We recently connected with Sam Watkins and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sam, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
My wife and I started a company called Sam Watkins Country back in 2007 as a means of promoting my music. We had met in 2006 at a coffee shop where I had just written and performed a song for a gentleman who was proposing to his girlfriend. Upon meeting her, we eventually recording an album of 12 of my original songs and decided to create the company. In 2009, I created a band and in 2010 we created In The Neon Spotlight Radio, the show by musicians for musicians. Several years later, the company evolved, and today we call it ITNS Radio & SWC Global Media, LLC.
Now the goal has always been to provide the best promotion and booking for all our clients (about 500 or so currently). I’m getting ahead of myself though, let me tell you how it all began…
Sam Watkins Country, at one point, became a music management firm. Back around 2012, we managed only a few artists and bands, some successful, others not quite. That’s the music industry though. It was then that we created music promotions for singers, songwriters, artists and bands. It took off pretty well too. With a month we had over 300 clients and we promoted them through our website www.itnsradio.com, through cross promotion of social media and through many other ways and means. And we were always finding new ways to help these folks.
Around 2019 we created ITNS Radio & SWC Global Media, LLC and by then we had over 400 clients. We faced the usual criticism and weathered the financial storms, but we came through, even through Covid. Now, here we are and we”re still going strong!
In The Neon Spotlight Radio is now known as ITNS Radio, we have several sites that archive our interviews including Spotify and Deezer, and we have a revolving door of clients we serve daily.
There’s a lot more to the story, but these are the most important points. Just check out our website at www.itnsradio.com and you’ll get the idea!
And our mission remains the same, to provide the best support, promotion and more for our clients.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I got back into the music industry in 2007 officially, but the company is mine and my wife’s baby. ITNS Radio & SWC Global Media, LLC is officially owned and operated by my wife mainly and our son who helped put together the website, some of the interviews and other necessary tools we use.
Our music promotions start are extremely affordable and effective and include interviews, social media cross promotion, promotion on our website and on our two station sites: ITNS Radio and ITNS Radio 24/7 Live. We also help them to navigate through things like copyrights, music licenses and other music industry situations and pitfalls.
The thing about us is, we don’t charge outrageous fees, we care about our clients and we have a fierce determination to keep them happy and make them successful, even if they never make it in the industry.
We are most proud of all the work we do, the connections we make and seeing what these awesome artists and bands can do!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I believe a lot of the reason people are eager to work with us is my experience as a singer, songwriter and musician. They see the work I’m doing and want to do that themselves! It also helps that I’ve been through a lot of what they have gone through.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Just getting out there, contacting artists and bands and getting to know them helps us to continue with this business. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://itnsradio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itnsradio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itnsradioswc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-watkins-58463415?trk=people-guest_people_search-card
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/itnsradio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/samwatkinsrocks
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/itns-radio-and-swc-global-media-las-vegas-2
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/samwatkinsandfatetrain https://twitter.com/samwatkins007
Image Credits
Some of these were shot by L. A. Scott Photgraphy of Lake Travis, Texas.