14 Singer-Songwriter
What is it Like Being a Singer-Songwriter
On this episode of the Unboxing Careers Podcast, Greg Zakowicz unboxes a career in music with singer-songwriter Paige King Johnson.
Guest: Paige King Johnson is a singer-songwriter and five-time Carolina Country Music Award winner. Her debut single “Water Down The Whiskey” climbed to the #29 spot on Music Row charts. Paige has appeared on Country Music Television (CMT), RFD-TV, Heartland TV & Newsmax, and even made her Grand Ole Opry debut alongside country music legend Pam Tillis. She has shared the stage with artists such as Kane Brown, Randy Houser, Clint Black, Oliver Anthony, Joe Nichols, Kylie Morgan, Tracy Byrd, Ian Munsick, Gabby Barrett, Diamond Rio, and Scotty McCreery.
Connect with & Listen to Paige:
Full Episode: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music
What We Discuss:
Choosing Music as a Career and Pursuing Education
The Importance of Trust and Education in the Music Industry
Balancing Shows, Songwriting, and Personal Life
Finding the Right Collaborators
Balancing Commercial Songs and Personal Songs
Tips for Booking Venues
Pros and Cons of Being a Small Fish in a Big Pond
Misconceptions About the Music Industry
The Importance of a Strong Support System
Exploring Different Revenue Streams
Key Singer-Songwriter Career Takeaways:
She realized in high school that she wanted to pursue music as a career and attended Belmont University to study music business.
Paige emphasizes the importance of educating oneself about the music industry and surrounding oneself with trustworthy people.
Her week consists of shows, songwriting, managing contracts, and social media engagement, and she prioritizes work-life balance and self-care.
Find the right collaborators who understand you as an artist and as a person.
Differentiate between writing commercial songs and personal songs.
Start booking venues near home and build a local following before expanding.
The music industry is not as glamorous as it seems and requires hard work and sacrifice.
Build a strong support system to navigate the challenges of the industry.
Explore various revenue streams in addition to traditional music sales and performances.
Interview:
Greg
Welcome everyone to the Unboxing Careers podcast where we shed light on what different careers are really like so you can choose a career you'll really love. Today we are unboxing the career of a professional singer-songwriter.
But before we do, let’s talk briefly about unboxing thoughtful gifts. At ThoughtfulCollection.com you can shop from a wide selection of curated products you can feel good about, helping you express friendship, gratitude, and love.
The next time you need to, don't just gift. Gift thoughtfully at www.ThoughtfulCollection.com.
Greg
I'd like to welcome to show singer-songwriter Paige King Johnson. Paige, welcome to the Unboxing Careers Podcast. Thanks for being here.
Paige King Johnson
Absolutely, thank you for having me.
Greg
This is gonna be fun. I love music, always have. Wanted to be a radio DJ when I was younger. Went to school for that.
Paige King Johnson
You know, I get those vibes from you a little bit. I love it
Greg
Well, I appreciate you saying that. I'm well out of tune. I had very moderate success in radio and decided this is not the living for me as much as I miss it today. So this is fun for me. So, all right, let's start with this. I'm not gonna ask you what you do, because I think most people are familiar with what a musician does. Why don't you give the audience a little bit about what your music genre is, what your personal style is, maybe some inspiration for growing up. Kind of walk us through it. We'll start there.
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, well definitely in the True Blue Country lane as far as genre goes, I was raised on a farm and raised in a household that loved classic country music and honky-tonk music and all the things. And so I get a lot of inspiration from kind of that outlaw and classic country side of music like Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn and Patsy Kline and all those things. And then kind of tag teamed along with that.
I'm a nineties kid and grew up with all the great song country radio. so George Strait and Alan Jackson and Martina McBride and Shania Twain. So kind of trying to fuse both of those sounds and themes and writing ways together to create my own sound now in 2024.
Greg
That's wonderful. And when did you decide you wanted to go into music as a career?
