Fueled By Ramen - About Us

Fueled By Ramen: No Food, No Sleep, Just Records

Name: Melissa Rae Uselton (pronounced: Us-El-Ton) AIM

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/uflip2

Born and Bred: Normal, Illinois (yes I'm somewhat normal, thanks for asking)

Length of employment: I interned for the summer back in 2003 and have been a full-time employee since September 2004.

Why They Pay Me: I supervise all aspects dealing with our bands' merchandising. I make sure we're getting new designs, work on making our webstore better, pay the bands their monthly merch royalties, and oversee the label's Brand Managers. If you see FBR merchandise in retail stores like Hot Topic, that was my doing. I also help set up special promotions for the webstore such as sales and album preorders. When it comes to tour merchandise, I am the liason between the merch producers, bands, and graphic designers. To sum it all up, I have merchandise coming out of my ears!

Interests: Music, guitar, sharks, Sharpies, pickled pigs feet, CHICAGO, graphic design, your mom, deviled eggs, giraffes, haunted insane asylums, PIRATES!, roller coasters, Miller Lite, Power Hour, sushi, people who aren't afraid to act goofy, saying stuff that makes my friends cringe, and meeting new people.

Funny Words: barf and poop-chute

Favorite Food: Tijuana Flats

Favorite Song: The Power Of The Vitamins - Hot Rod Circuit

Schooling: Bradley University (Peoria, IL) - BS in Communications w/ concentration in Advertising and minor in Marketing. Self taught graphic designer. I learned all I know about the music industry by putting on and promoting my own shows, attending lots and lots of shows, booking tours for friends, creating band websites, doing a college radio show, doing an online music 'zine (RIP Supersonic Mag) and through my internship at Fueled by Ramen.

All Time Favorite Bands: Alkaline Trio, Hot Rod Circuit, August Premier, Refused, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Offspring, Nirvana, Fiona Apple, Beck, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Spitalfield, Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, Strike Anywhere, Counting Crows, New End Original, Fountains of Wayne, Tuesday, Slapstick, The Lawrence Arms, Third Eye Blind, Saves The Day, Piebald, The Weakerthans, Knapsack, The Get Up Kids, Rage Against The Machine, Thrice, At The Drive In, Blink 182

Currently Listening To: http://www.last.fm/user/fueledbymelissa

Favorite Concert: Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, and Against Me! - Amway Arena in Orlando, FL - January 17, 2008

Favorite Venue: The Metro - Chicago, IL

Television: Mama's Family, All In The Family, Saved By The Bell, Hey Dude!, Salute Your Shorts, Fraggle Rock, Full House, ENTOURAGE, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Nip/Tuck, The Office, Sex and the City, The Simpsons, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Family Guy, Forensic Files, and many of the lame MTV / VH1 reality shows.

Movies: Amelie, Almost Famous, Anchorman, Billy Madison, Donnie Darko, Elizabethtown, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Garden State, Ghost Busters, Girl Interrupted, Go, Gothika, High Fedelity, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Land Before Time, The Last Unicorn, Punch Drunk Love, SLC Punk, SNAKES ON A PLANE, Tommy Boy, Vanilla Sky, Zoolander, 40 Year Old Virgin and most Johnny Depp movies.

Books: Love And Death: An Investigation into the Murder of Kurt Cobain, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, He's Just Not That Into You, The Beach, The Loved One, The Great Gatsby, America (The Book), Summer of Night, and A Winter Haunting.

Spare Time: I try to travel as much as possible. My favorite cities are Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Key West, San Francisco, and Paris.

Pet Peeves: When people say "I have something to tell you.....but I can't", people who steal and/or cheat, and drivers who don't give you the 'thank you' wave when you let them in front of you in traffic.

Hero: John Janick

When will my favorite FBR band come to my town?
Keep checking your favorite FBR band's myspace and fueledbyramen.com to see all the latest tour dates. We post the dates on there as soon as we can and also often announce new tours and ticket presales in The Weekly Dish so be sure you subscribe to that.

