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

Hi Brandon, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have to say, I’m super grateful to have made a respectable living thus far from music. When I was much much younger and fantasizing about being a professional musician, the overarching thought was that you would have to be super famous to earn a decent wage, or take on a full-time teaching job for the benefits, etc.

When I entered into the world of trying to ‘make it’, I learned pretty quickly that the best way was to diversify my income sources so that the natural ebb and flow of things would balance out. Gigs get lighter in the winter, so having teaching or production income to subsidize helps. Conversely, lightening my recording or teaching schedule in the summer months to take on nice paying gigs is a smart move. One of my big “leg-ups” in the whole process was having a good handle on the technology side of things from the get go. My relationship with music has been tied to computers since I started playing when I was 11, so I already had a good understanding of recording, MIDI sequencing, mixing, video production, graphics and such. These were skills I had to watch colleagues (and help them with!) once COVID came along, as it became a necessity for most of us.

I took to social media pretty early on around 2008 or so, blasting my music out there on things like Soundcloud, MySpace and such…It definitely helped me forge connections with other musicians in different cities so that if I ended up playing a gig somewhere, I’d have a connection to rely on.

I said “yes” to most opportunities early on, even if they were unpaid/low-paying. For me, it was all about building my professional chops, and learning the ins and outs of the business. Figuring out my strengths and weaknesses and such. It really helped me to know what to focus on developing.

Once I got married and had more financial responsibilities, I had to really calculate the value of things and start being more selective about what I do and don’t do. And now with my amazing daughter in my life, my family time is super valuable to me…it has helped me tremendously to know/understand my value and worth so that I can establish a baseline for myself and my projects so that I can support my family the best I can.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a freelance musician living in the Cincinnati metro area (specifically in Northern KY). I mainly play guitar but I also gig on keyboards from time to time. I perform and record original music of my own with the Brandon Coleman Trio/Quartet, as well as a wonderful fusion project called Spherical Agenda. I’ve engineered, produced, mixed and mastered numerous recordings for many artists, as well as contributing my talents as a session musician on many albums and singles over the years. I run an independent label with my bandmates called “Golden Mean Records” where we showcase some of the wonderful eclectic talent we have here in the Midwest.

I would say one of my specialties that sets me apart from others are my devotion to the history of music; I’ve consumed so much music over the years and it’s very rare that someone can reference a classic or even obscure recording that I haven’t spent some time with. I’m kind of obsessive about picking apart records and finding out what makes them tick – and this is the fuel that drives me as a freelancer, session musician and a producer. I’m really passionate about taking elements from a classic album, even if it’s something simple like a quirky guitar tone, and finding a way to make it my own.

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

I think the collaborative aspect of things is really exciting for me. While I do love tinkering with music on my own and coming up with ideas, the magic really happens when you get some amazing musicians together in the same room and in the flow state. For instance, one of my HUGE musical passions is a rhythmic language that I’ve developed based on several musical influences: the strict subdivisions of Frank Zappa’s art music, the flowing rubato of impressionist Classical music, the dynamic interplay of jazz music, the structural subtleties of Indian Classical music, and the natural rhythms of human speech and movement. To sit down to play and interact in real time with other musicians who feel this as well, for one, is an amazing thing. My trio with Matt Wiles on bass and Jeff Mellott on drums has developed a language around this kind of flow over the last ten years and it continues to evolve in many different ways, which is fascinating to me. It’s something that would take forever to calculate if I was doing it purely on my own.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I don’t like to be too cynical, but right now is a challenging time for artists because our output has become sort of like candy. With the evolution of short-form social media content, things like Instagram and Tik-Tok (which can help artists reach a bigger audience, no doubt!) – we’re encouraged to output a MASSIVE amount of art (which is now redubbed content) in order to cast a wider net. While I have written a large amount of music and have a decent sized body of work, I like to put a lot of care into my art. It’s quite difficult for me to come up with a 30-second or shorter bite-sized nugget to satiate the appetites of the masses. My time feels better suited crafting something that’s more meaningful and deep to me, because I’ve put so much care and attention to it so far. I feel like if society can lengthen their attention spans just a *tiny bit, it would mean the world!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brandoncoleman-music.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/brandoncolemanguitar
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandoncoleman35
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandonScottColeman
• Other: brandoncoleman.bandcamp.com