Michael Brandvold is a freelance music marketing consultant based in Northern California. Having launched Michael Brandvold Marketing to leverage his years of experience to provide digital strategy to large and small clients in the areas of online & social marketing as well as e-commerce and fan acquisition and retention.

Gene Simmons of KISS first tapped Michael's skills as a pioneering online marketing strategist to launch and manage all aspects of Kissonline.com's multi-million dollar enterprise, including their ground-breaking VIP ticket program.

Michael has also managed the online efforts for Accept, Narada Michael Walden, Jordan Rudess, SOiL, Tantric, Killer Dwarfs, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Dream Theater, Andy Gibson, Alexa Carter, Greg Kihn, Little Caeser, Motley Crüe, Rod Stewart, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna and Britney Spears to name only a few.

Michael recently released his first ebook, KISS School of Marketing: 11 Lessons Learned While Working with KISS. He is also the founder and host of the following podcasts; The Music Biz Weekly, Rock Star Branding, Dropping The Needle and Three Sides of the Coin. He has cohosted and presented music marketing webinars and writes about his music marketing knowledge and experience on his blog at Michael Brandvold Marketing. 

Expression of one’s raw and primal self should not be an empty pursuit, but rather be one filled with unbridled passion. Introspection sometimes takes place in the parts of oneself that are kept private and quiet, shadowed by social conditioning that offers the deceiving sense of safety and sanity.
The voice of Empty Trail is loud, bellowing deep within the soul of the three-piece Hard Rock band that calls Austin, Texas its home. And Empty Trail wants its voice heard.
Singer/guitarist Rick Lambert originally began the concept of the band as a personal project during his stint in Los Angeles. After recording his first EP, entitled Obscured, while roaming the City of Angels, He decided to relocate to Austin after recruiting drummer Rom Gov and bassist Shane Wallin in the fall of 2016.
“I wanted something that sounded grungey but with a modern sonic appeal,” explains Lambert. “Bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains with an added twist definitely came to mind.”
Empty Trail received an overwhelmingly positive response after taking their act on the road, especially in their home state of Texas. High demand for more music prompted the group to enlist Kfir Gov to produce a brand new single, “My World,” which exemplifies the full embodiment of what Empty Trail is meant to be. Recorded at Evil Snail Studios in 2017, “My World” would prove to be a massive turning point. “It was essentially the sum of all the best parts of the band condensed in the greatest way possible,” says Lambert.
The success of their new single caught the attention of music industry aficionados Cristian Machado (Ill Nino), Johnny Z of Megaforce Records, and Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio, and with good reason. “My World” has more than 400,000 streams on Spotify alone, as well as continuous airplay on Rock stations across the United States.
Golden Robot Records also noticed the band’s meteoric rise, and quickly signed Empty Trail to produce a follow-up EP entitled Lost, featuring “My World” as a bonus track. The EP has been streamed over 700,000 times with the video for the title track surpassing 120,000 YouTube views.
Empty Trail takes pride on building a network of fans that they consider family. The band spends much of its time engaging with followers through Instagram and Facebook, while fans from all over the world have shown their appreciation by creating international online fan pages, hand- made artwork, and even covers of their music.
The wait between releases will soon be over, as Empty Trail’s latest single “Somewhere” is set to drop on music platforms worldwide on August 21st. Lambert explains, “This song is about hope, much like many of our songs. ‘Somewhere’ is about imagining a better outcome, dreaming for a better world. I think that type of reflection and introspection is pivotal to any kind of positive change

Followers of Brunno Dos Santos