We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anthony Frazer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Anthony, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
I started performing (singing and dancing) at two years old, and I had my first live TV performance at six years old. After a few years performing professionally at a young age, I took a break. I then started writing songs at 12 years old, but I didn’t I really feel comfortable with what I wrote until I was about 16. The first song I wrote that I consider my first real song was for the Philadelphia Inspired Expressions Contest, which I placed first runner up out of 450 students. I then started working with artist that are now, YouTube celebrities at the same time in 2006, while writing for myself. I didn’t go on to release my first single until 2018. I do wish I would have started sooner like 2007-2009 like I originally wanted, but I got caught up in helping everyone else and managing other artists first, which helped me learn more on the backend, and how to help artist.
Anthony, 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?
For those of you who don’t know me my name is Anthony Frazer. I’m a singer, songwriter, producer, actor, and CEO of my company, Fancy AF Productions, and Anthony Frazer Music. I fell in love with music at the age of two learning how to sing and dance from Michael Jackson. Shortly after I took lessons for dance and tap, jazz and hip-hop, as well as vocal lessons at the age of six. I think what truly sets me apart as an artist is, it’s not about just singing for me. It’s about a performance and a production. It’s about making that connection. It’s about hoping people become more connected to not only me but my music. My drive and determination is some thing I’ve learned from the icons and legends before me. I just want people to see my hard work and determination and I know that I love and appreciate them so much.
One moment I am most proud of is performing at the Free Britney Rally for Britney Spears in November 2021. Where Britney was released from her conservatorship. It was a full circle moment for me, being a fan since I was seven years old, seeing how much she’s helped me through my life, and now I got to return the favor for her in a very small way meant so much more than just a performance.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
There have been multiple times throughout my career where I have partnered or collaborated with artist too. Most who I thought were so amazing and they turned out to be people who used me and abused my trust, my work and creativity. It was such a learning experience. I know there are many horror story’s of the dark side of the music industry so I’m in some ways happy that I have had some negative experiences early on because it will help me navigate those things easier in the future and it won’t be such a shock to me.
That keeps me moving forward, and knowing that I’m on the right path. I know that there’s always a plan in this world. I just have faith that I would never be tested beyond what I can handle and thus far I feel like I’m pretty damn strong.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Wow, this is actually a really good question. I think what society can do best is to stream music from local artists and creatives. Don’t be so fixated on the bigger artist who are on a labels. Honestly the only difference between an artist under label and an independent artist is the financial backing. I feel that if independent artist had more exposure due to the fact that they have less financial backing, they would be able to get further than where they are right now.
But it goes beyond society. Even the platforms that release our music allow things for label artist that they don’t allow for independent artist. We as independent artist don’t have designated people on these platforms to help us update information. If you look, especially on Apple Music, you can see that the artist image for a label artist is a moving image, but for independent artist, they don’t have that option to get a moving image. They have a regular still image. Bios for artist, and a label are updated as well with similar artist, their music is placed on compilations and playlist that the platforms compile. But when it comes to independent artist, they’re only asked a few questions now, and that’s only for the artist to have access to specific platforms outside of our distributor to be able to have access to those things.
I hope as the industry starts to shift that the independent distributors and music platforms help create a better experience for the artist. For me that’s the goal. In the meantime I’ll be helping other independent artist better understand how to market themselves. How to handle all of these services that are hidden from them and how to work in a more consistent and uniformed way to compete with these major labels. I’m currently working on that through my Company Fancy AF Records / Productions.
Contact Info:
- Website: Anthonyfrazer.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/
Anthonyfrazer - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ officialanthonyfrazer? mibextid=LQQJ4d - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/ anthonyfrazermusic - Twitter: Twitter.com/
anthonyfrazer - Youtube: YouTube.com/
anthonyfrazer - Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.
com/us/artist/anthony-frazer/ 1391176690 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.
com/artist/ 3BVe0F4u6zZz8r5lsyODPZ?si= ZEaxx7gyQkK2JTCEURn9Cw - Pandora: https://pandora.app.
link/rW9Ne12sbwb - Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.
com/artists/B01IB1ZMMK?ref=dm_ sh_IvXm7jOdyaogMxusKj2PC2FRG - Tidal: https://tidal.com/
artist/7988210 - iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/
artist/anthony-frazer- 31276541?cmp=ios_share&sc=ios_ social_share&pr=false - Anthonyfrazermusic.com
Image Credits:
Anthony Frazer Music
Melody Guerrero
Christina Kerzic