“We were doing this other worldly thing -- making music together, and it was such a powerful experience for me,” history teacher Kevin Campbell said.
Campbell can recall the exact moment when he fell in love with music at his Christmas band concert in sixth grade.
“I just fell in love with that feeling of creating music,” Campbell said.
His passion for music expanded as he began to form bands with friends in his community. When he was only 19 years old, he had his first successful band called Dick and Jane and was able to sign a distribution deal from a small independent label.
With his band Dick and Jane, Campbell toured the country and recorded music in a professional studio. He put together press kits, which are promotional materials, for his band and played different gigs to make a living for himself.
“With that band, for a little over two years, I was able to make enough money playing shows and selling merchandise that I did not have to work,” Campbell said.
Working in the industry helped him learn what it takes and helped him find his own production company called Overneath Productions. At Overneath Productions, Campbell put together press kits and booked gigs for various bands.
“Most of my experience in the industry wasn't from the standpoint of someone who worked in the big industry and agencies. It was kinda a DIY type of life I had built for myself,” Campbell said.
After a few years of traveling the country and producing music, he moved to Los Angeles and formed a new band. With this band, Campbell signed a deal with Island Records.
“It was the first time to ever work with any real producers and work in a big professional recording studio, which was a really cool experience,” Campbell said.
With his new band in Los Angeles, Campbell got to play in the clubs he read about as a kid, yet at that point, he felt they industry was not what he wanted.
“I grew disheartened with the industry when I got to that point. It just seemed like to be successful, it was less about what you were creating then it was what you were packaging,” Campbell said.
For math teacher Loren Hord, his disappointment with the industry comes from how it has evolved throughout the years.
“With the way that music is today, a lot of people don't play their own instruments, or even on stage, they don’t sing their own songs, and it's really just dancing, and it makes me sad,” Hord said.
Hord not only listens to music, but also plays music and has played different genres of music in different bands.
“I listen to everything, and I have played in bands of everything from rock to pop to rap to country,” Hord said.
Before playing gigs with a band, you have to get a band together which can be challenging trying to find people who mesh well together.
“It is totally like a double edged sword. It's hard to find the right people, but when you do, it's totally worth it,” Hord said.
Once you form your band, there can still be some bumps in the road depending on how many people are in the group.
“It (being in a band) is very very difficult. The more people you have in a band, the more complications there are,” Hord said.
Hord is able to take what he learns from his band and performances and use that in his professional life.
“Overall, I really do like the performance. It’s kinda like teaching where you stand in the front and do your thing and try to maintain the audience's attention,” Hord said.
For Campbell, performing is the best part of being in the music industry as well.
“There is no greater feeling that I have experienced, outside of fatherhood, than performing and witnessing the audience having a connection,” Campbell said.
Music, however, is not always produced live and has not always been at the tip of our fingers to be able to stream. There was a time before Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music, and the music outlets were CDs and the radio.
“Before phones, I would go to Walmart, and I would buy a bunch of CDs, and I did not know if I would like them or not,” sophomore Brigid Ashe-Moore said.
Radios and record players were used in addition to CDs before Pandora, one of the first major streaming companies, which was founded in January 2000. ITunes followed and was founded in January of 2001, but it was not until 2006 when Spotify was founded.
According to a Twitter poll conducted by the Golden Fleece, 63% of participants use Spotify rather than Apple Music, Pandora or Soundcloud.
“I mostly just use Spotify because I pay for a subscription for that,” Hord said.
Spotify offers premium subscriptions which allows one to have unlimited skips, to pick what song to listen to, to create playlists, and more. The premium subscription costs $9.99 a month and $4.99 a month for college students.
In addition to Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora offer premium subscriptions for a month charge as well.
As of July 1, 2018, according to The Washington Times, Best Buy will stop selling CDs all together. As the music industry is evolving, people continue to move away from CDs and moving towards music streaming sites like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora.
Campbell can recall the exact moment when he fell in love with music at his Christmas band concert in sixth grade.
“I just fell in love with that feeling of creating music,” Campbell said.
His passion for music expanded as he began to form bands with friends in his community. When he was only 19 years old, he had his first successful band called Dick and Jane and was able to sign a distribution deal from a small independent label.
With his band Dick and Jane, Campbell toured the country and recorded music in a professional studio. He put together press kits, which are promotional materials, for his band and played different gigs to make a living for himself.
“With that band, for a little over two years, I was able to make enough money playing shows and selling merchandise that I did not have to work,” Campbell said.
Working in the industry helped him learn what it takes and helped him find his own production company called Overneath Productions. At Overneath Productions, Campbell put together press kits and booked gigs for various bands.
“Most of my experience in the industry wasn't from the standpoint of someone who worked in the big industry and agencies. It was kinda a DIY type of life I had built for myself,” Campbell said.
After a few years of traveling the country and producing music, he moved to Los Angeles and formed a new band. With this band, Campbell signed a deal with Island Records.
“It was the first time to ever work with any real producers and work in a big professional recording studio, which was a really cool experience,” Campbell said.
With his new band in Los Angeles, Campbell got to play in the clubs he read about as a kid, yet at that point, he felt they industry was not what he wanted.
“I grew disheartened with the industry when I got to that point. It just seemed like to be successful, it was less about what you were creating then it was what you were packaging,” Campbell said.
For math teacher Loren Hord, his disappointment with the industry comes from how it has evolved throughout the years.
“With the way that music is today, a lot of people don't play their own instruments, or even on stage, they don’t sing their own songs, and it's really just dancing, and it makes me sad,” Hord said.
Hord not only listens to music, but also plays music and has played different genres of music in different bands.
“I listen to everything, and I have played in bands of everything from rock to pop to rap to country,” Hord said.
Before playing gigs with a band, you have to get a band together which can be challenging trying to find people who mesh well together.
“It is totally like a double edged sword. It's hard to find the right people, but when you do, it's totally worth it,” Hord said.
Once you form your band, there can still be some bumps in the road depending on how many people are in the group.
“It (being in a band) is very very difficult. The more people you have in a band, the more complications there are,” Hord said.
Hord is able to take what he learns from his band and performances and use that in his professional life.
“Overall, I really do like the performance. It’s kinda like teaching where you stand in the front and do your thing and try to maintain the audience's attention,” Hord said.
For Campbell, performing is the best part of being in the music industry as well.
“There is no greater feeling that I have experienced, outside of fatherhood, than performing and witnessing the audience having a connection,” Campbell said.
Music, however, is not always produced live and has not always been at the tip of our fingers to be able to stream. There was a time before Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music, and the music outlets were CDs and the radio.
“Before phones, I would go to Walmart, and I would buy a bunch of CDs, and I did not know if I would like them or not,” sophomore Brigid Ashe-Moore said.
Radios and record players were used in addition to CDs before Pandora, one of the first major streaming companies, which was founded in January 2000. ITunes followed and was founded in January of 2001, but it was not until 2006 when Spotify was founded.
According to a Twitter poll conducted by the Golden Fleece, 63% of participants use Spotify rather than Apple Music, Pandora or Soundcloud.
“I mostly just use Spotify because I pay for a subscription for that,” Hord said.
Spotify offers premium subscriptions which allows one to have unlimited skips, to pick what song to listen to, to create playlists, and more. The premium subscription costs $9.99 a month and $4.99 a month for college students.
In addition to Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora offer premium subscriptions for a month charge as well.
As of July 1, 2018, according to The Washington Times, Best Buy will stop selling CDs all together. As the music industry is evolving, people continue to move away from CDs and moving towards music streaming sites like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora.