119. What it means to Make it in Music with Ayo Awosika

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the show that explores the methods and strategies
on rocking the financial side of your music business. With
over forty years combined experience, here are your hosts, Chris
Webb and Dave Tampkid.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to you musicians Tip Job, where we talk about
musicians and money. We believe the road to failure and
the road to success are mostly the same road. I'm
Chris Webb, joined by my co host who definitely knows
what a long road trip is.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Like, Dave Tampkin.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Too many long road trips, Chris, too many get old?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
How many of those were the same road?

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Well that not too many actually, so I'm proud of that.
I still have some more roads too, challenge myself with.
I'll keep you posted.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I always think you're talking to Andy Frask about how
he talked about like hitting the same places for a
long time until you built something and then moved to
a new region. You know, for a lot of people
are on the same road a lot for that reason
when they're starting to tour.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
That's why they say, when you know you have a
high probability of getting in an accident or pulled over
closer to your house than anywhere else. Yeah, no shit,
you're there more often than anywhere else.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
I don't know what that has to do with the spodcast,
but you know it's a little tip it for you
bring down to the world, tell your friends about it.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Today we complete our interview with our good friend iow
A Wushika. We put a spotlight on what often is
misunderstood in the term making it in the music industry.
I should quote put quotations around that when I say that,
as well as diversifying revenue streams by simply pursuing your
interests and some vocal tips from an absolute pro. Today's

(01:50):
quote comes from our guest Io. She said, with success,
there is no arrival point. You continue to arrive and
take the next step.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
And this week's nonprofit is Musechoir dot org. They believe
musical excellence is essential to effectively deliver their mission and
message with integrity, joy and passion. Professional artistic staff leads
their auditioned volunteer choir that brings it averse mix of
musical talent and training. Muse embraces their responsibility as global
musical ambassadors and value artistic partnerships with other leading social

(02:23):
justice and women's organizations. Actually muse Cincinnati Women's Choir just
received fifteen thousand dollars grant to partner with IO and
she's I think sircasing at the end of April, is
that what she said? The commission in an original choir
composition from her and they'll perform with the live choir
in the spring of twenty twenty five. So we're looking

(02:45):
forward to sharing that with you when it happens. If
you find this information useful, please rate and subscribe to
the podcast, and also slam the like button if you're
on YouTube, so can help you up on the finance
side of your music business.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Iowa Wishaka is an LA based vocalist, composer, and multi instrumentalist.
She is also a vocal performance coach, music director, and arranger.
She has toured and sung background vocals for artists including
Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith, Rob Thomas, The Chainsmokers, Danny Elfman,

(03:16):
Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Carlos Santana, Pentatonics, among many others. Ioways
shared the stage or opened with the likes of Richie Havens,
Ryan Shaw, Peter Eldridge, Esperanza Spalding and has also performed
with the Colorado Symphony. She has performed on The Today Show,
Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Good Morning America, Jimmy

(03:40):
Kimmel Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Ellen, BBC
Radio One Live Lounge, and The Voice as well as
the UK's Top Music TV show Later with Jules Holland.
In twenty nineteen, she had the once in a lifetime
opportunity to be a vocalist on the choir heard throughout
the The Lion King film soundtrack. Since then, her vocals

(04:04):
have been recorded on scores of several TV shows and
films like Minions two, Nope, Creed three, Black Panther two,
Waconda Forever, Beverly Hills, cop Axel F and Despicable Me four.
Io is also a Berkeley College of Music graduate. Her

(04:25):
debut album, We Best Not Wait was produced by Scott Jacobi,
who also produced John Legend and Sia, and that was
released in twenty sixteen. In twenty twenty three, she was
commissioned to compose and conduct a new choral piece for
two hundred and fifty person choir and debuted at the
twenty twenty three Sister Singer's Network Festival in Cleveland Ohio.

(04:48):
Since then, she has been commissioned to compose several choral
pieces for various groups in the US, as well as
being invited as a guest artist to workshop, perform and
guest can conduct with these same choral groups. The next
one is with the Cincinnati Muse Choir that Dave just
talked about, and that is at the end of April.

(05:09):
Most recently, she was a featured singer in Disney's eighties
nineties celebration at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as a
member of the choir for the thirtieth anniversary Lion King Show,
also at the Hollywood Bowl. It is amazing, She's wonderful.
Please enjoy.

