October 23, 2024 • 47 mins
In episode 79, we talk about the insane concert ticket sales and why supporting venues direct, when possible, is important.
We also get into what record labels are supposed to do and how you can learn to do the same for your music.
Thank you for tuning in to the Metal Mastermind podcast. We hope that you enjoyed this week's episode.
Create your own sound,
Jason Stallworth & Ken Candelas
🔴 Metal Musician Courses & Resources:
https://metalmastermind.com/courses/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Eyes and girls as I just droppedmy phone and almost spilled my
coffee. Welcome to another episode of
Metal Mastermind, your Co host and Co founder here Jason
Stallworth, also Co host and Co founder with me The Great.
Ken Candelas, I always appreciate the great part of it.
You know, that's always really, really humbling to hear that.
(00:28):
Thank you. But I always think of the time
when we had Glenn Fricker on thepodcast several podcasts ago
when I when I said that he's like, So what makes you guys so
great? Who are you guys anyway?
That was hilarious. You know, hanging with Glenn,
though, he, he was a really cooldude.
I got AI, got a lot of love for the guy.
Super. Cool.
Last, I think one of the last times that we talked in the
(00:50):
podcast, I talked about meeting him in a person again at AES and
he was, he was such a vibe. You know, he's, he's really the
kind of guy who's just like, I like to sit at home and like be
alone and just like give me my space.
But he's a warm guy who really cares, which is really, really
great. So yeah, I really appreciate it.
(01:14):
So Jason, we're, we're talking about something I think that's
really relevant in the industry today.
You know, the idea of direct to consumer I see has become a
bigger topic these days, more than it used to.
And do you want to kick it off with what are your thoughts?
What have you been seeing on theInternet about it?
(01:36):
Well, I'll just say this and andguys, we're going to probably go
in several directions here because direct to consumer,
that's a big part of our hearts.And in course, as we get through
this, as we go through this today, you'll, you'll understand
why and then you'll probably understand why.
It's actually a big part of yourheart as well.
(01:56):
But I'll kick it off with this, Ken.
I was going to go see last week.I was going to go see Testament
creator and possessed. Actually, I think it was going
to be this Wednesday, this coming Wednesday in in Saint
Pete, Florida. Of course, the show was
cancelled because we had that huge hurricane.
We don't know, we talked about that last week.
I won't recap on that, but I mean, it was, it was a
(02:18):
devastating hurricane. We had Hurricane Milton.
So you know, lo and behold, the show was cancelled.
But as I was getting ready for it and I was really pumped for
it, I just went to some random ticket site.
It was like whatever came up on Google first and I went to that
site and the tickets were like 92 bucks and my, my buddies like
that's odd. I got them for 42 bucks.
I'm like, wait a minute, let me,I didn't go to the actual venue
(02:40):
website. Let me go because that's what I
usually do anyway, guys, I always, I rarely will.
I buy tickets from whatever Ticketmaster or whatever.
I always like to go direct to the venue site.
Even with airfare. I'll go direct to, you know, in
the pond if we're flying in the Japanese airline or I'll go to
Lufenza or whatever, right? So whichever way we're going for
(03:01):
any case, so I go directly to Janus live, which is in Saint
Pete. Tickets are 42 bucks.
They're half of what I would have been dishing out on this
other site. And I know some of you might be
thinking about duh, Jason, you know, always go direct and, and
I know that, but again, it was just one of those things where I
just wanted to just quickly do asearch, you know, on on the
tickets. And, and I'm glad I did because
I'm glad I saw that. I'm like, well, these people are
(03:23):
charging half of what the venue is charging, buying direct.
So that was kind of a that was kind of a wake up call and kind
of what, you know, spawned this conversation as we're talking
about this today. I wish I could have seen them,
man. I mean, dude, testament creator
and possess that would have beenthat would have been a
phenomenal show. I hope they come back soon.
(03:44):
But yeah, I mean that, you know,all this whole and we've seen
the news can like, you know, Ticketmaster screwing over
people and, and bands and, and probably even venues.
So I, I think there's a big market and something to be said
for really venues trying to trying their best.
I don't know all the insurance and outs, I won't pretend to
know. But if we can get around these
(04:05):
third parties and just make it so we can buy direct, I think
that's better for everybody, right?
Yeah, you know, there's a, there's a documentary floating
around. It's I think it's called
Corporate Greed has Ruined My Venue or something like that.
I've seen that. I've seen, I've seen them out,
(04:25):
Yeah. Yeah, and there's actually even
some Tampa based venues that areactually speaking out against.
This there is the crowbar in Ybor City was talking about this
and that might have been what you saw.
So I did watch that and actuallythey showcase him at the very
beginning and I think and and later in the end.
Now we are fortunate. Do we have course crowbar?
(04:46):
That's a great place in NewburghCity.
Here in Tampa Bay, we have the Orpheum.
I believe they're an independentvenue.
You can buy tickets through themand at the door of course we got
the famous brass, the Orpheum's famous too.
We got brass mug here you can buy tickets at the door.
When I played my show, we sold tickets online for 20 bucks and
we sold tickets at the door for 25 bucks.
(05:07):
There were 4 total bands. I was I was the opening act for
Siren Oblivion and Seasons the Wolf.
So thank you to everyone, anybody that's listening who
came to that show, thank you so much.
I met so many people from my YouTube channel and just of
course, locals. So I really appreciate you guys
coming to support that. But yeah, we, we sold out, man.
We, we had a packed house that night.
Again, though, it was a direct, it was a direct sell.
(05:30):
You'd have to go to ticket whoever or whatever.
You didn't have to go to any of those places to buy it.
It was direct. Yeah, and you know, there's AI.
Think there was a good reason for that, man.
You know, I've just been seeing that a lot of, and this has been
going on ever since like the 90s.
You know, I mean, like Pearl Jamwas like a big part of the
rebellion against these big giant companies who are taking,
(05:53):
you know, like we're talking like Live Nation and all this
kind of stuff. They're taking a huge cut that
leaves the venue basically high and dry and they're calling it,
you know, administrative fees and all this kind of stuff.
And it's like, well, now we're avenue would have made 30% profit
on, you know, a show they're making like 3%.
(06:15):
Like it's literally like, whoa, it's so much less.
And no wonder like venues are struggling, you know, to, to
keep their doors open. It's like all, all the the cost
is going basically straight to these corporate companies for
what you know. It's like that's my question.
For what? It's like there, there is.
(06:37):
And this is the same thing when it comes to, you know, record
labels and an independent artist, right?
You know, like the big market share for the longest of time
has been gate kept by record labels.
And you know, we when we had David Notesy on the podcast,
this was a very, very interesting conversation on how
record labels treat their artists and really how they take
(07:01):
artists that aren't as big as other ones that they're working
with. And they used the funds to
basically promote the bigger artists because those are the
ones that bring in the revenue. So they kind of ignore the small
time guys. And now we're seeing people who
are, you know, becoming savvy tothat.
(07:21):
Actually, I just looked up a video today.
Atlantic Records has just dropped 50 artists.
Dude, I thought I saw the headline somewhere yesterday.
Dude, what is what is that all about?
That's crazy. So it seems like the record
labels are are starting to really feel the effects of
(07:42):
people not like going to them anymore.
I feel that as record labels keep trying to spend money,
they're not recouping the money that they're spending as quickly
as they need to. I mean, this is this is evident
with things like streaming and all that kind of stuff.
(08:04):
But now artists they're, you know, they're not able to, to,
to get, you know, the support that they need that the record
labels want. They want results.
They want results quickly. They want, you know, otherwise
you get dropped. And I think that the record
labels are downsizing. They're trying to focus a little
bit more on the artists that are, you know, bringing in their
revenue. Big ones, right?
(08:25):
Yeah. Yeah, and they're kind of
letting go of the smaller ones rather than, you know, building
those guys up for the next generation of artists and all
that kind of stuff. Very interesting.
And I can't remember who we talked to in a, in a couple
several podcasts ago, but but hementioned, I don't know if it's
David or someone else, but but he mentioned the fact that
record labels now they're going to places like TikTok or
(08:48):
Instagram or whatever to, to seethese people.
They're just doing a dance skit and singing up there that have
millions of followers and, and they're going after them because
those people, whether you like the music or not, whether it's
talent OR not, whatever, that's different conversation.
But they have a big following and that's what they're after.
And it used to be that you got signed and then you grew.
(09:09):
Well, now I think record labels are just looking online on on
social media and YouTube to see who has a big following.
And they're just essentially taking a cut of of the
following, if you think about it.
Yeah. And it's like, when does that
make sense, right. You know, if you're already at a
point where you have a big following, how does it make
sense for you to just dive into a deal where they're going to
(09:30):
take a large portion, like 50%, they're going to take a large
portion of your revenue just so you have what representation,
dude? Like, I mean, even myself, like,
and I'm not going to say any names, but like after, you know,
going through my entire process of working with, you know,
(09:52):
Homeric's latest release, I'm, I'm, I'm noticing certain things
that are working out better thanothers, let's just say.
And I'm just like, you know, OK,well, this is one of those
things where because I own everything, right, I get the
power to choose to pivot how I want to, right, right.
Which is really powerful. And some of the old types of
(10:14):
ways of doing things. There's some value there, but
it's not everything. And I totally see that now.
And I even got confirmation I was actually talking to Alex
Nazla, who works with Spectre Media Group, was right alongside
Glenn Fricker. They're actually business
partners. So I love that.
And Alex, you know, I talked to him, I said, hey, you know, what
(10:36):
is this all about? And I asked him actually for
just some, some tips or some advice maybe he had.
And he was just like, OK, well, you know, I've actually started
to see the same situation, not just from this person, but from
other people. I was like, interesting.
So the industry is changing essentially.
So we have to be very cognizant.And last week we talked about
(10:58):
networking quite a lot, right? And this is where, again,
networking comes to play becauseyou have to make your own
connections now. It's not just, oh, let me hire
just this one person and then, you know, things will happen.
