We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sam Lipkin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

The music industry is known as a beast⁠—one that can chew up and step on a lot of artists. Athens, GA is a music town with a lot of genres that get overshadowed, especially in hip hop due to the proximity to Atlanta. So Volumes started with the mission of highlighting the local hip hop scene and uplifting independent artists. There are a lot of businesses ready to help established artists take the next step, but there are far fewer businesses that care about helping artists establish themselves. Volumes provides a platform for artists on all levels to perform and gain experience entertaining a crowd, but it also provides assets and tools that every artist needs to market themselves. Volumes encompasses blog posts covering artist releases, photos, special studio projects, marketing planning, and a network of resources and information within the local and regional communities. Accessibility is a value of the company, and we set a standard of caring about the people behind the artist names. Since COVID restrictions loosened for Volumes to bring back shows, every artist on every show has received payment—another rarity in a lot of local-level hip hop shows where pay-to-play models are abundant.

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

In January, Volumes celebrated five years as a business, and it’s been a journey that has continually changed the business over and over again based on the needs of the local community. Graduating from the University of Georgia with a B.A. in English and a long background in journalism, I started Volumes with graphic designer Rusty Holcomb as a monthly print zine highlighting the local hip hop community. The zine featured an events section, artist interviews, cultural history, and a music services directory. The zine circulated for one year before print costs made going fully digital the right move, and the blog is still functional on the Volumes website covering regional artist releases.

About six months after starting Volumes, I started a house party series (feeling inspired by the roots of hip hop) that featured artist performances and opportunities to network. The house party series attracted enough attention to then be featured in the “Athens Rising” documentary as an example of underground creative movements. The house parties opened the door for me to begin curating and promoting hip hop shows, and the shows have expanded into regular showcases and even an annual festival celebrating Volumes. Providing a platform for artists on any level, from first-time performers to veterans and touring artists, has remained a core service of Volumes. Teaching artists how to correctly hold the microphone, how to address the audience, and other live performance basics is part of what we do.

The goal of Volumes is for any local-level independent hip hop artists to be able to ask questions, find resources, and gain the skills and tools they need to establish and represent themselves in the larger market. I regularly advise artists on marketing plans, how to host and plan their own shows, and how to pitch themselves to other media outlets and promoters. There’s no gatekeeping here; I’m happy to share my knowledge and experiences in a way that allows others to then help themselves.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My reputation in my market and community is something I’m very prideful about, and I think there’s one key thing behind it: reliably showing up. Hip hop has a very rich culture, and understandably there’s a sense of earning your place in the community. When I started Volumes, no one knew who I was, nor did most of them take me seriously. However, for the full year I printed my zine, I showed up to 90% of the hip hop shows in the city and continually put my zine in people’s hands, talked to them about their lives, and supported in a genuine way. I just showed up and kept showing up, and I still show up. When I started putting together my own shows and getting involved in community projects, my word was a promise. If I couldn’t keep my promise, then I communicated why and what I could do about it. I will always advocate for honest and clear communication, and I owe my reputation to it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

COVID ruined a lot of things, but it saved Volumes. It’s extremely important to me to be transparent and open about mental health issues, and it’s a topic close to my heart. At the very beginning of 2020, I was struggling with my place in the community and the future of the company. Things felt like they had somewhat stalled out, the business needed a new direction, and I was spiraling from some unresolved negative experiences. I was very close to taking a break from Volumes, and then the world shut down. In a sense, I got a guilt free break and a pardon from everyone around me.

I wish I could say everything got better at that point, but in reality, my mental health took a very sharp dive through the rest of 2020. However, in the beginning of 2021, I did a lot of work and recovery for myself. Not for Volumes, not for anyone else, just myself. I needed that experience to gain a new confidence and maturity, and it steered me in the next direction for Volumes. This perspective shift happened just in time for COVID restrictions to begin lifting, and Volumes came back out of the gate very strong. Over the past year, Volumes has grown drastically with a larger audience and new opportunities.

My lesson in this is that you truly cannot help others unless you help yourself first—the bottom line is you have to be okay. You don’t have to be great, you don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to be okay.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.volumesmedia.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/volumeshiphop
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/volumeshiphop
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/volumeshiphop