The Millennial Musician Podcast

Get ready for an in-depth conversation with Shawn Setaro, a respected journalist, author, and podcast host known for his influential work in the hip-hop community. In this episode, we revisit the legacy of his podcast, 'The Cipher,' and delve into his book 'Complex Presents Dummy Boy: Tekashi 6IX9INE and the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.'

Learn from Shawn's experience as he shares valuable insights on navigati...

Former "The Voice" contestant and Memphis soul singer, Savannah Brister was kind enough to spend some time with me last year as we cackled (me) and cutely giggled (her) through sharing all the ins & outs of her wild experience on the hit reality TV show.

And she held nothing back...

What's in Store:

1. The Audition Adventure: Savannah spills the tea on what it's really like to audition for "The V...

After wrapping up my first show at the legendary Bitter End, a visibly excited man rushed up onto the stage where I and my guitarist still stood. All he wanted was to take a picture of me wearing his sunglasses, a tradition he’d started amongst his favorite indie artists. That person was a guy named Mark McLaughlin, and unbeknownst to me, he had just become my first fan.

Mark bewildered me because he was the polar opposite of ...

I'm guilty of it too... I've totally caught myself in a fantasy about how great it would be to sign with an indie label. In that fantasy, you're cared for, held in highest regard, and everyone at the label believes in your vision and knows how to execute it at a scale larger than you're currently capable of.

But things don't always turn out that way, which is what Kelsey Warren of Blak Emoji came on to disc...

Every musician (especially their parents) has heard the classic "starving artist" trope, but there's someone on a mission to fix that.

Meet Ryan McCurdy, a multi-hyphenate who amidst being a stellar actor+, musician+ is also a financial educator for artists.

This conversation barely scratched the surface of all there is to discuss when it comes to finance reform from the top down, but we also got to discuss...

No matter where my clients have found themselves on their music career journey, we've always arrived at that question... "...but what's my genre?"

And no matter the answer I give, these musicians are hard pressed to let the world stop turning until they can properly classify themselves and neatly fold up the box they long to fit inside. That's why I decided that if they won't listen to me, maybe they&...

Thanks to our late friend, producer Black Panther, I had heard the sounds of Maya Azucena on their song, "The Half" before I even had the honor of meeting her. Once that changed and I saw her perform, I was floored. She was an absolute force, and I had never seen or heard anyone do what she did on that stage. Since that day, Maya has become my mentor, my boss, and my friend.

When the pandemic began, Maya was living ...

I am absolutely (proudly) dating myself with this reference, but any millennial worth their salt will know that "Cheers" was the bar where everybody knows your name.

In each and every episode, Norm was the character who got acknowledged at the entrance - not once, did he hobble down those stairs and not get noticed and greeted by all the patrons.

Well... meet my friend, Ashton, known as ASHTNMRTN.

Like clockwork...

Sometimes inexplicably, our relationships shift and a connection we once thought was solid can seemingly disintegrate overnight. Our music industry network is no exception to this rule of human experience, so what should you or even can you do to fix it?

In this episode, we discuss how to remedy a potentially broken industry connection or if it’s even worth trying to. This one is sure to stir up some feelings so reach out to m...

We've all been there - our dreaded day job running us ragged, any home-life responsibilities, family, friends, and then... music?  And even once you get to music, there's so much unsexy work to do like metadata, registration, emails, oh my!  That's why I'm so grateful to have Suz back on the show who was kind enough to share a bundle of ways we can start automating our lives so we can settle our minds and get back to what...

WARNING: ADULT TOPICS

I felt it was important to share what happened to me this week when I decided to take control of my sexual narrative by way of a risque photo shoot and then subsequently sharing the photos online.  The photographer ultimately handled the situation and was extremely apologetic that my trust was violated in such a way, but it doesn't change the reality that when women try to present ourselves with a narrati...

As an unsaturated space, musicians are criminally overlooking the opportunity that is being a guest on podcasts.  As of December of 2022, there is an estimate of roughly 700K active podcasts in existence while *listenership is expected to exceed 160 million listeners in 2023 (buzzsprout).  To put it into perspective, compare to YouTube which has over 51 million channels in 2022.  So I decided it was time to bring in ...

Queen Brené Brown is such an inspiration to us all.  She has taught us about vulnerability, how to work through our shame, and live a joy-filled life.  But when I first heard her concept around "Dress Rehearsing Tragedy" I felt like she was yelling at me!  And that's why I couldn't help but bring you this message today because you just might need someone to yell at you too.  At least you know it's coming with lo...

Almost reaching 100K visitors each month on their website, Ghost Cult Magazine has just celebrated their 10th year in existence.  The Editor-in-Chief, known as "Keefy" has been holding down the fort with respect, passion, integrity, and a healthy dose of anti-bullshit that any self-respecting east-coaster can appreciate.  I'm grateful to consider Keefy a friend after connecting with him during the... yes, the pandemilovat...

There is no doubt, a right and wrong way to build your network and subsequently promote your new music.  The stakes are high AF when missteps are made because networking can so easily teeter on the verge of seeming desperate, selfish, or worse... spammy.  In this episode, learn my unfiltered opinion on people contacting you out of the blue to listen to their new song along with the crimes committed when networking.

P...

Fame, thank you for being my champion.  You loved and supported me even when I couldn't find a reason to love and support myself.  I wish we could have had that lunch we always talked about.  I wish I could have hugged you and told you how much you meant to me.    

May the memory of Fame Tehilla Chaya Cohen be a blessing to us always.

"You should go be on American Idol!"  We've all heard that from someone thinking they're giving us a compliment and a helpful tip.  I've been there.  And it used to infuriate me.  But then I started seeing my so many of friends go on these shows and suddenly their careers were catapulted.  So I started asking myself... should I go on one of these shows?

On this episode, hear from a renowned coach, ...

I was just blocked online by a musician being a schmuck in the name of "increased engagement".  You see, when "haters" comment on your post, the comment is believed to increase the activity of the post.  But sometimes the people you think are "hating" are really just trying to save you from yourself because you've fallen victim to... *dun dun*

Being an asshole online.   

Polarizi...