Speaker 5 (05:24):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Can I ask you a little bit about how when
you're saying yes, when you're choosing to say yes or
two opportunities that are come along along And I know
this has changed as you have grown in your success,
But do you negotiate back with the rates that they're
offering or do you usually just say assume that what
they're offering is going to be it? Or to know,

(06:13):
especially with these like backup opportunities, when you're backing up
all these wonderful artists.

Speaker 6 (06:18):
Yeah, that's a great question. With the union stuff, it's
very like this is what it is because you know
it's union. But I have run into last year I did.
Actually it was working with a new artist who's like
huge now and I was contracting a group of singers

(06:39):
to perform with her, and just the pay that they
were offering, it was like, this is just way too low.
I can't go back to these so that in that
particular instance, I'm a contractor, right, so I can't go
to them, knowing the caliber of these singers and say like,
this is what they're offering you for the week. So

(06:59):
I definitely had to do some negotiating and it was tough,
but I learned a lot and was able to get
more for them, and that felt really good, felt like
an awesome win. Everyone had an amazing time. And I
think every single time that we do that as singers,
it tells, you know, producers and artists and management teams like, hey,

(07:21):
this is what we're worth. This is this is kind
of the standard, you know, and it's we're not really
going to go below that. I've also, yeah, I've negotiated
with some pretty big artists also in terms of doing
like touring and stuff like that, and it's worked. I mean,
it makes sense, right, It's like any other job if

(07:41):
you're with them for a handful of years, like hey,
I want to talk to you about a raise, you know,
or if you're coming in the door new it's like
this is this is what I'm used to and these
are the things that I need and if you can't
provide that, which recently, I had a situation where with
an artist where I did have to turn down it too,
and it was painful for me because I love this artist,

(08:03):
I love working with them, and it just wasn't It
didn't align for me, and so I did have to
say no. And there's no hard feelings about that. It's
just like, oh, okay, that doesn't work for me now,
you know. But it's truly, guys, it is taking me
a long time to get there though, Yeah, get to
this place to where I can feel good. Like to me,

(08:27):
it's like it's honestly like almost it's a spiritual thing
for me because I'm like, if it's meant to be,
it's gonna be. And if it doesn't, okay, that wasn't
for me then, And that really helps me with decision
making of like this does not seem to be working out.
I'm not going to try to force a square peg
into a round hole like it's all good, you know,

(08:49):
But yeah, I can't. I have to say for sure,
it's taken a minute to get there.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
You had mentioned working those hotels when you first moved
out to la and something that Chris and I still
do that. It is hard sometimes when someone offers rates
that were the same in nineteen ninety five, unreil, how well,
how do you expect people to put food on their
table and pay the rent when everything is changed. But

(09:15):
there are a handful of musicians that don't have that
self worth or they're making so much money elsewhere that
this is just fun for them, So not knocking them
for taking it. This standard just gets lower and lower.
I'll take anything, I'll play anything. Yes, community goes down
rather than what I see Chris web do very often

(09:36):
is build his community and bring them up. And like
you said, you're contracting for other vocalists as well. Chris
has a musicians that he works with that represent them
and say, hey, I need to pay them fairly.

Speaker 6 (09:50):
That's really cool. So how do you deal with those situations?
Like how do you do with it.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
It's funny that you said that you asked for in
their story was when you were helping contract other artists.
I've noticed that I am willing, more brave, I guess
to ask for the appropriate amount when I'm helping other
musicians more than helping myself. And I'm not quite sure
what switches, what's like where that confidence comes from all

(10:19):
of a sudden when I'm like standing up for my community,
but something is easier about it for me, And so
now when I'm representing myself, I try to represent myself
as a third party. Nice to put that mindset.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
You know, there, so that I'm willing and more confident
in asking for the appropriate amount.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
We're also getting to a point where, you know, when
you're saying no, Sometimes you're not saying no because it's
the financial decision. Sometimes you're not saying no because of that.
You're saying no because it doesn't feel right, it doesn't
feel like a good fit right, Like sometimes you're like,
well this is I'm not the right person for this,
you know, like it's it's not always about them, And yeah,

(11:02):
sometimes I think the money is the harder part. When
it's a good offer, totally and you know it's still
not the right fit totally.

