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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Instrumental Intel Podcast

Achickwitbeatz brings you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news, insights, interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm ET on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio,⁠⁠⁠ Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠, and your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript Generated by Riverside

00:01
Hey, thank you for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm glad that you've joined me today. I’ve got another episode lined up with goodness for you. There'll be beats by me for your inspiration, music industry news, and later I'll be joined by Kim Carson. She's a phenomenal radio personality, series personality, author, she's got a lot going on, so I'm really excited to share this with you.

00:25
So it's going to be a great time. So before I go ahead and drop that first beat, I got to give a shout out to my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And with that, let's go.

09:06

[BEAT BREAK]

11:41
I am back with the music biz brief first up You've probably seen a lot of spotify rap stuff going around You know we even talked about the last time about how many people were kind of left disappointed But since the last time we talked about spotify the ceo daniel x sold another 37 million dollars in stock So spotify's stock has surged over 550 in two years closing above five hundred dollars per share for the first time

12:09
giving the company a market cap of nearly $98 billion, which is more than double Universal Music Group's valuation. So during this uptick, co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek has sold 950,000 shares in 2024 alone, totaling nearly $320 million. Other executives have also cashed in, including co-founder Martin Lorentzon, who sold $556.77 million worth of shares.

12:36
Spotify's rebound follows strong earnings and projections of profitability in 2024. To put some things in perspective, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's net worth has reached $7.2 billion, surpassing the combined wealth of the top richest active musicians. This includes Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Bruce Springsteen, whose total wealth is $6.8 billion. So as music industry critic and

13:04
Historian Ted Goia pointed out, there's more money in disrupting music than in creating it. So just food for thought before you go ahead and hit share next time on those stats. The more that we prop them up with free advertisement, the worse it's gonna get. Alright, next up, Sony Music pulled its entire catalog from Boomplay, one of Africa's leading music streaming platforms with over 98 million monthly active users. This includes content from The Orchard and AWOL.

13:30
Reports suggest growing concerns from other rights holders over late royalty payments. Boomplay, owned by Transnet Music, has licensing deals with Warner Music, Universal Music, and Merlin, but its relationship with rights holders appears kind of strained. The platform, launched in 2015, faces competition from Spotify, Apple Music, and regional players like AudioMac and Dundo. Boomplay is reportedly seeking new funding during these challenges.

13:56
Also, Apple Music has expanded its live radio offerings with three new stations available to all listeners, even those without a subscription. Apple Musica Uno celebrates Latin music with genres like red tone, música mexicana, and Latin pop featuring celebrity hosts. Apple Music Club focuses on dance and electronic music with curated sets by popular DJs. Apple Music Chill offers a relaxing mix of genres, kicking off with a new bet cover of

14:25
These stations join Apple Music's existing lineup and are currently live. Alright, and the tech and innovation front researchers at University of Tennessee at Knoxville have developed HarmonyCloak, a groundbreaking tool designed to protect music from being copied by generative AI models. By embedding low-pressure, nearly inaudible sounds into compositions, HarmonyCloak prevents AI from learning and mimicking songs, safeguarding musicians' intellectual property.

14:52
The tool, created by assistant professor Jian Lu and his team, will be released for free next year. It complements efforts like Tennessee's ELVIS Act, which protects artists' voice and likenesses, and highlights the growing push for ethical AI practices in the music industry.

15:07
Alright, up next, Feature, a new app designed to streamline artist collaborations, helps musicians find each other based on genre, location, and fees. The platform also provides tools for negotiating terms, sending payments, and sharing files. Independent artist Nellie Chapa is the app's first ambassador, and Feature operates on a subscription model. Available for iPhone, artists can choose from a standard tier at $99.99 a year,

15:32
or a premium tier which offers other benefits like elite collaborations and boosted visibility for $299.99 annually.

15:40
Okay, and the Mechanical Licensing Collective has partnered with over 100 distributors worldwide through its Distributor Unmatched Royalties Portal, or DURP program for short, to identify unpaid royalties for self-administered songwriters. Distributors like CD Baby and Tunecore help locate artists' old royalties with millions already paid out. The initiative simplifies royalty collection for independent creators.

