SubmitHub & IndieShuffle founder shares his story and council for artists in today's music industry
The founder of SubmitHub & IndieShuffle Jason Grishkoff sat down with us to go over his storied career being a music entrepreneur. Jason has grown IndieShuffle into one of the largest music publications in the world along with his latest venture being SubmitHub. An online platform that allows artists to gain exposure to music curators in an efficient way.
We hope you enjoy Jason's story, insights, and council on how you can continue to navigate the music industry in a successful efficient way!
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Background:
Jason is originally from South Africa. He attended school in the United States at the University Of California San Diego where he studied Political Science. After graduating he was interested in a financial career that had promises of future financial upside. Leading him to Washington DC, Jason discovered that he wasn't interested in the financial compensation space anymore. After being asked to take a leave of absence, Jason was contacted by Google for a potential position doing more of the same work. Even though this area was of no interest to him, he jumped at the opportunity and found himself in San Francisco working for Google not too long after.
While Jason held various corporate positions, he started the music blog Indie Shuffle. He continued to work on Indie Shuffle throughout his traditional employment days up until the point where he felt comfortable enough to take on his hobby full time.
"When I created Indie Shuffle I was in the right place at the right time. The music blog wave of the 2010s was how new artists broke free."
Jason leveraged his successful music blog into a new venture called SubmitHub. He saw the need for artists to gain exposure on music publications, along with the rapid amount of inquiries he was receiving every single day. This transformed into a platform where music creators submit music to the right people to make an assessment on whether they want to use it or not.
Finances:
We bridged the topic of music creators and entrepreneur's who are looking to start in their careers.
"I suggest every artist try to make music first as a hobby. Once your music is more established, then you can work full time on it."
An option people have is to leverage their current occupation and income streams into propelling their "hobby" to become an established entity that will be able to support your lively hood for the remainder of your life. This is the goal, to be able to do the things you are passionate doing on your terms and no one else's. It takes time to establish any endeavor in life, but Jason is an example of doing just that.
Career:
Jason's career in finance, at Google, and in music, give insights that will prove useful in anyone's life.
"Halo and Horn Effect"
In one of Jason's more tedious 9-5 job's, he believes he was subject to the Halo and Horn effect. This simply means that people put bias towards another person on first impressions which carries into the persons work performance. The lesson is to have a great first impression, put your all in your work, and show up consistently and enthusiastically. You choose if others see you with a horn, or with a halo.
Social Media Strategies:
Artists who are on social media (which is basically everyone) can use current platforms to create loyal audiences.
Jason described the following:
"Leveraging TikTok is a great tool to gain exposure. Others are essentially living vicariously through other people. As an artist, you want to be the one others live vicariously through. If you were to have an influencer make a video of your song, it doesn't stop there. After the song is posted you continuously need to comment, engage, make a remix, and cultivate the activity into the song growing from there."
Looking At The Future:
The future of the music industry lies with the younger generations of society. Interactive sites are increasing more and more as we progress. Cultivating loyal strong relationships is the best friend for an artist.
"I have no idea what the future will look like. What I am looking at is what the younger generations are doing."
Conclusion:
There are a number of ways for music creators and entrepreneur's in the music industry to become successful. The low barrier to entry in the music industry is becoming more and more prevalent. We appreciate Jason's council to others in the industry in relation to leveraging your current opportunities, taking care of your finances, and effectively utilizing platforms such as SubmitHub to reach the right people in an effective way.
Connect With Jason
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