Linda Coogan Byrne: Company founder and Director, Senior Publicist & Project Manager (Uk & Ireland)
Linda Coogan Byrne is the founder and director of one of Ireland’s most well-known and established Music Pr Company’s: Good Seed PR. Linda formed the company to give acts and label’s the chance to break new music and also give well-known acts a bigger push with a more sincere genuine approach. Being a musician herself when she started the company allowed her to have a vantage viewpoint and natural understanding of a band’s needs. She also plays a myriad of instruments herself and used to make them!
Linda has worked for over a decade for various world class record labels, both major and Independent, between 2010–2018. This also included acting as Label Manager in Ireland for Cooking Vinyl & Essential Music and Marketing (with sole responsibility for acts such as Alison Moyet, Amanda Palmer, Groove Armada, Underworld, The Prodigy, Billy Bragg, The Cult, The Proclaimers, Counting Crows and Suzanne Vega among many others). So far, Linda has worked in PR & label management overseeing a team of multiple freelance PR’s with responsibility for the entire international and domestic artist roster of over 500 acts and releases over the years for management companies, labels, publishers and acts and bands.
With a validated & well known track record of placing her clients on Ireland’s Top rated TV and radio shows and in National Publications (as well as the all too important Regional publications & radio stations), Linda firmly believes in being highly productive and is extremely results driven. Delivering integrated campaigns, within various platforms, allows her to connect with a target audience on her client’s behalf. She takes on board the visions of others and especially tries to keep informed of new technologies sweeping the online market; so as to not miss out any opportunities for her clients and to ensure she is always up to speed. Good Seed PR were the first Music PR company in Ireland to embrace and use Twitter & Facebook to cross-promote their clients. ‘Always on the ball’ as they say in Ireland!
Being a pragmatic PR agent with extensive experience across a broad range of areas within the industry, comes as a result of having worked in and studying: Music retail, Music technology, Musical Instrument construction (where she studied as a Luthier designing and constructing Harps and stringed renaissance instruments – she can even play over 11 instruments herself), Online Marketing, Event & Talent management, Event promotion, PR & Marketing.
Being the company director puts Linda in charge of the day-to-day business affairs of GOOD SEED PR in both the UK & Ireland. She co-ordinates and project manages all campaigns with artists, bands, labels and management. She also works as an agent for various Music Supervisors around the world and pitches music for ad/film placement. Linda believes in going the distance for every band/client/label and will only work with acts and labels she believes in. Linda has worked with high profile international Indie and Major Labels bands and acts such as Amanda Palmer, Joss Stone, Alison Moyet, Duran Duran, REM, The Prodigy, Groove Armada, Underworld and more. Where her passion lies is working with new bands starting out and guiding them on how to establish themselves and create a buzz around their music.
Linda also worked for Pure Sync Inc, acting as the Irish imprint. Working with them in Ireland on the Newstalk Radio station campaign ‘Move The Dial’ which was broadly successful. Pure Sync Inc is a forward-thinking music synchronisation agency & music publishing company. With over a decade of experience, the Pure Sync team delivers a time efficient and cost effective turn key creative music solution for Advertising Agencies (Brey Leino, BIG, M&C Saatchi, Mother, Mc Caan etc.) TV, Film & Gaming production companies (Endemol, Thumbs Up, Fulwell73, Metrodome, Monkey etc.), around the world. Previous clients include IKEA, ITV, AXA, ESPN, Volkswagen, BBC, Dominos Pizza, O2, Land Rover, Lexus and many more leading brands and companies.
In her spare time: Linda studies Advanced Anatomy and Physiology as well as delving in Art. You can check out her work here. She also contributes to various art, music and food blogs and magazines. She is a qualified as a Nutritional Therapist, with plant based protein at the forefront along with a broad understanding of Food Science and Epigenetics. She is now studying Advanced Anatomy & Physiology. She was chosen to be a Climate Ambassador, one of the first in the country to be selected. She has been interviewed herself in International, National and Regional newspapers, magazines and e-zines, talking about her work ethos, music and healthy living. She regularly gives lectures in various Colleges and Universities that focus on young entrepreneurs and women in business.
Hobbies; Playing and listening to music. Cooking. Food Blogging and learning about Nutrition and how to be environmentally friendly. Drawing and painting. Reading and generally being nerdy whilst maintaining an air of cool.
If Linda was stuck on a Desert Island: her must have items would be: her Ukulele and a Banana because everyone knows Bananas stay in your system for a few days and are a slow digestion carb.
Kevin Murray – Radio, Press and Online Plugger
Kevin Murray has been involved in events, the arts and the music industry for over 20 years. He began when he was 16, organising local concerts for his and his friends bands. With a blossoming love of music and the arts he went on to study music in Derry and then followed that with 2 more years in Glasgow gaining a HND in Audio Production. The years following he was consistently involved in small-scale events. Working with venues and artists to host a variety of single or album launches or charity events.
After gaining an abundance of experience in small-scale events, in 2011 Ryan Sheridan asked him to join his team. Over 4 years he worked with Ryan touring Europe several times, supporting Rea Garvey and with Ryan’s own headline tour. On these tours he gained invaluable experience working with managers, artists and agents.
In 2014 he decided to return to college and enrolled in BIMM Dublin. Basing himself in Dublin allowed him to start his own musical project and he formed Pine the Pilcrow. Since forming in 2015 he has put his industry knowledge to work and Pine the Pilcrow have toured Ireland extensively at a variety of arts festivals, support shows and headline shows, playing 4 stages at Electric Picnic in 2016. Through networking and producing high quality work they have been covered in many of Irelands leading publications such as The Irish Times and Hotpress, while also been covered regularly by Irelands leading blogs Nialler9 and The Last Mixed Tape as well as working with radio stations such as BBC NI, RTE Radio, Dublin City FM, Near FM, 8 Radio, KLCR to name a few.
Working on his own project on top of event management and tour management has given Kevin a full scope of what’s needed to organise and promote events and releases from the bottom up. Like Linda, Kevin’s background in music and being in a band lends an inside understanding to the client.
Niall O Halloran – Artist Liaison & Promo officer .
Niall is the newest member of the GoodSeed team. Having finished the Hotpress Mix Six Course in Music and Media Promotion, Niall was ager to join the team. Like Linda and Kevin, Niall is also a singer/songwriter (hailing from Limerick City) with a panache for behind the scenes of the music industry too.
His keen interest and passion in understanding how events and album releases worked lead him to working behind the scenes at many events over the years and on various music projects, his most recent being the incredible Memorial event put on in Limerick for Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries.
Growing up binging to the records of soul powerhouses Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke, Niall knew his path would always be within the entertainment industry as both performer and Artist Liaison officer for on the ground promo events and media bookings.
Hobbies: Listening to soul music, playing piano, singing, writing and performing.
If Niall was stuck on a desert Island his must have items would be… Piano with a long battery life and his phone, hopefully with a decent internet connection.