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

Carolyn, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

There is definitely a part of me that wishes I’d started a career in music and songwriting sooner. Many of my contemporaries in the folk singer-songwriter world have been doing this since their mid-20s. So, if I compare where I am in my career as a 42 year-old to where a lot of songwriter friends my age are in their careers, it can feel like I am not where I should be.

However, at the same time, I realize that without all of the different life experiences I had practicing law and starting a family, my perspective as a songwriter would be completely different, and probably not as unique. It has also been helpful to have a deeper understanding of the legal and business world as an indie artist running a small business. Independent artists like me have to learn the ins and outs of copyright, publishing, royalties, marketing, performance contracts, licensing contracts, and other aspects of the music industry that are a little bit easier to navigate given my prior background.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a Denver, Colorado based folk & Americana singer-songwriter. I began playing music at the age of nine, inspired by my father, who plays guitar as a hobby. He came home one day with a three-quarters sized guitar perfect for small, nine-year old hands, and found a great guitar teacher to work with me. I began writing my own original songs and performing publicly in high school, and I considered pursuing music full time after college, but took a detour and went to law school instead. I practiced law in Houston for seven years, started a family, and then moved with my family to Denver before I finally decided to shift gears and focus my full attention on my lifelong passion of writing and performing original music.

I recorded my debut, full-length album, Grenadine & Kerosene, with producer John McVey at Cinder Sound Studios in Longmont, Colorado. The album was released to positive reviews on May 21, 2021 and enjoyed three months on the national Folk Radio Charts, ultimately securing a spot in the top 25 most-spun folk albums that summer. I was also incredibly honored to perform at the 2022 Rocky Mountain Folks Festival as a finalist in the Songwriters Showcase. Right now, I am focusing on playing out as much as I can and finishing up my second full-length album. I’m working again with producer John McVey and tentatively aiming for an early 2024 release.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The best ways to support musical artists are purchasing our albums and our merch, buying advance tickets to shows, sharing our music with your friends and on social media platforms, subscribing to artists’ email lists and/or Patreon accounts, and backing our album funding campaigns, which are the only way many artists can afford to record music these days (Kickstarter campaigns being the most common example).

In the music world, streaming has resulted in more people having access to more music by a wider array of artists than ever before. It’s an amazing time to be a music listener. But there is a huge problem with streaming: for most artists, streaming generates virtually no revenue. One stream on Spotify pays only $0.003 in the United States. That is outrageous and insulting. It is such a slap in the face to artists who pour their entire being (and typically tens of thousands of dollars) into every detail of their recorded songs. Without our labor and our products, Spotify would not exist. But the streaming platforms don’t seem to be interested in changing this model (and why would they? They’re raking it in!).

As a result, being an independent recording artist is simply not as sustainable as it was before streaming, when fans purchased albums at shows and in music stores, since there was no other way to take home the music.

Don’t get me wrong! I listen to music on Spotify. Streaming services aren’t going away anytime soon. I don’t think it’s inherently wrong to stream music. I don’t think the average streaming user is aware of how little artists are paid per stream. However, folks who want their favorite independent artists to continue to create and have a sustainable career also need to support those artists in all of the other ways I mentioned above. So, I always make sure to purchase a download or a CD (even if I have nothing to play a CD on!) from artists whose music I love, and if I see they’re playing a show near me, I’ll buy tickets to see them if I can make it. If they run a Kickstarter campaign to fund their next album, I will make a pledge. This way, I know I am helping them cover their costs and continue creating amazing music. Musicians are amazing at supporting each other in these ways. We need fans to join us in these kinds of support!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The moment when someone tells me that they really connected with one of my songs is the most rewarding aspect of being a songwriter for me.

It’d be easy to write songs and keep them to myself, never sharing them with anyone. (Admittedly, there are certainly songs I don’t share. Nobody can write a good one every single time!). So, what is it that drives me and so many other singer-songwriters to share our creations with the world, when sharing our art can feel incredibly vulnerable?

I find most often that if a song I’ve written stirs intense emotion in me, makes me think, or speaks to a relatable, universal experience, then it will most likely resonate with other people who hear it, too. We share our music because we know that songs can heal. They can remind us that other people have experienced what we’ve experienced, making us feel less alone. They can call forth memories, and they can show us new perspectives. Songs can make us smile, laugh, dance, cry tears of sadness or joy, and make us feel connected to something much bigger than ourselves.

Why wouldn’t we want to share that?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://carolynshulman.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/carolynshulmanmusic
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/carolynshulmanmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/carolynshulman_
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/carolynshulman
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6gsVEG0liEOMJBvMdgw4Ts?si=-q3EcTsMQIi7bRLJB2AQXw Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/carolynshulman Bandcamp: https://carolynshulman.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Jessie Nichole Matteson, Chelsea Dee Thom, Travis Broxton, Mark Stein