We were lucky to catch up with Brett Miller recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brett, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have, and I see how much more it still has to grow. My life in music is very spread out. I have a lot of different streams of income, each of which has taken time to grow, but certainly is already paying off at this young stage of my career….pun intended. I make money both as a performer and as a songwriter, but from those two exclusive starting positions, it can get pretty chaotic to trace where the money is coming from. Suffice it say, as a songwriter, I mainly make residual income from song royalties, as well as a sizable sum from up-front fees that I’d charge instead of taking a percentage of that song’s pie, being paid to sing, write, or both on other musician’s projects all over the world, thanks to the internet. It’s been a solid supplemental income that has a lot more room to pay off even bigger, which I know, with certainly, it one day will.

My main, immediate source of income comes from my performing. I’ve been performing both publicly and privately for more than 15 years (half my life). Although I focus mainly on cover music, once I finally started writing and releasing my own music in 2017, I had no issue incorporating my songs into my live sets, and promoting myself equally as an independent, original artist. Over these past 15 years, I’ve gained true, professional experience of the art of performing, as well as of my voice and instrument, and I’ve seen many doors open up because of it. I’ve been invited to perform for countless restaurants, hotels, clubs, as well as privately at country clubs, yacht parties, weddings, bar mitzvahs, corporate events, and the list continues to diversify to this day. It’s been a fun and fruitful endeavor to continue to cultivate my act as a live music entertainer that can take requests and can MC a fun night, celebrating everything and anything under the sun.

So, as you might be able to detect, it’s all music, all the time. And because of this full immersion, I’m able to devote all time and energy to put towards continue to grow my craft, my reputation, and thus, my income. But to be honest, knowing I’ve already afforded myself a dedicated life of music, I feel I’ve already won.

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

Sure thing. As I touched on elsewhere in this interview, I work as a both a recording artist, as well as a live music entertainer.

As a recording artist, I write and record my own music, and have been releasing it everywhere since 2017. As a result of that, apart from my growing listenership, I’ve also been discovered and hired by other music producers, songwriters, agents, labels all over the world to sing, write, produce, or a variation of all three, on their projects. As a young, American male singer, who writes in a modern pop style, I can provide a particular style and sound that attracts enough interest for me to be able collaborate on countless projects, dating back to 2017. It’s been a lot fun making music with people I wouldn’t normally get the chance to meet otherwise. Some of these relationships have really flourished, and I’ve had the chance to travel, meet, and create even more with several musicians in different countries. The goal has always been to have music take me around the world, and I’m ecstatic and grateful to have already experienced this early in my career.

Locally, I am also a live music entertainer. I play piano (or guitar) and sing, both publicly and privately, at different venues all over my local city. Since I’ve started performing live in 2009, I’ve changed cities several times. From my small, beach town of Stuart, FL, to the more urban sprawl of Orlando, FL, to the Big Apple of New York City, I always eventually get enveloped in the local performing scene; finding my way to newer and bigger opportunities, over each transition. Currently, I reside in Fort Lauderdale, FL, which hovers just above Miami. In the short amount of time I’ve been here, I can feel I’m really building up something epic. You’ll find me playing somewhere every weekend, and it’s been very exciting to meet so many new people and see where just how far my act can take me. So, if you ever make it down to south Florida and you’re looking for a fun place to go, check my showdates calendar on my website to see where I’m playing, and come request a song at my piano.

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

For me, I’d say I love the fact I am logging and archiving my life in my songs. To be able to listen and fall back into the shoes of my younger self, remembering who I was, how old I was, my particular love interest at the time, and the issues I was currently facing, is truly amazing. I can imagine this may be a common experience amongst all creatives, whether visual art, filmmaking, etc. With music, you’re creating a miniature universe, like a TV episode, and telling a story within it that will last the test of the time, so long as there’s someone who will be able to hear it. I find this to be the most rewarding, because in my 30 years of existing, I’ve already begun to notice how much of our experiences get forgotten and lost in translation after Father time leaves his mark. So, having this ever-growing library of my experiences, carefully dictated to tell a complete story on a theme, with a hooky melody and a rhyme scheme for good measure, is a priceless thing to have and invest in for the rest of my life.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think being an ambassador for the arts is important for members of society to be if they want to continue enjoying it around town. The amount of dedication a quality artist, of any concentration, needs to have to be enjoyable by the public is usually under appreciated. They spent their whole lives developing their craft so you can enjoy it in a casual, convenient setting, and I feel society should value and cultivate it more. We can do so by being ambassadors, patrons, followers, subscribers, sharers, concert-goers, and overall fans of the artists that inspire us the most, and those we want to see grow and succeed. A little goes a long way. I’ve personally experienced a great deal of support from the communities I’ve performed in over the years. The one thing I notice is that sometimes a little initiative taken by even just one person to share an artist and their work can have an enormous impact for that artist in that community, as word will get around and the artist can then truly cultivate and provide value for an excited following that will with each performance, for as long as that artist can sustain. A support system like that is everything an artist, like myself, is looking for.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://brettmillerlive.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/brettmillerlive
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/brettmillerlive
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/brettmillerlive
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/brettmillerlive

Image Credits
Photos taken by Chaz Mazzota. More of him found at www.chazmazzota.com