Meet Steven Sandage of Ghost Town Media in Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Sandage.

Steven, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started Ghost Town Media in 2018. The meaning behind the name Ghost Town was inspired by a Ghost Town alumni, Wayne Halvorsen. I came across one of his drawings and the idea jumped out at me. He had drawn a ghost towering over a city and I thought, we are all basically ghosts to everyone in our community. Nobody knows who we are. I thought we should combine our talents and make the ghosts so plentiful that we make up our own community, a Ghost Town! We started out just covering artists we thought deserved more attention than they were getting. It was a review for Justus’ self-titled album that turned the tides in a big way. The review, which was a big hit, led to a working relationship with Respect The Underground in June of 2018. Working behind the scenes of numerous shows and documenting the events, connecting with talent and identifying the diamonds in the rough helped carve out a place for Ghost Town Media in the Phoenix Hip Hip community.

Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been smooth sailing to say the least but I think any good story is made up of trials and triumphs. I can think of two big struggles in particular that I dealt with in getting to this point. The first is that to expect someone to be as passionate as you are about a project that you created is a huge mistake and will only lead to stress and disappoint at best. The second is not being afraid to change. We wanted things to be a certain way for a while at the beginning, but things rarely work the way we intend. A lot of freedom is gained by admitting something isn’t working and moving on from it.

We’d love to hear more about Ghost Town Media.
Hearing how my work has helped change the lives of the people we work with is what makes me proud of Ghost Town Media. Having an artist approach you to tell you that your review of their album made them feel more connected to their music or how your design for their merch sold out so fast that they were able to purchase a new car, those are the moments I love the most.

I assembled the collective with graphic designers, photographers, entrepreneurs, writers, marketers and producers to give Ghost Town Media a plethora of ways to help talented and dedicated artists grow while also providing local media coverage of the bands and artists in Phoenix people should have on their radar if you need a music video shot or edited, photography, logo design, merchandise design, artist consulting and development, artist management, marketing, music production, concert bookings, or bios/press releases we can do it. We also have a huge network of talented artists and professionals that I can refer someone to in case they need something we don’t offer.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think Phoenix is one of the best cities I have ever been to and I know that I will look back, hopefully when I am very old, and say I was proud to live in Phoenix. This town has a lot of hardworking people with a desire to be recognized for their efforts. They don’t want more than what they deserve and in a city like that only the strongest willed can thrive. If you want to make it in Phoenix, don’t think its just a big city with a network you can tap into and then you are set. This town requires authenticity and dedication. The community will take notice of your actions and support you or avoid you accordingly. There is always room for improvement, so I would suggest more events like First Fridays. The energy and sense of pride in the community always make me smile and more of that would go a long way in Phoenix.

Pricing:

• Graphic Design (Logos, Merch, Album/Single Artwork): $10-$200
• Videography/Photography: $25-300
• Articles/Biographies/Press Releases: $10-100

Contact Info:

• Website: GhostTown.Media
• Email: ghosttowncollectiveaz@gmail.com
• Instagram: ghosttownmedia
• Facebook: ghosttownmedia

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