Saves The Day frontman Chris Conley stops by Inside Music to discuss mindfulness, music, and the power of breathing.
Chris Conley has spent the majority of his life as the frontman for Saves The Day. Now in the latter half of his thirties, Chris has become an icon in alternative music who continues to inspire countless aspiring musicians with each song he writes. That kind of influence can be overwhelming, but as we discover in this episode, he’s possibly the most down to earth person you could hope to meet in entertainment.
Host James Shotwell recently sat down with Conley in Grand Rapids, MI with the intent to discuss music. Instead, the pair talked about mindfulness, the importance of breathing, and the literature shaping their perspectives on existence. Conley shares how a small number of books he read around the time the band began have made all the difference in the man he’s become. James tries to keep up, sharing the books influencing his perspective on life, and through doing so, finds common ground with Chris on the things that matter most to the human experience.
Saves The Day is on tour with Joyce Manor this August. The band’s latest album, 9, is available now through Equal Vision Records. Spotify users can stream the album below:
Music writers today are inundated with requests for coverage from artists and their representatives on a daily basis. There are far too many for one person to ever do them all, and most would not be worth the effort anyway. This is not a slant against artists or writers, rather an acknowledgment that conducting a good interview is hard. Real hard.
I statistic I just made up claims only one in five interviews conducted with musicians ever result in new, interesting information being uncovered. The majority of interviews tend to cover promotional points as if they are being read off a checklist. The basic outline of these conversations goes something like this:
– How are you?
– How is the tour?
– Where do you like to tour?
– When are you recording again?
– Are you working on material right now?
– Do you have any crazy stories to share?
– How can people stay connected to you online?
Some questions may be added or subtracted based on circumstance. None of these questions are inherently terrible, but they also limit responses to information that could easily be found in a press release or social media update.
In order to make your interview deserving of attention, you need to uncover something deeper and more human in your interviews. To help you do this, I would like to remind you of something:
Musicians and celebrities, at any level, are just people.
Now I know that sounds obvious, but all too often journalists treat the subjects of their interview like a business rather than another person. The questions outlined above are not that far removed from the following:
– How’s business?
– Is your latest product performing well?
– What do you like about this product?
– When can we expect another product?
– Are you working on something right now?
– Is there anything consumers don’t know about your business?
– How can we learn more about your products?
Great interviews strip away the idea of celebrity altogether and share the unique perspective on life possessed by an individual or group. That may sound difficult, but in reality, it is one of the easiest things to capture. All you have to do is this:
Don’t ask questions. Have a conversation.
Treat the people you interview as if they were someone you started talking to simply because you were curious. Cover the necessary bases of promoting whatever it is they are looking to promote, but also strive to understand the person behind the art. Ask about the influencing or motivating factors in their life and explore why those things have such an impact on them. Ask if they creativity comes easy or if it is a daily challenge. Ask them if they are content. Ask them what they need and want. Ask them the kind of thing you would ask anyone whose happiness and well being you are concerned about because ultimately that is the real reason for the interview in the first place: You care about this person or group, for whatever reason, and you hope more people will as well.
Allow your interview subject space and opportunity to be themselves and I promise – people will surprise you.
Music writers today are inundated with requests for coverage from artists and their representatives on a daily basis. There are far too many for one person to ever do them all, and most would not be worth the effort anyways. This is not a slant against artists or writers, rather an acknowledgement that conducting a good interview is hard. Real hard.
I statistic I just made up claims only one in five interviews conducted with musicians ever result in new, interesting information being uncovered. The majority of interviews tend to cover promotional points as if they are being read off a checklist. The basic outline for these conversations goes something like this:
– How are you?
– How is tour?
– Where do you like to tour?
– When are you recording again?
– Are you working on material right now?
– Do you have any crazy stories to share?
– How can people stay connected to you online?
Some questions may be added or subtracted based on circumstance. None of these questions are inherently terrible, but they also limit responses to information that could easily be found in a press release or social media update.
In order to make your interview deserving of attention you need to uncover something deeper and more human in your interviews. To help you do this, I would like to remind you of something:
Musicians and celebrities, at any level, are just people.
Now I know that sounds obvious, but all too often journalists treat the subjects of their interview like a business rather than another person. The questions outlined above are not that far removed from the following:
– How’s business?
– Is your latest product performing well?
– What do you like about this product?
– When can we expect another product?
– Are you working on something right now?
– Is there anything consumers don’t know about your business?
– How can we learn more about your products?
Great interviews strip away the idea of celebrity altogether and share the unique perspective on life possessed by an individual or group. That may sound difficult, but in reality it is one of the easiest things to capture. All you have to do is this:
Don’t ask questions. Have a conversation.
Treat the people you interview as if they were someone you started talking to simply because you were curious. Cover the necessary bases of promoting whatever it is they are looking to promote, but also strive to understand the person behind the art. Ask about the influencing or motivating factors in their life and explore why those things have such an impact on them. Ask if they creativity comes easy or if it is a daily challenge. Ask them if they are content. Ask them what they need and want. Ask them the kind of thing you would ask anyone whose happiness and well being you are concerned about because ultimately that is the real reason for the interview in the first place: You care about this person or group, for whatever reason, and you hope more people will as well.
Allow your interview subject the space and opportunity to be themselves and I promise – people will surprise you.
James Shotwell is the marketing coordinator for Haulix. He is also a ten-year music writing veteran and host of the Inside Music Podcast. You should follow him on Twitter.
There is a digital new music retailer on the block, and this one is actually worth getting to know.
EftMega is the brainchild of Evan Baken, former member of beloved punk band The Movielife. The site exists to promote independent talent, working strictly with unsigned artists who own their masters, and it has already begun to find quite a bit of traction in the world of underground rock. Every single release sold on the site is available for just $6.25, and of that a full $5 from each purchase goes directly to the artist. All costs associated with sales and site operation are paid by Baken with the remaining $1.25, thus ensuring bands always get what they are promised from each transaction.
This may sound like only a slight variation from most digital music stores in existence today, but the low prices and focus on independent music is only two aspect of what makes EftMega unique. Barren has more than a decade of industry experience under his belt, and he’s putting every ounce of knowledge he has into bringing attention to hardworking young bands around the globe. EftMega was built from the ground up to promote those who work hard to help themselves, and the vast majority of the company’s peers (iTunes, Bandcamp, CDBaby) EftMega actually puts effort into promoting the music on their platform.
Bakren recently took a little time out of his busy schedule to share with us the motivations behind EftMega, as well as his plans for the future. You can find highlights from our conversation below.
