Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kim Joyce. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

After I graduated college, I made my 1st solo music project, an EP, and made my first dollar from music on crutches selling to people on the street.

Kim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I always sung, my father was a pastor and my mother played piano, we had a small church growing up, so I was used to singing every Sunday. I met a buddy of mines in 12 grade, who was around my age, but he actually was a choir director for a church, i wrote my first song/hook at the piano with him one day, this is around the same time my sisters boyfriend, soon to be husband bought music equipment. I got a scholarship to college for basketball, but would come home whenever I could to make music and record. By the time I was in my Junior year I had joined an alternative/Hip-Hop band and we named are selves La Quest. So I’d perform and practice with those guys and we’d perform weekly. We broke up out of circumstance around the time I was graduating college, so I decided to make my own EP and the rest was history. I had surgery from basketball after my last season so I had to sell the EP to people while I was on crutches at festivals in the summer, I put on a cd release party/show, and from there I’ve just kept going.

What sets me apart is I don’t know any artist past or present like me; openly gay, rooted in gospel music, with the heart of a hip hop head, yet gives a sensual soul r&b vibe, looking how I look, lol. I write, sing, rap, play instruments, produce. You can feel the church in the music even though it’s pretty secular. You can see the passion in me, the competitor in me from basketball. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen… that keeps me going. I feel I’m one of a kind.

I’m most proud that I am still here, still writing, producing, practicing,, still have a buring desire to be recognized as one of the greatest of our time. It has never been easy to be myself, I’ve always been an outcast, yet I persist on. This journey has been difficult, sounds corny but i am much stronger and more confident in myself from my fight to make my dreams come true.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Pay for music. If streaming was around when i first started, I wouldn’t have been able to support myself as an unknown artist. Paying $.003 a stream is crazy, now its switch to you need 1000 streams to get anything on spotify, that’s rape. Now you have algorithms that direct attention in other directions, makes you watch what you say, I don’t even know where to release a mixtape now-a-days. Art is is being silence and devalued. Makes artist desperate, so we do unnatural things to get attention, make songs shorter, make content ideas first then music around it. I’m curious what the greats, Aretha, Kurt, Bob (Dylan or Marley), Nina, Luther, Prince, MJ, would say about whats going on…

I would go up to someone and say, hey I got this project its awesome, only $5, if you don’t like it just call me and ill double your money. You know how many streams I have to get to make $5, about 1000… and we’re fighting for attention on social media with naked bodies, car accidents, comedy, memes. The new model is wild, can’t even sell cds because they stoped making them in cars. We have to find ways to value the arts again.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’d have to say the video The Secret. Around that time was major shift in my life, I stopped eating meat, started juicing, I started looking for more info wherever I could to help me grow and start acheiving my dreams. I started working on my mind more, I became more intentional with my thoughts and actions. That was the first video or piece of content I consumed as an adult by choice got me excited to change the projectory of my life. Since then theres been plenty, Think and Grow Rich, The Slight Edge, The Total Money Makeover is a must read. Theres a lot of good info out there that I’m happy to have access to.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kimjoycemusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimjoycemusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimJoyceMusic/
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kimberly-wilburn-956705170
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimjoycemusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/kimjoycemusic

Image Credits
Masashiro Tsumi Shalain Deramus Keith and Leslie Edwards William L. Daniels