Getting a start in the heady world of pop music promotion can be a difficult nut to crack, but that didn’t stop Aaron Kirkhouse, 19, and Alex Darlington, 20, from giving it a shot.

At sixth-form college the pair found that they shared a dream to promote music and, before they were old enough to legally buy a drink in a bar, had persuaded a local nightclub owner in their hometown of Haverfordwest to give them use of an office in return for organising a rock night once a month.

Six months later and with their studies complete, the pair realised that if they wanted to turn Mint Gigs into a business, they needed to move up the scale.

“To get people to our shows, we had to offer more than just music, so we thought pop in a theme park, all for one reasonable price, dismissive, the pair saw that adding a touch of spin to their pitch helped to create interest.They persuaded Oakwood ThemePark in Pembrokeshire to hosttheir Pop Park event on the back of a promise that they were on the verge of signing a chart-topping pop group to perform.

With the venue in place, they persuaded the management of Girls Aloud to allow the group to appear by assuring them that they were experienced at putting on this sort of event. Ticket sales hit 5,000 in a matter of weeks and so successful was the venture that Oakwood readily agreed to a repeat performance this summer.

Not ones to rest on their laurels, the duo have now signed McFly to headline Pop Park in July and have also teamed up with Bebo, a social networking site, to help with the promotion.

Kirkhouse and Darlington are now considering rolling the idea out across the country’s theme parks. You wouldn’t bet against it.
www.bebo.com/poppark

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