There is no denying the fact that the competition is fierce right now in digital retail, but with the right approach we believe EftMega could prove to be something very special. Click here to visit the store, and please take a few moments to discover the early adopters who are already giving the platform a chance.
H: Let’s start simple: What is EftMega?
EB: It’s a website that sells music. That is the simplest definition. What makes this site different is that we only sell albums, all albums are priced at $6.25, and we only sell music from artists who own their masters. There are multiple reasons for this decision. The first is because I feel like the industry is in a hard place and there are not enough opportunities for hard-working bands to get the recognition they deserve. The band that are know the right people tend to get all the breaks, and I don’t like that. This site is built to expose the bands that work hardest. We have a ranking system which, though it doesn’t dominate the site, is constructed to promote the artists who are working hardest on the site to push their records. Our philosophy is to get behind the bands working hardest, and we ask others to do the same.
H: What inspired you to launch this site? No offense, but there are a lot of online music retailers.
EB: As my father would say, there is McDonalds, but there is also Burger King and Wendys. I just felt like the other places didn’t matter. First of all, I don’t like streaming services. We all know they are not paying artists properly, and we’ve been reading articles like that for a while. I’ve always felt the best connection you can have with your fans are when they buy your music.
As for the other sites, I just feel they are lame. I don’t think they deliver on their claims. Services like Bandcamp are not doing anything to bring people to their platform or encourage people to buy music. The same goes for CDBaby. You’re not going to CDBaby on your own, but if someone links to CDBaby for their album then you visit. Those sites are really taking advantage of the artist. They have a platform, artists join for free, and then those platforms sell the artists on their services. I just don’t feel like that is a genuine way to run a music store. They seem to be data-driven people. So I made my site to be what I always thought needed to exist.
H: How did you choose the $6.25 price point for album?
EB: The band keeps $5 of every sale, so the other $1.25 goes to me. All costs associated with credit card fees comes out of my profit as well. That isn’t how other platforms operate, as most of them push those charges and fees onto the artist, but I didn’t want to complicate the payout for talent. I wanted the math to be simple. $5 goes to the band, every time, and I think that is a straightforward way to operate.
In addition to this, people simply don’t want to pay $10 for a record anymore. That used to be the norm, but now that streaming services exist the rate has dropped. You don’t want to give your music away, or at least I don’t think most artist do, so this feels like a middle ground. Giving value to something, but not so much that consumers sweat the purchase.
H: Interesting. Moving forward, do you think you might try allowing artists to set the prices for their music?
EB: I’ve got this vision for the site, and I’m trying to stick to the vision. I don’t want to be all things to all people because I think that many people screw up. I don’t totally know what is going to happen as the site moves forward. I don’t know if people will like the pricing, or the look of the platform, or really any aspect of what we do. There might be a push back on something and we will have to reevaluate how we operate. There are people who take some issue with the pricing, and I don’t get it. If you came up in the hardcore scene, there were some basic prices you had to meet with your own products. There is a little more leniency today, but I don’t know why you would want to raise you prices. You want people to become engaged with your music, and keeping prices low eases them into paying for it. If you can go higher in time, good, but early on the thing you should be most concerned with is getting people to listen to your music in the first place.
Apple set the price for singles, and it has become an industry norm. Anyone can charge $3 for a single, but I don’t know that many, or any, consumers would buy it. Smart artists meet the industry standard, or even undersell it, so that they have a higher likelihood of convincing new listeners to buy their music.
Bandcamp charges bands to give away their music. You receive 250 free downloads or something similar, but after that you have to pay them to give your music away. That is ridiculous.
H: I know you said you’re currently focused on independent bands who own their own masters, but looking to the future again do you see a time where you start bringing on labels?
EB: That is a similar thing where I just don’t know yet. We will see how develop from here, but right now I don’t know. My experience with labels was not good, so right now I don’t really see it. I’m sure there are good labels out there. If there comes a point where I can deal with them and great stuff happens, then we’ll see what becomes of it. I know being as specific and narrow as I am right now is a difficult way to develop a business, but if it works I think the product or platform will be better received as a result.
H: I agree. In your mind, what is the ideal next step for the company?
EB: The roadmap for me involves finding more bands, bringing in more users, and finding a way to keep them coming back. My perfect scenario would be to have a large pool of bands, an even larger audience, and enough self-generated buzz to make the platform self-sustaining. It’s super labor-intensive on my end right now, but I am hoping it eases over time.
The other thing, real quick, is that we’re only open to artists in the US and Canada right now. I hope to expand that, as well as how fast we pay artists, in the near future.
H: I was going to ask about your outreach. How have things been going so far? I recognize some of the talent on the site.
EB: All the early adopters have been discovered through people I know in the industry. I haven’t spent much time blindly contacting people just yet, but you can find artists all over the place. There are forums for talent, online groups, websites, chat rooms, reddit, whatever. When we were building the site I wanted some artists on board to help us beta test everything. They are not necessarily seeing a big return just yet, they’re more helping us ensure this idea can work. Soon enough I’ll start trying to get more artists on board.
H: Well we have a lot of indie artists reading our blog, so we might as well use this feature to bring a few new groups to your site. What is your pitch to talent regarding EftMega?
EB: I think if you’re going to add your music to a streaming platform it’s not going to make a big difference because, aside from not paying well, there is very little engagement with the listener. People may enjoy your music, but they aren’t paying for it and they have no reason to further commit to supporting your talent. So I feel from a band point of view the mentality needs to revert to selling music, and if want to do that you need a platform that works to bring consumers to the site. A lot of platforms are going to end up charging you to sell your music on their platform without doing anything to promote your music, and if that is the case why are they any more efficient than adding a Paypal link to your own site? I am someone who is going to work to drive consumers to the site, and I’m someone who is willing to work one-on-one with the bands who use my platforms. If you need some insight on something, or you have a question about the industry, I’m here for you, and I don’t charge for interactions.
H: I like that.
EB: It’s a hard pitch. I have to explain a lot of stuff to artists and a lot of other stuff to consumers every time I try to discuss the site. I haven’t made my job easy (laughs), but I think I am doing things the right way.
Every artist I have ever met with any belief in their ability to become the next big thing has told me at one point or another that they only need one chance to prove their superb musical talent to the world. They believe that one performance or one song or one moment in time can launch them from nobody to somebody overnight. They may not be wrong, as there have been some artists who have gotten that lucky, but the vast majority of talented people need years of hard work and constant refinement in order to create a solid, well-rounded audio offering. They record countless demos, pick the best for their time in the studio, and then pour money into making release after release until the world at large takes notice of their existence.
