Dame Ritter - Pump Up The (Funk) Volume

When Damien “Dame” Ritter (pictured third) started Funk Volume in 2008 he had an MBA from Stanford, and a history of consulting Fortune 500 companies. What he didn’t have was knowledge of the music industry, so while some of his ideas were great, they didn’t always work out.

“I tried to put together this alliance of artists,” Ritter remembers, “reaching out to artists that were similar sized to us and just trying to get a commitment from each of their managers, or themselves, so when they’d come out with music we’d post it, and when we’d come out with music they’d post it. I was organizing so people would know what’s on the horizon, and just so we could share fan bases.” The idea made perfect sense from a business standpoint. He reached out to a dozen artists. Only one responded positively.

“At the time, when I didn’t really understand the industry like I do now, it was mind blowing.”

Now plenty of people would love to share Funk Volume’s fan base, as Ritter has learned the ins and out of the music industry, and his label’s roster includes Dizzy Wright, who is a member of this year’s XXL Freshman Ten, and Hopsin, who was a member of last year’s XXL Freshman Ten, as well as SwizZz, Jarren Benton, and DJ Hoppa.

I caught up with Ritter to find out more about how he built Funk Volume, and some of the lessons he learned along the way. He also discussed having artists named to XXL’s Freshman Ten in consecutive years, and what that’s meant to the label.

Read the full interview at RapReviews.com.