Speaker 6 (11:10):
Ooh, yeah, you hit the nail on the head. That's
the grown up stuff right there, right, Yeah, It's like
that is truly the grown up stuff to be like,
oh this is And this has happened to me other
times in my career in different ways of like oh
this shiny like I'm going to give you this money,
but it's different. But like I had a situation where

(11:34):
I had someone who wanted to invest in my project,
but truly that like terrible, quintessential experience where it's like,
you can have all this money and the ease and
I'm going to take care of your of you and
your career, but you have to do this very shady
thing that I'm just wasn't willing to do. So I walked,

(11:54):
you know, I'm walking away from from the money and
the ease, and you know, yeah, in this situation, it's like,
oh wow, it'd be nice to have that gig and
it sounds like really great pay, But am I going
to be good? Like at the end of the day,
am I going to feel like I made a good
decision and in my integrity That's what it comes down to.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, yeah, well, I feel like you've all you've always
been good at knowing, listening to your heart.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
You know. I like what I thought that about you.
And so when you're setting up this next year, let's say,
what is it that you're aiming at right now, Like
is there some new projects coming up or are you
going back on tour, like and how are you doing
that now that you have a family and trying to
maintain both Yeah, healthy way.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
Yeah, thank you. I love touring and I'm in a
space now where I still am open to doing it,
but it has to be a situation where I can
bring my family. So if an artist is open to
that and can provide support around that, awesome, especially because

(13:05):
my daughter she's two and a half, it's a great
time to do that. Like I said, my husband's in music,
like it would just be really fun for us to do.
So if that opportunity arises, you know, we'll see. But
right now we are. The spring is like filling up
with some really cool stuff. I mentioned earlier that I've

(13:28):
been composing more. I had some opportunities to compose some
pieces for choirs, and so I've been getting choral commissions,
which just my like nerdy, young choir seeing herself is
just so.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Happy, cool, It's so cool.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Well, can you talk more about that? These are huge choirs,
These are two hundred and fifty person Yeah.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
The first one I had was the commission to write
a piece for actually two two hundred and fifty person choirs,
so five hundred people total, and to write this piece
for this festival called Sister Singers, and that was amazing.
I wrote the piece, it premiered at this festival. This

(14:09):
was twenty twenty three. Yeah, got to conduct the piece
and so that kind of just opened my mind more
to like, oh, this is a whole world that I
really want to be a part of. So since then,
I've had a few more commissions. I got to be

(14:31):
one of twelve composers selected to do this special program
in California where we work with composer mentors and get
to have this group called Cooral Arts Initiative premiere our
piece after a week long time of working with them.
And that was last year. That was really cool. And
I just finished a commission for a group in Cincinnati

(14:53):
called News that will premiere at the end of April,
so I'll go there. This is kind of like something
I've thought about for a long time of like doing
gigs that are more in the performing arts realm, but
I'm realizing like, oh, there's a really cool way for
me to bring all of my skills and loves together
of like getting to go with these groups, workshop with them,

(15:15):
kind of teach them a little bit. To also perform
my own music in a concert. And that's what I'll
be doing with this group, also collaborating with them, and
then they'll premiere this piece that I compose for them.
So that's been really exciting. So hopefully more of that
this year, and then my husband is helping me. I'm

(15:39):
building a business around just educational content. Like I again
have been thinking, like I love teaching. It's all been
mainly private. When I lived in Colorado, I was also
teaching at Swallow Hill and doing like a lot of
group classes and stuff like that. And I still do
that now, but just less of it. But there's only

(16:03):
one of me, you know, so i can't teach private
lessons to hundreds of people. And I've been thinking, like
I just want to help people. That's like literally what
i think I'm here to do is just to help people,
and more specifically help people find themselves, come back to
themselves and their voice and their authenticity and them being
able to show up as their true selves whatever that
looks like. And so I just want to impart all

(16:27):
my knowledge, you know, and help people if they want
to do what I'm doing to do that. If they
are singers who you know, they have a day job
and it's just fun and it's a hobby for them,
that's great too. All my students, they run the gamut
in terms of age and background. But I want to
present classes and workshops and courses now with just all

(16:53):
this information on how you can become a better singer,
how you can become a professional singer, how you can sustain.
So that's what I'm working on now. Takes a lot
of time and the effort, but I'm super excited about that.
I'm actually going to be presenting a workshop on breath support,
which is like just so foundational as a singer, and

