You are tuned in to the NPD Broadcast Network presentation of Off-Ccamera with Sam Jones.

The best conversations happen off-camera.

Hello and welcome to another edition of Off Camera.

I'm your host, Sam Jones.

In this episode, I sit down with singer-songwriter Amy Mann,

the Grammy winner and self-described Oscar Loser,

who was recently named to NPR's list of the 10 finest living songwriters.

While Amy is widely acknowledged for her songwriting talent, her lesser-known role as an industry trailblazer is as laudable as it is fascinating.

Starting with the sudden and disconcerting fame of her band till Tuesday and spanning eight solo albums, the arc of her career has largely reflected

and in some way shaped the music business itself. Much of that career was defined by her struggle,

and just plain bad luck with record labels that couldn't see past Amy's model looks and the

dollar signs in their eyes that she was not the artist they were molding

her to be. In her struggle to stay true to herself as an artist, man chafed under contracts

and finally started her own label in order to put out her finally observed songs the way she

wanted to put them out. A groundbreaking move at the time, and one that paved the way for musicians just starting

to navigate the chaos of the music business today.

The irony?

With no more Goliath labels to fight, and at the absolute peak of her talent as a songwriter,

the channels for distributing and making a living from music are disappearing.

With surprising humor and optimism, Amy lets us in on her bumpy journey,

tells us about a few surprising hobbies, and why, after a career-long struggle to make a living with her art,

she believes there's always a next step.

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