It's not the case. That could help, that could open
(11:19):
a door, but you still have to end up making that connection
yourself. And that's just something that
I'm noticing even on a bigger scale where, you know, when the
industry, as you grow higher up in the ranks, it gets a lot
smaller, right? And the people that you start
meeting are evidently a little bit more powerful in how they
(11:42):
can help you. And it's, it's very interesting
like to see that come together in real time.
As you know, you know, I'm a, you know, we're up and coming
artists and all this kind of stuff, but it's just, I don't
know, very odd, very, very weirdfrom what I was used to many,
many years ago, right. So a lot of perspective change.
(12:04):
And let's talk quickly about, about both the venues and record
labels in, in, in things like Ticketmaster, right?
So as far as record labels, let's talk briefly about what is
the job of a record label? And in, in my opinion, it's to
get the band notice, right? So we, we've got something,
we've got a band that's got somegood music.
(12:25):
We can work with this. We we love their sub genre or
whatever. So let's promote this ban and
let's get them out there. And the, the goal I would think
should be yes, the record label,they need to profit.
Obviously we all need to profit,guys.
I mean, we can't, you know, you can't escape that.
We all need to to eat and make aliving and then we should all do
that. But of course, when we get into
(12:47):
this corporate greed and it's just, it's, it's really over
spent overreaching for a long time and it's getting to the
point to where it's just absurd now, right, real quick, I'll,
I'll share this. I, I believe in a concept and
some may not agree with this. I, but I, I believe in a concept
called compassionate capitalism,meaning you can make however
(13:08):
much money you want to make, right?
And but you can, you can also dothat without being a Dick in
terms, right? You can also in, in other words,
can, if we were helping someone grow their music business, if,
if we ever get into that middle mastermind, which we've talked
about, if we're making all the money and the band's not really
making that much, Ken, that's our reputation, That's our name,
(13:31):
that's who we are. I don't want to be involved in
that dude. I, you know, so look at our
courses, for example, and we'll get back to the record label
here, but I, I kind of going on a, on a relevant rabbit trail
here. Our courses, for example, for
those of you who, who know what we do at Middle Mastermind, we
have courses for metal musicians.
We've got vocals. We've got, you guys know, I have
my guitar courses on there. We've got creators like Alfred
(13:54):
Potter, his sweet picking course.
We've got creators like Ellie, you know, she's part she's part
of our our vocals here. We've got a whole production
course, Nick Z. So our creators here, by the
way, all that's at metalmastermind.com.
Quick plug there. All of our creators, they get
85%. We only take 15% we can.
(14:14):
And honestly, that probably isn't the best business
decision. Don't model your business after
Metal Mastermind because you it's, it turns into a quite a
challenging thing. But that said though, we're
committed to our creators here and we're committed to the cost.
And again, you know, make make tasteful and good business
decisions. Yeah, I mean, we probably should
(14:36):
did like a, you know what, 35 something like that split,
right. But in any case that they get
85%. So we still do our best to
promote the courses that our creators are profiting the most
from. I think, I think our, our
business models like backwards for most businesses.
But hey, but you know what else?So can you and you and I have
(14:56):
talked about this. I believe in metal mastermind,
you believe in metal mastermind.And we will make this work just
because it's not set up like most other businesses to where
we just hoard everything and, and just give little crumbs to
our people. Screw that.
You know, we, we will make this work and we're making it work.
It is working. But all that said, you know, the
job of the record label really is to promote, promote that
(15:19):
band, right? Is to pour all their energy into
that band as if it if it were their own and promote that band.
But what does the record label do?
So, so they handle distribution,right?
They handle that. They handle marketing and
advertising. That's probably the biggest
thing. But what else does a record
label do? Candid, you know that I'm
missing here. I mean ANR so it'll help with
(15:43):
production, finances, management, promo, yeah,
executive, you know, decisions even like product management,
which is like overseeing everything, like all
departments, artwork, you know, ANR and everything like
overseeing all of that together.I mean, it's, it's a, it's a
(16:04):
whole team, you know, that's what you're getting from a
record label. The whole point of being an
artist on a record label is so that you don't have to do the
administrative stuff so you can focus on just being the artist.
But nowadays it's like it doesn't they, they don't even
care about that. They're just like, Hey, can I
like jump on your bandwagon? And then just like, you know, I
got, I got a couple connections that maybe we can do something
(16:26):
here. But basically the artist is
continuing to do the same thing that the artist is like forced
to do in an independent situation.
You know, they still have to go out there and they have to do
their own promo. They have to do their own, you
know, management sometimes even when it comes to like, you know,
overseeing certain production processes, like, you know,
you're not going to really have that kind of ANR guy anymore.
(16:49):
They don't. Record labels don't really have
a lot of ANR going on anymore. It's all based upon the
relationship between the artistsand now it feels like just an
executive who's got a bit of money to then upfront for
certain things that the artists can do.
And then the deal doesn't even really work out for the artists
in the end. Because now we're talking about
(17:10):
we're not making as much money from record sales anymore,
right? It's all about streaming and
streaming is like fractions of acent, right?
So that kind of money is not going to pay off those, you
know, returns and recouping as quickly as we would have done
before with CD sales and vinyl, you know.
(17:30):
So record labels and by the way,when it when a record label says
we're going to give you an advance, that advance is all
about, hey, that's supposed to be paid back on royalties, OK,
because we're upfronting the money to make the music, right.
So if they're making the music, it's the music that has to give
(17:54):
back the return of investment. So it's not by your T-shirts,
OK, It's not by, you know, mugs and all this merchandise that
you could make the money back through or even concert sales.
It's not even through that. It's through record sales.
So this is where it's like, and every time you, you, you start
(18:17):
saying, Hey, we're going to go, we're going to go on tour,
right? So, OK, no worries.
We'll upfront the money again, but that's going against your
sales. OK.
So it's an advance that keeps tagging on to a lot of artists
who are probably even right now,big name artists that still have
(18:40):
debts to pay because they keep promoting their music as they
should, but they keep needing the advance to upfront for costs
like a tour, cause tours are expensive.
It's easily going to cost like $150,000 just to get a tour up
and running. So, you know, 'cause you got to
pay your sound guy, you got to pay your lighting guy, you got
(19:00):
to pay your crew, you got to pay, you know, all the travel,
the gas, the, the, the leisures,the hotels, you know,
everything, the tolls, everything, right?
So that all goes on the record label advance and then that gets
charged back to you as royalties.
So you have to pay that back. And so artists a lot of times
never see the royalties. They have to make money on tour
(19:24):
because that's where they make their money through sales of
like T-shirts and stuff. It's almost like you just
basically give away your music to the record label and you
don't you, you might as well noteven like, you know, see ever a
return on that, which really sucks.
That's what it sounds like, yeah.
And I'll show you, I'll share this.
Even even the show I did earlierthis year that we put together,
which which I would not change anything about it.
(19:44):
I'm I'm thankful that everythingwent the way it did.
But I didn't make any money off that show because like you said,
Kenny, even at 25 bucks at the door and even even though we
packed it out, but we've got 4 bands.
I did sell some merch, you know,so I made a little bit, but not
not anything substantial. But I, you know, I had to chip
in for the lighting. Chip in for the videography,
(20:06):
which whoever was doing that, wedid not have anything usable.
Fortunately I had my people filming so that was good.
My wife and and my friend Joe were filming.
Unbelievable. And then and of course the sound
guy. So yeah, we just, we had some
technical hang ups there. So that didn't get recorded
either. But all that said, though, and
of course, I gave, you know, whatever money that was coming
(20:28):
to me, which was several $100, but I made sure to to divvy that
up amongst the band members thatplayed with me because they
learned my songs. They took the time to learn my
songs and play them on stage. So I just I didn't care about
making any money. But even had it just been myself
up there, you know, or let's just say it was a band and we
(20:49):
split the money, we would not have made a whole lot of money
at that show other than whatevermerch that we sold.
So to your point, yeah, you're basically just you're basically
just giving the money back. And I and I imagine on these big
tours when it's like a a, you know, full production, right?
Well, that's that's a whole another animal.
So what I would think, Ken, is that I think the message here
(21:12):
for bands and, and artists, especially in, in our genre and
our, you know, our many subgenres of metal rather in
rock, I think it's best just to,to be independent man.
Because like you just said, Ken,you control everything at that
point and you can control the marketing process.
Now, on that note, no pun intended.
The pun's always intended. On that note, though, you do
(21:35):
have to learn some skills, right?
You do have to learn how to market effectively, how to put
their in it. And I know this stuff gets kind
of boring for some people because we're artists, we're
creators. We just want to play our music.
And, and you know, a lot of people have what I, what I call
the lead singer syndrome or leadguitar player syndrome, right?
They just want to write music, get on stage and, and look
(21:55):
pretty and play and, and get paid, right.
Well, that we're in a different era now.
So you have to be willing to adapt to the changes and then
learn some other skills, learn, learn how to market and put the
right message in front of the right person type of thing.
And I, I don't do that as effectively as I as I could.
I think I spend most of my marketing hours for Metal
(22:16):
Mastermind, more so than my own music, you know, which which
that's fine. I'm OK with that.
But in any case though, I, I think it's beneficial for
everybody that really wants to do something, whether it's just
a single or whatever. Learn how to market at the same
time. Just, you know, maybe spend a
couple hours a week just, you know, listening to some
marketing material, buy a few books on copywriting and, and
(22:39):
advertising and that sort of thing.
And just just even if you dip your toes in the marketing world
just a little, I think that can take you a long way.
Yeah, 100%. And here's another perspective
for everybody listening out there, right?
You might be spending ten years just getting good at your
instrument, like like to master your instrument in a way that is
(23:01):
at a professional level 10 years, right?
