Made It In Music: Interviews With Artists, Songwriters, And Music Industry Pros

Jackie Patillo’s professional journey tells the story of one who is consistent & determined. 

Jackie has years of experience serving and developing artists in the both the Christian and Gospel genres and has worked with Star Song Communications, Benson Music, Integrity Music, Verity Gospel Music Group (Sony Music), and she is currently the President & Executive Director of the Gospel Music Association. 

“Grow where your planted”

Jackie is passionate about serving those who are called to spread the gospel through music. She feels that her position at the GMA is more of a calling than a job. Jackie also gives insight into what the GMA is all about, saying that the GMA is not defined by style but actually defined by the message, or calling.

“We [GMA] are a voice on behalf of all God’s creative people.”

Jackie has been led by the Lord throughout her entire career. Her faith in God is evident in everything she does and says, and in this interview she gives so many nuggets of wisdom we all can ponder on. 

“Know your purpose. Why do you want to sing and who do you want to sing to?”

Make sure to give this one a listen!

Links:

Gospel Music Association Website:

www.gospelmusic.org

GMA Academy

www.gospelmusic.org/gmaacademy/

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On today’s episode of the Made It In Music podcast we are joined with singer-songwriter Allison Veltz Cruz. Allison shares her journey as an artist and songwriter and what she has learned along the way. 

Allison’s love for music started out as a child. There was always singing and music being made during her childhood, her family even had a family band. As music was and is a huge part of who Allison is she knew that music was the only thing she would pursue.

“I had to see the opportunities for what they were or I was wasting my time”

Formerly signed to Blaster Records, Allison has switched her sole focus to writing for others. Her writing career gained real momentum with a number 1 in Japan and Korea with the song “Mr. Taxi” for pop group Girls Generation. Recently, she wrote the hit song “Prayed For You” for Matt Stell. This song is special and has touch so many! 

“I didn’t have a plan B. I had to do music.”

Allison also shares about her faith journey and how she came to know the Lord as an adult (check out the deep dive for even more on this!). She has a lot of wisdom and experiences to share that we can all happily learn from. You do not want to miss this episode!

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/allisonveltzcruz/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/allisonveltz

Song “Prayed For You”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEJs_Bqx8_o

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Matt Black is what we like to call a musicpreneur, with experience creating EDM music, being a DJ, a producer, starting a record label, and revolutionizing the ultimate electronic instrument he is now calling Jamm Pro.

During this interview with Matt we go all the way back to his childhood and talk about the sound and light shows for his parents, which is quite fitting being that he ended up in the EDM world. This passion then manifested into being a DJ at discos around age 14, to finally beginning his time in Coldcut.

“Sound and vision go naturally together and you can connect audio and visual in so many different ways”

Matt really dives into the evolution of Jamm Pro, an original touch-controlled beat app. He talks a lot on how this is a real passion of his. He is trying to create the ultimate beat instrument and wants to not only share it with people, but also help people to have fun while making music with other people. 

“This instrument is so flexible there is always something to learn”

This is a music production tool that has been 25 years in the making, so check out Matt Black’s Jamm Pro!

Links to things discussed during the interview:

Ableton or logic

Audiobus or AUM

Matt Black - kellakedler

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Olivia Lane and Steve Fee were both on their own songwriting/producing/publishing journeys when they landed the opportunity to be contestants on the latest season of Songland!

Songland, a songwriting competition series, sets out to give songwriters a chance to pitch their original creations to superstar recording artists and a panel of chart-topping music producers in the hopes of creating a music collaboration of a lifetime.

“There’s so much mystery and magic in the song writing process… it [Songland] starts the conversation of how the song is actually made”

- Olivia Lane

Olivia and Steve share much about their experience surrounding Songland like their musical backgrounds, the story of earning a songwriter spot on the show, all the highlights, and how Songland has impacted their songwriting careers.

“I felt so encouraged and understood … I left [Songland] with energy and wind in my sails as a songwriter”

- Steve Fee

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// Connect with Olivia Lane on...

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olivialanemusic/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/olivialanemusic/

AND... check out her new single “Same Old Story” on YouTube!

// Connect with Steve Fee on...

