Hello and welcome to another month of great music industry insight and advice here on the official blog of Haulix. November 1 was the day of our company update, so today marks the official start of our new content offerings and we’re kicking things off with a Spotlight piece about a person whose passion for supporting new talent is second-to-none. If you have a site or journalist you would like to recommend for an upcoming spotlight, or if you have any questions regarding our blog content, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can reach also reach on Twitter.
The people I’ve found to be happiest in the music business are those who choose this career path for reasons other than financial gain. We’re all aware of the problems many labels and artists have faced as a result of piracy, and problems with properly monetizing digital efforts has lead to a turbulent startup marketplace for those working on the promotional side of things, but in the face of all that hundreds of aspiring professionals continue to dedicate countless hours each year to chasing income and stability in the entertainment industry. Most end up earning little more than memories and ticket stubs, but for some that’s what matters most, and if I had to guess about the person at the center of today’s spotlight I would bet she’d be perfectly happy to walk away just knowing she made a difference.
Sandra Chen is a pure music enthusiast through and through. She loves experiencing music, supporting it, and most importantly sharing it with anyone willing to give her a moment of their time. Her relationship with the business side of things started as an innocent interest in photography, but over time turned into a career that shows no signs of slowing anytime soon. She’s one of the founding members of Breakdown Music Press, and this afternoon we’re excited to share her journey up to this point with all of you.
If you would like to stay on top of everything Sandra is working on, please be sure to bookmark and frequent Breakdown Music Press. Additional questions or comments can be left at the end of this post.
H: For those unaware, please state your name, the company you work for, and your role at said business:
SC: I’m Sandra Chen, and I’m the Editor-In-Chief and one of the co-founders of Breakdown Music Press.
H: When you think about your earliest memories with music, what comes to mind?
SC: When I was in high school, I would go to the Bamboozle Festival (I grew up in New Jersey) every year- besides that, I didn’t go to very many shows at all in high school! So I would say that those festivals are some of my earliest memories with music.
H: What was the first album you purchased with your own money? Do you still own it today?
SC: Ah, I feel like I should remember this but I don’t! I think it might have been the second Mayday Parade full-length, though. That or Santi by The Academy Is…. I still own every album I’ve ever bought!
H: Music and photography both play a major role in you life. Since we talked about one, we should at least touch on the other. Do you recall what initially attracted you to the world of photography?
SC: I first got into photography because of my dad, actually- he used to be really into it, and had a couple cameras lying around, so I just picked up his D50 (so old!) from time to time to take some photos. When I left for college, he gave me a D80 to bring with me, and I started to get into actually shooting shows!
H: At some point you decided to combine these two interests. What inspired you to dive into the world of entertainment journalism?
SC: In high school I would always bring my point & shoot out to shows because I wanted to capture memories, but one band in particular inspired me to want to pursue music photography–I was super impressed by Cobra Starship’s stage presence the first time I saw them live, I just wanted to be able to show others the energy that I saw them with on stage, and I felt like the best way for me to express that would be through photos.
H: Who or what is your inspiration as a photographer? Writer?
SC: Honestly? My biggest inspirations, not just in photography but overall, are my friends and family. The support I get from people motivates me every day, and when people appreciate my work I know it’s all worth it! But I suppose to name a few people who inspire me: my co-founder Natalie Campbell inspires me to push forward with Breakdown (along with every other hard-working member of our staff). My good friend Derek Buell has been one of my biggest supporters from the very beginning–I owe him a lot of the best opportunities as a photographer, and he is a constant reminder that not everyone is judgmental in the music industry (that can be tough to remember sometimes!) and that hard work really pays off. And of course, some photographers that I look up to include Adam Elmakias, Anthony Gattine, Tom Falcone, Nick DiNatale, and a bunch more–these are the people whose work inspire me to improve my own photography constantly.
H: What was your first gig in the music business? Unpaid work counts.
SC: Most of my early work was just going out and shooting shows for bands. In the beginning, it was small, mostly local bands- they would give me a ticket and a pass if needed for their shows, and I’d send them photos afterwards. After a while, I started getting paid for shooting, or I started shooting for some bigger bands!
H: Breakdown Music Press started just over a year ago. Did you write elsewhere before stepping out on your own?
SC: I wrote briefly for my university’s music magazine, but not much- I covered maybe 2 or 3 concerts for them. It was tougher because I didn’t really always get to cover the music I wanted to cover, but it was a great experience nonetheless!
H: Follow-up: There are countless music blogs in existence today. Why did you decide to launch your own instead of joining an outlet with an already developed brand?
SC: Like I said above, I wanted to be able to cover the bands and shows that I was interested in or that I thought deserved press, instead of taking assignments that had been decided by someone else with zero imput from me. It’s also just incredibly rewarding to be able to look at something and think, “wow, *I* made this,” not just a part of it.
H: Breakdown is one of a few publications attempting to push digital journalism forward by offering a recurring ‘magazine.’ You still do the daily news, but there is much more to Breakdown than the day-to-day. Was the magazine component always something you had in mind for the site?
SC: Yes! For a while before I started Breakdown, I had wanted to be part of a physical magazine- I was always really impressed and awed by Alternative Press, so that was a big inspiration!
H: Who was the first artist to be featured on Breakdown, and why did you choose them?