That's a long time. But here's the other side to
that. It's like, well, you want to
start marketing. Yeah, well, the first year is
going to suck for you because you don't know what you're
doing. So you tag on yet another 10
years of trying to learn marketing, and then you'll
(23:22):
really get to a point where you're a master at marketing.
OK. These things take time.
So, you know, I mean, Jason, youand I, I mean, when we attended
our marketing course, it was like 2016.
I mean, like it's almost, that'slike 8 years ago.
So we've been at Metal Mastermind for four years and
(23:47):
all of that time, I mean, like, here's a, here's another way to
look at it. My students, right?
They come to a school like SAE Institute where I teach, right?
They go and they spend four daysa week, 4 1/2 hours each of
those days learning how to do audio.
And all they get out of the end of that entire year is 1000
(24:10):
hours, right, of work, which is a lot.
But here's the thing. There's a proverb, right?
You need 10,000 hours to be a master of what you do, right?
So times that by 10 there, you got 10 years, right?
So again, perspective shift for people who are thinking about
this kind of stuff like marketing is hard because it's,
(24:34):
it really has you reflect about who it is that you are trying to
make your message clear and thenreally understanding what your
audience is there for you or what you provide to your
audience that keeps them around,right?
It takes a lot of work to uncover that kind of
information. So going independent means, yes,
(24:59):
you're going to be responsible for all of this.
However, record labels aren't going to put you on their label
from the get go. We just said they dropped 50
artists. So what does that tell you?
Right. It means that something isn't
working with a lot of these artists.
And I bet you probably some of them are, you know, maybe they
(25:21):
realized, hey, oh, this artist maybe had a cool thing looking
like it was going, but maybe there's something missing here
that we can't help them with, right?
Because again, labels are still reliant on artists to do a
majority of the work. So I think there's a there's a
connection there. But, you know, going
(25:42):
independent, if you're going to try and do a tour, hey, just try
and be like a little more patient.
Maybe just focus on building what it is that your band's
brand looks like, right? Set up the infrastructure and
then go on tour. And by that time you'll have
data of who's buying from you, where they're listening,
(26:02):
etcetera. And you can plan a torch places
that will actually provide a return on investment because
your fans are there, you know? So those are just kind of like
ideas, and I think it's important to have that kind of
perspective. Well, yeah, it is, man.
And you know, as as a metal artist, right as you and I both,
and, and most people listening right now and whatever level
you're at, I think there's a beauty in learning how to market
(26:26):
your stuff. And look, I'll say this, I don't
want to put a time frame on any of this stuff because some
people get really good really fast.
It just happens. I mean, you know, I, I had a
cousin when he was, you know, 17years old, he was bench pressing
over £400. And I'm like, what the hell,
dude? You're like, where did this come
from? I mean, I never got to that
(26:47):
level, you know, and I've been training for years.
So it, it may take a lot of time, it may not.
What I'll say though, is narrow down what you're focusing on and
don't try to boil the ocean. Don't try to do everything at
the same time because nothing will get done 100%.
And this, this is a lesson that I've had to learn over and over
(27:08):
and over and over since I've been trying to be an
entrepreneur since 2010. You know, it was just 4 1/2
years ago I left my corporate job to do this.
And, and to sit, to sit here andtell you that I'm proficient at
everything would be a lie. I am not to sit here and tell
you that I'm, I'm motivated to the most people say, well,
Jason's the hardest working musician out there.
(27:30):
I, I don't believe that I am, I don't believe that I'm the most
motivated musician out there. I was telling Ken earlier, I had
some days where I just sat in mystudio and didn't do anything.
I'm just trying to figure out what I need to work on, right?
So I have those moments. But if you narrow down and this
is what I'm doing, like as we speak today is I'm, I'm kind of
(27:50):
getting back to writing things down.
What's truly going to move the needle forward?
What do I need to focus on like right now that's going to bring
results and I'm not going to do anything else but that.
So if you, if you adapt that mindset did I'm just, I'm going
to do this one thing right here and that one thing might be two
or three different things, right?
It might be like all like I'm going to work on my music.
(28:10):
So working on your music, maybe,you know, writing, getting that
part down the next phase may be OK, well, I've I've got it mixed
and mastered now I need to work on marketing that album or that
song, right? So, so you can divvy it up into
chunks like that so that where you're focusing on just one
thing at at at a time. Can you mention earlier somebody
(28:32):
had asked, well, you when are you going to start writing the
next album? You're like, that's not even in
the forefront right now because you're focused on marketing what
you've just put out. You go try to start writing a
new album right now. Well, you're going to leave
behind the marketing that this album you just put out needs.
So you have to give everything adequate attention and you can
(28:52):
learn from a lot of my mistakes over the years.
Please do that because I was trying to juggle too many
things, man. I had, I had the fitness blog
going, I had my YouTube channel.I was trying to write an album
all along. Having a corporate job.
And I'll never forget what my buddy Mike, he's really high up
the chain at the old company I used to work at and I was
talking to him about these things.
He's like Jason, if you chase 2 rabbits, you won't catch any.
(29:15):
And I was probably chasing like 7 rabbits, right?
So that, yeah, that that really,Because even even focusing on
one thing, guys, even if you focus just on the one thing,
there's still gonna be other little things within that one
thing, right? So, and This is why it's so
important just to focus on one thing at a time.
And I think you can get really good, you you can start writing
(29:37):
music, right? But but also make some time each
week to study marketing. And I think you can get good a
lot faster. I mean, you know, probably much
faster than than I did because again, I was trying to juggle
too much crap at one time. But I wouldn't necessarily give
yourself a time frame, say, well, I've got to be good in six
months or two years or whatever,because then you might be
(29:59):
disappointed that you're not where you need to be.
But also don't, don't, don't limit yourself by saying it's
going to take a long time. You don't know that.
Just I think you have to commit to whatever it is, regardless of
the time that it takes, and justallow yourself the freedom to
enjoy that process. Enjoy the journey along the way,
enjoy the successes, enjoy the times that you fall, right?
(30:23):
The times that you may consider that you failed at something and
just just know that that's you going to school, basically,
you're learning, right? So I don't, nothing I do is a
failure these days, right? There are a lot of things I wish
I'd done differently about, you know, some of the albums I've
released, some of the ways I've marketed, you know, I think we
could be further along at MiddleMastermind.
(30:44):
But none of those are failures. Those are all just lessons we've
learned and that just adds up over time.
So I think it's a it's not so much, well, I'm going to be good
in two years or 10 years or havethis done at a certain time.
And if I don't, right, it's moreof this is what I'm doing with
my life. It's what I enjoy doing.
Guys, I don't, I think we only get one go around at this.
(31:06):
I could be wrong, right? I, I don't, I don't know for
certain, but I think we get one shot at this life.
So I mean, do something that youreally enjoy doing, do what you
love and just commit to that thing and don't.
I wouldn't really worry so much about how much time it takes or
doesn't take. Very motivating words and I
really believe in what you say there too.
(31:27):
Your perspective on your basically build your, your
castle from, you know, the, the grounds that you, you cherish,
right. If I'm going to make, if I'm
going to make my life, you know,on my own terms, I want to do it
in a way that's wholesome, right?
(31:47):
Something that I'll, I'll be able to live with and remember
and not have any regrets for doing.
Those types of motives take courage, right?
They're not, they're not easy for because if, if everybody
could do it, they would, right? But it's, it's breaking down
barriers and breaking down the limitations that we have on
(32:11):
ourselves that it really requires us, you know, to look
inward to be able to take actionand move forward on things like
that. That's why there's, you know,
there's a 1% and it's very hard to reach 1%.
You're, you're talking about like the general populace.
Why is it called the general populace?
(32:32):
I'm not going to say it's, it's easy being, you know, the
general populace because there'sdefinitely challenges to that.
But I mean, it's infinitely harder to get to be the top
tier. And that can be an aspiration.
It could also be something that,you know, you're what is the 1%
mean to you? Is it, is it, is it the
(32:54):
financial goals or is it, is it relational goals?
You know, the 1% of people on earth who have like a successful
relationship. I mean, like, what are we
talking about here? There's like so many aspects of
your life that you might want to, you want to really reflect
about as you move forward in making either your music or even
(33:15):
like, let's say you wanted to dosomething like what Jason and I
were doing where we're starting an educational platform like
medical Astronaut, right? What is the goal here?
And I think the intention of people matters because if you're
coming into this and you're saying, you know, oh, I'm going
into music because I want to make a lot of money.
And it's like, well, no, not at front at least.
(33:38):
It's going to take a long time before, well, you can even maybe
see that you get to a point where you can make a lot of
money because it takes a lot of effort.
It takes a lot of skills too, right?
We mentioned that too. So if you're doing this and
really to me, doing music is because it's all I could ever
see myself wanting to do, right?Like that's really why I keep
(34:02):
doing it. That's why even if I have
roadblocks in the way, it doesn't matter to me because I'm
going to do it anyway, you know?So it has to be so compelling to
you that you won't walk away in order for you to be doing a
business like music. And that's OK if it's like you
want to accept that it might be a hobby for you or if you really
(34:25):
want to do it, like professionally, you have to
understand what it takes and that you're willing to buckle
down and make it happen because nobody's going to do it for you.
You know, seriously, again, labels, they're not, they're not
going to try and do it for you anymore.
It's not like the old days before even MTV where, you know,
(34:46):
you would approach somebody basically audition and they'd
say, hey, you got some talent, let's put it to use.
And then they would build you from there.
It's not that way anymore. You have to already make a name
for yourself in order to get to a point like that.
So, yeah, it the, the, the, the idea of how you go about gauging
(35:09):
your success in life really comes down to what it is that
what did you really want out of what you're doing?
You know it. Are you doing it for the genuine
reasons that will allow you to live with yourself at night too?
You know, Speaking of labels, I,I will say that not all labels
are bad. And I've, I've got to give a, a
(35:31):
huge shout out to my friend Frank.
He's, he goes by Frank Hedbangerin Germany.
