Variable Bitrate

Verified Twitter user James Cassar is a music industry writer, label owner, and podcaster. We discuss his start with Modern Vinyl, the formation of Near Mint, association with Modern Baseball, and his impending memoir.

Jake Floyd is the Bassist of The Orphan the Poet from Dayton, Ohio. In this episode, you'll hear a lot about the Ohio scene and living nearby AltPress. Jake and Jacob have been planning to podcast together for some time, so here it is!

For years, Dan Cox cultivated a massive following of passionate fans for his blog, Pup Fresh. Between himself and his partner Willy, Pup Fresh created a spot for themselves in the scene without invitation. They use their following to spread their opinions about controversial topics in the scene. That seemed to wear Dan out to the point that he’s separated himself from the brand for his sake and the blog’s. Now he spends way too much money on vinyl.

Danny Samet has toured with bands like Say Anything, Two Door Cinema Club, Motion City Soundtrack, Thrice, The Academy Is, and so many more. In just 5 years he's made a name for himself as a professional crew member and a great person to have on the road for weeks at a time.

You, Me, And Everyone We Know called it quits for good this year. Ben, the frontman and songwriter for the project has since been hiding out amongst the rest of us normals while slowly working on something new.

Johnny Minardi drops knowledge on the early years on Fueled By Ramen as well as his endeavors as a professional A&R. Hear more about how he launched the careers of bands like Gatsby's American Dream, Hidden In Plain View, The Academy Is...

Mike Gunzelman aka Gunz is a media personality and host of The Gunz Show on Idobi Radio. Having grown up in the industry by way of Blink 182, Geffen Records, Drive-Thru Records, and other early starters of the scene, Gunz made a name for himself early and continues to be successful with over 120,000 listeners every week. When off the air, you can find him on FOX, NBC, ABC, and more as a correspondent or studio guest on a variety of panels. We talk about how Gunz built his brand and what makes his show so entertaining.

Tyler Sharp left his dream job at Alternative Press and I've been dying to know why. We talk about what it is that makes midwest kids blog so much, how he was able to write 8,000 news stories, canceled NBC program Heroes, and what Tyler plans to do now.

Creating can be tricky when life's obligations so often get in the way. To make it work, you have to adapt.

Sheridan Allen runs Punk Talks, an organization that advocates for better mental health in the music industry. We discuss Sheridan's decision to become a social worker for a living and using her passion to better the music scene she so desperately wanted to be a part of.

Nate Sirotta is the founder and playmaker at Impulse Artists, a boutique publicity and digital marketing agency that's worked with some insane talent to great success over it's few years in business. Nate and I talk about PR and how to get into it from any angle. He's been doing this thing for a while and has some really great tips. So don't miss a thing and take notes!

They say to never judge a book by its cover, but isn’t the cover a part of the book itself? The face of the body of work? This week we talk to Ian Baldwin of Hear&See about design and how it applies to the music industry specifically.

Dana Reandelar didn't think that she had enough to say to be on this show. In this episode we prove that she was wrong. Dana is a music writer that has a secret past as a multi-instrumentalist. She's also up on the latest in Frank Ocean, so we spend a good deal of time dissecting 'Blonde'.

Jack Appleby is a Social Media Strategist by day at Ayzenberg Group, a killer marketing agency in California that's worked with really awesome brands over the years. In his spare time, he talks music at a number of publications and has even dabbled in the label/management side of things once or twice. Get to know Jack as he spills the beans on just how many copies of intheclouds' 12 Lathes records were cut as well as a certain supergroup follow-up LP that exists somewhere in the world.

Joe is the founder of American Dream Records, an independent record label that put out vinyl releases from some pretty amazing bands in the early 2010s. Since then, he's amassed an impressive and growing Twitter following as @anamericangod. Nostalgia swings it's mighty fist as we talk about the old days of music discovery and early Internet hangouts for music lovers. Then we talk Twitter, a lot of Twitter.

When this thing started as an Under The Gun branded show, Brian Leak (aka The Lion) was initially supposed to be my cohost. Alas, a change in career led him to Substream Magazine where he is now Editor In Chief. A week removed from dropping his first issue there, we discuss how starting at a local rag evolved into a career. You’ll have to forgive some audio artifacts. Brian had a rough night of being ill the night before, so he forgot his headphones. As a result there are a few overlaps in dialogue.

Mark Garza graces us with their presence to discuss what it's like being 18 with a 3 year old record label. Mark is starting college this year and already feels jaded, so Jake tries to help them through. This is a must-listen for young music industry professionals.

Joshua Hammond is a blogger turned publicist that's been writing around the Midwest for about a decade. After a while, he switched ends of the email chain and picked up publicity, which moved him from Kansas to The Big Apple. We discuss everything from the start of his career at Popwreckoning to today, as a publicist at Press Here.

Our good friend Michele Stephens swings through to chat about tour PR, the lifeblood of her career in music. As a tour publicity pro at Epitaph Records, she lends her expertise and drops some hints about what not to do when trying to cover the alternative music scene's biggest roaming festival, Warped Tour. Naturally there is some talk about Troye Sivan, My Chemical Romance, and Cute Is What We Aim For to be had, for Michele is a pop lover through and through.

It only took five episodes of this thing to land a juicy exclusive. Jake talks to Ian Kenny of King Neptune about what exactly happened to NGHBRS, the project he’s been known for leading into this new project.

Connor Feimster calls the Variable Bitrate hotline to banter over the news and his life as a working-class music photographer slash actor slash editor slash tour manager. Turns out Connor is a big Paul Simon fan, and super knowledgeable to the Swan-core scene. Enjoy!

It is round three of the show, and my pal Maria Gironas has joined me to chit the chat. First, we talk about her gigs with various outlets and then dig into her experience in music PR. Tears fall as we mourn the impending loss of Yellowcard and Blink's magic as well. Warped Tour comes up even though we have no idea who is on the tour this year. Grab your liquor of choice, friends and drink up whenever 'Taylor Swift' is said aloud.

It’s round two of the Variable Bitrate podcast. This time, Jacob is joined by James Shotwell, his former partner at UTG and friend for the ages. The two of them talk about moving on from big projects, James’ new endeavors, why Bayside’s new record could be their best, and some of the week’s biggest news topics.

Jacob Tender is joined by longtime friend Dan Bogosian to chat about his tenure in the music industry and what's going on in the news. Jacob fails to reign in the conversation in time to talk about Radiohead while Dan makes as many Queen Moo references as possible.

Jacob and guest John Bazely examine some of the headlines in music news and dive deep into Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book as well as that new song from Brand New. John talks about starting his record label and Jacob gets Pinegrove'd hard.