Today we’d like to introduce you to Cameron Tilbury.
Cameron, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started my professional career as an afternoon traffic reporter on a radio station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Not long after doing the traffic reports, I also picked up weekend mornings on the station. I spent two years there before moving to a different radio station in Ajax, Ontario–just east of Toronto. I did weekday evenings there. The radio station changed from AM to FM, and it was then that I moved over to being the station’s Copywriter and Creative Director. All in all, I spent eleven years there. I then moved to a rival radio station in Oshawa, Ontario. Not long after working there, the radio station was sold, and I was transferred to a group of Toronto radio stations as a copywriter.
Again, not long after that, I decided to move to England, and landed a job as Copywriter and Creative Director at a radio-only ad agency in Maidstone, Kent. I spent a couple of years there, and then I moved to a boutique, full-service ad agency in Nottingham. A little while later came a move to an ad agency in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. I spent four years there and then moved to an in-house ad agency for a betting/gaming company in London, England, where I was copywriter and assistant creative director..
I worked there for a couple of years, and decided to go out on my own. I started a radio promotion and tracking company, helping independent artists get radio airplay around the world. I was sending music all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Argentina.
I then realised that I had to be in Nashville, Tennessee to really make the company work–and it did. I had clients from the USA, Canada, UK and Europe.
That lead to something different–an internationationally syndicated, weekly country radio show called Nashville Access. I sold the radio promotion and tracking company and concentrated on making the radio show work. We had a four year run on sixty-six radio stations in eighteen countries around the world–in the UK, US, UK, Europe, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Argentina. The show took me to Buenos Aires to host a three day country music festival.d
After the radio show ended, I created, produced, wrote, directed, and hosted a YouTube tv show. We produced five shows per week, airing three per week on YouTube. After a couple of years doing that (and not making any money), I moved back to England and started producing the show there, in hopes of attracting sponsors.
And then COVID hit–four days after arriving in England. I tried everything to keep the show going–even letting indie artists around the world “take over” the channel to perform live. Five months after moving to England, I packed the show in, and moved back to Nashville.
Somewhere in there, whilst living in Nashville, I started a music business specialised digital ad agency. It wasn’t long before I realised that Nashville wasn’t ready to embrace a new way of marketing music I had to fold that business as well.
In February of this year, I moved to Heathrow/Lake Mary and I’m still searching for the right opportunity to put my talents to work.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No…not a smooth road at all. With the radio show, web tv show, and digital ad agency, the product I was putting out was high quality but, as is often the case, lack of investment/clients proved to be my downfall. I’m a creative and I’m good at what I do. I’m just not a sales person who can make deals. I had to be both and it didn’t work.
In the case of the digital ad agency, I was the owner, copywriter, creative director, brand consultant, worked with freelance designers to create the ads, and media buyers to find the best ad placement–plus I had to go out and find clients. I was doomed.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
From the advertising side, the radio promotion and tracking side, the radio show, the tv show…I’ve always been an innovator. My businesses have always been created by seeing an opening in the market and trying to fill it. As any innovator knows, you have to take a great deal of time to educate people about what you’re doing and why it will work.
I’ve loved everything though. Passion has always been at the forefront of what I’ve done. I’m proud of all of the work I’ve created.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Ah yes, risk. Because I’m so passionate about what I do, I’ve tended to ignore the risks involved and just concentrated on doing great work. I still believe that the reward outweighs the risk–the risk will look after itself. Whether it’s business or personal, I always lead with my heart.
I risked everything by moving to England. It worked out very well. I risked all I could by creating my businesses–including my reputation (that I didn’t even realise I had!).
I believe in risk, but passion drives everything I do, so I tend to ignore or play down the risks.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://camerontilbury.crevado.com
- Instagram: @cameroniaintilbury
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CameronBurnsTilbury/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camerontilbury/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RisingStarRoadTrip
- Other: https://mastodon.social/@camo5101
