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Navigating the Biz
Money Diaries: A Week in Los Angeles on a $26,000 Salary
Alright, I don’t get paid on salary, but I want this article to be in the style of Money Diaries. If you’re not up on it, Money Diaries is an increasingly popular column, published by Refinery29, in which anonymous millennial…
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My Type of Music
Music, Surfing and the Creative Process
Songwriting is not just a job for me, it feels like I am releasing a little piece of my soul to the world every time the pen hits the paper. Sometimes a song will come easy to me through an…
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The Journey
Why Everyone Thinks You Suck
Even as I write this, I wonder why I’m allowed to speak with authority. As if, somehow, I’ve gained enough experience to tell others, “take it from me.” But at what point do I have that authority? At what point…
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My Type of Music
Six Artists That Inspired My Own Art and Outlook on Life
Growing up in the South in the early to mid 2000s, mainstream rap had a certain sound and look to it. In elementary school it was Chingy, Ludacris, T.I. and Nelly among others. In middle school, it was the illustrious…
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Navigating the Biz
What I Learned from Signing a Record Deal
I’ve been mulling over how I was going to approach this subject for quite some time now, as there are some serious pros and cons to signing a record deal. I came from a world where it was mostly internet…
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Navigating the Biz
My Biggest Misconception About Being a Musician
My biggest misconception as a budding musician came from the fact that no one I was around talked about it like it was a business. No one talked about the money – in fact it was somehow taboo – and…
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The Journey
Collaborating in A Virtual World
Hi, I’m Aseem and I’m an Indian musician. I was born in Mumbai, but I grew up in Indonesia and Singapore before moving to the United States for college. I always liked listening to music and being around instruments in…
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Navigating the Biz
Do Be Do Be Do: A Balancing Act
I have a question for all the creatives out there, grinding away at the latest project, or practicing until their hands go numb: When’s the last time you felt good about taking a break? If your answer is never, then…
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My Type of Music
WTF IS A GENRE?
What year is it? Are people really still separating sh*t into boxes? What even are genres these days? Ok, I get that it makes the ‘system’ easier, and it works for the business part of music. Record companies use these…
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Navigating the Biz
On Finding New Hobbies, Therapy, and Doing Laundry
“Maybe if I try to make them like me. Smile a little wider, seem inviting. They won’t ask to see the darkness I’ve been hiding.” Yes, I’m starting this off by quoting one of my own songs, “Heavy Heart.” This…
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I don’t know about you, but I started making music professionally right before life as we know it became determined by social media and music distribution became free and available for all. I’m not going to say that those days were better than today, because I firmly believe in DIY as the foundation for anything musically consequential. That’s where my roots are and always have been, so having access to a globally connected, music consuming community…
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Throughout my entire life, I never envisioned music as a career choice; music was always an escape or a hobby for me. When I felt down in the dumps, music was there to bring me peace of mind. When I was enjoying life, music was there to lift me even higher. But when it came to deciding whether or not I wanted to pursue a career in the music industry, the largest factor resisting this…