Hidden Gems: Meet Eric Caldwell of Hand2Hand Distribution

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Caldwell. 

Hi Eric, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always been in love with music, spent my childhood singing in the choir at True Vine Missionary Baptist Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Of course, initially, I wanted to go to the NBA but of course, the glitz and glamour of the streets eventually caught my attention. 

In 2012 after being released from jail on a probation revocation and after having a conversation with my cellmate I decided that I would move to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue a career in music full time. I arrived in Atlanta the summer of 2012 after booking a ticket from Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a piece of paper in my pocket that said Hitlick Records, Hand2Hand Distribution, and Hypocritical World Music. 

Initially, after moving to Atlanta, I had no money to record music so I decided to do whatever I could music-related to fund the company and record music. At first Hand2Hand Distribution started with us selling CDs around the city and eventually, we started going state to state delivering music directly to others face to face. There were lots of ups and downs, and eventually, in 2016 we reached burnout and the company would need a new business model and I needed a fresh start so I decided to move to Los Angeles, California to further my education and continue to build out the company. 

After graduating with my degree in International Business in 2020, I relaunched the company and we moved the company back to a small office in Buckhead. 

Hand2Hand Distribution is now one of the top Digital Distributors in the world, servicing top talents like Manito BB from Switzerland and Sophia Evangelina from Canada. We’ve accumulated over two million streams for our client last year and 500,000 YouTube views. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
So many obstacles, the struggle is real I mean man I’ve literally been through it all. At first, no one really wanted to pay me to promote their music. People really didn’t see the importance of organic Hand2Hand promotion like they see the value in it now. 

For a minute I thought about scrapping the whole project and going back home to my mom’s corner store but each time I even thought about giving up Patricia Caldwell inspired me to keep going. 

I was broke for years and homeless while studying for my college degree and constantly investing into a project that isn’t really producing the revenue. It was almost embarrassing at one point, ‘cause I like really nice things. But it was those sacrifices back then the paved the way for me today. 

It was my deep faith and belief and GOD that gave me the courage to continue when no one believed. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Hand2Hand Distribution LLC?
Hand2Hand Distribution LLC was formed in the summer of 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia, we “Honor Independence” providing artist-inspired distribution and promotional packages to serious artist and labels worldwide. 

The music business is becoming more independent and digital, if you have great music you are going to want to promote. Our Hand2Hand Distribution promo package is the most organic music promo system is the world, we also offer streaming and publishing services to our artist. 

What really sets us apart from United Masters and Tunecore is our guaranteed distribution service which not only allows us to distribute your music to all outlets such as Tidal and Spotify but we guarantee you streams and FREE promo. 

I mostly proud of hiring over 2000 people this year, some being a part of our second chance program where we hire felons who are looking to rehabilitate their lives. 

Contact Info:

• Email: hand2handdistributing@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hand2hand_distribution/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hand2handpro
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hand2HandPro
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-RbpFopyPicsin33kqwPg
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hand2hand