He owns the label FHM Records. And he of course, he signed
Siren, good friends of mine. I think he's working with Nasty
Savage as well, so and a few other notable bands.
So he's growing the label, but this guy started a label because
(35:52):
he just loves metal music and hejust, he loves those particular
styles. He was a huge Siren fan.
You know, when Siren came literally back from the dead
after 30 years of of not playing, when they, when they
got rediscovered, Frank was a big part of having them play at
the Keep It True festival in Germany in 2017.
They had not played for 30 years, Fly fly overseas to play
(36:15):
this really cool festival. And it was just, it was a great
success. I mean, they had a documentary
done by financed by Chris Jericho and all kind of cool
things happen and they, they've recorded 2 albums since.
So you've got people like Frank out there.
And again, he's, he's working with Nasty Savage.
You know, Nasty Savage didn't release their Tampa metal band
here too. Most of you know who they are
(36:37):
real big in this area and of course globally.
But they had not recorded anything or released anything
for 20 years, right? So they, they just played the
Keep It True festival as well inGermany.
But all that said, though, you do have some people out there
with some smaller labels and guys, I don't you know, I don't
know that like that being on these labels, even a smaller
labels is like a get rich quick thing.
(37:00):
I'm not going to say if you wantto make a living, don't get into
music. I know people have said that
before. I'm not going to say that
because what we're talking abouthere, marketing allows you to
make a living from it. Now are you going to turn into
like a an extreme multimillionaire from it?
I mean, possibility of that probably not.
Doesn't mean that couldn't happen.
(37:21):
If you're like me, you want to make a good living and have
enough money to do what you really want to do off of
something that you really love. To me, that's better than being
like some billionaire who just hates what I do and hates my
life, right? I have I've heard the people
talk about, I think Gary Vaynerchuk.
(37:41):
Hey, I'm real careful who I listen to every now and I'll
I'll scroll past somebody like like Alex Hermosi or Gary
Vaynerchuk. I think Gary one time says like,
I know people that are billionaires but are miserable.
They just they hate life and I wouldn't want to be that.
I just I I want to do what I love to do.
I also don't want to be broke and chained to something I don't
(38:02):
like to do. OK, so there, there are
different levels of misery thereif you think of it that way.
And you know, being that we get one go around at this, why not,
why not spend the majority of your time doing something you
really love to do, get really good at it.
You might even find that, OK, I'm a musician.
You might have been find that maybe being in a band is, is not
(38:23):
the thing you want to do as muchas you want to play music, But
maybe you get really good at marketing.
So you open your own label and you start helping other bands
or, or you make a course about it, whatever, whatever the case
could be, right? You, you start you, you start
fueling your passion and helpingothers.
I think if you're helping other people in a genre in a field
that you really enjoy and that you're good at, and that's
(38:45):
that's a such a rewarding thing and you're making, you're making
your living off that. That's so rewarding in my
opinion. Yeah, 100%, man.
Yeah, It's all about your, your intentions in life, man.
You need to be really aware about how you go about doing
things and every decision that'smade.
(39:07):
I mean, like when we're young, like we don't, we don't know the
weight of our decisions until much later on.
So, and when we are, you know, older, we, we start valuing how
we spend our time so much more. The more aware we become about
those types of things, the more,you know, we look to the future
(39:27):
in certain sense senses. Like if I'm going to go, for
example, into business with Jason Stallworth, I'm not doing
it just because I'm thinking in the next year or two.
I'm thinking about the next 10 years that I'm working with
Jason, the next 20-30, forty years that we get to have time
to build something right. So the value of what you bring
(39:52):
to the world, right? And the creating of, you know,
good ideas and you know, are they worthwhile to pursue and
for what reason? What what do you believe in in
order to be able to keep doing this thing that you want to
create? So.
I I, I firmly believe in that. And you know, like I was saying
(40:13):
before with the whole, you know,getting into music, you know,
getting rich off of it, yeah, I mean, it can happen.
I mean, less than 1% make actually like rich money off of
it. But we're talking like if we're
just trying to achieve just financial freedom in a sense
where I don't have to be tied toA to a desk at at a job, that is
plenty for many people out there.
(40:36):
That is plenty, you know, and, you know, just imagine even like
just subsidizing part of your income, even if you have a job,
maybe because you feel like it gives you security, but your
music or your business is at least supporting you so that you
don't have to feel like you're freaking scrounging the bottom
of the barrel every day. You know, that's, that's success
(40:59):
right there too, You know, so, you know, Jason and I are are
very fortunate to to to be in a,you know, a circumstance where
we are able to, you know, support ourselves through metal
mastermind. But it's, you know, we're, we're
trying to build this to be something that provides
ourselves financial freedom in one way, shape or form.
(41:20):
And for us, you know, we're still musicians, We still do our
own thing. Lord knows, right, I do home
Eric. Jason does his own solo stuff as
well, and we collaborate together as well.
And we have people on our team that are here because they
believe in the mission, right? And that's what it is.
It's, it's bigging, it's creating something bigger than
(41:43):
ourselves that we're trying to help others do, something that
we've always wanted to do in ourown lives.
And that's us paving the way, sending the elevator down to
show others how they can do this.
And to our point and on this entire thing, and I'll just kind
of wrap it up in this way, is that, you know, when we are
(42:04):
creating a a business such as Metal Mastermind, I really feel
like, yeah, OK, we take 15% are,you know, creators and artists,
they're taking 85. Why do we do that?
Well, it's because Metal Mastermind was always supposed
to be something. I felt like that was for the
people in a sense that it wasn'treally about us just taking for
(42:28):
ourselves. It was supposed to be something
that was a network, a hub, a, a home, a place where people can
always come to know that what they're getting is honest and
that the attempt of trying to dosomething better was there,
right. So that's what mental
masterminds really always been about.
(42:49):
That's why we always talk about creating your own sound because
we really believe in that. I mean, Jason and I, our music,
we try to really find our own identity through all of this.
And we preach this all the time of, you know, learn from your
heroes, but then, you know, findyour own path.
And my, my, my father always hadtold me, you know, you know,
(43:12):
follow your N like that was thatwas always his line.
I was like, I always really likethat because it was like, my N
is is here. It's not just One North in in
this case, it's like, what is yours?
What is the, the course that youwant to chart in your own life?
And it's very powerful. And I've always been felt really
inspired by that. And here I am and here I'm with
(43:37):
Jason Stallworth and we're talking today on a on a podcast
to, you know, thousands of people on the Internet, which is
amazing. It's it's very rewarding and I
feel very grateful for the journey that we've taken.
As you should, right? You wouldn't have been the
person you are otherwise. So don't, don't disavow it just
(43:59):
because maybe something might not be happening right now.
You have to, you know, look a little bit back and see where
you came from too, and where where you're trying to go.
Only compare yourself to yourself, not to anybody.
Else that's huge. I I mentioned that to a gym
buddy the other day. He was, you know, we we're both
talking about how we've been training all our lives and I but
(44:19):
I've never had I've never wantedto compete and nothing against
those who compete. Just I think, I think that whole
thing is great if that's what you want to do Me, I'm not a
competitive person at all. But even Even so, though I, I
find myself or I have found myself over the years comparing
myself, whether it's it's in thegym or whatever, or even with
music, you know, you, you hear somebody that can sing so great.
(44:41):
It's like me. And I wish, I wish I had a voice
like that. You know, I'm nothing near that.
But it goes back to what we always say and to Ken's point
about competition is, is really you against you kind of a rocky
motivation there, right? But the like, the real thing is
just you. It's your own authentic sound.
(45:02):
It's your own authentic style. Like maybe maybe you don't have
this like roaring, you know, voice where you're just belting
out these super high notes. Maybe you just have your voice
and that's good enough. I want you to know guys, that
that is good enough because you have a unique sound sound.
Maybe you're not this ultra shred master on guitar.
(45:25):
And it doesn't mean that you can't get faster.
It doesn't mean that you can't overcome some barriers, but just
just realize that you have your own style and sound and give
yourself the freedom for that toshine instead of worrying about
sounding like someone else or playing as fast or, or or doing
double bass as fast as can or whatever, right?
So give yourself that freedom toto shine for your true self,
(45:47):
authentic self to shine. A lot of the great songs, if you
think about it, even in, in our metal genres, yeah, they're,
they've got great riffs and thatsort of thing.
But it's really the song itself is something much more powerful
than just a high note or just a guitar riff or a solo or
whatever. It's, it's the whole thing, you
know, when we're talking about music.
So again, I, I can't stress thisenough, give, give yourself the
(46:09):
freedom. Allow yourself the freedom to
just be your own authentic self.Create your own sound.
Yeah, yeah, the grace. Give yourself grace too.
Dude, yeah. So on the grace note, Dude, dost
thou haveth a metal song of the week?
Well, I'm actually going to see Opeth tonight, so I'll just
(46:31):
shout them out real quick. They have a new album coming out
and it's called The Last Will and Testament.
So I'm, I'm thinking they're probably going to play some of
that stuff tonight, which I'm really excited for.
It's going to be at the King's Theatre in Brooklyn.
New. York Oh man, that's exciting.
Yeah. Any the thing about like we're
just saying, you know, you have your own style and sound.
I think it's very fair to say Opeth definitely has their own
(46:54):
style and sound. They've done some some different
things, you know, over the years, but they are Opeth right?
That's right. And there's nothing that sounds
like them. So my metal song of the week is
a new and upcoming album from Arch enemy.
I'm a big Arch enemy fan, but they've got a new album that's
not scheduled to be released until March 2025 called Blood
(47:14):
Dynasty. So they've released 2 singles
off of this album so far. And I think the this just came
out recently. Liars and thieves.
So great tune by Arch enemy. I love Michael Amat's writing
style and his playing style, just he's, he's so melodic and
just comes up with these really catchy things.
So Yep, that that's our Metal songs of the week guys.
(47:34):
So want to thank everyone for being a part of Metal
Mastermind. Everybody listening right now,
you are a part of this and we thank you for that.
