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Achickwitbeatz presents ⁠the Instrumental Intel podcast⁠, bringing you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news & tips, insights & interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm EST on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠.
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00:00

Hey, thank you for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz, and I'm excited to be bringing this episode to you. I've got another one lined up with music industry news, beats produced by me for your inspiration, and my special guest, Ty’Zen, is joining me later. So make sure you stick around for that. And I, of course, have to give a shout out to my home station, Grander Radio, out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And with that, let's go.




12:31

Okay and as promised I'm back with your music biz brief. Universal Music Group reported robust financial results for the second quarter of this year, generating $3.15 billion in revenue, a 9.6% increase year over year. Key growth areas included a rise in subscription streaming, physical revenues, and a significant surge in merchandising.

12:52

However, Universal's earnings call highlighted a deceleration in growth for recorded music subscription revenues, with slower subscriber growth on some major DSPs, potentially Apple Music and Amazon Music even though they weren't named specifically, but compared to Spotify and YouTube. In related news, Bill Ackman, a major Universal shareholder through Pershing Square Holdings, has drastically reduced the IPO target for his new fund, Pershing Square USA, from $25

13:21

This follows investor feedback and concerns over the transaction size. Despite the adjustment, the IPO remains one of the largest this year. Ackman's fund experienced a decline in value after Universal's Q2 report highlighted the slowdown in paid streaming subscription revenue growth.

13:37

Speaking of which, Spotify's share price soared after reporting its second consecutive profitable quarter in Q2, which led to significant stock sales by co-founder Martin Lorentzon and other executives totaling $166.8 million. However, this financial success comes amid a legal battle with the MLC, which stands for Mechanical Licensing Collective, over reclassifying its premium subscription tier as a bundle to reduce mechanical royalties.

14:04

If the MLC prevails, Spotify could owe approximately $49.78 million in additional royalties just for Q2 alone, with potential annual royalty reductions of $150 million. Also, in response to user feedback, Spotify is increasing the limit on lyrics access for free users globally after initially restricting them to three songs per month.

14:26

This change aims to enhance user experience without significantly impacting the growth of paid subscriptions. As of Q2 this year, Spotify boasts 626 million monthly active users, including 246 million premium subscribers. Additionally, Spotify has expanded its Countdown Pages feature that was previously only available to select artists to those with over 5,000 active listeners.

14:49

This tool allows fans to pre-save albums, watch clips, pre-order merchandise, and browse track lists with 70% of pre-savers streaming the album in its first week. Artists using clips have seen double the pre-saves aiding in achieving charting goals. All right, and Apple Music's latest analytics feature for artists now includes data on radio plays utilizing Shazam's music recognition technology. The Apple Music for Artists dashboard tracks stats from over 40,000 radio stations globally.

15:18

providing detailed insights by song, station, and location. Artists can also view their top tracks and trends with radio spin data updated daily. TikTok is introducing Sound Search, a feature that lets users find sounds by singing, humming, or playing them, similar to tools on YouTube Music and Shazam. Currently available to select users in specific regions, Sound Search enhances TikTok search capabilities, allowing users to discover songs and videos that use them.

15:45

While the tool performs well with popular songs, it can be glitchy with less popular ones. Unlike Shazam, which only identifies songs by playing them, TikTok's tool also identifies TikTok-specific sounds and memes. The release date for all users is yet to be announced. Okay, and Apollo Global Management gave Sony Music Group a $700 million investment for music industry ventures.

16:09

The move fuels speculation that Sony will use the funds to acquire the music catalog of Queen, which is valued at over $1 billion. Apollo's big investments and partnerships in recent years show that the company has significant interest in the music industry. Next up, event startup Posh has raised $22 million in Series A funding, bringing its total to $31 million. With 2 million users and $95 million in bookings,

16:33

Posh focuses on intimate gatherings, hosting around 5,000 events monthly. The new funds will help expand its team and enhance its app, aiming to capture 25% of ticket sales directly from the platform by year-end. Posh is diversifying into fitness, art, and foods events, charging a 10% plus 99 cent fee per ticket. Meanwhile, the app called Music Event is revolutionizing the online music industry with features inspired by TikTok and Instagram.

17:01

The app allows promoters to discover and book new artists through vertical videos and offers a SaaS feature for artists to sign performance contracts and receive advance payments. After a successful launch and initial positive feedback, the app is set to support multiple languages and boost its international reach. And speaking of events, Live Nation reported a record Q2 of this year with revenue up 7% to over $6 billion and operating income up 21% to $466 million.

17:30

The company hosted 39 million fans, a 5% increase, with significant growth in arenas and amphitheaters. Ticketmaster sold 183 million tickets year to date, a 3% increase, and on-site sponsorship revenue rose 28%. Despite an ongoing DOJ antitrust lawsuit and settlements from the 2021 Astroworld incident, Live Nation remains optimistic.

17:54

The company highlighted strong global demand for live shows, strategic investments in venues, and plans to open 14 major venues by 2025. Next up, in May, SoundCloud introduced genre-focused Buzzing Playlists highlighting emerging artists and tracks from its First Fans initiative. Initially featuring electronic, hip-hop/rap, pop, and R&B, the playlists now include metal, rock, and indie.

18:18

The curational system effectively promotes tracks with nearly 20% of buzzing playlist additions advancing to the more popular trending playlist. First Fans, which recommends tracks to targeted listeners, has boosted over 4.8 million tracks on the platform. Now, if they could just do something about the bots, they'd be good to go.

18:36

Alright and finally a recent report from Ofcom revealed that UK weekly radio listenership reached nearly 50 million in the first quarter this year which is the highest it's been in 20 years. In 2019 75% of adults listened to live radio which later declined but has now rebounded to 69%. Radio's listening time share was 61% while streaming share was 22%.

19:00

Among the 15-34 year old demographic, radio comprises 34% of listening time and streaming 45%. Now concerning streaming services, weekly 61% of audio listeners use Spotify, 48% use YouTube, 29% use Amazon Music, 18% use BBC Sounds, and 15% use Apple Music, which are definitely some helpful statistics to know so you know exactly where people are going to hear what's out there.

19:28

Alright, and that's a wrap for the music biz brief. I'm gonna take another quick pause for the cause and then I'll return with my special guest. Ty'Zen. Keep it locked! 



33:14

Hey, I'm Achickwitbeatz, multi-genre music producer and strategist to indie artists and labels. Visit achickwitbeatz.com for resources for artists and instrumentals in various genres available for songs, blogs, blogs, podcasts, themes, TV, film, commercials, and more. Once again, that's achickwitbeatz.com. That's A-C-H-I-C-K-W-I-T-B-E-A-T-Z.com Let's make something happen.

33:44

Thank you so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm very excited to say that I have in the virtual building with me today, Ty'Zen. It's been a long time. Had you as a guest before on music marvels, but this time you're on my podcast, Instrumental Intel. And I'm so happy that you're here. And if you could just let everybody know a little bit about who is Ty'Zen and some of all the amazing creative things that you're doing.

34:14

Yeah, thank you for having me. My name is Tyson. I'm from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, just above Miami. Right now I'm living in the Orlando area. I'm a singer, songwriter, producer. Within the music realm of thing outside of music. I wear a lot of different hats. I'm a writer and author. I'm a mental health advocate.

34:40

a pet caregiver, a business consultant, a problem manager, website developer, just lots of different things. I always have my hands involved with something. Yeah, and see, yeah, he does it all. So that's exactly why I was afraid to box you in with your introduction. Yeah, yeah, so if you could, you know, tell us a little bit about how you got into music and who some of your musical influences were.

35:07

Yeah, I come from a very musical family, actually. Most of my mom's side of the family is a singer or rapper or something along those lines. My mom's dad was a songwriter and guitarist and just watching them sing together as a family and watching them rehearse for church and things like that. My dad sings as well. So anytime my family got together, there was always music.

