Are you prepared to break through stereotypes and traditions to chase your dreams?

We welcome the second season of Chasing Dreams with two guests who can give us a new perspective on how we pursue our goals. In this episode, I get to chat with the duo from JAM & Philly, James, and Philly Mathew. We’re family, and I’ve seen the struggles, how they follow their passion, and their journey to becoming successful music artists and record label owners.

YOUNG JAM & PHILLY 

Growing up in a typical Indian household, Philly mentioned that his dream was to become a doctor or an engineer. He was so obsessed with building Lego robotics and programming that he thought he would eventually go into this career field in the future.

While JAM is not sure whether he had a dream job or not, but one thing is certain, he always had a passion for making things and organizing people. He was a member of clubs. He and his friends made a treehouse together. JAM always knew that he loved gathering people around an idea. 

Both of their parents have strong encouragement for the arts. They took the time to and made sure that JAM & Philly learned how to play the piano and their dad being a guitarist and singer also wanted his kids to do the same.

In their younger years, the brothers developed their love for music and the bonus is they had supportive parents who always wanted them to appreciate the art. 

JAM & PHILLY’S JOURNEY TOWARDS THEIR MUSIC CAREER

JAM & Philly’s journey in their music careers is not what we usually label as typical for South Asian families who have migrated to the United States. India may be filled with beautiful music and sounds but pursuing music as a professional career is not considered normal for migrant families.

The reason why they were able to break these stereotypes is that their parents did what they had to do. They went to the United States and took the risk that they couldn't go back home.

Although their parents never thought that JAM & Philly are serious about pursuing music as their career, they were still very supportive of it. Ever since they were kids, their parents paved the way, so they developed a passion for music, they gave them what they couldn’t give to themselves. 

Their love for music is not something that was recently developed, their parents opened doors, so they can learn and appreciate the art. JAM & Philly credit their parents for providing support and encouragement from the beginning. As they have heard, not all parents in their community are supportive of their kids' passion for music.

PERSPECTIVE AND MINDSET

We are often told that we can’t do two things at a time, we need to prioritize one thing over the other, and we consider this true in our career fields. We can’t be great at one thing if we don’t give 100% focus on it.

But Philly proves this otherwise, albeit being a college student, he knows to himself that he’s giving 100% to their record label, music, and his studies. He mentions “I always say that I’m a full-time artist, record label manager-executive and also a full-time student. I don’t like splitting the job. I think I’m doing it honestly, 100% of the time.”

Even if he’s not in class, Philly works on the label and the music. This comes from his personal perspective and mindset. He didn’t have to sacrifice one over the other. He knew that he could commit to doing both.

When JAM was in college, owning a music label or becoming a professional music artist was never in his future perspective until the viral video was published. 

JAM knew that he was there because he was enjoying the impact of the work, but he didn’t find the creativity and the passion. He felt that he was good enough, but it wasn’t completely fulfilling. 

HOW THE VIRAL VIDEO CHANGED THEIR LIVES

When JAM was in college, he had the desire to run for student body president. He’s always been engaged about diversity and inclusion on their campus, made a lot of friends, and figured he had a pulse on being the student body president.

JAM knew that he could be a great representative in leadership, so he contacted his friend “Iffy” and mentioned that they will run together. Part of the campaign is to showcase creativity which was never a problem because he and his friend are artists. 

They thought of a way that would differentiate them from others, so they created a music video. It was like a rap video filled with friends dancing and lots of good vibes. The video was posted to their school’s Facebook group. But Iffy’s brother decided to post it on his Twitter account.

Afterward, they woke up to have a million hits on Twitter and as they say, the rest is history. The great blessing is that they not only won the elections, but they also had a couple of interviews from the press and their video landed on the desk of the Chief Marketing Officer of Converse.

Up until now, JAM doesn’t know what people saw in that video, but he is incredibly grateful that it changed their lives and opened opportunities for them to work with Converse as a brand. In addition to this, they are able to launch their own record label - Outer Voice Records. 

TWEETS

“That viral video got me in touch with Converse and that started this whole expansion of what a career could be.” #chasingdreams

FEAR OF FAILURE

Stepping into the music industry will have its costs and for JAM, he had this eminent fear of failure. As much as we want to say that failure is just a learning experience, not being successful is actually a big concern.

It’s one thing to take a leap on something you may not know the outcome to, but it’s also another thing to take a risk and eventually fail. Although there is substantial fear, for both JAM & Philly the courage and the curiosity to see how their risk will play out is bigger.

The logical argument is that this is a tough go for the two of them and also their family’s. However, just like what JAM has mentioned, “we won’t know if we don’t try.” Having this mindset did not mask the fear of failure, but it sure developed the faith to believe that maybe there is really something out there for them.

TWEETS

“You never know if you don't try.” #chasingdreams

QUOTES

“We see the accolades and the social media, and we’re impressed by it, but this is still a long game.”

WHAT’S THEIR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS?

Having their very own South Asian label is already considered a success but just as the two brothers stated, it’s still a long game ahead. They believe that they still need a few more years to become truly successful.

For them, it takes more than just owning a record label to be tagged as successful. JAM doesn’t want to be constricted within the walls of one-definition success, especially success measured by money. 

Their biggest success as artists is having listeners send them messages that the lyrics of their song made an impact on various lives. But of course, they acknowledge that for them to grow and impact more people, they need to have resources. 

Being in the industry with their songs streamed across multiple platforms might make one think that an artist is already successful. In reality, JAM mentioned that they’re only earning a fraction of a penny for every stream they get. 

You need a lot of streams to get money and this is discouraging for a lot of artists. In spite of this, Philly mentioned that artists should know their measure of success, what is their goal, and what are they trying to do? 

For JAM & Philly success is more about having people message them randomly and say that their music resonated with them. Also, it’s about building up their community and culture.

<span style="background-color: transp