We appreciate you. On that note, go check out our
resources and courses and everything that we have for
metalmusicians@metalmastermind.com.So thanks for listening guys.
Until next week, as always, create your own sound.
Eyes and girls as I just droppedmy phone and almost spilled my
coffee. Welcome to another episode of
Metal Mastermind, your Co host and Co founder here Jason
Stallworth, also Co host and Co founder with me The Great.
Ken Candelas, I always appreciate the great part of it.
You know, that's always really, really humbling to hear that.
(00:28):
Thank you. But I always think of the time
when we had Glenn Fricker on thepodcast several podcasts ago
when I when I said that he's like, So what makes you guys so
great? Who are you guys anyway?
That was hilarious. You know, hanging with Glenn,
though, he, he was a really cooldude.
I got AI, got a lot of love for the guy.
Super. Cool.
Last, I think one of the last times that we talked in the
(00:50):
podcast, I talked about meeting him in a person again at AES and
he was, he was such a vibe. You know, he's, he's really the
kind of guy who's just like, I like to sit at home and like be
alone and just like give me my space.
But he's a warm guy who really cares, which is really, really
great. So yeah, I really appreciate it.
(01:14):
So Jason, we're, we're talking about something I think that's
really relevant in the industry today.
You know, the idea of direct to consumer I see has become a
bigger topic these days, more than it used to.
And do you want to kick it off with what are your thoughts?
What have you been seeing on theInternet about it?
(01:36):
Well, I'll just say this and andguys, we're going to probably go
in several directions here because direct to consumer,
that's a big part of our hearts.And in course, as we get through
this, as we go through this today, you'll, you'll understand
why and then you'll probably understand why.
It's actually a big part of yourheart as well.
(01:56):
But I'll kick it off with this, Ken.
I was going to go see last week.I was going to go see Testament
creator and possessed. Actually, I think it was going
to be this Wednesday, this coming Wednesday in in Saint
Pete, Florida. Of course, the show was
cancelled because we had that huge hurricane.
We don't know, we talked about that last week.
I won't recap on that, but I mean, it was, it was a
(02:18):
devastating hurricane. We had Hurricane Milton.
So you know, lo and behold, the show was cancelled.
But as I was getting ready for it and I was really pumped for
it, I just went to some random ticket site.
It was like whatever came up on Google first and I went to that
site and the tickets were like 92 bucks and my, my buddies like
that's odd. I got them for 42 bucks.
I'm like, wait a minute, let me,I didn't go to the actual venue
(02:40):
website. Let me go because that's what I
usually do anyway, guys, I always, I rarely will.
I buy tickets from whatever Ticketmaster or whatever.
I always like to go direct to the venue site.
Even with airfare. I'll go direct to, you know, in
the pond if we're flying in the Japanese airline or I'll go to
Lufenza or whatever, right? So whichever way we're going for
(03:01):
any case, so I go directly to Janus live, which is in Saint
Pete. Tickets are 42 bucks.
They're half of what I would have been dishing out on this
other site. And I know some of you might be
thinking about duh, Jason, you know, always go direct and, and
I know that, but again, it was just one of those things where I
just wanted to just quickly do asearch, you know, on on the
tickets. And, and I'm glad I did because
I'm glad I saw that. I'm like, well, these people are
(03:23):
charging half of what the venue is charging, buying direct.
So that was kind of a that was kind of a wake up call and kind
of what, you know, spawned this conversation as we're talking
about this today. I wish I could have seen them,
man. I mean, dude, testament creator
and possess that would have beenthat would have been a
phenomenal show. I hope they come back soon.
(03:44):
But yeah, I mean that, you know,all this whole and we've seen
the news can like, you know, Ticketmaster screwing over
people and, and bands and, and probably even venues.
So I, I think there's a big market and something to be said
for really venues trying to trying their best.
I don't know all the insurance and outs, I won't pretend to
know. But if we can get around these
(04:05):
third parties and just make it so we can buy direct, I think
that's better for everybody, right?
Yeah, you know, there's a, there's a documentary floating
around. It's I think it's called
Corporate Greed has Ruined My Venue or something like that.
I've seen that. I've seen, I've seen them out,
(04:25):
Yeah. Yeah, and there's actually even
some Tampa based venues that areactually speaking out against.
This there is the crowbar in Ybor City was talking about this
and that might have been what you saw.
So I did watch that and actuallythey showcase him at the very
beginning and I think and and later in the end.
Now we are fortunate. Do we have course crowbar?
(04:46):
That's a great place in NewburghCity.
Here in Tampa Bay, we have the Orpheum.
I believe they're an independentvenue.
You can buy tickets through themand at the door of course we got
the famous brass, the Orpheum's famous too.
We got brass mug here you can buy tickets at the door.
When I played my show, we sold tickets online for 20 bucks and
we sold tickets at the door for 25 bucks.
(05:07):
There were 4 total bands. I was I was the opening act for
Siren Oblivion and Seasons the Wolf.
So thank you to everyone, anybody that's listening who
came to that show, thank you so much.
I met so many people from my YouTube channel and just of
course, locals. So I really appreciate you guys
coming to support that. But yeah, we, we sold out, man.
We, we had a packed house that night.
Again, though, it was a direct, it was a direct sell.
(05:30):
You'd have to go to ticket whoever or whatever.
You didn't have to go to any of those places to buy it.
It was direct. Yeah, and you know, there's AI.
Think there was a good reason for that, man.
You know, I've just been seeing that a lot of, and this has been
going on ever since like the 90s.
You know, I mean, like Pearl Jamwas like a big part of the
rebellion against these big giant companies who are taking,
(05:53):
you know, like we're talking like Live Nation and all this
kind of stuff. They're taking a huge cut that
leaves the venue basically high and dry and they're calling it,
you know, administrative fees and all this kind of stuff.
And it's like, well, now we're avenue would have made 30% profit
on, you know, a show they're making like 3%.
(06:15):
Like it's literally like, whoa, it's so much less.
And no wonder like venues are struggling, you know, to, to
keep their doors open. It's like all, all the the cost
is going basically straight to these corporate companies for
what you know. It's like that's my question.
For what? It's like there, there is.
(06:37):
And this is the same thing when it comes to, you know, record
labels and an independent artist, right?
You know, like the big market share for the longest of time
has been gate kept by record labels.
And you know, we when we had David Notesy on the podcast,
this was a very, very interesting conversation on how
record labels treat their artists and really how they take
(07:01):
artists that aren't as big as other ones that they're working
with. And they used the funds to
basically promote the bigger artists because those are the
ones that bring in the revenue. So they kind of ignore the small
time guys. And now we're seeing people who
are, you know, becoming savvy tothat.
(07:21):
Actually, I just looked up a video today.
Atlantic Records has just dropped 50 artists.
Dude, I thought I saw the headline somewhere yesterday.
Dude, what is what is that all about?
That's crazy. So it seems like the record
labels are are starting to really feel the effects of
(07:42):
people not like going to them anymore.
I feel that as record labels keep trying to spend money,
they're not recouping the money that they're spending as quickly
as they need to. I mean, this is this is evident
with things like streaming and all that kind of stuff.
(08:04):
But now artists they're, you know, they're not able to, to,
to get, you know, the support that they need that the record
labels want. They want results.
They want results quickly. They want, you know, otherwise
you get dropped. And I think that the record
labels are downsizing. They're trying to focus a little
bit more on the artists that are, you know, bringing in their
revenue. Big ones, right?
(08:25):
Yeah. Yeah, and they're kind of
letting go of the smaller ones rather than, you know, building
those guys up for the next generation of artists and all
that kind of stuff. Very interesting.
And I can't remember who we talked to in a, in a couple
several podcasts ago, but but hementioned, I don't know if it's
David or someone else, but but he mentioned the fact that
record labels now they're going to places like TikTok or
(08:48):
Instagram or whatever to, to seethese people.
They're just doing a dance skit and singing up there that have
millions of followers and, and they're going after them because
those people, whether you like the music or not, whether it's
talent OR not, whatever, that's different conversation.
But they have a big following and that's what they're after.
And it used to be that you got signed and then you grew.
(09:09):
Well, now I think record labels are just looking online on on
social media and YouTube to see who has a big following.
And they're just essentially taking a cut of of the
following, if you think about it.
Yeah. And it's like, when does that
make sense, right. You know, if you're already at a
point where you have a big following, how does it make
sense for you to just dive into a deal where they're going to
(09:30):
take a large portion, like 50%, they're going to take a large
portion of your revenue just so you have what representation,
dude? Like, I mean, even myself, like,
and I'm not going to say any names, but like after, you know,
going through my entire process of working with, you know,
(09:52):
Homeric's latest release, I'm, I'm, I'm noticing certain things
that are working out better thanothers, let's just say.
And I'm just like, you know, OK,well, this is one of those
things where because I own everything, right, I get the
power to choose to pivot how I want to, right, right.
Which is really powerful. And some of the old types of
(10:14):
ways of doing things. There's some value there, but
it's not everything. And I totally see that now.
And I even got confirmation I was actually talking to Alex
Nazla, who works with Spectre Media Group, was right alongside
Glenn Fricker. They're actually business
partners. So I love that.
And Alex, you know, I talked to him, I said, hey, you know, what
(10:36):
is this all about? And I asked him actually for
just some, some tips or some advice maybe he had.
And he was just like, OK, well, you know, I've actually started
to see the same situation, not just from this person, but from
other people. I was like, interesting.
So the industry is changing essentially.
So we have to be very cognizant.And last week we talked about
(10:58):
networking quite a lot, right? And this is where, again,
networking comes to play becauseyou have to make your own
connections now. It's not just, oh, let me hire
just this one person and then, you know, things will happen.
