Today we’d like to introduce you to James Holland.
Thanks for sharing your story with us James. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been playing music since I was 13 and playing with bands soon after. Bands came and went and after not making my mark on either the Austin or Seattle scenes, great music towns I lived in, I decided to move to LA to pursue a job on the business side of music.
I moved to LA at the end of 2010, thinking I would make it as a songwriter. I took on any internship I came across that would have me and ended up interning at a management and radio promotion company. After about 6 months, I was hired on as a specialty radio promoter.
I spent three years at Substance Co. where I got to promote such artists as Tame Impala, Local Natives and Washed Out to radio. Near the end of 2013, I decided to make the leap out on my own and started Airplay Junkie. I’ve been doing that ever since, promoting artists successfully to college and specialty radio. I’ve also dabble in doing press publicity and artist management.
Has it been a smooth road?
Getting into the industry for me was not easy. Internships are unpaid and most of the legitimate ones are given to college students (their payment is school credit). I had already been out of college for awhile so it took awhile to get the ones I got and most amounted to just free labor.
Going out on my own wasn’t easy either. Owning your own business is a rollercoaster. There are highs when you have a good number of clients or one of the artists you’re working succeeds the way you hoped but there are plenty of lows. If you don’t have clients, if you don’t have an income, you don’t get paid. There’s no pay check outside of what you generate. And if you’re not delivering, it’s on you and that can be tough. But if you can push through, it’s worth it.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Airplay Junkie – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Airplay Junkie is a radio promotion company that focuses on college, non-commercial, and alternative specialty radio. I focus a lot on newer and up and coming artists that are trying to get their foot in the door. Being a small company, I can also limit the amount of artists I work at a time so that everyone gets the attention they deserve at radio.
I’m most proud of when someone I work with is able to take a step forward in their music career because of the radio support I was able to provide. Some exciting artists I’ve worked with recently include Cheap Tissue, The Flavr Blue, Duckwrth, and Ty Richards.
I think what sets me apart is the fact that I’m always working, always hustling.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
LA is a wild place. I had someone try to rent me a tent once in the middle of Hollywood.
I really like its eccentricities. A couple hours away from LA is a paper-mâché mountain dedicated to Jesus. There’s a cemetery where you can watch movies a few feet away from some golden age actor’s grave. Most of all are how much music there is and how available it is. You can see shows every night of the week, a lot of them free residencies, at music venues, warehouses, backyards and more.
Probably one of my least favorite aspects of LA and I think most west coast cities, is how isolated each neighborhood is. The best ramen is going to be in Little Tokyo and the best dim sum is probably in Alhambra but we stick to our little areas because it’s convenient. The traffic does suck…
Contact Info:
- Website: Airplayjunkie.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/airplayjunkie
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/airplay_junkie
Image Credit:
Michelle Rae Uy, M. Haight, James Holland
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