For this episode, I got to interview Josh Simons, the CEO & co-founder of Vampr, the world’s largest and most active social-professional network for musicians. Recognized by Fast Company as one of the Most Innovative Companies in 2022, Vampr is home to over one million users worldwide. Vampr is created for musicians and made by musicians to support musicians. Its primary mission is to help musicians of all genres create their community in its ecosystem. Vampr shares each user’s expertise as well as a social media interface with an easy swipe left/right function to connect with others. As many of us are frequent users of social media, we realize that many social network sites only offer one or two unique features to their users: Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud, LinkedIn, Fiverr, Thumbtack, etc.; moreover, they do not interconnect to one another. So, you must be on multiple platforms constantly to create, sustain, and thrive in your career as a musician. Finally, Vampr created a solution for musicians – it combines features of all other platforms: Connect, Collaborate, Control, Learn, and Discover. On its platform, you can collaborate with like-minded musicians and find a publicist, graphic designer, videographer, or copyright expert, for example, while promoting your music by uploading your videos and music just like any other social media platform. Vampr is creating a village for all musicians! Josh is a successful artist, songwriter & producer who has toured for many years. So with his extensive experience as a professional musician, he has a lot of credit for being the groundbreaker in the industry by creating something unique and timely to help fellow musicians. So, you do not want to miss this episode to hear what Vampr offers and how its platform helps and supports fellow musicians like us![Sponsors]
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It all started with a connection.
(00:03):
And now, five million connections later,
Vamper has become the essential tool for connecting creatives.
Make music happen.
Find your team.
Collaborate.
And if you think you've got it in you,
go pro and unlock distribution, sync opportunities, analytics, and so much more.
(00:25):
Vamper. Download today and make music happen.
Welcome back to another episode of the Pianopod.
I am your host, Yuki Misun.
So for this episode, I got to interview Josh Simons.
He is the CEO and co-founder of Vamper.
It's the world's largest and most active social media slash professional networking site for musicians.
(00:51):
I feel like the theme of this season of the Pianopod has been about how we classical musicians
should reach out to our niche or our audience in a creative and innovative way,
especially in this post-pandemic era.
So as my show is approaching the season finale in a few weeks,
(01:13):
I thought I should invite someone outside of our industry to talk about marketing and promotion.
So I found Josh Simons and he created this social media platform specifically for musicians,
and he's in the entertainment industry.
And I thought we need to pick his brain in regards to the topic of promotion and marketing.
(01:35):
So before starting the episode, I want to welcome everyone who is listening or watching the Pianopod for the first time.
I'm a classical pianist and educator from New York City,
passionate about creating a thriving and meaningful community of the classical music industry through this podcast.
Please visit yukimisongsstudio.com to find out more about my work.
(01:58):
In each episode of the Pianopod, I interview a guest speaker who has been breaking exciting new ground in the industry.
Before getting started, I want to thank everyone for tuning in.
Please rate the show and review it on Apple Podcasts because every rating review will help people find my show.
So here we go, dear friends, please enjoy the show.
(02:25):
You are listening to the Pianopod where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
I am honored to welcome Josh Simons, the CEO and then co-founder of Vamper,
the world's largest and most active social professional network for musicians recognized by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies in 2022.
(02:52):
Vamper is home to over one million users worldwide.
Josh himself is a successful artist and songwriter and producer who has toured for many years.
So with his extensive experience as a professional musician,
he has a lot of credit as far as being the groundbreaker in the industry by creating something unique and timely to help fellow musicians.
(03:14):
I am looking forward to hearing his story and how he got to where he is now and of course learning about Vamper.
As you know, I'm open to learning from someone like Josh who has created a new pathway for himself and for others.
Although you may say classical music and pop music entertainment industries are different,
I think we have so much more in common than you think as artists and creatives.
(03:38):
And we can learn so much, particularly the topic of marketing and branding from Josh today.
So welcome, Josh. Thank you for being here.
Thank you for such a lovely introduction.
Thank you. So I'm very excited to talk to you about your especially your company Vamper.
It's a social professional network for exclusively for musicians.
(04:02):
So tell us tell us about Vamper.
It came about because I was having issues in my own career about well now about 10 years ago.
It still feels like yesterday.
But basically I had a band in Australia that did OK.
And then I went back to England, which is where I'm from, and tried to recreate that success.
(04:28):
And kind of found that I was starting again, despite having sort of five years of touring experience,
being on the radio, playing festivals and touring nationally, all the kind of stuff we were doing.
And the concept of starting again in your mid 20s in an expensive city is ridiculous.
(04:50):
It's ridiculous at any point, really, that it takes five to seven years to find the sort of team that you need to actually make a living in this industry.
And so I took a look around and I looked at a lot of the technologies that existed.
They were great tools for distribution, great tools for publishing, even good tools for building fan bases.
But there weren't really any tools to help build your team and your network, the people around you.
(05:16):
So that's kind of how Vamper came about.
I wanted to solve that problem.
And I went back to my label that originally signed me and said, I'd like to partner with you on this.
And what's the what's the really premise or the mission behind Vamper?
I get that it's networking, but more specifically to connect the Johns in the Pools of the world algorithmically.
(05:39):
So, you know, it takes typically five to seven years for people to find the perfect team.
I said perfect. I mean, a group of people that are common interests, like minded in their focus and what they're looking to achieve.
Usually that's a living of some kind.
It takes it takes time traditionally to find those people who believe in you and are aligned.
(06:06):
What if we can do that in five minutes? And that's the mission.
Oh, wonderful. And then when did you create this launch this company?
I think we launched the first version on iOS in 2016, but we didn't really launch proper until broadly and globally and across all devices until February 2017.
And then we kind of pressed pause for a year just before COVID, actually.
(06:32):
And we went back to the drawing board because we'd learned a lot really quickly.
We sort of managed to get a couple hundred thousand people, learned how to market really effectively.
But the product wasn't amazing. So we pressed pause for a minute, went back to the drawing board and sort of redesigned everything and came back out sometime early in the pandemic.
(06:55):
So how did the pandemic affect your company?
Yeah, that's a good question. We definitely saw a slight bump in downloads.
It wasn't dramatic. I remember doing interviews at the time and people like this would either kill you or make you.
And it's like it's it's neither. It's like everything in life. It's measured.
(07:19):
So we got a little bump in downloads, you know, start increasing people because our whole app is about connecting. It makes sense that folks like at home would want to connect with other people.
So that was mildly helpful. But then a lot of the things that people do using VAMP are like they'll catch up and then go to a recording studio together or jam in a practice room.
(07:42):
The second part of the equation was missing. So we had to then very quickly think of what are things that we can give people online.
And that's when we started adding in services like music distribution, music publishing, which, you know, they're still passive activities, I suppose.
But we're like, if our users can't catch up in real life, got to find them a way to make some money online.
(08:07):
That was sort of our thinking. And so a lot of our energy and effort went into that during the early part of the pandemic, because the pandemic kind of went on for a few years.
But the first year was all about coming up with online solutions.
Now, in so many ways, you know, pandemic taught us many things like, for example, you know, especially as classical musicians, we are all about acoustic live performance.
(08:38):
And of course, there is a recording, too. But then, you know, pandemic taught us that this sort of communication, this sort of, let's say, collaboration online became possible and acceptable.
So did any of these things affect you, affect your company, affect the way that people think about music?
(08:59):
Oh, definitely. Yeah. And, you know, aside from being the founder of Vampir, I'm also a songwriter.
And I myself collaborate with other people. And during the pandemic, we did lots of online songwriting sessions and things like that.
I think, if anything, the pandemic probably accelerated people's comfortableness with that.
(09:25):
And that's a good thing, because it means that you don't have to be in Los Angeles or Berlin or London or Melbourne or whatever city, you know, that's culturally relevant.
You don't have to be in these sort of hubs, these, you know, songwriting hubs, art sort of centers to have access to opportunities.
(09:49):
So that's probably the only positive thing that came out of the pandemic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a tough three years, but yeah, finally it's over.
