Episode 296
Harnessing Social Media: Strategies for Viral Success
The focal point of our discussion centers on the intricate interplay between artistry and the evolving landscape of social media, particularly for emerging musicians. We delve into the transformative journey that has transpired since our last conversation, highlighting the rapid pace of change in both personal and professional realms. The dialogue navigates the complexities artists face in establishing a robust social media presence while maintaining their creative integrity and career aspirations. We further explore the significance of strategic branding and the impact of community engagement, emphasizing the necessity of authenticity in connecting with audiences. Ultimately, our conversation underscores the trials and triumphs inherent in the pursuit of artistic excellence amidst an ever-shifting cultural milieu.
Takeaways:
- In the contemporary landscape, the rapid pace of technological advancements significantly alters our perception of time, making each year feel increasingly condensed.
- The journey of an artist necessitates a profound understanding of social media dynamics, requiring consistent engagement to foster a dedicated audience.
- Building a brand involves a strategic approach to social media, where trial and error becomes an integral part of the creative process.
- Establishing meaningful relationships within the industry is paramount, as genuine connections can lead to significant opportunities and collaborations.
- The importance of self-reflection and personal growth cannot be overstated; artists must often confront their internal challenges to achieve external success.
- Participation in mentorship programs not only aids personal development but also allows established artists to uplift emerging talents in the industry.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- YouTube
- Yamaha
- Nord
- Core
- Hammond
- Juicy Ears
- Western Union
Transcript
And then I brought the series to Instagram and it went viral on Instagram.
Speaker A:And then I brought the series to YouTube and now it's going viral on YouTube.
Speaker A:From classics to curiosity and where melodies meet meaning.
Speaker B:Desiree, it's good to be chatting with you.
Speaker B:Welcome back.
Speaker B:It's been a minute.
Speaker B:Glad to catch up on, you know, things that have changed and developed since our last chat on here.
Speaker B:Yeah, welcome.
Speaker B:Welcome back.
Speaker A:Thanks.
Speaker A:When was the last time we talked?
Speaker A:Was it last year?
Speaker B:I feel like it was last year.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But even looking back a year, it's like, man, so much has changed.
Speaker B:A year doesn't feel like a year right now to me at least.
Speaker B:No, we're living many years within each year.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't know if it's like combination of, like, technology changing and then just the world changing around us.
Speaker B:It just feels like we're moving fast.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I mean, they do say the older you get, the faster time.
Speaker B:Okay, I wasn't trying to go there, but I guess it's a fact we are all getting older one day at a time, like it or not.
Speaker B:So here we are.
Speaker B:Between that and what I said, technology and everything else, time's flying.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So I know every time you're on, you share a lot of your wisdom and experience and, you know, things that you've learned over time with, with us.
Speaker B:And it's great for artists coming up and, you know, doing their thing.
Speaker B:Everyone's always battling with these ideas of, like, social media and all these other platforms that are coming up.
Speaker B:It seems like every day almost, you know, where to put their time, where to put their money even, and just how to maneuver.
Speaker B:Trying to balance, you know, being creative, building a career, and having this social presence.
Speaker B:Even just thinking about the three of those at the same time almost makes me tired.
Speaker B:So is a lot.
Speaker B:But you're doing really well at all of the above.
Speaker B:So I want to kind of pick your brain on some things to do with that as well.
Speaker B:I know you've built a really good social media presence and just brand overall for yourself.
Speaker B:Is that some branding you got on there too?
Speaker A:Yes, that is my logo that I launched.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:It's been almost five years now since I launched business.
Speaker A:I had a previous logo from before, but like I think I said in my last interview, my former management was like, yes, time to upgrade that logo.
Speaker A:And I remember going to my graphic designer and saying, hey, I want to elevate this brand and I want it to represent who I am as an Artist as an educator, as a musician, and as a woman.
Speaker A: nched merchandise under it in: Speaker A:And I'm working on some.
Speaker A:Some stuff with the merchandise next year, going into next year and moving forward.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:Just stay tuned.
Speaker A:Stay tuned.
Speaker B:Yeah, we will always stay tuned to see what's coming next.
Speaker B:And that's just an example of it.
Speaker B:I mean, there are things that you do that just kind of connect all the pieces together.
Speaker B:I'm noticing, and it's important, but again, a struggle for people who are just trying to figure out where to start, what's important.
Speaker B:And I know social media has been a big conversation piece the last years.
Speaker B:So I want to ask you a little bit about that, because obviously, at some point, you started off with probably trying to figure things out and find your footing and see what would work for you.
Speaker B:So when you started out, and we'll go back a little bit, like, what were some of the things that you learned quickly and realized quickly as far as, like, what was going to work for you and keeping in line with what people want to see and want to see from you?
Speaker A:Well, I'm one of those artists that had to use social media as a vehicle to be seen, because earlier in my career, I wasn't getting performance opportunities because I am bringing and doing something that wasn't recognized in Canada at the time, and I was trying to not follow everybody else and kind of do my own thing.
Speaker A:So when I recognized that I was going to have a uphill battle, I decided to turn to social media.
Speaker A:And I was already uncomfortable with putting myself out there and putting my music out there, because for years, I hid my talent from my parents, from my friends.
Speaker A:So no one KN the extent of my talent at that point in time.
Speaker A:But I realized that, okay, if I'm going to do this artist thing, I have to just be brave and put it out there, whether it's received or whether it's not received.
Speaker A:And because I wasn't getting performance opportunities, I said, okay, well, I'm gonna have to find a way to get my music out there and get people to know about desiree D. So.
Speaker A:So in addition to building my catalog, I started posting videos on social media.
Speaker A:And I think I was just working with Facebook and instagram, and I had YouTube, but I wasn't really pushing it as much.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So I focused first on Facebook.
Speaker A:So I was posting videos on Facebook and posting in different groups, sharing myself in different groups.
Speaker A: then when I got Instagram in: Speaker A:Yeah, I would cross post.
Speaker A:So I was already cross posting before.
Speaker A:Cross posting was a thing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So this is when I say like I felt like I was ahead of my time, ahead of a lot of curves that came later on.
Speaker A:And I would just post covers of myself.
Speaker A:And I remember getting a DM from somebody that I knew and they requested a song and I was like, oh, maybe I should turn this into a series.
Speaker A:So I turned it into a series called Cover Tuesdays, which everybody knows that I ran for four years non stop.
Speaker A:And that day I made a commitment to post one video every week, every Tuesday.
Speaker A:And I did it for four years.
Speaker A:And that series grew into sub series.
Speaker A:So I did Cover Tuesdays.
Speaker A:I did Cover Tuesdays for Christmas.
Speaker A:I did Cover Tuesdays where I expanded and collaborated with different people around the world.
Speaker A:I did Cover Tuesdays duo.
Speaker A:And then I did.
Speaker A:There was something else that I did as well too.
Speaker A:And there was different themes that I had for my Cover Tuesdays.
Speaker A:But that was earlier on in my career.
Speaker A: So it was like: Speaker A:And in that time I was taking producing more seriously.
Speaker A:So with COVID Tuesdays I also had a series called the Producing Chronicles.
Speaker A:So I was kind of showcasing just my production abilities earlier on with different covers and doing different arrangements of different things.
Speaker A:So I was, I was kind of like testing the waters with different content ideas between that time frame and then when Covid hit, that's when I really took my production to the next level.
Speaker A:And I did a series called Daily Vibes and I was posting videos like three times a week.
Speaker A:And I came up with 200 songs that year.
Speaker A:And a lot of the releases.
Speaker A:Yeah, and a lot of the.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, you know what, everything was closed and I was home every day.
Speaker A:So I was like, well, I'm going to do something.
Speaker A:I'm going to make good use of my time and really use this year to work on my production skills.
Speaker A:Now I'm self taught.
Speaker A:I have never taken a production class, I've never gone to no production school.
Speaker A:I don't have a production certificate.
