People You Need to Meet: C.C. Chapman

I first met C.C. through my PYNtM post on the independent musician, Chance.  C.C. is working hard on a number of projects, but the Podsafe Music Network is the one that could be groundbreaking!

Read below to get an idea of what an individual is doing to help start an entire new music industry.

Business Thoughts:  From the looks of it, you have quite a few business projects in the works:  Random Foo Pictures, Accident Hash and PodShow.  Am I missing any?  Tell us a little background and how you got where you are.

C.C. Chapman:  Well, it's certainly been a long and strange trip, but one that I wouldn't change at all.  Born in West Lebanon, NH and grew up there most of my life.  Graduated from Bentley College and moved to D.C. for a few years.  During that time, Random Foo Pictures really grew into a fun filled indie film making company.

I moved back to the Boston area once we had children and I've been here ever since.  I got into Podcasting back in December of 2004 and instantly was addicted.  As I started discovering more music, I decided it was time to do an all music podcast and on January 10, 2005, the first Accident Hash was recorded and put up on the web.

Now I'm the Manager of the Podsafe Music Network and one of the first podcasting talent signed by Podshow.com.  I had the distinct pleasure of finding and recruiting other top level music podcasts to the Podshow family and had a great time doing it.  The journey has just started and it's fun not to know where it's going just yet.

BT:  Tell us about these business projects that have you so busy.

CC:  The biggest has been getting Podsafe Music Network live and kicking.  We've been working on it for several months.  We are finally live and now I'm just working on getting the word out about it and podcasting in general.  I really want to make sure that as many people as possible find out about podcasting so it's a lot of fun.

BT:  Where is the majority of your focus?

CC:  Right now, my focus is split between Accident Hash, the Podsafe Music Network and being the sort of ambassador for music podcasting. 

Accident Hash has been a lot of fun and I look forward to putting it out roughly three times a week.  It's not always the easiest thing to do, but once I get started recording, I'm wired to do another one.

Through managing the Podsafe Music Network, I'm really getting to educate people on what it is all about and why it's such a great resource for both artists and podcasters.  We want to make it easier for podcasters to play legal music on their shows and also for artists who embrace podcasting to get their music out there.

BT:  There is lots of press and excitement about podcasting; tell us about what you have going on with Adam Curry's PodShow.

CC:  The goal is really simple and that's to get the number of people listening to podcasts to continue to grow and get to be as high as possible.  We know that by presenting high quality indie podcasts that people will enjoy them and then begin to seek out others.

iTunes certainly helped open the flood gates on podcasting, but of course they paid more attention to corporations and radio stations trying to get on the podcasting wave and we're no interested in that.  We want the indie podcasters to succeed.

BT:  Do you have a specific goal of what you want to achieve?  What's the future of independent music from your point of view?

CC:  Indie musicians are not going to need to sign a record deal in order to sell their music.  Podcasting and digital downloads are flipping the music industry on their head and I love that I'm part of it.

I've had the luxury of talking to so many artists who have no desire to be signed.  Now that the price to create an publish CD's has one way down, more people can do it.  On top of that, we're trying to make digital downloads for indie artists much easier to do.  It's a fun, fun time right now and it's going to only get better.

BT:  Are there any success stories from the work you have done so far for independent bands?  Any bands been signed to a major label or been able to quit their day jobs?

CC:   Not to that level just yet, but it's only a matter of time.  I know that Addison Records heard a track by The Evil Queens on a podcast and signed them to their label.  When I heard that, I smiled from ear to ear!

I also know that Slim also let me know that due to the publicity and podcast play, he got on several podcasts and completely sold out his CD.  nothing made me happier than when I got that email from him.  He's not going to be the last one!

BT:  What motivates you?  What really gets you fired up when you wake up in the morning?

CC:  What motivates me is every time I get a message from a listener that says "I've been sick of mainstream music and your podcast has made me realize there is still great music out there."  That gets me excited.  I also love when musicians thank me for playing their music.  I still laugh because I'm thankful that they are letting me play the music.  The fact that they thank me always feels weird.

It took me a while, but I finally realize that I AM making a difference.  That feels really weird to say, but it's the truth and as long as I'm having fun doing this, I'll keep doing it.

BT:  Anything I forgot to ask you?  Any story just waiting to get out you want to share with us?  Hmm, what does C.C. stand for?

CC:  **Laugh**  In third grade, there were two kids named Charles in my class and the other kid already had the nickname of "Chippy."  The teacher wanted me to have a nickname so she called me "C.C." and it stuck.  Crazy how something so minor can change into something so big.

Anything else?  I guess I just want to say that if you are looking to get into podcasting and need help, I'm here to help you.  I'm always looking to do more consulting in that area, so if someone needs help, please contact me.

Thanks for having me on for this interview!

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tags:    people you need to meet | podsafe music | podcasting | podsafe music network | c.c. chapman | adam curry