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

Adrienne, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

After the layoffs at SXSW due to COVID, I decided I wanted to continue to work in music and help artists, but wanted to do it on my own terms. What I realized was that artists desperately needed help and consulting in a variety of areas, but what they were most willing to pay for is publicity.

So I decided that when I was hired to do a publicity campaign for an artist I would include consulting and help in areas that were most needed but maybe had not realized. For example, if an artist was frustrated because they were stuck playing the same venues all the time and wanted spots opening for large touring bands, I would include strategic booking.

My business partner and I also felt that since no two artists are the same, no two campaigns would look the same either.

Adrienne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My obsession with music started at a very young age. I was so focused on the music played on the radio and on our family’s record player that I started buying vinyl when I was 5. It started with Michael Jackson’s “Off The Wall” and various Elvis records and just snowballed from there. As a teen I spent so much time at an all-ages punk/indie rock music venue in my hometown of Tucson that the owner eventually gave me a job there when I turned 18 and moved out of my parents house. From there, I studied everything I could about music as a Media Arts major in college and landed an A&R assistant job at Giant Records (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) in Los Angeles and consequently got gigs at Capitol and DreamWorks Records, the latter of which promoted me from a Business & Legal Executive Assistant job to a Jr. A&R Executive position. I’m so grateful for the mentors that made all of these advancements possible. From there, I jumped into talent buying and music journalism in Arizona and then back to talent buying in Austin, a place I had planned on living in when I first visited during SXSW at age 18. My involvement in the Austin music community enabled me to launch my own music consulting business when we were laid off from SXSW as the pandemic hit and the business (launched with my fantastic partner Charlie Faye), grew organically by word of mouth until we officially had our coming out party and panel with Austin Music Foundation in February 2023.

At Daydream Believer Creative, we work with music businesses, nonprofits and of course, artists. The work we do is varied: I’ve worked with promoters, record labels, a music booking platform, nonprofit artist advocacy organizations and put on many Pride and Black Music History Month events and campaigns. And I have worked with artists in genres as varied as hip hop, R&B, indie rock, Latin, electro-glam rock, Americana, and most recently, pop. My tastes are varied and so is my client base.

I’m most proud of the personal touch and TLC we put into the work we do with our clients. If a business, nonprofit or artist comes to me seeking a publicity campaign, I recognize chances are they need much more than that, so other services are included in the campaign and no two campaigns look the same. As a result, we are able to do so much more for the clients than what they asked for. Charlie and I founded our business in late summer 2021, but didn’t announce or publicize Daydream Believer Creative for until February 2023 because we didn’t need to- the steady stream of word-of-mouth customers kept me too busy. I think that’s a pretty great way to start a business.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The story of Daydream Believer Creative is the story of the Great American Pivot. All my life I have found myself in a variety of positions in my career- talent buying, music marketing, artist management, music journalism, A&R, but there has been one common thread in all of these: the opportunity to discover new artists, nurture and help them grow. As such, I have greatly enjoyed all the positions I have held and learned a lot from all of them.

Before starting the agency, I was a talent buyer and most recently, a Music Festival Programmer at SXSW until the pandemic shut it down. There were very few jobs available in my field then. For the first time in decades, I was able to think good and hard about wheat I wanted to do: I knew I wanted to continue to work with artists, businesses and nonprofits, but I wanted to do it all on my terms. And during the pandemic so many artists were lost with the ability to perform live being yanked out from under them. The artist consultations I did for Austin Music Foundation proved that. They needed help. So did other music organizations. It seemed like the perfect time to create a business that catered to their needs. And it all happened so much more smoothly and organically than I could have imagined.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

A mutual musician friend from my hometown of Tucson, Arizona introduced me to Charlie Faye back when I was running booking and marketing for a 2,000 cap venue and I was immediately impressed by the way she carried herself. She was relatable, but a total professional and extremely dedicated and trustworthy. So I booked her band, Charlie Faye & The Fayettes (a 60s girl group-style act) whenever I could and we became friends.

Years later during the pandemic, I was driving from Arizona to Austin, thinking about a job offer I had working with a promoter I really liked, but still wanting to continue doing the consulting I love so much. At that moment, Charlie called me. She said she had noticed I was doing artist consultations for AMF and let me know she had been doing consulting on the side. It was one of those AHA! moments when the clouds part and a beam of light shoots down from the heavens and the answer is right there in front of you. We knew we had to team up and it was the easiest thing in the world and still is. I got very lucky. And on top of that, when I told the promoter who had offered me the job, they offered me my first official consulting gig as Daydream Believer.

Charlie and I collaborate on some projects, but mostly have our own clients. The most important part of our partnership is that we are there for each other. Like anything, running your own business can be challenging so when we get stuck, we lean on each other and we are always able to provide perspective. It’s invaluable to have the support you need from someone you trust and vice versa.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.daydreambelievercreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daydreambelievercreativeatx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daydreambelievercreative
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-lake-bb32b070/

Image Credits
JP Dingens Eryn Brooke Daniel Cavazos