We recently connected with Michael Pasciolla and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I love my life as a live performer, beatmaker, and educator, and I do have a regular job, I work in Special Education in Bronx, NY. My journey as an artist/creative has been wonderful and I am humbled and honored to have had the experience I’ve been able to have. Music is a part of who I am, and I will always make it, it’s an expression of myself and it’s therapeutic and healing for me. Truth is, if the question is ‘was I ever happy with the business side of being an artist/creative?’ No. emphatically, no. I’m a creative, I create. The expectation in today’s music industry to have a music artist simultaneously be their own manager, marketing department, booking agent, etc. exhausts the creative energy from the artist. There is also no retirement plan for the music industry. In thinking about the long game, my life as an artist and creative is made more fulfilling by making music on my own terms. My creative life is also a huge part of my educational career in teaching music production, live performance, and creative expression. So my music, my art, and my career, are beautifully intertwined, and it’s continued to evolve. I’ve been living the dream for years now.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve been a musician my entire life, it’s always been something important to me and I’ve had a knack for learning quickly in regards to music. It wouldn’t be until my first long career ended that I took the opportunity to start my music career. As a huge nerd (a term I use endearingly) in all categories be it comics, DnD, music, sci-fi, as well as a big fan of MF DOOM, I wanted to have a superhero persona. I’ve also always had a deep appreciation for live and organic musical expression. And so I began practicing finger drumming as a live expressive format, invested in a custom mask, and started posting my musical expressions on social media. Essentially, I’ve simply been a music artist posting their art and through that avenue was offered opportunities to perform live in front of audiences. Since education, community activism, and fighting injustice are a big part of my personality, I began working with different non-profit organizations in doing workshops with the youth and that’s where I realized that this magical fusion of music and education was what truly fulfilled me. I have my own non-profit organization Superhero Sanctuary, which does workshops on music production and nerd culture, and I’m humbled and honored to play a role in introducing these therapeutic elements to the youth. I make the music I like to make and share it with the world, and I focus my working energies on making a positive impact on the world around me. Because I believe we can, and therefore should, do better for humanity.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

This is actually a recent development. Recently, I had several big life changes that have effectively forced me to adjust the way I do things such as my music. I had built up a reputation for always wearing my mask and never really showing my face. I’d go out of my way to hide it, since for me it was about the superhero image, not me as a person. However, I had a return of medical challenges revolving around my lungs, including major surgery to have some of my lung snipped. On top of that, I went through a divorce and massive change of my living and financial situation. Between the two, I had to make MAJOR changes in my career, pretty abruptly. First, I needed to stop wearing the mask for performances and videos. You would not believe how humid, sweaty, and difficult to breath it can get in that mask if you’re in it for more than 5 minutes. Taking 30 takes (hyperbole, but still) in a mask to perform a routine as perfectly as I can, and performing live for a 30-60 minute set, brought real challenges to my breathing. Also, considering my body is still numb and has nerve pain in areas, it made finger drumming to the degree I was for an entire set very difficult. So I’ve had to pivot what I do and how I do it, in very drastic ways. I revealed my face and started posting videos of me doing more finger scratching as opposed to finger drumming.

And let me tell you, it has been the most freeing experience. First, the fans of music never left, because they didn’t follow me for the mask. I got to learn firsthand that they followed me because they like my music and personality, not for the costume. Second, it showed me I can focus on making music for the music, and not making music specifically required to perform live through finger drumming. You see, we are who we are, and if you are true to yourself, then everything you do will be pure. Third, I get to communicate and connect with more people since I am no longer “hiding behind a mask”, which has helped a lot in my educational career, as well as my music career. So, there has been literally no downside to this massive change I’ve been going through these last 8 months. And I think it’s a beautiful lesson learned to be able to face the fear of “losing what you had”, being unwilling to make changes that are better for your life simply out of pride or stubbornness. Stay true to yourself.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

It’s not necessarily what society can do, but what the community itself can do. Society won’t change from it’s capitalist hegemony here in the USA. For artists to ask for fairness from this economic system, it’s digital service providers, and it’s corporate mongers, is both immature and futile. Like any great movement in history, it requires solidarity from the people who are the ones making the product, making the music, making the content, that these companies profit from.

What we need is for the artists, producers, and creatives, to organize a union for this industry. Current musician unions do not fall under the hip hop industry or other popular forms of music. Forming a union of music labor to guarantee appropriate wages and rates for artists, to fight for retirements and health benefits, as core examples, will do more to support artists and creatives far more than anything else. However, it will not come easily. There are organizations and websites that promote the capitalistic grind and lottery of going viral, and young artists are susceptible to accept these unfair terms, or grind away their creativity in this commodification of our art.

So society can either change it’s economic system (unlikely) OR the people can organize a union to fight for equity in this industry. A union that encompasses the independent and upcoming artists that all too often get taken advantage of in todays social media and DSP landscape.

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