Paige King Johnson
I always say like the light bulbs started turning on whenever I was about a sophomore in high school. And that was really when I think I realized like, hey, people pay their bills by playing music. And that's something that I can do. And up until then, I mean, I've been playing music for a really, really long time and I knew I loved it, but had never really considered it to be a job. know, something that could sustain for a very, very long time and fell in love with it.
Around the time I was 15, 16 and decided I was like, okay, there's nothing else that makes me happier than this. And kind of went full force after that.
Greg
How long were you playing guitar for before, I'm assuming you're just picking it up in high school, but how long were you playing guitar before you realized like, I'm actually pretty good at this and this is what I wanna do.
Paige King Johnson
I started playing when I was 10 years old. And so there was, you know, a five year learning gap where I was playing anywhere and everywhere that I could, whether it was at church or backyard barbecues or family reunions or rodeos or whatever it was, I was playing anywhere that people would sit down and give me five minutes of their time. And I think, you know, doing that really, you know, helped form that foundation of knowing what it was to be a performer and, you know, got a very tiny outlook on what it was to be busy every single weekend and having different shows and working with people to do all of that. So got a very basic feel for what the music industry is.
Greg
It's not exactly like that now.
Paige King Johnson
Not quite.
Greg
So, Paige, when you started those very early things, when you said you were just playing anywhere you can, were you doing cover songs at the time or were you writing your own music then?
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, it was all cover songs up until I moved to Nashville, which is its whole story in itself. But really, I just started out imitating all the sounds that I grew up on and I knew I loved. And two, going back to that, I think it helped for me as an entertainer because I would morph to whatever the crowd was responding to or whatever age group the crowd was or whether it was... I mean, different people are at church versus at a rodeo. And so it was like, okay, you had to figure out how to cater to the crowd and learn that very early on and didn't start writing until I moved to Nashville.
Greg
Have you ever played a gig where there's like one person there?
Paige King Johnson
I think we all have, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I've played plenty that it was just like my parents sitting there and I would just look at them and be like, clap.
Greg
So I'll tell you a story offline about this, because I don't want to the audience about it. I felt so bad leaving. But I'll just tell it now. I was at a place with a couple of friends, it was like middle of the afternoon, rooftop patio. We were the only three people up there. And she started talking to the crowd, which was us. And then we were ready to go. we're like, do we get up and leave? What do we do here? We felt so bad leaving.
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, we're good at guilt tripping people into staying. If we've got two or three, we're going to do all we can. I will play wagon wheel 15 times if it'll keep you there.
Greg
That makes sense. All right, so I wanted to shoot back to high school for a minute. You decide, yeah, this is what I want to do. This is my calling. What's the next step from there? Like, how do you go down that path? you, I know you mentioned, I don't want to answer for you, but you mentioned, hey, I was playing anywhere I can begin with. But do you start songwriting at that point, trying to be original? Like walk us through that process at the very early stage, if you could.
How to First Get Started as a Singer-Songwriter
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, well, I'm very thankful to come from a family of two parents that were entrepreneurs. so they, whenever I said, hey, I want to do this as a career, they very lovingly sat me down and said, okay, well, you have to figure out, you know, what is the business behind all of this and where does the money come in and how do you manage all of that and everything? And that quickly led me to... figuring out, what is the music business? And how do I figure out the ins and outs of that? And knowing that I had just graduated high school and I knew I wanted to go to college, so I started looking towards Nashville, because it was and is such a music hub for us.
I found a college in Nashville called Belmont University and they had a music business program. And it was just, you know, such a cool God wink to me of like, okay, wow, you know, things are lining up and this is a cool way for me to get an education and also learn about the industry, but get a head start on becoming an artist and finding myself as an artist and a songwriter too. And so those were kinds of the first steps of like researching, okay, you know, how do, what are the ins and outs and how do I educate myself on that and then I found Belmont out of that.
Greg
So Belmont, you said music business kind of school there, do they teach, like did you take classes in songwriting and composition, stuff like that too? Or I'm assuming they did, but I don't wanna assume here, but was it more on the business side or?