It's not the case. That could help, that could open
(11:19):
a door, but you still have to end up making that connection
yourself. And that's just something that
I'm noticing even on a bigger scale where, you know, when the
industry, as you grow higher up in the ranks, it gets a lot
smaller, right? And the people that you start
meeting are evidently a little bit more powerful in how they
(11:42):
can help you. And it's, it's very interesting
like to see that come together in real time.
As you know, you know, I'm a, you know, we're up and coming
artists and all this kind of stuff, but it's just, I don't
know, very odd, very, very weirdfrom what I was used to many,
many years ago, right. So a lot of perspective change.
(12:04):
And let's talk quickly about, about both the venues and record
labels in, in, in things like Ticketmaster, right?
So as far as record labels, let's talk briefly about what is
the job of a record label? And in, in my opinion, it's to
get the band notice, right? So we, we've got something,
we've got a band that's got somegood music.
(12:25):
We can work with this. We we love their sub genre or
whatever. So let's promote this ban and
let's get them out there. And the, the goal I would think
should be yes, the record label,they need to profit.
Obviously we all need to profit,guys.
I mean, we can't, you know, you can't escape that.
We all need to to eat and make aliving and then we should all do
that. But of course, when we get into
(12:47):
this corporate greed and it's just, it's, it's really over
spent overreaching for a long time and it's getting to the
point to where it's just absurd now, right, real quick, I'll,
I'll share this. I, I believe in a concept and
some may not agree with this. I, but I, I believe in a concept
called compassionate capitalism,meaning you can make however
(13:08):
much money you want to make, right?
And but you can, you can also dothat without being a Dick in
terms, right? You can also in, in other words,
can, if we were helping someone grow their music business, if,
if we ever get into that middle mastermind, which we've talked
about, if we're making all the money and the band's not really
making that much, Ken, that's our reputation, That's our name,
(13:31):
that's who we are. I don't want to be involved in
that dude. I, you know, so look at our
courses, for example, and we'll get back to the record label
here, but I, I kind of going on a, on a relevant rabbit trail
here. Our courses, for example, for
those of you who, who know what we do at Middle Mastermind, we
have courses for metal musicians.
We've got vocals. We've got, you guys know, I have
my guitar courses on there. We've got creators like Alfred
(13:54):
Potter, his sweet picking course.
We've got creators like Ellie, you know, she's part she's part
of our our vocals here. We've got a whole production
course, Nick Z. So our creators here, by the
way, all that's at metalmastermind.com.
Quick plug there. All of our creators, they get
85%. We only take 15% we can.
(14:14):
And honestly, that probably isn't the best business
decision. Don't model your business after
Metal Mastermind because you it's, it turns into a quite a
challenging thing. But that said though, we're
committed to our creators here and we're committed to the cost.
And again, you know, make make tasteful and good business
decisions. Yeah, I mean, we probably should
(14:36):
did like a, you know what, 35 something like that split,
right. But in any case that they get
85%. So we still do our best to
promote the courses that our creators are profiting the most
from. I think, I think our, our
business models like backwards for most businesses.
But hey, but you know what else?So can you and you and I have
(14:56):
talked about this. I believe in metal mastermind,
you believe in metal mastermind.And we will make this work just
because it's not set up like most other businesses to where
we just hoard everything and, and just give little crumbs to
our people. Screw that.
You know, we, we will make this work and we're making it work.
It is working. But all that said, you know, the
job of the record label really is to promote, promote that
(15:19):
band, right? Is to pour all their energy into
that band as if it if it were their own and promote that band.
But what does the record label do?
So, so they handle distribution,right?
They handle that. They handle marketing and
advertising. That's probably the biggest
thing. But what else does a record
label do? Candid, you know that I'm
missing here. I mean ANR so it'll help with
(15:43):
production, finances, management, promo, yeah,
executive, you know, decisions even like product management,
which is like overseeing everything, like all
departments, artwork, you know, ANR and everything like
overseeing all of that together.I mean, it's, it's a, it's a
(16:04):
whole team, you know, that's what you're getting from a
record label. The whole point of being an
artist on a record label is so that you don't have to do the
administrative stuff so you can focus on just being the artist.
But nowadays it's like it doesn't they, they don't even
care about that. They're just like, Hey, can I
like jump on your bandwagon? And then just like, you know, I
got, I got a couple connections that maybe we can do something
(16:26):
here. But basically the artist is
continuing to do the same thing that the artist is like forced
to do in an independent situation.
You know, they still have to go out there and they have to do
their own promo. They have to do their own, you
know, management sometimes even when it comes to like, you know,
overseeing certain production processes, like, you know,
you're not going to really have that kind of ANR guy anymore.
(16:49):
They don't. Record labels don't really have
a lot of ANR going on anymore. It's all based upon the
relationship between the artistsand now it feels like just an
executive who's got a bit of money to then upfront for
certain things that the artists can do.
And then the deal doesn't even really work out for the artists
in the end. Because now we're talking about
(17:10):
we're not making as much money from record sales anymore,
right? It's all about streaming and
streaming is like fractions of acent, right?
So that kind of money is not going to pay off those, you
know, returns and recouping as quickly as we would have done
before with CD sales and vinyl, you know.
(17:30):
So record labels and by the way,when it when a record label says
we're going to give you an advance, that advance is all
about, hey, that's supposed to be paid back on royalties, OK,
because we're upfronting the money to make the music, right.
So if they're making the music, it's the music that has to give
(17:54):
back the return of investment. So it's not by your T-shirts,
OK, It's not by, you know, mugs and all this merchandise that
you could make the money back through or even concert sales.
It's not even through that. It's through record sales.
So this is where it's like, and every time you, you, you start
(18:17):
saying, Hey, we're going to go, we're going to go on tour,
right? So, OK, no worries.
We'll upfront the money again, but that's going against your
sales. OK.
So it's an advance that keeps tagging on to a lot of artists
who are probably even right now,big name artists that still have
(18:40):
debts to pay because they keep promoting their music as they
should, but they keep needing the advance to upfront for costs
like a tour, cause tours are expensive.
It's easily going to cost like $150,000 just to get a tour up
and running. So, you know, 'cause you got to
pay your sound guy, you got to pay your lighting guy, you got
(19:00):
to pay your crew, you got to pay, you know, all the travel,
the gas, the, the, the leisures,the hotels, you know,
everything, the tolls, everything, right?
So that all goes on the record label advance and then that gets
charged back to you as royalties.
So you have to pay that back. And so artists a lot of times
never see the royalties. They have to make money on tour
(19:24):
because that's where they make their money through sales of
like T-shirts and stuff. It's almost like you just
basically give away your music to the record label and you
don't you, you might as well noteven like, you know, see ever a
return on that, which really sucks.
That's what it sounds like, yeah.
And I'll show you, I'll share this.
Even even the show I did earlierthis year that we put together,
which which I would not change anything about it.
(19:44):
I'm I'm thankful that everythingwent the way it did.
But I didn't make any money off that show because like you said,
Kenny, even at 25 bucks at the door and even even though we
packed it out, but we've got 4 bands.
I did sell some merch, you know,so I made a little bit, but not
not anything substantial. But I, you know, I had to chip
in for the lighting. Chip in for the videography,
(20:06):
which whoever was doing that, wedid not have anything usable.
Fortunately I had my people filming so that was good.
My wife and and my friend Joe were filming.
Unbelievable. And then and of course the sound
guy. So yeah, we just, we had some
technical hang ups there. So that didn't get recorded
either. But all that said, though, and
of course, I gave, you know, whatever money that was coming
(20:28):
to me, which was several $100, but I made sure to to divvy that
up amongst the band members thatplayed with me because they
learned my songs. They took the time to learn my
songs and play them on stage. So I just I didn't care about
making any money. But even had it just been myself
up there, you know, or let's just say it was a band and we
(20:49):
split the money, we would not have made a whole lot of money
at that show other than whatevermerch that we sold.
So to your point, yeah, you're basically just you're basically
just giving the money back. And I and I imagine on these big
tours when it's like a a, you know, full production, right?
Well, that's that's a whole another animal.
So what I would think, Ken, is that I think the message here
(21:12):
for bands and, and artists, especially in, in our genre and
our, you know, our many subgenres of metal rather in
rock, I think it's best just to,to be independent man.
Because like you just said, Ken,you control everything at that
point and you can control the marketing process.
Now, on that note, no pun intended.
The pun's always intended. On that note, though, you do
(21:35):
have to learn some skills, right?
You do have to learn how to market effectively, how to put
their in it. And I know this stuff gets kind
of boring for some people because we're artists, we're
creators. We just want to play our music.
And, and you know, a lot of people have what I, what I call
the lead singer syndrome or leadguitar player syndrome, right?
They just want to write music, get on stage and, and look
(21:55):
pretty and play and, and get paid, right.
Well, that we're in a different era now.
So you have to be willing to adapt to the changes and then
learn some other skills, learn, learn how to market and put the
right message in front of the right person type of thing.
And I, I don't do that as effectively as I as I could.
I think I spend most of my marketing hours for Metal
(22:16):
Mastermind, more so than my own music, you know, which which
that's fine. I'm OK with that.
But in any case though, I, I think it's beneficial for
everybody that really wants to do something, whether it's just
a single or whatever. Learn how to market at the same
time. Just, you know, maybe spend a
couple hours a week just, you know, listening to some
marketing material, buy a few books on copywriting and, and
(22:39):
advertising and that sort of thing.
And just just even if you dip your toes in the marketing world
just a little, I think that can take you a long way.
Yeah, 100%. And here's another perspective
for everybody listening out there, right?
You might be spending ten years just getting good at your
instrument, like like to master your instrument in a way that is
(23:01):
at a professional level 10 years, right?
That's a long time. But here's the other side to
that. It's like, well, you want to
start marketing. Yeah, well, the first year is
going to suck for you because you don't know what you're
doing. So you tag on yet another 10
years of trying to learn marketing, and then you'll
(23:22):
really get to a point where you're a master at marketing.
OK. These things take time.
So, you know, I mean, Jason, youand I, I mean, when we attended
our marketing course, it was like 2016.