So now before asking the next question, I would love to hear a little bit about your background. You mentioned a little bit about your musical background and then your as I introduce you to my audience that you are professional musicians.
(10:14):
So how did you get started as a musician and what led you to where you are now today?
Yeah, so I got started because I was managing some bands when I was very young, 19 or 20.
And I sort of seemed to have a knack for finding bands with really amazing talent, but they all had in common a reluctance for commercial success.
(10:40):
So where I saw their songs performing really well on TV shows, they saw that as selling out and stuff like that.
And so I grew frustrated with them pretty quickly.
And I was like, I might as well just do this myself. And, you know, I could sing. I'd been in choir my whole life.
(11:02):
I never I don't think I'd ever really seriously thought about it as a job. And then I just started doing it. And then within six months of starting, we were on the radio and then invited to play some festivals and do some big tours.
And it all moved very quickly. So, as I said at the top, that that all happened in Australia, which is a very small market.
(11:27):
It's a small it's a large physical country, but it's a small population and the music industry is smaller again.
So it's there's a nuance there. But, you know, we sort of sort of climbed to the top of the indie scene in that world.
And it was it was a lot of fun. You know, I think we toured that country nine times or something.
(11:49):
You know, we were on the radio and TV and doing live performances everywhere. It was awesome.
But it's really hard to sustain because it is such a small market and and also because it's a large country, it costs a lot to travel.
So if you're moving a band and crew around and you're you're an indie outfit to get from Melbourne to Sydney is going to cost several thousand dollars.
(12:19):
Many people and you've got to get your gear across or you've got to hire it.
So there's real restrictions. And look, I'm not the only one who's had this problem. Every band in Australia has this problem.
There's a lot of singer songwriters or solo performers who don't have to move production around.
And we were more of a production in a lot of respects. We had we liked our little light show that we did with our shows.
(12:45):
So we want a cheap band to tour. And that was a real restriction on our ability to scale and grow the thing.
But, you know, there's a there's a video online called The Band Was Called Buchanan and this video online called An Uncommon Experience.
And it kind of chronicles our journey and our career and what we achieve. I suggest people check it out.
(13:11):
Yeah, I would. And what what genre is this? It's a rock pop.
Yes, it's like indie pop.
OK, great. Cool. Now, let's get into your company, Vamper, because I really want to find out more about it.
So you can find actually an app on any of the smartphones.
(13:33):
Yeah, that's right. So it's Google Play for Android devices and the app store for Apple devices.
But yeah, it's on the app store. It's an app working on a web version on and off for years. It's coming.
I just can't say what political reasons, but it's just it's tricky with the with websites.
(13:55):
You got to consider all kinds of things like what country people are visiting from and what happens if you're in a country with blocked IPs and how is it going to scale on a mobile?
And is it going to behave like a web app? Or I won't bore you with the details, but the websites taken longer to build than probably we would have liked.
But right now, it's a mobile app. It's kind of started as a mobile app.
(14:18):
We started as a mobile first company, which means we build apps.
And so that's that's where you'd find Vamper today if you want to download it.
And it's very hopefully quite straightforward and intuitive.
We've not tried to reinvent the world. We're kind of standing on the shoulders of giants and leaning into technologies and behaviors that people already understand.
So when it comes to discovering new people, we use the sort of Tinder functionality of swiping left and right and put it in a professional environment.
(14:48):
There's also traditional search where you can just type in someone's details.
We've got a section called Watch where people can upload videos of them performing on demos or collaborations.
Oh, wow. That looks a little bit like TikTok. So we kind of combining sort of features and as I say, user behaviors from other platforms that people already understand.
(15:12):
And hopefully that makes the experience less intimidating, familiar somewhat.
And that's that's kind of how we've always done it. And we're pretty quick to adapt to whatever the latest behavior trend is.
We've also I mean, I don't want to undermine that. We also put some original stuff in there, too, and, you know, try and innovate in subtle ways.
(15:36):
For example, you know, platforms like Vamper that allow one person to meet another person, they're usually what you call a closed social network, one or one to one.
And how you then merge that with a social network where you can speak one to many that being like a Facebook or LinkedIn.
(15:57):
No one's really ever successfully done both models in the one platform where I'd argue that we kind of have.
So, yeah, there's some innovation in there for sure.
But we always try and use languages and behaviors that folks are familiar with.
Oh, wow. OK. So now so Vamper is really made for musicians and then has the sort of feature of like many different multiple platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and so forth.
(16:27):
And but so what's so different and unique about Vamper from other networking sites like you mentioned a little bit.
But, you know, we have LinkedIn, Instagram, Fiverr, Thumbtack and then SoundCloud.
And so what's so special, unique about Vamper?
So all the platforms you just mentioned do think do one or two things really well.
(16:52):
But, you know, comparing SoundCloud to LinkedIn, the fact that you even made that comparison is problematic because they have nothing to do with each other.
One of them is a place where you upload songs, the other is a place where you upload a resume.
So with Vamper, we did look at literally every one of those things you just said.
And we said, well, how do we create a dedicated space? Because that's what was missing.
(17:15):
If you go on LinkedIn and type, show me a drummer who's female, 22, lives in Arkansas and listens to Pink Floyd and the Beatles, it'll get confused and say no results.
Where you can go on Vamper and put all of that in and get an answer. So as I just said, you can quite literally search for that person on Vamper, whereas you can't on any of those other platforms.
(17:36):
That's what makes us unique. And it's a dedicated space.
So, you know, we could remove all the labels in the app that say genre, skill, favorite artists, all these sort of categories that people display on their profiles.
You could put any words you like and then the app becomes that.
The point I'm making is like with platforms and social apps, a lot of the usefulness comes from the context.
(18:02):
And the context here is that we're an app for musicians made by musicians to help you meet other musicians.
That's the context you have when you go in. That's the context supported by the labels in the various sections in the app.
But it's a social network. So it does what you think it does.
Tell us a little bit more specifics about Vamper. So, for example, features.
(18:24):
So I went online and I typed in VAMPR.ME. That's the web address.
And then there are like features like learn, discover, connect, collaboration and control.
Can you tell us about those five words? Yeah, if you break them down, they generally translate to features inside of the app.
(18:46):
So the primary principal feature in VAMPR is meeting people.
So that's why folks come. And that's all about discovery and being discovered.
Then when you zoom out a little bit, you've got a lot of features that sort of support that.
So you've got VAMPR distribution, which people who make music as a result of using VAMPR can upload their music then to Spotify, Apple Music, et cetera, through our distribution platform.
(19:15):
You've got our publishing division.
So that's a part of the company that tries to place our users music and film, TV, video games and ads.
And then there's our academy, which is like an ed tech solution for the business of music.
So there's not a lot of courses online about how to navigate the business side of music.
(19:38):
So we've kind of provided some courses around that. Wow.
And that's our learn features. And that's like, I don't know the exact number of hours, but probably approaching hundreds of hours of courses from top professors and industry authority figures, you know, teaching folks, particularly in the early stages of their career, what to look out for.
(20:01):
So that's our learn stuff. And then control refers to controlling your own copyrights. And that goes back to distribution and publishing.
So we kind of call those solutions and they all kind of orbit our social network.
So we kind of view our we view the discovery thing and meeting other people and connecting is kind of the heart of the company.
(20:22):
And then there's other things I just mentioned sort of circle around it as sort of ad hoc solutions that folks can use as they need them.
Right.
Now I'm curious about this distribution part. That's so cool that so once you are on Vamper, you have the membership and you produce your song, then you can distribute your music or whatever on like Apple or Spotify through Vamper.
(20:49):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's something that you know, not a lot of people know how to do it.
It's as simple as it is.
There's a lot of options out there now. In fact, for classical music, it can get trickier because the metadata and classical music is slightly more complicated than pop music.
It's not more complicated. It's just different. And not all distribution platforms will support classical music.
(21:15):
But for non classical music, it's pretty easy now. Like you can work with DistroKid, you can work with CD Baby, Tunecore.
