My Experience with Steez Promo

Hi everyone! My name is Jacob Capaldo, I am a transfer student from Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA, currently in the first semester of my Junior year. I think that Temple University is a wonderful institution. Coming from the small town of Bangor, PA, I have been thoroughly enjoying living in the big city! Almost all of my life I have been very passionate about electronic music, and one thing I did not enjoy about living in such a small town was that no artists I loved ever came to play my small town. If I wanted to see a show, I would have to drive long distances to reach venues that hosted artists who I wanted to see (Philly, New York, DC and beyond). Here in the city of Philadelphia, the electronic music scene is flourishing, and I have been lucky enough to become involved in the industry myself with a music promotion company in the electronic music industry named Steez Promo.

Steez Promo is a major player in the industry here on the East Coast. They are most well known for putting on Moonrise Festival in Balitmore, the city the company is based out of. I found out about the company by meeting someone who works for Steez’s Philly branch at a Mura Masa show at Union Transfer. He told me they were looking for new promoters. I had never considered music promotion in the past, but as I am an Advertising major and music is a huge passion of mine, it felt that this would be a perfect fit for me. Fast forward a handful of emails later, and the job was mine.

I started doing promotion for Steez back in August of 2018, just before I began my first semester at Temple. The primary task for all promoters is simply to promote our upcoming shows in Philly. This is done mainly through social media, and also through organized poster raids, where promoters target areas of the city that experience heavy foot traffic. Promoters also have the option to sell tickets to upcoming shows, and even have the opportunity to make money off of sales if they are able to sell enough tickets. After working with the company for about a year, I was promoted to being an intern on the team that assists with some of the more internal workings of the company. I was put in charge of auditing 50+ promoters social media materials, maintaining a detailed spreadsheet that keeps record of all work each promoter has done or not done. By carrying this out, I am able to maintain a team of efficient and motivated promoters that always does a job well done.

One of my favorite experiences with Steez Promo was running social media for our Market Manager, who also happens to be a professional artist/DJ signed to world-renowned producer Steve Aoki’s label, Dim Mak. He opened for a group named Yellow Claw who played a show at NOTO, and I captured footage of the event from on-stage that was later posted to our Market Manager’s public social media outlets. It was a really great experience and it made me curious about doing more concert videography. In the future, I would love to do A&R work for a label such as Dim Mak, and Steez can help me get closer to that goal. I am overjoyed that I am able to pursue a career in an industry that I am so passionate about. It sounds corny, but it made me realize that you can do anything if you just put yourself out there. If there is a passion you have, there is most likely an industry for it, and it’s up to you to make yourself known and show people who work in that industry why you deserve a position.