We were lucky to catch up with Forrest Darden recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Forrest, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I think the most concerning issue for musicians who are distributing their music through distribution gate keepers like United Masters to name a few is the despicable amount of funds that are earned on both sides of the coin for the artists as well as the company itself.
Distribution is a multi billion dollar industry yet artists are literally being paid in cents for streams.
The numbers don’t add up in many aspects of modern distributing.

Forrest, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Forrest Darden.
I’m a 35 year old musician from Miami,FL.
One of my proudest accomplishments on a business as well personal level is becoming good friends with Psolomon Williams (who goes by the artist name Xevios::. ).
I’ve always admired Pharrell Williams who is like a musical foster parent to me…
To become friends with his youngest brother Psolomon who is also a musical genius and to have the leisure and opportunity to create music with him is something that I hold dear to me on a kindred spirit level.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal within the music industry as a current small business owner of my own record label Golden Totem LLC is to become my own distribution label as well like Sony, Universal to assist other artists with a platform to release their music and creative expressions.
Through various business partnerships I aspire to be the first Quadrillionaire in the business world of music by exposing the true talentum of what talent truly is.
Talentum is Latin for currency.
It’s our God given gifts that make us as artists and creatives priceless.
It’s important that we all realize our true worth.
Quadrillion is fourteen zeros.
I’m a big nerd about the number of illions that exist in the number system.
A trillion is nothing compared to what’s really available to us if the gates could be broken open.
Eventually with those amount of funds I would like to become a philanthropist and possibly get into politics.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

For the majority of my adult life I’ve been a beach bum lol,but no matter how difficult times get I seem to always advance to a higher level creatively.
For example my friend Psolomon I mentioned earlier.
I even met Pharrell’s Mom through him bro lol.
Deeply honored.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/certified__not_verified_?igsh=Y2F0a3A1NXJma3Rl
• Other: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/3z9yBfR8CaEdOm0PjYmPuk?si=8Trv5d6mQaKBpd9Ghy10HA

  Apple Music
  https://music.apple.com/us/artist/forrest-darden/688577637

Image Credits

Photography by Forrest Darden