Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Lipkin.
Sam, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Creating something like Volumes was never a thought in my mind. However, I had always found a way throughout my life to be a part of music despite not being a musician myself, so when it did happen, it made a lot of sense.
My best friend (and hip hop artist Trvy) moved to Athens, and we ended up moving in with some other local hip hop artists after I graduated from UGA. One of my roommates, Son Zoo, and I had a lot of conversations about the fact that Athens had a pretty prominent hip hop scene that no one knew about because it was getting zero coverage in the local publications. He felt like it needed its own media source, and I had half-heartedly mentioned a few times that I could make that happen. At that point, I was a 23-year-old English degree graduate with a long history in journalism…working at a Montessori school after a year’s worth of rejections from every job I wanted.
I clearly remember waking up one morning in the second week of December and saying to myself, I’m going to start a local monthly magazine covering the hip hop scene and release the first issue the last Friday of January 2017. And that’s what happened. I needed it, very badly. I was really depressed with where I was at in life, and I needed a creative, passionate outlet to give me some direction again. Not to mention, I saw this as an opportunity to create the job I wanted that I couldn’t get hired for and build my resume. I knew how to lay out a magazine and the basics of journalism, so I more or less recruited Rusty Holcomb to be my photographer/graphic designer, and then Son Zoo ended up coming up with the name Volumes while we were brainstorming what to call this thing.
From there to where I am today…incredible amounts of footwork, tears, and laughter. Volumes Hip Hop released a monthly magazine for every month of 2017, mid-way through that year I got pulled into putting together events that are now my main focus, and in January of this year we just celebrated a year of having an online blog to continue featuring what all the amazing local artists are up to. I often make light of it, but it’s been some serious work.
Has it been a smooth road?
Getting Volumes off the ground was rough. There’s the usual new business issues of fronting a lot of expenses, people not knowing who you are so they don’t really want to talk to you, etc. That first year while I had the physical magazine, I went to every single hip hop event in Athens that I knew about and put my magazine in people’s hands until they took me seriously. While I was doing that though, I was struggling with some off and on health issues that really wore me down. Health issues and working multiple jobs over the last two years of having Volumes has probably been the biggest challenge I’ve faced.
I’ve also faced an issue that’s probably backward from most, I went from having a pretty solid team the first year of Volumes to doing almost everything completely solo the second year. I spent a while being really upset about what I know Volumes could be versus what it is, but I’m getting back on track now and streamlining everything to be able to continue on as a one-man army for now.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The purpose of Volumes Hip Hop is to help independent artists stay independent. I provide you with everything you need to market yourself, but from that point, your success relies on your work ethic.
Volumes hosts 1-4 events a month at numerous venues, showcasing all kinds of talent of different experience levels, bringing out artists from all over that you probably need to meet. We put artists on a stage so they can get that valuable performance experience. We take photos/videos at nearly every show (ours and others) so that the artists have professional looking content to share. We conduct interviews and post articles on the blog about local talent so that they have media write-ups to include in their EPKs. I’ve even created EPKs and content for artists to use personally. Volumes is your one-stop indie shop.
If I had to pinpoint one thing that made Volumes blow up, it’s the Volumes house parties. Sadly, we don’t have the spot to host them anymore, and I miss them dearly…but I’m always looking to bring them back. Basically, every couple of months I was throwing these huge parties at my home. There was a door fee to cover expenses, free hunch punch inside, beer pong, crazy lights, a dope DJ, and usually seven local artists that would perform in our living room. It started as a networking event, and at heart it always was, but it attracted all kinds of people. Athens Rising put together a documentary about underground creative scenes around the city, and they came out to film one of our parties to include as a representation of the hip hop scene. That’s probably been my proudest moment.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
That’s tough. Atlanta is a huge hip hop hub, which means there is plenty of opportunity but also plenty of competition for businesses like Volumes. It’s becoming over-saturated, but I’m not sure what the fix is for that. If anything, that just means you have to really be making moves or have a super original product to come out on top, which isn’t a bad thing. In this case, I don’t think it’s a matter of how the city needs to improve but how do YOU and YOUR business need to improve. Which is the question we should always be asking ourselves anyway.
I started Volumes in Athens where there was a demand in the market that needed to be filled before venturing into the Atlanta market. I personally didn’t see Atlanta as the place to start my business, so I can’t say I’d recommend anyone else do that either. However, I’ve always seen Atlanta as the end-game market.
Contact Info:
- Website: volumeshiphop.com
- Email: volumeszine@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/volumeshiphop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/volumeshiphop/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/VolumesHipHop
Image Credit:
Rusty Holcomb
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