…But what if you only had one song?
IRO is a New York City based musician who currently has a deal with Universal/Astralwerks. Unlike most artists with major deals however, IRO’s contract is based solely around singles. He doesn’t have the ability to record dozens of songs and share the ten best with listeners all at once. He has to make the most out of every single song he brings to the public because there is no guarantee he will be able to create more unless that single is something special. He has to be sure whatever he chooses to share next will only advance his standing. It’s hard work, not to mention one hell of a professional gamble, but somehow IRO is making it work.
I spoke with IRO last week about his career, the pros and cons of being a single-only artist, and what advice he would offer to young talent on the topic of making sure every move made is one that counts toward the betterment of your career. IRO’s feedback is both insightful and illumines, providing a perspective on the current industry that is a bit harder to come by than most. If you want to learn more about IRO’s work, or if you have additional questions about single-only record contracts, comment below and let us know. We’ll do our best to follow-up with everyone. Also, follow IRO on Twitter. He deserves your support.
H: You’ve built your brand around a message of refusing to be anyone other than yourself. How would you define the sound of IRO?
I: I would say that that in itself makes it so that there is never “a sound” as it is constantly changing. What doesn’t change and what I feel remains the same is the sincerity. The music is a derivative of who you are at a given moment.
H: I appreciate the fact there seems to always be a clear narrative in your music, regardless of what genre(s) may influence the song itself. You’re a storyteller.
I: yeah I guess so … 🙂
Looking at a lot of my music, a similar theme through these different stories have all added up to this big life lesson I’ve encountered and practice daily . Creating your reality .
H: You’re based out of New York at the moment. Is that where you got your start, or was it where you relocated?
I: I relocated here pretty randomly if you consider Nyc to be an unlikely choice for an artist who is choosing a place to land in and start something!
H: There is that timeless idea that New York is the place for those who are serious about a career in entertainment. As an artist with a deal who is still very much working to get his name out there, do you believe that to still be true? Is New York still the center of it all for developing a career, especially on in the pop world?
I: New York is definitely New York. Bigger than the sum of its parts ! People get lost in this never ending vicious cycle of trying to reach this “so called ” top … One thing I can say is that it’s challenging, moreover than any other place I’ve ever visited. If you succeed in keeping your sanity and find the tools to keep your cool (that and find a way to make money and have a shit ton of drive and passion) NYC is one hundred percent that city, filled with the hungriest of minds in the world … Sitting in a high rise building looking out the window is basically watching an episode of survivor.
H: You are in the unique position of having a record deal that is strictly focused on singles. Can you tell us a bit about how you first came in contact with your label, and how the deal came about?
I: This was In fact a bunch of stars lining up to create one big giant star (made of chocolate of course ) that ended me with this deal. That and I uploaded my EP independently via spinnup which is basically a new company that is part of universal Sweden and is a 3rd party distribution platform like tune chore or cd baby except that there are scouts that work with universal looking for talent. My art work made by my girl (amazing artist/everything) intrigued one of the scouts and got him to listen to the ep . One of the songs found its way to a digster playlist … That and an amazing manager and a negotiation later resulted in a great deal and an even greater relationship !
H: This feels a bit like a full circle moment for the industry. This is really how things began for a lot of the greatest artist of all time. They recorded their absolute best songs, sent them to radio, and toured off that exposure. What is the release and promotion process for your new material?
I: Well I can best speak for myself in this case. The label and especially my manager are really making sure that the track gets as much exposure as possible through different channels of media. As well as create a wider network via other opportunities. I on the other hand am writing a lot and collaborating with many talented writers and producers and as far as the single that’s out, “sun”, I play it outside on the streets/subway stations of New York City pretty much everyday. The circle was always full and the statistics are not relevant for those that are doing what they’re “born to do”. In the bigger scheme of things it’s not about one song.
H: I imagine you have to get every bit of exposure possible out of each single. With the video for “Sun” having been online for two months now, what steps are you taking to find new avenues for exposure? The attention span of music fans seems so short today.
I: I’m a direct person that most of all enjoys real human contact with real people. Im slowly learning to adapt to social media and the care taking of my internet persona , but I’m basically just out doing what I love most. Playing my music outside and the rest is all just very natural and organic. Those who wish to follow are more than welcome to come by and interact with me. I’m not trying to be exclusive or anything else for that matter !
H: When will the next single premiere? How far out are your future releases planned at this point? Are their dates set? Songs recorded?
I: hopefully tmrw . For all of the above 🙂 Im a child with very little patience when it comes to more songs being released. I’ve got over 20 songs (recently recorded ) dying to find there way out of this boring hard drive of a world they live in !
H: How often do you perform live?
I: Almost everyday .
H: Can you tell us a bit about your performances? I imagine a good portion of the crowd may only be familiar with one song, so how do they react to a full set?
I: I think the biggest part is the energy even more than the music. My live performances vary with the one constant being that what ever it is I’m serving, will all be presented on a plate. The reaction is honestly overwhelming and I’m so happy to be out there doing what I do ! It’s the best feeling in the world.
H: What are the biggest lessons you have learned about navigating the music industry so far? Is it as horrible as people make it out to be?
I: As long as you do whatever you can to push yourself as opposed to relying solely on them you are more likely not to be disappointed. Like in most things there is never a guarantee and It’s really what you make of it. Yes I’m aware that a lot of people get fucked by the labels. In my own experience thus far everything has pretty much been smooth sailing and a lot of it might have been because I don’t leave much room for questioning . I like to think of it as a bi product of how you view yourself and what you do as opposed to giving a shit about how others view you. Decisions are always better than non decisions. So don’t think too much about what to wear. You learn more by trying .
H: Before we let you go, do you have anything IRO related that you want to promote?
I: Look for me at a station/corner near by and come say hi!
Let me preface this article with two caveats. Firstly, there’s no right way to conduct an interview (aside from maintaining some professionalism). Everyone develops their own style, and what’s right for me might not be right for you. My style tends toward the conversational. It’s not that I don’t prep questions. I actually prep a lot of them, more than I could reasonably ask. But I treat those questions as guideposts – they’re places to stop at and explore along the journey of a conversation, not turn-by-turn directions to be followed in strict linear sequence. Sure, I make certain to hit on the points I want to hit on, but I don’t worry too much about how I’m going to get to them – if things go as planned, I generally find I wind up in those places without really having to try. If it’s interesting to you, it will be interesting to your readers, so trust your gut and go off-script if you’re onto something interesting.
