RENSSELAER, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) – A local artist has received more international exposure after his music went viral during the Olympics. His content was used by both the USA Track and Field and the Men’s Basketball teams.
Neighborhood Nick grew up in Albany in the Delaware Avenue neighborhood. His name is Nick Sprague and he welcomed his first child while he attended Albany High School, 14 years ago and he’s been beating the odds ever since.
Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! So, when his song “Who Ready?” was selected by Team USA during the Olympics…
“It was instant excitement from there. It was like boom, repost, reposted it, kicked it out to all my followers, and it just caught like wildfire,” said Sprague. He said it’s been tough making a living out of it.
“Everyone knows the creative arts and the struggle that comes with it. It’s a passionate industry because that’s what we do it for, the love of the game, but at the end of the day, the older you get, you have to find ways to make money. So my success in late 2019 and how it’s grown since then is really the only reason why I’m still doing music,” said Sprague.
The rapper describes how he went from making music out of passion, to it becoming another stream of revenue for his family.
“When you have bills to pay and a family you want to make sure that you treat it like a business, so you get treated like a business owner and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 4 and 1/2 years,” said Sprague.
He connected with Epidemic Sound, a soundtrack company.
“So it’s music syncing. It’s something that has become a part of everyone’s life because of social media, like making a video with music on it. It’s pretty much standard,” said Sprague. “What I did was I got connected with a company that was doing it on a larger scale on more of a corporate level and I guess I just got lucky because I was ahead of the curve.”
Epidemic Sound publishes his music and provides royalty free use to corporate brands. Because of his exposure during the Olympics he found himself with even more international listeners. He said the secret to his success has been authenticity.
“There is no separation between neighborhood Nick and Nick Sprague. It’s one person, it’s Nick at the end of the day. So they know me, my audience knows me and it’s all authentic as it can be,” said Sprague.
His advice? If you have a passion you want to pursue, don’t give up.
“Chase your dreams, as cliché as it is and how long people have been saying it I think it’s true. Once you identify what your real passion is, you just have to figure out ways to make it a reality and don’t get lost in comparing yourself to others,” said Sprague. “The more authentic you can be, the more opportunities will come to you at the end of the day.”
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