COUNTRY NEWCOMER ASKS TAYLOR SWIFT TO PRODUCE HIM

No, not the venerable industry bible, but a giant advertisement right in the middle of the town’s famed Music Row asking Taylor Swift to produce his next album.

Like Swift, Laird’s career started online when he began taping videos with him singing male-version covers of some of her songs, drawing many of Taylor’s fans to his MySpace page in the process.

Now Laird's management team is coming on strong with various promotional strategies on and off, including the strategically placed billboard.

"When Ryan came to me with this idea, I thought it was brilliant and way outside the lines for Nashville,” says his manager Brandon Riester. “It is the kind of outside the paradigm
thinking our industry needs to start selling units. Unique stories of success are what makes the music industry so magical."

Added Ryan: "I love her music and I heard her talk on the radio about how she writes and hears all the instruments and parts in the song before it’s produced. I thought, wow, this could be a great collaboration, so I made this billboard because I wanted to come up with a unique way to reach out to Taylor. It's cool because her album is called Fearless and this was a pretty bold move.”

Swift’s album hit today and is expected to debut at #1 next week with between 550-660k in sales.

Ryan is excited for her and him. "I hope she sees the billboard. Her top fans have sent me over 400 messages on MySpace and have said that she would jump on board because in their words, she's not only talented, but is super nice!"

To see Ryan's billboard on YouTube, go here. For his MySpace page, go here.