16:03
And finally, Downtown Music Holdings has confirmed layoffs at CD Baby as part of a broader strategy to consolidate operations and adapt to industry changes. While numbers weren't disclosed, Downtown aims to integrate CD Baby's functions with its overall business and focus on growth opportunities. The layoffs follow similar reductions at companies like Distro Kid and Tidal, as well as major labels like Universal and Warner, reflecting a trend of restructuring across the music industry.

16:30
Alright, and that's it for this week's music biz brief. I'm going to take a quick pause for the cause and then I'll be back with my special guest, pioneering radio personality, series host and author, Kim Carson. Keep it locked.

What's going on everyone? This is DJ Milk D from Indie Rhythm & Rise. Spot that gym.
Catch us on the 19th of December at 7pm on YouTube in the Rhythm and Rise.

17:19

[BEAT BREAK]

26:59
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.

Thank you so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz.

27:56
And I'm so excited to say that I have in the virtual building with me today, Kim Carson, who is, I almost feel like radio personality isn't enough cause you've done the TV series. I mean, just, I should just say just an all around great personality. How about that? But yeah, I'm just excited that you're here and to be able to share with me and my audience, your story. So if you could kind of give people a little bit of a background as to, um,

28:26
your relationship with music and how you got started as a radio personality. Yeah. Thank you so much. It's so nice to talk to you again. The last time we did this, I was interviewing you. I tried much more comfortable with that. Yeah. Now that was it. My, my, how the tables turn, but how the turn tables is my, exactly. Well, you know, when you talk about music, I mean, for me in my life, when, when I talk music saved my life, I, I doubt I'd be here. If it wasn't.

28:56
for music. It was the great escape. You know, I grew up in Detroit listening to WDRQ and Bill Bailey in the morning, where I later had a chance to work for him. He's a legend in the business and just grew up with a very eclectic ear because of growing up in Detroit and didn't really realize the full impact of music. I think just throughout my life,

29:26
being a radio personality, obviously, working with music every day, it was important, but the respect for music and what it can do for somebody just grew and grew and grew. Yeah, I can definitely understand that. Detroit has had so much influence on me musically, even though I was born and raised in Kalamazoo. I think kind of having the connections between Detroit and Chicago, I mean, both were like just so rich, but.

29:55
I mean, Detroit has shaped a lot of my electronic production. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, sure. You had Motown, you know, but it went, then you had Eminem, you know, and then the electronica movement, I mean, and disco. Yeah. It was just Detroit is just rich. Detroit. I didn't realize how lucky I was. I thought the whole world was like Detroit because I grew up, I went, you know, graduated from Denby high school.

30:25
On the East side, I grew up on 8 Mile and Kelly and your Eastland mall. And I thought the whole country was like that till I got away when I was like, you know, 16, um, and realized, wow, like I didn't, I grew up in a really special place and, um, it was, it was a microcosm, I think of the world really. And musically it was expressed that way. Hmm. Wow. That's an interesting way to put that, but yeah, I could see that. So if you're.

30:54
around that all the time, got kind of spoiled pretty much. Yeah. When you did break away and then you saw that it wasn't like that everywhere, you know, what did you kind of cling to like when you came back to it and recognize like, okay, this was really a great era that I didn't appreciate while I was in it. Yeah, I'm kind of doing that now, you know, as well. I think, I think when I first.

31:21
was in Detroit and I thought everything was like that. Then I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. So when you move south, you're at least in the 70s, you're really going back to a different era. You know, it was just crazy. You know, listeners, I had, I would, we were a top 40 station, CHR station. And no matter what city I lived in, Oklahoma City, Knoxville, Greensboro, North Carolina, wherever in the south.

