LADERA RANCH, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 17, 2013) - SmartStop® Self Storage announced today it is sponsoring a CD of songs by Brent Morgan, the music teacher who won the $5,000 grand prize in the company's "Sing It Smart"" video jingle contest two years ago.
Morgan, the Youth Music Leader/Teacher at Good Shepard United Methodist Church in Madison, Ala., spent two weeks knocking on doors, handing out flyers and imploring his friends, family and fans to vote for his catchy guitar solo "Goodbye Clutter, Hello Floor(SM)" on Facebook after a panel of judges chose it as a finalist. After his jingle won and was professionally recorded, the 25-year-old Athens, Ala., resident said he became "kind of addicted to jingle writing and writing altogether." His confidence grew as a result of winning the "Sing It Smart" contest, and he entered and won several subsequent jingle contests for other companies. One landed him on The TODAY Show as a finalist.
Being chosen from more than 1,000 entries to perform live on national television inspired Morgan to record a five-song CD -- but he didn't have the money to do it alone. So he recently reached out to SmartStop, and the company gave him funding to buy equipment and hire studio musicians and an engineer.
"After The TODAY Show I decided I would love to actually record the songs that I love writing and performing," Morgan explained. "When I figured out how much it would be to record in a real studio, I realized that I couldn't do it on my own. I have a lot of the equipment needed, and some friends in New York are going to help me out with distributing costs. But I needed help to afford the equipment, studio musicians and mastering of the EP, and I remembered how great it was to work with SmartStop during the jingle contest. Amazingly enough, SmartStop agreed to help out, and here I am now about to make this EP of my favorite songs. I can't wait to share this with everyone!"
"SmartStop has always sponsored athletes such as cycling teams and World Extreme Fighters," said H. Michael Schwartz, CEO and chairman of Strategic Storage Trust, Inc., a publicly held REIT which brands its self-storage facilities under the SmartStop Self Storage brand name. "We're excited about this opportunity to support a musician we admire so much. We're certain that Brent will be a huge success, and his songs will make many people happy."
"I'm going to try to get this done perfectly and as quickly as possible," Morgan said. "I work as a full-time worship leader and also have 30 guitar, piano and drum students, so I will be doing most of the work at night!"
About SmartStop® Self Storage
SmartStop® Self Storage offers affordable, accessible and secure storage space for residential and commercial customers. SmartStop offers secure interior and exterior units as well as outside storage areas for vehicles, RVs and boats. In addition to features such as keypad access, security gates and video surveillance, the facilities also utilize well trained on-site associates to provide customers with the highest standard of service in the industry.
About Strategic Storage Trust, Inc.
Strategic Storage Trust, Inc. (SSTI) is one of five publicly registered self-storage REITs in the United States and is one of the fastest growing non-traded self-storage REITs nationwide. SSTI management team is comprised of industry veterans with extensive institutional experience in the acquisition and property management of self-storage properties. Since the launch of SSTI in 2008, the company's portfolio of wholly-owned properties has expanded to include 111 properties in 17 states and Canada that are being branded as SmartStop® Self Storage. The portfolio includes approximately 70,000 self-storage units and 9.3 million rentable square feet of storage space. For more information about SSTI, please call 949-429-6600 visit www.strategicstoragetrust.com
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