Follywood Productions may not be what you think. They are not a concert promoter, record label, or management firm, although all those roles have been performed. In fact, owner and founder Ben Bounds once owned a 360 label that handled the entire realm of music business from management to booking, promotion, publicity, and overseeing studio recording, manufacturing and distribution of his clients’ albums. But now Follywood Productions does what it does best – bring touring bands into Charleston and send local bands out on tour nationwide.
No other agency in Charleston is as focused on out-of-state touring as Follywood – it’s their top priority. Bounds recognizes this as his niche, and what he does well. He also enjoys being on the road scouting new venues and bands. 
“I travel about 8-10 days out of each month for Follywood work, which puts me on the road about 100-125 days a year. That’s what allows me to develop relationships with the talent buyers for the different venues all over the Southeast, get a first-hand view of the venue and the market, get to know the routing from town-to-town, and scout new bands. This year, the number of days that I’m on the road could actually increase, which gets me fired-up, because I live to be on the road, and I thrive in new and unfamiliar environments.”
Follywood is celebrating two strong years of existence with an anniversary party and oyster roast at the Charleston Pour House on Saturday, Feb. 4, featuring Bret Mosley, Guilt Ridden Troubadour, Weigh Station, Concrete Jumpsuit and Shonuff. For Bounds, the future looks very bright.
“We’re just about to start Year 3 of a three-year plan, and if we continue to improve at what we’re doing, we’ll be successful. We’ve reached ‘regional agency’ status, and our next goal is for Follywood to become a national agency.” He is in the process of expanding and has the feelers out there for more agents and interns to add to his staff of about 20 people. “I feel we’re maxed-out right now and could not effectively handle more artists. But we have plans to grow this year. We’re hiring part-time agents now.”
Another goal in the near future is to build the brand, Follywood Productions. Bounds envisions his company’s logo as the beacon for a good musical experience. 
“When someone walking down the street sees that Follywood logo, I want them to immediately think ‘this is going to be a good time,’ regardless of what bands are playing. It’s all about the fan experience and the live music lifestyle.”
This guides how he chooses which bands to add to the roster. For the most part, Follywood targets bands who are tour-ready with new and original music. The genres Follywood works with include alt/country, americana, blues, bluegrass, folk, funk, jam, indie, and southern rock, but Bounds says the agency could expand in that area this year as well.
Follywood’s top earning bands for 2011 were Bret Mosley, Guilt Ridden Troubadour, James Justin & Co., Mac Leaphart and Stereo Reform, but he tells me to keep an eye out for Crowfield and Old You in 2012, who came on board late last year and have big-time potential. Also, Concrete Jumpsuit out of Columbia had an strong finish last year and the crowds grow bigger each time they play.
Follywood Productions started as a one-man show with Bounds and his desire to get back into the music biz after relocating to Charleston. A Jackson, Miss. native, he started his own 360 record label, Dirt Road Records, in Oxford, Miss., in 2003, which he owned with lifelong friend Locke Phillips. After more than two years out of the music industry working for the press, a non-profit for the arts, economic development and tourism, and municipal government, he moved to Charleston with a job buying talent for the historic State Theater in Starkville, Miss. and jumped right back in. He wanted to concentrate on booking bands which was what he felt he did best. Now, all Follywood Productions does is bring out-of-state bands to Charleston, and tour Charleston bands out-of-state. Over the past year, the out-of-state touring has received the bulk of the workload and focus. He has booked as far West as Grand Junction, Co., but the most popular tour is through the Southeast from Charleston to New Orleans, and back. Bounds feels most comfortable booking the Gulf Coast region, as well as Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina, but they are now starting to work up the East Coast into Virginia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan.
Bounds said he believes Follywood is filling a major need on a local and regional level as live music income and ticket sales are outpacing record sales. The record labels and management firms are taking it pretty hard, and the booking agent may play the most essential role in the business in 2012, with a bigger hand in making or breaking a band than in the past.
According to Bounds, the Charleston music scene is still under the radar, but has massive potential, and he feels the amount of quality musicians per-capita is unrivaled. There are two bands on Folly Beach alone that have charted nationally in the past year, not many cities in the country this size that can say that. Bounds says he loves the energy on Folly Beach and how everyone helps support the scene. Even being on the island a short time, he feels like part of the family, and has never felt this level of community support in any of his previous stops.
“Follywood doesn’t exist anywhere really other than the back of your mind or the bottom of a Captain Morgan bottle. People ask me all the time, ‘Where the Hell is Follywood?’ And I tell them, ‘It’s anywhere you want it to be, buddy.’”
Come out and lend your support at one of Follywood’s upcoming events – Mac’n At the ‘Drome: A Concert Film Experience Benefiting Mac Leaphart on Jan. 28 at the Hippodrome Theatre, or the Follywood 2-Year Anniversary Party & Oyster Roast at the Pour House on Feb. 4.