Inspiring Conversations with Jamie Shoemaker of UPstar Music

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Shoemaker

Hi Jamie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Greece, New York and was heavily involved in sports growing up. I played baseball, basketball and ran cross-country and track. That was my entire life until I graduated high school. As I decided not to pursue athletics in college, I wanted a new experience and decided to go to The University of Tampa in Florida. I was there for two years and learned a lot about myself and really grew as an individual. I decided to transfer home to SUNY Brockport in Rochester to pursue a degree in physical education and to coach basketball, cross-country, and track. My parents, who are two of my biggest influences and supporters, were both teachers and at the time, and I wanted to follow the same path to truly make a difference like they did as educators. Most people graduate college with a degree in something they aren’t passionate about, but I was fortunate to leave with two things I loved… becoming a teacher and being my own boss and continuing chasing a dream running my company UPstar Music in Nashville, TN.

My earliest memories of listening to music were riding around in my dad’s van listening to Toby Keith, Zac Brown Band, and around our pool listening to The Eagles and Jimmy Buffett on his black Casio stereo radio. I fell in love with music and the different emotions it brought to the surface and how you were able to relate to these songs in your own life and experiences. When I first took a deep dive into music on my own, I didn’t even listen to country music. I was a massive Jay-Z fan and listened to other artists like Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Kid Cudi, and the Pop Top 40. I later started listening to country music in middle school and was so fascinated with the songwriting and approach of country music. Artists like Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Old Dominion and FGL made me fall in love with the genre. To this day, Sam Hunt is my favorite artist of all-time and his Montevallo album resonated with me so deeply and took my love for country music to another level and is a big reason why I’m in Nashville today.

That passion I discovered for country music had me wanting to learn more and venture outside of popular artists that were on the radio. On a summer night in 2017 when I was bored and getting ready to head out to college in a few weeks, I started to go through Spotify and different articles online and made a list of rising artists who I thought were incredible. This list included artists like Jimmie Allen, Ryan Hurd, Dylan Schneider, Jacob Davis, Seth Ennis and some others. I didn’t know if anyone else thought these artists were any good so I showed some of my friends and they were amazed with the new talent I discovered. As a new listener, I was only aware of what was being played on the radio and the mainstream artists that played big shows in my city. So when I started discovering these other artists I saw the immense talent and that they were every bit as good vocally, lyrically and had what it took to make it to the next level, they just didn’t have the attention yet.

Shortly after, I went to the University of Tampa for my freshman year of college. Within the first two weeks, Hurricane Irma hit and we were given a week off. I was out late at night at McDonald’s with my friends and was talking about all the music I was discovering and they were so fascinated with the idea. With a week off, I had a lot of free time and that’s when “UPstar Music” was born. I came up with the name, drew the logo and we were off and had the goal of being able to promote artists in all genres. In the fall of 2017, I didn’t really have a vision for what I was creating, but I knew in my gut I was onto something. The first stint only lasted about a month. The first time around I wanted to promote all genres like pop, rap and rock and discover new artists. I thought too big too quickly as I was very green to all of it, but knew I found my passion. I revisited UPstar again in the summer of 2018 and turned my focus from all genres to just country music. After that collapsed, I took time off and in the spring of 2019 just focused on curating playlists for fun. It wasn’t until the fall of 2019 that I deleted everything and started over one last time. I made the promise to myself if I failed this time around I would just teach and be content doing that.

In March 2020, when COVID hit, the world stopped and I hit up a few buddies to see if they wanted to hop on Instagram Live to talk and play some songs, and they loved the idea. That sparked the idea to create the “Living Room Concert Series.” It ended up being 10 days with 65 artists playing including artists like Ella Langley and Hayden Coffman. This was the first experience I got to genuinely talk and connect with artists and songwriters in Nashville, and it was the first experience I got that I could create something with longevity and over time make a career with UPstar Music. As I continued to talk to more and more artists, I realized they were just normal people pursuing their passion and it was easy to connect with them and talk about life and everyday things like sports and food. I grew to admire independent artists and songwriters and I learned how so many are working other jobs, living paycheck to paycheck without security to chase a dream and I wanted to be able to make an impact and change these people’s lives for the better with UPstar. In June 2020, I went down to Nashville and spent time with some friends I met through UPstar and once again, I got a feeling in my gut that I needed to pursue my passion and move to Nashville once I graduated.