(17:14):
there's so many misconceptions and so much confusion around that
for singers. So I'll be presenting that in the next
weeks actually, and that's kind of like my first main
online workshop that I'll be doing. So I'm just excited
to just relation.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
You mentioned that your husband works with some people behind
the scene. You have mentioned you work with some people
and teach behind the scenes. You're not mentioning their names.
Totally cool. I'm sure there's people behind the scenes that
have mentored you, or peers or teachers that showed you
a way to do things in that scene. Can you

(17:55):
give us an example of someone who wasn't like the megastar,
but the village behind that you know, boosts this machine
and keeps it working, that says, hey, this is added,
you know, a positive thing to the journey and said
of success for you in ways that the public will
never see.

Speaker 6 (18:13):
Oh that's cool, that's a cool question. Yeah. Honestly, the
first person that sticks out for me is Art Landy
because he was my teacher for many years when I
was living in Bolder, and he just opened my mind
to not only the possibilities as a musician and and

(18:36):
just creativity and thinking out at the box and everything
like that. But I don't know, just his energy is
just so special, and I feel like he really encouraged
me to be myself and to challenge myself and to
do things as a composer that I hadn't done before,
so some of the music that came out of that
time that I was working with him. I feel like

(18:57):
it's been really pivotal for me. And I sometimes joke like, oh,
I shouldn't have gone to music school. I should have
just studied with art, you know, and that would have
been enough. So he definitely stands out. I have so
much love for him always. And then I would just
point to just the singer community here. It's not like

(19:21):
any one person, but truly people are looking out for
each other and saying like, hey, have you You know,
when I first got to LA, it's like, have you
heard about this? Have you have you met this person?
Have you reached out to this person? Oh, you'd be
great for this. Let me recommend you for this. Like actually,
a good friend of mine, Melissa Axel, was also a

(19:43):
Colorado connection, and she's out here in LA. She recommended
me to be a creative producer on this project for
the Hollywood Foreign Press that she and I did during
the pandemic of all things. And it was such a
cool experience. I would I don't think I would have
ever been, or at least not easily in that position

(20:08):
to get to do that, and we did some really
cool work together, getting to work with these actors and
interview them, and also working with these kids who were
being honored with a grant, and so we worked on
the creative side with them and I got to coach
them and we came up with this music video. I mean,

(20:29):
just like just cool stuff, you know. So it's the
community for me that really stands out.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
Do you feel like you've had to build a team
in order to do all these things? I can't imagine
you're doing it all alone.

Speaker 6 (20:44):
I am doing it as well. Honestly, my husband is
on my team. I am so grateful for his support,
and he's just so smart. He is a real business
mind too, so he's always looking out for me and
giving suggestions. And you know, we've had people come in
and out at different times, and with our band as well.

(21:07):
But it's it's a little sad. I feel like it's
hard to find people who truly want to help, who
are going to be consistent, who will follow through with
what they say they're going to do. So yeah, right now,
I don't have a manager. I don't have a booking agent.
It's something I've thought about pursuing, is having an agent
at least sometime soon, but I've just been doing it

(21:31):
on my own.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
It's impressive, amazing.

Speaker 6 (21:33):
I appreciate that, and I appreciate you bringing it up
because I don't think about that and so, yeah, it's
it's good to notice, like, oh yeah, I have it too.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's there's a certain personality
that I feel like we see as a thread that's
continuous through all these wonderful guests we've had on the show,
and you have that same spark where just you're willing
to do the work. You're willing to keep showing up
and keep doing the work because it's a passion that
fulfills you while you work hard.

Speaker 6 (22:02):
Totally, totally, thank you.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Can I ask about so being such an expert with
the vocal techniques. Last week we had an episode about
health and sustaining health and we focused a little bit
on vocal stuff. Is there anything that you might through
out there being the expert, what you do to maintain
your vocal health that might be useful for some of

(22:26):
our listeners.

Speaker 6 (22:28):
Yeah, totally. I actually recently made like a wellness video
of kind of what I do, like even on a show.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
Day, beautiful.

