Digital media company in The Woodlands in tune with music industry's top artists

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – People are still buzzing about Houston's Super Bowl LI, not only for the halftime show but also for country music star Luke Bryan's heartfelt performance of the national anthem.

BubbleUp couldn't have been more proud.

Nestled within The Woodlands, the digital media company has a long and vibrant relationship with numerous well-known musical artists including Bryan.

"I think most people don't realize that we handle some of the biggest artists in the music industry," said company founder and CEO Coleman Sisson.

BubbleUp has designed websites for Luke Bryan, KISS, Aerosmith, Zac Brown Band -- and dozens more -- and also manages website updates and development, search engine optimization, content management, fan club memberships, digital marketing and e-commerce.

Based in The Woodlands with offices in Nashville, TN and Hartford, CT, the small but mighty company has consistently achieved numerous awards in categories such as Top Web Designers, Top Digital Marketing Agencies, and Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America, as well as winning a Webby Award for the Live From Daryl's House web program. That's Daryl, as in Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates fame.

A crash course

Coleman Sisson is a technology expert with a history of executive positions at Compaq, Powersoft, CyberSafe and Liberate Technologies. In 2012, Sisson received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Sam Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas.

But Sisson couldn't have possibly anticipated that his tech experience would lead to a new career in the music industry -- thanks, in part, to a music legend in the midst of an IT crisis.

Some 30 years ago, Jimmy Buffett's computer crashed, taking with it the only copy of a manuscript he had been writing.

Sisson was able to recover the data.

Today, BubbleUp manages the music and business ventures of anything and everything related to Margaritaville.

Rising to the top

Sisson launched BubbleUp in 2004 with the goal of helping artists grow their fan base – to 'bubble up' to the top during a time when digital access to music was new and relatively unknown.

Sisson said the principles that apply to the business side of the music industry also apply to corporate America.

"Companies have fans too, but they call them customers," Sisson said. "In the end, you want the same kind of customer loyalty that artists get from their fans. We help companies achieve that using our marketing and technical expertise in website development and e-commerce."

BubbleUp now works in several industries, including healthcare, hospitality and nonprofit.

"We have taken what we learned from the music industry to work with businesses small and large, local and nationwide," Sisson said.

While BubbleUp may have started from the ground up, it continues to reach for the stars.

“We focus on taking care of our customers,” Sisson said. “I’ve always found that if you focus on doing the work, good results follow.”

For more information about BubbleUp, visit www.bubbleup.net.