We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eric Milliano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Eric thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights 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?

Ummm…to be completely honest with you…monthly I’d probably bring in 100$ – 500$ off music depending on how long ago my last release was.

Im just now tapping fully into being a full-time artist; recently i been fully active in the marketing / business side of things and really the hardest part about that is finding time to manage every aspect taking on all the roles bigger artist have other people for and self funding my projects.

When I first start making music I studied the business aspect for years trying to grasp knowledge or a bit of understanding before I just jumped into something I knew nothing about.

Starting out I shadow a record label that signed my brother. I kind was like an intern until I felt comfortable enough to know what I wanted to do as far as my sound and who I wanted to associate with and be as an artist; they mainly focused on him so eventually I parted ways and perused music on my own terms
Most of my songs weren’t the best quality up until now…I worked on that the more money I made at my 9-5 the more money I had to play with to go pay producers so I can finally get that industry quality and be taking serious.

Once I did that 3 local radio station in my city gave me air time with my single “Hit The Flo’” (hot 105.7, V100.7, CW Hiphop) which I came up with in Las Vegas and recorded when I got back home… after that people started paying attention and I just been showing them more in more through my platforms that I’m a legit artist and the more they see that and the more people hear me they help me boost my career to where it needs to be

Every night at 10pm – 6am since I started making music up until this very second I was up researching or finding new ways to boost my career without compromise what I wanted out of it.
I knew I couldn’t out perform most artist or be something I wasn’t so I beat them in the only category I knew I could “The Background” the hidden business side of things nobody really talks about or takes the time to learn to further their careers literally making sure everything they weren’t doing was in check until it was time to present a product.
Literally spent every night, Email after email contacting radio stations, college radio stations, media outlets, streaming platforms, tv shows, djs, + more
Once I built up enough buzz around myself I was comfortable enough to really out myself out there for the world.

Honestly if I knew what I knew now I would tell myself to start sooner,

• Perform more shows…nobody told me you get paid for performing your songs and other people songs.

• Work with less people don’t work with anybody unless it make sense,

• Drop the perfectionist mindset and just go for it

• Invest in your music. The amount of money you could make off your catalog is insane music is the most uncapped way to earn tons of money without having to actually work a job you might hate… it opens so many doors for you

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

My Name Is Eric Milliano I’m a 25 year old Rapper, Singer, Songwriter from Milwaukee, Wi that goes by the name “EricWithTheGlockInHisSock”.

I Also Own Clothing Brand “MillianoNíor”

Im a curator and 1 part of a music collective called “The Collective”

I began making music couple years ago with no specific goal in mind from it just you know… having fun. I had no clear direction or guidance I kinda was just taking a chance in hopes that people would love to the energy, the feeling, the creativity of my music and that it would resonate so much they would want more.

I think what sets me apart from other artist is my authenticity I’ll never lose sight of me… I’ll never loose the love I have for music or toss out what exec’s think I should do or think consumer wanna hear. I make music that I would wanna hear or that I like
I don’t want to follow any trends… I don’t want to speak to everybody’s taste or opinion of what I should be or how my craft should sound; I’m just here to give people music that they’ll love for years to come, you know…. bring back the fun that used to be in the music industry years ago but somehow seemingly died out

I’m very proud of my most recent accomplishments; though they might seem like small milestones to most

• last project surpassed 100,000 streams with little to no promotion

• having my single featured on The Journal sentinel (“With Me Ft. Tae 23”)

• Having one of my singles (Hit The Flo’”from my project “Ight Bet, Say Less” achieving commercial radio air time on multiple stations including (Hot 105.7, V100.7, and more) felt like Sandi’s something like all the hard work actually amounted to something and it gave me the motivational boost to up my goals even more.

• Although I never thought too much about perusing an acting career Im kinda proud I stared in a YouTube Series “The Hustle MKE” and to have my music videos appear on VEVO and Airing On Live TV… again to most that might seem like just a drop in the bucket for most but to me it made me really feel as if I’m becoming someone who people worldwide would consider a household name.

• Last but not least I also wanna shout out @audiomack for allowing me to receive my first editorial placement on their streaming platform with my latest single “On The Radar Freestyle”

Overall I just want to leave a mark in history; I feel like Im attempting to blur the lines between the conventional hiphop / Rnb genre and bringing a new element to my city’s stereotypical “Lowend” music.

I want my fans to know that everyday I’m trying to give them the best version of me I can, pushing out the best quality music I can possibly give you rather it’s a story or just me giving them something to vibe too and have fun.
I want what I do to reflect my city and show them what Milwaukee is capable of I want people to relate to us.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I knew about resources like Submit Hub, College Radio Directory, And Distributors Like UnitedMasters

It’s so much free information out there now that help us as artist that a couple years ago we probably wouldn’t have known about if it wasn’t for things like TikTok, content creators, etc.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

One word “S U P P O R T”

I can’t stress this enough if you like an artist or you want you friend, family member, stranger from your city trying to become the next big artist support them

It cost:

$0.00 COMMENT ON THEIR POSTS

$0.00 REPOST AND SHARE THEIR

$0.00 ADD THEM TO YOUR PLAYLIST

$0.00 PARTICIPATE ON IG STORIES

$0.00 HYPE THEM UP

$0.00 STREAM THEIR MUSIC & WATCH THEIR VIDEOS

Literally the easiest and cheapest thing you can do

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ericwiththeglockinhissock.square.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericwiththeglockinhissock
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1G6bgqddgw/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ericwiththeglockinhissock?si=-LGB1ug5GND9J1Rj
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/etVujJNVvtDPZi1kUr
• Other: Clothing Brand Website

  https://millianonior.square.site/