Cupps Media & Studio
Joshua Amos Cupp
One person, two crafts that keep feeding each other. As Cupp he writes, sings and produces his own records; as Josh Cupp he has spent more than fifteen years behind a camera as an award-winning photographer and videographer. Both halves chase the same thing — narrative, emotion and memory — which is why his songs arrive with a distinctly cinematic flair.
Cupp is the recording name of Joshua Amos Cupp, a Chicagoland artist who came to music the long way around — through twenty years of pointing a camera at other people’s biggest days.
He is a singer-songwriter and producer who treats music as personal reflection rather than product. The lyrics are written out by hand. The arrangements get built the same way he composes a photograph, framed and lit until a single feeling holds still long enough to be recognised.
He builds songs the way he composes a photograph — as snapshots of emotion. Plastic Magazine · June 2026
His debut album One The Beginning arrived in 2026, a record about love, growth and lived experience carried by tracks like Oh Blessed Life, Sunrise to Moonlight, Slam it on the Bar, Twelve Steps and A Night in the City. It followed a run of earlier songs drawn straight from his own life — Moving, written about his marriage, alongside Only Seventeen, Open Wide and Stark Contrast.
Two 2026 singles show how wide the range runs. Popcorn Swayze turns two decades of watching wedding dance floors into electro swing built for the Electric Slide and the Hustle. The Layers of Reality goes the other direction entirely — a slow-burning R&B piece about how every encounter leaves a mark on who you become.
Alongside his own catalogue he hosts livestreams where independent artists get their tracks played and critiqued on air, which is where the song submission portal comes in.
A reimagining of an unreleased piece originally developed for the DJ Epps webcast. Written to go unnoticed, it outgrew its purpose — and became a song about how good times, bad times and everything between shape the person you end up being.
Twenty years of shooting wedding receptions distilled into one dance-floor record. Modern electro swing and dance pop with swing-era nods, bright vocal leads, and a whimsical character at the centre of it all.
The first full-length: Oh Blessed Life, Sunrise to Moonlight, Slam it on the Bar, Twelve Steps and A Night in the City — love, growth and lived experience, start to finish.
The songs that came first, written close to home. Moving documents his own marriage; the rest trace the milestones either side of it.
An honour handed to a single student each year, awarded to Josh for his editing work.
Finished first in his cohort before taking his first professional job in Florida.
Separate honours earned for his image-making, his film work, and for how he treats clients.
His creative work has hung in galleries near home and in exhibitions abroad.
Founded in 2007, relaunched in June 2023, and still owner-operated out of Palos Hills.
One The Beginning put a two-decade visual career on record as a body of songs.
Straight out of school he started a small, low-budget video company in Florida. It eventually closed, and the lesson stuck.
The business that would become Cupp’s Studio takes its name for the first time.
A decade of shooting for other people’s companies, building the range that now covers weddings, sports, commercials and interviews.
After long preparation and 15+ years of experience, he reopened his own studio in Palos Hills with a stated aim: bring the client’s creative vision to life.
The debut album lands, followed in June by Popcorn Swayze.
A new R&B single out now, plus a regular stream where submitted tracks get played and reviewed on air.
The discipline he has practised longest: weddings and events, family and engagement sessions, team and individual portraits, headshots, holiday sittings and nature work — some of it framed and hanging in other people’s homes.
Where the Dean’s letter came from. High-resolution production up to 8K, 4K aerial drone coverage of events and properties, commercials, interviews and livestreams — edited in-house.
The full-fledged media company behind all of it, owner-operated from Palos Hills, Illinois, with a 360 video booth, a studio available for productions and rental, and a blog where he writes about the craft.
4 bands, 1 Birthday Stage — the festival lineup as each act is announced.
See the lineup ListenEvery track streaming right now, playable without leaving the page.
Open the music page Get ReviewedSend a track for a live on-stream listen and honest, in-depth feedback.
See the tiers Hire The StudioWeddings, events, commercials and aerial work through Cupp’s Studio.
cuppsphotography.com