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steve_fee/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/feeband

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John Butler, former Head of Christian music curation at Spotify, was the mastermind behind playlists like Soft Pop Hits, Just Good Music and Top Christian. Prior to joining Spotify, John was VP/Promotion at Curb Records for over a decade. He brings an extensive strategic knowledge of streaming combined with a radio promotion background.

Many have referred to him as the streaming guidance counselor. He says one of his main goals with streaming was to make the artist’s experience the best it could be. He did this by getting their music to the right people so the artist could foster a close relationship with the listener.

“People make judgement calls about music every time they hit play”

With years of experience, John is able to provide a lot of wisdom to up and coming artists. He advises all artists to take the time to figure out who they are because if they have been authentic while building their audience, that audience will probably follow them wherever they go.

John also dives deep into how to use the Spotify playlist submission tool (aka the pitch tool, who listens to the submitted music, and how valuable it is for artists. John does state blatantly that Spotify truly cares about artists, that they actually care too much, and that every tool that has been created is for serving the artists.

“You need an ear and someone who is going to be able to think objectively [about your music]”

With streaming in the bottom half of the third inning, as John says, it’s still relatively new. He believes that the algorithm is eventually going to know what you want before YOU know what you want. Thinking a couple years from now it will be interesting to see the power of streaming and how it has evolved.

Keep up with John on his Linkedin!

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OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

➜ https://fullcirclemusic.com/

SOCIAL LINKS:

https://facebook.com/officialfcmusic

https://instagram.com/officialfcmusic

https://twitter.com/officialfcmusic

CONTACT US:

[email protected]

ABOUT FULL CIRCLE MUSIC:

Full Circle Music is a Music Production Company, Music Publishing Company, Record Label, and Music Education Academy based in Nashville, TN. They regularly work with some of the biggest names in music, such as Newsboys, High Valley, Casting Crowns, Skillet, Francesca Battisteli, and For King & Country, just to name a few. Their team has several Grammy Awards, Dove Awards, and over 20 #1 songs at radio. Through the Full Circle Music Academy, Full Circle Music aspires to teach the next generation of musicians what it takes to make it in the modern music industry.

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Karen Allen is the creator of Twitch For Musicians, a book and online course that teaches artists how to grow their fanbase and earn revenue by live streaming on Twitch, a platform that is still new to the music world. 

Karen tells us about her journey of discovering Twitch for herself as a musician, to then teaching other musicians about the unique platform. While Twitch is mainly used by gamers, Karen describes the platform as community-based live streaming, and she has found that it creates a perfect opportunity for musicians to have a strong, supportive community of fans that are in it for the long haul.

“It’s a hangout with fans. Think of it like you’re having friends over to your home studio to have beers and play music”

She also dives into the monetization opportunities on Twitch, how musicians get discovered on Twitch, and how to network through this platform that is still very new to the music world. 

Karen Allen has written a book and has created a course, both titled Twitch for Musicians, filled with all of her knowledge and wisdom regarding being a musician on Twitch, be sure to check it out below!

Check out her book Twitch for Musicians HERE:

fullcirclemusic.com/twitchbook

Use the code FCM20 to get 20% off the book or a one-on-one session with Karen herself!

Get her course Twitch for Musicians for 20% off HERE:

fullcirclemusic.com/twitchcourse

Give Karen a follow on social media:

Twitter: @twitchformusic

Insta: @twitchformusic

Facebook: @twitchformusicians

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When your income depends on going on the road, times of global or widespread economic crisis can lead to a lot of uncertainty for you and your family.

In this episode, Seth and Logan, VP of Marketing at Full Circle Music, talk about what musicians can do during those times and what types of assistance are out there for artists, musicians, booking agents, and anyone else in the music industry impacted by live shows being canceled or postponed.

Financial Support During Times of Hardship

1. Grammy’s MusiCares: https://www.grammy.com/musicares
2. Musician’s Foundation: http://www.musiciansfoundation.org/
3. Sweet Relief Musician’s Fund: https://www.sweetrelief.org/

Stay Connected!

Don’t cut yourself off from the world! Stay connected virtually with family and songwriters like you!

This is a great time to focus on music and collaborate with other people just like you, even virtually.

Song Chaser’s Facebook Group: FullCircleMusic.com/Group

How Can You Work From Home?

