From left, James Hatem, Roland A/R representative; Yoshi Ikegami, president, Boss; artist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter; Julian Raymond, senior vice president of A&R and staff producer at Big Machine/John Varvatos Records; and Brian Alli, Roland's vice president of global influencer relations.

JULY 10 I ROLAND I OPENING
Roland Opens Nashville Artist Relations Center

Roland held a grand opening celebration for its Nashville Artist Relations Center, located within Love Shack Studios in Nashville's Music Row neighborhood, on June 27. The event, which was attended by leading members of the Nashville music community, included a ribbon-cutting ceremony that also kicked off Roland's activities around the Summer NAMM Show.

According to company representatives, the new center will be a hub for a variety of activities, including product support, social media initiatives, interviews, sessions and streaming events, photo shoots, gear demos and more. The Artist Relations Center is staffed with personnel specializing in Roland and Boss equipment, and the center is under the direction of Brian Alli, Roland's vice president of global influencer relations.

"The goal of all Roland and Boss artist relations is to support our family of artists on numerous levels, and our new Nashville Artist Relations Center will help reinforce our commitment to the artists, engineers and producers in Music City," Alli said. "When we approached Love Shack and explained that we wanted to better serve the market, they opened their doors for us, and we aim to have a positive impact with the Nashville community. The response to Roland coming in to Nashville has been really exciting, and we are looking forward to engaging with the ever-growing artist community from all genres of music. Additionally, we are grateful for our friends at Love Shack Studios and the Big Machine label for being instrumental in making this happen."

The opening of the center is part of an updated corporate artist relations strategy, following closely on the opening of a Roland Los Angeles Artist Relations Center in May. These facilities join other Roland Artist Relations Centers in Vancouver, Toronto, Berlin and Tokyo.

roland.com