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You've never heard of Brandon Heath, but he wants to give you his phone number. And he wants you to call him. Seriously.

Heath, a new artist with Essential Records, wants to make himself—and his music—known. So when his debut album releases this fall, he'll include his cell phone number in the liner notes. For every fan who calls and leaves a message, he'll pick one per week and return the call for some personal chat time.

Call it a brilliant idea, call it a gimmick, call it whatever you want. It's just one of many strategies—some clearly defined, many of them not—for marketing a new artist in the already crowded world of Christian music.

The industry calls it trying to "break" an artist—doing whatever it can to help a new musician or band rise above the pack, create some buzz, and, ultimately, get noticed . . . on the radio, in stores, online, on tour. Wherever. Whenever. However.

Marketing a new artist takes a combination of skill (from publicity pros and promoters), hard work (for everyone involved, but especially the artists themselves), luck (and who can lasso that?), a good story (a junkie-to-Jesus testimony doesn't hurt), networking (it's nice when a superstar is on your side), and, maybe, divine intervention (though that's sorta like saying God wants one sports team to "win" and another to "lose").

Oh, and a schtick doesn't hurt. Like including your phone number on your CD.

Heath says a friend suggested the idea.

"I took it as a joke at first," he says, "but the longer we thought about it, the cooler it sounded. I'm on the phone all day long, so how much time would one more call take, especially if I could thank someone for buying my record? Obviously that couldn't be a daily dialogue, but it's a connection and a very cool opportunity."

Connections and cool opportunities are all part of a much bigger picture of marketing and promoting new talent, and we at Christian Music Today tried to get a better feel for that world by interviewing a number of artists and industry insiders.

The annual Gospel Music Week in Nashville is a whirlwind of activity—interviews, performances, showcases, seminars, parties … and lots of schmoozing.

For labels, it's a great opportunity to introduce their new artists to the industry, especially to radio and the media. This spring's GMA event was dominated by new artists; a copy of a heavily circulated April issue of CCM magazine boasted over 40 fresh faces, and that was just scratching the surface of the countless new artists arriving on the scene throughout the year.

So, how do you make one new artist stand out from the rest? Depends on whom you ask.

"Marketing new artists is a continually evolving process," says Brandon Ebel, president and founder of Tooth & Nail Records. "Thirteen years ago when the label was started, I didn't own a cell phone or an e-mail address, but now every child has a cell phone, Internet access and e-mail. Songs can be downloaded digitally and the market is always changing. You have to always be adapting with it, and it takes a lot of work."

For the artist, the leap from indie to a label can mean a constant workload of promotion and performance. The gig expands beyond a casual, recreational affair into a full-time mini-business on van wheels.

But that workload can be made a bit easier when you're on a good label, says David Josiah Curtis, vocalist/guitarist for Run Kid Run, a new band with Tooth & Nail.

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