31:49
I would always have black listeners that would come to me at their remotes. And they're like, yeah, we just wanted to see what you look like. You know, I'm like, oh, cool. And they're like, you're not from here, are you? And I'm like, no, no, I'm not. I'm not from here. How did you know? And they're like, cause you don't talk to us the same way that other people talk to us. It was the wildest thing, you know, it was the wild, it, it, you know, and for a lot of people would slam people, I guess, when.

32:19
when people say that you don't see color. But growing up in Detroit, it was always just, it was just a kaleidoscope of color. We had people in my neighborhood that had just moved here from Romania, German, Polish, Italian, Black…it was all…Asian…it was all just a mishmash of everybody.

32:46
You know, so it was a different and it was a different time. You know, of course it wasn't fair. It was not fair. We can see that by going back in history, but it was a time that people, you know, at least people as a whole, you know, they kind of had one motive was just bettering. Just bettering, bettering, you know, their life, bettering their families, bettering their jobs, bettering. You know, we all had that in common.

33:15
Man, yeah, that sounds amazing. Yeah, it wasn't. It was an amazing time. I mean, I get off the air at midnight or two o'clock and jump in my car from Southfield and drive downtown to Greek town by myself and, you know, I used to drive my dad crazy, but, but it was, it was, it was like the hype of, of the danger of the city was so inflated that it was just a.

33:45
You know, you go down there and you'd hear great music. You know, you could go to a jazz club. You could go, who doesn't when they get off work, like just go home and go to sleep. You know, and my hours were midnight and two in the morning. So I was up up all the time. But yeah, I can't say enough good things about Detroit. Don't even get me started. Oh, yeah, that's so awesome. So, OK, you've had all this experience on different stations.

34:12
And, you know, coming from the time that you started to what we're seeing now, um, how do you feel that radio's influence has been maybe over the last 20 years or so? So like back, um, you know, as far as I can remember, I'm an old millennial. Well, some of them say geriatric millennial, but, um, yeah. So eighties, nineties radio was super important.

34:37
And I believe it still is today, but what are some of the biggest changes that you've seen and where do you see it going? Well, you look at the fifties, which I was not alive during these, those early days of the fifties, sixties, you know, I mean, I was alive in the sixties, but I was just a, you know, embryo. Um, and so it was, uh, uh, radio was completely free then. I mean.

35:03
Elvis Presley stopping by radio stations, you know, Hawking is 45. I mean, it was boom, the DJ puts it on. And so that was the 50s, the 60s. It was very similar. You had the Beatles, the kind of the music changed then. And then my era was the 70s and. 70s started out with. Really, you know, kind of softer.

35:32
softer rock, softer, it was safe, I guess it would be. But fun, and then, you know, then, you know, we sadly, I mean, now it's fun to look back on, but sadly we went to the disco era and where everybody's trying their hand at disco. And the 80s, you know, if you were gonna talk to radio execs, it's one of the most forgettable decades, 80s and 90s.

36:01
because at some point, it's so hard to explain, but I'm trying to put it in a nutshell for you. There's this thing called pay and pay for play. Yeah, you know, you know. And so like when I was on the air in the 70s and 80s and 90s, I could, you know, Prince died, perfect example, or Marvin Gaye, I'll tell you both stories. Prince died.

36:30
Prince, it comes to Detroit, okay? He's doing a concert in Detroit. And I said, you know, hey, Prince is in Detroit. You know, he's listening to the hottest radio station in town, what do you want to say to Prince? Okay, so everybody for like three or four hours was calling out, oh, Prince, I love you, baby. He loves you. It was just so much fun, right? It was just so much fun and...

36:55
You know, who knows if Prince was listening or not, but at that moment it was like it's like the electrifying mojo. I don't know if you know who it is, but he's brilliant. He was an old DJ that that just, you know, theater of the mind with radio. OK, so then and like when Marvin Gaye died, you know, his dad shot him. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was on the air live. That's what's different about radio now. Most people are not on the air live. They're all voice tracked.

37:24
And there's something about being alive. You know that, you know, if you're mixing, there's something about the pressure. It makes cream rise to the top. You know, when you're doing a live show and you can connect with somebody. And so Marvin Gaye, you know, dies. And I'm on the air and I said, you know, give me your best Marvin Gaye, you know, baby making song or memory that you have or.

37:50
And like, again, for four hours, different people called up. I played Marvin Gaye music. That just couldn't happen now. I didn't have to ask permission. I didn't. It was radio in the seventies and eighties, basically until, until radio was, um, uh, Bill Clinton, he was the one who deregulated. And what that meant was that big companies bought radio stations and had a.

38:19
unreasonable influence because they're the ones with the sticks broadcasting the message. And back in the day, it was mom and pops and there were a bunch of different radio companies. And so now it's like just to me, it feels like because I've worked in it, it feels like everybody's just trying to operate as cheaply as possible. And just like don't think, just read

38:49
Whereas before, okay, I get into the studio and I've already started to create a show, but I'm creating a show every night, you know, every single night I'm creating a show. And that's kind of what I think is lacking right now is that, um, you know, your voice tracked, you hear the beginning, you hear the end of the song.

39:16
The last 15 seconds or 10 seconds of the song, you do your break, you hit the next button, the next song plays for 10 or 15 seconds, you click save, you're on to the next intro. It's more like working on an assembly line. And that wasn't kind of what I wanted to do radio for. You know, I wanted to do, I wanted to create like you create and produce, you know? Wow. Yeah, that makes sense. And I didn't know that about the deregulation.

39:45
Yeah, people are not as passionate about radio as they used to be. Because they can't connect with the DJs because the DJs aren't in the studio. Like they voice track their four hour shift in about probably 25 minutes if you've planned it out. And then now you're going to come over here and file cards for us in the music library. You're going to you're going to go out and sit in the van for an hour at the mall.

40:15
uh, you know, signing up people for something. Um, it's different. It's a different, it's not really, it's not really radio as I have known it in my whole life. Yeah. So especially if you're just recording it and then doing that, it's basically admin work instead of, yes, right. I, I, that's not what I signed up for. I mean, I supported myself with this business and it wasn't easy as a woman. I mean, I was the first woman.

40:45
at each radio station I worked at for the first 10 years of my career. Oh my gosh. And so, yeah, you know, talk about breaking through some glass ceilings and shards still left in my skull. You know, it happens, right? It happens. Wow. At each station? I can see it as me. Yeah, I was pretty hard to believe. Like they would let a woman be a co-host on the morning show, but to have her own shift.

41:14
like the man. I mean, it was such a big deal when I was working at Z 95.5 in Detroit, Dick Burton work there. And it was such a big deal because Denny Schaefer was doing 10 to two in the evening. The incredible Bob Campbell was doing six to 10 and I was doing two to six in the morning. And Steve and Bob Campbell got another job and they bumped Denny up.

41:40
to six, six to 10 in the evening doing part one of the ZZoo. But who's going to do part two of the ZZoo? It's never been done with a woman doing the ZZoo. It just was never done. And Denny was the one that kind of really said, she can do it. She can do it, I'll help her, I'll get drops. Cause it's a highly produced show. And you know, and I did it and it like was, it made big news. Cause not only was I doing my own shift, but I got to do part two of the ZZoo. It was...

42:10
And a big thanks to Steve Weed, the program director at the time, who, you know, didn't see me as, you know, women hadn't been on the radio that long. He didn't see me. He said, I just saw you as talented because we're still friends. I still I just saw you as talented. And he really did, you know. There there. It wasn't always that way. Obviously, whenever you're coming up, there's a lot of people that want to keep you down.

42:40
And you just, I just kept, I don't know. I just, I never gave up. You know, I just, I knew that I always thought, well, I'm going to outlast them. I'll be here longer than most of the time I was. I love it. That's great. Um, you know, especially it's already hard being a woman in a male dominated industry, but to be the first one to.

