Episode 442 – The CD Turns 40 Years Old, Slate Digital Is Acquired, And Vampr CEO Josh Simons

My guest this week is Josh Simons, CEO and co-founder of Vampr, the world’s largest and most active social-professional network for musicians.  Often dubbed the “LinkedIn for creatives”, Vampr is home to over one million users, and active in every country on the planet. The music startup has helped fledgling musicians broker over 7 million connections worldwide, and has made the Best Apps lists for both Apple and Google. Prior to running Vampr, Josh spent the better part of a decade as a successful artist, songwriter and producer. His artist project Buchanan enjoyed multi-million streams & chart impressions worldwide. As a producer and songwriter, Josh has shared credits with Travis Scott, Troye Sivan and Kanye West to name a few. He was also named in The Music Network’s 30 Under 30 List in addition to being voted Reader’s Choice. During the interview we spoke about touring expenses, using unseen collaborators, representing artists for sync placements, learning from bad publishing deals, and much more. I spoke with Josh via zoom from his office in Australia. On the intro I’ll take a look at the CD turning 40 after a rocky start, and the acquisition of Slate Digital.