JAX
“I think there’s power in just being yourself and being organic and putting yourself out there.”
LAYTO
“Love the process, and hone your chops.”
DUCKWRTH
“He started out, he says, ‘just feeling like I had something different that I could bring,” and feels that artists should, “be a whole lot of themselves. It’s the key ingredient to [being] a good artist.”
BILLY JOEL
“There’s a line in ‘Piano Man’ that I sing—’I know that it’s me that they’re coming to see to forget about life for a while’—and the audience applauds after that line and I realize, they wanted something to take them somewhere else, and that’s my job. My politics are my politics, but the music is something else.”
ANSON SEABRA
Producer
“If some other artist is having a bigger moment than you are, it’s hard not to read into that or to feel like you’re a failure. It’s brutal here in L.A. People seem to only care about your streams and followers. You have to be your own champion, especially in the beginning when few people believe in you.”
ANDY GRAMMER
“My favorite definition of joy is ‘gladness not based on circumstance’ and, If that’s the case, then you should still be happy when you’re alone in the silence.”
MARY RAHMNI
Moon Projects
“The best thing you can do is put your music on platforms. Get active. Build a community. Build that connection. The rest will happen organically, because people can see how important it is to you, they love what you’re creating, and they’re rooting for you.”
DRUMMA BOY
“Famous or not famous, it’s about making good music,” he asserts. “It’s about pulling out the artist’s story; it’s like a therapeutic process. The music has to match the artist’s emotion.”
KHIYON HURSEY
Composer
“The best advice I ever received is you have the talent to do the work, so do the work. It’s simple advice, but an encouragement and reminder that success is only achieved through work and really hard work at that.”
ZHU
“I think people, when they come to my show, they want to be entranced. And then, when everyone’s on the same wavelength, the performance really starts.”
KATHLEEN RIGGS
Vocal coach
“The number one rule on singing is this: if your voice is tired, give your voice a rest. Vocal rest is when you don’t use your voice at all. This is important as it gives your vocal folds and chords time to recover and regenerate.”
3FORTINI
“The only person who can stop you from accomplishing what you want is you. There are people out there who aren’t given anything, and they still make something out of their lives. Just keep pushing and the world is yours.”
LACHI
“A lot of songwriters are so hard in the grind that they don’t take time to meditate. You need a healthy brain to write healthy music.”
JOEY DUFFY cliffdiver
Duffy advises against accepting the first opportunity that comes a young artist’s way; always hold out for something better. Additionally, have faith and persist. “Keep going. Just don’t give up,” he intones. “I’m 34. There’s no timeline. You can do it.”
KRISOPHER POOLEY
Songwriter
Be reliable, dependable, know your craft, and “be realistic about who you are as an artist,” he advises. Know the history and musical focus of each genre. [People want] to feel seen, heard and to know that this person respects what this music is.”
ROBERT TOTERAS
Composer
“People expect to get music for free, but you can’t clothe and feed your children or pay for studio time if you don’t get paid. You have to tell people, ‘I don’t want to do this just for exposure.’ Don’t undersell yourself.”
KELLY BUCHANNAN
Dimestone Dolls
“It’s been over 14 years since I did my last self-titled record. It’s a big deal to finally release original music again after all these years. And I’m happy to be indie right now.”
DUMMA BOY
“People want lyrics, not beats. You could mute the music or the beat at a party and people would still sing the words. That’s how I came to understand how important a song’s lyrics are. As a producer, I can make beats and get placements. But when you start writing, you have the power of the pen.”
GUNNA
“Look at it like your first time is always an opportunity. You can always make a better situation once you build yourself up, build your name up and put in more work—you’ll get what you want after.”
LVCRFT
“Don’t be afraid to say no—it trains the universe to who you are and what you love. I’ve never done anything that isn’t 100% me. The feeling is what people connect to. If you get too smart about it, then you’ve fucked all the feeling out of it.”
FINNEAS
“You have to make the artist feel safe. Otherwise, no one is going to do their best work. We aren’t as vulnerable around our closest friends as we need to be around our creative collaborators. We need to be really vulnerable—I mean therapist vulnerable. And that can be a challenge.”
GLASS ANIMALS
“Giving yourself a few days, writing a few songs and just putting one out, [to] break through the pressure. It breaks the ice again. We’ve done that now after every record—released one or two songs as a stopgap that takes the pressure off. I hate the idea of not writing music at all between albums. It could really hinder the process.”
ANDY GRAMMER
“The blast is smaller than it’s ever been and it’s even cooler to go to all these little side roads to get exactly where your fans are.”
WET LEG
“In a way [social media] is cool, because you can do shout-outs on your stories and be, like, ’Hello, I’m looking for a vegetarian restaurant’ nearby this random place that we’re playing a gig, and you’ll get loads of replies. I see some of my friends that are in bands and play music, they use it in such a wholesome way and they’re able to get their personality across.”
TEDESCHI TRUCKS
“If you go far enough down the road you realize they all lead back to the same place. You figure out where things are coming from and leading to. Those are great moments that can really influence your playing and your sound starts becoming your own a little bit. “
ZHU
“When you get down to it, what matters is capturing the essence of music at a certain point in time.”
