Eric Stone is an individual who has been involved in many ways throughout the music industry both in bands and behind the scenes. Eric was recently enlisted as the marketing director of PeaceTones, which is an organization doing great things. The organization is dedicated to helping artists who live in difficult environments across the world to spread their music, among other things. We typically use our Showcase feature for unsigned bands, but we thought this would be a great exception for everyone to find out more info behind the organization. Read the full Showcase below!

Can you detail how exactly PeaceTones began and how you got involved in it?
I became involved in PeaceTones by chance. I was seeking to take a class on Law and the WWW, but needed the professors permission to do so. I sent the professor an e-mail, and he noted my e-mail signature which lists the bands with whom I work. I soon found myself in a meeting with this professor who happened to be the founder and President of the Internet Bar Organization, and the the Executive Director of IBO. We spoke about my experience in the music industry, and my education at Berklee College of Music. PeaceTones is an organization started and almost entirely run by brilliant lawyers. I like to think that I provide a different perspective on the music industry, more based in marketing, trends, and consumer expectations.
 
PeaceTones itself is an initiative of the Internet Bar Organization, which is a non-profit that seeks to use the internet to promote legal and economic justice for all people. In doing so, the organization realizes that many places in the world lack internet access and therefore the ability to access markets online, so they apply their resources to furthering this cause. PeaceTones is an extension of this goal. Our mission is to help find a solution to poverty by supporting talented and hardworking artists living in remote and developing communities through the use of digital media and marketing and legal education on artists’ rights.
 
The first album that PeaceTones put together was from Ato Periferico, a hip-hop group from the favelas of Recife, Brazil that writes, records, and choreographs original music and performances. That album was released in August of 2009 and since this time the group has risen to perform across the globe in front of enthusiastic and eager fans. They have become quite popular in their home of Brazil, making all of us at PeaceTones quite proud.
 
Since then we’ve released albums from groups out of Sierra Leone and Haiti. Our most recent project was our Haiti Sings competition. We conducted the voting for this project exclusively through facebook, and received an overwhelmingly positive response. The winner was to receive their first studio recording and a tour of venues in Boston and New York. Wanito is that winner, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have him in the United States performing and recording his album.
 
You’ve worked with primarily bands in the punk-realm before, so what’s driven you to work with the organization?
I have a number of passions in my life. They are music, technology, teaching, and exacting change. I have been involved with non-profits before, and even organizations that were run by musicians but none that were music focused. When I was introduced to PeaceTones, I realized that in the organization was an opportunity for me to combine my passions. I had to jump at the chance.
 
PeaceTones offers quite a bit. We do not just find musicians, and help them record to release the music on iTunes. We provide support to artists from developing nations, helping to build their careers while they give back to the community. Ninety percent of artist sales go back to the musicians and their community’s development goals. We train our artists on their legal rights and marketing techniques, and distribute their music internationally.
 
Who else is involved in PeaceTones so far, and how can others become involved?
I have gotten a tremendous amount of support from the people I have met in the music business. On the recent I Call Fives/With the Punches tour, I was welcomed along to promote PeaceTones at the shows and hand out information and stickers. As time passes, I’d love to get more bands involved in the cause through exclusive music downloads, exclusive t-shirt designs, and the like. Response has been very positive so far, and I’m quite excited at some of the ideas we have going around.
 
As a music fan, I’m thrilled to offer fans access to great world music and exclusive content from acts stateside. Along with this comes the satisfaction of knowing that money is being sent to nations that need it, for causes that deserve the attention and funding.
 
If you’re in a band and you’d like to get involved, you should definitely send me an e-mail at eric@peacetones.org. Whether it be tweeting, blogging, Facebook mentions, handing out stickers at shows, offering an exclusive track to benefit the organization, or you want to become involved in another capacity.. We’d be more than happy to have you aboard.
 
To music fans and those that support the cause, you can do a lot of the same. You can tweet about @PeaceTones, Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/peacetones, share us with your friends, check out our artists albums at www.peacetones.bandcamp.com, head to www.peacetones.org and buy a t-shirt, or even just donate. Everything that you do helps to further this cause. Likewise, if you’d like to become involved with PeaceTones send an e-mail to eric@peacetones.org, we’d love to have you as part of the community!
 
PeaceTones has already selected a first winner from Haiti, which we’ll get into in a bit, but what else are you looking to achieve this year with the organization?
Right now we have our Haiti Sings winner, Wanito, recording an album and playing shows around the northeast. We’re putting a lot of attention towards the promotion of these shows. As the year progresses I’m hoping to expand the awareness of PeaceTones. Nearly everyone who has become familiar with the organization has expressed interest in helping out. I hope to make people more familiar with our mission and our product. I’d love to see a PeaceTones sticker on computers in classrooms, on stop signs, and on cars. Getting the word out is a huge undertaking, but totally achievable.
 
The summer could hold some exclusive releases from POZ-friendly artists, some new t-shirts from these bands, but will definitely consist of a ton of promotion. In the Fall, PeaceTones is going to start operating on college campuses in the Northeast. This program is intended to offer students experience in the promotion of non-profits, in spreading the mission and goal of PeaceTones. The program is shaping up nicely, with a really great response received so far.
 
Talk to us about Wanito, an artist from Haiti, and how he was chosen as a PeaceTones winner.
Wanito is a twenty-two year-old musician, who has chosen to be a full-time musician in his hometown of Port-au-Prince. He heard about a contest that was being put on by PeaceTones in Port-au-Prince through a television interview with our Executive Director, Ruha Devanesan, and came to audition with us.  According to Ruha, Wanito was selected from around sixty auditioners because of his amazing voice.  He was called back with 19 others to perform three songs for the contest, all of which were video-recorded to be released on Facebook through PeaceTones’ contest page.  Facebook users from all over the world, including France, Belgium and the Dominican Republic, voted on the twenty musicians from September through December, and Wanito won decisively, over other talented musicians performing everything from gospel music to traditional Haitian drumming to rap.  PeaceTones set up the contest to be a completely public decision-making process so that the winner of the contest would be someone the fans, not the non-profit, chose. 
 
You’re bringing him to the States to play a number of shows in the Northeast and to record a record. Many might commend you for doing this, but how do you expect to fill up local spaces for him, and any other PeaceTonse victor in the future, to play to?
The draw of PeaceTones is two-fold. We have our cause and our music, with the luxury of drawing an audience as a result of both. PeaceTones has a team of incredibly talented individuals working quite hard to further our goals. With this hard work comes a large network of media and industry contacts. For example, Wanito has been featured on Public Radio International’s The World which reaches 2.5 million listeners a week. We have had incredible opportunities to promote our cause, and thus the music that directly benefits developing communities.
 
What we’re doing with PeaceTones is more than filling a local VFW for a local or touring act. Our goal is international exposure across all forms of media. This is a goal that we actively pursue on a daily basis, working hard to benefit the nations in which we operate. The money we raise goes directly to our artists and their community development goals, and into creating additional programs for the future of PeaceTones. Our broad appeal puts us at an advantage. We appeal to middle-aged folks who still buy cds, like world music, and drive a Prius. We appeal to college kids looking to get involved in social justice. We appeal to a younger audience that is interested in helping a cause. PeaceTones has the ability to form a wonderful community of like-minded individuals who might not realize how like-minded they actually are.
 