35:35

So I've always been a part of, or music has always been a part of my life rather, in some kind of way. And then when I got to college, I had a roommate who played a lot of Kid Cudi. And I wasn't like, I didn't really know a lot of rap music prior to then. So I would hear him playing rap songs. And anytime it was a Kid Cudi song, it would catch my attention

36:04

There was something about the beats and the melodies that made me think of the choir or gospel type songs that I heard as a kid. And it would draw me in and I would get really fixated on what was happening structurally with his music. It wasn't really even lyrics or anything beyond that. It was just like, hey, I recognize that type of vocal stack. Or like,

36:33

that moment sounds like a choir. So then I tried to recreate that sort of thing. And that's what got me into making beats. And then once I had beats, I started building vocals around it and writing songs. And I played it for my friend Jasmine. And she thought that it was good. And even though I was against the idea of anyone like hearing it because

37:00

It was more of an experimental thing. I didn't really do it to like start a career in music. I was just doing it for the creative aspect of it. But then I saw this quote by Martha Graham, which basically said that like, if you get something poured into you, you're just supposed to keep the channel open and let it pour out. And it said it's not your job to determine if it's valuable or not.

37:30

And when I heard that, I felt so convicted. And the rest is kind of history. Like from then on, like anytime I get any kind of vision or idea, I just feel like it's my responsibility to make it happen. So if I make a song, sometimes I'm like, eh, I don't know if I love it. And I'm like, okay, I'll just put it out anyway.

37:54

Yeah, that's a really interesting point, um, cause I always say that if you feel compelled to make music, it's because someone out there needs to hear it. And even though I've said that, I don't know how many times with you saying it the way that you just said it now. Um, yeah, this time I'm feeling convicted cause there's a song that I've been holding on to, but you know, how you can always give advice. It applies to everyone but you most of the time, but yeah, no, yeah.

38:21

You were speaking right to me. Yeah. So I needed to hear that. I'm sure somebody listening did too, but yeah, I needed to hear that. So I just got to go in and admit that. But, um, you know, I think it's kind of interesting that you mentioned kid, Cuddy being an influencer, kind of like the stylings. Um, I feel like a lot of his, uh, earlier work and maybe even some little later stuff, um, kind of had a lot of mental health.

38:51

themes to it. So, you know, like since you had mentioned that you're an advocate for mental health, do you think, you know, maybe once you were listening to the music and kind of got behind that and the lyrics start to sink in, do you kind of feel the same vibes there? Absolutely. It's, it's so interesting to me because there are songs that I heard back then where I was only paying attention to the, like the melodies.

39:17

And I missed certain things that he was saying. And now when I hear it back, I'm like, I'm sure somehow subconsciously, those themes were being imparted into me because I was hearing the song so often. And mental health has always been something that was sort of like, not talked about, when I was growing up, because I did come from a religious background. And a lot of times that people were struggling with anything mentally.

39:47

It was just, okay, pray about it. And then, you know, you move on and there was almost like, you know, this very strong stigma if you dwelled on it. Like I remember one time telling a friend of mine that I was depressed. And he said that it was because I didn't believe in God enough. And I was like, wait, that's how that works. So God blessed us with therapists for a reason. So exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, I do.

40:16

I do think just having Kid Cudi and other artists who have spoken out, whether it be through interviews or through social media or through their songs, I do think that that has really opened my awareness to realizing that it's okay to talk about these things and that people need to hear them. And with me stylizing my songs and sort of imitating what he was doing,

40:45

I realized that I was then writing songs in a way that was as if they were just diary entries or like as though no one else would hear what I was writing about. And that was really the intention when I started. It was just this experimental thing. I had no thought about ever putting my music on a streaming service or anything like that. So I was very vulnerable in my lyrics and I was writing about things that I had never shared with anyone before.

41:14

And a lot of it was regarding mental health. And once I did release my music, there were people saying like, hey, I can relate to what you're saying, or hey, my child is going through the same thing. Can you talk to them? Can you help them? And that just really took on its own path. Outside of the music, I ended up becoming a voice with them, like at least my own small little bubble, my community.