That leads to the second caveat: I abhor email interviews, because they don’t offer any interplay. (I don’t even like phoners; so much is said in body language). They’re craft, not art; they’re classical, not jazz. Useful for gathering basic info, to be sure, but no fun, and your readers will snuff it out in a heartbeat. The original premise of this article was going to spend time on how to make the most of an email interview, but it turns out I don’t really have any good advice. You have Google, you have Facebook and Twitter, you know how to find whatever info about a band is already out there – I don’t need to tell you how to do your homework. Just try and ask the questions you’re genuinely curious about, in a way that lets the interviewee elaborate, and trust that your readers want to know the same things you do.
Email interviews aside, the best tip I can give for garnering a revealing interview is to let your subject do just that: reveal themselves. Give them room to answer; let them ramble. Let your interviewee follow their own train of thought – if they briefly touch on something that merits further exploration, make a mental note to come back to what they said, but don’t interrupt their flow.
If there’s a pause in the conversation, I try to hold back, to let the moment breathe for a second rather than jumping in with another question right away. In doing so, I’m creating silence. Why? Because silence is awkward, and that awkwardness is something you can use to your advantage. Nobody likes awkward silences, and if you don’t fill that silence, odds are your subject will, often with things they would never have said otherwise. I’ve frequently found that the best, most interesting answer is the one that comes after the stock answer, when my interviewee suddenly finds themselves unexpectedly digging for something more to say. Sometimes, they even surprise themselves with what they reveal in those moments. My best interviews are the ones where I manage to make my subject feel comfortable while simultaneously keeping them ever-so-slightly off-balance. It’s definitely not a technique that comes easily or naturally, but it’s well worth practicing.
Yes, practicing. Especially when you’re first starting out, take every interview opportunity you can get, and pursure the ones that aren’t presented. There are a million bands out there dying to have someone talk to them, even if the results are just going to end up on a personal blog that nobody but their friends will ever see. There are plenty of times I’ve interviewed bands whose music I don’t care for, or about. Remember, your interview isn’t about the music, not really; it’s about the musician, and people are endlessly fascinating. Every artist has a story to sell, but there’s always a story behind the story, too. That’s the part that I find compelling, and it’s the part your readers will find compelling. The facts are important, sure, but – unless you’re getting an exclusive – every interview that artist does will contain those same facts. It’s the other stuff that will make your interview worth reading. I love the challenge of trying to unearth that hidden substory. The more interviews I do, the better I get at it.
There are even occasions where I’ve interviewed bands whose music I haven’t even heard. Usually, that involves a publicist throwing one of their baby bands in front of me while I’m waiting on the artist I’m scheduled to chat with. It’s a dirty trick, but it happens. Instead of treating it as an annoyance, treat it as an opportunity to practice your skills. Even if it goes terribly, what have you got to lose aside from a couple minutes of your day? Also, it will keep you in said publicist’s good graces, which is always a plus, because access is everything.
When you’re done, take the time to listen back to your interviews. There’s nothing I hate more than transcribing a long audio interview, and yet it’s a vitally important part of my process, because it forces me to rehear as a third party what I originally heard as a participant. Generally, I give one listen while I transcribe; a second listen after transcription is done, to make sure that what I’ve written is accurate and captures the context and mood in which things were said; and then, finally, a full read through of the written interview to ensure for clarity and flow. Remember, it’s not just about getting a good interview, it’s about writing a good interview, and those aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Throughout, I’m not just listening for accuracy. I’m paying attention to what I should have asked but didn’t; noting where I jumped in when I should have let my subject talk; and listening for things I should have keyed in on for follow-up, but missed. Every mistake is a learning opportunity, a chance for me to do better the next time out. Because ultimately, interviewing is like any other skill – the more you work at it, the better you will be.
Jesse Richman is a contributor to PropertyOfZack and someone you generally need to know in the alternative music scene. If you would like to learn more about Jesse’s efforts, be sure to follow him on Twitter.
Back when Haulix Daily was simply known as the Haulix company blog we admittedly had very few content ideas. We knew we wanted to not only reach, but also celebrate the people who depended on our service seven days a week. This meant speaking with the label owners, publicists, bands, and journalists who use our platform on a daily basis, which we absolutely loved having the opportunity to do. As time went on however, we started finding new paths to content creation that seemed to work just as well, and slowly we began to move away from what had been an almost constant production of interview content. We can’t say we will ever produce conversations at the rate we were creating them at our peak during that era, but we do have a goal of bringing more interesting perspectives on life in music to you through this blog in the months ahead, starting with this very feature.
A couple weeks ago, we were plugging away at ideas for the new version of Haulix when our clients at The Catalyst Publicity Group linked us to a story about one of their bands on a site known as Legendary Kids Press. The name of the outlet was completely foreign to us at the time, but after catching a glimpse of their well-designed site and equally well-written content we knew we needed to learn more about their operation. An email was sent, followed by one or two more in the weeks that followed. We discovered they had already been reading this blog, which is always a pleasant surprise, and then we asked if they would like to appear on it sometime in the future. They entertained our curiosity, answered some questions, and gave us clearance to share their journey with all of you.
The entire purpose of highlighting sites like Legendary Kids Press is to help the contributors gain exposure for their hard, often unpaid, work. If you enjoy any of the content or quotes in this feature please make a point to visit and/or support Legendary Kids Press whenever time and finances allows. Please make sure to bookmark their site, follow them on Twitter, and Like their Facebook as well. Additional questions and comments may be left at the end of this post.
H: To help, us get started, please introduce yourself.
C: I’m Clare Fitzgerald, a 20-year-old history major and the founder of music news site, Legendary Kids Press.
H: Thank you for joining us, Clare. I have to admit that I wasn’t familiar with your site or writing until a few weeks ago when one of our clients, Catalyst Publicity, turned me onto your work. How long have you been writing about music?
C: I’ve been interested in writing ever since I was in elementary school, but I didn’t specifically start writing about music until last year. I’d been forced to take a year off school for medical reasons – and thus had a lot of free time on my hands – so I thought, “why not start now?” I joined a few sites and eventually plucked up the courage to start Legendary Kids Press last July.
H: Is Legendary Kids Press the first site you have been associated with?
C: I starting writing artist features and reviews on Buzznet, which helped me further develop and strengthen my writing skills, as well as find my creative voice. Not long after, I was approached by CultNoise Magazine, who I currently write and copy edit for.
I started putting together and designing LKP in June 2014 and, as I previously mentioned, launched it that July – so we’re still relatively new. Since the launch, I’ve gone on to also write, and become news editor for, YouTube magazine, TenEighty UK.