Those are sort of the big players. We offer a version of the same thing. We all do the same job at the end of the day. We offer it because if people are already in our Vamper world and using our tools and services, it's just convenient for them not to have to jump onto another platform to complete a task.
(21:42):
But most music tech companies offer a form of distribution these days.
Wow, that's cool. Then when it comes to learning course, let's say, if I want to learn how to promote myself, is there a course like that?
Yeah, there is. Yeah, there's a course specifically on self promotion. It's probably one of the most requested or talked about topics in our ecosystem.
(22:11):
And a lot of people use Vamper specifically to self promote, which in and of itself is sometimes a bit of a problem because it creates a bit of noise.
And if everyone's doing it, then the quality can fall off. But that's sort of a separate topic that we could spend an hour on.
How to self promote using legitimate channels and without annoying people. Yeah, we've done. We've done a few courses on that.
(22:36):
Oh, wow. Yeah, that's really important. Even in a classical music world, I think that's something that, you know, as a 21st century classical musicians, we have to learn.
So because that audience, we have to create audience now. The audience is not there waiting for use. Right. So.
It's frustrating. Yeah, I know it is. But if you know, learn how to do, then you can really create a meaningful, you know, your original audience.
(23:07):
Like, it's not just one of those people just they stop by the concert venue and then leave. But they would be a faithful fan. Super fan. Right. Exactly. Yeah.
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Vampire offers a is it free or is there like a certain like a level of membership?
(24:23):
Yeah, there's lots of different tiers. So each solution, some solutions actually that we mentioned.
In fact, I think something like 70% of our features can be used free in one way, shape or form.
So, you know, you can use Vampire Distribution for free and we keep a small royalty percentage of the performance of the tracks.
(24:44):
Or you can pay us five dollars a month and keep 100% of your royalties.
It's all about choice, right? Same with publishing.
It's free to upload the tracks and get represented and have us in the market working it on.
If we land something for you, we'll take a cut, but it's free upfront.
If you want to connect with more people, you can pay for additional direct messages and things like that without Vampire Pro product.
(25:13):
That's also five dollars a month. The education stuff is a little bit more expensive.
It's 19 dollars a month. That gets you unlimited access to all of our courses.
So it just really depends on what your appetite is.
Right. And then with that sort of whatever the tier you choose, depending on how much you pay per month, is there like a...
I wouldn't say customer service, but maybe some sort of support system that you can get?
(25:38):
Right now, it doesn't matter what tier you're on, you get the same support.
Wow. Really? Like if I have trouble, let's say uploading my video or maybe, oh, I want to really have a specific question about promoting myself so I can reach out to one of the...
Yeah. And between Monday and Friday, typically we get back within 24 hours, but we're not there necessarily to help answer questions about how to self promote or how to make it.
(26:08):
Although typically we'll reply with a friendly response of encouragement, but the whole purpose of Vampire is to meet other people who can help you on that journey.
It's not up to my company's team or myself to individually turn everyone into a star, nor do we make that claim.
And we never would. It's the purpose of the platform is for folks to find others who can help with that and start networking and building their own little communities.
(26:36):
So that's what we specialize in. And so someone writes in and says, I want to be on the Billboard charts.
We'll go, that's great. And we want you to be on the Billboard charts too. Have you reached out to anyone on Vampire that specializes in music promotion?
So that's how, but you know, if someone writes in and says, I'm trying to distribute my track, but it's not letting me click the distribute button, then we'll dive in there and fix the problem.
(27:04):
Right. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. So, but if I type site in search bar or whatever and say promotion, you know, I'm looking for someone to help me promote, then just type in the word and then it shows up or
on the, on the app.
(27:25):
Kind of almost. There's a little search popup menu that comes up and you, you put in your type in what you want. So it might be promotions, it might be publicity, it might be a bass player, it might be a drummer, could be a graphic designer, could be a videographer, could be a music director, all these things.
(27:46):
You choose whatever it is that you're looking for. You save your settings, and then the algorithm does its thing and it produces results and within a couple of seconds.
So you're you can literally create a team there.
That's correct. Wow. Okay, now I'm starting to make sense. So, I don't have to go to this platform to look for graphic designer because that's usually the case and then the other platform to create my audience or create, you know, meet
(28:15):
other musicians for example so for example using LinkedIn, but it's all inclusive, inclusive, like, wow.
It's like a LinkedIn for the music ecosystem. Cool. That's super neat. Wow. So now who are the current users what are the demographics around the world where people are like, so
(28:36):
we've got users in, we've got active users in every single country on the planet. We've got, I think 1.3 million people in total who are sort of authenticated which means they've gone through the onboarding process uploaded a picture filled out their account properly.
And, I mean our most popular or most active territory is North America which I think you'd probably expect.
(29:01):
And then there's a lot of, you know, countries, Brazil, India, Spain, where there's a lot of activity, which is kind of really cool, brings a different flavor to the platform and the styles of music from all those places and then other Western countries
like UK, Australia, Canada, well, I already said North America, New Zealand, those countries are typically fairly active. But as far as like the, you know, the typical user profile I mean you're usually looking at someone in their early 20s, male and female.
(29:36):
You know we know things like how many artists they love so typically I think someone will add 17 favorite artists to their profile on average or something. And then genre wise, you know, probably won't surprise you that a lot of people affiliate themselves with dance music and hip hop and stuff that's made with technology.
(29:59):
But, you know, there's a healthy share of people in rock and more traditional genres as well. And when we look at, you know, all the different skills and types of people we have on there.
Last time we checked there was 27,000 different skills that's, that's everything from like I was saying before you film director through to your oboist through to your, I think we've got didgeridoo as a category.
(30:29):
And we cover a lot of categories but yeah there's 27,000 different categories I believe so. And yeah, that's music teachers, lawyers, anything you can imagine in the world of music it's probably on there.
So it's like a really village, you're creating a village. Right. So, how can bumper help classical musicians, because, you know, our industry is exists a little differently right.
(31:01):
Even the music making is a little different like we do a lot of form. It's based on performing arts so that it's very time consuming to learn music audience is very different from, you know, pop rock industries, and also music itself is extremely
(31:23):
structured and less creative in that sense, but there are other ways of being creative in classical music, you know industry don't get me wrong, but.
So, are there any classical musicians or the community of classical musicians or maybe in the future are you thinking of expanding in that, you know classical music industry in that bumper ecosystem is definitely classical musicians on the platform.
(31:55):
Yeah, and there's a small community there. And I've heard from them directly, so I know that they're there. And not just relying on analytics and data but yet that that community exists I don't know if it's the preferred place or destination for people in the
industry because, you know, just being honest. I don't know enough about that world. And it is, it is unique and different than pop rock and I wouldn't pretend to know the nuance of the things that go along with being an active member of the classical community
(32:32):
but we certainly have managed to attract a healthy number of classical players who identify as classical players. And I don't know maybe you've got to go on there and tell me what you think.
Yeah.
Yeah, especially I'm curious about the learning part, and also the streaming part, but also have being able to discover someone in the like expertise of, let's say, someone knows more about production or someone knows more about promotion.
(33:07):
So, you know, it's very, if it fits in one app. That's really an ideal I don't have to go around and look for people all over the place, and then, you know, online search is convenient, however, it's really overwhelming because you end up talking to someone
that you didn't connect, but you wasted 30 minutes. And it's, I'm actually for the last three years that's exactly what I've been doing like looking for someone, someone who could teach me about marketing or someone who could, you know, do this service for me.
(33:40):
And honestly, it's really exhausting.
The internet and tools and apps like Vamper and stuff. In some respects, really make life speeds things up so you know if you think about it might have taken you years in previous, you know, five, 10 years ago to have to go through a phone book or a rudimentary website
(34:06):
or Craigslist and dial around and speak to people, you know, by email and then you don't really know what they look like or sound like or what their attitude is and then they turn up and they're weird or they're not quite the right fit and you waste.
I mean I did this with my bad when we were looking for a drummer we wasted hours, hours auditioning people.
(34:27):
The purpose of Vamper is to take that hours and turn into minutes. And it is funny to hear you say you know, you can waste 30 minutes in the conversation you're right you can.
