SF 009 - Sam Blakelock, Social Media Mogul/Guitarist

I met New Zealand native Sam Blakelock back in the pit of an off Broadway show, where he was warming up on bass, playing Charlie Parker heads at break neck speed. After some light conversation, he mentioned that he is actually a guitar player and has 800 Instagram followers. In the years since, he has built an online empire: his business page Pickup has 400k followers, PickupJazz has 100k and his personal page has 80k. He is THE guitar tastemaker on the Internet. After hanging with Sam for 5 minutes, you're not surprised that he has accomplished such a feat: talented, smart, hardworking, cool, funny, incredibly disciplined and modest to a fault. He's been able to turn his social media savvy into a burgeoning business by helping mega artists develop and curate online communities, and he can help you and everyone else too--there is much to learn from Pickup's Sam Blakelock. Cold shower anyone?