43:07
do it so many times is really incredible. So yeah, I always hear kudos. And you have goals, you know, you do a lot of different things. You're not, you're not one dimensional. I'm not one dimensional either. I get bored. I gotta, I gotta learn something new. I've got to do something new. And, and when I was on the radio, I, I, I hate being on TV. It makes me so nervous. I get nauseous before I go on. It's just, it's a, and so I basically,

43:35
You know, when they invited me to go on, take five and company in Grand Rapids, Catherine Barron, I did it. Really, one of the main reasons was to get over my stage fright. But, you know, seven or eight years later, I was still getting sick to my stomach. And I get sick to my stomach to this day. It's just not a, there's something about radio. Don't you think there's something about just the listening, you know, orally. There's something about listening.

44:04
you know, orally as opposed to having images in front of your eyes. Yeah. Um, it's almost like you can focus a little bit more. You're not getting distracted by what you're seeing. You're kind of forced. Or intimate. I think it's more, it's like driving in the car and it's just, you know, you and this person coming through the speakers. It's, it's just nice. I love this medium. I do too. That's why 99% of these shows don't have video.

44:33
Yeah, I know a lot of people are doing that with the podcasting, but no, I definitely prefer audio. I'm very camera shy. Yeah, it takes something away. Absolutely. I can be more forthcoming, I think too. Yeah. When you interviewed me, I was sweating the entire time. Man, you couldn't tell. You made me feel comfortable. That's why, yeah, you made me feel comfortable. That's so sweet. Yeah, I'm very camera shy. Yeah, and I couldn't tell. I mean, that's the thing is I guess they say never let them see you sweating. You didn't.

45:02
Yeah, I tried. And that's what they told me on TV. Oh, you'd never know it. You'd never know it. But I just didn't enjoy that feeling very much. You make me feel comfortable talking to you now. You're great. So yeah, we talked about some of the huge differences in radio and you mentioned some of those shows that kind of stood out to you. Throughout the years, are there more shows that you specifically remember and kind of make you reflect fondly?

45:32
on what you've done so far. Are you talking about radio shows I've done? Yes. Oh, yeah. When I was given more freedom, those were all the radio shows. You know, the best PDs I've had are the ones that got me, or the ones that took the time to get me. I'm rather complicated. And the ones that took the time to get me.

46:00
got number one ratings out of me on a consistent basis because they knew. And so, yeah, the first thing was, let's see, that would be when I started doing interviews. Again, was always scared to do interviews, so I typically will throw myself into the fire. Like, whatever I'm scared of, I'll run toward it to try to not be scared of it. And so,

46:29
When interviews started coming down and my first boss said, hey, I'd like you to start doing some interviews. I'm like, yeah, you know what? I'm ready for it. So they'd filter me. Oh man, every celebrity you could think of. And I'd have them for 10 or 15 minutes and I'd prepare those interviews. Those are the highlights because I got to talk to some of my childhood, you know, I had pictures of David Cassidy on my walls growing up. He's an old teen, teen rock star.

46:59
growing up as a kid from the Partridge family and I interviewed him, you know, Donny Osmond. I'm able to, you know, Carole King, who I grew up on her album Tapestry and to be able to, to, you know, and another highlight, one of the Drifters, I can't remember his name, but one of the Drifters Motown group, I was working at DRQ and this father and

47:28
his daughter came and asked if they could interview me. They had made an appointment and they showed up. And so we're doing the interview, blah, blah, blah. And at the end of the interview, I said, I said, what do you do? What do you guys do? Where do you go to school? She tells me where she goes to school. And he says, yeah, I'm in a band. I'm in a-

47:54
group and I'm like, oh, what's the group? You know, and it's the drifters, you know, and his daughter is there interviewing me. I'm like, and you got this big celebrity in your family. He really played it down. You know, he really played. He goes, well, but you're the celebrity. I'm nothing to her. You know, you're the celebrity now. That was a highlight. Being able to create shows. I said to and program music. That's another one.