Paige King Johnson
So not on the songwriting. Yeah, so not on the songwriting. Songwriting was its own major. It was just like, you know, so crazy because if you talk to some kids that went to like NC State and they're like, yeah, my major is songwriting, people would look at them like they were crazy. But it's such a Belmont thing.
Greg
I've got a communication degree. No one even knows what that is.
Paige King Johnson
But, so not songwriting, was a lot of typical, it's a business degree. So I had your typical, know, math, and sciences that I had to do for Gen Ed classes. But then when you got down into the nitty gritty, there were some production side of things that we got to take and learn about different digital audio spaces and how to work with recording demos. I had a publishing class where I learned about that whole side of the music industry and the business of creating songs and how all of that is paid out and worked out.
I had a music marketing class that I got to take as an elective, which really taught me all kinds of stuff. A lot of contract law and business law, which was very helpful to me as an artist. Cause as an independent, you know, I deal with all of my contracts. And so that was very helpful to me as well too. And just a lot of fun classes and also like most all of our professors were either actively in the music industry in Nashville or had been in it and were veterans of it for many, many years. And so you were learning firsthand from, you know, the best of the best. And, you know, that was very, very valuable to me.
Greg
I'm going to force you to make a very blank statement here. So I apologize in advance because I know what the answer is going to be. It's going to be, depends, right? That's going to be the answer, which is a perfectly acceptable answer, but it sounds like going in as an independent artist. think a lot of artists today are, you know, they have their own labels and stuff like that. The business has changed. Would you recommend someone in high school that says, yeah, I want to do this with my life?
Is it a better path to go at least for a couple years into a program like you did where they get those fundamentals or is it really it depends on the person and how really how good you are?
Should a Singer-Songwriter Go To College?
Paige King Johnson
You know, you're right. is a it depends kind of a situation. I do not regret going to Belmont and getting that base understanding of the music industry at all because it has saved me in so many situations of knowing what I deserve as an artist and as a songwriter. Because like any industry, there's sharks out there that want to take advantage of people. And as a young woman who moved to Nashville, there were that many more people who thought that they could.
So, you know, I say to young people, educate yourself however you can if school is not for you. Don't go spending money on a college degree that you're not gonna be all in for, you know.
There's plenty of stuff you can learn anything on YouTube and with Google like if you don't want to sit in a classroom and spend the money to do it Make your own classroom and learn about it But there's a lot to be learned about the music industry in general by just diving headfirst in it and being in it and Getting to Nashville or LA or Alston or Atlanta or New York or wherever you want to be and finding people that you trust. That is the biggest thing for me is whether it's at a university, in a classroom, whatever, it's just find people that you trust and that don't want anything out of you and then ask for their help and guidance on whatever it is.
Greg
This terrible interview because I'm going to ask you another question that's nearly impossible to answer. So we're really we're knocking them out of the park here. How do you know how do you know who to trust or not?
Paige King Johnson
I think it has to be a gut feeling. I like to think that I have a good intuition and I rely on that a lot.
But also, especially whenever I was 17 when I moved to Nashville, but even still today, every meeting that I have with, you know, that's a considerable meeting, my parents sit in on with me. And on top of that, if we have any questions or if it's something even bigger, you know, hiring a lawyer to look over things or to talk through things with you is very, very helpful and it may be money on the front end, but it could save you a lot of money down the road or it could make you a lot of money down the road. And so, you know, I think making that initial investment to hire people who you know are going to take care of you, but also just being a good person and making sure that you attract those kinds of people and using your brain and if your gut's telling you that something's not right, something's probably not right. And so just listening to them and trusting yourself.
Greg
Good, great answer. I think gut will, it's true at every walk of business, right? Every walk of business. I think the one thing where, regardless of how you educate yourself to your point, the more you know, the easier that gut, you can spot things a little more. You can kind of get those nerves standing up. So great answer for you. I want to talk about your week to week, your day to day. Week to week probably makes more sense here, but walk us through what your week looks like. So how often, like are you songwriting every week? Do you take breaks? Are you booking your own shows? Walk us through the doldrums that is life, if you will.
What Types of Tasks Do You Do as a Singer-Songwriter Musician?
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, well typically Thursday through Sunday, three of those four days are shows of some sort, along with travel days stuck in between. And so when I'm starting the week over again, I have to be very diligent in making myself take some sort of rest, some sort of weekend. And so I usually try to take some half days on Monday and Tuesday and not work myself all day just to recover because being on the road and playing shows and using your voice so, so much.
There's a lot of physical wear and tear on you. And if you're not getting enough sleep and you're not taking enough water, all the things, taking care of your instrument, there's not longevity. So on Mondays and Tuesdays, I try to take it easier on myself. I'm usually writing in the morning with somebody via Zoom, or if I'm in Nashville, I'm writing with somebody and then trying to just chill. Every day, I'm at least spending three to four hours at my computer. writing up contracts or checking in on shows that are coming up, making graphics, scheduling out social media posts, interacting with people on social media, filming content to post on social media later. That's a huge part of any artist's job. As well as just kind of going through and preparing myself for the next couple weekends of shows and making sure I have all the information, because I am an independent artist.
And so...I'm my booking agent. am my, I'm my band. am everything. And so it takes a lot. And there's a lot of different things and just making sure you have a grasp of what's coming at you. Cause there's no way I play 150 shows a year. There's no way that I can keep everything straight in my mind. So I had to sit down and refresh myself every week of, what's coming up. How can we prepare for it this week? And then also just trying to find a balance of having regular life. And so I am married and I have a husband, so I try to make very strict work hours for myself.
And after 5pm I try to shut my computer and not do anything else and have a healthy home life, work balance, and all the things, and spending time with your family and friends, because that's also where just living life, a lot of inspiration for songs and writing and stuff comes from and so being diligent and taking care of yourself too. So it's different every week but a lot of emails, a lot of social media, a lot of doing this, a lot of media stuff during the week as well too and writing sprinkled in there too.
Greg
Man, Paige, it's almost like you have a full-time job. It's crazy. See, you mentioned work -life balance, so let's break that down a little bit because this will obviously change young and single versus older and married, right? And I say older lovingly, but every day goes by, you're older. So different lifestyles, different priorities, things, travel schedule, walk us through kind of that work-life balance.
So you said you play 150 shows a year. Do you try to schedule yourself your things where you kind of go, okay, let's blitz it here so that I can get back and have more time? You mentioned taking care of yourself, resting. So walk us through how you manage that work-life balance when you're traveling and doing things like that.
What is Work-Life Balance Like as a Musician?
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, well, I think whenever I am home, you know, there's different lives that I feel like I live a Hannah Montana life because I live a life at home and then I live a life on the road. So separating into two categories when I'm at home, I think creating work hours for me and I'll usually I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is workout because that just helps me so much mentally. So I'll wake up, work out and then go on a walk and just get myself outside before I start diving into emails or social media or whatever and that just helps me mentally.
And so Monday through Friday, that's what I'm doing for the first two hours of my day. And then sitting down and I'll answer emails, write, work, send out contracts, prepare, whatever, from like 10 to five-ish. And then I make myself shut down and I'll cook dinner or just hang out with my husband, do whatever needs to be done around the house.
And then when I'm on the road, mornings are the same. I always try to do move my body in some way, or form and get outside. And then usually we'll have like a load in and a sound check and playing the shows. And so just like making sure that there's time that you can be a normal person when you're on the road because you are on all the time and you're around people all the time and they're wanting something from you all the time. And so A, traveling with somebody that is a good travel companion that you can just like hang out with and not have to be Page King Johnson, the artist is really important and just, you know.
It sounds silly, also just taking time to sit down and like eat meals can really help too. And just like having normalcy to your day. That's not a great answer, but it's finding those little pieces in those days to kind of like feel like a normal person and have a little bit of a normal life, even though you're thousands of miles away from home living out of a suitcase.
Greg
I think it is a good answer. So you're selling yourself short here. So when you're on the road, what's the best like quick go-to place to eat?
Paige King Johnson
Gosh, I mean, I love I'm such a foodie and so I love like going to different chains that are regional. So like when I'm out West, I love like going to In-N-Out and Whataburger and all that kind of stuff. Like, you know, get some junk food every once in a while, but also fuel your body with good stuff. Yeah, it's just I love looking up local restaurants and also just finding like holes in the wall and going there too.
Greg
Perfect. You mentioned songwriting before and sometimes you do that via Zoom if you're on the road, you do it locally as well. Can you talk a little bit about your songwriting process? One, how many people are you songwriting with? Are they like full-time with you? Are they professional songwriters where they're writing and dealing with multiple people? And then second part of that question, so I'm gonna have you talk for a while, which is great for me. How has your songwriting changed from when you started going full-time into this to kind of where you are now?
What is the Process for Songwriting
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, well, when I moved to Nashville, I got a master class very quickly on writing and specifically what we call co-writing because Nashville is built around that and communities and finding your community. And so when I moved to Nashville,
It was kind of like write with anybody and everybody that you can just to figure out who you are as a writer and who you mesh well with. then years of doing that, I've kind of whittled down my pool of writers to probably about 20 different people that I continue to just kind of circulate through. And I know I get good songs with, and I know they understand me as an artist and as a person. And that's really important because your time is very valuable, and you get pulled in a lot of different directions. so not that sitting down and writing is wasting, but you want to make sure that it's purposeful writing.
So I would say there's a group of 20 to 25 people that I collectively write with and always meeting new people at shows and running into different people in Nashville that we'll throw in here and there. And then also on the other side of things, how it has changed. I mean, I think as you grow as a writer,
You start to learn yourself a little bit better and you learn that there is an art form to writing a commercial country music song, especially. There's very much so a formula to doing that and just figuring that out and learning how to write towards that and figuring out that day when you go into the room, okay, are we writing a commercial song for radio or for an album or are we just writing for fun to heal our hearts today? And those are two different things, both good, I mean, but there's different approaches to be made. And I think that as I've matured as an artist and as a writer, I've had to figure that out and kind of find a good in between as well too.
Greg
Do you have a preference for which one you like writing better? The formulaic one versus the potentially like, I don't know, heart wrenching one that makes you want to cry. Do you have a preference there?
Paige King Johnson
Yeah. It depends on the day and also who I'm writing with and what you're knowing your people really works and is really important because I could sit down and like, could listen to heart wrenching, make you want to ball your eyes out songs for three hours and then be the happiest person in the world.
Like that, I love those songs, but sadly those songs don't sell a whole lot, you know, in the country genre, especially people want to be happy. you know, they want to have something to drink to or to party to or to love somebody to or dance with or whatever.
And so, you have to kind of find a balance and find the people who are good at whatever. you know, it's, it's fun on the days that you just get to write the mindless, like fun upbeat songs. And then it's very rewarding on the days that you get to write those heart wrenching, very meaningful songs too.
Greg
Love it. know, Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20, think it's his solo stuff now, he once said, like, I love being depressed because that's when I write my best songs, right? So I always think about that when I hear something, I'm like, I wonder what this guy's going through at the time.
Paige King Johnson
Yep. Right, yeah. Behind every song is something that happened in somebody's life.
Greg
Yep, yep, that is true. You mentioned you're going to do everything as well. So I want to talk just for a second about tips for booking venues. So we could talk about, say you're a high school musician in a band, same thing with college. So really anywhere from like, let's just go 15 to 22, assuming they're still developing their own feel and style and stuff like that. But what are some tips for booking venues?
Tips For Booking Venues to Play
Paige King Johnson
I would say start near home. Start where you have people that love you and are willing to come out and watch you. having crowds and consistently being able to draw people is so important to venues and you want to prove to them like I can get butts in seats and that's what it boils down to.
So starting local and just Google. I mean, you have the world at your fingertips these days. And that's where I get most of all the shows that I got at the early stages. And even now, Not being afraid to just Google like, live music venues in whatever city I'm in. And looking them up and finding an email and sending an email with your press kit or some videos that your mom has shot on her iPhone, whatever it is.
