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

Cole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

I can’t remember my first official gig as a professional musician. But I know it was in high school and I’m pretty sure it was for a rich lady’s party.

I had already been playing piano for over ten years by the time I was 16. At that point I had a classical teacher and a jazz teacher, and was starting to sit in at jazz jam sessions around Chicago. I was also playing around my neighborhood with my funk rock band that I sang, played keys, and wrote the music for. Bottom line, I was starting to get a reputation around the area.

By that point my parents had made some business cards for me and I must’ve started passing them out, because moms from the area were starting to call me to come play their house parties. They’d usually have a piano in the house that nobody played and they’d want to show me off to their friends for a few hours. Little did they know that my parents, who had met playing in a band years ago, knew the deal. My mom in particular was quick to tell me, “you better charge them at least $75/hr!” I had no idea if that was reasonable at the time. I know now that I’ve certainly played gigs for less money since then. But I didn’t know any better at the time, and that’s what I asked for. And that’s what I got. It was definitely enough for me to quit my job answering phones at the pizza place down the street. I realized pretty quickly that I could make a lot more money playing gigs on the weekends. Needless to say, I had good chunk of change saved up by the end of high school.

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.

I’ve been around my music for as long as I can remember. My parents met in a band and were playing out every weekend when I was a baby. They started me on piano lessons at age four and I knew pretty much immediately that I wanted to be an artist and musician for a living, inspired by the likes of Michael Jackson and the Beatles initially, and of course my parents. I started writing my first little songs around the age of 5 or 6, and making lists of future song titles and album names. I also started singing in the school choir around that time as well.

By the time I was a teenager I had become somewhat of a piano prodigy, studying both classical and jazz, and competing in classical piano competitions around the Chicagoland area. Pretty soon I was also starting to play professionally around the city. All the while I continued to write music and started to put together bands to play my music around the area. By that point I was being very much influenced by classic funk, soul, and the neo-soul artists that were popular at the time. I eventually received a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music.

Since then I’ve released 4 albums of my original music, a unique blend of RnB, Pop, Jazz, and Alternative, and have been lucky enough to perform it around the country and the world. My 5th album will be released later this year with LA based label 600 block records, much of which was produced and performed by myself. Aside from being my own artist, I’ve never stopped working as a full-time professional keyboardist and vocalist. I’ve had the privilege to tour the country and world with a number of projects, including artists like Gallant, Lupe Fiasco, Brett Dennen, Neal Francis, and Daniel Villarreal. As a studio musician I’ve also worked with artists like Chance the Rapper and performed on Grammy winning and Grammy nominated albums by Lucky Diaz and Gallant.

My dream is to continue to be able to support myself and my family through my music, as well as collaborative projects with others that inspire me. I strive to continue to push myself creatively, and grow as not only a musician but also in how I approach my art and my craft.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think the biggest thing I had to unlearn working in the music industry was the idea that talent alone would equal success. I grew up with the idea that if you were good enough at playing or singing or writing music, eventually if you were heard by the right people that would be enough to lead to a successful career, or a “big break.” That may have been the case back in the day, but now every musical artist has to approach their career like a small business owner; investing money, marketing, staying relevant, especially as it becomes easier and easier for people around the world to also record and release music. Talent is of course a big plus, but really what sets you a part is how well you run your business.

I started realizing this more and more as I started working with bigger named artists. One in particular, who I was involved with from the start of their career, was very eye opening, especially as I watched their team build the brand from the ground up. This may have initially felt disheartening to learn when I was younger, but now I see it as kind of enlightening. It almost feels like a little weight has been lifted, like it’s not necessarily about how good or bad I am as an artist or performer, but how well I play the game. In that sense it can almost be fun.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

This is something I think we are all still figuring out, especially as the algorithms are being updated constantly. I will say I wish it was something I took more seriously earlier on.

For a long time I let it grow organically, meeting people and posting fun things about my personal and professional life. But about a couple years ago I made a concerted effort to start making content, around the time the Tik Tok and IG reels first started taking off. I came up with the slightly novel idea of playing classical piano pieces and adding hip hop beats to them. I would record a new video every week, put the camera in the same position next to my piano every time, and wear a similar hat or outfit. I’d usually make some coy smirk to start the video as well. I realized that consistency was key, visually, as well as how often I put something out. My views started picking up a lot right away, and I would notice that every video would generate about 100 new followers. Eventually I started including more original music and covers in my piano videos. Now I almost exclusively use my IG and Tik Tok for brand related content, and my stories for more personal or trivial posts.

Contact Info:

• Website: ColeDeGenova.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/ColeDeGenova
• Facebook: Facebook.com/ColeDeGenova
• Twitter: Twitter.com/ColeDeGenova
• Youtube: Youtube.com/cdegenova

Image Credits
Cory DeWald Kelly Wundsam