But I would, I would put it to you that that's better than wasting hours or days or weeks on a lead that doesn't, you know, come good and so, you know, would we like to get it to seconds, sure.
(34:51):
And then in Vamper you can connect with someone in two seconds literally if you want, but you probably want to check their profile first but there'll be a, there'll be ways that we can speed that process up, but it's already a million miles better than it was
earlier. Yeah, of course yeah that that that was exactly the point I was making because with the algorithm and everything I think it's much smoother with this process because honestly without without it, you know, I have to go to this side and that side
(35:24):
and talk to this person that person and it was because they're usually those social media is not made for musicians, you know exclusively so yeah. So, is there any other thing that you would like to highlight about bumper that helped musicians maybe
share? Is there like specific story that you want to share success story or? So my favorite success story is a woman called Ray Khalil.
(35:55):
She's a Los Angeles rapper and had, as a rapper she's just one of the best that I've heard.
She had no music producing skills so she desperately needed a producer to bring her ideas to life.
And she used Vamper, I think like five years ago now to find a guy called Jared Rubens, who had his own production duo and band thing going on.
(36:25):
And they just clicked and vibed and made it, I think they made one or two albums together but her getting those done, put her onto sort of the world stage and she got onto a Netflix show called Rhythm and Flow and got to work with people like Chance
the Rapper and Anderson Park.
(36:47):
And it just, it was the start of something very special for her. She's now doing appearances on Sway and Fox and stuff like you know.
So she's on her own little journey now but we played a, obviously a role in the very early days.
There's a lot of stories like that, there's many stories like that. That's my favorite but there's a lot of stories where Vamper played a very fundamental role in the very early stages of the career.
(37:17):
So, what's the next step for Vamper?
We got acquired not so long ago by a music company called Jaxta that does music credits and has the world's largest database of official music credits coming from all sources like labels, PROs, publishers, etc.
(37:39):
So, we're just working on successfully integrating the companies together, which is sort of pretty big task but I think will be very rewarding. So that's what's coming up.
It probably doesn't sound very sexy but it's really important stuff to kind of cement our position as the leader in our space.
(38:00):
So, we're kind of going to be a bit heads down, thumbs up for the remainder of the year and working on improving the experience and bringing these two products together.
So that's keeping me busy.
Oh wonderful, that sounds really amazing, exciting. Now we're really toward the end of our conversation but I have a few more questions so it's going to be a little bit more like philosophical questions that I want to ask.
(38:24):
So, I want to know your thoughts on this because you're not a classical musician you're so through the lens of a pop musician.
I'm a trained classical musician, I did. Oh yeah. Did piano up to, you know, Amy be grade eight or whatever it is when I was a kid so.
Really. Oh, sorry, then you're a classical musician so you know what's like to be this.
(38:51):
It's not part of the classical kind of community if you will because there is, you know, people who go beyond the stage that I got to in the classical world tend to stay in circles and they really grow and influence and power and they build careers.
So I'm not part of that classical world but I'm classically trained. So, then, how do you think we can keep this classical music relevant and the industry thriving in this fast paced and, you know, society and the post pandemic era.
(39:22):
That's a really interesting question. Um, I hear classical music when I in popular music all the time. The popular music is built on classical music in the chord progressions and the turns and the time signature changes and all the things that go on
and they're all, you can hear them all in very early classical music and pops popular music's just found the parts that resonate and repeat them four times and call it a day three minutes and 20 seconds.
(39:53):
So, I think classical music is around us all the time. That's that would be my answer. As far as how do we keep the community alive again I can't speak to that but I would encourage folks to use tools like Vamper to kind of advocate for and push their own or grow their own communities
and people are doing that on YouTube. I follow some really great classical artists on Instagram and TikTok and it's really cool just to watch that there's still people really passionate about that genre and, although I think the word genre is almost insulting when we
(40:29):
refer to classical but because it's a bit too broad but yeah I think it's going to be fine.
It's the foundation of more music. Yeah, absolutely. But I think I feel like with this audience of new generations to come and we have to give them some sort of a, you know, context, you know, to, in order for us to attract them.
(40:56):
Instead of just how many I mean I don't know what your social feeds look like but mine are just people playing insanely fast on a piano and people being mind blown.
And then I think also music scores play a part in keeping people interested too so yeah you got these viral videos of people playing fast but then you've also got viral videos of people playing the interstellar theme as written by Anne Zimmer on pianos and tube stations in London and, you know,
(41:27):
and I think that keeps people's interest in specifically piano but more classical sounding music.
So I think they're exposed to it. You know, anyone who's interested in music is in some way exposed to classical. Right, right. Yeah.
So, you may have already answered this but how can we as classical musicians, reach out to the 21st century audience creatively. Well, use bumper. Yes.
(41:58):
Use all of the tools I mean vamp is one important one but and vampires are focused on so you want to like proactively build your own little community of people who are supportive of classical music in a certain age group, you can do that on vamp it absolutely.
But I would encourage people to use all the tools that you can, you can do that on Tiktok to you can do that on Instagram as well.
(42:23):
It's not going to. You got to put some effort in. Right. Like, we always say this to our users as well and they people some doesn't happen much anymore but people in the early days would be like I've been on the app for a month and no one's reached out to me and we're like,
Yeah, but have you reached out to anyone you know, effort.
You know, reward reward requires effort. Yeah, absolutely.
(42:46):
All right, so last question. Advice for young musicians, keep turning up. So, whether that's to practice whether that's to a band rehearsal whether that's to theory lessons.
School, whatever it is just if you keep showing up, eventually, things will work out. You have to take my word for that but it's true. Thank you so much.
(43:13):
And for those who are watching or listening so Joe Simon's he is the CEO of them, Vamper. And then you can check out the company bumper at VA MPR dot me, that's the web address, and you can sign up for free to right.
So, there's a free account but also there, there are several tiers so you can check, check them out. Maybe I should just sign up and then start out as a free account and we'll see what happens right.
(43:43):
Okay, before I let you go. There's one more thing to do so this has been a really fun it's inspiring conversation Josh really, and I thank you so much for really tuning in from Australia today and then. So, now, right now we're going to do a little segment called the piano
part rapid fire questions and this is a part of the show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest. And here's a little warning as serious these questions may questions may sound, your answers may reveal who you truly are.
(44:16):
So, are you ready. Yes. Alrighty. So question number one.
What is your comfort food pizza. All right. How do you like your coffee decaf. Oh really okay.
Cats or dogs.
Dogs.
Okay. What is your word or words to live by.
(44:38):
I think I answered in the earlier bit but just see I keep, keep out of persistence, you know, it's the key to everything.
Yeah, great. So now what is the most important quality you look for in other people initiative. Great. Name three people who you who inspire you living or dead.
(45:00):
Bruce Springsteen Barack Obama.
And the Queen because I'm English.
I love the Queen. Oh, the Queen as in not the band but the Queen as in Queen Elizabeth. Okay.
I thought you were talking about the musician queen. Oh no I love the band too. I'll go for four and Queen the band as well.
(45:26):
Great.
All right.
The name one piece in your current playlist. I don't know. To be honest with you I don't listen to a lot of music, running a music company.
It goes in fits, it goes in stages. That's not true. What I should say is I don't listen to like albums on repeat because I hear so much music every day.
(45:47):
I hear the background in the office, thousands of songs a day.
And you don't often find yourself in the mood at the end of that to sit down and listen to a playlist and so I don't really have a playlist that is the truth.
I don't really have anything at the moment that I'm listening to. I mean, I'm sure without going through my phone I could be very hard to answer.
(46:11):
Occasionally I'll hear something brand new and I'll listen to that on repeat. Right. But I can't remember. Yeah, you know it's your job so it's like you know, maybe at the end of the day you need a little bit of a silence right?
Yeah.
Great. Now, last question. Fill in the blank. Music is blank.
Yeah, everywhere. Wonderful.
