Introducing new artists to the market was a focus of the Product Intelligence Tour on Music presented by EMI CMG's Les Coughran and retailer Gunnar Simonsen on Monday and Tuesday of the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS).

The retailers gathered for the workshop were presented with EMI CMG's new "Now Hear This" promotion, a multi-phase program exposing stores to singles from new artists before full albums are sold. Twelve new artist sampler CDs containing four or five songs each will be sold for $5, and the full 10-song albums from those artists will retail for $7.99. A 13-song sampler CD will release in the fall, and will also be available with the promotion for a retail price of $1.99.

Artists featured in the promotion include Sarah Reeves, Danyew, Josh Wilson, Phillip LaRue, Above the Golden State, Kristian Stanfill, Christy Nockels and Future of Forestry.

Coughran said the program emphasizes new artists because "if we don't break new artists, we don't have a future in music," he said.

Simonsen, general manager of the Christian Supply Centers in the Pacific Northwest, followed Coughran's presentation, sharing the benefits of social media in music promotion with the group.

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