We were lucky to catch up with Sammis Richdale recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sammis thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?
Being misunderstood creatively has been the story since the dawn of the music industry. It’s a catch-22 because the whole industry is based on creativity; however, it’s overwhelmingly run by numbers, business, and non-creative types. On top of that, these non-creatives are usually the liaisons between musical artists and visual creatives. Sometimes the true intent is lost in the process, but I feel we can start closing that gap over time.
Visual design is often a secondary or even tertiary thought within music, but it’s a vital component. Sometimes I shake my head at the requests that come through. So much time and money is wasted because very few decision-makers actually understand the basics of what they’re asking for. But that could be argued for any industry. For example, music artist managers would benefit from knowing how an album cover has potential to fast-track an entire campaign of merch designs, music videos, visuals and even social content, if approached appropriately.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am the founder of CHROMA KNOWS, a forward-thinking artist management and creative agency, focusing on music and events. We use visual design as the base and apply it to everything we do. This includes, but is not limited to: visual identity, merchandise, music videos, Spotify canvas, visuals for performances, access strategy, online and traditional marketing/ads, stage design, creative assets for festivals including layouts, credentials, and the list goes on. We elevate many clients under the agency branch and also use this knowledge for our own artists that we proudly manage.
The core of CHROMA is to deliver the best possible creative by utilizing the extensive knowledge we have of the music industry. We are also extremely passionate in making sure the creatives we work with are well taken care of and protected. CHROMA seamlessly combines the creative agency and the artist management company into one. The long-term goal is to provide dedicated teams to our clients, that being a festival or artist, connecting them with a creative director, day manager, strategists, designers, editors, mograph artists, cinematographers, photographers, copywriters, etc.
I’ve been grinding in the music industry for the past 12 years. In 2011, I started out with the promotions company Prime Social Group. This was right at the beginning of the EDM music festival boom. It was the Wild West back then and we were responsible for setting our own standards and approaches. It’s hard to lock down everything I did during that time, as we were a modest team of approximately 10 full-time staff members running 20,000+ attendance events. Needless to say, we wore a lot of hats, but my job mostly centered around creativity. I had the opportunity to come up with themes of festivals; the overall look and feel. I also created national TV spots and managed the onsite and external media teams. In addition, I conceptualized the credentialing systems for these events and contributed innovative methods for running artist relations onsite.
Before 2011, I was doing the same sort of thing for several large nightclubs with the focus being social media. At the time, Twitter was just starting to emerge and influencers weren’t even a thing. Social strategy and creative bookings landed us some very high-profile clients by proxy for a third of the price. From there, I took on roles for other music industry heavy-hitters who hired me for my specialized experience. I worked on everything from album artwork for major artists including Mac Miller, Duke Dumont and 3LAU, to helping “Americanize” the largest music festival from Belgium, Tomorrowland in what would become TomorrowWorld.
Over the years, I’ve gone deep into anything and everything music and events related. Elevated by the ins and outs of corporate know-how, I’ve gained the experience to achieve the best results for any challenge I am faced with. This is what we are also teaching to our new hires at CHROMA.
I’d like to share a recent example of how our music industry experience mixed with design knowledge helped rapper/songwriter GASHI with his live show at Irving Plaza in NYC earlier this year. We were hired to create a customized CGI visual sequence to open the show on an LED screen. This visual intro featured an elevator, which counted down with the music. Once it reached the bottom floor, the doors were to open up and he would come out on stage. When we started the concepting phase, the stage specs revealed the LED screen would not be tall enough to accommodate. GASHI is a tall guy, standing at 6’3”, and the LED screen was originally set to be 6’ tall. By viewing from the perspective of the patrons below the stage’s angle, we realized the top of the elevator would appear to be at his chest, which would kill the realism of the effect. So we decided to reconstruct the venue in CAD, designed a new stage and LED layout, then simulated the view from each eye level in CGI to confirm the visuals worked better that way. Working one on one with Live Nation and GASHI’s management team, we were able to pivot and provide a better experience for that show, ultimately achieving the effect they envisioned.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest thing I had to unlearn was how to separate my personal love of the music from my creative work, while also keeping it front and center. This isn’t so much of a lesson as an expectation for people just starting out. Music is a very personal thing. Most people have favorites and are fans of particular artists or genres. Learning to separate that love from the work helps because it’s easy to undervalue yourself just for the opportunity.
In addition to this, taking jobs in which you feel you have zero connection with the artist could really expand your tastes and surprise you. With every job I take, I fully immerse myself in that music and culture. Because of this, I’ve learned to understand and appreciate more music than I ever would have on my own.
I also recommend utilizing successful tactics across various genres. For example, the same creative approaches taken for a Dubstep project could be applied to innovate a stand-out Country Music project, and possibly make you a fan in the process.
Another lesson I had to unlearn, which pertains to the technical side and the overall mindset for your creative path, is the idea of specialization. My advice for new designers is to learn as many programs as you can and don’t be afraid of them. The more versatile you are, the more well-rounded and creative you will be. Trust me.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The goal driving my personal creative journey is to make work that I’m proud of; work that matters in any capacity. I don’t care how I got there, who hired me, what the rules may be, etc. The best part of being creative is that there are no rules (no matter what society tells us). It just takes that first person to do it. My whole career I have pushed the envelope and persisted. I have changed how Fortune 500 companies approach creativity with remarkable results. By pushing the importance of creative, I’ve personally seen progression and change within music. I am proud of that, and that is what drives me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chromaknows.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chromaknows/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChromaKnows
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamsammis/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChromaKnows
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLq_5DCvrJH2p6ZzFUJEjbg
- Other: ⚙️ JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/chroma ⚙️ We have a free masterclass class 👩🎓 created to help anyone who wants to know about the basics of marketing and design within the music industry. We believe that knowledge is power and we want to empower you to be who want to be. Check out all 10 videos on our website: https://www.chromaknows.com/masterclass
Image Credits
Sammis Richdale