From 2020 up until I graduated in December of 2022, I worked endlessly to grow UPstar Music by making connections through social media, conducting live interviews, curating playlists, writing articles and anything else I could to make a name for myself in Nashville. In the summers I would stay with friends in Nashville and host rounds in town and network. As time went on, I dialed in my passion and found a purpose for creating a platform and providing opportunities for creatives in the industry and making all the incredible music easily digestible for fans, industry folks and other creatives. UPstar Music has become the “premier country music platform.” I moved to Nashville on December 26th, 2022 and have been in Nashville for just about 2 years, and have been loving every second of it!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Through the 5 years I’ve been building UPstar Music and the other two years of figuring out what it actually was, it has been filled with ups and downs, some massive failures and even more lessons that I’m thankful for. Living in Nashville is one of the greatest blessings. There are so many talented and amazing people here and there are always things to do and live music everywhere. With that being said, it can also be mentally draining and challenges you to stay grounded… I call it “mental gymnastics.” With social media, it can feel like everyone is succeeding, everyone is playing massive shows or getting signed, and all the sudden you feel the pressure to find big time success quickly. I try to live by the words timing – just because it’s someone else’s time to shine or they get a big opportunity, it doesn’t mean that mine will never come and I have to be grounded and have faith in that. Patience – just like in anything, good things take time. We live in a world of instant gratification, where everyone sets unrealistic expectations for themselves just because of what they see on social media. I live by the saying “it takes 10 years to be an overnight success.” And consistency – I truly believe if you work long enough and hard enough, good things will come your way. I continue to work on creating a solid foundation and continuing to build from there.

As challenging as it can be, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m so fortunate to be able to chase a dream and do what I love everyday. When I wake up I’m thankful to my family and how supportive they are. My parents and both my sisters are my biggest fans and knowing that they have my back every step of the way makes this journey easier. I also have the greatest inner circle of friends that allow me to speak my mind, give me good advice, and are always there when I’m in need or have to talk. Having a rock solid support system is a major key for myself and UPstar Music to keep pushing forward.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about UPstar Music ?
I am the founder of UPstar Music. My day to day is always jam packed doing a variety of things from booking and hosting rounds, updating and carefully curating our playlists on Apple Music and Spotify, taking calls and answering DMs, interviewing artists and writing articles etc. I got to give a HUGE shoutout to Brian Rose and Kyle Corbliss who have come in and been crucial to the growth of UPstar Music. I’m pumped for the future and things we are going to accomplish! Below gives a look at our mission and what we are all about! Below is our mission statement to help people get a better idea of how we are making a positive impact on the country music community!

UPstar Music is the Premier Country Music Discovery platform to showcase and amplify the voices of up and coming creatives such as artists, songwriters and musicians in the Country Music industry. We have a compassionate and highly curated approach to creatives, implementing a “Family Over Everything” attitude towards our community. We’re here to help elevate your vision and take the right steps towards success, no matter how you personally define it. At UPstar, we utilize our network for creatives by facilitating opportunities such as playlists, writers rounds, showcases, networking events and social media opportunities. UPstar is your outlet to thrive in the Country Music industry.

UPstar has worked with and highlighted artists like Megan Moroney, Nate Smith, Bailey Zimmerman, Josh Ross and many others early in their careers. We’ve provided them an opportunity to get seen and heard by having them on writers rounds, popular playlists, and interviews. Whether you’re brand new to the country scene, or a veteran creative with major accolades, UPstar has a place to provide value for the next steps in your career.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
With how fast things move and change nowadays this is a tough question. At the moment, in my opinion, the industry is overpowered by the fascination with instant gratification and Tik Tok and blindly using numbers to create success. With this being the standard and what’s expected, it is forcing artists and songwriters to shift their focus from being creative, authentic, and striving to be one-of-a-kind to now burning themselves out with content and trying to please an algorithm that doesn’t always care about the true magic of creatives. It breaks my heart when I see talented artists and amazing individuals have to take social media breaks and step away from music or talk to someone who is burned out and hits a wall and loses the joy in what they were once so passionate about.

I hope that within the next 5-10 years we get back to truly appreciating creatives whether that’s focusing more on the development of artists and the art they are creating or getting songwriters paid what they deserve. A prime example of this is how little Spotify pays out to artists and songwriters for the art that they invest and use their own money to create and get little in return. Sometimes I think we all take for granted what these artists and songwriters bring into the world. Music has made such an impact on my life and I’m going to do everything in my power to leave a positive impact on the country music community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.upstarmusiconline.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upstarmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UPstar.Music/
• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@upstarmusic
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@upstar_music