(46:34):
Thank you. So that concludes this episode of the piano part. Thank you, Josh for joining my show today and sharing your stories and insights and expertise. You can learn more about just Simon's company Vamper's at www.vamper.me.
The link is listed in the show notes and thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode please rate and review it on whatever podcasting platform you use. Remember to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe to my channel if you are watching from YouTube.
(47:07):
And then please follow you, the piano part on social media to get the latest piano news via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. I will see you for the next episode of the piano part. Bye everyone and thank you Josh.
It all started with a connection.
(00:03):
And now, five million connections later,
Vamper has become the essential tool for connecting creatives.
Make music happen.
Find your team.
Collaborate.
And if you think you've got it in you,
go pro and unlock distribution, sync opportunities, analytics, and so much more.
(00:25):
Vamper. Download today and make music happen.
Welcome back to another episode of the Pianopod.
I am your host, Yuki Misun.
So for this episode, I got to interview Josh Simons.
He is the CEO and co-founder of Vamper.
It's the world's largest and most active social media slash professional networking site for musicians.
(00:51):
I feel like the theme of this season of the Pianopod has been about how we classical musicians
should reach out to our niche or our audience in a creative and innovative way,
especially in this post-pandemic era.
So as my show is approaching the season finale in a few weeks,
(01:13):
I thought I should invite someone outside of our industry to talk about marketing and promotion.
So I found Josh Simons and he created this social media platform specifically for musicians,
and he's in the entertainment industry.
And I thought we need to pick his brain in regards to the topic of promotion and marketing.
(01:35):
So before starting the episode, I want to welcome everyone who is listening or watching the Pianopod for the first time.
I'm a classical pianist and educator from New York City,
passionate about creating a thriving and meaningful community of the classical music industry through this podcast.
Please visit yukimisongsstudio.com to find out more about my work.
(01:58):
In each episode of the Pianopod, I interview a guest speaker who has been breaking exciting new ground in the industry.
Before getting started, I want to thank everyone for tuning in.
Please rate the show and review it on Apple Podcasts because every rating review will help people find my show.
So here we go, dear friends, please enjoy the show.
(02:25):
You are listening to the Pianopod where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
I am honored to welcome Josh Simons, the CEO and then co-founder of Vamper,
the world's largest and most active social professional network for musicians recognized by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies in 2022.
(02:52):
Vamper is home to over one million users worldwide.
Josh himself is a successful artist and songwriter and producer who has toured for many years.
So with his extensive experience as a professional musician,
he has a lot of credit as far as being the groundbreaker in the industry by creating something unique and timely to help fellow musicians.
(03:14):
I am looking forward to hearing his story and how he got to where he is now and of course learning about Vamper.
As you know, I'm open to learning from someone like Josh who has created a new pathway for himself and for others.
Although you may say classical music and pop music entertainment industries are different,
I think we have so much more in common than you think as artists and creatives.
(03:38):
And we can learn so much, particularly the topic of marketing and branding from Josh today.
So welcome, Josh. Thank you for being here.
Thank you for such a lovely introduction.
Thank you. So I'm very excited to talk to you about your especially your company Vamper.
It's a social professional network for exclusively for musicians.
(04:02):
So tell us tell us about Vamper.
It came about because I was having issues in my own career about well now about 10 years ago.
It still feels like yesterday.
But basically I had a band in Australia that did OK.
And then I went back to England, which is where I'm from, and tried to recreate that success.
(04:28):
And kind of found that I was starting again, despite having sort of five years of touring experience,
being on the radio, playing festivals and touring nationally, all the kind of stuff we were doing.
And the concept of starting again in your mid 20s in an expensive city is ridiculous.
(04:50):
It's ridiculous at any point, really, that it takes five to seven years to find the sort of team that you need to actually make a living in this industry.
And so I took a look around and I looked at a lot of the technologies that existed.
They were great tools for distribution, great tools for publishing, even good tools for building fan bases.
But there weren't really any tools to help build your team and your network, the people around you.
(05:16):
So that's kind of how Vamper came about.
I wanted to solve that problem.
And I went back to my label that originally signed me and said, I'd like to partner with you on this.
And what's the what's the really premise or the mission behind Vamper?
I get that it's networking, but more specifically to connect the Johns in the Pools of the world algorithmically.
(05:39):
So, you know, it takes typically five to seven years for people to find the perfect team.
I said perfect. I mean, a group of people that are common interests, like minded in their focus and what they're looking to achieve.
Usually that's a living of some kind.
It takes it takes time traditionally to find those people who believe in you and are aligned.
(06:06):
What if we can do that in five minutes? And that's the mission.
Oh, wonderful. And then when did you create this launch this company?
I think we launched the first version on iOS in 2016, but we didn't really launch proper until broadly and globally and across all devices until February 2017.
And then we kind of pressed pause for a year just before COVID, actually.
(06:32):
And we went back to the drawing board because we'd learned a lot really quickly.
We sort of managed to get a couple hundred thousand people, learned how to market really effectively.
But the product wasn't amazing. So we pressed pause for a minute, went back to the drawing board and sort of redesigned everything and came back out sometime early in the pandemic.
(06:55):
So how did the pandemic affect your company?
Yeah, that's a good question. We definitely saw a slight bump in downloads.
It wasn't dramatic. I remember doing interviews at the time and people like this would either kill you or make you.
And it's like it's it's neither. It's like everything in life. It's measured.
(07:19):
So we got a little bump in downloads, you know, start increasing people because our whole app is about connecting. It makes sense that folks like at home would want to connect with other people.
So that was mildly helpful. But then a lot of the things that people do using VAMP are like they'll catch up and then go to a recording studio together or jam in a practice room.
(07:42):
The second part of the equation was missing. So we had to then very quickly think of what are things that we can give people online.
And that's when we started adding in services like music distribution, music publishing, which, you know, they're still passive activities, I suppose.
But we're like, if our users can't catch up in real life, got to find them a way to make some money online.
(08:07):
That was sort of our thinking. And so a lot of our energy and effort went into that during the early part of the pandemic, because the pandemic kind of went on for a few years.
But the first year was all about coming up with online solutions.
Now, in so many ways, you know, pandemic taught us many things like, for example, you know, especially as classical musicians, we are all about acoustic live performance.
(08:38):
And of course, there is a recording, too. But then, you know, pandemic taught us that this sort of communication, this sort of, let's say, collaboration online became possible and acceptable.
So did any of these things affect you, affect your company, affect the way that people think about music?
(08:59):
Oh, definitely. Yeah. And, you know, aside from being the founder of Vampir, I'm also a songwriter.
And I myself collaborate with other people. And during the pandemic, we did lots of online songwriting sessions and things like that.
I think, if anything, the pandemic probably accelerated people's comfortableness with that.
(09:25):
And that's a good thing, because it means that you don't have to be in Los Angeles or Berlin or London or Melbourne or whatever city, you know, that's culturally relevant.
You don't have to be in these sort of hubs, these, you know, songwriting hubs, art sort of centers to have access to opportunities.
(09:49):
So that's probably the only positive thing that came out of the pandemic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a tough three years, but yeah, finally it's over.
So now before asking the next question, I would love to hear a little bit about your background. You mentioned a little bit about your musical background and then your as I introduce you to my audience that you are professional musicians.
(10:14):
So how did you get started as a musician and what led you to where you are now today?
Yeah, so I got started because I was managing some bands when I was very young, 19 or 20.
And I sort of seemed to have a knack for finding bands with really amazing talent, but they all had in common a reluctance for commercial success.
(10:40):
So where I saw their songs performing really well on TV shows, they saw that as selling out and stuff like that.
And so I grew frustrated with them pretty quickly.
And I was like, I might as well just do this myself. And, you know, I could sing. I'd been in choir my whole life.
(11:02):
I never I don't think I'd ever really seriously thought about it as a job. And then I just started doing it. And then within six months of starting, we were on the radio and then invited to play some festivals and do some big tours.
And it all moved very quickly. So, as I said at the top, that that all happened in Australia, which is a very small market.
(11:27):
It's a small it's a large physical country, but it's a small population and the music industry is smaller again.