Speaker 6 (22:36):
I don't always follow this, but obviously sleep is going
to be the best thing. Sleep and hydration. As soon
as I wake up, I try to drink as much
water as I can. I'll also drink like warm lemon water,
which I feel like is really great for clearing out
the limbotic system. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to everything in Colorado,
I mean in California, so my allergies are just have

(22:58):
been wild since I moved here. So I actually use
a netty pot, which is super helpful for me as
a singer. I also humidify my voice with a personal steamer,
and then of course, like yeah, warming up. I think
when we're younger, we kind of feel invincible and you

(23:19):
can go into a gig not having warmed up and
it's cool. But as you get older, this musculature everything
changes and you actually you got to do the work,
and it's about conditioning and taking care of your instrument
just like you would any other instrument outside of your body.
And so I think even if you can just warm up,
you know, ten minutes a day, which I actually have

(23:42):
a ten minute warm up too, that I think you
guys are going to link to that. I'd love for
people to have it's just six simple warm ups that
you can do every day to maintain. I think that
that's huge because the voice it changes as we get older,
and it's like in a sense that just like if
you don't use it, you lose it. It's true.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Do you think that I just wait, I was pausing
because I said Dave was about to open his mouth,
and then I wanted to make sure I talked right
over him, and I did it.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
So now I'll stop and go ahead, Dick.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
We've been working on not cutting each other off this season.
We've had over one hundred episodes of just stomping on
each other. Well, Meg and Burke came on and then
she's like, oh, it's just like hanging out with you,
Dave in real life. Oh, I have to address this.
Maybe I'm the problem.

Speaker 6 (24:35):
Oh my gosh, you too.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
At this stage of your career, what does making it
mean to you now versus what you thought it meant
when you were at Berkeley?

Speaker 6 (24:48):
Mm? Yeah, I think making it was like oh, being famous,
you know, and like people knowing you and you know.
Now making it is like can I take care of
my family? You know? Am I happy? Am I healthy?
Am I doing things that I feel good about that

(25:11):
are in my integrity and that I enjoy and just
the fact that I get to do music as my
vocation is like crazy, you know, I sit such a gift.
I don't take it lightly at all, and I think
it's like but it's also taken me time, right and

(25:32):
like therapy and all those good things to realize, like
you have made it. Kid. You know the place that
I'm at now, I don't think the young one of
me would have ever pictured being at. And so I'm
proud of myself and I have to keep coming back
to that and reminding myself of like there's no like
a rival point. You continue to arrive and you continue

(25:55):
to like take one step and then the next step
and the next step. It's literally moment to moment to moment.
And that's probably the biggest thing I've I've learned as
an adult as a human is like presence. You know,
I don't want to always be thinking about, oh, well,
what's the next gig, what's the next this? It's like,
well where am I right now? What am I doing? Now?
Let me be present and enjoy that?

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Now. I love that? So good?

Speaker 2 (26:20):
All right?

Speaker 3 (26:20):
So we often asked this as a kind of our
last question and so and we've started to expand it
a little bit. Our question is like, what would you
recommend her? A couple of books that you've been reading
lately that you might recommend, And we expanded it now
to include podcasts. If that's something also that you you
need know, have to say our podcast. I'm not fishing

(26:42):
for that, but.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Just things that you know have inspired you lately that
may pass on.

Speaker 6 (26:49):
I love if you're a creator. I love the media podcast.
That's great. I'm a big fan of Amy Porterfield, especially
as I'm starting to build this educational content. She's just
so smart about that stuff. I just started listening to
Michael McDonald's memoir on audiobook. It's awesome. He is I've

(27:15):
always been a huge fan and hearing his story is
so inspiring.

Speaker 4 (27:21):
Memoir again, memoir.

Speaker 6 (27:26):
Memoir. So that's a big one. It's called What a
Full Believes? What else? Honestly, I read a lot of
like parenting books, and you know what, I do want
to say this one for creative moms. Let me see
if I can just get the author. Yeah, it's called

(27:47):
The Mother Artist by Catherine Ricketts. That's a beautiful book. Yeah,
so I'm reading that as well. And then I'm I'm all,
is like thumbing through Bill Plotkin books which are about
nature and the human psyche and soul, and I'm big

(28:09):
on that stuff too.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
That's a good list.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
What about you, guys selfishly go through these our own.
We're asking for our audience, but I mean we'll talk
about these books probably for the next.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, I was just telling Dave, I'm just about finishing
this book I can by now now by doctor Wayne Tyer,
who unfortunately died yes so too young.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
But you have you read any of his stuff? I
have a big Yeah. He just has a way. He's
a great writer, and his stuff is I like that.
His stuff is a digestible way of It's like stories
with messages, you know, And I think he's really good
at writing like that. So that's been my main book.
I figured you'd probably read some of his stuff before.