I mean, like it's almost, that'slike 8 years ago.
So we've been at Metal Mastermind for four years and
(23:47):
all of that time, I mean, like, here's a, here's another way to
look at it. My students, right?
They come to a school like SAE Institute where I teach, right?
They go and they spend four daysa week, 4 1/2 hours each of
those days learning how to do audio.
And all they get out of the end of that entire year is 1000
(24:10):
hours, right, of work, which is a lot.
But here's the thing. There's a proverb, right?
You need 10,000 hours to be a master of what you do, right?
So times that by 10 there, you got 10 years, right?
So again, perspective shift for people who are thinking about
this kind of stuff like marketing is hard because it's,
(24:34):
it really has you reflect about who it is that you are trying to
make your message clear and thenreally understanding what your
audience is there for you or what you provide to your
audience that keeps them around,right?
It takes a lot of work to uncover that kind of
information. So going independent means, yes,
(24:59):
you're going to be responsible for all of this.
However, record labels aren't going to put you on their label
from the get go. We just said they dropped 50
artists. So what does that tell you?
Right. It means that something isn't
working with a lot of these artists.
And I bet you probably some of them are, you know, maybe they
(25:21):
realized, hey, oh, this artist maybe had a cool thing looking
like it was going, but maybe there's something missing here
that we can't help them with, right?
Because again, labels are still reliant on artists to do a
majority of the work. So I think there's a there's a
connection there. But, you know, going
(25:42):
independent, if you're going to try and do a tour, hey, just try
and be like a little more patient.
Maybe just focus on building what it is that your band's
brand looks like, right? Set up the infrastructure and
then go on tour. And by that time you'll have
data of who's buying from you, where they're listening,
(26:02):
etcetera. And you can plan a torch places
that will actually provide a return on investment because
your fans are there, you know? So those are just kind of like
ideas, and I think it's important to have that kind of
perspective. Well, yeah, it is, man.
And you know, as as a metal artist, right as you and I both,
and, and most people listening right now and whatever level
you're at, I think there's a beauty in learning how to market
(26:26):
your stuff. And look, I'll say this, I don't
want to put a time frame on any of this stuff because some
people get really good really fast.
It just happens. I mean, you know, I, I had a
cousin when he was, you know, 17years old, he was bench pressing
over £400. And I'm like, what the hell,
dude? You're like, where did this come
from? I mean, I never got to that
(26:47):
level, you know, and I've been training for years.
So it, it may take a lot of time, it may not.
What I'll say though, is narrow down what you're focusing on and
don't try to boil the ocean. Don't try to do everything at
the same time because nothing will get done 100%.
And this, this is a lesson that I've had to learn over and over
(27:08):
and over and over since I've been trying to be an
entrepreneur since 2010. You know, it was just 4 1/2
years ago I left my corporate job to do this.
And, and to sit, to sit here andtell you that I'm proficient at
everything would be a lie. I am not to sit here and tell
you that I'm, I'm motivated to the most people say, well,
Jason's the hardest working musician out there.
(27:30):
I, I don't believe that I am, I don't believe that I'm the most
motivated musician out there. I was telling Ken earlier, I had
some days where I just sat in mystudio and didn't do anything.
I'm just trying to figure out what I need to work on, right?
So I have those moments. But if you narrow down and this
is what I'm doing, like as we speak today is I'm, I'm kind of
(27:50):
getting back to writing things down.
What's truly going to move the needle forward?
What do I need to focus on like right now that's going to bring
results and I'm not going to do anything else but that.
So if you, if you adapt that mindset did I'm just, I'm going
to do this one thing right here and that one thing might be two
or three different things, right?
It might be like all like I'm going to work on my music.
(28:10):
So working on your music, maybe,you know, writing, getting that
part down the next phase may be OK, well, I've I've got it mixed
and mastered now I need to work on marketing that album or that
song, right? So, so you can divvy it up into
chunks like that so that where you're focusing on just one
thing at at at a time. Can you mention earlier somebody
(28:32):
had asked, well, you when are you going to start writing the
next album? You're like, that's not even in
the forefront right now because you're focused on marketing what
you've just put out. You go try to start writing a
new album right now. Well, you're going to leave
behind the marketing that this album you just put out needs.
So you have to give everything adequate attention and you can
(28:52):
learn from a lot of my mistakes over the years.
Please do that because I was trying to juggle too many
things, man. I had, I had the fitness blog
going, I had my YouTube channel.I was trying to write an album
all along. Having a corporate job.
And I'll never forget what my buddy Mike, he's really high up
the chain at the old company I used to work at and I was
talking to him about these things.
He's like Jason, if you chase 2 rabbits, you won't catch any.
(29:15):
And I was probably chasing like 7 rabbits, right?
So that, yeah, that that really,Because even even focusing on
one thing, guys, even if you focus just on the one thing,
there's still gonna be other little things within that one
thing, right? So, and This is why it's so
important just to focus on one thing at a time.
And I think you can get really good, you you can start writing
(29:37):
music, right? But but also make some time each
week to study marketing. And I think you can get good a
lot faster. I mean, you know, probably much
faster than than I did because again, I was trying to juggle
too much crap at one time. But I wouldn't necessarily give
yourself a time frame, say, well, I've got to be good in six
months or two years or whatever,because then you might be
(29:59):
disappointed that you're not where you need to be.
But also don't, don't, don't limit yourself by saying it's
going to take a long time. You don't know that.
Just I think you have to commit to whatever it is, regardless of
the time that it takes, and justallow yourself the freedom to
enjoy that process. Enjoy the journey along the way,
enjoy the successes, enjoy the times that you fall, right?
(30:23):
The times that you may consider that you failed at something and
just just know that that's you going to school, basically,
you're learning, right? So I don't, nothing I do is a
failure these days, right? There are a lot of things I wish
I'd done differently about, you know, some of the albums I've
released, some of the ways I've marketed, you know, I think we
could be further along at MiddleMastermind.
(30:44):
But none of those are failures. Those are all just lessons we've
learned and that just adds up over time.
So I think it's a it's not so much, well, I'm going to be good
in two years or 10 years or havethis done at a certain time.
And if I don't, right, it's moreof this is what I'm doing with
my life. It's what I enjoy doing.
Guys, I don't, I think we only get one go around at this.
(31:06):
I could be wrong, right? I, I don't, I don't know for
certain, but I think we get one shot at this life.
So I mean, do something that youreally enjoy doing, do what you
love and just commit to that thing and don't.
I wouldn't really worry so much about how much time it takes or
doesn't take. Very motivating words and I
really believe in what you say there too.
(31:27):
Your perspective on your basically build your, your
castle from, you know, the, the grounds that you, you cherish,
right. If I'm going to make, if I'm
going to make my life, you know,on my own terms, I want to do it
in a way that's wholesome, right?
(31:47):
Something that I'll, I'll be able to live with and remember
and not have any regrets for doing.
Those types of motives take courage, right?
They're not, they're not easy for because if, if everybody
could do it, they would, right? But it's, it's breaking down
barriers and breaking down the limitations that we have on
(32:11):
ourselves that it really requires us, you know, to look
inward to be able to take actionand move forward on things like
that. That's why there's, you know,
there's a 1% and it's very hard to reach 1%.
You're, you're talking about like the general populace.
Why is it called the general populace?
(32:32):
I'm not going to say it's, it's easy being, you know, the
general populace because there'sdefinitely challenges to that.
But I mean, it's infinitely harder to get to be the top
tier. And that can be an aspiration.
It could also be something that,you know, you're what is the 1%
mean to you? Is it, is it, is it the
(32:54):
financial goals or is it, is it relational goals?
You know, the 1% of people on earth who have like a successful
relationship. I mean, like, what are we
talking about here? There's like so many aspects of
your life that you might want to, you want to really reflect
about as you move forward in making either your music or even
(33:15):
like, let's say you wanted to dosomething like what Jason and I
were doing where we're starting an educational platform like
medical Astronaut, right? What is the goal here?
And I think the intention of people matters because if you're
coming into this and you're saying, you know, oh, I'm going
into music because I want to make a lot of money.
And it's like, well, no, not at front at least.
(33:38):
It's going to take a long time before, well, you can even maybe
see that you get to a point where you can make a lot of
money because it takes a lot of effort.
It takes a lot of skills too, right?
We mentioned that too. So if you're doing this and
really to me, doing music is because it's all I could ever
see myself wanting to do, right?Like that's really why I keep
(34:02):
doing it. That's why even if I have
roadblocks in the way, it doesn't matter to me because I'm
going to do it anyway, you know?So it has to be so compelling to
you that you won't walk away in order for you to be doing a
business like music. And that's OK if it's like you
want to accept that it might be a hobby for you or if you really
(34:25):
want to do it, like professionally, you have to
understand what it takes and that you're willing to buckle
down and make it happen because nobody's going to do it for you.
You know, seriously, again, labels, they're not, they're not
going to try and do it for you anymore.
It's not like the old days before even MTV where, you know,
(34:46):
you would approach somebody basically audition and they'd
say, hey, you got some talent, let's put it to use.
And then they would build you from there.
It's not that way anymore. You have to already make a name
for yourself in order to get to a point like that.
So, yeah, it the, the, the, the idea of how you go about gauging
(35:09):
your success in life really comes down to what it is that
what did you really want out of what you're doing?
You know it. Are you doing it for the genuine
reasons that will allow you to live with yourself at night too?
You know, Speaking of labels, I,I will say that not all labels
are bad. And I've, I've got to give a, a
(35:31):
huge shout out to my friend Frank.
He's, he goes by Frank Hedbangerin Germany.
He owns the label FHM Records. And he of course, he signed
Siren, good friends of mine. I think he's working with Nasty
Savage as well, so and a few other notable bands.
So he's growing the label, but this guy started a label because
(35:52):
he just loves metal music and hejust, he loves those particular
styles. He was a huge Siren fan.
