•Created, maintained, and "boosted" friends for all artist and label Myspace pages; added 1,500 Myspace friends per week. -
Publicity/New Media
Skank
(Music industry)
December 2004 — December 2005 (1 year 1 month)
Responsible for hyping shock-rock act, Skank, through the online and printed media.
Increased show attendance by 65% through organization of official street team.
Increased press visibility by 80% through Chicago publications, such as The Reader and Entertainer. -
Marketing Intern
Eastern Illinois University Concert Board
(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)
January 2003 — December 2004 (2 years )
Charged with increasing attendance to university concerts ranging from national touring acts to unknown independent artists. In addition to partnering with other student organizations, implemented a street team and digital outreach plan that utilized student websites and news groups.
•Increased overall concert attendance by 50% through implementation of street team and strategic partnerships.
•Partnered with local businesses to sponsor Everclear’s concert through community outreach on the streets and online; our team was able to sell out the show.
Jim Markunas’s Education
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Roosevelt University
Additional Information
Jim Markunas’s Websites:
Jim Markunas’s Interests:
music, walking the never-ending path to enlightenment, chillin'
Jim Markunas’s Groups:
NARIP
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Music Industry Forum -
Jaiku Users. -
Fanscape -
Twitter for Sourcing and Recruiting
Jim Markunas’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
