We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adam Aldama. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adam below.

Alright, Adam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I first explored performing music in my late teens right after high school. I would sign up/ask to perform at festivals, radio shows, car shows, clubs, etc and I would get a positive response from the audience whenever I performed at these events. I used to work at a local grocery store when I was younger and the owner let me sell my CD’s at the register for $10 a pop. I pressed up 1000 cd’s and this was my test to myself, meaning, if I could sell all 1000 albums, then I would continue this musical journey, if not, then this wasn’t the career path for me and I would try something else. Long story short, I sold all the albums I had at places like the local grocery store, entertainment shops like Sam Goody, FYE, The Beat, Dimple Records, Amoeba, etc (a lot of local stores that sell albums in the Northern California region). The money I made from that album helped pay for a down payment on a new car, a few features from known rappers like Kid Frost, Baby Bash, N2deep, and Chingo Bling for songs on my 2nd album, and helped pay for promotion. During my time as an original artist I met a guy who was in a cover band. I didn’t know what a cover band was at the time, but he told me that his band gets paid/hired to sing other people’s songs. And I was intrigued right away. So I learned a lot about sound, the equipment used on stage, performing, and vocal exercises. I came into the singing game pretty late (early 20’s), but it helped mold me into who I am today. Fast forward to today, and now I have my own band (Adam Aldama and The Aces) that focuses on a wide variety of high energy dance hits ranging from Throwback Hip Hop & R&B, Pop, Old School, Top40, Latin, and Disco. I have all my info on www.AdamAldama.com

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Adam Aldama. I am a visual and performing artist from Sacramento California. By day I am a high school Art teacher at Rosemont High and by night I am a singer/DJ that get’s to perform at local nightclubs, live music venues, festivals, and private events.
One of the main things that sets me apart from others that are in the same industry is my ability to read a room/crowd. I do my best to cater to the crowd and keep my viewers/listeners engaged not only for my performance but also for the venues we perform at so people will stay and enjoy themselves.
I am most proud of seeing my name on the marquee at venues. I never thought I would see my name on a sign one day, and just seeing it in person is an awesome feeling.
The thing I want people to know about me is that I strive for excellence when it comes to my performances, whether it be as a singer in my band, or a DJ. I try to give the people they’re monies worth and keep people dancing and entertained. I feed off of crowd energy and I give it right back double time.
I have all of my creative outlets on my website at www.AdamAldama.com

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In my early cover band years, gigs were kind of sparse. I didn’t handle the booking, nor did I know how to/or what rate to give customers, etc. So the person that was in charge didn’t get the band we were in too many gigs. And the gigs we did get, didn’t pay well. During this time I was a college student and I also held down a job for the school district as an aide for special education. My pay wasn’t that great and I had a lot of debt with my credit cards. I was looking for a way to help pay them off (otherwise I’d be stuck in debt for years) so I searched for another job that I could do in the evenings when I didn’t have school. I looked and looked, and didn’t find anything until one day I was sifting through a magazine from sweet water (music equipment) (I used to get those in the mail from time to time) and I randomly flipped to the DJ section of the magazine. I had never DJ’d before, but I would always see/hear DJ’s when I was out and about that weren’t that great. Meaning, the transitions between songs were sloppy (or not at all), the song selection was bad (the DJ’s didn’t know how to read the room), the equipment was bad (cheap ass speakers that sounded terrible), the list goes on. So, I said to myself, if these fools can do it, then so can I. So took a leap and purchased a Pioneer DDJ SX2 DJ controller from Sweetwater. It ran me about $1800 with the case and cables. I practiced at home here and there for about a month and I wanted to see how I would do at a club. I went on Craigslist, found an ad that a venue in Folsom called Cliff house was looking for a DJ on Saturday nights and it paid $300 for the night. I think I DJ’d from 9pm-12:30am. I called the venue, got hired for the gig, and from that night on I kept the ball rolling with my DJ services and paid off my credit card debt within a year. Now, I find work as a DJ pretty consistent and people love the music I play, which in turn makes me feel good because I know that I can bring quality DJ services to weddings, clubs, festivals, and more!

How did you build your audience on social media?

My audience on social media isn’t huge (meaning I don’t have thousands of followers), but I do have a good amount of people that are consistent when coming out to my shows. This always helps with ticket sales when I take a door deal for the band. I can always count on our followers/supporters to come through.
I think word of mouth is the best promotion you can do, and have a little bit of art direction when it comes to making flyers for shows, knowing what photos work best for your product, using the right type of words/phrasing to keep your audience engaged/hyped about coming to a show, etc.

My advice would be to learn certain apps like photoshop and video editing apps (I use Final Cut Pro). These apps play a key part to you getting your content out to people that have never heard of you and will definitely help you grow as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.AdamAldama.com
• Instagram: Sizzle916
• Facebook: Adam Aldama
• Youtube: https://YouTube.com/sizzle916
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sizzle916
• Other: https://reverbnation.com/sizzle916

Image Credits

Images are by Cliff Collins.