We recently connected with Ashley Arkels and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I moved to South Florida from Louisville, KY in 2012, to record my first album. I had just signed with a new label in Nashville and was their first artist. I had traveled to Miami before and recorded some original songs with producers, so I was excited to go back and get to work again. Nothing quite went to plan. I got a bartending job to support myself while I waited for recording budgets to be finalized, but it never happened. I ended up getting a second bartending job because if you’ve lived in the Miami area, you know you need a real career or a second job to pay for housing and food.

The label pretty much fell apart and I was left with a couple studio bills and a contract that said I didn’t own my own artist name and anything I recorded for the next 2 years belonged to the label. I should have listened to my attorney friend who told me not sign that deal until he redlined some items for revision and made sure it had the right loop holes for my protection. Instead I let my manager and the label pressure me into signing in a hurry, as if they had some budget that needed to be spent right away. We’ve heard this story before.

A couple years went by and I was still living in South Florida. I had taken advantage of some better opportunities that came my way, but it wasn’t in music and I was still working two jobs to get by. I decided I should at least make one of my jobs be a singing job and that to get gigs I would need to learn to play an instrument to accompany myself, so I bought a Yamaha keyboard and got on Google and YouTube to start learning “easy pop songs on piano”. It took me about a month until I could stumble through 3 hours worth of material. I hopped around some open mics and got a couple small gigs through friends for private events.

Around that time I’d also met another musician/producer and we had started working together on new original material. He recreated some versions of my original songs that I’d recorded over the years and we performed a couple showcases as a duo. His name is Judd, and when I met him I also met a few other local musicians, one of whom gave me a shot at auditioning for a new restaurant in Sunny Isles called Cut 38. I came solo to the audition, and played and sang my sort of melancholic version of Pop and Soul, contemporary music. The owner hired me that night, but told me I needed to have someone else play piano, so I could be free to move around the restaurant. I asked Judd if he would accompany me for a regular Friday/Saturday gig and he agreed.

My next goal was to stop working for dreams that were not in line with my own, so I set my eyes on going into full time music, but first I needed to get my money right. With half a clue and a ton of favor I was able to secure a big event production job which lasted about 2 months. I beefed up my resume and thought of every single thing I had experience in from my mix of jobs over the years and turned on the charm. When the production company expressed interest in offering me the job and asked about my rate I threw out an astronomical number (for me) in total faith and they accepted it. This was my big shot to earn enough money in 2 months of grueling hours 5:30am-10pm with no days off, that I could buy the next full month of time to focus 100% on getting booked at other venues singing.

I worked the job and still did my weekend gig at Cut 38. It was a great experience and I learned a ton. Also, I think I skipped about 3 levels of entry to have had the position I had. When the job wrapped, I was exhausted, but I had enough money to pay all my bills a month in advance and start visiting venues to sell my act. That’s exactly what I did and I got a full month of gigs booked for myself and Judd soon after. Finally, I was able to say I was a professional musician. I had made it my profession.

Though I had originally intended to move to LA after recording the album, which never got recorded with the label, I had taken a couple trips to LA and begun working on some projects and getting inspired. I realized that gigging in Miami was the best opportunity for me to make a living singing and basically be getting paid to practice and hone my performance skills. Musicians in LA weren’t making as much as I was and if I didn’t have an album, I didn’t feel I had anything to show for myself or try pitch to any label.

Three years later, Judd and I had played as duo at Cut 38 every Friday and Saturday – more than 300 performances. We had a built in fan base – at least 50 regulars every weekend that tipped with love. Thank God for the owner, Dave, who loved having us there and said we could have the gig as long as we wanted. This fun little gig became my bread and butter and the extra time during the week led me to do more networking and eventually start writing and recording ideas and demos in my own apartment. For me, I was living a dream.

The key takeaway from this story for me is that every step of the way there is something valuable you can take with you. There are always lessons to learn, even if they’re only in hindsight. Rather than focus on the failures and letdowns, focus on the progress and the ability you have to evolve. You never know what opportunities the future may hold, but if you seek them and prepare yourself, and a put yourself in the best mindset for success you will eventually get a win! And it feels so good.

Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in “Kentuckiana” and I started recording original pop music in 2007,. I’ve recorded more than 100 songs performed nearly 400 times in South Florida. My style is Pop Soul and my most recent projects have been self-released through my label Empty Bus, and lean toward Dance Pop, with good energy and positive lyrics. I just released a new music video “Like That” which can be found on my YouTube

I love Miami Beach and it is my home. I’m excited to continue meeting and helping our local music community grow and achieve new heights. I’m also part of a great community at Vous Church which has been a important part of my growth and evolution over these last few years in Miami. I hope to ultimately be able to travel the world performing for and inspiring others.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative for me so far is hearing my own work. I like to hear when other people like my work or are inspired by it as well, but first and foremost my joy comes from finishing an idea and bringing it to life. I don’t even care about the finished product as much as I enjoy having a concept be brought to life from the depths of my heart and mind. It’s a fascinating ability and I really enjoy exercising it.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

My view of NFTs so far is that it’s a bit of a slow start. There are some really interesting new approaches I’ve seen artists taking now to help people start getting involved with NFTs for music. The community of Web3 is very active, so for someone who just wants to dabble in it, I feel like there’s a little more progress to be made for some platforms to be optimized and simple. It feels like there was a big wave with the new technology and a lot of excitement because of the possibilities and then it died down a lot. I’m looking forward to more opportunities in the future and I have an NFT for purchase of my song “Our Time” that offers royalties, perks, exclusive access and merch. I just haven’t seen that much of my fan base is there yet, and that’s ok.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Azshmusic.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/azshmusic
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/azshmusic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azshmusic/
• Twitter: https://Twitter.com/azshmusic
• Youtube: https://YouTube.com/azshmusic
• Other: https://AZSHmusic.com/epk

Image Credits
Vinicius Lafayettt, Sam Castillo