I saw an awesome FBR band shirt at a show. Where do I get one?
A lot of the latest band merchandise can be found in our webstore. The bands like to have exclusive merchandise on their tours, but usually everything that doesn't get sold on tour ends up in the webstore at some point. And check stores like Hot Topic who often will carry exclusive items for our bands.

Why is Fueled By Ramen the best record label in the world?
We love to hear people say nice things like this. Everyone at the label, the bands and everyone involved with our bands work very hard to make and distribute great music made by great people. We are a big family and everyone supports one another. And the fans are a big part of that. We have been doing this for over 10 years and the fans of the label and bands constantly amaze us with all the love they show. It feels so good to have so much support and we really appreciate it.

How does a band get signed to Fueled By Ramen?
Lots of practice, hard work and dedication....and playing music that doesn't suck usually helps too.

We look for a lot of things when signing bands. The most important things are the music and potential. A strong work ethic and members with great personalities and ideas are also very important as we work really closely with our bands and talk to them daily.

Do all you can for your band before trying to get signed to a label. Record and press an EP, book your own shows, promote your band online, start a street team, trade shows with bands from out of town, etc. Putting all you can into your band will attract labels wishing to do the same.

My band wants to send in a demo. What should it be like?
Quite simply, it should stand out and sound good. We get a lot of demos but try to listen to most of what comes in. But it takes a lot more than a quality demo.

What does Fueled By Ramen do for the bands?
We work closely with the bands, their managers, booking agents and publicists to make sure we're doing as much as possible to get our bands and their music out to as many potential fans as possible. We help with everything from album and tour promotion to merchandising. Our bands are our family and we help them in any way we can.

What is it like to work at Fueled By Ramen?
From John: I try to make the environment relaxed and fun, but it is also very important that we work very hard for our bands. Everyone who works at the label are amazing and they are very passionate about music and the bands. If you love what you do it does not feel like work and it is usually fun.

How can I help promote the bands on Fueled By Ramen?
The easiest and most powerful thing you can do is tell your friends. If you see a band play an amazing show or hear a great song, tell your friend to check it out, too. You can also join our street team and help promote with stickers, posters, flyers and samplers or putting up banners on your myspace pages. There is so much you can do and signing up HERE is just the beginning!

How can I get involved in the music business?
There's plenty of ways to get started - especially in your local music scene. Put on shows, get a college radio show, promote your favorite bands and meet as many people as possible. Find a skill that you are good at and a find a way to apply it to the music industry. Are you a good artist? Design merchandise for your favorite band or local bands. Love sitting on the Internet? Post on band message boards. There is so much you can do to get involved, it's just a matter of making the effort.

From John: Anybody can get involved if they have the right attitude, work ethic and passion. You can say this about anything, but it is true. Almost everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up. I started the label because I did not know how to play any instruments, but I loved music and wanted to be involved. If you are passionate do whatever you can do to be involved. Help bands you love, intern (labels, management, booking agents, etc.), get involved in street teams, etc.

How do I get an internship at Fueled By Ramen?
Email your resume to internships@fueledbyramen.net and let us know a little about yourself, when you'd be available to start and what you'd be interested in doing here. Before you do that you should know that internships are always unpaid and you will be responsible for finding a place to live during your internship. We have offices in Tampa, Florida as well as New York City and are always looking for bright individuals who are motivated to work in the music industry.

How do I get in touch with a band for publicity purposes?
Check the bands' individual pages to get in touch with their publicists. Submit your request for photo passes, show reviews and interviews to them.

I'm a graphic designer... how do I get to design some shirts for FBR bands?
First create some samples for us to review and send us links to them to us at designs@fueledbyramen.net. If you've done work for other artists, let us know that, too. If we check out your stuff and we like it, we'll definitely be in touch.