41:41

of being able to provide resources for people, to invite encouragement for people. And through that, I was able to get the help that I needed. And through my own mental health journey, I was just sharing things that were helping me because I didn't even realize how many years I had been suppressing my own struggles and things because it was just something that I didn't know that I was allowed to talk about.

42:11

That's really deep. So, when you said your writing is that they were diary entries, no one was gonna hear them. As someone who's seen your videos, there's a sincerity about when you're saying, I know that you're looking at the camera, but it feels like you're looking at the individual watching and it just kind of captivates you. It makes you slow down. A lot of times where...

42:36

overloaded with so many different things. But yeah, when you come across my feed, it's something about that sincerity that always makes me slow down. Like, no, I gotta check this out. So, you know, it's really interesting because I didn't think about it as in, you know, okay, he's just bearing his soul because it feels like an intimate moment actually just watching you do your thing. So yeah, thank you for that. Thank you for that. I, I, um, something that's important to me, um,

43:05

and I think it separates me from other artists, is that I'd never wanna lose that. Like that's what got me started and I didn't have the goal of like, oh someday I'm gonna win a Grammy. For me, it was just like, I wanna like create something. You know? And it turned into this method in which I could express myself. I was always a very like,

43:33

I was very isolated. I was a loner. I'm still very much a recluse to this day. So sometimes like things that I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing with anyone else, they make their way into my songs, which is so ironic. Because I'm sharing it with the world. But yeah, I never, I never want to lose that. That's amazing. And so, okay, you know, you get to...

44:00

tell your stories through your songs, and you also mentioned that you're an author. Yes. How do you kind of draw inspiration for that aspect of storytelling in your world? Yeah, to think about being an author is that there's no musical limitation. I don't have to worry about the tempo or like the counts. I don't have to stay within certain measures.

44:26

I don't have to worry about if I'm being too wordy, you know, can I fit this all within three minutes or less? It's just an opportunity to just let it all fall out. Funny, I just thought about this is so random. I remember trying to write a song with someone else. I do better writing alone. I think because it is so vulnerable for one, but also I was writing a song with someone and one of the lyrics I wrote was,

44:56

it said the word quintessence and he was like you can't put the word quintessence in a book. But when you're writing you can just you can say it all um and I I think that I I would hope that anyone who likes my writing um lyrically would read like any of my other publish works as well and I'm excited about um a memoir that I'm

45:25

preparing to release here in which a lot of the stories that I have shared in my song, they're expanded upon and then you get all the details. And I think that that's cool. I love when any type of singer kind of gives you the meanings behind songs. And that's something that I'm hoping people will be excited about because then you also get them in context of everything else. And I think people will.

45:53

connect the dots and see like, oh, that song was also connected to the same situation as that other song. And it's exciting for me. And I just I hope other people will be excited as well. Absolutely. Do you utilize genius for any of your lyrics? I don't. It's something I probably should do. I write in a very stream of conscious kind of way. Yeah. So I don't often like, I guess like,

46:23

branch out in that way to like look at other resources. And that may hinder me a lot actually because I don't do that. It's something that, I don't know. It's something that I probably should do better at. Yeah, no, I don't think that, you know, it's a missed opportunity at all, but I just mean, you know, once you actually publish your memoir.

46:47

So that way if people are looking up your lyrics, you can actually link directly back to the memoir. So that way they know, like, hey, you want to know what this line is? Click this. Yeah. This is why we look to you for the intel. See? This is great advice right here. I'm making a note about that. Yes. Like, I feel like your fans will definitely eat that up, you know, to the chance to know, like you said, you know, the everything behind.

47:14

what you've written. So yeah, I think that would be amazing. I know I'll be one of the first people on it. Thank you. Absolutely. So yeah, okay. You've got all this stuff going. You did talk a little bit about making beats when you first started off. How do you draw inspiration for your beats now? That's so funny. So when I first started making music, it really was just in the...

