Artist manager Sam Saideman is the co-founder and CEO of Innovo Management. He chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadato about the “Hometown Hero” artist giveback initiative.
On his inspiration behind Hometown Hero, he said, “Community is so important to us. Creating and fostering environments for people to feel included and supported. We try to spend significant time on finding ways to support that community as well as give back any way we can.”
“This felt like the right time to launch an initiative to help an artist who has helped so many. This is our way of spreading positivity to the music community and hopefully supporting someone who was extremely selfless during a time where focusing on oneself was vital,” he added.
With “Hometown Hero” he hopes to raise “awareness.” “I hope this motivates folks with bigger networks and bigger voices to find ways to create bigger impact in our community. In this case, it starts with us. We also hope that this spreads positivity. Both in sharing stories of people who have put others above themselves and also to a specific selfless artist,” he said.
“Team Innovo will sift through all submissions after the deadline (end of August) and once there is a top 10, the industry judges will be sent the information to review and select their winner,” he added.
Saideman continued, “We put a lot of thought into what would help an artist. We thought it made the most sense to create a pathway of getting something out in the world with a team assisting. Once we started leaning into our network and sharing our ideas, people were extremely receptive and supportive.”
“The goal here is to help an artist create a song from scratch all the way to releasing and promoting it. No one but them will have any publishing or master ownership in the work as well,” he added.
When asked who can be nominated, he responded, “None whatsoever outside of having to be an artist. Bands, solo acts, any age, any country. We wanted to make sure our prizes were location agnostic, so that’s why there’s no photoshoot or other location necessary prizes.”
Nominations for “Hometown Hero” are open August 1 through August 31, and they hope to announce the winner in late September.
Having the support of so many in the music industry participating is really great to see. “We love our community. We’re grateful they believed in us and our idea enough to donate their time, talent, and resources. It surprised us a bit, as this industry can often be very competitive, however, if the pandemic has done anything, it’s shown people that we need to lean on one another! You are not alone in your struggles,” he said.
They are sharing “Hero of the Day” quotes from submissions on Innovo’s Instagram.
“We’ve already posted the first one which really warmed our heart,” he said.
As the pandemic continues to ravage communities, people can get involved to help Hometown Hero. “They can do that by sharing the graphics, nomination link, and nominating people who you feel are deserving,” he exclaimed.
To learn more about the “Hometown Hero” initiative, check out the following website.