H: Considering the overwhelming number of music blogs in existence today, could you please talk about what lead you to launch a site of your own?
C: Journalism has always been an interest of mine, music journalism specifically ever since I discovered Alternative Press. Beforehand, I’d never even thought about being able to write about my love for music and the bands I listened to, and AP showed me that I could take that route if I wished. I’d had the urge to create my own site, but I didn’t know how to go about it and I was too insecure about my writing skills to reach out and try to strengthen them. But as I started to delve more into the “underground” and “alternative” music scenes, I started discovering sites like PropertyOfZack and Musicology Online, which I learnt were started by people my age who had just as strong a passion for music as I did.
That realization and the abundance of free time I had are the factors that pushed me to launch LKP. I never even considered the amount of blogs already around – I just wanted to get involved in the scene I loved so much.
H: Some sites have a mission statement, but I cannot find one for your blog. What would you say is the purpose/goal of Legendary Kids Press?
C: I would say the main purpose of Legendary Kids Press is to help fans discover new music and bands. We cover news from both established bands like Pierce The Veil and Bring Me The Horizon to up-and-comers, as well as numerous genres. So I hope that diversity introduces someone to their new favourite band or a genre they never even considered listening to.
On a more personal level, I hope the site helps get my name out there and shows that I do have the ability to pursue journalism as a full-time career.
H: How would you describe the average reader of your site?
C: Honestly, I’m not too sure. I would obviously expect them to be a music fan in some respect, but other than that, I don’t think I’d be able to say. From the statistics I’ve gathered, the majority of our readers are in their teens, but I also see the occasional hit or two from adults, so we have a broad spectrum. However, that being said, those hits are probably from my parents being curious about the “weird” music I listen to, haha.
H: How big is the LKP contributing team?
C: Currently, excluding myself, the LKP team consists of nine members: four writers and five photographers. Each one is very supportive of the site and I’m very thankful to have them aboard the team.
I manage the writing team, who normally deal with reviews, editorials, features and interviews, and my friend Alex Liscio manages the photographers. Honestly, she’s a godsend. I don’t know a thing about photography, so having her by my side is a real help!
H: Are you looking to add to your team? If so, how would you describe the ideal LKP contributor? I’m sure a few of our readers may want to apply.
C: Ideally, I’d like the team to be around 10-15 members, just so there’s regular output outside of news stories. So yes, we’re definitely looking to add a few new faces to the team – primarily writers.
The ideal LKP contributor would be someone willing to grow in their respective field and who has an interest in the music the site covers. It’d also be great if they had the availability to write one piece a week, but I understand that life is unpredictable, so that’s not a requirement.
H: I’ve noticed that you highlight a lot of smaller, lesser known artists on your blog. Is there anyone you would recommend our readers check out in the immediate future?
C: Locally, I’d say definitely check out The Ocean Cure and Crystalyne. I’ve been jamming both a lot lately. I’d also recommend The Truth Today, who unfortunately broke up earlier this year, but released some killer EPs in their time.
On a more broad scale, I’d say either Jule Vera if you’re a pop/alternative fan or The Relevant Elephants if you’re into indie rock with a splash of funk.
H: If any artists are reading this and thinking you might enjoy their work, where and how should they submit content to you?
I normally check out all inquiries, but the ones that grab my attention are those that give me everything I need: a brief history of the band, links to music and social media, and what the their interest in the site is. It’s also appreciated when bands get the site’s name write… I understand it’s not necessarily the shortest or most memorable, but it’s not that hard to do a quick check, you know?
H: What do you think of Haulix and the service we provide?
C: Honestly, I love what you guys do. I discovered your blog a few months ago and have been an avid reader ever since. You cover a lot of different topics relating to music and the insight offered has been really helpful. I definitely think you’re a go-to if someone is interested in learning more about the industry.
I’ve also had the opportunity to work with your promotional services through the labels and PR companies that have contacted LKP, and I find them to be some of the simplest and most-straightforward, which is much appreciated.
H: There has been a lot of talk about the need for blogs to find a way to monetize their efforts. What kind of strategies do you have to help generate income for your writing?
C: Currently, Legendary Kids Press doesn’t generate any income, but that’s not to say I haven’t considered it – it’s been on my mind a lot lately. I’m currently in the process of revamping the site and would like to integrate the likes of Google AdSense and even paid advertising into the new layout, whenever that comes around.
H: If we could fast-forward five years, where would we find Clare and LKP?
C: In five years time, I’ll hopefully be finished university (only two years left!) and will have a job in some aspect of the journalism or music industries. I’m hoping LKP takes off; the site’s already afforded me more opportunities than I thought possible, so I’m excited to see what the next five years bring in that respect.
The site itself? I hope it will become a go-to for those interested in the latest music news. I also hope for it to have expanded to support more editorial and featured writing, as that was one of my goals from the start. I was also thinking about launching a podcast, but seeing as everyone has been getting into that world lately, I’m currently rethinking that.
H: I think that’s everything I have to ask at the moment. Do you have any additional thoughts you would like to share?
C: I want to thank Haulix for taking the time to ask me about LKP. I’ve never done anything like this, so I was pretty excited about it – a highlight, for sure. It’s nice to see someone take an interest in something I’ve dedicated the majority of the last year to, so thank you.
Also, thank you to Catalyst Publicity for spreading the word about Legendary Kids Press!
If you or someone your know has a music blog or publication that we have yet to feature on our site, please read the interview above and shoot us an email (james@haulix.com) telling us about the outlet, its readership, and who amongst the staff we should aim to highlight. We do our best to feature every zine users request, but not everyone likes to have their entire life story posted online. That said, we’ll do our best to meet your demands. Enjoy.
A little time has passed since we dusted off our beloved ‘Blogger Spotlight’ feature, but just last month we found a reason to resurrect the once thriving series, and if all goes as planned we will have several new installments for you to enjoy posted throughout the summer. We apologize for the time away, but sometimes you have to take a step back and think about whether or not continuing a series actually makes sense. In this case, it does, and we hope that remains to be true for the foreseeable future.
36 Vultures is a site that first came on my radar thanks to outreach from founder Joel Funk. Joel had learned of my label, Antique Records, and was anxious to speak with one of our artists. Having never heard of his site prior to receiving his message, I quickly pulled up the zine’s homepage and began to click around in hopes of finding something special. What I discovered, which admittedly did not take long to find, was a growing collection of well written and insightful content geared toward promoting musicians big and small to a new, younger generation of music fans. I was so impressed, in fact, that I immediately replied to Joel and pitched him about appearing on this blog. We also connected him with our talent, of course, but I knew it was important to share Joel’s perspective on the music business through this site. Thankfully, he agreed.