Speaker A:I just, I'm a resourceful person and I just learned to figure things out on my own.
Speaker A:But also because I am a multi instrumentalist as well too.
Speaker A:So I don't just play play piano, I'll play other instruments as well.
Speaker A:So use that knowledge.
Speaker A:And then I asked a couple people that I knew, like, can you help me with this?
Speaker A:Do you know anything about this?
Speaker A:And then everything else I kind of just figured out on my own.
Speaker A:So and that's the thing with social media.
Speaker A:It's tough, but I always see it as a trial and error process.
Speaker B:Oh, interesting.
Speaker A:So you, you try something, if it doesn't work, okay, rework it.
Speaker A:How could I rework this?
Speaker B:So you had some ideas that didn't work.
Speaker B:Oh, Cover Tuesday was a success.
Speaker A:Of course it was a success.
Speaker A:And of course, like, I did a producing crown of the holes as well too.
Speaker A:But a lot of it was, you know, I tried.
Speaker A:Was cool for a little bit and then I was like, okay, I'm gonna dial it back and just focus on the.
Speaker B:How do you know what's a success though?
Speaker B:Is it just based on the feedback you're getting?
Speaker B:Like, does it really come down to likes and views or is there more that you're looking into it?
Speaker A:That's a part of it.
Speaker A:But also things change.
Speaker A:You know, I find that when I see something doing well, I'll tend to put other things on the back burner and focus solely on the thing that's doing really well.
Speaker A:So that was kind of me when it came to social media.
Speaker A:When I saw that Cover Tuesdays was doing really well, I focused a lot of my attention on it.
Speaker A:And the other stuff was just kind of extra things just be like, okay, well, I can do this, but let me try it out.
Speaker A:And then when I saw that Cover Tuesdays was doing really well, I put all of my effort into that series and that's why it lasted so long.
Speaker B:Yeah, but.
Speaker A:But also, you have to understand that with social media and even just on a personal level, you're evolving all the time and you're growing and your ideas are changing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And once.
Speaker A:You also have to realize that once something has served its purpose, it's time to move on.
Speaker B:That's true.
Speaker B:Not always easy, though.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker B:We get attached to our ideas.
Speaker A:They do.
Speaker B:It's like a little baby.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And Cover Tuesdays was my baby.
Speaker A:But I saw Cover Tuesdays as the launch pad for my Four Chord Worship series, which did extremely well.
Speaker A:And I only did that series for what, almost three years.
Speaker A:So you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker A:You also knock.
Speaker A:You're never going to know what's going to come out of a series that did really well.
Speaker A:Obviously Cover Tuesdays wasn't like blowing up numbers wise.
Speaker A:And I think sometimes that's the thing that discourages people as well too.
Speaker A:Well, it's not getting the likes, it's not getting the views.
Speaker A:And sometimes you have to not focus so much on.
Speaker A:On that.
Speaker A:And really Focus more on the impact.
Speaker A:And for me, Cover Tuesdays was a very impactful series.
Speaker A:So yes, it didn't have hundreds of thousands of views or millions of views, but for me it had impact.
Speaker A:It was impacting people and people were like, why'd you stop the series?
Speaker A:Like, it was so good.
Speaker A:But I understood at that point in my social media journey that when something has served its purpose, it's time to move on.
Speaker A:And I was also evolving.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A: nging as an artist because in: Speaker A:So it was as clever.
Speaker A: nd I was putting music out in: Speaker A:I had a fantastic year streaming numbers with my music.
Speaker A:So sometimes what you do on social media translates into your music places.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like you're building an audience.
Speaker B:And so that's interesting because you're talking basically seven years of like focus series, right?
Speaker A:Well, I mean, Cover Tuesdays kind of came three years into my career.
Speaker A:So I wasn't really, I was posting and I didn't really have like a series, but I started.
Speaker A:That was like the first.
Speaker A:That was the first series thing that I started.
Speaker A: ady been posting videos since: Speaker B:But then you went to the Four Chord Worship for another three years.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So somewhere along the line you realize that this series concept was working because I noticed, I mean, I'm not big on social media and I might be to my downfall eventually, who knows?
Speaker B:But I don't know.
Speaker B:I have help, I guess.
Speaker B:However, I noticed that just in general, people have a hard time with a focus.
Speaker B:Like, even if it has nothing to do with social media, it's just not an easy thing to wrap your mind around.
Speaker B:Like locking into this idea, to this concept and following through on it, whether it's daily or weekly.
Speaker B:That's tough.
Speaker B:But I don't know if you saw this back then or if it's easier to see looking back or just for me to see from the outside.
Speaker B:But just thinking that you had, you know, a four year series followed by a three year series.
Speaker B:How deliberate was all of that or any of that?
Speaker A:Well, it goes back to the point that I made of, like when something has served its purpose, it's served this purpose.
Speaker A:I think that because Cover Tuesdays I saw my fitting in terms of like having everything organized in a series number when it's easier to plan.
Speaker A:So if I'm focused on, okay, so this is the series that I'm doing and I have a plan for how long.
Speaker A:I want the series to last for.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Obviously, Cover Tuesdays was one of those things where I was constantly changing it.
Speaker A:So it lasted a really long time because I had a lot of ideas with it because it started off as just posting different covers, and then I turned the covers into themes.
Speaker A:So from the different decades, and then it turned into, oh, let me collaborate with different people.
Speaker A:And then, oh, let me collaborate with one person.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So it evolved over time.
Speaker A:But then after I was like, okay, I think this series is done now.
Speaker A:Like, I don't know what else to do with this.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:I did do some, like, production stuff.
Speaker A:Stuff in there as well.
Speaker B:Okay, okay.
Speaker A:Because that was just teasing to see how people would react to, oh, Desiree produces.
Speaker A:Let's see what she does.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then I realized, like, this concept of having a series for a set amount of time was working for me.
Speaker A:And we think of four chord worship.
Speaker A: That idea came later on in: Speaker A:So in between the time that I ended Cover Tuesdays and starting four Chord Worship, I was heavily focused on educational content.
Speaker A:And I shifted my focus to TikTok because I had a friend at that time that said, hey, Desiree, you should go back on TikTok.
Speaker A:And I wasn't really feeling TikTok during.
Speaker A:During COVID with all the different trending things.
Speaker A:And I don't follow trends.
Speaker A:I am a trend.
Speaker A:So I wasn't really feeling the trend thing.
Speaker A:I didn't really care.
Speaker A:I kind of posted one and off, and I was focused on Instagram and Facebook at the time.
Speaker A:And when she told me, go back, I said, okay, fin me, go back.
Speaker A: of a song that I did early in: Speaker A:And I was like, oh, is this a. I thought it was a fluke.
Speaker A:So I said, okay, let me.
Speaker A:Let me try this.
Speaker A:But what I noticed was the impact that it was having on people and the different questions.
Speaker A:Because I read my comments.
Speaker A:It's important to read the comments.
Speaker A:And people were asking, can you do this?
Speaker A:Can you show me this?
Speaker A:Can you show me this?
Speaker A:Can you show me this?
Speaker A:And I realized, oh, I'm a teacher.
Speaker A:Maybe I should start posting educational content.
Speaker A:So I started doing different breakdowns of theory concepts.
Speaker A:So, like, dominant sevens and major chords and shout music, which I don't do shout music.
Speaker A:But I was like, people asked for it.
Speaker A:So I said, I'm going to suck it up and just do it.
Speaker A:And I had one of those videos blow up again 123,000 views.
Speaker A:And I was like, okay, so this is working.
Speaker A:So I was doing just little mini sub series and people liked it.
Speaker A:And I was doing Breakdown, so it was providing the material for people.
Speaker A:And then at the end of the year, I think I was at.
Speaker A:I was doing a church service in early December, and I was just playing like four chords, and I kept playing the same four chords, and I was like, huh, this sounds like a series.
Speaker A:So I went home and I recorded the first series and I.
Speaker A:And ended up calling it Four Chord Worship.
Speaker A:And from there I started the series on TikTok, and it blew up on TikTok.
Speaker A:And then I brought the series to Instagram and it went viral on Instagram.
Speaker A:And then I brought the series to YouTube and now it's going viral on YouTube.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:It'S interesting.
Speaker A:I have a video on TikTok that has almost three quarters of a million views to date from that series.
Speaker A:And the very first video that I posted on.
Speaker A:In the series, I posted on YouTube and it has almost half a million on YouTube.
Speaker A:It's the video that is literally driving my YouTube channel right now.
Speaker A:And like I said, I was never posting really on YouTube until I started the four chord worship series.
Speaker A:That's when I started posting on YouTube again and being a little bit more consistent because I understand that YouTube is a very difficult platform to break through.
Speaker A:So I was like, okay, let me post these as shorts.
Speaker A:Let me still post on Instagram.
Speaker A:I was posting on Instagram for maybe, I want to say, six or seven months.
Speaker A: And it went viral in November: Speaker A:So that means all the videos that I posted from November to January also went viral.
Speaker A:So I had videos from like almost 400k top, and then I think the bottom end was like maybe 11, 000.
Speaker A:So it did really well.
Speaker A:And I had like, maybe a lot of 11 or 12 videos alone, right?
Speaker A:And then I said, okay, let me post on YouTube.
Speaker A:Started posting on YouTube.
Speaker A:Now, my YouTube channel didn't start blowing up until early this year.
Speaker B:Oh, this is the most recent.
Speaker A:The most recent.
Speaker A:And I think I had maybe just over 2,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Speaker A:And this is after having that channel for over 10 years.
Speaker A:And for some reason, one of those videos in the series started just blowing up out of nowhere.
Speaker A:And one day I logged in and I was like, oh, I think at the time I had almost 100k.
Speaker A:And I was like, where did this come from?
Speaker A:Just out of nowhere.
Speaker A:And it kept building and building and building and building and Building to now, it has almost half a million views.
Speaker A:And I just hit 1 million lifetime views on YouTube.
Speaker A:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:Well, congrats on that.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's big.
Speaker B:That's really cool.
Speaker A:That is really cool.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:And that's crazy because it's YouTube again, it's a very difficult platform, especially if you're not consistent on there.
Speaker A:Like, it's very hard to pull numbers.
Speaker A:But I said, okay, I already went viral on TikTok.
Speaker A:I went viral on Instagram to make YouTube happen, and it happened.
Speaker A:And I have one video that it accounts for almost half of my lifetime views.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:So there's one.
Speaker A:And I have other videos that are getting up there as well too.
Speaker A:So it's possible.
Speaker A:It took a long time, but I always say everything in its timing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you put in a lot of work.
Speaker B:You're consistent.
Speaker B:You did a lot.
Speaker B:So let me break a couple things down because I want people listening to get something from this that they can apply to.
Speaker B:Because it's, you know, for me, it seems like you get a lot of the same, like, you're doing really well.
Speaker B:And then you're like, I might have been listening, taking notes, saying, all right, Instagram's my thing.
Speaker B:And then you start talking about TikTok.
Speaker B:I'm like, no, scratch that.
Speaker B:Tick Tock's my.
Speaker B:And now it's YouTube.
Speaker B:So then it's like, here's my.
Speaker B:Here's one question, because I know we can go all over with this, but as far as now posting and being active and engaging people on multiple platforms.
Speaker B:Are you, Are you.
Speaker B:How are you repurposing content?
Speaker B:Like, is it because it's the same, Some of the same videos?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Like, how are, how do you approach using videos in multiple different ways on different platforms?
Speaker B:Maybe that's something that can get people kind of started in this, thinking it through a bit.
Speaker A:Well, I know for me, I was posting the same video, but I would change up the captions and the hashtags.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I've also seen people post shorter clips of that and then direct them to the other platforms.
Speaker A:I mean, I wasn't really doing that.
Speaker A:I was kind of.
Speaker A:It was kind of a build up where, you know, I started that series on TikTok.
Speaker A:And then I just decided, okay, let me start posting this on Instagram.
Speaker A:But the thing is, with that series, I just was posting where I left off from.
Speaker A:Tick Tock.
Speaker A:So there were videos that never made it.
Speaker A:They were never made.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Videos that never made it to Instagram.
Speaker A:Because what happened was I was Posting on Tick Tock.
Speaker A:And then one day I decided I should probably be posting this on Instagram.
Speaker A:So whatever the next set of videos were in line, I was posting on Tick Tock and Instagram at the same time.
Speaker A:I just changed the.
Speaker A:Change the captions and then I continued the series.
Speaker A:And then when it went viral on Instagram, I just kept posting on both between Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker A:And then I decided, okay, let me start posting these on YouTube.
Speaker A:So again, wherever I left off, I posted on YouTube.
Speaker A:And then what I ended up doing was this year I went back and I posted the videos that never made it.
Speaker A:So the videos that I never posted on YouTube, I did a full batch post over two months on YouTube.
Speaker A:I did the same thing on Instagram and I did the same thing on TikTok.
Speaker A:So whatever, I didn't finish or I didn't start so that I have a library across three ecosystems where all 170 videos are available across all three platforms, depending on what your flavor is.
Speaker A:Now the thing with these platforms is they all serve a different purpose.
Speaker A:Now I see YouTube as kind of like the community based platform, okay.
Speaker A:Where it's gonna get funneled regardless.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:I also kind of see it as a legacy platform as well too.
Speaker A:Tick Tock is more short form, like.
Speaker A:But now a lot of people are dropping longer content on TikTok because you couldn't do that before, but now you can post a 10 minute video and people will actually watch it.
Speaker A:But TikTok is an interesting one because their algorithms are changing all the time, where sometimes it's keep your videos at 10 to 15 seconds.
Speaker A:Then it's, oh, you should start posting photos and be able to do a carousel, which Instagram is already doing.
Speaker A:And then it's, no, we want you to post longer videos.
Speaker A:So TikTok is one of those ones where you kind of just have to do what works for you.
Speaker A:Because I noticed like some of my view counts were low and I was like, what's happening?
Speaker A:They're like, oh, you have to engage in other people's content.
Speaker A:So it breaks the.
Speaker A:At this point, I don't really care much about Tick Tock anymore because, you know, I already built a series and it's still funneling.
Speaker A:We're still watching viewers, people are still watching stuff.
Speaker A:So I don't really pay much attention to it.
Speaker A:It's really.
Speaker A:I'm focused on YouTube now because now my YouTube channel is growing and I'm close to 10K subscribers now.
Speaker A:And Facebook is also a legacy platform.
Speaker A:As well too.
Speaker A:But it's more catered to family.
Speaker A:So if you go on people's Facebook pages, you'll see that they post a lot of stuff about their family and just like milestones and all that.
Speaker A:So you have to kind of see what Facebook is and they all serve a different purpose.
Speaker A:Instagram is all over the place at this point.
Speaker A:But I'm finding that.
Speaker A:A lot of people's content is like, make sure you have the captions, put the captions.
Speaker A:So if you're talking, make sure you have the captions in your video so people can read the captions.
Speaker A:And now I think they just introduce multi language captions as well too.
Speaker A:But I think that's an automatic thing.
Speaker A:So if you do have captions, it will translate into wherever people are or whatever.
Speaker A:I think so.
Speaker A:I think I just saw that recently.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you really have to study these platforms.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Kind of just post based on what it is and I've kind of learned to do that over time and I've just learned to.
Speaker A:Whatever content I come out, just make sure I post it on every platform.
Speaker B:Yeah, I guess that seems to be what it's come down to.
Speaker B:It looks like you got probably some.
Speaker B:What you didn't say.
Speaker B:I'm imagining you must have gotten some spikes all around by going back and kind of catching up on what you hadn't posted before.
Speaker A:Right, I did that.
Speaker B:Probably.
Speaker A:Instagram, I got spikes.
Speaker A:YouTube, I got spikes.
Speaker A:TikTok.
Speaker A:I mean, TikTok, it was the origin, the origin of work, word worship.
Speaker A:So I think I was only missing two videos or three videos.
Speaker A:So I just posted three videos and just kept it moving.
Speaker A:But my goal was to have this series available on all three platforms.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Obviously Facebook is not in there because it kind of started on Facebook late and because you can, when you can set your settings.
Speaker A:So if whatever you post on Instagram, post is on Facebook.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah, Right.
Speaker A:But it was really Instagram, tick tock and YouTube that I wanted to have the series available.
Speaker A:Because you have people who have their.
Speaker A:Their preferred social media platform.
Speaker B:Yeah, of course.
Speaker A:So you have people who only like YouTube or they only like TikTok or they only like Instagram.
Speaker A:So I said, okay, let me make sure that the series is available on all three platforms.
Speaker B:Makes sense.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You want to meet people where they are.
Speaker B:I like YouTube because you can search for things, you can go directly to it.
Speaker B:That is the way that I like to live my life.
Speaker B:So I get it.
Speaker B:A lot of people just like to scroll and come across things and have suggestions.
Speaker B:I don't want none of that.
Speaker B:I want to know exactly what I know what I'm looking for.
Speaker B:I want to find that thing, yeah, the four chord worship, blah blah blah, D minor, whatever kind of progression.
Speaker B:I want to find that.
Speaker B:Come to me.
Speaker B:So it's smart that you're reaching people because everybody's a little bit different in their approach to learning.
Speaker B:And then I know social media is not only just learning, it's entertainment, inspiration, education, maybe, maybe some more.
Speaker B:But I guess those are like the basic three categories of it.
Speaker B:And again, making this practical for people listening.
Speaker B:So let's say someone's just starting off on their social media.
Speaker B:They have like, I don't know, 100 followers across all their platforms.
Speaker B:I don't think they're expecting to get much further than that too quickly, but it's possible.
Speaker B:But what would you give them as like a couple things to think about or like first steps in just starting to approach building platforms?
Speaker B:Or maybe you say start with one.
Speaker B:Like what's your advice there?
Speaker A:Well, I mean right now it's kind of hard to start with one because there's, you have access to everything now.
Speaker A:So I think before you even get started is decide what do you want your page?
Speaker A:Like what do you want people to get from your page?
Speaker A:That's the first thing to think about.
Speaker A:Like, what do you want to get?
Speaker A:Like, if you're a musician, cool.
Speaker A:What can you do that you're good at that's gonna serve the greater good?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, seriously, because there's so much music content.
Speaker A:But how are you gonna, how you.
Speaker A:And the, and the, the thing you have to remember is you have to be able to stand out in a crowd of musicians because there's a lot of piano players, there's a lot of players, everybody.
Speaker A:And everybody's doing the same thing.
Speaker A:So how can you stick out?
Speaker B:It's true.
Speaker B:That's a big.
Speaker A:And then the third thing you have to remember is you have to be consistent.
Speaker A:So I say if you are going to plan to be a content creator, be prepared to be consistent because you can't just start and then stop.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Unless you're taking a break.
Speaker A:Because breaks.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:Because I've had to take content breaks, I think.
Speaker A:And what a lot of people didn't even notice is that there was two months where I didn't post Four Chord Worship.
Speaker A:I took a break from the series, but I needed that content break because I had been posting non stop for 10 years.
Speaker A:So I didn't post.
Speaker A:I didn't post for two months.
Speaker A:I didn't post that series.
Speaker A:And then I just popped back up randomly.
Speaker A:I didn't tell anybody.
Speaker B:You had to tell anybody.
Speaker A:But I did it.
Speaker A:Yeah, but here's the thing.
Speaker A:It's going to be tough in the beginning because it's.
Speaker A:It's going to be like, I have to do this.
Speaker A:But you don't have to go big right away.
Speaker A:Just choose one thing that you know you can keep up for multiple weeks and just choose one day of the week.
Speaker A:And say, I'm gonna commit to posting this every Tuesday or every Monday or every Saturday, and I'm just gonna post it every week because that's the only way you're gonna be seen, is you have to be consistent.
Speaker A:You can't just be post once and done and expect people to see it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And like, pace yourself.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because you might say, oh, man, there's people saying, you got to post 3 times a day and all this other stuff, and I don't know who can do that.
Speaker B:Starting off, it seems like, impossible.
Speaker B:You're gonna burn out.
Speaker B:It's like running a.
Speaker B:But you start off full speed.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's why it's interesting.
Speaker A:Like when I go on Tech Talk and I see some of these creators say, oh, you got to post every day.
Speaker A:No one has time for that.
Speaker A:You're going to burn out after two weeks.
Speaker A:Just going to tell you if you.
Speaker B:Make it to the end.
Speaker A:Know from experience, because I tried that once and I was like, never again.
Speaker A:Or you have those people who are like, you need to post three times a day.
Speaker A:I said.
Speaker A:No, I don't know about that.
Speaker B:That I'm going to burn out three times a day.
Speaker B:Maybe not.
Speaker A:Not post.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's nuts.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But the.
Speaker A:The key is to be consistent with little.
Speaker A:And if you with little, then it will grow into much bigger.
Speaker A:It's just like, I have to do this because I'm going to tie my anything that I do back to my faith, where if God can't trust you with little, he can't trust you with bigger.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Big ones.
Speaker A:So if you can't be consistent with little, how do you expect to be consistent with bigger?
Speaker A:Oh, and a lot of people miss that.
Speaker A:They say, well, you know, I gotta do all these things all at once.
Speaker A:I said, you're gonna burn out after one month, and then you're not gonna be able to do anything.
Speaker B:And you won't learn the lessons either.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:No, you don't.
Speaker A:And it's Trial and error.
Speaker A:I tell people this all the time.
Speaker A:There's no perfect, like.
Speaker A:And, like, there's no perfect thing.
Speaker A:And don't be afraid to pivot.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Done that very well.
Speaker A:I've pivoted so many times.
Speaker A:I've had so many ideas.
Speaker A:I've had, like, scrambled with different ideas until I finally got something and I'm like, okay, good.
Speaker A:I have my system in place now.
Speaker A:I can replicate the system into different things moving forward.
Speaker A:But, I mean, I'm not expecting it to take you 10 years like it did for me.
Speaker A:But maybe it does.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:Because it took me around that time to really see some traction on social media, Especially, again, doing something unique.
Speaker A:I'm not doing.
Speaker A:And that's the other thing.
Speaker A:I'm not doing anything to follow the trends out there because you will get lost in the sauce following the trends.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You have to stand out of the trends and you have to do something different if you want to get the traction that you're looking for.
Speaker A:But you got to start small first.
Speaker B:True.
Speaker B:All right, so let's jump away from social media.
Speaker B:So are there any, like, do you do any other sort of marketing outside of social media, though?
Speaker B:I mean, I know you have merchandise, so that kind of counts.
Speaker B:But, like, outside of those things, I.
Speaker A:Mean, I try my best, but honestly, like, social media is where I started that kind of.
Speaker A:Course, the majority of my.
Speaker A:My marketing is on social media, but.
Speaker B:Okay, okay.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:And of course, everybody will learn this, that at.
Speaker A:You can't do everything yourself.
Speaker B:That's a fact.
Speaker A:And I, I, as an artist, I've done everything myself for a majority of my career, and I had to learn to be more trusting with delegation.
Speaker A:And it's not easy.
Speaker A:It's easier said than done.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:But also what I realize is a lot of, you know, habits that we pick up are due to whatever we dealt with.
Speaker A:Inner childhoods, trauma, all of that stuff.
Speaker A:So when I made a conscious decision to work on myself, yep, I saw patterns break.
Speaker A:My trust opened up a little bit, but I had to deal with myself.
Speaker A:And a lot of people forget, hey, you got to deal with yourself if you want to be successful in life, you have to deal with yourself.
Speaker A:And if you're not willing to deal with yourself, you're not going to grow, you're not going to evolve.
Speaker A:You're just going to stay stagnant where you are.
Speaker A:And yeah, I had this sense of, like, I need to control everything, but I realized that I was stagnant.
Speaker A:I wasn't growing the way that I wanted to, because I'm trying to control everything.
Speaker A:And you can only control what you do.
Speaker A:You can't control what other people are doing.
Speaker A:You can't control what people are saying.
Speaker A:But if you keep holding on tight to everything, you're not going to grow.
Speaker A:So I realized, okay, I need to work on myself and figure out why I have these tendencies.
Speaker A:So when I decided to go inward and work on myself, it translated outward.
Speaker A:And that's why you see the success that I have is because, number one, I worked on myself.
Speaker A:Number two, I let go of control of everything and I said, hey, God, I'm just gonna leave it up to you.
Speaker A:You do whatever you gotta do, and I'm gonna do what I need to do on my end, and you do what you got to do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But it's a mindset you have to know within yourself, hey, I need to go inward.
Speaker A:And this is why you notice that some creators aren't really posting much these days anymore because they realize I need to deal with myself, so I need to take a break.
Speaker B:A lot of, yeah, superficial and, you know, others expect from you and all the giving.
Speaker B:But yeah, if you don't go in, you're right.
Speaker B:It's kind of.
Speaker B:You're going to fall flat, burn out.
Speaker B:You're going to run into massive walls that you can't really get around until you listen.
Speaker B:Base what it is, right.
Speaker A:So you have to.
Speaker A:And that's big.
Speaker A:Because I did that, my team started growing, so I didn't have to be Desiree who does it all anymore.
Speaker A:I could be.
Speaker A:I could delegate certain tasks to different people.
Speaker A: tist consultant that I met in: Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And she works with underrepresented artists and bipoc artists, and we connected and.
Speaker A:And she deals with all of my administrative stuff, like epk prestige stuff that I don't have to worry about so I can focus on other things and I pay her to do it.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker A:And I finally got to meet her last year in Germany, when I was out in Germany, because she's from.
Speaker B:That's cool.
Speaker B:That's cool.
Speaker A:So it was nice for us to finally, like, connect.
Speaker A:And then I said, okay, obviously I need to do more than social media marketing, because obviously with my music, I have to market outside of social media.
Speaker A:So I have to connect with, you know, public relations and press and people who are in that category.
Speaker A: Team called buzz music since: Speaker A:And they have been able to get me on different, you know, press websites and all of that.
Speaker A:So I let them handle it.
Speaker A:So anytime I have a music release, hey guys, can you do what you do?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, makes sense.
Speaker A:So that I don't have to do the push because before I was the one researching and submitting and I don't want to do this anymore.
Speaker A:So I learned to.
Speaker A:But I, but the important thing is relationship.
Speaker A:That's what I was going to get to next.
Speaker A:Relationships.
Speaker A:It wasn't just a one off and then I just dashed people away.
Speaker A:No, I actually stayed and I built the relationship.
Speaker A:So every release I went back to, to them, I like the first one I said, okay, what can you do with this release?
Speaker A:And that's how I built my trust with them.
Speaker A:To be like, hey, you guys deal with it and I'll pay you.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was tough for me at one point to do, but now I can do that because I said you kind of, you have to open it up.
Speaker A:You have to open up and just let people do and see.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:Let them prove themselves to you.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And they proved themselves over a course of five years and I trusted them enough to be like, hey, this is my next release.
Speaker A:Do what you must.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:So now I have public relations on that side music wise now also because I'm a content creator, I also have PR on that side where I, I think I posted this earlier this year where I became an influencer with Orange Model Management.
Speaker A:Now they're a management, they're a model management company but they opened an influencer division and they asked me to be part.
Speaker A:So now I'm part of that so anything lifestyle, brand.
Speaker A:They fight for me behind the scenes so I don't have to do it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I don't know if you saw social media recently and people will probably see this that I got chosen to do a national international campaign with Western Union.
Speaker B:I'd not heard that one.
Speaker B:Please.
Speaker A:Yeah, I just posted it on it just posted this week.
Speaker A:I wasn't allowed to say anything because NBA.
Speaker A:But yeah, I got chosen to do a international campaign with Western Union and that's currently circulating right now.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But again that was thanks to Orange Model Management and result those relationships and a result of all the work that I've been doing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So of course it's, there's a, there's so many.
Speaker A:Tiers little pieces, like, all these pieces together.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But for me, it was like, okay, I don't want to have to do these things where I'm reaching out to these brands anymore, because it's a lot of work, and I don't necessarily have the connections.
Speaker A:So if I can connect with people who have the connections, I'm just gonna let them funnel it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And then even on the music side, I have a co producer who helps me with my music.
Speaker A:So it's working smarter and not harder.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And you could get more done.
Speaker B:And you're building a team.
Speaker B:And people are working to their strengths, too.
Speaker B:Because I know as a do it yourselfer, you try.
Speaker B:You have to figure everything out, which you can do, but it's at the cost of your time and everything else.
Speaker B:And it's hard because you say, you know what?
Speaker B:Why would I pay someone to do the thing that I can figure out and do myself?
Speaker B:Now I have to lose money and I lose control.
Speaker B:But learned, and I've learned that ultimately that's really the way to go, is to empower the people who you can count on to get it done, and they'll get it done better than you could.
Speaker A:But also, it's an investment.
Speaker A:That's the thing that people don't realize.
Speaker A:I said, yes, you can do everything yourself, and you can only do that for so long.
Speaker A:But you have to now invest money, time.
Speaker A:You have to invest in yourself.
Speaker A:So if you want to get to the next level, you have to let go of the reins, and you have to let go of control.
Speaker A:And you have to now bring in people.
Speaker A:Now, I'm not telling you to bring in whoever.
Speaker A:Yeah, just whoever.
Speaker A:You have to vet people.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Which is what I did.
Speaker A:And I built relationships with people over time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And when.
Speaker A:And not only that, you have to choose people that align with your vision and align with where you are and where you're going.
Speaker A:So you don't just hire any and anybody.
Speaker A:You have to.
Speaker A:You have to hire people that understand your vision and there's people that you can work with.
Speaker A:And yeah, they're good.
Speaker A:But do they align with where you are at and where you are going?
Speaker A:Can they see the bigger picture outside of the now?
Speaker A:And that's important as well, too.
Speaker B:That's huge.
Speaker B:That's really big.
Speaker B:So that's.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:This is good.
Speaker B:This is a good point we're on right here.
Speaker B:So now, again, thinking backwards a little bit, too, there's this also another balance here.
Speaker B:Like, when is the time to bring others on.
Speaker B:So you have your vision, you're working your butt off, you're tying yourself out, you're making some traction.
Speaker B:And it's like, it's that crucial point where it's like, you know, like, how did you come to say now's a good time to start bringing other people on and start letting other people in to help me with this next leg of the journey?
Speaker A:No, I know for me, when my visibility started growing to where it is and even before, because I've been with buzz music before, I started blowing up.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And it doesn't necessarily have to be when you start blowing up.
Speaker A:You could start earlier than that.
Speaker A:Because even with my relationships with my artist consultant and my.
Speaker A:My co producer and buzz music, like buzz music has been with me from day.
Speaker A:Pretty much day one.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And it's just, you know, now that relationship has expanded because they realize, like, we've been with her for such a long time.
Speaker A:We want to stay put and we want to help continue to build her legacy and build on her vision because they recognize that, whoa, she's got something here, something there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So sometimes it's, you know, the people who have been paying attention for so long, they're like, oh, we want to stick around.
Speaker A:We want to help you get to where you need to because, you know, they understand, like, we have the resources to help you get to this next stage.
Speaker A:Sometimes that's how it happens.