Just having some sort of proof of concept there that they can see visually and understand like the bit, understand the show and know why they should book you is so important.
Or just like picking up the phone and calling the restaurant being like, Hey, do you all have live music? Can I speak to whoever books that? Would love to send them something and sending it over that way or hop on Instagram and send the restaurant or the club or whatever a DM and say hey do y 'all have live music I would love to you know I'm gonna be in the area or I live in the area would love to bring my fans and family out you know all that kind of stuff there is.
I have gotten so many gigs and met so many people that I had no business meeting or or places to be playing just through sending an Instagram message or sending an email that was just a shot in the dark
So just literally just do it. That's all I can tell you.
Greg
I'm trying to think, I think I slid into your DMs on Instagram is how this whole thing started. So there you go.
Paige King Johnson
Yeah. My dad used to tell me all the time, he's like, honey, do not be scared. They can't eat you. And I was like, you're right. They can't. The worst thing they can do is just ignore me.
Greg
Most of them It's true, I always go they can always say no I don't find with that right so worst -case scenario Alright, so you mentioned you're in Nashville you had a reason multiple reasons, but you would take college here But it obviously makes sense country Nashville two things go together here What there's pros and cons of this question, so I'm gonna make you talk for a while again.
Is it better to be a small fish in a big pond or Make your name locally and be a big fish in a smaller pond and then grow from there.
Should Musicians Move to a Big City?
Paige King Johnson
I think it depends on what you want.
And I'm not speaking down on this at all because I didn't know the difference in this when I moved to Nashville, I just assumed music was music was music. But there's a difference in pursuing a career as an artist and pursuing a career as a performer. And if you want to have a band that is a cover band or tribute band or whatever that just plays locally or regionally, and you're booked every single weekend, that's great. But moving to Nashville probably isn't what you need to do.
I would say just stay put, really refine your set list, refine your band, find the best players that you can, and just start playing out as much as you can.
If you want to be an artist, I would say the moving to the LA, the Austin, the New York, the Atlanta, the Nashville, whatever, is necessary to some degree because or just getting out of your hometown where people love you and want to love you and have to love you because they watched you grow up.
Getting out of that environment and going to an environment where everybody there is better than you and nobody has to like you was so important to me because it made me a better musician. It made me a better songwriter. It made me figure out who I wanted to be and what I wanted to say as an artist.
And then figure out the why. Why do people want to listen to this music? Why do people want to take time to buy a ticket to come see me? How am I different than anybody else? And there are two different things.
And so I would say the big fish in a small pond works for somebody who wants to stay regionally and just make a career out of playing music. I would say the small fish in the ocean is necessary if you want to be an artist and you want to or a songwriter and you just want to differentiate yourself and create your own brand.
Greg
Thoughtful answer. really do appreciate that. So you mentioned there's that transition period. So how was it dealing? I'm going to assume you get there, you play a couple of gigs and you're still trying to figure out the Nashville versus, you know, hometown type stuff.
I'm assuming you got one or two gut punches right away and you kind of had to learn from that. Is it a fair, I look at your face right now. So, okay, you got 20 gut punches.
How do you navigate that at a very early stage? Because I've got to imagine you going into it thinking, hey, I've got a shot here. I'm getting better. I'm doing this. And then something hits you. And it's like, do I have it? Maybe I don't have it. How do you overcome that? Do you just have to accept that, this is going to happen? We got to live with it.
How to Handle Rejection As a Singer-Songwriter?
Paige King Johnson
I mean, I think for me, the way I got through those tough times was having a huge support system behind me.
And on the days that I didn't want it as badly as I knew that I wanted it, or the days that it sucked and it was kicking me down in the dirt and kept pushing me down, having, and for me, it was my family behind me, reminding me of why I moved 500 plus miles away from home, why I'm doing the hard thing and chasing after the big dream, and just continuing to speak that over me and continue to encourage me on the days that it felt like the music industry was not loving me back.