You can find my conversation with Joel about 36 Vultures and everything he hopes to accomplish with his still young site below. After you do so, please make it a point to follow the site on Twitter. While you’re at, go ahead and follow Haulix as well.
H: It’s great to be able to feature you on our site. I have to be honest and say I didn’t learn of 36 Vultures until you and I discussed the band Well Kept Things over email about a month ago. What is the origin story for your site?
J: I’m excited to be featured on the site! I love reading interviews like these because not only does it let you get to know some of your favorite bloggers, but it gives you a little bit of insight into how they keep their site afloat. It’s a huge help. The origin story for the website sounds so boring to me, but it’s the honest truth. At one point, I wrote reviews for a website called FuckYourScenes – and they were absolutely terrible. I look back at those reviews and cringe. Anyway, I eventually just stopped writing for the website, but wanted to continue writing somewhere else. I was still confident enough in my own writing and had applied to write for PropertyOfZack and when I never heard anything back decided to start doing my own thing. The first review on the site was for an album I actually did the cover art for, Speak Low If You Speak Love’s original release of their debut album ‘Everything But What You Need.’ That was late 2013/early 2014. We didn’t start posting news until May 28th of 2014 when approached by a band called Pissghetti to post about a music video and a tape that saw all proceeds going to charity. Here we are now. Thanks Pissghetti!
H: The name 36 Vultures is pretty peculiar. What’s the story behind it?
J: I ended up using the name because it was my [personal] twitter handle at the time and I couldn’t think of anything else to use. The name comes from a lyric to a You Me and Everyone We Know song called “A Little Bit More.” The line reads “I’ve got fifteen elephants sitting on my chest/thirty six vultures picking at my flesh/solo-man overboard without a life vest/Now I’m a little weighed down, but I’m doing my best.” YM&EWK is my absolute favorite band, and I’m happy to have a name that reflects that. I still sometimes wish I could say something cheesy and dumb like “Yeah…vultures. You know, because they pick things apart? That’s an album review and it just suits us very well” just so I could laugh about it afterwards.
H: What kind of music and coverage can people expect to find on your site?
J: When I describe the website to inquiring older co-workers, I tend to paint a really broad stroke and claim to cover “alternative” music. I say this because to most of the 30-somethings I work with, “emo” is a word that will elicit not only dismissal, but jokes at the same time. When talking to friends or family, I very proudly say that we focus on emo, pop punk, and hardcore bands. It really boils down to whatever we’re feeling in the moment, which is usually pretty well reflected in the news posts and content.
As far as coverage, that’s something that I’m always looking to expand upon. Right now, we have a loose schedule that we like to follow. We post news from press releases whenever we can and then a schedule kicks in. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Noon are usually when we try to push album reviews. We don’t always have one to go up on Thursday, but if it’s a busy week, we absolutely will. Every other Wednesday we run a new feature called Press Play in which we introduce you to new bands that don’t get a lot of attention and [in our opinion] should have no trouble flourishing if given the opportunity. We want to give those bands that opportunity. I’m working on getting more comfortable with writing interviews and getting over this daunting fear of over the phone interviews so that we can start featuring more of those.
H: You’re a smart guy, so I’m sure you’re well aware of how many competing music blogs are in existence today. What makes 36 Vultures a unique destination?
J: I feel like that first sentence was a very fluid inflation and immediate deflation of my ego. Props. I think what makes 36vultures a unique destination is still a work in progress. We really care about the music we cover and the people involved in it, and we strive to make that the true focus of our actual content as opposed to just the news that we post. We run this really cool monthly feature on the site called The Mixtape Project. Originally that was going to be renamed, but it came time for the launch and I hadn’t thought of anything better, and so it is. That feature sees me asking people involved in the scene [bands, bloggers, pr, label-heads] to curate a mixtape following one of two structures. You can choose a theme or you can do a culmination of your favorite songs. An interesting point is that our current run is 50/50 on those structures. Our first came from Ryan Graham of Speak Low and State Champs talking about love. That bad boy came out on Valentine’s Day. Our last came from one of my dear friends, Sherridan of Punk Talks. She chose to make a mixtape full of songs that helped make her the person that she is, and it’s one of my favorites to actually listen to. tl;dr We care about the music and the conversation it creates. Fuck a page view.
H: I believe there are only five people listed on the staff page right now. Do you have additional contributors at this time, or is your team only those listed on that page? Do you have any plans to expand?
J: The team is still very small. We’re actually bringing in a second editor/new writer very soon, so we can add another name to that list. We’ve had one guest contributor and that was Luke Granered of Better Off. I would love to have more of those on the website because it usually brings forth content that people want to read. We’re also looking to just add more writers in general. Mainly people who want to work on reviews and op-ed pieces. We could use another reviewer or two to help lighten the load and allow for better written content, it’s just a matter of getting people who want to write to notice this site that’s still in it’s infancy.
H: There is a clear lack of advertisements on your site. Are you planning to try and profit from your efforts in any way moving forward, or is that not something you are currently concerned with?
J: Would I like to profit from what I’m doing? Absolutely. I just don’t know that I want to see a profit come from advertisements. I like the idea of what PropertyOfZack and The Runout are doing with funding via Patreon. It’s a great service that only asks you to support what you believe in. Before I can even think about that, we need to focus on building a reader-base and writing content that’s compelling enough to get people coming back. I think we’re just about there, we just need a little something to push us into people’s lives.
H: What would you say are the goals for 36 Vultures in the next year? How about the next five years?
J: The goals for 36vultures in the next year are to solidify what I’m already trying to do with the site. I want it to feel more like a “zine” type deal than I do a blog, and I’m trying to work on content that reflects that. Things like The Mixtape Project, Press Play, our very new Let’s Talk column, and hopefully some one or two more features will help to make that a reality. I want readers to be able to come to us for more than just album reviews and news, I want people to stick around, find something to read, and feel compelled to share it with the people they know. As for the next five years…who knows. Does that sound unprofessional? I would love the website to continue doing what it’s doing while seeing growth [in both popularity and creativity] but things are unpredictable. I try to set very realistic goals for myself that I don’t constantly feel defeated when the big ones don’t work out. So for now, I’m looking at things one year at a time. Hopefully, I’ll eventually feel comfortable enough to tell you how I see things going down years and years down the road, but who knows. Time is a fickle thing.
H: Outside the site, what are your own future aspirations? Are you hoping to work in the industry full time?
