CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference Experience
- Spin Plugz
- Aug 19, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 20, 2019
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing my experience at CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference held in Austin, TX August 16th–18th followed by Spotify and Soundcloud links.
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A Little Back Story
A month prior to the DIY Musician Conference, I had repeatedly asked my intern supervisors Marc and Stephen if they were attending the conference. They weren’t planning to, but I surely was. A week before the conference, I almost lost hope of going because I didn’t have enough money until Marc told me about an opportunity to volunteer in exchange for full conference badges. I signed up to volunteer Saturday and Sunday morning to afternoon because I was mostly interested in Friday’s sessions. Excited the whole week, I affirmed to myself that I’d meet amazing people serious about what they do.
Artists I’ve Met
I’ve shook hands, converse, and exchanged social media and Spotify nametags with many people, but only a handful of artists caught my attention in conversation and musically. Emcee and rapper elTekUno., currently living in my hometown Temple, Texas, his younger brother El Bles coming from Florida, and Austin-based producer and rapper Ace the MC were the first artists I met Friday and immediately, we resonated with each other because of our similar influences of Hip Hop producers, interests in vinyl, and production styles. They were also at least a decade older than I am turning 23 in September. Next, producer Haris Qureshi introduced himself and invited me to a show his crew were performing on East 6th street.
During a financial lecture by Alexis Louis, we we’re divided into groups for an assignment which brings me to conversing with upcoming Neo-Soul artist India Aja-Monee’ from Louisiana and seasoned Dallas R&B singer Natalie Nichole. Natalie encouraged India and I to continue our seriousness with our gifts, network, and hustle.
The artists I’ve named have their music on all streaming platforms, but I’d like to acknowledge Evan, Lauren ,Jade, Tyler, Geo Ppls, Shin & Sho, Chloe, Seth who owns a service called Collaboarator that searches artists and musicians within the user’s radius, and owner of GROW Management and Design Rey for introducing me to Austinite emcee Only 4 Marcus J and Chief Cleopatra who are on Soundcloud.
Sessions That Impacted Me Most
Award winning producer, artist, and author J. Rhodes spoke about his experience and wisdom on monetizing our passion (also the same session I met Ace the MC, El Bles, and elTekUno). The most important segment of Rhodes’ session was his concept of starting a “Career Tree.”
Talent buyer and event producer Mike Henry spoke about how artists professionally book shows. Henry put major emphasize on communication (especially in email) and building solid relationships with not only venue owners and booking agents, but also the musicians in the area.
Friday’s keynote session featuring drummer, DJ, producer, and author Questlove, co-founder and C.E.O. of Jaxsta Limited Jacqui Lopez Schoorl, and marketing V.P. of CD Baby Kevin Breuner was the crowds’ top priority. Their stories and Q&A segment consisted of Questlove’s thoughtful responses of what he sees in today’s Hip Hop and Jacqui’s wisdom and advice on accrediting all who were involved on a project.
Lastly, Saturday’s keynote session with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels spoke about his trials and triumphs through his Hip Hop career. He expressed the importance of being sure you feel right inside before agreeing to do anything and doing it not because someone else told you to, but because you want to. All four of those were the most inspirational and informative to me.
Final Thoughts on the Conference
I’ve learned so much from the people I interacted with, the seminars, volunteering, observation, and pondering over the whole weekend. The point of conferences is to create an environment for like-minded people to attend and connect with each other as well as learn from experienced, down-to-earth people on stage. I am grateful and glad I volunteered and look forward for next year’s DIY Musician Conference.
Updated Spotify Playlists
Hip Hop/Rap (Uncensored) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Pc2XdWRBWXJOXp8gkEYUh?si=nJtAZM7uS7qB-FRh5S5ZtA
R&B/Soul
Only 4 Marcus J Soundcloud
Chief Cleopatra Soundcloud
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