48:20
I really wanted to be a music director. I wanted to be the one who decided what music was gonna go on the air and in what order it was gonna go on the air and I was gonna program the music and that's a music director. And I was in Detroit at the time, late 80s, and I really wanted to do it and you know women again hadn't been on the radio that long and so I wasn't gonna be getting a chance

48:50
No one's going to teach me how to do music in a major market like Detroit. I knew I had a lead. So I left and I went to a couple of stations and asked them to teach me and nobody would teach me. And so when I got to Toledo, I was working for Mike Wheeler who now programs WJR and I said, Hey, um, would you show me how to do music? You know? And he said, he said, yeah, I go. And so we talked about it. I'd go in his office and we, we, he'd teach just in there. And he said, I'll tell you what.

49:19
when we get budget next January, I'll put a budget in for a computer for you and I'll teach you then." And I said, is the computer what the holdup is? I mean, learning music? And he said, yeah. I said, oh, okay. I'll be right back. And so I went out to Best Buy and bought a computer and brought it back to the radio station. And I said, hey, I got the computer.

49:47
He goes, what? I go, I went out, I bought the computer. Should I set it up here? Should I set it up at the house? He goes, no way. And he goes, set it up at the house and I'll come in tomorrow morning and I'll start teaching you. And he did. That was really, that was really an important point in my life because it opened up so many opportunities to work with the record companies, to meet the...

50:17
celebrities to everything, but to be able to shape the sound of the radio station. And, you know, be in the car and know that you put that seg together. I mean, there's a million different things. And then being able to do specialty programming. I love doing that. To be able to create. I said to my boss in Greensboro, I want to do like a special show for the Fourth of July. And he's like, like what? I go, well,

50:47
It's late enough now. It was early 90s. I said, where people I think are starting to kind of be nostalgic about the 70s. And I'd like to do like a groovy 70s show. And he says, well, I don't have any 70s CDs. I said, I'll buy all the CDs. I just want to do the show. And he said, yeah, do it. Let's do it on the 4th of July. And so we were doing it and he pulls in.

51:16
to the citywide state of fireworks, right? I mean, this was huge, thousands of people there. And he pulls in and he goes, he calls me up and he goes, you're not gonna believe this. He goes, they are blaring you all through the fireworks. You're on. Okay, and so like, there's times where, you know, you have to be able to have the ability

51:45
to be creative or you're just a workhorse. And there's nothing wrong with being a workhorse if you wanna be a workhorse. But you know, I didn't wanna be a work, I wanted to be a creator. That's phenomenal. That had to feel good. Oh my gosh. I have secondhand excitement just listening to the story. So many great things. Yes, so many, I have lived such a great life. I mean, it's just been celebrities that I've.

52:12
that I grew up listening to, relationships that were formed, are being asked out, or going backstage at concerts. I mean, it's a different time now. That's the problem, is that it's, you know, a lot of people don't even let you go backstage anymore. It's just a different time, it's a different time. And I don't, I mean, I don't know, it's just, maybe I just sound old saying that, but it does feel like a different.

52:40
You know different world, I guess yeah Having caught the tail end of that. I agree like things are much different now. Yeah But okay, so most of the people who listen to the podcast are creatives in some form of fashion Yeah, and since this time is going by so quickly. I hope I can have you back again I'd love to but yeah, do you have any advice for creatives who?

53:08
might be kind of wondering how they can kind of get more exposure. Like since you mentioned, you know, things are different with radio, but, you know, even with your experience with interviewing people, you know, how could they go about getting, um, I guess that kind of press in this day and age? You know, I, I found that even though like we have, you know, we're not really as connected as we used to be, we are still connected, you know, via social media, right?

53:38
And so I belong to some author groups because I'm writing another book. And I have found that kind of like jumping on a couple of different groups on Facebook that may have the same kind of dreams and wishes and aspirations as you and networking with them and finding out, you know, hey, how do you, how do...

54:08
I've also had people, you know, reach out that may have a novel story and say, Hey, can I interview you? I reach out all the time to people and say, Hey, you know, and sometimes I get told no. And sometimes I get told yes. But I think it's just being kind of not being as selective or choosy. Like if someone wants to interview you, like I'm I don't mean just anybody. You know what I'm talking about? It's just.

