We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sam Bierman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sam below.
Hi Sam! We appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to share your background and introduce yourself to give our readers some context?
Hi! I’m Sam Bierman, and music has been the driving force in my life for the better part of the last 15 years!
Being brought up learning piano, singing in choirs, getting a degree from the Frost School of Music at UMiami (go Canes!), and working in New York, Nashville, and LA has led me to where I am today – producing, songwriting, and recording from my studio in North Hollywood.
I’m fortunate that through being active in the community over the last round of years, I’ve connected with a lot of up and coming artists and musicians that I have gone on to collaborate with or that have sent me work.
What’s interesting about the world of making music in 2023 is that it’s never been easier to make and release your music to a worldwide audience. I am able to create an entire finished record with just a computer, interface, speakers/headphones, microphones, and a midi keyboard. Gone are the days of having to use a million dollar studio and loads of hardware to make a hit record.
It’s great that through technological advancement, music has become much more democratized, as people are less barred by socioeconomics from being able to make and release great music, and in turn their audience (your average algorithmically determined demographic on TikTok) holds the power to be the judge and determiner of their success. People can gripe about the challenges or hate on the platforms but ultimately I think the best music will triumph in the end.
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?
Honestly, this is a tough answer for me!
I wake up every day so grateful that I get to work on music to make my living. And nothing thrills me more than being fully engaged in the process of doing that work, whether it’s coming up with the right rhyme/syllable placement, the right chord voicings, or the right sounding texture in the arrangement.
The trouble that comes with creative pursuits for many (and me included) is the pressure we put on ourselves, the high standards we hold ourselves to, and how we tend to compare our success to others in our community. I struggle sometimes mentally, and can get overwhelmed thinking too much about all this which can get in the way of achieving my goals. I try my best when I get this way to focus on doing and completing rather than solely thinking about, and remind myself that success is a long term game and it’s achieved gradually. The goalposts can continue to move, but it’s best to compete against yourself because nobody else can reach your full potential, nor can you reach anyone else’s.
I do think from time to time about having a “regular” job, and I think well of all my peers that work at companies (and the benefits they get haha). But I also remember that for better or worse, what I am pursuing is the thing I’m genuinely best at – I don’t have a plan B, and I know I have it in me to make great music for the world to enjoy. While I know I could find other work if I had to, I don’t want to, and again I’m lucky that because of the success I have had, I don’t have to.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think that music, and artists/creatives in general are undervalued in society. At the moment, we live in a capitalist world where the primary focus seems to often be on how to make the most money, and I think that very line of thinking has been a great hinderance to the nurturing of our continued generations of artists and of great artistic achievement. A brief example of this has been the trend in major label signings of viral artists from TikTok, and the subsequent dropping of those artists after a short period of time. If big business is only interested in making the money off of someones prior success but not doing the work to support or develop the creative’s future, how can that promote the success of the best art?
Another issue particularly in the music business is the non-uniformity of standard business practices and expectations for creatives. Unlike the film industry or other labor industries, we don’t really have established unions, as we are treated as independent contractors. We can assemble a team of representatives to advocate on our behalf (in the form of a manger, attorney, publisher etc.) but in order to ultimately increase the value of music across the industry (and increase the bottom line, ideally on all sides) we likely need legislatively implemented structural changes concerning labor and compensation.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think a lot of non-creatives take music for granted. They listen to it passively, put it on at the gym, in the car, in the shower, around the house, before bed etc. and probably don’t think much about how the music they were listening to was made, the number of people it took, and what great efforts led it to being heard by them.
It takes a lot for a song to be commercially successful, which makes it incredibly challenging on the creative to persevere in the business. In many ways, what we do is much harder than having a non-creative, more traditional job, despite all the pleasure that comes with doing it. So I hope that at the very least, if you’re not someone as involved in music, that next time you’re listening, you can appreciate everything that’s behind that song you like, and the struggles of the many who worked on it to get to the level they’re at, and those still working to get to that level.
Contact Info:
- Website: sambierman.com
- Instagram: @sbierman7