J: You mean besides paying off my student loans before I die? Well, the goal would be to do something in PR. There’s something about it that keeps drawing me to the idea. I think that stems back to really caring about the music and the people involved. I want to be able to have a hand in making a band/label/product that I believe in flourish. I’d love to have a plan to fall back on, and once I’ve paid off enough debt that I accumulated while thinking I wanted to teach small children and become a pawn in the governmental chess game called the Common Core, I want to go back to school for advertising. Ironic, isn’t it? How I don’t want ads on the site and I want to have a hand in making those obnoxious ads. I guess we all become the thing we want to avoid. I am Ultron’s little speech in Avengers: Age of Ultron talking about how men of peace often create tools of war. Only, you know, on a WAY smaller scale that doesn’t deal with life and death or existential crisis.
H: If you could offer any advice to others currently thinking about launching their own blog, what would you tell them?
J: My advice is just to work you ass off, really. Find one contact that will work with you for whatever you’re doing and run with it. For a long time, the only real press contacts we had were Colin of Nuance PR and Will/Chuck of Beartrap PR. Those two sources really helped not only keep us alive and posting/reviewing, but also helped to open the doors to other contacts. I was able to show work that I’ve done with bands that were starting to generate attention like The Hotelier and Somos. You’ll build relationships and will for sure be paranoid about sounding annoying, but annoying works as long as you believe in what you’re doing. Trust me, I’ve been there and still feel like I am here a lot of the time.
H: If bands and/or publicists want to work with you, how should they reach out?
J: The easiest way to get ahold of me is through email. I check my email religiously and I try and respond as soon as I have a free minute. I work the least punk job in the world right now that sucks me away from my phone/computer for a good 9 hours a day (not including my lunch, which usually includes feverish email checking.) You can find that just by clicking on the contact link in the sites navigation. If we like what you’re doing, you will definitely hear back.
H: That’s all I have right now. Do you have any final thoughts or comments to share before we finish?
J: Just a few quick things. The first is that I’d like to thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to talk about myself and what I do. It means a lot to see somebody believe in what I’m doing. The second has already been re-stated, but repetition leads to remembrance. We are looking for writers and interviewers. If you are interested in joining the team, you can shoot us an email with the subject “Writing for 36v” with a sample of your written work, and I will get back to you within 24 hours of getting that email.
That’s all, and thanks again!
H: Thanks for participating, Joel. Have a great week.
Hey there! Welcome to our blog. We thank you for finding time in you busy schedule to spend a few minutes on our site. The post you’re about to enjoy is the latest installment in our popular podcast series, Inside Music. If you like what you hear, the entire catalog of episodes can be found and enjoyed through iTunes. Subscriptions and reviews are always appreciated.
This site exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found onTwitter and Facebook.
On this episode of INSIDE MUSIC, host James Shotwell calls Ben Hardesty, vocalist for The Last Bison, to discuss his band’s work and how they’re keeping American folk music alive in 2015. James hasn’t had many folk artists on the show before, but the conversation moves quick and smooth as he and Ben talk about the band’s early days in Virginia, the lasting importance of The Marshall Tucker Band, and the difficulties faced by the group as they made the transition back to the indepedent world after spending time on a major label. It’s a big and broad conversation that could potentially double as an advertisement for Virginia tourism, but it’s one of our favorite conversations to date.
The music you hear in the intro to ‘Inside Music’ this week is “Every Time” from The Last Bison. You can learn more about that song, as well as the album it hails from, on the band’s official website.
You may already know this, but ‘Inside Music’ is now available on iTunes! Click here to subscribe.
It is hard to believe this, but we are fast-approaching the two-year anniversary of this blog’s birth. In that time we have interviewed well over two-hundred industry professionals, including over one-hundred music bloggers and journalists. If you were here from day one you will no doubt remember a time when the only content we ran was interviews with bloggers. They were the first group we wanted to engage, and they continue to play a vital role in our marketing efforts to this day. Unfortunately, for reasons that would read likely read like excuses, the number of interviews with new bloggers has fallen off in recent months while our focused turned to bigger editorials, bigger conversations, and the like. Through it all we have not forgotten where we got our start, and with this post we hope to bring a bit of our focus back to the people who write about the latest and greatest music every single day of their lives.
The name Lucy Binetti may not be on the tip of every industry influencer’s tongue just yet, but it is a name that anyone hoping to work in the alternative music world would be wise to commit to memory. Still young, yet smarter than many of her peers, Lucy has been helping promote and market bands in the alternative music world for well over five years. She is the founder of Lucy Out Loud, a brilliant music blog, and she has aspirations of doing a lot of good for the industry as a whole in the years to come.
On a personal note, I have been a fan of Lucy’s work for at least the last six months. I couldn’t tell you what the first article was I read on her site, but it didn’t take long for me to recognize that Lucy and her team had the kind of drive and talent needed to make a real impact on the music community at large. When the time came to resurrect our Blogger Spotlight I knew she would be the perfect guest to help kick things off, and lucky for me she was quick to agree to my request.
You can learn everything there is to know about Lucy Binetti and her efforts to conquer the music world one day at a time by reading the interview below. If you would like to learn more, or if you simply need a new source for the latest music news, please make it a point to bookmark and frequently visit Lucy Out Loud. Any additional questions or comments can be left at the end of this post.
H: Hey there, Lucy. How are you today?
L: I’m doing well, thanks! Just catching up on emails and watching the first season of Weeds in between classes. My next class actually got cancelled so I have five hours to kill. Yayyyy ha
H: It’s exciting to have you on our blog. I know we have been discussing this interview for a bit, but SXSW totally threw my schedule for a loop. Did you make the trip to Texas? If so, how was it?
L: Well I’m glad to be on it, so thank you! I think SXSW threw everyone’s schedule for a loop, ha. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the trip to Texas, but I did have one photographer who was there, not on assignment, and another photographer who covered South By So What?! for us and both had an amazing time! I’m hoping to make it out to South By one of these years!
H: I guess before we go any further we should probably cover the basics. Would you please tell everyone your full name and what it is that you do in the world of music?
L: Of course! My name is Lucy Binetti and I’m the Founder/Editor-In-Chief of Lucy Out Loud! I take care of all the postings, interviews, and assigning of reviews and show coverage.
H: For people who have never seen or heard of Lucy Out Loud, how would you describe it to them?
L: We’re a daily (most of the time) music blog and we post everything from news to reviews to interviews and everything in between for artists of all genres.
H: There are certainly other sites that cover the same bands you do, so what is it about your site that sets it apart from the competition? What gives visitors a reason to return day after day?
