Toni Towns – A Woman On The Move In Gospel Entertainment

Gospel Music is a profitable industry within faith-based entertainment. According toChristian Retailing, it’s global sales reached over $16 billion in 2012. Looking to get a piece of that is Toni Towns, Chief Operating Officer of St. Louis, Missouri based C-Note Entertainment, a faith based company gaining national recognition for its work with Gospel recording artists and faith-based events. She and husband Craig started C-Note Entertainment almost four years ago.

The Bethune Cookman University graduate, veteran vocal music teacher and mother grew up in Orlando, Florida. She says by age eleven she was singing and touring with the national recording choir, Florida Mass Choir. Towns believes this, along with 23 years of teaching voice in public schools, prepared her for a career in music entertainment. “In college, I always wanted to be a talent scout or be in an artist relations type of thing. And once I got married…my husband was interested in doing some of the same things…He actually started doing management with one of the choirs here in St. Louis, Missouri (Chris ‘N Kyle with True Spirit). We were both kind of doing it on our own as a free service…we enjoyed doing it…and we said, ‘Hey, why not get paid for our service?’ ” remembers Towns.

Besides being COO of her business (her husband Craig Towns is the CEO) Towns also handles artist relations, production, artist relations and event coordinating for her company. She is proud of their latest success story, God’s Chosen, a young female group C Note Entertainment manages. The group was recently featured in Essence as one of the top 15 gospel groups to watch.

Towns says it is because of C-Note’s teamwork and standard of excellence they are able to attract major clients, such as Black Entertainment Television (BET).Tiffany and Terry Price of Atlanta are part of the national C-Note team.

According to Towns, C-Note promotes concerts, books concert performances and produces live events. Their client list of high profile gospel artists and events they’ve worked with includes Grammy Award winning Christian recording artist Israel Houghton, Donald Lawrence, The Clark Sisters, and winners from Black Entertainment Television’sSunday Best,” the gospel version “American Idol.”  “We’ve done quite a bit…and we’re very excited about what God has done thus far.”

Towns said, “It’s tough being a woman business owner.”  To remain positive as she seeks to expand the business, she says she finds inspiration in others who started out as gospel singers and now own faith based companies. “I really admire The Clark Sisters, and Vicky Winans for their tenacity and longevity and how they built their empires.”

For more information visit  www.c-noteentertainment.com

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