We were lucky to catch up with Chace Rains recently and have shared our conversation below.
Chace, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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.
It’s a pretty current risk, but the largest one of my career with far and away the largest payoff. Two years ago, I signed up with a company called Edgewater Music Group. They contacted me in November of 2021, but admittedly I didn’t take them seriously at first. As a no-name musician, you get offers and emails all the time promising to make you “the next big thing” if you can just come up with a measly $40,000 to invest with their respective company. In my jaded state of mind, Edgewater was just another in a long line of proverbial smoke-blowers.
Finally, in April, one of their actual artists, Luke Daniel, reached out to me directly. He let me know that he had spent several hours on the phone tracking me down, and that he really thought I should try the Edgewater Rising Artist campaign. I took that a little more seriously, and actually read the promo material. I was hooked within minutes! I signed on, and the team at Edgewater put together a fabulous fundraising campaign for me. I did my part, pushing and begging and then begging some more from different angles. Finally, after 3 months, I had raised almost $10,000. In February of 2023, I went to Houston and cut 4 tracks in the Edgewater Music Group studio. A year later, in February of 2024, I was able to release those 4 songs as an EP…which has already garnered over 25,000 streams on spotify in just under 5 months, with my lead-off single, Lattice and Framework, well over 11,000 by itself. So, I’ve made my first $60 as a recording artist, all because I took a risk on some guys that only promised me the ability to put in the right work for myself.
Chace, 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?
If you squint just right, I can get you to believe that I was bred into this trade. My family lineage in performance arts stretches back as far as the old Vaudeville troupes, where my greatx4 grandparents and their children grew up singing, playing, and acting. More recently, my maternal grandparents and uncle were all top-tier professional musicians, touring their entire careers. I’m basically the Kwisatz Haderach of music.
Now, my personal career is extremely busy and a constant source of worry, sorrow, and absolute delight. Most artists and performers all live in the space between a God complex and Imposter syndrome, and I’m not immune either. However, the things that keep me going are the East Texas problems I’m working to help solve. For instance, in July I started a business league called the Greater East Texas Musicians Fund. Our aim is to help the East Texas scene become more communal and close, as well as help artist in our area generate true ticket sales. We want to see East Texas musicians have the same level of opportunity and camaraderie that the 3 “large markets” enjoy.
Something you’ll hear me repeat often is the simple idea, “Build larger tables, not higher fences.” The Greater East Texas Musicians Fund is the first step in giving that idea life.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Performance. I live to be behind a mic and entertaining. All the hours woodshedding and rehearsing… to culminate in a show. I don’t know how to do anything else.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
So many. To try and summate my entirety of influence to just one or even a handful is a tall order, but I’ll take a shot at it and say…. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I find myself coming back to it thematically again and again, as well as drawing personal inspiration from his ability to retain an overall narrative that drove seemingly unrelated stories. It’s an incredible body of work with a ton of surreal imagery and tough lessons that transcend the page quite often.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chacerainsmusic.com
- Instagram: @chacerainsmusic
- Facebook: @chacerainsmusic
- Youtube: @chacerainsmusic
- Other: Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/638oewiqHcqp033JyJ7ArR?si=VeEffYhURASoWzKu_OF7HA
Image Credits
all images by Heavy Glow, Austin TX