And also just going into it knowing that it was going to be hard. you know, for anybody who, and I'm not saying this discouragingly, but for anybody who thinks that getting into the music industry as an artist and trying to find your own lane and get your music out there, if they think that it's an easy road, they will very quickly be mistaken because there's a lot of work and years of hard work that go into it.
And nobody has a reason to have to love you because there's 15,000 other yous right behind you that are just as good as you that can take your place. And I don't say that in a mean way because all of us need any encouragement, but you have to want it very, very badly and going into it, knowing that it's going to be hard and knowing nothing's going to be handed to you and continuing to have that in your mind.
When the hard days come along, it's like, okay, this isn't how it's going to be all the time, but this is just another thing that I have to get over. And having thick skin and being able to take the punches and the hits and all the things and pick yourself back up and say, I'm better than this. I can do this and just push through it.
Greg
It's always helpful to know what you're going into, right? Knowing you're going to get beat up because that's, regardless of the job, at some point you're going to have bad days, you're going to get beat up by someone, right? So I think having an understanding of what that looks like is helpful. I can attest to that. What are some misconceptions about the music industry Paige?
Misconceptions About the Music Industry
Paige King Johnson
A, that it's easy, know, that getting a record deal just happens overnight. Even these overnight successes that you see, I feel like most recently, like the Lainey Wilson story in Nashville, you know, she's on year like 15 or 16 of being in Nashville and pursuing it. And she's on year three, maybe of like significant success.
So A, it's never an overnight thing, even if it looks like it was. There's been years of hard work and dedication and money and blood, sweat and tears put behind it.
And I think the other big one is that it's all like glamorous and it's all just so much fun and just a big party. know, people don't see the long nights and the many, many miles away from home and the the birthdays and the weddings and the anniversaries and everything that we miss out on because we're working every weekend. And it can.
In a career where you're constantly surrounded by people, it can be a very isolating and a very lonely thing. And just, you gotta have a good head on your shoulders and have good people around you to kind of keep you in line and keep you in check because sadly, you know, all of that can lead to depression and can lead to, you know, the substance abuse and all the things that you see so many artists getting caught up in. And so, you know, it can be very lonely at times. And so you gotta have your head on straight, and have a good support system around you.
Greg
How about the answer might be the exact same here, but I'll ask it anyways. What about the industry do you wish you knew sooner?
Paige King Johnson
I think really it would be to know that there are so many different streams of revenue possible. And this is something I'm still trying to figure out, but just trying to figure out where all of those come from and find a good way to be able to kind of rake through that, to be able to continuously do this as a career and have it as your income.
And that's something that's kind of gate kept from every artist unless they are at that like super high A -list level. And so I wish I would have known sooner just to continue to do research and try to figure out how to get all of that to me, but it's just something that's a daily thing and something that all the artists are trying to figure out to continue to stabilize themselves.
Greg
Would you mind sharing what one of those revenue streams that you never would have thought of might have been a revenue stream, but actually is.
What Are Other Ways to Make Money in the Music Industry?
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, well, and I think speaking into this as well, too, because I started really pursuing music in 2014, 2013. And back then, social media wasn't as big as it is now. But, you know, back then, I would have never thought that on top of, you know, producing music and writing my tale off and trying to, you know, put out the best stuff that there was working on albums or singles or whatever, you also have to work just that much on the other side of doing social media. And there's a whole world of like brand partnerships and all kinds of things that you can do to continue to fund going back into the studio and just trying to figure out how to capitalize on that is something that's huge.
But also in music, there's so many different ways to make money other than just having songs on the radio. And there's what we call sync, which is sync licensing, which is like having music in a commercial or having music placed in a movie.
And that's still something that think a lot of artists are trying to tap into at my level at least. And just trying to figure out the right people to get to and pitch your songs to. And also that's a whole art form of writing for movies and commercials versus writing for radio. So that was one thing that surprised me in knowing how much money is in that. And just trying to figure out how to break into it.
Greg
Very good. So I don't have music for this podcast. If you want to write me something, you can throw it on your credits. I can't guarantee I'll pay anything for it, the offer's out there.