(28:57):
So yeah, but what about you, Dave.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Be Like Water by Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Ley is
what I'm reading right now, which is pretty incredible, just
how she goes from living in his shadow to running
his estate and then taking his philosophy and expanding it
into her own life. Pretty awesome.

Speaker 6 (29:19):
Love that O great guys, So I got to check
both those out now.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Well, we don't want to take up your whole day.
I know that you got a lots going on. Thank
you so much for being here and making this work
and sharing all of your experience and your knowledge, and
congratulations on your continued success. It is so wonderful to
watch from afar.

Speaker 6 (29:45):
Thank you so much, guys. Thank you for having me
and being patient and with me as we figure out
a time that works. And yeah, I just feel really
honored that you thought of me.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Another great interview. Isn't it crazy how we've talked about
how it's easier to stick up for your friends than
it is for yourself. Yeah, or a cause that it
is for your own cause. She said that as far
as knowing what she's worth, what she knows obviously, but

(30:54):
then when she's sticking up for her friends and for
the profession for the professionals she works with, it's just
a little bit more fuel to stick up for them,
because you need to know your minimum rate and be
prepared to justify it. And when you know your team's rate,

(31:15):
it's even easier to do.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah. Maybe that's because we intentionally say this is what
it should be when we're discussing it with others, Whereas
for ourselves there's always that internal you know, the am I.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
Worth that imposter syndrome?

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yes, exactly, the imposter syndrome. Am I really able to
ask for that amount? Is that justifiable? But whatever it is.
I do think that when you see someone like her
doing these opportunities after the first couple times, it makes
it much easier to know what that rate should be.
Places like la New York, and Nashville all have that

(31:51):
a little bit clearer than in the middle of nowhere.
When you're trying to negotiate a rate, it's harder to
know what the appropriate amount would because it has to
match the market.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
As well, especially when you're working with a union as well.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the union makes it easier too. I
do think that's true. Yes, they have set limits, and
that goes along with knowing when to say no. You know,
it may be that it's not because of the money,
like we talked about it. It could be because the opportunity.
Maybe you know, you don't need to go out into
the middle of nowhere anymore and play a show. You
might have thought that was a good use of your

(32:26):
time and energy back a while ago. But now you're
looking at it being like, I'm more valuable staying here
or putting myself in a place like la and not
traveling anymore than it is to go play these tours
on the same route down the same road.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
Right.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
And so you just need to know when to say no,
because it's not just about the money, it's as about
how well it fits with what you're headed towards.

Speaker 4 (32:50):
One question I didn't have a chance to ask her,
was was she ever in a situation where she said
no and she suck up for her fee or didn't
feel right and that project went on to be like
uber successful. But she still felt okay with that decision
because of the details she had at the time she

(33:12):
needed to make that decision. Yeah, and what do you
you know you have to learn from those you know,
with the outcome.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
You do have to be okay with whatever whatever you
say has to be how it ends right. Yeah, that's
a skill too, all of these kind of things of
letting go. You can't hold on to that stuff. It
always makes me think of that guy from Napoleon Dynamite,
Like I could have gone pro you know, the the
uncle who plays football. If you haven't seen that movie,
you should watch that movie. But that idea that you

(33:40):
had your chance and you lost it, and now all
you can ever do is sit and think about how
you missed that opportunity. That is the dream killer because
you're stuck in the past. We all have those moments
where we regret something that we said no to or
we didn't do it, and we wish that we had
for whatever the reason that it didn't happen.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
But setting those personal guidelines for yourself helps you with
your artistic integrity, your work, life balance, mental well being,
all of those things. So you're putting that first, which
helps you be more creative in the long run.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yeah. And the more that you can let go of
the past and not worry so much about the future
allows you to do better in the moment. And that's
really what I took away from this. And when we're
talking about success, and we'll kind of get towards that
this feeling that you're doing a good job, that you
are showing up for yourself. That we always say that

(34:39):
showing up for yourself, doing what you need to do
to make yourself feel like you are headed in the
direction that you in your heart know you want to.
It requires you to let go of both the past
and the future most of the time. But planning is
also a part of this. It's not like you can't
just have any sort of plan, and most musicians are