So it's there's a nuance there. But, you know, we sort of sort of climbed to the top of the indie scene in that world.
And it was it was a lot of fun. You know, I think we toured that country nine times or something.
(11:49):
You know, we were on the radio and TV and doing live performances everywhere. It was awesome.
But it's really hard to sustain because it is such a small market and and also because it's a large country, it costs a lot to travel.
So if you're moving a band and crew around and you're you're an indie outfit to get from Melbourne to Sydney is going to cost several thousand dollars.
(12:19):
Many people and you've got to get your gear across or you've got to hire it.
So there's real restrictions. And look, I'm not the only one who's had this problem. Every band in Australia has this problem.
There's a lot of singer songwriters or solo performers who don't have to move production around.
And we were more of a production in a lot of respects. We had we liked our little light show that we did with our shows.
(12:45):
So we want a cheap band to tour. And that was a real restriction on our ability to scale and grow the thing.
But, you know, there's a there's a video online called The Band Was Called Buchanan and this video online called An Uncommon Experience.
And it kind of chronicles our journey and our career and what we achieve. I suggest people check it out.
(13:11):
Yeah, I would. And what what genre is this? It's a rock pop.
Yes, it's like indie pop.
OK, great. Cool. Now, let's get into your company, Vamper, because I really want to find out more about it.
So you can find actually an app on any of the smartphones.
(13:33):
Yeah, that's right. So it's Google Play for Android devices and the app store for Apple devices.
But yeah, it's on the app store. It's an app working on a web version on and off for years. It's coming.
I just can't say what political reasons, but it's just it's tricky with the with websites.
(13:55):
You got to consider all kinds of things like what country people are visiting from and what happens if you're in a country with blocked IPs and how is it going to scale on a mobile?
And is it going to behave like a web app? Or I won't bore you with the details, but the websites taken longer to build than probably we would have liked.
But right now, it's a mobile app. It's kind of started as a mobile app.
(14:18):
We started as a mobile first company, which means we build apps.
And so that's that's where you'd find Vamper today if you want to download it.
And it's very hopefully quite straightforward and intuitive.
We've not tried to reinvent the world. We're kind of standing on the shoulders of giants and leaning into technologies and behaviors that people already understand.
So when it comes to discovering new people, we use the sort of Tinder functionality of swiping left and right and put it in a professional environment.
(14:48):
There's also traditional search where you can just type in someone's details.
We've got a section called Watch where people can upload videos of them performing on demos or collaborations.
Oh, wow. That looks a little bit like TikTok. So we kind of combining sort of features and as I say, user behaviors from other platforms that people already understand.
(15:12):
And hopefully that makes the experience less intimidating, familiar somewhat.
And that's that's kind of how we've always done it. And we're pretty quick to adapt to whatever the latest behavior trend is.
We've also I mean, I don't want to undermine that. We also put some original stuff in there, too, and, you know, try and innovate in subtle ways.
(15:36):
For example, you know, platforms like Vamper that allow one person to meet another person, they're usually what you call a closed social network, one or one to one.
And how you then merge that with a social network where you can speak one to many that being like a Facebook or LinkedIn.
(15:57):
No one's really ever successfully done both models in the one platform where I'd argue that we kind of have.
So, yeah, there's some innovation in there for sure.
But we always try and use languages and behaviors that folks are familiar with.
Oh, wow. OK. So now so Vamper is really made for musicians and then has the sort of feature of like many different multiple platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and so forth.
(16:27):
And but so what's so different and unique about Vamper from other networking sites like you mentioned a little bit.
But, you know, we have LinkedIn, Instagram, Fiverr, Thumbtack and then SoundCloud.
And so what's so special, unique about Vamper?
So all the platforms you just mentioned do think do one or two things really well.
(16:52):
But, you know, comparing SoundCloud to LinkedIn, the fact that you even made that comparison is problematic because they have nothing to do with each other.
One of them is a place where you upload songs, the other is a place where you upload a resume.
So with Vamper, we did look at literally every one of those things you just said.
And we said, well, how do we create a dedicated space? Because that's what was missing.
(17:15):
If you go on LinkedIn and type, show me a drummer who's female, 22, lives in Arkansas and listens to Pink Floyd and the Beatles, it'll get confused and say no results.
Where you can go on Vamper and put all of that in and get an answer. So as I just said, you can quite literally search for that person on Vamper, whereas you can't on any of those other platforms.
(17:36):
That's what makes us unique. And it's a dedicated space.
So, you know, we could remove all the labels in the app that say genre, skill, favorite artists, all these sort of categories that people display on their profiles.
You could put any words you like and then the app becomes that.
The point I'm making is like with platforms and social apps, a lot of the usefulness comes from the context.
(18:02):
And the context here is that we're an app for musicians made by musicians to help you meet other musicians.
That's the context you have when you go in. That's the context supported by the labels in the various sections in the app.
But it's a social network. So it does what you think it does.
Tell us a little bit more specifics about Vamper. So, for example, features.
(18:24):
So I went online and I typed in VAMPR.ME. That's the web address.
And then there are like features like learn, discover, connect, collaboration and control.
Can you tell us about those five words? Yeah, if you break them down, they generally translate to features inside of the app.
(18:46):
So the primary principal feature in VAMPR is meeting people.
So that's why folks come. And that's all about discovery and being discovered.
Then when you zoom out a little bit, you've got a lot of features that sort of support that.
So you've got VAMPR distribution, which people who make music as a result of using VAMPR can upload their music then to Spotify, Apple Music, et cetera, through our distribution platform.
(19:15):
You've got our publishing division.
So that's a part of the company that tries to place our users music and film, TV, video games and ads.
And then there's our academy, which is like an ed tech solution for the business of music.
So there's not a lot of courses online about how to navigate the business side of music.
(19:38):
So we've kind of provided some courses around that. Wow.
And that's our learn features. And that's like, I don't know the exact number of hours, but probably approaching hundreds of hours of courses from top professors and industry authority figures, you know, teaching folks, particularly in the early stages of their career, what to look out for.
(20:01):
So that's our learn stuff. And then control refers to controlling your own copyrights. And that goes back to distribution and publishing.
So we kind of call those solutions and they all kind of orbit our social network.
So we kind of view our we view the discovery thing and meeting other people and connecting is kind of the heart of the company.
(20:22):
And then there's other things I just mentioned sort of circle around it as sort of ad hoc solutions that folks can use as they need them.
Right.
Now I'm curious about this distribution part. That's so cool that so once you are on Vamper, you have the membership and you produce your song, then you can distribute your music or whatever on like Apple or Spotify through Vamper.
(20:49):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's something that you know, not a lot of people know how to do it.
It's as simple as it is.
There's a lot of options out there now. In fact, for classical music, it can get trickier because the metadata and classical music is slightly more complicated than pop music.
It's not more complicated. It's just different. And not all distribution platforms will support classical music.
(21:15):
But for non classical music, it's pretty easy now. Like you can work with DistroKid, you can work with CD Baby, Tunecore.
Those are sort of the big players. We offer a version of the same thing. We all do the same job at the end of the day. We offer it because if people are already in our Vamper world and using our tools and services, it's just convenient for them not to have to jump onto another platform to complete a task.
(21:42):
But most music tech companies offer a form of distribution these days.
Wow, that's cool. Then when it comes to learning course, let's say, if I want to learn how to promote myself, is there a course like that?
Yeah, there is. Yeah, there's a course specifically on self promotion. It's probably one of the most requested or talked about topics in our ecosystem.
(22:11):
And a lot of people use Vamper specifically to self promote, which in and of itself is sometimes a bit of a problem because it creates a bit of noise.
And if everyone's doing it, then the quality can fall off. But that's sort of a separate topic that we could spend an hour on.
How to self promote using legitimate channels and without annoying people. Yeah, we've done. We've done a few courses on that.
(22:36):
Oh, wow. Yeah, that's really important. Even in a classical music world, I think that's something that, you know, as a 21st century classical musicians, we have to learn.
So because that audience, we have to create audience now. The audience is not there waiting for use. Right. So.
