Hidden Gems: Meet Austin Bessey of Too Good Music

Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Bessey.

Hi Austin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Growing up in Ohio, I always had a passion for music and knew early on that I wanted to pursue a career in the industry. I got my first “break” when I scored a Radio Promotion internship with RCA Records in Los Angeles going into my senior year of college at Ohio State.

After graduating, my boss at RCA Records (shout-out Mo Hiromoto) connected me with my soon-to-be future boss, Kristin Yasuda for a Coordinator position in the Music Programming department at Radio Disney in Los Angeles. I had never heard of Radio Disney before but decided to pursue the opportunity which turned out to be the best first job I could’ve asked for out of college. As a Top 40 radio station, we played many of the current hits (within lyrical constrictions) while also leaving plenty of room in the rotation to support up-and-coming artists.

Since I was in the music programming department, I was eager to contribute to the music discussions. Since I wasn’t included in the weekly music meeting, I set up bi-weekly meetings with my boss and our VP of Programming to provide my pitches. After several months of not getting anything on-air besides a remix or two, I wanted to figure out a way to support the artists and music I felt deserved it.

This was when I decided to start Too Good Music, a music blog to highlight new music alongside interviews with up-and-coming talent as well as event recaps.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road has been fairly smooth. There have been multiple rejections for artist interview requests and stunted growth across readers/followers – especially when it came to starting the social media for the company but overall can’t complain.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Too Good Music is a multi-genre music blog that focuses on highlighting new music releases in addition to supporting up-and-coming artists through interviews and entertaining games. The interviews are thoroughly researched and aim to avoid just asking the standard questions like “tell me about your song” that artists have come to expected and may be bored of hearing from interviewers.

Although each interview is different, I do ask every artist this same question: “If you could only listen to (5) artists for the rest of your life, who would they be?” The question always seems to get people thinking and it’s always fun to hear what they say especially as most people describe the question as one of the hardest ones they’ve been asked.

For me, Too Good Music has been a fun outlet to be able to showcase the artists and music I feel deserve additional recognition. Even though it might not drastically change any lives – being able to be even a small part of an artist’s success story is the most rewarding part to me.

How do you define success?
Happiness is success for me. If I can live comfortably, be surrounded by family and friends I love, work in an industry I’m passionate about and be surrounded by music then that’s all I need.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.toogoodmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itstoogoodmusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/itstoogoodmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQy0W6xVoQqKr1hgKVAogCQ