SC: Breakdown’s first cover artist was a band called Twenty One Pilots. I chose those guys because, well, the timing was just right- I had just met the guys a few months beforehand and stayed in touch, so it was super easy to get ahold of them and be like, “hey, what do you think about doing this?” They were perfect, too, because I (and everyone else) saw so much potential in them- they had just been signed by Fueled By Ramen and we all knew they were going to blow up soon. To me, Breakdown is all about distinguishing the people in the music industry that we really believe in, and that we think are going to rise in success. The Twenty One Pilots guys are the perfect example of that.
H: What makes a feature better for the magazine than the site? How do you decide where content eventually resides?
SC: A lot of things go into decisions like that! We do kind of set a higher bar for things that go in the issues- we want to make sure that they’ll catch people’s eye, and that they mix well with everything else in the issue. It’s also a matter of timing- since people don’t see the articles instantly if we put them in an issue that’s going to be released later, if something is time sensitive it makes a lot more sense to throw it on the website.
H: Currently, both the site and digital publication you offer are complete free to whoever has an interest in them. I’ve also noticed there seem to be few, if any ads on Breakdown. Do you have plans to monetize moving forward? If so, how?
SC: We don’t really focus on things like advertising because we don’t prioritize making a profit- that’s not really what Breakdown was ever about. We’ve definitely talked about possibilities in making money with Breakdown, since there are expenses that we do have to pay to sustain the magazine, but we don’t really have any plans to monetize Breakdown soon.
H: Building off that last question, it appears you make little-to-no income with your efforts. What motivates you to continue creating content and covering bands?
SC: I think I said this earlier too but there’s just something satisfying about being able to show something to someone and say you created it! Breakdown is a pretty simple magazine, but looking back at issues and thinking about the amount of work and effort I’ve put into them makes me feel pretty good. I also think it’s really important to recognize potential in the music industry and distinguish the people who I believe deserve success- there are so many people trying to get anywhere in the industry, and not everybody is genuine and it’s easy for those who are to get lost in a huge sea of people all trying to do the same thing.
H: What would you say is the most difficult part of this ‘job’ you’ve created for yourself?
SC: Definitely the amount of time it requires, and juggling that with going to school full time and another job! It’s pretty much impossible for me to fit everything in plus have time to eat/sleep/have fun sometimes. I have to make a lot of sacrifices and tradeoffs and that’s really difficult as well.
H: I should mention Breakdown Music Press has grown to be more than just you. How many contributors do you have on staff?
SC: About ten, but our team is always changing and always growing, and we are always looking for new contributors who are passionate about music!
H: What do you look for when seeking new team members?
SC: Well there’s the obvious- we definitely want people who are good at writing, or photographing, or good at whatever job they are going to do for us. But there’s a lot more that goes with that, as well! It’s important for people on our team to be able to work well with others, to be enthusiastic and passionate about music and journalism and the publication itself.
H: How do you market Breakdown Music Press? What tactics have you found work best? Worst?
SC: Most of our marketing is done through social media, between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Everything from interacting with the musicians we feature, interacting with fans, to doing online giveaways really helps us as well. I think we definitely try to stay away from tactics that we think won’t work well- I guess one example though might be the time when we first started out, I tried to build our Twitter presence by following a bunch of people, and accidentally got us banned from Twitter. Oops. Lesson learned.
H: You feature a number of smaller bands on your site. Where do you look when hoping to discover great new talent?
SC: We look for the things we think are important for anyone to have when they’re trying to make it in the music industry. Like, we look for potential and talent, obviously, but we also look for drive and motivation, hard work, kindness, and just people who are all-around genuine and who are there because of their passion for music.
H: I’m sure there are a good amount of artists seeking you out as well. What advice would you offer young talent to help them stand out from the others vying for your attention through email or social networks?
SC: I’d say that it’s really important to give off a good impression! It sounds bad but first impressions really do matter in this industry. Market yourself well- quality over quantity is very important. It’s better to put out nothing than to put out something that might affect your image negatively, and this applies to everything, not just the music you write and record.
H: Some people believe there is no need for critics in the digital age. Do you agree? (Support your response)
SC: Um, I think feedback is important, and valuable, constructive feedback is even more important, so critics will always have a place in music, digital or not.
H: When it comes to receiving music for feature consideration, which services do you prefer and why?
SC: Dropbox is by far the easiest! It makes it super easy to access files from anywhere, even on my phone. I also love getting music via Haulix, because it’s easy to navigate and it just works! I think it’s super nifty, too, that Haulix watermarks the music. Definitely a plus for the artist.
H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
SC: This is a tough one. I think maybe part of me wishes it were a little more transparent- there are a lot of hard working individuals in the industry whose hard work (and good work) is overlooked or kind of unnoticed. That’s not to say that the hard work doesn’t pay off, but just that sometimes people don’t realize how much work actually goes into the stuff that happens behind the scenes! I think maybe if people noticed that more, the industry would be a more positive place and people would be motivated to work even harder and do greater things.
H: What is your ultimate career goal?
SC: For me, personally, the ideal would be to pursue a full-fledged career in music photography! It’s something I’ve been working very hard on, and I’ve recently been going on a couple short tour runs with some bands (I’m actually finishing up this interview while on the road at the moment) but the next goal is a full US tour or maybe Warped! I just want to work with as many people in the industry as I possibly can.
H: Before we let you go, can you tell us a bit about what you have planned in the months ahead?
SC: In terms of the magazine, we’re definitely hoping to move forward with Breakdown, expand our team and bring in lots of awesome new contributors, and just help the publication grow overall. And, of course, we want to continue featuring amazing musicians.