(35:00):
are are aware that a plan is valuable, but how
you execute the plan really does matter.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
That way or not just reacting to the opportunity. How
does it fit in with that plan and how with
the longevity of what you want to get out of
your career.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, and as someone who she spent so much time
touring with these great artists like Miley Cyrus, for her
to do that now with a two year old, it's
clear that it has to have the right circumstances or
it's a no.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
Right.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
It's not going to be about the money in that circumstance, right,
And it's not going to be about how is that
a fun thing or not? Because we all know that
must be an amazing experience. But if it doesn't fit
with her family now, then it's a no. And that's
a wonderful clarity that she gave us there and what
she understands about herself and her.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
Heart, having family and relationships and being on the road.
It's something that no music school will teach you how to.
I don't want to say handle, but be present for
because you're always moving, you're out of your daily grind,
you have something else happening. But to make choices that

(36:11):
put value on your loved ones, whether it be your
immediate family or friendships or girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever it may be,
you need to show up for them too if you
want them to be a part of your life. So
if you can't bring them with you, I highly suggest
scheduling time just like you would rehearsal, just like you

(36:32):
would when it's time to eat touring, when the bus leaves,
When are you going to jump on zoom? When are
you going to make that phone call? Definitely something I
would say that I did not know early in my career,
when I was on the road for about ten years.
I was so in the moment that I think, going back,

(36:53):
I would have made different decisions at the time.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
And her ability to compose and just up and do that.
This is one of those things where I'm like, I'm
in awe of that ability and the skills, you know,
they were there before she got the opportunity right, And
it's kind of like what we keep saying about the
skill stuff. She could already do it, and she had
thought about doing it, but that doesn't make it something

(37:19):
she intended to do until it started to happen, and
then it led to more and she was ready when
the moment came. We always say that, you know, luck
is just the you know, the intersection between being prepared
and being in the right place right, and both of
those things show true here. Did I ever tell you

(37:40):
that this is my only experience really composing for other
people that I wrote the I composed the fight song
for my first undergrad school. No, yeah, we composed the
fight song. It's still their fight song for all of
their team events, and so that we were, you know,
there's five of us, we can posed it, and then

(38:00):
we recorded it with the school symphony. And that was
a really cool experience for me.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Is it an unruly like class?

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Was it? What?

Speaker 4 (38:09):
Unruly?

Speaker 5 (38:10):
I mean?

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Why did I what? What did I say that? Cause
that I didn't hear my.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Fight song like happening so many times that they're like,
you know, let's let's plan this out. Everyone gets to
sing along once people throw down in the cafeteria.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Well, that's all we say is fight Fight. That's like
every every song for every university. One of those the lyrics,
they were part of the lyrics. Yet, yes, I think
you know what's funny too, is that's in a time
capsule that was part of that year they were putting
stuff in a time capsule at the school and they
so they put that recording of the composition, which is

(38:49):
probably on a compact disc, right, and I think that
it's gonna be real.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
It's not. Let's be real.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
I think it's getting close to where there's so supposed
to dig up the time gap. So that's how long
it's been. You should be there for that, You're right,
I should be All this is to bring back the
idea that bringing your skills together will always make you
more valuable, and we want to continually put a highlight

(39:21):
on that. That everybody that you will listen to about
how they made it, and it doesn't just have to
be about the musicians or the music industry. When you
listen to the stories of people, especially entrepreneurs, that found
a way to find success, it's because they had a
way of combining their unique sets of skills and passions

(39:41):
in a way that sets them apart and makes them
uniquely qualified.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
Well can you do with those skills, Chris, how.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
About build vocal courses? How about online workshops? Right?

