We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Salme Dahlstrom a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Salme, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I’m gonna start at the end – For the past 15+ years I have made a full time living as a musician. What got me there are what many would consider a cliché – hard work. consistent hard work. Of course you need talent but talent will only take you so far, you need to have the drive, you need to show up every day and work your ass off.
I was 19 years old when I set the goal for myself to turn my passion for music into a full-time job. I wanted to be a recording artist. I had written songs since I was 10 and played in different bands all throughout my teenage years. I had tasted success in the shape of winning a national talent contest, being offered a record deal (that I ultimately walked away from) and I had signed a publishing deal with EMI Sweden. I knew that I had the talent, now I needed other people to invest in it.
The first lesson I learned at EMI was that there are tons of talented songwriters and artists out there and the competition is fierce. If I wanted other people to invest in my career I had to treat it as a start-up business and work not only on my craft but also a plan on how to get the industry to pay attention and ultimately invest in me. I still had a day job to pay the bills but when I wasn’t working I was working on all the different aspects of my music career. On the creative side I started spending weekends at the EMI songwriter studio where I taught myself the ins and outs of recording and producing; I slept on the sofa in the recording room to be able to just roll out of “bed” and get to work (I don’t think they knew). I worked hard on my songwriting and production skills every day, taking in all the feedback I got from my publisher, producers, record labels and trusted friends; I worked on my image and performance crafting a persona that fit the music I was making, making sure the entire “product” was solid, from the music to the look to the way I wanted it to make people feel. On the business side I put together a plan for how to reach my goal (a record deal) and started seeking out anybody who was in the business who I thought could help. I knocked on a lot of doors. Any avenue where I could promote my music I went for it.
Lesson #2 that I learned was to keep pushing consistently day in and day out and not to take no for an answer, believe in yourself and keep hustling every day. I used to say to myself “If I take a break from working on my career today nothing’s gonna happen. Other people are out there hustling, are you really wiling to fall behind?”.
Within a couple of years I made the move from Sweden to New York – EMI’s New York offices had taken a liking to my music and they were shopping me to labels in the US. The feedback was great; I had gotten traction in America and the natural step was to move where the companies interested in investing in me were located.
I became a full time musician. It was at times scary and money was tight at first but what having no safety net (in terms of other income) did for me was that it made me even more ambitious and determined to make things happen. I believe that extra edge combined with my work ethic is what got me my record deal and everything else that followed.
Since signing that deal 15+ years ago I have made a living on music combining my artist career with other jobs in the entertainment industry. And that’s the final lesson – be open to opportunities that come your way and don’t be afraid to try new things, you never know what your path forward will look like so try anything that you feel you are a fit for. I got into music licensing by accident- a licensing agent contacted me; he said he thought my music had potential to be a hit with ad agencies and in tv and film. I had no idea such market even existed for indie artists but I ran with it. And the agent was right, within a year he had placed my music in several tv commercials, movies and tv series. Especially the ad agencies loved my sound and I started doing custom jobs for them. I always made sure to go that extra mile for them and making sure the client got what they paid for.
The Wall Street Journal crowned me “Licensing Queen”.
Could I have gotten there sooner? That’s an impossible question to answer. But what I do know is that without consistently putting in all that hard work I would have gotten nowhere.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I got into the music business as a recording artist, first with my band AboyandaGirl and later as a solo artist. My breakthrough album was “The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade”, an album I produced myself in my bedroom studio, I was in-between record deals and I gave myself the freedom to not worry about fitting into genres (or the “boxes” record labels like to put you in). The concept was simple – I mixed in everything and anything I thought sounded good, no matter what genre or style. Besides working with a few guest vocalists and guitar players I played all the instruments on the album, I sang, recorded, programmed, edited and mixed the record myself, in my bedroom. It was pure New York City energy and attitude. The album became an underground hit; my single “C’mon Y’all” climbed the Billboard Dance chart and caught the ears of ad executives. My brand of electronic music mixed with organic instruments, strong pop hooks and a positive, fun attitude was just the right mix for brands such as CoverGirl, Suave, Kellogg’s and Subaru who licensed the song for major tv campaigns around the globe. Since then my music has appeared in 50+ major ad campaigns worldwide as well as numerous movies, tv shows and such. Once I flew out to Las Vegas for a gig and whilst driving to my hotel I see a digital billboard on the side of the road showing the latest Juicy Couture commercial featuring my song. A very cool moment for me.
The success of “The Acid Cowgirl…” gave me a job, the agencies loved that I was a genuine artist doing my thing, producing tracks that worked for a wide variety of their clients.
My strength is writing and producing super hooky, punchy, uplifting tracks with attitude and fun, nobody else sounds like me. I am a totally self-sufficient one woman show – I can take a song from start to finish doing all the writing, producing, recording and mixing myself. I don’t have to rely on others to get a job done and that gives me an edge. Just like with my own records I take pride in pouring 110% of my energy into each job and I always deliver on time and work tirelessly to give the client what they want/need.
I run my own studio and production company called Kontainer Music that covers all my commercial and work with other artists. Check out my commercial work at www.kontainermusic.com. As an artist I am currently working on another solo album as well as a new project yet unnamed where I am mixing all kinds of retro vibes with modern electronic sounds. I am looking to collaborate with different singers on this album. If you have any music you think I should hear, drop me a link at kontainermusic@icloud.com. I listen to everything I get sent.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is First: that moment when I am writing a new song and the pieces fall into place and I know I have something good. That is such an amazing feeling. Second: playing that song for people and seeing their reaction, feeling the energy of the song travel through them and them sending the energy back to you.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I like NTFs. It’s still early days and I believe we will see NTFs go through various phases to find their place in art both creatively and worth wise. It’s always interesting to me when a new for om artistic expression surfaces. I am still in the watching and learning phase when it comes to NTFs but I am sure I’ll get into it at some point.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.salmedahlstrom.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salmed/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salme.music/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salme-dahlstrom-73bb513/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FSalmeD
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/acidcowgirl/featured
- Other: My production company www.kontainermusic.com – check out some of the tv ads for brands such as CoverGirl, Suave and Ios Lip Balm that I have worked on.
Image Credits
Bryce Prevatte, Jason Lam