Speaker A:Now, if it doesn't happen for you like that, I mean, you.
Speaker A:It's over time thing where you have to just learn to build the trust.
Speaker A:And if you like what that person is doing for you, you just kind of maintain that relationship until, you know, if your visibility starts growing.
Speaker A:And then if they decide like, hey, we want to stick around, cool, if that means you have to pivot, pivot.
Speaker A:Responsibly, but pivot responsibility responsibly.
Speaker B:That's true.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You don't want to be all over the place.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker B:And on this relationship piece, because it's huge.
Speaker B:It's really, I believe it's really everything in life.
Speaker B:It's how you treat people.
Speaker B:Around you.
Speaker B:It's, you know, it's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's huge.
Speaker B:You've done really well at this too.
Speaker B:And you talked about alignment and, you know, working with people that align with you.
Speaker B:I mean, that also would expand to, you know, in different realms of this space that we're in.
Speaker B:So companies also that align with your values and all of that good stuff.
Speaker B:And as musicians and artists and, you know, different forms of creators.
Speaker B:People are always chasing the dream of being able to work with, like, bigger companies, the ones that are known, the ones that are kind of getting talked about on social.
Speaker B:How have you approached that?
Speaker B:Because I know that you've definitely aligned with some, not only great musicians and your collaborations, but some companies as well.
Speaker B:What's it been like?
Speaker B:Like, how do those come about?
Speaker B:Or what kind of work does it take for you to reach people and people to reach you directly?
Speaker B:Is that social media again?
Speaker B:Or is that.
Speaker B:Is there more to it?
Speaker A:Social media does play a part in it as well as relationships.
Speaker A:And then also sometimes within those relationships, you don't know who those people know.
Speaker A:It's true too, which was the case with me.
Speaker A:Like, I knew, yeah, I'm not going to get certain opportunities because just of who I am and what I do, which I realized early.
Speaker A:So I said, okay, let's build social media.
Speaker A:So, and this goes back to my point where I said that I'm ahead of my time because a lot of the things that people are doing now, I've been doing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it was just realizing, like, okay, well, if I'm not going to make it yet as the performer doing all these big shows, I have to find another way to do it.
Speaker A:So social media was my thing.
Speaker A:So I built my social media page and I realized that a lot of these companies look at social media.
Speaker A:It might not have been like that in the past, but it is now.
Speaker A:Where that's probably one of the places they're looking is social media.
Speaker A:And I'll speak to the current endorsements that I have.
Speaker A:And again, these are because of social media and because of relationships and with Yamaha, specifically.
Speaker A:Yamaha.
Speaker A:Well, even before I say Yamaha, I've always wanted to, you know, be endorsed by piano companies.
Speaker A:And I felt like, okay, well, I'm on my way there.
Speaker A:I may not be there yet, but I'm on my way.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because this was early in my career.
Speaker A:I think I was maybe four years in.
Speaker A:So I realized, okay, I probably don't have the resume yet, but this is something that I want to work towards.
Speaker A:But I said, let me prepare myself ahead of time and write the pitch.
Speaker A:So I wrote my pitch and I shelved it.
Speaker A:I shelved it for a few years and I kept working, I kept grinding.
Speaker A:So when the moment came, I was ready.
Speaker A:And a lot of people, they want the opportunities, but they don't prepare themselves ahead of time.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You say you want to be endorsed by Yamaha or Nord or Corg or Hammond.
Speaker A:Or this company?
Speaker A:In this company, number one, have you done the research on that company?
Speaker A:Do you know that company's values?
Speaker A:Did those companies values align with you?
Speaker A:Why are you doing it?
Speaker A:Because a lot of people just do it just for the sake of doing it.
Speaker A:But why is it then those really.
Speaker A:Then those relationships don't last because you're doing it for the wrong reason.
Speaker A:The wrong reasons.
Speaker A:And then it doesn't align with where you are because I've seen people end up leaving companies.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:But you have to.
Speaker A:You have to know what that company stands for.
Speaker A:And does their vision move like, their vision moving forward, does it align with where you are going?
Speaker A:You know, now, Yamaha at the time aligned with me because they are making waves and that's something that I'm doing.
Speaker A:So that initially was like, okay, I want to do that.
Speaker A:But also I noticed that there was a lack of representation of.
Speaker A:My people in there as well.
Speaker A:Because I knew that because I did my research right, and it's important to do the research right.
Speaker A:But also it.
Speaker A:These companies are weird sometimes, you know?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But this is why you got to do your homework.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I did my homework on all these companies.
Speaker A:I saw the types of artists that they had.
Speaker A:I was looking for diversity, I was looking for inclusion, I was looking for representation.
Speaker A:I was like, I noticed the gaps, I noticed the lack of thereof.
Speaker A:And I was like, okay, do I fit this gap?
Speaker A:Does there align?
Speaker A:Does their vision align with me and can I fit that gap that's missing right now?
Speaker A:Yamaha obviously was on my radar and I don't think I sent anything in at the time.
Speaker A:So I kind of just had that pitch.
Speaker A:Actually, I had the pitch written for Nord because Nord was who I was going after first initially.
Speaker A:And I remember, I remember sending something before I sent it to Yamaha and.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:I know the process in Canada is very interesting when it comes to Nord.
Speaker A:They sent me a package and I had to fill the package and sent it back out.
Speaker A:Never heard anything for a while.
Speaker A:So I said, okay, cool, no problem.
Speaker A:I ended up doing something in Ajax and I met a lady there and we were just talking about music and just out of the blue, she said her husband worked at Yamaha.
Speaker A:And I'm like.
Speaker A:Okay, I don't know why you're telling me this, but okay, cool.
Speaker A:Anyways, I got home that.
Speaker A:That evening and she messaged me and sent me.
Speaker A:Her husband's information is at the email him.
Speaker A:And she didn't know that I was actively pursuing.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Endorsements.
Speaker A:So Sometimes it happens like that where it's just you talk and people recognize and they want to help you.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's that, right?
Speaker A:Or in the case of my endorsements with Hammond Organ and Juicy Ears, that was because of relationship.
Speaker A:Now, most people, they don't know, they should know this now that I have a standing, long standing friendship with my Brill.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Yeah, we met during COVID Before COVID actually, I should say before COVID And this was a result of social media again.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Where he saw one of my videos on social media, must have came up for him, and he liked it.
Speaker A:And then somebody from Toronto recognized the name and commented that he liked it.
Speaker A:Now, I didn't know him, know him to the extent of who he was.
Speaker A:I didn't know until I did my research and I looked him up and I was like, oh, you big, big.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So the conversation didn't just happen right away.
Speaker A:It was kind of just like a progression.
Speaker A:And then he messaged me out of the blue and we had a conversation and we built a friendship from just.
Speaker A:From there and just.
Speaker A:Just like from mutual.
Speaker A:And he was, you know, just commending me on the work that I've been doing and stuff like that.
Speaker A:And I remember on one of my trips to la, he.
Speaker A:Because he lives in la, and we got to, like, meet up and connect and all that.
Speaker A:So that was great.
Speaker A:And when I was going to namm.
Speaker A:I saw him.
Speaker A:That was the first time I went to namm, and he would always say, like, you know, you got to go on the last day.
Speaker A:You got to go on the last day because that's where, you know, you get all the connections.
Speaker A:And I was like, okay.
Speaker A:I wasn't even planning on going the last day.
Speaker A:He's like, no, you have to come.
Speaker A:I'll come pick you up.
Speaker A:Wherever you are, I'll pick you up.
Speaker A:So he picks me up, he drove me down to namm, and we were just in the car, in the car having a conversation.
Speaker A:I was talking about the headphones that I was using.
Speaker A:I think I was using shure at the time.
Speaker A:And he was like, no, no, no, you gotta.
Speaker A:You gotta go check out the company that I'm with.
Speaker A:They're called Juicy Ears.
Speaker A:I was like, okay, cool.
