Five Times August, aka, Brad Skistimas: Interview with a Successful MySpace Artist

As the No. 1 unsigned acoustic and pop artist worldwide on MySpace, Brad Skistimas, otherwise known as Five Times August (FTA), is much more than a handsome face and captivating voice; Brad Skistimas is the brains and energetic drive behind his own amazing success story.

What's in a Name?

He chose early on to go with the name Five Times August rather than his given name in his singing career because he realized the problems his last name could present in fan searches online for him as well as in pronunciation. He explained about his last name, "It's pronounced "Skiss Te Mass". It's actually Lithuanian, which no one ever really gets. (Laugh)

Usually when people ask me about my last name and I tell them where it came from they don't really know where Lithuania is (near Poland by the way). I was actually surprised one time where somebody immediately said "Is that Lithuanian?" which was hilarious because nobody in their right mind would make that their first guess. (Laugh)"

His Inspiration

FTA admits that the inspiration behind the lyrics for his songs come mainly from personal experiences. He writes all of his own music and for now plans on keeping it that way.

"I think I really just have to get out there with my own material for a while before I consider working with others. There are a lot of artists out there right now that don't write their own material, or co-write with specific songwriters to get that 'hit song'. I guess it's just something I have to prove to myself . . . and to show people that there is somebody out there that actually knows how to play guitar, write their own songs, and can manage their own career without the help of anyone else."

Living the Dream

Five Times August, one of the first musical talents to sign on with MySpace, attributes the social networking site with some of his success.

"It's helped out a lot for sure. I've been on MySpace since 2004, so I got on it pretty early and had the chance to develop a reputation on the site before a lot of other bands."

He then gives a recommendation about how to best use MySpace in conjunction with promoting a career.

"I think the mistake a lot of bands make with MySpace is that they use that as their website or "official source" for the band. I use MySpace as a tool. You can make countless numbers of new fans, but I try to sway fans from MySpace and bring them to the official FTA site. There is a lot more on the official site as far as audio, video, lyrics, tour dates, etc.; and they can also sign up for the newsletter which I believe will be my saving grace someday when MySpace crashes from overload!"

Other contributions to his success have been placements of his songs on television shows such as MTV's Laguna Beach, MTV's Reunited, Lifetime Channel's Monarch Cove, Oxygen Channel's Bad Girls Club, Oxygen Channel's Bad Girls Road Trip, and CW's One Tree Hill.

His stats of success are telling. He is the #1 unsigned Acoustic and Pop artist, worldwide, and the #3 unsigned artist, worldwide, on MySpace. He is also the #1 artist at both Awarestore.com and iSound.com. Five Times August has independently sold over 13,000 CDs in the US, Canada, and Europe. He has over 100,000 in downloaded digital sales.

That being said, the man otherwise known as Five Time August does not live the life of ease and luxury people sometimes imagine artists live. His life consists primarily of two different types of weeks. "There are weeks at home and then there are weeks on the road. When I am on the road its pretty much 'drive, sleep, drive, play, eat, sleep, drive, play'. When I am at home it's a lot of sitting at the desk answering e-mails and website maintenance, etc, etc."

He talked about how his packed schedule can affect him, "There have been days where the work overload can get to me. There are times when I've thought maybe I should just sign to a major label; it'll be a lot less work for me."

FTA then shared how he gets through those discouraging times, "Luckily, I have friends that have been signed on major labels before. Bands that have had million-sellers and have been through the whole 'making it big and then getting dropped' transition. It's always a good moral booster to talk to them because they remind me how much I've accomplished and how insane it would be for me to give up now.

Sometimes, I also like to just sit in my living room, take a deep breath and look around and think 'Hey, you know what? I did this. I'm living in this house and paying the bills with something I built from the ground up'. It's satisfying!"

The Big Decision

The ambitious artist has made a monumental decision in regards to his unsigned status. "Well, I've made a huge decision to remain unsigned. I've had the opportunity to sign with some major labels and the music industry is in a weird transition right now. I'm doing so well on my own and have accomplished a lot. The main thing for me is to continue playing shows and developing an audience. I'd like to become the first 'main stream indie' so to speak. Someone completely separated from a label, but just as big as John Mayer or Sheryl Crow."