Paige King Johnson
Good to know!
Greg
That's the music business way of saying thank you, but no thank you.
The Most Rewarding Part of a Career in the Music Industry
Paige King Johnson
I love people and I just love that my job lets me meet all new people all the time. And especially after playing shows and at the merch table and people coming up and getting to like hug all the little girls that have waited and begged their mom to come up there and see me and want me to sign their ticket or whatever it is. Like that is just so rewarding to me.
Probably two reasons, one being that I was that little girl a lot of moons ago who just needed to like have somebody to look up to and see somebody in real life that was doing the dang thing. And so I love getting to kind of try to to speak encouragement into their lives, whether they want to be an artist or not, but just letting them know that they can be whatever they want to be as long as they believe in themselves.
But also knowing that hopefully one day I will be a parent and I want my kids to grow up and have big dreams and have somebody speaking that into their lives. And so that truly is like it makes so much of it worth it just to be able to see those young kids come up and be so excited to see little old me. And I hope that I can fulfill their expectations of who I am.
Greg
That's beautiful. It's gotta make you feel great though, when that happens. It really does.
Paige King Johnson
It does. It does. It's very rewarding.
Greg
Paige, what did I neglect to ask you about the music industry today that you feel is important for people to know?
Paige King Johnson
You've asked great questions. love this. feel like one other piece of advice that I would always give people, whether they're pursuing music in their town that they're in or whether they're moving to a music town to do stuff is to not dismiss the power of asking to take like coffee meetings or lunch meetings or anything with people that are in the industry.
Once again, it's one of those situations where the worst thing they can do is tell you no. But I have made so many great connections with people that have been very meaningful to me and have made a lot of things happen for me just by asking them out to coffee and to pick their brains. And a tool like this is obviously very useful because it's something that you can just digest whenever you want to and you can dive however
or deep, but creating that one-on-one personal connection with somebody and knowing that you care enough to ask them out to coffee and pay for their coffee and ask them questions about what they do can go a long way.
And I think that's for any industry. It's not just central to music, but the art of meeting people face-to-face and really paying attention to them and then following up with a letter or a gift or an email or whatever it is. It truly does go a long way.
Greg
Excellent. Excellent. I've got two more questions for you. One I have to ask because my wife will kill me if I don't. So we'll start with, we'll start with that one first. Do you have an in with Russell Dickerson?
Paige King Johnson
I don't. I don't.
Greg
Okay, if you ever do, get into my DMs.
Paige King Johnson
I got you. I got you.
Greg
Okay, last one. You can't be a musician anymore, you're out of the music industry. What career would you choose and why?
Paige King Johnson
There's two. Whenever I was little, I either wanted to own my own bakery because I absolutely love baking and just spending time in the kitchen and I have such a sweet tooth. And so that's what I thought I wanted to do for a long time.
And then it switched to I wanted to be an interior designer, which kind of makes sense on the art side of things. I love that and there's so much to be learned on that, but I just love being able to watch a space come together and working with patterns and textures and that very much so bleeds over to creating music and being in the studio and writing songs. yeah, an interior designer has always been very intriguing to me.
Greg
That's phenomenal. All right, perfect. So Paige, thank you for your time today. Loved having you. If someone wants to reach out, ask you a question, how can they find your music? Let people know how they can get a hold of you or find out more about you.
Paige King Johnson
Yeah, absolutely. Always open to an Instagram DM, obviously, or just a message anywhere. So I'm on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, everywhere, at Page King Johnson. And my website is PageKingJohnson.com and it has all my merch, all my tour dates, new music and all that kind of stuff right there.
Greg
We'll link all that in the show description. So if you missed it, just check out the description You'll find that there is a page King Johnson everyone singer songwriter to find out more about Paige hit that description up.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I hope everyone enjoyed today's episode If you'd like to unbox your career with us, we'd love to have you Please visit the website to find out more, and until next time, be kind of one.
(Interview transcription provided by Riverside.fm. May not be 100% accurate.)
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