Speaker A:He's like, matter of fact, I'll bring you there.
Speaker A:So he brought me to the, to the, to the, to the booth.
Speaker A:And I got to talk to the CEO and he was just raving about me.
Speaker A:And he was like, yeah, you need to do something.
Speaker A:He's like no endorser.
Speaker A:They endorse me right on the spot.
Speaker A:So a lot.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then the same thing happened with Ham and Organ where I went over and I got to meet Kim Tibbs, who's an amazing organ player and she's like, yeah, we need more of us in this.
Speaker A:Because she realized that there was a lack.
Speaker A:And I got to talk to the guy who's in charge of that and he sent me his phone number and said, send me your stuff.
Speaker A:And they had my picture on the screen same day.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But again, this is a result of the work.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:This is why I tell people like, you have to do the work, but also.
Speaker A:Yeah, relationship.
Speaker A:I stress relationships.
Speaker A:I also stress good character.
Speaker A:I also stress kindness.
Speaker A:Kill them with kindness.
Speaker A:Treat people the way you want to be treated because people will always remember what you did for them and not what you do.
Speaker A:They will remember how you treated them before.
Speaker A:They remember your talent.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And people think that they can, you know, go through the music industry just based off their talent alone.
Speaker A:No, people talk.
Speaker B:Not enough.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's so people talk.
Speaker A:And these circles, they're not as big as you think they are.
Speaker A:And you'd be surprised who certain people know.
Speaker A:And it's important to treat people with kindness and build relationships and don't just use people and just only be an opportunist.
Speaker A:Don't use people and don't be an opportunist.
Speaker A:I will say it because it's the truth.
Speaker A:Don't be a user and don't be an opportunist, but also have integrity.
Speaker A:Please have some integrity because that's important as well.
Speaker A:If you really want to be successful, you have to like.
Speaker A:Sometimes it takes self out of it.
Speaker B:Real.
Speaker B:No, you're right.
Speaker A:Get.
Speaker A:Stick self out of it.
Speaker A:Not just what can you get.
Speaker A:How can you be of service?
Speaker A:Like, you know, building relationships with these people and having long standing relationships, you know, because it's important.
Speaker A:You treat it like, like a friendship.
Speaker A:You know, like you check in, but you don't just check in because they need something, but you genuinely check in.
Speaker A:How you doing?
Speaker A:Like I really want to maintain this relationship.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:It's not just a transaction.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:A lot more to it.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:This is key.
Speaker B:I mean, I'll just ask you a couple more things here.
Speaker B:I know you've gone through a lot, there's tons of people to learn, but you're doing a lot of cool things.
Speaker B:I don't even think we've got to some of.
Speaker B:Some of the newer ones at least.
Speaker B:So in the last little while, you were.
Speaker B:You gotta tell me about this because there's some things here.
Speaker B:So you were nominated for a Grammy?
Speaker A:Well, I wasn't nominated.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:I was Grammy considered.
Speaker B:Okay, whatever.
Speaker B:It's okay.
Speaker B:You got the one Grammy in there.
Speaker B:Considered for a Grammy.
Speaker A:I was, yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, break that down.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A: So in: Speaker A:Now people ask, okay, can I vote?
Speaker A:Can I vote?
Speaker A:I said, no, you have to be a voting member to be able to vote in the bodies.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And there's a process for that as well, too.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And again, you also have to have a resume backing your name.
Speaker A:And social media.
Speaker A:Is also part of it too, because they want to see that you're active.
Speaker A:That's why I keep saying, like, hey, social media is.
Speaker A:As much as I don't, like, has helped me get where I am in my career.
Speaker B:It's big.
Speaker B:I can't deny it.
Speaker B:I cannot deny it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:I'm not going to explain the process because it's a really long process.
Speaker A:Okay, we'll have time.
Speaker A:But once I became a member, I can now submit my own music.
Speaker B:Gotcha.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So there's a process to even that step.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:So once you become a voting member, you can submit your music and you have five complimentary entries.
Speaker A:Okay, Right.
Speaker A:And then after the five, I think there's a fee depending on the time frame.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It ranges in price between 40 and $120 US.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So the first year that I became a member, I did not submit.
Speaker A:And that was because my album Adventure came out after the eligibility period.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:This is the thing, you have to know the eligibility period in order to make sure that you're able to submit.
Speaker A:And you have to check.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I already knew off the bat that that album was not going to be submitted because it came out after the eligibility period.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:But here's the funny thing.
Speaker A:Before I even became a member, the eligibility period was the end of September.
Speaker A:And then they changed it.
Speaker A:Just as I was getting ready to, like, put my album, they changed.
Speaker A:They pushed it back to August.
Speaker A:So the eligibility period was.
Speaker A:I believe it was August 31st to September 30th.
Speaker A:That's what it was before.
Speaker A:And that's when I first entered the academy.
Speaker A:That's what it was.
Speaker A:But then as I was working on the album, they released, like, a press statement saying that they changed the eligibility period to August 30th.
Speaker A:And I was like.
Speaker A:But, hey, the album was already scheduled to come out on my birthday and I wasn't changing it.
Speaker B:Yes, that was.
Speaker A:So I said, okay, fine, I guess I'll just have to submit this next year.
Speaker A:And it's funny, once, like, voting season came up, people were messaging me.
Speaker A:They're like, hey, like, we noticed you joined the academy.
Speaker A:Do you have anything up for consideration?
Speaker A:I said, no, not this year, but here's my project anyways.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I still.
Speaker A:Still shared the project with people, even though I wasn't.
Speaker A:I did submit that year.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:So fast forward.
Speaker A:I got to vote in my first Grammys and it was a very interesting process.
Speaker A:I didn't know all the things then that I do now as pertaining to voting and stuff like that.
Speaker A:I kind of just went in and I just voted for whoever and I also voted for some of the people that I knew.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I just kept it moving.
Speaker A:Now if I knew what I knew now, last year, I probably would have voted differently.
Speaker B:Oh, really?
Speaker A:But it's okay because Grammys happened and I was very happy with how the Grammys turned out last year.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So I said, cool, no problem.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A: Now Fast forward to: Speaker A:Now I'm getting ready to submit my album.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:I had friends.
Speaker A:I had a friend who won their first Grammy this past cycle.
Speaker A:And they kind of gave me just like advice and some tips and stuff to remember and whatnot.
Speaker A:Now I don't live in my current Grammy chapter, which is in New York, so I had to do some, some heavy lifting on my own.
Speaker A:So that was like, again, social media.
Speaker A:I use social media to really, like, push, but I had to do some research on there to try and find out who, who's in the academy.
Speaker A:And I used the hashtags to find different people and reach out.
Speaker A:And there are people that I had met last year and I was like, hey, like, like, this is my project.
Speaker A:This, these are the categories that I'm submitting for consideration, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:And I had somebody reach out and say, I know people who are voting in this category.
Speaker A:Give me your details.
Speaker B:Ah, okay.
Speaker A:I was like, okay, so I'm getting subtraction, I'm getting some help.
Speaker A:And he was like, well, you're gonna have to get the rest of your votes on your own.
Speaker A:I said, no problem, Let me get to work.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:So, and then I made my four year consideration.
Speaker A:Now people keep asking, like, what is that?
Speaker A:And keep seeing it everywhere.
Speaker A:So essentially what it is is your, like, pitch to all the academy members to consider your project when they're voting in first round.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So when you see all those for your consideration, and then people are listing the categories that they've submitted for.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So that's what that's about.
Speaker A:So it's basically a campaign.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So you're campaigning and.
Speaker A:And reaching out to, you know, voting members to consider your project when they're voting.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So that's what that is.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So I did that.
Speaker A:And some people get really fancy.
Speaker A:Some people have flyers, some people have websites, some people do a whole email blast and spend money and all of that.
Speaker A:It's a serious thing.
Speaker A:Now, obviously, I did not have the budget because, again, I didn't know all this stuff.