Zoom! Grab a microphone if you have it, or use your computer’s built-in microphone to collaborate with people. You can also record the session for free with Zoom. https://zoom.us/

Discord: Free chat application to keep in touch with people from all over and hold multiple conversations in one location. https://discordapp.com/

Loom: Great free screen recording app. https://www.loom.com/

AudioMovers: Real-Time audio sharing for production tweaks. https://audiomovers.com/

Set aside time, even if it’s just 90 minutes. You can get A LOT done in 90 minutes.

Invest in a Home Rig

Laptop. Small Midi Controller. Microphone. Interface. Done.

Use free software like GarageBand and ProTools First https://my.avid.com/get/pro-tools-first

Production Course: 7 part mini-series about what you should think about when recording songs for yourself and others. FullCircleMusic.com/FreeProductionCourse

Social Media

Build your audience and your following by investing your time in social media.

Go live on Instagram to play and share stories. Create connections where your fans are!

The people who will come out stronger are those who invested in their audience.

Create content for YouTube as well as people are spending more time with streaming and video-on-demand.

You can also join TikTok!

Batch record! Take as many photos, videos, or content at a time that you can use later! This is REALLY helpful with social media content!

Seth’s Teleprompter: https://amzn.to/3apgfjk

Crushing It: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too: https://amzn.to/2vRa5tb

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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

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OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

➜ https://fullcirclemusic.com/

SOCIAL LINKS:

https://facebook.com/officialfcmusic

https://instagram.com/officialfcmusic

https://twitter.com/officialfcmusic

CONTACT US:

[email protected]

ABOUT FULL CIRCLE MUSIC:

Full Circle Music is a Music Production Company, Music Publishing Company, Record Label, and Music Education Academy based in Nashville, TN. They regularly work with some of the biggest names in music, such as Newsboys, High Valley, Casting Crowns, Skillet, Francesca Battisteli, and For King & Country, just to name a few. Their team has several Grammy Awards, Dove Awards, and over 20 #1 songs at radio. Through the Full Circle Music Academy, Full Circle Music aspires to teach the next generation of musicians what it takes to make it in the modern music industry.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Check out the DEEP DIVE for this episode! Seth shares about creating a "Vivid Vision" and how you can use it as a framework to set goals for your music career and pursue them as fast as possible.

Access the Deep Dive here: https://members.fullcirclemusic.com/made-it-in-music-deep-dives

A&R, Creative Director at Altadena

From an early age, Noreen knew she wanted to be in music. From listening to her mom play piano to writing her own songs, music has been a huge part of her life.

How do I listen to songs all day? That’s what I want to do

Starting as an intern at BMG Publishing in Nashville and New York, Noreen realized her favorite thing to do and what she was good at was listening to other people songs.

After finishing her internship, BMG offered her a position as a receptionist her last semester of school.

I think you should be a publisher…

The turning point for Noreen’s career was when her boss recommended a different career path to her. Up until that point, Noreen was struggling if she should become a songwriter, or stick to the business side of the music industry.

Do the job, before you get the job

Noreen’s advice to people who want to grow in their career as a publisher, even as an intern, is to create a job for yourself before people ask you to. As a receptionist at BMG, Noreen researched how to get writers in a room together, how to get emails of people to pitch songs to, and all other aspects of getting a song heard. She decided Pop was her ticket in and started focusing her attention to getting pop into Music City before anyone thought it was even a possibility.

Now, she looks for this quality in assistants and coordinators. What are you doing now to advance yourself? Who are you working with already? What are you doing because you love it, even if you don’t get paid for it.

Altadena

As a Creative Director, Noreen’s role is to get artist’s in a room to set up cowrites or sessions that will hopefully turn into a song placement for the writers. She also listens to songs submitted by her writers and provides feedback to help improve the songs and hopefully get them placement.

What does Altadena do? They serve as a hub for writers, artists, and producers where Altadena serves as the intermediary between an artist’s label, publishing company, or management company. Their partnerships are Warner Chapel on the Publishing side, Warner Records for label and print, and the management partnership with Red Light Management. Altadena keeps artists from feeling forgotten and falling through the cracks. Some of their talent includes Carley Peirce, Ryan Griffin, Conor Matthews, and more.