Speaker 4 (39:52):
And she's doing it, yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
And everybody will learn differently, and so finding the right
person to say it, As we've said before, everyone wants
to have someone say it in the way they say
it right, you will always be able to present it
in a way that no one else can. Not only that,
but not everybody that's out there teaching something like vocal

(40:15):
lessons are really qualified to be doing so. They certainly
won't have the experience and the depth of education in
which someone like Io has. So it's really a valuable
thing that she's bringing to the market. And we'll link
those here at the bottom as well.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
Something I was talking to my friend Detchin about this week,
and he has a mentor course on his website that
he helps other singer songwriters out and he is definitely
a fine human being to do it. I like that
she's doing this too, and more of us need to
do that. Find people that are a little bit ahead
of ourselves in our career pursuits or passion pursuits. And

(40:56):
she is someone that you should check out her website
to see what you can offer you.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
I like that. We also touched on getting some of
her vocal tips, because since we've been talking about the
health stuff, and I think they're very easy to I mean,
you should look up the video her warm up video,
especially for female vocals.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
I link that too.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
Understand that maintenance is such a big part of vocal health.
In order to be a career singer, you have to
take it very seriously. You have to treat your voice
like an instrument. You wouldn't just take your other instrument,
like a guitar and throw it in the corner when
you get home, right, but we we know that we

(41:39):
need to keep it humidified or whatever. You got to
keep it in the case, you know, and when you
travel with it, you got to be very extra cautious.
You should be thinking of your vocals the same way.
Your vocal chords are an instrument and you rely on
them a lot, and so taking care of them is
a really important thing. And certainly she knows a few
things about that.

Speaker 4 (41:58):
One thing we really want to folkocus on this season
is bringing up books and podcasts recommendations from our guests,
and something she brought up was Creative Moms the Motion Artist.
We need to check that out. And then she's reading
Michael McDonald's What a Fool Believes. So those are two books,

(42:21):
and she mentioned one more, but I think we'll put
those on the website, so check those out. Something we
recommend quite a bit was How to Make It in
the New Music Business by Aery Hurst Stand and then
you know, before you know it, The Musician's Guide to
financed by Chris Webb and Dave Tamkin, will also be
something you should look up and.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
We'll see if the editors ever release it.

Speaker 4 (42:46):
We'll have a conversation with them.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah, well, yeah, that And also we should also mention
that we do now have our course launched on our
website and that you know, we'll be putting more energy
into telling you about that and promoting it as we go,
but just know that it is there for those early
bird people that want to get out and take the course.
Today our action step I decided to go a little

(43:09):
different angle on this one. I'm gonna go easy on you.
We are highlighting how Io's comment was that you need
to be more present and less worried about the future,
and as we discussed letting go of the past, so
I pulled in this quote from an unknown source.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
Which means this is Chris Swep's quote.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
No, it means it was on TikTok, but it literally
was written as unknown. The married ones are thinking of divorce,
while the unmarried ones wish for the married. The unknown
crave fame, while the famous just want privacy. The young
want to grow old, and the old wish they could

(43:53):
turn back time. The poor want to be rich, and
the rich spend their nights wishing for the peace they
lost chasing wealth. The ones who got what they wanted
not want something else, because wanting isn't about having, it's
about chasing. The second something is yours, it loses its shine.

(44:14):
No one actually wants it all. They just want to
stop feeling like they chose wrong. End quote. You have
plenty to be grateful for right now, and it's really
important that we take time to feel and embrace that.
It's such a pillar to happiness and contentment on this journey.
So take the time to sit in your gratitude and

(44:36):
release the thoughts that stress you out about yesterday or
about tomorrow. We know your time is valuable and we
appreciate you spending this time with us and being a
part of this community. It is our hope that you
feel that sense of community here at Musicians' tip Jar
and that you'll help spread the word to make us
all stronger. If you'd like to get hold of us,

(44:56):
what's the best way to do that?

Speaker 4 (44:58):
Send us an email at musicians Tipjar at gmail. Connect
with us at musicians tipjar dot com, where you can
check out all the resources and discounts we have collected
for you. Check out all our episodes now on our
YouTube channel. If you find this information useful, please rate
and subscribe to the podcast and slam the like button
if you're on YouTube so it can help keep you
up on the finance side of your music business.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
As always, thank you for joining us, and remember there
is already enough for everyone, You just need to know
how to get it. Until next time on behalf of
Dave Tampkin and myself Chris Web Stay happy, healthy and wealthy.
Most great desires will seem impossible until you get there,
so just keep going. Take the next step this musicians tipcar.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Somebody.

Speaker 7 (45:54):
Nothing on this show should be considered specific personal or
professional advice. Please consult us appropriate next legal business the
financial professional for individual's advice. Individual results are not guaranteed
and all discussed strategies have the potential for profit or loss.
The hosts are operating on the ARM Offication's tip jar LLLC.

Speaker 5 (46:14):
Go to the support.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Support Could help?

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