It's frustrating. Yeah, I know it is. But if you know, learn how to do, then you can really create a meaningful, you know, your original audience.
(23:07):
Like, it's not just one of those people just they stop by the concert venue and then leave. But they would be a faithful fan. Super fan. Right. Exactly. Yeah.
This episode is presented in collaboration with our good friends at Forte, a free alternative to Zoom purpose built for music teachers.
Forte offers features optimized for classical music lessons, including audio quality far superior to existing platforms and allowing you to hear every nuance of your students instrument.
(23:38):
Their colleagues at the Royal College of Music, Aspen Music Festival, Curtis Institute and Berklee College of Music have even used Forte in their own programs.
Forte's mission is to radically expand access to high quality music education worldwide.
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(24:01):
And Forte will soon introduce paid features allowing you to connect with new students around the world.
Sign up for free today at ForteLessons.com or click the link in the description.
Vampire offers a is it free or is there like a certain like a level of membership?
(24:23):
Yeah, there's lots of different tiers. So each solution, some solutions actually that we mentioned.
In fact, I think something like 70% of our features can be used free in one way, shape or form.
So, you know, you can use Vampire Distribution for free and we keep a small royalty percentage of the performance of the tracks.
(24:44):
Or you can pay us five dollars a month and keep 100% of your royalties.
It's all about choice, right? Same with publishing.
It's free to upload the tracks and get represented and have us in the market working it on.
If we land something for you, we'll take a cut, but it's free upfront.
If you want to connect with more people, you can pay for additional direct messages and things like that without Vampire Pro product.
(25:13):
That's also five dollars a month. The education stuff is a little bit more expensive.
It's 19 dollars a month. That gets you unlimited access to all of our courses.
So it just really depends on what your appetite is.
Right. And then with that sort of whatever the tier you choose, depending on how much you pay per month, is there like a...
I wouldn't say customer service, but maybe some sort of support system that you can get?
(25:38):
Right now, it doesn't matter what tier you're on, you get the same support.
Wow. Really? Like if I have trouble, let's say uploading my video or maybe, oh, I want to really have a specific question about promoting myself so I can reach out to one of the...
Yeah. And between Monday and Friday, typically we get back within 24 hours, but we're not there necessarily to help answer questions about how to self promote or how to make it.
(26:08):
Although typically we'll reply with a friendly response of encouragement, but the whole purpose of Vampire is to meet other people who can help you on that journey.
It's not up to my company's team or myself to individually turn everyone into a star, nor do we make that claim.
And we never would. It's the purpose of the platform is for folks to find others who can help with that and start networking and building their own little communities.
(26:36):
So that's what we specialize in. And so someone writes in and says, I want to be on the Billboard charts.
We'll go, that's great. And we want you to be on the Billboard charts too. Have you reached out to anyone on Vampire that specializes in music promotion?
So that's how, but you know, if someone writes in and says, I'm trying to distribute my track, but it's not letting me click the distribute button, then we'll dive in there and fix the problem.
(27:04):
Right. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. So, but if I type site in search bar or whatever and say promotion, you know, I'm looking for someone to help me promote, then just type in the word and then it shows up or
on the, on the app.
(27:25):
Kind of almost. There's a little search popup menu that comes up and you, you put in your type in what you want. So it might be promotions, it might be publicity, it might be a bass player, it might be a drummer, could be a graphic designer, could be a videographer, could be a music director, all these things.
(27:46):
You choose whatever it is that you're looking for. You save your settings, and then the algorithm does its thing and it produces results and within a couple of seconds.
So you're you can literally create a team there.
That's correct. Wow. Okay, now I'm starting to make sense. So, I don't have to go to this platform to look for graphic designer because that's usually the case and then the other platform to create my audience or create, you know, meet
(28:15):
other musicians for example so for example using LinkedIn, but it's all inclusive, inclusive, like, wow.
It's like a LinkedIn for the music ecosystem. Cool. That's super neat. Wow. So now who are the current users what are the demographics around the world where people are like, so
(28:36):
we've got users in, we've got active users in every single country on the planet. We've got, I think 1.3 million people in total who are sort of authenticated which means they've gone through the onboarding process uploaded a picture filled out their account properly.
And, I mean our most popular or most active territory is North America which I think you'd probably expect.
(29:01):
And then there's a lot of, you know, countries, Brazil, India, Spain, where there's a lot of activity, which is kind of really cool, brings a different flavor to the platform and the styles of music from all those places and then other Western countries
like UK, Australia, Canada, well, I already said North America, New Zealand, those countries are typically fairly active. But as far as like the, you know, the typical user profile I mean you're usually looking at someone in their early 20s, male and female.
(29:36):
You know we know things like how many artists they love so typically I think someone will add 17 favorite artists to their profile on average or something. And then genre wise, you know, probably won't surprise you that a lot of people affiliate themselves with dance music and hip hop and stuff that's made with technology.
(29:59):
But, you know, there's a healthy share of people in rock and more traditional genres as well. And when we look at, you know, all the different skills and types of people we have on there.
Last time we checked there was 27,000 different skills that's, that's everything from like I was saying before you film director through to your oboist through to your, I think we've got didgeridoo as a category.
(30:29):
And we cover a lot of categories but yeah there's 27,000 different categories I believe so. And yeah, that's music teachers, lawyers, anything you can imagine in the world of music it's probably on there.
So it's like a really village, you're creating a village. Right. So, how can bumper help classical musicians, because, you know, our industry is exists a little differently right.
(31:01):
Even the music making is a little different like we do a lot of form. It's based on performing arts so that it's very time consuming to learn music audience is very different from, you know, pop rock industries, and also music itself is extremely
(31:23):
structured and less creative in that sense, but there are other ways of being creative in classical music, you know industry don't get me wrong, but.
So, are there any classical musicians or the community of classical musicians or maybe in the future are you thinking of expanding in that, you know classical music industry in that bumper ecosystem is definitely classical musicians on the platform.
(31:55):
Yeah, and there's a small community there. And I've heard from them directly, so I know that they're there. And not just relying on analytics and data but yet that that community exists I don't know if it's the preferred place or destination for people in the
industry because, you know, just being honest. I don't know enough about that world. And it is, it is unique and different than pop rock and I wouldn't pretend to know the nuance of the things that go along with being an active member of the classical community
(32:32):
but we certainly have managed to attract a healthy number of classical players who identify as classical players. And I don't know maybe you've got to go on there and tell me what you think.
Yeah.
Yeah, especially I'm curious about the learning part, and also the streaming part, but also have being able to discover someone in the like expertise of, let's say, someone knows more about production or someone knows more about promotion.
(33:07):
So, you know, it's very, if it fits in one app. That's really an ideal I don't have to go around and look for people all over the place, and then, you know, online search is convenient, however, it's really overwhelming because you end up talking to someone
that you didn't connect, but you wasted 30 minutes. And it's, I'm actually for the last three years that's exactly what I've been doing like looking for someone, someone who could teach me about marketing or someone who could, you know, do this service for me.
(33:40):
And honestly, it's really exhausting.
The internet and tools and apps like Vamper and stuff. In some respects, really make life speeds things up so you know if you think about it might have taken you years in previous, you know, five, 10 years ago to have to go through a phone book or a rudimentary website
(34:06):
or Craigslist and dial around and speak to people, you know, by email and then you don't really know what they look like or sound like or what their attitude is and then they turn up and they're weird or they're not quite the right fit and you waste.
I mean I did this with my bad when we were looking for a drummer we wasted hours, hours auditioning people.
(34:27):
The purpose of Vamper is to take that hours and turn into minutes. And it is funny to hear you say you know, you can waste 30 minutes in the conversation you're right you can.
But I would, I would put it to you that that's better than wasting hours or days or weeks on a lead that doesn't, you know, come good and so, you know, would we like to get it to seconds, sure.