He made the decision knowing what sacrifices he would have to make, and what challenges he would face, "It's a lot more work. The biggest problem I've found is that as my career progresses and I accomplish more, the bigger the 'status' of my image increases. A lot of people assume I already am on a label because of a lot of the MTV song placements, or the fact that you can find my CD in Wal-Mart now. They don't realize how much work goes into that being on my own. Instead, they might assume I am on a major label, and illegally download my music thinking 'Oh, he's got the money.'"

Illegal Downloads

Like any musical artist, Five Times August is affected by the illegal downloading and ripping of his music. And, like for so many others, it is a topic that is difficult for him to address in a manner that is fair to him and his hard work, as well as respectful to his fans. Calling it a 'sticky subject' he expounds upon his thoughts "It is hard to say 'I'd love to get rid of it' because I've gained a lot of fans from it. At the same time, a lot of people have downloaded my music and said '(o)kay, I have it for free now, no need to buy it.'

If it is used as more of a sampling process to figure out if you really like an artist before buying the CD, I can agree to it; but the majority of people don't look at it that way. They think most CD's only have one or two good songs anyway, so why buy a whole CD? That's mainly major labels' fault. There are a lot of unsigned artists, or indie artists with great full albums, but they need each and every purchase; whether it's one song on I-tunes, or a full album purchase: every cent counts."

The Fans

On a lighter note, FTA revealed one of his most unusual fan requests. "Someone had me sign a tortilla chip after a show one time. You would think that would've been the end of it, sort of just a joke, but they kept it for about 2 years in a Glad press and seal baggy and brought it out to every show they came to. That was pretty unusual."

The act of signing a tortilla chip is not out of character for Five Times August. He has made it a priority to give his own personal touch to the way his fans are dealt with. Routinely found signing autographs after concerts and personally responding to mail from fans, he is committed to showing his appreciation to those who have helped him get where he is today, and will be an integral part of him getting where he is determined to go.

His affection for his fans shows in the advice he offers, "If you really are passionate about what you want to do, go for it. It takes a lot of work, as I said, and a lot of patience - but if you teach yourself and are serious about it there is no reason anything should stop you. It's also important to stay true to who you are, but at the same time, know when something isn't working. There are a lot of musicians out there that are passionate and goal oriented, but in reality they're just not that good. It's not to say they will never be good, but it takes time to develop and really solidify your craft. For a long time I was afraid I was that guy that played for people and everyone said 'Yeah, you're really good' but would turn around and think 'Eww, that was terrible'. But, I was never afraid to hear that in the beginning because it made me better."

The Future of Five Times August

Five Times August has a few dreams he would like to see fulfilled. One is to play in Japan. With fans all over the world, that dream might easily come to fruition over the course of the next few years. Another dream is to perform with his greatest musical inspiration, Sir Paul McCartney. "Even if I had enough of his time to strum one chord in sync with him, I'd feel accomplished enough in that dream."

His music has been classed as 'acoustic' and even 'singer/songwriter', but the artist shrugs off those titles. "I just write the songs I would want to hear in my own CD collection. Somedays I'll write a slow ballad, others I might write a more upbeat punk-rockish song like 'Overrated'. My style will shift from song to song, and I think that's pretty cool. I don't necessarily think of Five Times August as genre-specific music. I think that's because my fanbase is very broad. I have had heavy metal fans write me and say, 'I'm the biggest metal fan ever and would never listen to this type of music, but I really do like your style!' I think little messages like that hint that there's more there than meets the eye . . . or ear." And very much like those little messages his fans send him, there is more to Five Time August than meets the eye . . . or ear.

Those wishing to sample an informational and musical 'taste' of Five Times August may do so at his MySpace page: www.myspace.com/fivetimesaugust. However, those wishing to indulge in the full buffet of Five Times August information and music will find the feast at his website: www.fivetimesaugust.com. His current album is titled the Independent (l.p.) and is available in stores and online.

SOURCES:

Five Times August - MySpace Page
http://www.myspace.com/fivetimesaugust
Accessed November 14, 2007

Five Times August Official Website
http://www.fivetimesaugust.com
Accessed November 14, 2007

Supersonic EPK Artist Information -Five Times August
http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.asp?epk_id=58922
Accessed November 14, 2007

Kelly Vandegriff, Manager of Five Times August
November 16, 2007

Brad Skistimas aka Five Times August
November 16, 2007