Speaker A:Right, you're learning.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm learning.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:This is my second year as a voting member, but my first year submitting as an artist, so I'm learning.
Speaker A:So in the future, I know what to do.
Speaker A:So it was a huge learning curve for me, but I had to obviously fill up all the information to submit, and then it's the academy who reaches back out to you to finalize your categories.
Speaker A:Because what's happening is there are voting committees that are listening to your projects, and sometimes they may find that your project or song is better suited in a different category and it will get switched, which is what happened to a lot of people this year.
Speaker A:And there was a lot of controversy about it as well.
Speaker A:And the fact that the timing and the.
Speaker A:The unfair advantage.
Speaker A:And also there was scrutiny behind who is actually making these decisions and do they have the ability to make these decisions in terms of people's projects?
Speaker A:I'm not sure if you watched.
Speaker A:There's a video that Major, who posted, I guess, speaking out to the Grammys about the process of, you know, how these committees are deciding where to put people's stuff, because people could submit their stuff for one category and then find out it gets switched.
Speaker A:And you're trying to figure out, well, a lot of these categories have.
Speaker A:Requirements, right?
Speaker A:And it's like you fit the requirements, and then you find out days before voting happens that your categories got switched after you spent all this time and money, you know, campaigning for these categories to find out you got switched last minute.
Speaker A:And I think that he was speaking towards that.
Speaker A:And it happened to me.
Speaker A:It happened to me.
Speaker A:It happened to me as well, too, but in the sense that I submitted to two album categories but realized I wasn't allowed to do that.
Speaker A:So here's the thing with the.
Speaker A:The Grammys is set up where there's different fields.
Speaker A:So there's 11 fields and there's a heading for each field.
Speaker A:Now, apparently in each of those fields, you can only choose like one album category.
Speaker A:But I did multiple.
Speaker A:But I didn't realize at the time.
Speaker A:So instead of having one committee listen to my project, I had two committees listen to my project.
Speaker A:And they ultimately decided to put it where they decided to put it.
Speaker A:So I said, fine, no problem.
Speaker A:But the thing is with that, it's.
Speaker A:It's the timing, it's who's doing it, and the fact that it's.
Speaker A:It's unfair.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:And they already made changes because the voting process was unfair because all the submissions were put in alphabetical order for voting so people wouldn't go through.
Speaker A:So they randomized all of people's names.
Speaker A:But even if you do that, people can still do the search bar and search for who they want.
Speaker A:So is it really fair?
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:But again, this is what it is, the Grammy season.
Speaker A:But anyways, I got the confirmation that my album was considered, so it showed up on the initial voting ballot.
Speaker A:Now, that's a huge deal for somebody like me who is independent.
Speaker A:I have never had to rely on a industry cosign.
Speaker A:I've never had to rely on a label backing me.
Speaker A:I did everything myself out of my own pocket, out of my own money.
Speaker A:To even get to this stage in my career is huge.
Speaker A:So even though I did not get the nomination, I am not worried because even just to reach this Grammy stage is a big deal.
Speaker A:And I know my time is coming, so I'm not, I'm not concerned.
Speaker A:There were people who reached out to me and they said they were upset that I wasn't nominated.
Speaker A:And I was like, listen, man.
Speaker A:I'm just happy that I was even considered.
Speaker B:It's a big, big deal and it's a part of your journey and you're learning constantly.
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker B:So we will stay tuned.
Speaker B:We will stay tuned to see what comes from, you know, this new chapter.
Speaker B:But you are doing, like, there's a mentorship program.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:So obviously, like, I consider myself to be an artist educator.
Speaker A:So I submitted for the Grammy mentorship program because I had also, like, I have a background of mentorship through Soundcheck, Youth Marigold Music program and Women in Music Canada.
Speaker A:I did the mentorship program with them as well too.
Speaker A:So I submitted.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:And I got accepted.
Speaker A:So I'm an official Grammy, you mentor.
Speaker A:And I will be mentoring a up and coming artist from my chapter in New York.
Speaker A:So I'm excited.
Speaker A:Starts start.
Speaker A:It's well, starting now, but my first session is in December, so.
Speaker B:Very cool.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's neat.
Speaker B:So there's, you know, I mean, there's all these layers of just different things as you go through this.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's cool.
Speaker B:It's cool.
Speaker B:I'm sure you're learning tons every.
Speaker B:Every day.
Speaker A:Every day I'm learning something.
Speaker A:I mean, and I think that there's this.
Speaker A:There's this thing with the Grammys that people think that it's just about voting and they don't realize that there's a lot more to the Grammys than what meets the eye.
Speaker A:Because when they hear Grammys, they hear, oh, well, it's, you know, it's just voting.
Speaker A:I said no.
Speaker A:There's a lot of ways for you to get involved.
Speaker A:Like, they have a peer networking program where you can connect with different people in the Grammy network in chapter.
Speaker A:They have events, they have Advocacy Day where you get to go in and you actually get to talk to political leaders about rights from musicians.
Speaker A:Like, it's actually a big deal.
Speaker A:And then they have, like, charities you can donate money and to.
Speaker A:To the work of, you know, getting more awareness for musicians and stuff like that.
Speaker A:There's so many things.
Speaker A:So it's not just about voting.
Speaker A:There's a lot of ways for you to get involved.
Speaker B:Lot.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's cool.
Speaker B:Well, I look forward to hearing, you know, the.
Speaker B:Continue.
Speaker B:Continue things.
Speaker B:You're working on the journey.
Speaker B:I mean, what's next?
Speaker B:You have.
Speaker B:I mean, we're about to hit a new year.
Speaker B:Anything that we should look out for or you should.
Speaker B:We just stay tuned?
Speaker A:Well, I mean, I just released my Christmas ep, the second half of Moments of Christmas, earlier this month.
Speaker A:And my show is coming up, Moments of Christmas live on Saturday, November 29.
Speaker A:So come out if you're not doing anything.
Speaker A:It's gonna be a great show.
Speaker A:I'm gonna be playing songs from both Movement 1 and Movement 2.
Speaker A:Prizes.
Speaker A:There'll be giveaways.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:I'm featuring a couple of Toronto vocalists.
Speaker A:And there's also a community portion to it as well, too, where a portion of ticket sales are going to a local food bank and also asking attendees to bring a non perishable food item.
Speaker A:Community is really important to me and giving back is really important to me.
Speaker A:And it's something that my parents always instilled in me as a kid and I use that show, which happens every other year.
Speaker A:So it's not a annual show, it's an every other year.
Speaker A:Show to give back to the community, so love it.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, thanks so much.
Speaker B:You've shared so much of, you know, your journey, but also advice and experiences that are super useful to probably anybody at any stage of their career as an artist, performer, creator.
Speaker B:Really useful stuff.
Speaker B:So, yeah, thank you for that.
Speaker B:Thank you for having the heart to not only continue and push yourself, but also bring people along with you any way that you can.
Speaker B:It's needed.
Speaker B:It's needed.
Speaker B:It's a great example.
Speaker B:Oh, before I say bye, let people know where to find you.
Speaker B:I know you said your name, but just shout out your socials or, you know, direct contact information for how people can reach you online.
Speaker A:Well, you can reach me on all social media platforms.
Speaker A:Ezire D Music, Socialist, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.
Speaker A:Those are the ones that I'm the most active on.
Speaker A:And then of course, you can check out all of my music under Desiree D on all digital streaming platforms.
Speaker A:Or you can just do a Google search for Desiree.
Speaker B:That always works.
Speaker B:All pop up right there.
Speaker A:And if you're interested in coming to the show, just check out my socials and get yourself a ticket.
Speaker A:Get tickets on Eventbrite or you can come to the venue and buy tickets out the door.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:29th.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah, thanks so much for your time once again and yeah, looking forward to hearing a lot more from you.
Speaker A:Sounds good.
Speaker A:Thanks for having me.
Speaker B:Of course.
Speaker B:Sam.
