We recently connected with Chase Butler and have shared our conversation below.

Chase, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Throughout my high school and early college years, I found myself in multiple leadership roles. People often times looked to me for advice and guidance. I have no musical talent but I knew I wanted to do something in the music industry, so when I started to look into possible career fields, Tour Manager made the most sense to me. I had a few mentors that helped me break into the industry and thanks to them, I was able to get started on the road not long after moving to Nashville.

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?

When I graduated high school, I began working for a multi-genre music festival. I had a great friend / mentor who took a chance on me and allowed me to work directly with her literally building the festival from the ground up. Shortly after festival season, I began working for the local radio station in town. My first day on the job, I was live on the air. The second week of the job, I was able to witness what a radio tour looked like; a band or artist who visits the station, meets the Program Director and plays their newest single in hopes of getting the radio station to add their song to rotation. I didn’t know it at the time but these experiences back in 2013 /2014 helped me understand things I’m currently doing.

I moved to Nashville in January of 2015. I enrolled at MTSU and shortly thereafter found myself on the road with my first artist. I worked both on the road and in the office, learning and growing for the next four years until I went full time with my current client.

I’m infatuated with new artists. I love the building process. I love seeing an artist / band who starts at zero and climbs to the top. I get offers all the time to go out with these great artists and bands; multi-bus, salary gigs – but that’s not what I want. I want to be on the ground floor and help build an artist build their career. That’s currently where I’m at in life. I’m working with my best friends and we’re all building something great together.

I’ve always believed that a person’s reputation is what can make or break a career. I’ve witnessed artists not have success and have high-turnover within the camp simply because of being a jerk or impossible to work with. I’m most proud of my team, my artist and my reputation on the road. My artist and band are insanely talented but at their core, they are great people and treat venue staff, promoters and other camps with the most respect.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I love a good podcast or audio book! There are plenty of podcast / books I listen to and would recommend.

Podcasts: The Zak Kuhn Show, Don’t Shit On The Bus, In The Round, Tales From The Front Row, Toad’s Tunes, The Tour Life, Everything But The Show, Promoter 101.

Books: The Agency: William Morris & The Hidden History Of Show Business, Never Look At The Empty Seats, Room Full Of Mirrors, And Party Everyday, Artists Management For The Music Business, The Hard Things About Hard Things, Zero To One.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My personal goal of the creative journey is to inspire others. I’m a small-town kid from Alabama who left his hometown and is chasing a dream. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you’ve done – you determine your future. You’re 100% in charge of your life. I’m not saying there aren’t obstacles and hurdles you have to jump and overcome but if you want something bad enough, you’ll do whatever it takes to get there.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @iamchasebutler
• Facebook: Chase Butler
• Linkedin: Chase Butler

Image Credits
Marisa Taylor | @risatphotography