ABOUT US
standout artists IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY TWO PEOPLE: CHRIS WETHINGTON (right), AND CODY FRAIN (Left).
AS STATED ELSEWHERE, WE ARE ARTISTS OURSELVES.
CODY PLAYS DRUMS IN A METALCORE BAND CALLED IF NOT FOR ME, AND CHRIS PLAYS GUITAR IN A POST-HARDCORE BAND CALLED SOFTSPOKEN.
WE’VE BOTH BEEN IN OTHER BANDS FOR OVER HALF OUR LIVES.
IN 2017, SHORTLY AFTER SOFTSPOKEN FORMED, CODY WAS WORKING AS A BOOKING AGENT AT A SMALL AGENCY CALLED WAVELINK. CODY WAS SOFTSPOKEN’S FIRST BOOKING AGENT.
SOFTSPOKEN’S FIRST TOUR WAS SUPPORTING CODY’S BAND AT THE TIME. NOT LONG AFTER, CHRIS ALSO JOINED WAVELINK AS AN AGENT.
We became FAST FRIENDS, AND FOUND THAT we HAD MUTUAL interests IN THE BUSINESS BEHIND MUSIC - AND HOW TERRIBLE IT OFTEN WAS TO THE ARTISTS DOING THE THING.
IN 2018, CHRIS SPLIT OFF FROM BOOKING AND MOVED INTO MANAGEMENT. CODY CONTINUED BOOKING, AND ALSO TOOK ON NEW ROLES AS A PROMOTER, AND LABEL DIRECTOR FOR TWO DIFFERENT LABELS.
IN 2019 CHRIS began offering marketing services TO BANDS THAT WEREN’T A GOOD FIT FOR HIS MANAGEMENT ROSTER.
IN 2021, CHRIS AND CODY CAME TOGETHER TO LAUNCH THEIR OWN RECORD LABEL CALLED THEORIA RECORDS AND WRAPPED CHRIS’ MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING AGENCIES INTO THE UMBRELLA OF ONE SINGULAR COMPANY: THEORIA GROUP.
Since 2021, we’ve launched additional divisions to our company until in 2026 we decided to bring them all together.
WHY STANDOUT ARTISTS?
TO BE completely transparent (you’ll find that transparency is something we value highly), WE WANTED TO CONSOLIDATE OUR EFFORTS INTO ONE SINGULAR BRAND.
our goal is to help ARTISTS IN EVERY WAY WE KNOW HOW, AND AS WE ADDED MORE and more divisions to do that, we found that things were getting a bit confusing. We’d have a Distro client who didn’t even know that we also did marketing; a touring client who needed distro help but didn’t know we could hlep.
STANDOUT ARTISTS gives us a way to present everything all together, and it serves as a great way to build bands up to hopefully eventually be a fit for our own label.
Or if not, at least we can help you get to whatever you want your next step to be!
Theoria Records - Rock & Metal record label
standout artists - this (formerly: standout agency, standout touring, fpmg distribution)