We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brendon Jackson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brendon below.

Brendon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Atlanta has such a bustling music scene. There’s so much independence and creativity it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. But that bustling makes it big and hard to navigate. I started doing these events at legendary Atlanta record store, Mood’s Music, that I dubbed Waxxed on Waxx. We meet once a month and discuss various legendary artist and some of their greatest albums. It has helped me to meet some great lovers of music, and also other creatives who just love it just as well. Meeting and hearing their stories, learning in my studies, and just watching the changing in the landscape of the music scene, I began to realize that being an independent musician will be where successful artist thrive.

I realized what I truly wanted to do, help independent artist grow and thrive in this new creative landscape. How does an artist get started? How do you get paid? What about publishing? Contracts? Marketing? After starting Indie By Nature radio with a business partner, we connected with a group that has similar aspirations and that’s when Cr8tive By Nature was born. It’s a quarterly artist showcase that happens at The Plug ATL, which is a creative suite in the city. The showcase features not only performances, but allows artist, creatives, and general attendees to take advantage of the offerings at the space, capture some content, hopefully network a bit, and enjoy the atmosphere. We have art vendors, fashion vendors, and food vendors at the event. Our next event is January 18th at 7p.

The goal is to help not just artist, but creatives navigate this new world in which I believe networking and cross collaboration will be the key to success. My success will be in helping create the stories of tomorrow.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always been in love with music in some way since I can remember. My father would play a lot of funk and rock records, while my mom loved R&B and jazz. I would get a lot of my hip-hip listens from my aunt and cousins. Some of my earliest memories where watching my late uncle play his sax, and I remember trying to play it myself and him trying to teach me.

By the time I was in middle school, I started writing my own songs and learning to play the bass. I thought I was going to become a rapper or a songwriter and I would have all of these notebooks full of songs that I wrote. Unfortunately, things never panned out for me and I took to blaming everyone else when the truth is, I just didn’t have the work ethic at the time. So I spent the next few years in and out of school, and trying to get into the IT field. I was pretty sure I was done with music and was on to something else.

A couple of years ago I started collecting vinyl. Having to handle the record, being able to read the album credits, looking at the album artwork, must have taken me back to high school when CDs were the main way of listening to music. When you’re physically playing music, you can’t just slide your finger to a section of the song, or skip to/download parts of an album. Having to get intimate with an album again unlocked something in me that started a new flame, or maybe rekindled an old one, but I wanted to go back to chasing the dream of being in music but in a different way than when I was a kid. When I was a kid, it was about entertaining. This time, I wanted it to be about business.

The opportunity came through some unfortunate circumstances. After going through a layoff at the start of the pandemic, sitting for months with no job prospects, and taking unsatisfying jobs to make ends meet, I finally got a job with a company and I was back in project management, in what seemed like better shape than before. And then 4 months in, I got the call that the company was laying off. I was pissed, I was angry, but mostly I was tired. Ever since I was 14 or 15, I wanted to move to Atlanta and something spoke to me and told me it was time. I don’t know where the feeling came from but I know I felt like I had no choice but to follow that voice. So I started applying to mostly remote jobs, and jobs in Atlanta. I just knew that if I came down here, I was coming down with a plan and a mission.

That flame for music that I talked about earlier, started sparking all kinds of ideas. One that burned with me most was this vision of a record store lounge where people can come kick it throughout the day, buy and vibe to music, and get entertained throughout the day and nights. After speaking with my family, I packed up and made the move. I decided I was going to reenroll in school in a music degree program, so I enrolled at Full Sail University in the Music Business bachelor’s degree program. I figured, if I’m going to do it, I’m going all in.

I manage and consult with independent artist to help them navigate the indie music scene so that they can thrive and grow, while maintaining their creativity doing what they love. I also host events called Waxxed on Waxx where we meet monthly at Mood’s Music to discuss some legendary artist and their music. I’m excited about the new direction they will be going in this year. Also, a few business partners and myself do a quarterly artist showcase called Cr8tive By Nature that happens at The Plug ATL. If you’re interested in being a part of the event, contact me on IG.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

You don’t have to do everything by yourself. I’m not saying you cann’t hit the goal on your own, but life is much easier when you have someone going at it with you. Right before the pandemic, I had a podcast called The Fade Up Podcast. We saw small success and I enjoyed it, but for the time that I was doing the show, I feel like it could have had more of an impact. I planned all of the show topics, the guest, episode runs, I did the sound/video recording, editing, podcast site hosting, paid for all the equipment/software, produced the show, and did just about everything else. I was learning most of this on the fly so I enjoyed it but it was time consuming and eventually led to burn out. So my advice is find a partner(s) with like minded aspirations. You can accomplish so much more.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’m pivoting my life as we speak. I left home (Michigan), my family, and went back to school, all to go after my goals. I’m a firm believer in finding what makes you happy, and making it sustainable enough to where you can live out your days doing what you want to do. Look, I know it’s easier said than done. Most people will do what makes them content and that’s ok too. But if you want to accomplish anything, you have to be a little bit crazy. And sometimes, that means being crazy enough to change something around you so that you can accomplish your greatness.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waxxedonwaxx
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendonjackson
• Twitter: Https://x.com/birdmanbren84
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/birdmanbren84