What will be the role of PeaceTones winners like Wanito in the future after they tour and record their albums?
The reason we at IBO chose to create a project like PeaceTones, targeting musicians as the recipients of our attention, is because we realize the important role that musicians play in their communities across the world.  Musicians are the loudspeakers of their communities – they voice the sentiments and passions of their communities, and they also act as leaders in the sense that the message they choose to communicate has the potential to impact people on a very fundamental level.  The role we encourage all of our artists to play in their communities is that of mentors.  We help these musicians, whose lyrics and songs have proven to us their commitment to social justice within their communities, to earn a living through PeaceTones albums.  We also have them donate part of their PeaceTones album income (a percentage of their choosing) to a community development project that they feel passionate about.  In addition to helping musicians financially support their communities, we know that giving these musicians greater visibility will help them spread their positive messages more effectively to those listening.
 
In what other countries is the organization trying to do work with artists in?
PeaceTones aims to work in at least one new country each year.  Our reach really depends on the funding we receive from donations, merchandise and grants, however, and we hope, by ramping up all of these income sources, to be able to visit two or three countries a year!
 
How have you established relationships with the individual countries to be able to travel there and bring artists back to the States with you?
In each country we visit, we always seek out trusted local partners to work with in implementing our projects.  In Brazil, we worked with an amazing nonprofit called Ato Periférico, a youth-led arts program that keeps at-risk youth off the streets and engaged in music and break-dancing instead.  During our last visit to Haiti, we worked with the Haitian Coalition of Somerville, Massachusetts, in traveling to Haiti, and also worked with the National Radio and Television Station of Haiti (RTNH), the Haitian Minister of the Diaspora (Edwin Paraison) and several other TV and radio stations to publicize the contest.  It was because of an interview on RTNH that Wanito heard about us and came to audition with us.  To bring artists to the US, we guide them through the process of applying for a visa, and work with them to obtain the necessary documentation they need to travel to and from the US.
 
You’ve had ideas of possibly bringing established US artists into the mix with the organization. Can you expand on that?
This idea was born out of the overwhelming support PeaceTones has received from bands that have been introduced to the organization. This past March I was speaking to Dustin Wallace from With the Punches. He’s been a huge supporter of PeaceTones, so we were talking about ways to get bands involved. I had mentioned the idea of a compilation album to my colleagues, and we were tossing around ideas for themes. I mentioned the idea to Dustin to gauge interest, and he brought up the idea of one-off tracks exclusive to PeaceTones. We got to talking and it became clear that this was logistically much more feasible than a compilation as we can do a rolling release. Adding to this exclusive t-shirt designs, we have an opportunity to provide exclusive content and promote a wonderful cause. Everyone wins.
 
Needless to say, this is the sort of arrangement I’m moving towards. There’s always the possibility of sponsorships for tours, and any band out there interested in promoting PeaceTones on your tour should definitely get in touch at eric@peacetones.org. As time passes, I expect to devote a lot more time to attracting an audience with great content and an attractive community working together to make a difference in developing nations.
 
Thank you so much for your time, is there anything else about PeaceTones that we should be aware of?
We’ve got the winner of our Haiti Sings competition coming to the States this month, and you can check out those dates below. In addition, follow us on twitter at @peacetones, Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/peacetones, check out our releases on bandcamp at www.peacetones.bandcamp.com, and view some videos at www.youtube.com/peacetonesworld. Thanks a ton for your time, and for helping to spread the word about what we do. For anyone interested in helping out, get in touch at eric@peacetones.org!
 
April 21st at 9pm: Bull McCabe’s w/ Scotch Bonnet Band, 366 Somerville Ave.,
Somerville, MA
April 22nd at 10pm: Tufts University, Hotung Café, 44 Professor’s Row, Medford, MA
April 25th at 9pm: The Beehive w/ Sarah Brindell, 541 Tremont St., Boston, MA
April 27th at 7pm: UMass Amherst w/ The Hotel Year, Grad Lounge, 1 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA
April 28th at 6pm: The French Cultural Center, 53 Marlborough St., Boston, MA
April 28th at 9pm: Bella Luna Milky Way w/ Zili Misik, 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain,
MA
April 29^th at 11pm: Sounds of Brazil w/ Tabou Combo, 204 Varick St., New York, NY 10014