47:42

like a experimental sort of thing. And I didn't know how else to get the music across other than if I did it myself. And I'm a terrible musician. Like I can play keys enough, I can like struggle through playing chords and that sort of thing. But nowadays, I prefer to like explain to producers like yourself, like what it is I hear in my head and have them create it for me.

48:12

because otherwise I could spend an hour trying to create a 10 second melody. Because I'm just not that skilled enough. So that's more so of what I do now. Like I have a lot of friends who are awesome musicians and again coming from a church background, there's always musicians in my life in some kind of way. So I may like...

48:41

call someone up and be like, hey, I'm hearing this drum pattern or I'm hearing this string string arrangement. And I get them to create it for me. But in terms of the inspiration, it's still coming from within. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I can see that. And it's also interesting that you say, you know, instead of, you know, trying to do it yourself.

49:06

I've seen memes, it's been a long time, but a lot of them were kind of making fun of how a lot of producers don't want to know music theory. I mean, something like a necessary evil, but yeah, most of us try to put it off as long as possible if you don't start off as a musician, you know? Yeah. And for me, like back in that day, there was no, there were no goals when I started making beats. Like I didn't have like the thought of I'm going to release an album or...

49:35

there were no deadlines, so I could take forever with it. And now it's something that I would wanna do just as a hobby, just to create my own beats. But a lot of times when I am in music making mode, I have a certain deadline in mind. So it takes away the joy of being able to just do it on my own in a vacuum. And now I have to rely on others to help me. So it's kind of a good thing in a sense. Yeah, absolutely. So, okay.

50:04

know, with that being said, how do you kind of approach collaboration with other artists? So I know you said that you've got all these musicians around you, but when it comes down to choosing, you know, what's some of the criteria you kind of look for before making a selection? Yeah, I love this question. I was actually just sharing this. Oh, sorry about the noise in the background. I was actually just sharing this with someone recently is the fact that I love when two

50:35

that you can see the chemistry or feel the chemistry through the music. And it doesn't seem forced, it doesn't seem like the label record was like, hey, let's put you two together because that'd be a hit. You can sense when they like get each other musically, when they are able to like feed off of each other. So for me, one of the first things I look for is someone that I have some kind of

51:03

relationship with in terms of like it could be just a musical relationship it could be like yo like they make the kind of songs that i like to listen to they make the kind of songs that i make or it could be like when we're together we have a good time because that'll shine through the music i tend to work with people that i'm a fan of most of my collaborations or all of my collaborations actually have been me reaching out to someone and being like

51:32

Hey, I love your music. Can you be on one of my songs? So yeah, that's yeah, I just I just I want it to be genuine because I think when it's not you can tell. Yeah, definitely like the whole energy like the vibe is just yeah. Yeah, you can tell. You're right. You can tell.

51:55

Yeah, so I guess do you have any advice to offer independent artists looking to network and build connections in the industry? So, you know, like how you said, you reach out, like you let them know that you're a fan. I think a lot of times that can be missing in the age of social media. Like, you can tell when somebody's just reaching out just to see what they can get from you. So, what advice do you have for anybody that's trying to overcome that right now?

52:23

Oh wow, that's a really good question. I would say the first thing is to just be an approachable person yourself because a lot of my moments of... like I'm I am the textbook definition of introvert. Let me say that first. So I get so uncomfortable of anytime I have to initiate the conversation regardless of what the topic is.

52:49

So I would say be an approachable person to where people are comfortable having conversations with you. You don't want to always seem so intimidating or like you're not someone who would be a joy to be around. Not necessarily saying you have to be extremely friendly, you know, if that's not your personality. But just being welcoming, you know. So I would say that first. And then secondly, just...

53:19

Believing in yourself to know that whatever you're doing is something worth being a part of. Because I think if you go into it, this is something that I have struggled with for sure. If like I go into it with the mindset of, hey, this is a great idea, they would be honored to be a part of it. Then when I'm speaking to them, I speak in that way of like, hey, this is a great idea. And my excitement gets them excited.

