My Experience Working As An Independent Artist

[Joshua_Entangled]

I had an interesting experience serving on a radio show hosted by a leader from Ken Hutcherson's church in Seattle, Rich Hallstrom.  A local independent sports journalist who had been my neighbor while I was managing a small mortgage office in Newport, Oregon.  We had an 11am Wednesday time slot if my memory serves me correctly, about 25,000 listeners at any given time, 1150 KKNW Alternative Talk Radio. Anyho, he had guest lined up from all walks of life on the show, and of course we got to interview former Seattle Seahawk Ken Hutcherson together one morning during his bout with cancer.  

This was a memorable experience, however, without any bigtime players, it was virtually impossible for me to sell airtime to local businesses.  I joined a local Christian chamber of commerce on the east side (one small deliberately archaic group).  Not one soul could understand what radio spots were, let alone afford to buy them.  Since then I afforded myself the luxury of trying to make it on media I created for Youtube, and podcasts.  This has been a dismal financial experience, but the Lord was brilliantly training me in Adobe After Effects, Studio One, and Audacity (to name a few) during this 10 year period.  Now I produce music using an app for music design + composition named Music Maker Jam.  Quite a great little product where many producers + artists sell their strokes + samples for me (us) to organize and manipulate.  

After these leadings you know I have asked God which path could I afford going to the nations for His name stamped all over my creative works?  And it just so happens that Rich told me during our first show together that I should actually give value to my years Dj-ing (spinning) house music in Seattle's Contour lounge, and at that time (2000-2001) Bohemian Nightclub as a resident DJ.  DO NOT UNDERVALUE THIS EXPERIENCE SAID RICH.  

You can't be pedaling Christianity forever like an 1800s Carpet bagger!!  (Thanks Steve) 

So I have not, following my time of production as I mentioned since 9-2011, I have been producing my tail off, something on my Mac or PC.  The first directive I (we) received, God had provided a business partner from a young guy Zach who supported my Youtube channel quite frequently.  Now he owns 1/3 of my music, (maybe a bit more). 

Anyway, I learned through Audacity how to stretch out the music which often releases this very powerful holy energy.  Perfected that by fading in and out + layering the music makes quite wonderful symphony Avante guard music.  Now I have a local punk band adding it to their music as well, "Exalted Marauder." 

We wanted to release our music to the nations, and started with CD Baby as a music distributor.  They're great, help you get set up with publishing, they take 15% + a fee per release through their premium service, was 69 per album, now it may be cheaper.  100+ stores, and I have sold about 1500 tracks worldwide so far. 

The next step was buying a beatpad and training in electronic music (edm).  I added (to my process) what I had already learned editing through programs like Audacity in the radio studio with Benny Mathers, our on air engineer at the station.  He was quite proficient at editing the talk shows, showed me how repeatedly.  Was a very kind gentlemen.  

This process of learning Studio One + a Beatpad (Atom Presonus) was very fast and abundant for me, I love composing and organizing musical sounds.  Luckily I had a dynamo local producer living with me who showed me the ropes, used my beatpad to make a hit within 4 minutes.  Thank you Ezra!!  Now I figured out that Ditto in Liverpool, England might be a wiser choice for distribution.  They pay you 100% of your royalties (take a small admin fee off the top like 1.5%) + offer you publishing for $50 per year, per artist.  So this has been a wonderful experience, and we are reaching masses this way more affordably and more effectively we think.  I allowed the music on one of my accounts to stream in free streaming services, since then I have received over 4 million streams, and that is what we needed, EXPOSURE< EXPOSRE< EXPOSURE.  Ditto has educated me as an independent artist who needed publishing to start out properly.  Next step is to retain a music attorney to establish my own label + artists contracts (spoke to one up in Ann Arbor, MI).  Then comes an agent at his discretion.  Attorney's help with performance contracts by adding clauses such as, "no gigs for 90 days equals a cancellation of the contract." 

This post is inspired by: 

• All You Need to Know About the Music Business

• 10th Edition

• By: Donald S. Passman
• Harvard Law Graduate 
• Narrated by: Fred Sanders
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Edited April 12, 2023 by Joshua_Entangled
Added credentials