KATHLEEN RIGGS
Vocal coach
“If you have a vocal issue, most times it is because there is vocal abuse, which means that you are doing too much singing, speaking… In that case, you need to focus on strengthening the weakened areas with the right vocal exercises.”
TEDESCHI TRUCKS
“We try to keep the lines of communication with our band and our relationship just wide open. It’s tough at times. There are highs and lows that feel insurmountable. But a lot of times that leads you to places where you’re better off.”
JOOLS HOLLAND
“Collaborations can also be beneficial. If you get someone amazing to sing your songs, it illuminates it and turns it into something much better. The best thing that could happen to a songwriter is when you hear someone singing and they magnify it.”
JOSS STONE
“When you collaborate, you end up with the best of both worlds. make sure that you’re always listening.” She adds, “It’s not about everything you want to say—it’s about the song in the room that is already in existence. All you have to do is open your ears and hear it—and always press record.”
TARA MACRI
“I get to work with some talented people, from my photographer to my producer to my mixer. Sometimes you are pulled in many different directions, and it can be challenging, but that’s part of the creative process and in the end it always comes together.”
LVCRFT
“At a certain point, if you’re lucky, you just write with your crew. You want to be open to new opportunities, but predominantly your schedule is filled with the people you have the best chemistry with.”
FINNEAS
“You have to make the artist feel safe. Otherwise, no one is going to do their best work. We aren’t as vulnerable around our closest friends as we need to be around our creative collaborators. We need to be really vulnerable—I mean therapist vulnerable. And that can be a challenge.”
DUCKWRTH
“I like I had something different that I could bring. Artists should be a whole lot of themselves. It’s the key ingredient to [being] a good artist.”
FINNEAS
“Intimacy makes the scope and size of large things even larger. So, if you have an album that’s all at a 10, how can you have an 11? But if you have one that goes from one to five and then back again, when it goes to 10 it feels enormous.
SHELBY KENNEDY
“Being a songwriter is like being a puzzle master. We are putting puzzles together. As a puzzle master, I can skillfully put together large jigsaw puzzles and if I finished a 5,000-piece puzzle of the Nashville skyline, I would want to show you my accomplishment. The art of writing commercial songs is hiding all the puzzle pieces.”
DUCKWRTH
“Create a bridge of sounds and genres to something new that people aren’t yet doing, and to challenge yourself.”
TEDESCHI TRUCKSs
“Over the years of working with a large band we’ve come to realize when and how much ‘gas’ to use at any given time. A 12-piece band can be an eight-piece band. It can also be a 4 piece or a duo. And I think this incarnation of the band is such where everyone just wants to contribute when appropriate, and that’s a good place to be.”
SHELBY KENNEDY
“The language of a lyric can sometimes be the downfall that exposes a ‘too artistic’ puzzle piece as well. The language of the lyric should be everyday grammar, proper or improper, as long as it is how people actually speak.”
TEDESCHI TRUCKS
“There doesn’t have to be this big heroic guitar solo here or Sue has to do this big vocal thing there. If a song feels good, the concept’s good and the intention’s right, that’s enough!”
ANDY GRAMMER
“Make sure that everybody feels heard. Especially as a white guy, my viewpoint is not necessarily going to cover the whole spectrum, so I need to be really open to everybody else’s input. It’s from a place of ‘oh man, I have straight up blind spots,’ so I need all the information to make something great.”
LVCRFT
“It’s a very demanding, illogical business—it’s constant gambling. It suits my personality, but it’s not for everyone. Be prepared to hear ’no’ 99% of the time and still wake up excited to connect emotionally with someone… The community is what will feed your soul.”
JOOLS HOLLAND
“You need to make music that will make people feel—make them dance, cry, or feel romantic—and that it needs to resonate with you. The title’s enough to take you to the place sometimes—you don’t need words. The great thing about all music is there’s no rules at all.”
JULIAN SCHERLE
composer
“Make your decisions for the right reasons. Be aware that it’s a long journey. Just keep going, and develop a thick skin. You get rejected 95% of the time; don’t take it personal. Find projects you’re excited fabout.”
WET LEG
“I really don’t love social media. I really don’t. But it is a marketing tool and it is important to have it.”
MAX DI CARLO
composer, producer, engineer
“The more music you get exposed to, either producing it or composing it or songwriting, the more skills you have for your next step.”
TARA MACRI
“Sometimes the idea you had in mind doesn’t always work out, so you have to be able to keep an open mind and pivot when you need to.”
AVA DELLA PIETRA
Songwriter, Broadway
“Getting into it so young was definitely one of the most educational experiences. When you’re really little, you take in a lot of information very quickly. I think that’s part of the reason I was able to pick up the business so rapidly.”
ALEX KANE
“Bitter, entitled people will never get the job. Don’t resent those who you deem less talented, and work on yourself rather than blaming the world. Many people far more talented and influential than you have not made it.”
LACHI
“The word vulnerable is interesting because me opening up my deepest parts actually made me stronger. God, if I had somebody like that [me] when I was coming up, you know?! Especially these kids—they don’t have to figure it out themselves.”
