We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Frank Swisher a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Frank, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Yes, I have earned a full-time living from my creative work. I just wish I had more knowledge years ago and hadn’t taken the money so quickly with no thought to the ownership of my work. The difference between pushing for credits and maintaining publishing is key. That means being the boss, and when you think like an employee you get the wages of an employee. In the beginning, it was like ’92, ’93 give me a $100 for a beat. I went into the studio and made the beat you paid me and you did what you wanted with the song. I hooked up with a group of cats who were a lot better than me at the time, and they said gotta own everything but was going to work. I thought I would just get paid and worry about the other things. Then the game changed where there were free beats and leased beats and now charging any real money was obsolete if you weren’t a Big Name. The $750-1500 to an underground artist was done and now they were offering $100 to lease a beat, make money, and you chasing them for the back end which you never see.

I had opportunities to sign with people and let them develop me and put me in the right situations. I wish I had sometimes, but I got a chance d to experience so many different parts of the industry. I got knowledge in areas that others just did and ripped you off. I’m not mad either about how it worked out. I made some money and enjoyed some life but I impart the knowledge of my early mentors to own things save for you find ways to make your career pay.

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

I am Frank Swisher, I am a music producer. I craft tracks by bending genres and styles to create a unique sound with a feel that listeners love. I help artists to make songs. My job is a song manager and it is to deal with all the aspects and elements. I may not perform every job but I am the one responsible for making it sound the way it should or be expected. I try to think out of the box yet try to conform to what people recognize. I help the artist sometimes simplify or exaggerate what is needed to make the song good. I’m proud of taking a raw product and delivering a full sound. My goal is to make the artist sound their best and make them forget I was ever in the process.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society needs to find a medium to compensate the artist fairly. Web3 seems to be doing that and allowing a better pay share. The current rates paid for streaming are abysmal. People have to realize that everyone needs to get paid for their entertainment. If not direct pay, lobby the governments to make the big heads in entertainment pay a large share of their revenue to creatives, like the NBA’s structure. The only way an artist can be an artist and produce the works that shape our lives.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Publishing and mechanical royalties. I mean understand as I do know. Like artists are still millions in mechanicals from the streaming services and they are pocketing that money. Black boxing it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: http://instagram.com/iamfrankswisher
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/iamfrankswisher
• Twitter: http://instagram.com/iamfrankswisher
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/iamfrankswisher

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