(34:51):
And then in Vamper you can connect with someone in two seconds literally if you want, but you probably want to check their profile first but there'll be a, there'll be ways that we can speed that process up, but it's already a million miles better than it was
earlier. Yeah, of course yeah that that that was exactly the point I was making because with the algorithm and everything I think it's much smoother with this process because honestly without without it, you know, I have to go to this side and that side
(35:24):
and talk to this person that person and it was because they're usually those social media is not made for musicians, you know exclusively so yeah. So, is there any other thing that you would like to highlight about bumper that helped musicians maybe
share? Is there like specific story that you want to share success story or? So my favorite success story is a woman called Ray Khalil.
(35:55):
She's a Los Angeles rapper and had, as a rapper she's just one of the best that I've heard.
She had no music producing skills so she desperately needed a producer to bring her ideas to life.
And she used Vamper, I think like five years ago now to find a guy called Jared Rubens, who had his own production duo and band thing going on.
(36:25):
And they just clicked and vibed and made it, I think they made one or two albums together but her getting those done, put her onto sort of the world stage and she got onto a Netflix show called Rhythm and Flow and got to work with people like Chance
the Rapper and Anderson Park.
(36:47):
And it just, it was the start of something very special for her. She's now doing appearances on Sway and Fox and stuff like you know.
So she's on her own little journey now but we played a, obviously a role in the very early days.
There's a lot of stories like that, there's many stories like that. That's my favorite but there's a lot of stories where Vamper played a very fundamental role in the very early stages of the career.
(37:17):
So, what's the next step for Vamper?
We got acquired not so long ago by a music company called Jaxta that does music credits and has the world's largest database of official music credits coming from all sources like labels, PROs, publishers, etc.
(37:39):
So, we're just working on successfully integrating the companies together, which is sort of pretty big task but I think will be very rewarding. So that's what's coming up.
It probably doesn't sound very sexy but it's really important stuff to kind of cement our position as the leader in our space.
(38:00):
So, we're kind of going to be a bit heads down, thumbs up for the remainder of the year and working on improving the experience and bringing these two products together.
So that's keeping me busy.
Oh wonderful, that sounds really amazing, exciting. Now we're really toward the end of our conversation but I have a few more questions so it's going to be a little bit more like philosophical questions that I want to ask.
(38:24):
So, I want to know your thoughts on this because you're not a classical musician you're so through the lens of a pop musician.
I'm a trained classical musician, I did. Oh yeah. Did piano up to, you know, Amy be grade eight or whatever it is when I was a kid so.
Really. Oh, sorry, then you're a classical musician so you know what's like to be this.
(38:51):
It's not part of the classical kind of community if you will because there is, you know, people who go beyond the stage that I got to in the classical world tend to stay in circles and they really grow and influence and power and they build careers.
So I'm not part of that classical world but I'm classically trained. So, then, how do you think we can keep this classical music relevant and the industry thriving in this fast paced and, you know, society and the post pandemic era.
(39:22):
That's a really interesting question. Um, I hear classical music when I in popular music all the time. The popular music is built on classical music in the chord progressions and the turns and the time signature changes and all the things that go on
and they're all, you can hear them all in very early classical music and pops popular music's just found the parts that resonate and repeat them four times and call it a day three minutes and 20 seconds.
(39:53):
So, I think classical music is around us all the time. That's that would be my answer. As far as how do we keep the community alive again I can't speak to that but I would encourage folks to use tools like Vamper to kind of advocate for and push their own or grow their own communities
and people are doing that on YouTube. I follow some really great classical artists on Instagram and TikTok and it's really cool just to watch that there's still people really passionate about that genre and, although I think the word genre is almost insulting when we
(40:29):
refer to classical but because it's a bit too broad but yeah I think it's going to be fine.
It's the foundation of more music. Yeah, absolutely. But I think I feel like with this audience of new generations to come and we have to give them some sort of a, you know, context, you know, to, in order for us to attract them.
(40:56):
Instead of just how many I mean I don't know what your social feeds look like but mine are just people playing insanely fast on a piano and people being mind blown.
And then I think also music scores play a part in keeping people interested too so yeah you got these viral videos of people playing fast but then you've also got viral videos of people playing the interstellar theme as written by Anne Zimmer on pianos and tube stations in London and, you know,
(41:27):
and I think that keeps people's interest in specifically piano but more classical sounding music.
So I think they're exposed to it. You know, anyone who's interested in music is in some way exposed to classical. Right, right. Yeah.
So, you may have already answered this but how can we as classical musicians, reach out to the 21st century audience creatively. Well, use bumper. Yes.
(41:58):
Use all of the tools I mean vamp is one important one but and vampires are focused on so you want to like proactively build your own little community of people who are supportive of classical music in a certain age group, you can do that on vamp it absolutely.
But I would encourage people to use all the tools that you can, you can do that on Tiktok to you can do that on Instagram as well.
(42:23):
It's not going to. You got to put some effort in. Right. Like, we always say this to our users as well and they people some doesn't happen much anymore but people in the early days would be like I've been on the app for a month and no one's reached out to me and we're like,
Yeah, but have you reached out to anyone you know, effort.
You know, reward reward requires effort. Yeah, absolutely.
(42:46):
All right, so last question. Advice for young musicians, keep turning up. So, whether that's to practice whether that's to a band rehearsal whether that's to theory lessons.
School, whatever it is just if you keep showing up, eventually, things will work out. You have to take my word for that but it's true. Thank you so much.
(43:13):
And for those who are watching or listening so Joe Simon's he is the CEO of them, Vamper. And then you can check out the company bumper at VA MPR dot me, that's the web address, and you can sign up for free to right.
So, there's a free account but also there, there are several tiers so you can check, check them out. Maybe I should just sign up and then start out as a free account and we'll see what happens right.
(43:43):
Okay, before I let you go. There's one more thing to do so this has been a really fun it's inspiring conversation Josh really, and I thank you so much for really tuning in from Australia today and then. So, now, right now we're going to do a little segment called the piano
part rapid fire questions and this is a part of the show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest. And here's a little warning as serious these questions may questions may sound, your answers may reveal who you truly are.
(44:16):
So, are you ready. Yes. Alrighty. So question number one.
What is your comfort food pizza. All right. How do you like your coffee decaf. Oh really okay.
Cats or dogs.
Dogs.
Okay. What is your word or words to live by.
(44:38):
I think I answered in the earlier bit but just see I keep, keep out of persistence, you know, it's the key to everything.
Yeah, great. So now what is the most important quality you look for in other people initiative. Great. Name three people who you who inspire you living or dead.
(45:00):
Bruce Springsteen Barack Obama.
And the Queen because I'm English.
I love the Queen. Oh, the Queen as in not the band but the Queen as in Queen Elizabeth. Okay.
I thought you were talking about the musician queen. Oh no I love the band too. I'll go for four and Queen the band as well.
(45:26):
Great.
All right.
The name one piece in your current playlist. I don't know. To be honest with you I don't listen to a lot of music, running a music company.
It goes in fits, it goes in stages. That's not true. What I should say is I don't listen to like albums on repeat because I hear so much music every day.
(45:47):
I hear the background in the office, thousands of songs a day.
And you don't often find yourself in the mood at the end of that to sit down and listen to a playlist and so I don't really have a playlist that is the truth.
I don't really have anything at the moment that I'm listening to. I mean, I'm sure without going through my phone I could be very hard to answer.
(46:11):
Occasionally I'll hear something brand new and I'll listen to that on repeat. Right. But I can't remember. Yeah, you know it's your job so it's like you know, maybe at the end of the day you need a little bit of a silence right?
Yeah.
Great. Now, last question. Fill in the blank. Music is blank.
Yeah, everywhere. Wonderful.
(46:34):
Thank you. So that concludes this episode of the piano part. Thank you, Josh for joining my show today and sharing your stories and insights and expertise. You can learn more about just Simon's company Vamper's at www.vamper.me.
The link is listed in the show notes and thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode please rate and review it on whatever podcasting platform you use. Remember to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe to my channel if you are watching from YouTube.
(47:07):
And then please follow you, the piano part on social media to get the latest piano news via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. I will see you for the next episode of the piano part. Bye everyone and thank you Josh.
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