Where are you based?
I was born in Houston, Texas but “identify” as an Austinite. I have been moving around the western hemisphere for a while now: currently based in Belfast with plans to relocate to Bologna, Italy in November. I’m a bit of a vagabond, but Austin will always feel like home.
Where do you work? What do you do?
I work at Musixmatch as the Artist Community Manager, and also as the creative manager of The Mix (the songwriters editorial branch of Musixmatch). I have a pretty wide variety of responsibilities, but the gist of my role in the company is that I get to represent and communicate the perspective of our global artist community directly to our product designers. Before Musixmatch I had 15 years of experience as a touring musician, lyricist, session vocalist, and songwriter, so this role fits like a glove. It’s super exciting to work with Musixmatch helping to develop programs that would enhance my own music business experience. Beyond lyrics, Musixmatch has a vision that I totally align with; to help clear the noise and make a product that covers all the bases: lyrics, credits, royalties, and eventually distribution so that Artists can spend their time focusing on what matters most, making music.
What are you listening to?
I listen to Jade Bird when I want to pump up, Khruangbin when I want to chill out, Thundercat when I want to groove, and as of very recently: Sìomha (Check her album out! It was produced by Tyler Duncan from the Olllam, featuring Joe Dart, etc., just really great stuff), Maria Rita, and Hiatus Kaiyote.
How do you discover new music?
Mostly word of mouth. To be totally honest, I don’t typically like most people’s taste in music, but thankfully I do have a lot of artist friends whose tastes I really appreciate. My partner is one of them.
I’ve actually found a ton of music on Instagram reels lately. I’m always trolling for new music for The Mix Sessions, so I often look at international festival lineups to discover new things. That’s how I found Fieh (our first Mix Session). They’re a Norwegian neo-soul group, super groovy.
What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services? Why?
When I lived in Austin I used to listen to records and CD’s. In fact I still cherished burned CD’s from friends and ex’s. I loved my records and listened to them ritualistically, I had a great morning music routine. Since moving internationally, for maybe the 4th time this decade, it was hard to keep up with my records. They don’t travel well. For this reason I’ve had to switch to streaming. Spotify is my main source these days.
Where do you do most of your music listening?
We have a little vintage speaker system in our living room, but when I’m not out and about listening to a playlist through headphones, I hate to say this… we usually just ask Alexa to play it for us. I always listen to music during dinner and when guests are over, and our little robot is just convenient.
How do you find and listen to pre-release music?
As a lyricist I often get asked to review and “edit” songs for fellow musicians and friends. Of course being in the industry so long means that most of my friends are also creatives in some capacity. So short answer, straight from the source. Several times a month I get a private SoundCloud link or a WhatsApp file titled PLEASE DON’T SHARE.
What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
The convenience of steaming is nice, and it’s certainly helping artists to get their music out internationally, but it’s not without its downsides. I think there are a lot of distractions on streaming platforms.
I prefer to mindfully consume music: buy an album, listen to it a few dozen times… it becomes something to cherish. It’s hard to do that with streamed music.
Also stream links can feel a lot like spam, especially in forums and social media websites. I will say however that with Musixmatch, lyrics are a new way to connect with streamed music. It’s good for really learning a song, and even helping with learning a new language! I also like that it’s super inclusive for the deaf community.
“I prefer to mindfully consume music: buy an album, listen to it a few dozen times… it becomes something to cherish. It’s hard to do that with streamed music.”
How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
If I’m on Spotify, I always make sure to favorite the artist or specific track so that I can come back to it later.
“lyrics are a new way to connect with streamed music. It’s good for really learning a song, and even helping with learning a new language! I also like that it’s super inclusive for the deaf community.”
Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Whatsapp and Instagram are my go to methods for sharing music with friends.
Anything you want to “promote”?
Where do I begin? The Mix Podcast for starters! It’s a Musixmatch industry innovation podcast hosted by myself (the musician), and my colleagues Silvia (the publisher/manager) and Stella (the music producer/AI expert). It’s so rad getting to produce this project that I enjoy so much, especially with two such bad-ass industry babes.
Musixmatch Pro. It’s the Musixmatch tool for artists, managers, and labels that lets you distributing your lyrics on all major DSPs, claim your song credits, collect your royalties (music and lyric) and more!
Also shamelessly I’ll plug that I have a new project that I’m aiming to launch at the end of 2023 under the title “LadyThing”. The first album will be a compilation of electronica songs written by myself, produced by up to 8 female and non-binary producers. It’s been a long time in the making so I’m really excited to finally be getting it off the ground.