You know, when Siren came literally back from the dead
after 30 years of of not playing, when they, when they
got rediscovered, Frank was a big part of having them play at
the Keep It True festival in Germany in 2017.
They had not played for 30 years, Fly fly overseas to play
(36:15):
this really cool festival. And it was just, it was a great
success. I mean, they had a documentary
done by financed by Chris Jericho and all kind of cool
things happen and they, they've recorded 2 albums since.
So you've got people like Frank out there.
And again, he's, he's working with Nasty Savage.
You know, Nasty Savage didn't release their Tampa metal band
here too. Most of you know who they are
(36:37):
real big in this area and of course globally.
But they had not recorded anything or released anything
for 20 years, right? So they, they just played the
Keep It True festival as well inGermany.
But all that said, though, you do have some people out there
with some smaller labels and guys, I don't you know, I don't
know that like that being on these labels, even a smaller
labels is like a get rich quick thing.
(37:00):
I'm not going to say if you wantto make a living, don't get into
music. I know people have said that
before. I'm not going to say that
because what we're talking abouthere, marketing allows you to
make a living from it. Now are you going to turn into
like a an extreme multimillionaire from it?
I mean, possibility of that probably not.
Doesn't mean that couldn't happen.
(37:21):
If you're like me, you want to make a good living and have
enough money to do what you really want to do off of
something that you really love. To me, that's better than being
like some billionaire who just hates what I do and hates my
life, right? I have I've heard the people
talk about, I think Gary Vaynerchuk.
(37:41):
Hey, I'm real careful who I listen to every now and I'll
I'll scroll past somebody like like Alex Hermosi or Gary
Vaynerchuk. I think Gary one time says like,
I know people that are billionaires but are miserable.
They just they hate life and I wouldn't want to be that.
I just I I want to do what I love to do.
I also don't want to be broke and chained to something I don't
(38:02):
like to do. OK, so there, there are
different levels of misery thereif you think of it that way.
And you know, being that we get one go around at this, why not,
why not spend the majority of your time doing something you
really love to do, get really good at it.
You might even find that, OK, I'm a musician.
You might have been find that maybe being in a band is, is not
(38:23):
the thing you want to do as muchas you want to play music, But
maybe you get really good at marketing.
So you open your own label and you start helping other bands
or, or you make a course about it, whatever, whatever the case
could be, right? You, you start you, you start
fueling your passion and helpingothers.
I think if you're helping other people in a genre in a field
that you really enjoy and that you're good at, and that's
(38:45):
that's a such a rewarding thing and you're making, you're making
your living off that. That's so rewarding in my
opinion. Yeah, 100%, man.
Yeah, It's all about your, your intentions in life, man.
You need to be really aware about how you go about doing
things and every decision that'smade.
(39:07):
I mean, like when we're young, like we don't, we don't know the
weight of our decisions until much later on.
So, and when we are, you know, older, we, we start valuing how
we spend our time so much more. The more aware we become about
those types of things, the more,you know, we look to the future
(39:27):
in certain sense senses. Like if I'm going to go, for
example, into business with Jason Stallworth, I'm not doing
it just because I'm thinking in the next year or two.
I'm thinking about the next 10 years that I'm working with
Jason, the next 20-30, forty years that we get to have time
to build something right. So the value of what you bring
(39:52):
to the world, right? And the creating of, you know,
good ideas and you know, are they worthwhile to pursue and
for what reason? What what do you believe in in
order to be able to keep doing this thing that you want to
create? So.
I I, I firmly believe in that. And you know, like I was saying
(40:13):
before with the whole, you know,getting into music, you know,
getting rich off of it, yeah, I mean, it can happen.
I mean, less than 1% make actually like rich money off of
it. But we're talking like if we're
just trying to achieve just financial freedom in a sense
where I don't have to be tied toA to a desk at at a job, that is
plenty for many people out there.
(40:36):
That is plenty, you know, and, you know, just imagine even like
just subsidizing part of your income, even if you have a job,
maybe because you feel like it gives you security, but your
music or your business is at least supporting you so that you
don't have to feel like you're freaking scrounging the bottom
of the barrel every day. You know, that's, that's success
(40:59):
right there too, You know, so, you know, Jason and I are are
very fortunate to to to be in a,you know, a circumstance where
we are able to, you know, support ourselves through metal
mastermind. But it's, you know, we're, we're
trying to build this to be something that provides
ourselves financial freedom in one way, shape or form.
(41:20):
And for us, you know, we're still musicians, We still do our
own thing. Lord knows, right, I do home
Eric. Jason does his own solo stuff as
well, and we collaborate together as well.
And we have people on our team that are here because they
believe in the mission, right? And that's what it is.
It's, it's bigging, it's creating something bigger than
(41:43):
ourselves that we're trying to help others do, something that
we've always wanted to do in ourown lives.
And that's us paving the way, sending the elevator down to
show others how they can do this.
And to our point and on this entire thing, and I'll just kind
of wrap it up in this way, is that, you know, when we are
(42:04):
creating a a business such as Metal Mastermind, I really feel
like, yeah, OK, we take 15% are,you know, creators and artists,
they're taking 85. Why do we do that?
Well, it's because Metal Mastermind was always supposed
to be something. I felt like that was for the
people in a sense that it wasn'treally about us just taking for
(42:28):
ourselves. It was supposed to be something
that was a network, a hub, a, a home, a place where people can
always come to know that what they're getting is honest and
that the attempt of trying to dosomething better was there,
right. So that's what mental
masterminds really always been about.
(42:49):
That's why we always talk about creating your own sound because
we really believe in that. I mean, Jason and I, our music,
we try to really find our own identity through all of this.
And we preach this all the time of, you know, learn from your
heroes, but then, you know, findyour own path.
And my, my, my father always hadtold me, you know, you know,
(43:12):
follow your N like that was thatwas always his line.
I was like, I always really likethat because it was like, my N
is is here. It's not just One North in in
this case, it's like, what is yours?
What is the, the course that youwant to chart in your own life?
And it's very powerful. And I've always been felt really
inspired by that. And here I am and here I'm with
(43:37):
Jason Stallworth and we're talking today on a on a podcast
to, you know, thousands of people on the Internet, which is
amazing. It's it's very rewarding and I
feel very grateful for the journey that we've taken.
As you should, right? You wouldn't have been the
person you are otherwise. So don't, don't disavow it just
(43:59):
because maybe something might not be happening right now.
You have to, you know, look a little bit back and see where
you came from too, and where where you're trying to go.
Only compare yourself to yourself, not to anybody.
Else that's huge. I I mentioned that to a gym
buddy the other day. He was, you know, we we're both
talking about how we've been training all our lives and I but
(44:19):
I've never had I've never wantedto compete and nothing against
those who compete. Just I think, I think that whole
thing is great if that's what you want to do Me, I'm not a
competitive person at all. But even Even so, though I, I
find myself or I have found myself over the years comparing
myself, whether it's it's in thegym or whatever, or even with
music, you know, you, you hear somebody that can sing so great.
(44:41):
It's like me. And I wish, I wish I had a voice
like that. You know, I'm nothing near that.
But it goes back to what we always say and to Ken's point
about competition is, is really you against you kind of a rocky
motivation there, right? But the like, the real thing is
just you. It's your own authentic sound.
(45:02):
It's your own authentic style. Like maybe maybe you don't have
this like roaring, you know, voice where you're just belting
out these super high notes. Maybe you just have your voice
and that's good enough. I want you to know guys, that
that is good enough because you have a unique sound sound.
Maybe you're not this ultra shred master on guitar.
(45:25):
And it doesn't mean that you can't get faster.
It doesn't mean that you can't overcome some barriers, but just
just realize that you have your own style and sound and give
yourself the freedom for that toshine instead of worrying about
sounding like someone else or playing as fast or, or or doing
double bass as fast as can or whatever, right?
So give yourself that freedom toto shine for your true self,
(45:47):
authentic self to shine. A lot of the great songs, if you
think about it, even in, in our metal genres, yeah, they're,
they've got great riffs and thatsort of thing.
But it's really the song itself is something much more powerful
than just a high note or just a guitar riff or a solo or
whatever. It's, it's the whole thing, you
know, when we're talking about music.
So again, I, I can't stress thisenough, give, give yourself the
(46:09):
freedom. Allow yourself the freedom to
just be your own authentic self.Create your own sound.
Yeah, yeah, the grace. Give yourself grace too.
Dude, yeah. So on the grace note, Dude, dost
thou haveth a metal song of the week?
Well, I'm actually going to see Opeth tonight, so I'll just
(46:31):
shout them out real quick. They have a new album coming out
and it's called The Last Will and Testament.
So I'm, I'm thinking they're probably going to play some of
that stuff tonight, which I'm really excited for.
It's going to be at the King's Theatre in Brooklyn.
New. York Oh man, that's exciting.
Yeah. Any the thing about like we're
just saying, you know, you have your own style and sound.
I think it's very fair to say Opeth definitely has their own
(46:54):
style and sound. They've done some some different
things, you know, over the years, but they are Opeth right?
That's right. And there's nothing that sounds
like them. So my metal song of the week is
a new and upcoming album from Arch enemy.
I'm a big Arch enemy fan, but they've got a new album that's
not scheduled to be released until March 2025 called Blood
(47:14):
Dynasty. So they've released 2 singles
off of this album so far. And I think the this just came
out recently. Liars and thieves.
So great tune by Arch enemy. I love Michael Amat's writing
style and his playing style, just he's, he's so melodic and
just comes up with these really catchy things.
So Yep, that that's our Metal songs of the week guys.
(47:34):
So want to thank everyone for being a part of Metal
Mastermind. Everybody listening right now,
you are a part of this and we thank you for that.
We appreciate you. On that note, go check out our
resources and courses and everything that we have for
metalmusicians@metalmastermind.com.So thanks for listening guys.
Until next week, as always, create your own sound.
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