Rocking the Music World to Honor America's Heroes
My wife and I started To The Fallen Records when I finished my 4-year tour of active duty as a CPT in the US Army. While on Active Duty, whether it was in Iraq or in Germany, I saw how much musical talent was in the military, but it wasn't until I met Sidney and introduced her to these military musicians that we saw the need to get their voices out to the public. We tried all the conventional means of starting a business. We tried to get a bank loan through Coastway Credit Union as a start-up, but they said our business was too unconventional, i.e., not a traditional brick-and-mortar. We believed so much in our niche business, as the world's ONLY military record label, that we didn't take no for an answer.
We took out a home-equity on Sidney's home and with the money in our bank accounts, launched To The Fallen Records in January of 2007. After putting out our first release, a Hip Hop compilation CD with 14 original tracks by 14 different military artists, we starting getting massive nationwide exposure. The Boston Globe did a feature on us followed by the Associated Press. Money started coming in with sales in military stores, like AAFES, and online through our website; however, it was not enough to sustain our business. Not entirely trusting that the banks and lending institutions could see our potential, we then went to our family and friends for personal loans. Once the money started to dry up, we looked into partnering with a venture capitalist firm. Unfortunately, they wanted too much control over our business and we were not about to give it up without a last minute effort to get some traditional funding from a lending institution.
We then contacted Westerly Community Credit Union, where they took us in with open arms. They actually listened to our idea and saw its potential. They said our loan could be authorized under the new Patriot Express Loan program. In about 2 weeks, after minimal paperwork, discussions, and propositioning, we had the money to grow and expand our business. We were able to employ more professional resources, i.e. an extremely well-known publicist, an entertainment attorney that specialized in music, and an accountant who works within the music industry. With these new partners, we were able to get a feature on CBS Evening News, a feature in many military publications including Stars & Stripes, Military Times, and Soldier Radio & Television to name a few. The culmination of this process has been our feature in the Feb. 21st edition of the Rolling Stone.
Without the Patriot Express Loan we wouldn't have been able to exist as we are today. In December we released two more compilations, a Country CD and a Rock CD to nationwide critical acclaim, and also started releasing individual artist albums. We just partnered with AAFES.com to become a store in their online Mall, and we've been working on procuring contracts to be the military's official record label as well as various other ventures with the recruiting commands of all the services. As the only company of our kind, as well as a service disabled veteran owned small business, we have the advantage of being able to get set-aside contracts with various agencies within the DOD. This wouldn't of happened without the Patriot Express Loan and Westerly Community Credit Union. We are hoping to secure our second round of funding to expand our business into marketing, advertising and public relations for the military, which is a huge industry. Now we are uniquely positioned to do so
Every Company Counts would like to thank Sean and the service men and women of the American Armed Forces for their service and dedication to our country.