53:49

So yeah, that's what I would suggest. Wow. That's a serious gym right there. This was one of those podcasts that had like the air horns and all that stuff. I definitely would put it right there. That was some excellent advice. So yeah, I mean, okay. So you've got all this different stuff going on. Do you have any specific projects that you're probably planning on putting out?

54:15

by the years in, which is quickly coming upon us. I can't believe how fast 2024 has gone by. But yeah, anything we should be looking for for the remainder of the year. I have some anniversary things coming up that I'm celebrating. This December actually is the 10 year anniversary of that mixtape that I started on, that Kid Cudi inspired mixtape.

54:42

And then this November is three years since my last music project, my last album. So I have a virtual concert that I will be promoting soon that's taking place in September. And then from there, all of the other like anniversary projects are very tied to the memoir. So you'll get like snippets of the book through like

55:12

I don't know, I don't want to say too much. I don't want to make you spill the tea, but yeah. Yeah, everything's, everything is leading up into the memoir being released. So as I'm like celebrating previous projects, it's a chance to share the full story about how those projects came together. Um, and then, um, there's a new song that I am releasing on December 13th. Um, which is kind of captures the journey. And I.

55:41

I'm seeing that in a sense as like, kind of like a soundtrack single for the book because there is a soundtrack for the book. Yeah. So that's what I'm doing musically. Outside of music though, I'm excited about my company, it's called Your Intended Life. And it is very mental health here, mental health oriented.

56:08

and I'll be doing a lot of stuff with that this year, a lot of community service projects and things of that nature. So yeah, I'll be very busy, but I'm being tight-lipped right now because I just, I don't want to ruin some surprises that are happening. But the very, yeah, the very next thing is September. I'm doing a concert, a virtual concert on September 15th. Okay, okay.

56:38

So now that you've mentioned all this stuff that's coming up and just so that way people know where they can find you and find everything that you're doing, can you drop your social media, website, whatever you got that people can follow? Yeah, the best way to stay connected is social media. My handle everywhere is ties in life. That's T-Y-Z-E-N-L-I-F-E.

57:05

Again, that's T-Y-Z-E-N-L-I-F-E. And from there, I'm not the most social person in the world currently. But because of all of the things that are being promoted, you will definitely start seeing a lot of things from me there, but also at the handle, your intended life. It's Y-O-R-H.

57:32

I'm sorry, why can't I spell today? Y-O-U-R, so TyzenLife and YourIntendedLife are the places to go for all of the news. That is incredible. Well, especially considering how busy you are. I really appreciate you for taking the time out of your schedule to come on and share your story, your experiences with everyone. I believe that that's really vital.

58:00

for us to be able to share things and kind of learn from each other. So thank you so much for taking the time to do that. And yeah, before we get ready to close out, do you have any like shoutouts that you want or need to give to anyone or any final thoughts you kind of want to leave the listeners with? I want to shout you out actually, because I'm very grateful that you first off will create this platform for artists for.

58:29

people in the musical world to get this type of intel, this type of knowledge. And I listened to your podcast and I get gems from the other guests that you have that have come through. So just that your platform is this is quite a blessing to me personally, but also to allow me to come on and think that anything that I have to say would be worth hearing that really means a lot to me. So thank you for sharing this opportunity and allowing me to come on.

58:58

Thank you. I appreciate that. Very happy to hear that. Thank you. Yeah. All right. So I hope this is just the first of many and I hope to have you back on again soon in the future, especially as things, um, begin to roll out in your plan when you can talk a little bit more about them. The platform is always open to you. So back again soon. Oh, I would love to come back. Thank you so much. Thank you.

59:28

Alright, and that does it for this week's episode of Instrumental Intel. I'd like to thank my guest for sharing those insights and experiences. I'd also like to thank you, the listener for tuning in. I'd like to thank my home station Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids Michigan for rocking with me and airing this podcast. And you know what I've got even more goodness lined up for you next week so definitely make sure that you check back in. So till then, you

59:55

know where to find me. Tune in, tell a friend, and I'll see you then. Peace.