Sarantos
I love indie singer-songwriter Sarantos’ song choices and his openness to share his experiences with Amused Now fans. When I last interviewed indie singer-songwriter Sarantos in October 2014, we discussed his strategy to release a new song and video every month. That strategy was so successful that Sarantos has decided to continue these monthly releases throughout 2015.
What makes these monthly releases so rewarding for both the artist and his fans? According to Sarantos: “I think fans like having someone interact with them all the time, as opposed to bands who release a CD every three years. Interacting with fans every week and releasing a new song every month really resonates with them. They can download the music for free, and they can watch the music video. It’s additional new content, and not the same stuff rehashed over and over. I also think that just being myself on social media is beginning to resonate with my fans.”
I must admit that releasing a song and video every month seems like a lot of work. Why do both? “The video is definitely challenging, especially when you’re an indie artist on a limited budget. Video helps portray the song in a great way. I try to have a good story in each video. To me, putting a video to the song takes it to the next level. When you think back to the 80’s, when music videos first came out, Michael Jackson and Duran Duran made some classic videos. I want to give that same taste to my fans. In addition to the song, I want them to also anticipate the next video and what different thing I might do. It’s a lot of work, but it’s really very enjoyable.”
In January, Sarantos released his first single, the 80’s style We Accept The Love We Think We Deserve to rave reviews. I asked Sarantos to tell me about his social media and promotion strategy: “My strategy is always the same. I don’t have a big marketing budget. I have an email list that I’ve been building for the past year and a social media presence. I try to build a little buzz and theme to my releases. Within the month it’s been out, We Accept The Love We Think We Deserve has skyrocketed. I think it has over 240,000 YouTube views. The video is kind of funny, which I think fans appreciate. In terms of the emotional theme, unfortunately there’s plenty of abuse going on the world. I think a lot of people have had issues in a relationship at one point or another, so I think they relate to the song.”
Sarantos recently released A Child’s Mind, so I asked him to tell us about this song: “My friends and family like to tease me and say I have the mind of a child. I’m not immature, but I have that childhood naiveté. I still read comic books and I’m still brutally honest with people. There’s no hidden agenda. I think there’s a part of us that society gets rid of. I think we all give up a part of our child’s mind that helps us be creative, and we shouldn’t. We should hold on to that innocence and that carefree attitude. I miss being a child and a little bit wild.”
When Sarantos made the song’s video, he added another theme to A Child’s Mind: “My parents are immigrants. They came from Greece to this country. I made the video with the theme around an immigrant mom and her son, how they came to America, the land of opportunity. The boy becomes a doctor, but he keeps thinking about his childhood and the friends he left behind.”
Sarantos lists all currently released songs and all songs coming up for release on his website, so I know the next song in the lineup is What If I Never See You Again? This song has a very personal meaning to Sarantos: “My father passed away a couple years ago. Grieving is a very personal thing. There are various stages. It was a very difficult time in my life. I wrote this song late one night almost two years ago. It got me thinking about death, about loved ones who have passed away. I wondered if I’d ever see him again. It gets into the issue about whether there is a God, whether there is a Heaven. The song is in the singer-songwriter genre, and I think it really hits home to my style. It’s a lengthy song, but it’s really touching and powerful.”
Sarantos believes you should “work for a cause and not applause.” Sarantos donates 33% of all profits to a specific charity for each song released to the public. He even allows his fans to suggest the charities. I had to know more. What a great idea! “Like everyone else in the music business, there’s a part of me who wants to make it. I want to tour around the world. I’d love to have fans that support me, so I can make this my primary living. To me, it’s always been primarily about the music, and secondly about charity. So, I decided to donate a third of the profits from every song to a different charity.”
The charity Sarantos chooses relates to the song’s double meaning: “Take the first song I released, Not Where I Wanna Be. To me, cancer is not where anyone wants to be, so I picked the American Cancer Society for that song. I do listen to my fans, so the charity for A Child’s Mind is Feed My Starving Children. I actually went out to a branch in the Chicago area and picked and packed food for starting kids. For the song We Accept The Love We Think We Deserve, I picked the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. My fans have great ideas.” I love how Sarantos grows his career based on fan’s input and builds a personal relationship with them.
Since Sarantos practices the art of continuous improvement, I asked him what he’s decided to do differently this year based on what he learned last year: “Last year, I focused on my budget and how best to allocated my resources. I figured out many things were a waste of money, so I won’t do them again. I continue to figure out what works and what doesn’t. As I climb the ladder a little bit, not leaps and bounds, just little steps, the biggest thing I’ve learned is: Don’t give up. No song trends in one day, unless you are someone famous, like Taylor Swift, and have a huge marketing budget. You’ve got to keep grinding, keep going for it.”
Sarantos does see his approach to releasing one song each month has its disadvantages: “I can’t keep pushing the songs I released last year. Each month, I have to get to the next song, get to the next video. This may hurt me to an extent. If I put all my time and energy into promoting A Child’s Mind for the next year or year-and-a-half, I truly feel it would be a lot more successful. But, I think giving fans something new every month is a game changer.”
What’s up next for Sarantos, in addition to many new songs? “I had the opportunity to tour worldwide and I couldn’t take it, because I couldn’t give up my day job for six months. The hardest thing for me is trying to get a band together that will stay together. Because I’m a solo artist, they aren’t vested in the music. You have to make a bare minimum just to pay the band. The biggest challenge for me is getting enough traction, so I can start doing more gigs. I’m dying to perform more; I’m dying to get on stage.”
I hope Sarantos figures it out, because I’d love to see him live.
Here’s the link to my first interview with Sarantos: https://amusednow.com/blog/sarantos-not-where-i-want-to-be/
The Amused Now Featured Artist Series
Sarantos
Melogia.com
@sarantosmelogia
Facebook
Google+
YouTube
Cynthia Kahn, Founder of Amused Now
@Amused_Now
Facebook
Google+
YouTube
iTunes