We were lucky to catch up with Alec Burnright recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Alec thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
I remember the first song I was able to sell as a digital download. It is fitting that the song was titled “Transmutation”.
I had been recording music for a while at this point. I would find and purchase a beat I liked, book time at a studio to record, pay to have the song mixed and mastered, then invest more money into promoting the music to wider audiences. But it wasn’t until I recorded “Transmutation” at my friend’s home studio that I realized that you don’t always need all the bells and whistles to see the desired effects. We were using a $25 USB microphone and he recorded me on GarageBand. I thought the song came out good enough, but I was feeling wary about uploading it to all of the official streaming services because of the nature of the recording.
Up until this moment, I had been using Bandcamp for a while without seeing any sales there. People would come out to events and sparingly stream my content on YouTube, Spotify, etc., but for some reason, I couldn’t seem to get anyone to support my art in this way. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why. I made sure my music was crispy enough for headphones and car speakers. People loved me in person and even sang along with me at events. The question plagued me, “Why won’t they buy this song? It’s only $1.23!”
That’s when it happened. My first sale on Bandcamp came after I uploaded “Transmutation” and I was lost for words. I had dumped so much money into previous projects that left me in the red. All the time and effort applied to ensure a professional sound and here I am seeing a sale on a song I did in my friend’s bedroom. My next move was more than clear. The same day that sale came through, I went on Amazon and purchased that same microphone for myself. I have a lot of ideas I need to get out of my head, so I like to write and record a lot. But why would I keep dropping $100’s of dollars on every single project, when I knowingly cannot sustain such a feat?
Since purchasing that microphone and started recording on that USB microphone, I have made close to $1,500 just in digital download purchases. That’s so amazing to me. What shocks me even more is that I can do it all from my living room now. I do still book time at the studio when I want to re-record or make new projects that I can pitch for sync opportunities in television, movies or games… but to keep my audience satiated – and to keep my sanity – the USB microphone on my living room desk is all I need.
https://alecburnright.bandcamp.com/track/transmutation
Alec, 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?
I was always a fan of music, but I didn’t start creating until my junior year in high school. My friend brought me a CD-ROM with a handful of programs on it. One of the programs was Fruity Loops 3 (now known as FL Studio). I immediately fell in love with music production. Outside of the short-lived piano lessons I took when I was 9, I had never considered being a beat-maker or a musician at all. But once I got my hands on this software, it was as if this had been a life-long passion of mine.
A short time after this discovery, we moved to Gainesville where we started a studio. We got professional audio equipment, sound-proofed the walls and brought in groups of artists to record. It was an amazing experience, and we made some lifelong friends. During this period, I developed a new passion for writing and recording music, but it wouldn’t be until we landed here in St. Petersburg that we became masters of our craft.
Fast forward to today. Now we produce music for other musicians, host events, create promotional campaigns and coordinate a lot of opportunities for independent artists and entrepreneurs. Whether we are providing a service or just insight, people gravitate towards us for authenticity. We come as we are and never rely on gimmicks to get the job done.
We have faith in ourselves and because we choose the clients we prefer to work with, we have faith in all of our collaborative efforts. Our goal when creating is not to be impossibly perfect, but to be undeniably accurate in the way our works represent our truest selves.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I started making writing and recording music, my goal was to impress others. I was influenced by certain aspects of music, like the technical ways to deliver your words and creating multi-layered rhyme schemes. So that was exactly what I wanted to do when I created my own sounds. I wanted to leave people in awe as they stood there speechless, appreciating my various talents.
After several years of performing and gauging the natural responses from crowds and the feedback I would receive from friends & fans, I realized that trying to impress was NOT the way – not for me anyway. What WAS working for me was being myself. Less really is more. Nowadays I am more focused on uplifting through my work. I’m focused on creating vibes that can convey emotions and understanding to the listener. I’m more concerned with delivering parts of me that I would have hidden from the masses years ago.
Overall, I’ve learned that technique is born from chaos. What I mean is that, when you draw from imagination and deliver messages that only you could – as the receiver and interpreter of those particular messages – you are more likely to impress someone who is consuming your artwork. From that impression, a person may take the steps they observed you taking to achieve a similar outcome.
Imagine that someone is so inspired by your artwork that you pulled from the chaos realm, that they develop a technique in attempt to re-create that feeling. But I have found that if we set out to impress others – instead of just expressing our authentic selves – then all we are doing is recycling the same energies. I would much rather create from my soul and try new things, than to always follow a pre-defined technique that does not leaves me unfulfilled and often leaves the audience underwhelmed.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Sharing my art with people has been the best experience for me. Throughout my life I’ve always found myself to be introverted. In 3rd grade, one of my teachers saw something in me and I was asked to speak on stage at an assembly. Of course, I said no and ran as far as I could from the opportunity.
Today, you couldn’t pull me off of a stage without a fight. It’s not that I am no longer that shy, introverted child… I still get nervous every time I speak to people and especially when I address a crowd. Rather, I am just more comfortable in my own skin. Through forcing myself to be judged by hundreds of eyes, with a microphone echoing my deepest truths, I was able to learn to accept myself.
Isn’t that all it means to be shy? That you are unsure of how people will receive you? That you fear being criticized and ultimately rejected when you remove your mask and show who you really are? Well, I am so glad to say that performing music and reading poetry in front of people has quite frankly eradicated these fear-based feelings of inadequacy. I have a reached a point where one of my main motivations now is to help others reach similar states of self-acceptance and freedom. The world can be a scary place, it’s true. But that doesn’t mean we can’t approach it brave-heartedly, regardless of the outcome.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alecburnright.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsabryabish/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alecburnrightclp
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/alecburnright
- Other: https://alecburnright.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
Ivan Washington Photography