Life & Work with Garrett Hampton of Almost Famous Entertainment

Today we’d like to introduce you to Garrett Hampton.  

Garrett, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Garrett Hampton (PKA G-Hollow); I am an independent artist and creator of Almost Famous Entertainment (AFE). A community of independent artists for independent artists, I created AFE to help elevate strong-willed independent artists by helping them get more exposure and giving them the opportunity to network. Being an independent artist since 2019, I have faced plenty good and plenty bad of my journey through the music industry, and ultimately, I want Almost Famous to be what I wish I had access to when I first started. I wanted to see other artists succeed just as much as myself and was looking to find that reciprocated. April 2022, I was doing a photoshoot with Ethan Orweller (PKA MoscowMadeIt/$MR) when he mentioned the state of my career, saying “Dude, you’re like *almost* famous around here; you don’t realize the people that know you in the area that you don’t. You also have your close, diehard, cult fanbase; you’re at that next level.” That night I didn’t realize how right he was. Throughout the last several years, countless new artists pop up every day because of culture waves like Soundcloud or global events like COVID-19. When artists are eager to create, which I believe should one of our top priorities, sometimes it’s easy to not think about how complex a structure like the music industry can be and get lost in it all. After spending money, energy, and above all, time that I didn’t have to, I want to help independent creatives maximize their efforts and learn and network while they create! 

Last month I started Almost Famous Entertainment with the mindset that potential members might have been in my shoes in one way or another. Expressing things from their personal life, someone getting their footing as an independent artist, a strong-willed creative yearning to see others success as well but lacking a support system, perhaps like myself – a combination of all of them. 

Our creatives are supplied with promotional art and exposure for their releases through our community groups and playlists. We also have our socials where our community members can connect and elevate with each other as well as submit their content for promotion. Since starting AFE, it has just introduced me to more amazing independent artists, and collaborating with them is what I love most! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Beginning as an independent artist, I struggled because of my lack of knowledge and a support system. This caused me to be extremely self-reliant, so yes, I spent plenty of time learning the ins and out’s out of my craft, but that was all time I could have spend pumping out actual music and other content. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We help get exposure to other independent artists with untapped potential! Creativity should be able to flow, and the undiscovered gems should get the eyes on their content they deserve. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
In an age like today, where “word of mouth” is more across algorithm-based social media, it affects the people you meet. I was inspired to start Almost Famous Entertainment, mainly by Ethan Orweller and an artist coach, Drake Murphy. They helped me brainstorm and form the actual entity in my head before I put it together. Ethan and I met through a mutual friend but was relatively local, so there was still a good chance of us running into each other; Drake, however, couldn’t farther from that. Drake has lived throughout the United States, sure, but not in the same state as me, and we had no mutual friends. I was scrolling on my TikTok feed last October when one of his videos came up on my For You Page targeted at independent artists discussing his beginning days to being all over the world. If it weren’t for the TikTok algorithm luckily showing me that video of his then, I might not have met Drake or had that same interest in his content if it weren’t for the split moment. Call it luck, chance, faith, I do believe there’s key moments, and the universe has weird ways of working things out. 

Pricing:

• Almost Famous Entertainment – Monthly Membership: $20

Contact Info:

• Website: https://solo.to/almostfamousentmt
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/almostfamous.entmt/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tJk0fXUKc3IfbeN2hwkQF?si=660e23d8af554da8

Image Credits
Trevor Sparks