Listen as Noreen expands on how she brought Pop to Nashville and how they are trying to keep Nashville pop competitive with the rest of the country.

Follow Seth on Instagram: 

➜https://instagram.com/thesethmosley

This episode is part of a podcast SERIES called "Made It In Music." You can find other episodes on YOUTUBE and you can also find the AUDIO versions on any podcasting app!

CLICK BELOW to check out the AUDIO version of this podcast on iTunes!

➜ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/made-it-in-music-interviews-artists-songwriters-music/id1065294635

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

➜ https://www.youtube.com/officialfcmusic?sub_confirmation=1

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

➜ https://fullcirclemusic.com/

SOCIAL LINKS:

https://facebook.com/officialfcmusic

https://instagram.com/officialfcmusic

https://twitter.com/officialfcmusic

CONTACT US:

[email protected]

ABOUT FULL CIRCLE MUSIC:

Full Circle Music is a Music Production Company, Music Publishing Company, Record Label, and Music Education Academy based in Nashville, TN. They regularly work with some of the biggest names in music, such as Newsboys, High Valley, Casting Crowns, Skillet, Francesca Battisteli, and For King & Country, just to name a few. Their team has several Grammy Awards, Dove Awards, and over 20 #1 songs at radio. Through the Full Circle Music Academy, Full Circle Music aspires to teach the next generation of musicians what it takes to make it in the modern music industry.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Check out the DEEP DIVE for this episode! Seth shares about creating a "Vivid Vision" and how you can use it as a framework to set goals for your music career and pursue them as fast as possible.

Access the Deep Dive here: https://members.fullcirclemusic.com/made-it-in-music-deep-dives

If you have been a listener to the Made It In Music Podcast for a while, maybe you've actually heard episode 1.

Our very first episode featured Seth Mosley, songwriter, producer, and owner of Full Circle Music. He started this podcast, and he hosts almost every episode.

To start our podcast off right, it made sense to have Seth share his vision for the company and talk about his experience in the music industry and why it lead him to create the Full Circle Music Academy.

At this point, that was several years ago! Episode 1 came out all the way back in late 2015, and so much has happened since then!

So, to start Season 3 off right, we thought it would be fun to revisit the very first episode, and give it a little bit of a "reboot."

One person who heard episode 1 was Logan Crockett, and having once started as just a fan of the podcast, he now leads the marketing team at Full Circle Music and is responsible for overseeing the podcast and the Full Circle Music Academy.

As Logan is now directly in charge of the podcast, it made sense to have him "re-interview" Seth for this special episode of the Made It In Music Podcast.

Now that the company has much more history under its belt, Seth shares in this episode about the process of building the Full Circle Music team.

While Seth is a songwriter and producer, and that is still where the majority of his hours fall, Seth also has a much larger group of employees that he is responsible for.

Because of this new responsibility, Seth has had to learn how to manage a company as a CEO, which he explains is a completely different skillset from writing songs or producing music. Even though the business is based on those activities, managing humans, projecting revenue, and setting the right company goals takes a completely different approach compared to making music.

Full Circle Music has had a lot of ups and downs along the way, and the company is continuing to grow and evolve.

One thing that Full Circle Music is known for is being a small, flexible, very modern music company. Full Circle has multiple arms, including Publishing, Production, Songwriting, and the Academy.

And each of these arms has multiple revenue streams.

Because Full Circle Music is small, it has the flexibility to make dramatic changes whenever necessary.

RESOURCES:

Follow Seth on Instagram: instagram.com/thesethmosley

Vivid Vision (book by Cameron Herold): https://amzn.to/3aEiSNM

FEATURED MUSIC CLIP:

'Til The End by Jeremy Camp (written by Seth Mosley and Jeremy Camp)

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR THIS EPISODE:

YouTube

FULL CIRCLE MUSIC LINKS:

Podcast Website

Company Website

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

YouTube

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NEW EPISODE MONDAY, MARCH 9TH!!!

There have been a lot of changes since last season! Tune in on Monday for an interview with Seth and an update on what’s been going on in the Music Industry and in the Full Circle Music world!

Be sure to tell all your friends and subscribe!