Client: Annika Catharina
Tasks: Publicity, Grant Writing, Personal Branding
In the fall of 2023, Canadian country artist Annika Catharina began working with NovaCurrent Public Relations with the first project being a grant application to the FACTOR Artist Development program.
We worked with Annika to prepare the key aspects of the application – which included the artist development plan, the supplementary materials, and the intended budget.
Annika Catharina was approved for FACTOR funding in the Artist Development program in early 2024. The funding was applied towards recording, marketing, and video initiatives.
In early 2024, NovaCurrent PR continued working with Annika Catharina – this time on the single release of “What if I”.
We worked with Annika on the editorial playlist pitches for Spotify and Amazon, as well as a publicity campaign for the single, outreach to SiriusXM Top of the Country Radio, and a Spotify third-party playlist outreach.
The music publicity campaign for “What if I” earned 30 media interviews and features for Annika Catharina. Highlights included features and interviews from Front Porch Music, Canadian Beats, Tinnitist, Right Chord Music, Conversations About Her, Music & Fashion Blog, Country with Celine, Hometown Country Music, Country’s Local, Complete Country, and Black is the New AP Style.
“What if I” was added in regular rotation by SiriusXM Top of the Country Radio and climbed to #2. On Spotify, it was added to the “New Music Friday Country”, “Country Frontier”, “North Country”, and “Next From Nashville” editorial playlists, with Annika gaining further Spotify recognition as a RADAR Canada and EQUAL Canada artist.
Through our campaign, the single was also added to 40 Spotify independent playlists, which helped the single reach over 180K Spotify streams.
In the summer of 2024, our next project with Annika Catharina was in support of her follow-up single, “Bandit”.
As with the previous campaign, this project was a combination of publicity SiriusXM Radio outreach, and Spotify independent playlist initiatives.
The publicity campaign for “Bandit” earned over 20 media interviews and features for Annika Catharina. This time, the highlights included coverage from Authority Magazine, Buzz Music, The Partae, New Scene Magazine, Studio B Podcast, Live in Limbo, Front Porch Music, and Canadian Beats. The music video was also added by CMT Australia.
“Bandit” was added to SiriusXM Top of the Country Radio, where it climbed to #1. On Spotify, it was added to the “Fresh Finds Country” editorial playlist along with 18 other independent playlists through our campaign, which helped lift the single to over 110K Spotify streams.
In the fall of 2024, Annika Catharina and NovaCurrent PR teamed up for a Creative BC/Amplify grant application to the Career Development program.
NovaCurrent worked with Annika on all aspects of the application, including the creation of the project plan and supplementary materials.
In the winter of 2024, Annika Catharina was approved for funding. Funding went towards the completion of her the music video for “Love and Hate”, the completion of her debut EP, and marketing initiatives.
In the fall of 2024, NovaCurrent PR managed the publicity campaign for Annika Catharina’s next single, “Love and Hate”.
The project tasks included media and SiriusXM radio outreach, Spotify and Amazon editorial playlist pitch authoring, and Spotify independent playlist promotions.
The music publicity campaign for “Love and Hate” earned over 15 media interviews and features for Annika Catharina. Coverage included Mundane Magazine, Melodic Magazine, The Harlton Empire, Naluda Magazine, Canadian Beats, and Front Porch Music. The “Love and Hate” music video was also added in rotation by CMT Australia.
“Love and Hate” was also added to SiriusXM Top of the Country Radio, where it climbed to #1. To mark the release, Annika Catharina was chosen as the cover artist for the Amazon Music Poppin’ Country editorial playlist, while the song was also added to Amazon’s “”Just North of Nashville” and “Breakthrough Country” playlists. On Spotify, “Love and Hate” was added to the “North Country” and “Country Frontier” editorial playlists along with 24 additional independent playlists through our campaign, which helped the song reach over 280K Spotify streams.
In the spring of 2025, Annika Catharina was selected as a semi-finalist in the SiriusXM Top of the Country competition with “Love and Hate” as her featured song.
In the summer of 2025, Annika Catharina was chosen as both the iHeart Radio Future Star and the Rogers One to Watch for “Love and Hate”. During this period, NovaCurrent PR facilitated a Canadian radio distribution of the song via DMDS and it peaked at #41 on the Canada Country Billboard charts.
In early 2025, NovaCurrent PR worked alongside Annika Catharina on her next single, “Dishonest”.
The primary focus of this campaign was on Spotify playlist promotion and SiriusXM radio outreach. Tasks included editorial playlist pitch authoring and Spotify independent playlist outreach.
“Dishonest” was added to the “Fresh Country”, “Breakthrough Country”, “Just North of Nashville”, and Brand New Music” editorial playlists on Amazon.
On Spotify, it was added to 30 independent Spotify third-party playlists through our campaign, helping the single reach over 230K streams.
It was also accepted by SiriusXM Top of the Country Radio for regular airplay.
In light of Annika Catharina’s accomplishments, our next project together was a full re-branding of her website to capture her momentum and refresh her online brand.
For this project, we managed all aspects of the website re-brand, including theme selection, layout, and content.
The new website for Annika Catharina was launched in the spring of 2025 to reflect her participation in the SiriusXM Top of the Country competition and the upcoming release of her debut EP.
For Annika Catharina’s debut EP, “You and Me”, NovaCurrent Public Relations planned a publicity campaign that included media outreach to both local and international outlets, SiriusXM Top of the Country Radio outreach and Spotify editorial playlist pitch authoring for the title track along with third-party Spotify playlist promotion.
The EP publicity campaign for “You and Me” which resulted in 20 press hits including Canadian Beats, Front Porch Music, Complete Country, All Country News, Melodic Magazine, C-Heads, In a Country Minute, 365 Days, 365 Women, InFocux Magazine, Hidden Beats, The Honey Pop, Love at First Listen, The Vancouver Guardian, and Country in the UK.
On Spotify, the “You and Me” title track was added to the “All New Country” and “Country Frontier” editorial playlists and was later added to “Fresh Finds Country” and “Fresh Finds Canada”. Our Spotify third-party playlist promotion resulted in 35 adds that helped the single reach 48K streams
The “You and Me” title track was also pitched to SiriusXM Top of the Country Radio, where it was added in regular rotation and peaked at #6
In the summer of 2025, we continued our work with Annika Catharina for her first post-EP single called “Under Covers”.
The primary focus for this campaign was on Spotify playlist promotion. Tasks included outreach to Spotify independent playlists along with editorial playlist pitch authoring.
“Under Covers” was added to the “All New Country” and “North Country” editorial playlists on Spotify. As part of our third-party playlist promotion for “Under Covers”, it was added to 33 independent playlists, helping the single reach over 35K streams
As part of our limited PR outreach for the single, NovaCurrent PR also secured an interview for Annika with Front Porch Music as part of the “On the Porch” podcast.
“Better Hands” was the next single for Annika Catharina in 2025 and to support this release, NovaCurrent Public Relations managed a targeted publicity campaign and Spotify third-party playlist outreach, and also authored the editorial playlist pitches for Spotify and Amazon.
On Spotify, “Better Hands” was added to the “North Country” editorial playlist. Through our independent playlist outreach, the song was added to an additional 36 playlists, which helped it reach over 140K streams
On Amazon, “Better Hands” was added to the “Just North of Nashville” and “Brand New Music” editorial playlists
The publicity outreach or “Better Hands” earned coverage from the likes of Canadian Beats, Front Porch Music, In the Country with Dave Woods, Music Mecca, A&R Factory, BuzzMusic, and Stereo Stickman.