L: From day one, I used my site as a way to post about small local bands in order to introduce them to those who view our site and I think that’s what gives visitors a reason to return. Unlike some other sites, we cover a variety of artists from small local bands to more well-known bands in order to give attention to everyone.
H: Your site recently celebrated five years of existence. Congrats! What would you say has been the biggest lesson learned during that time?
L: Thank you!! I learned a lot about myself over the last five years, which I think shows through Lucy Out Loud. I might say that the biggest lesson learned is to not sell yourself short. When I first started bringing on writers to the site, I didn’t really think about making sure the content was up to any standards, just that having content was important. Over time, I started to realize that I was lowering my standards for no reason, so I immediately changed that. I have an amazing Senior Writer that has been with me for about three years now and he’s helped me with editing pieces from our interns, providing them with feedback, and posting pieces that we are proud of.
H: I’d like to back track a bit and learn about the inspiration and motivation for your work. Your ‘About’ section mentions a history in music promotion. Can you tell us a bit about that?
L: I began going to local shows when I was 16 and something just clicked. It made me realize that I wanted to do SOMETHING within music, but I couldn’t figure out what just yet. I started seeing some local artists I knew about that were creating street teams and it intrigued me to figure out what they were and how I could get involved. I ended up joining street team after street team for people like Fearless Records, Photo Finish Records, To Write Love On Her Arms, Working Group Artist Management, Glamour Kills, even creating a handful for local artists. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was a part of 10-15 street teams. That’s when I created Lucy Out Loud. It was a place for me to post about all the different artists in one location and in a much more organized way. About a year into running the site, I began interning for Ace Enders of I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business (and The Early November) where I assisted in promoting his third album. That was where I was first introduced to press releases and having to send them out to different publications in order to publicize the album and tour. Once I began to expand the site, I did less street teaming in order to focus on it a little more.
H: So, what inspired you to turn your efforts toward the world of journalism?
L: Journalism was something I’ve always loved. Up until fifth grade, I thought I wanted to be a teacher and then in sixth grade I joined the Journalism Club at my middle school where I wrote articles and poetry for our school paper and that immediately opened my eyes to the world of journalism. English became my favorite subject and I began writing more frequently. I continued to write in high school where I joined our school’s magazine and put out a few more pieces of work. Once I was introduced to the world of Public Relations and I saw how the two worked hand in hand, I figured it was a great way to mix my passion for the two together.
H: Would you say there are any bloggers/writers you admire or otherwise look up to? If so, who?
L: Surprisingly, not really. I follow a handful of websites and read a bunch of great articles from both writers and friends regarding the music industry, but I wouldn’t say that there are any writers that I admire or otherwise look up to.
H: I noticed that your site is hosted on Tumblr. Have you thought about stepping out with your own standalone site, or is Tumblr the best place for your efforts right now?
L: Initially when I started the site, I ran it through both Tumblr and Blogger, but began posting solely on Tumblr because I preferred the layout and other features it provided. It’s also an extremely interactive site, so having it allow people to like/reblog our posts and do more than just view it is definitely a plus. It also gives us the chance of a wider reach. I have considered stepping out with our own standalone site, but that’s not something I have much knowledge about or the time for at the moment, so it’s not something I’ve spent time looking into.
H: How many contributors do you have? Are you looking to build your team further?
L: As of right now, we have a team of 14, which is kind of insane ha. We have a senior photographer/writer in Albany, a senior photographer in Baltimore, a writer in Boston, a photographer in Texas, a contributor in New Jersey, and a total of nine interns (four writers, four photographers, and a social media intern). We’re definitely looking to build our team further! Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll most likely be moving around some interns to higher positions and bring on some new interns as well. I’m also hoping to bring on a couple of editors to help with some new features for the site.
H: I assume you’re unable to pay writers right now, so what kind of incentives do you offer your team to keep them engaged?
L: That is correct – none of us get paid to do what we do, we simply do it for the music and that’s something we tell everyone who joins our site. As for incentives, writers receive downloads of most of the albums they review and access to shows varies on the person’s position on our team. When it comes to covering shows, we don’t provide free access to shows for our interns until they’ve been with the site for a prolonged period of time. It all comes down to trust and making sure that people can follow through with coverage.
H: What is the longterm goal for this site?
L: To grow, grow, and grow. Over the last two years, we’ve begun working with some amazing PR agencies and record labels and I think this is just the beginning for us. Ideally, we’d love to be a top-tier news site and growing plays a huge role in that possibility. We want to be a site that artists want to work with and fans want to look to for everything and anything music related.
H: What is your personal longterm career goal, and how has running this site helped you work toward achieving it?
L: My personal longterm career goal is to be a publicist, bring on my own clients, and help them achieve the goals they want to achieve. I’ve always been someone who enjoys helping others and that’s absolutely something I hope to continue doing. Running Lucy Out Loud has opened so many doors for me and introduced me to so many people, allowing me to build both relationships and friendships that I’m truly grateful for. It’s actually how I met the publicists at my current internship and I’ve learned so much from them.
H: If you could offer one piece of advice to others hoping to enter the music industry, what would it be?
L: Here’s a three-for-one: go outside your comfort zone, don’t let your fears hold you back and gain as much experience as you can. As someone with anxiety, I’ve always been afraid of doing things that are not a part of my normal routine, but I spent the last year and a half pushing myself more than I ever thought I would. It’s given me so much valuable experience that I don’t think I would have learned otherwise.
H: I know you have worked with a lot of musicians as well, so what advice do you have for them?
L: Don’t treat others as if they’re below you. That means don’t treat people (publicists, writers, photographers, fans, etc.) as if they owe you something and don’t give them any sort of backlash if you’re not where you thought you would be. If you know what you want and where you want your music to go, don’t give up on that. It might take time, but if you’re determined, you’ll get there. It’s just a matter of time.
H: Where do you see yourself in five years?
L: In five years, I’d like to be a publicist, working closely with artists in getting their music out to a wider audience. I also hope to continue running Lucy Out Loud, which would hopefully be at a top-tier level by then. But only time will tell, right?
H: I think that is all I have for now. Thank you again for your willingness to participate. Do you have any final thoughts or comments for our readers?
L: Thank you so much for reaching out and allowing me to share my experience thus far! To your readers, if you’re in a band or you work with a band that is interested in working with us, please send us an email! If you’re interested in interning or contributing to our site, please send us an email! Basically, if you’d like to contact us, shoot us an email, ha. We love what we do over at Lucy Out Loud and all I can say is that our best work is still ahead of us!
