On the eve of the 2009 CCMA weekend in Vancouver, Ron Kitchener, President / CEO of the RGK Entertainment Group is happy to announce the hiring of Tracy Martin to the position of General Manager, effecive Oct. 5. Martin will work out of the Toronto office.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Tracy on board as our General Manager for RGK Entertainment Group,” remarked Ron Kitchener.  “Her limitless energy, passion and industry insight has always impressed me since her days with CMT and recently with MTV and Much Music. Tracy is the ideal person to come on board and strategize with me as we continue our efforts toward a new chapter of creative artist development.”
After 10 years in Music Television, Head of Consumer and Digital Marketing for the Much MTV group, Tracy Martin is making the move to RGK Entertainment. Tracy brings a decade of leadership experience in building music brands in the television, digital and live event sectors. Tracy was originally hired to launch the MTV brand in Canada and was quickly promoted to Senior Manager and then Director. There, she led her team through a merger of the MTV and MuchMusic brands as well as the launch of MTV2 in Canada. Before joining the Much MTV group Tracy worked for CMT for 6 years working on event marketing, production and creative which led her to a Manager position on the Marketing team.
“I am thrilled to be joining Ron and his team. I have been a long time fan of the company’s artists, creativity and drive,” Tracy Martin commented. “With my years working with multi platform companies and in music television, I look forward to enhancing RGK’s business by building upon their great accomplishments.”
About RGK Entertainment: Launched in 1992, Ron Kitchener established RGK Entertainment Group as a concert promotion and event marketing company. By early 1994, RGK had evolved into an artist management driven company, with Kitchener managing then up-and-coming country star Jason McCoy. Since that time, Ron has led his team to all new heights as a multi-faceted company, with offices in both Toronto and Nashville.
With a global focus, RGK Entertainment Group has become a highly regarded and innovative force in today’s competitive entertainment industry. The umbrella of RGK Entertainment Group now encompasses the full service management roster, Open Road Recordings – Canada’s Independent Label of the Year for 2004, 2005, and 2006, Roots Three Music – a growing domestic and international publishing division, DART Events – a touring events planning company, Road Angel Entertainment – a marketing services division led by Jill Snell and RGK One Shot Productions – a television production and development company.
RGK remains strongly focused on artist management. Having won Manager of the Year eight times at the Canadian Country Music Awards, Kitchener’s management style and business acumen has built his roster to include 2009 Juno Country Recording of the Year winners Doc Walker; young up-and-comers Tara Oram and Steven Lee Olsen; and gold selling Juno Award winning roots artist Corb Lund.
Open Road Recordings, of which Kitchener is President, is a partnership with MapleCore Limited. It has been Canada’s premiere country and roots label since opening its doors in late 2003. With three platinum selling releases and three gold selling releases, Open Road is home to domestic acts Johnny Reid, The Road Hammers, Prairie Oyster, Doc Walker, The Higgins and Tara Oram, as well as Canadian label home to Big Machine and Valory Music artists Taylor Swift, Reba, Jack Ingram, Trisha Yearwood, Jewel and Emerson Drive. In early 2009, Open Road Recordings raised the bar, scoring seven of the top ten selling albums on the Canadian country charts and surpassing the 1,000,000 mark in sales!
Roots Three Music, RGK’s publishing arm co-ventured with ole music in 2006, is dedicated to developing song writing talent both domestically and internationally. Roots Three has a diverse catalogue with cuts by Craig Morgan, Jessica Harp, The Road Hammers, Doc Walker, Swedish superstar Jill Johnson and 2007 runner-up Canadian Idol Jaydee Bixby.
RGK One Shot Productions is the television production and development division of the company. “Meet The Wilsons”, the company’s first official production, debuts September 20th on CMT.
DART Events recently produced and toured the inaugural 2009 CMT on Tour featuring Canada’s brightest new stars touring seventeen shows across Canada in May and June.
