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

Mikey , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

Starting out as a hip hop artist was never about the money. It was just a few friends making music in a closet for us to enjoy. Shortly after that I started releasing music under the name Mikey Ray. I would put music out on the website Reverbnation and eventually SoundCloud. An entertainment company in my home city in Cleveland named Earth Entertainment became a follower of my music on Reverbnation, and on that site you can leave messages and comments on artist pages. A guy by the name of Troy reached out on behalf of Earth Entertainment reached out about a show opportunity at Peabody’s in Cleveland. I sold tickets and ended up getting a small percentage of my overall ticket sales. May 27th, 2013 is the day I made my first dollar as a music artist. After that, Troy and Earth Entertainment started booking me on shows regularly, and ever since then I started doing shows more and more and eventually branched out to other venues, and eventually started renting venues out and hosting my own events and booking my own artists.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Mikey Ray. I’m a rapper/hip hop artist based in the Cleveland, Ohio area. I’m apart of a music group called Emerald WavZ. There’s 3 of us in the group, myself, Codiene, and Fredo Slim. Our music is out on every streaming platform all over the world. I got into music around 5th grade joining my schools concert band, eventually getting my own drumset and making my own band. That eventually turned into me selling my drumset and getting recording equipment for a “home studio”. Shortly after that I created the rapper being interviewed today, Mikey Ray. My group and I, Emerald WavZ, sell music, different types of merchandise, and offer different types of event/party planning services, as well as charge other artists to record, where I am at the helm of booking studio time and handling the artists recording needs. I am most proud of my tenacity and determination within the music industry. I’ve been doing this well over a decade and have no plans of stopping. I have overcome many obstacles on my journey so far, and even self funded Emerald WavZ’s first out of state tour with my business partner. We are planning on throwing bigger events at bigger venues with the artists we have met along our journey, and look forward to being a household name.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My main driving factor regarding my journey in the music industry is to have the freedom and resources to open a multitude of different businesses. It isn’t just about the music for me. Music is something I believe can help me achieve what I really want, which is being a multi-business owner that operates at a high level across the board. I feel the music industry will help me open doors and network with like minded individuals to where I can create financial freedom for my family, and pass down something they can be proud of when my time here is over.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a music artist, to me, is all about the personal reaction I get from my fans/supporters, and even those people who are yet to be a fan or supporter. When I’m on stage performing my music, I love being able to look out in the crowd and seeing people vibe with us and sing our words back to us. It’s a rush like none other. I make a lot of party music, but have recently started producing songs with more meaning behind them. When someone reaches out to me and says my song helped them in some way, or they have it on repeat for days, or they love kicking it with my music playing in the background, or when I walk into a bar/party and here something I created being played…. It’s one of the best feelings in the world honestly.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emeraldwavz.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/theonlymikeyray
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/itsmikeyray
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/itsmikeyray
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/theonlymikeyray
• Other: www.facebook.com/emeraldwavz