54:36
but not waiting for like the top, you know, like a Joe Rogan type person, you know, not waiting to get somebody who has, you know, millions of followers, but it's those little network. That's what I found. My pastor used to say, your blessing and your curse is gonna come wrapped up in some skin. And I think it's true. I think when you jump on and you're kind of like networking with people, you just learn things.

55:05
You know, you ask and ask a lot of questions and also be guarded, you know, be guarded. You don't wanna give away everything. You wanna learn and see, you know, have like something as simple as, you know, I wanna get my message out there or I wanna get my art out there. Have you had any luck with interviews? Have you had any luck with somebody interviewing you?

55:33
And you kind of starts that way and then they share it and it, I don't know. I mean, it, it, it's kind of more of an organic way as I don't think that paying money to have people get your message out is necessarily the way to go anymore. As what we saw that kind of even, you know, with all the ads that were running, people just were just tuning them out. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. You raised some really great points. Um, you know,

56:02
the organic relationships. And I think that sometimes, you know, some people are starting to get that. So, you know, I do a lot of social listening. So even if I'm not posting, sometimes I'm still just kind of watching, you know, pain points that different artists have. And I think what you said would solve a lot of those things.

56:21
So you're actually networking, you know, just sending or DMing music isn't networking. Like you actually have to make those connections. Yes, you have to, you know, eventually the work has to get done. You know, it's kind of like with meetings, you know, like, you know, these meetings are fun and all, but eventually somebody actually has to get out and do the work. You know, it's. Yeah. It's and so it's just it's.

56:45
I mean, I just think that it's a good time right now. And I'm doing it. I mean, I may have had success in radio and TV and like writing for magazines and stuff, but writing a book, I already wrote a book, but it was a different kind of book. This is an actual real book that I want it to be a real, real book. And, and, you know, I'm learning just like everybody else's. I'm in writers groups. I'm picking other people's brains, you know.

57:12
and do you know any good editors? Do you know somebody who can organize the work? I think that that's where the best place you could go is just groups. Join some groups and at first just watch. Just watch and read everything that they're writing and saying and see if there's little things that you can grab from that. And I'd also like to say to any creatives out there, don't ever give up, don't ever give up, don't ever give up. It may not become what you want it to be, but it's gonna become.

57:41
what it's supposed to be. And, and you know, there's a lot to be said about art, um, in the reward and just being the expression of it. That is beautiful. And that's probably going to be a sound bite. I'm letting you know that right now. Yeah. So, okay. It comes from the heart. Yeah. Um, you know, before we close out, I want to make sure that everybody knows where they can follow you, um, buy your books.

58:08
All that good stuff. So, you know, all your socials or however you want them to be able to get in touch with you or find work. On Facebook, I'm Kim Carson on X. I am Kim Carson, I think. And on Instagram, I'm Kim Carson now. And, um, and my website is kimcarson.online. kimcarson.online.

58:38
And my YouTube channel is Kim Carson Now. That's a fun thing. You can hear some interviews there. You can hear some author interviews. You can see my trip to Israel. You can see some fun old radio TV commercials from the 80s when I had big hair. It's all good. It's all good. Excellent.

59:03
Well, thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it. I've learned a lot. Yeah, I've learned a lot. So, you know, I really appreciate you sharing your experience and I'm sure that the audience will appreciate it as well. So yeah, I'm serious. I really hope to have you back on, um, again in the future, if you're willing. Anytime a Achickwitbeatz. It's always fun talking to you. Likewise. I feel the same way. I'm honored. Thank you so much for.

59:29
doing a great interview for me. I appreciate it. Made me nervous, but after I talked to you I was okay. Great. That means a lot coming from you. Thank you. Alright, and that's a wrap for this episode of Instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer at Achickwitbeatz. And again, I'd like to thank you for tuning in. I'd like to thank my special guest, Kim Carson. I'd like to thank my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And next week, I've got even more goodness lined up for you. So, until next time, you know where to find me. Tune in, tell a friend. I'll see you then.

59:59
Peace.