Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Sampson.
Chris, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 2009, I founded the Popular Music program at the USC Thornton School of Music where I am a professor of songwriting. From this program at USC, I have the good fortune of being surrounded by extraordinary young artists, songwriters and producers every day. One of the classes I teach is a weekly guest speaker series in which I interview music professionals. I estimate that I have interviewed close to 400 music professionals including some of the most iconic names in the industry.
A year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with throat cancer and had to take several months off from work. During my recovery, I reflected on how I could make more of a meaningful contribution to help up-and-coming artists. I wanted to combine my experience in working with emerging talent and my experience as an interviewer to expand my impact above and beyond academia. I came away from my recovery inspired and thought launching a podcast would be an ideal platform to start realizing this vision.
My podcast, Joy Sounds: Music You Need to Know was launched on June 4, 2019, with a mission to present the brightest emerging and breaking artists. The debut episode immediately cracked the top 30 (#28) of the Apple Podcast charts for Music. Over the past six months, the show has hosted artists from virtually all genres and has quickly established itself as a powerful artist discovery platform. The show sets itself apart through great live performances and interviews that tell the story of who they are as artists.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My only real obstacle was to convince my wife to turn our house into a recording studio! And, this wasn’t really much of a challenge because she’s awesome and she saw that I was inspired by this project. So, every week she lets me turn the entire house upside down and convert it into a recording studio. She’s cool with it as long as I have everything back to normal by the time she gets home!
For now, Joy Sounds is a one-person operation: I book the guests, engineer the sessions, host the interview, mix and master the show, post and promote the episodes. I can’t see this lasting much longer and I’ll have to bring on help soon. Demand from guests to be on the show increases daily and I can’t get through it all. Guests are also starting to come in nationally as they stop in LA while on tour, so scheduling is getting a bit more challenging. But, we always seem to make it work!
Please tell us more about your work. What do you guys do? What do you specialize in? What sets you apart from competition?
Joy Sounds provides a high-quality showcase opportunity for emerging artists to connect with new fans and deepen the relationship with existing ones. Many guest artists have commented that the vibe of the show has allowed them to open up and have conversations that they haven’t had before in other interviews. Also, guests have noticed that their podcast episodes have a long “shelf life” and continue to get downloads months after the initial release making it a much more impactful promotional experience.
The show stands apart through its diversity of guests, quality performances and quality interviews. Unlike many other music podcasts, this show doesn’t go into a deep analysis of song structure or discussion about the music business. It’s about the artist, their story and their music.
Among the many things I’m proud of about Joy Sounds is its positive tone. The conversations remain free of some of the snarkiness and cynicism that can find its way into the music industry. It’s been great to connect with these artists over our shared love of music!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think Joy Sounds has a purpose that is immediately apparent to listeners and guest artists. The show has a very clear mission and its idealism is its strength.
That said, Joy Sounds also maintains high standards and is selective. Not every artist is a good fit for the show. The curation of potential guests is essential to find artists who are best positioned for this opportunity. We just try to make the best show possible every week!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joysoundsmusic.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @joysoundsmusic
- Facebook: facebook.com/joysoundsmusic
- Twitter: @joysoundsmusic
Image Credit:
Irene Bowers (studio black and white image)
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