Business Man – B.R. singer applies marketing savvy to the music industry

We all know Timberlake, and of course we know Bieber, but now it’s time to know the next Justin on the pop scene, Baton Rouge’s own Justin Garner

The vibrant, Plaquemine-born professional pop star-in-the-making has been crafting his talent since 2004. Armed with a set of pipes, polished pop tracks in the vein of Usher via David Guetta and a marketing degree from Southern University, Garner has been able to launch himself into career-changing opportunities with MTV and other musical powerhouses.

In April 2010, Garner was a featured artist on Myspace.com and from there was tapped by Sony/BMG/Japan to perform shows in Japan and the UK. While that may be a major feat for any independent artist, for Garner, it was only the beginning.

This past May, iTunes Japan promoted the single “We Rule the Night” from Garner’s I Am album (released in July), which prompted Amazon.com to name him one of the nine artists in its monthly Artists on the Rise spotlight—he was one of only two unsigned artists selected.

His online presence has proven crucial as his single “Runaway” charted No. 8 on iTunes Japan’s Pop/R&B and the album charted at No. 11 on Amazon.com’s Pop/R&B charts.

“I couldn’t believe it when it happened, but it came as no surprise to my distributors as they strongly believed in the success of my product and me as an artist,” Garner says.

But, while making waves online and overseas, Garner is no stranger to grassroots campaigning and local touring. His single “Cherry Bomb” is in rotation on New Orleans’s B-97, and he was one of the finalists in that station’s “B The One” contest this summer. Garner has cut his teeth opening for acts such as Trey Songz, Keri Hilson, Fantasia, Monica and Big Sean.

Most recently, Garner was included on the MTV.com/Artists database, which allows artists to share their content on the website for promotional purposes.

“The great thing is that only viable and notable artists even have MTV artist pages anyway, given that you can’t just create one freely. One had to be established by either the artist’s label or representative,” Garner says.

From there, Garner was tapped to perform in an online version of MTV Unplugged—shot at downtown’s The Roux House in November—and he also worked on a single, “Tom Tom,” which was released in early October and slated to be a part of MTV programming.

And, while all of this seems like a huge lucky draw, Garner wants artists to know that while talent plays a big part, much of his success is attributed to his marketing knowledge and music business savvy.

“It’s a business more than an art, and with the right marketing, you can sell anything. But you have to make them like you,” Garner says.

Garner’s next step? He is currently in negotiations with a Los Angeles-based label for a major label debut. justingarner.com