We recently connected with Jacob Acosta and have shared our conversation below.
Jacob , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you 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?
It has taken some time, but right now I’m proud to say I am earning my living as a performer, and as an original musical artist.
I’ve been performing and recording music professionally now for 17 years, and the journey has been quite colorful. When I first started earning money playing music, I was a music leader in my church, and also a music leader in a Christian-based organization for college co-eds. I mostly performed other people’s music, and directed other members of a band or ensemble, before even turning 20. The pay was probably close to 1/4 of what I make now per show, when I first started out.
One of the big catalysts that I believe has gotten me to where I am today, is the ability to be open to different ways of making money in the collective music industry. For example, while I was going to school for my music degree, I had the chance to collaborate with other musicians on projects, media artists to music videos, and one particular colleague of mine had me do the sound design for her short film. Around the same time I started two bands, I also started a side gig on Fiverr.com, where I would make short jingle videos for whoever wanted to pay me to come up with something for them to use in a webcam video format. Some of the videos were a bit silly, but it spurred my creative yearning.
This one side hustle of my creative skills helped me discover one of my biggest jingle clients, Gregg Pollack of Codeschool. I did over 30 jingles for his company, starting around $150 for the very first one, and by the end I was making over 10 times that per jingle. He even flew me down for a show in Florida to play for his company, and now years later, I still get programmers wanting me to send them guitar chords to some of the jingles I made about the courses they took in their coding school. Doing jingles with this company, which eventually sold to Pluralsight in a merger, led me to also do work with Ford, FOX, and ESPN. I also additionally got connected with Crucial Music, and landed some licensing work for my original music ‘Exoplanet’, a project I did with Conrad Sasinski called HYTS.
Over the years, I have done multiple original music collaborations with other talented artists and producers like John Vanderslice, Sasheen (Conrad Sasinski), Desert Raven, David Hohme, and Jody Wisternoff. I have also dabbled in voice acting, working for a singing telegram company, and running my own venue space for a short time. It’s wildly amazing where music can take you if you aren’t tethering yourself to a creative niche. Now I do know for some artists, it works great to focus on one thing and stick with it, but what has worked best for me and my high need for challenges, has been consistently trying out new opportunities and possibilities. One of my favorite gigs in that regard, are weddings. I still play a handful of these every year.
I’m not sure what could have sped up the process or shortened the long windy path I’ve taken to get where I am now, but I can honestly admit I am perfectly content with the many turns I’ve seen in my journey so far. It’s been quite the ride. I’m curious to see what’s next!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As I mentioned before, I’ve been a professional performer, and original music artist for 17 years.
I’ve played music since 3rd grade, performed in many ensembles from then until college, and got my degree in Music Education with my instrument choice being classical guitar.
I’ve been performing for some or all of my income since 2006. I have since performed over 1500 shows nationally, on the west coast, and locally. I have also recorded and released 16 studio albums and Ep’s, and have been featured on local television, festivals, NPR, won numerous contests and awards. I have also been happy to have the ability to have my music on a network show, on radio shows and stations, YouTube playlists and Spotify playlists, and have fans from all over the world start to follow my work now.
I have recently started a fan club, which I am super excited about, called the ‘Prickly Pears’. I actually sent them some gifts today in the mail. I love to interact with folks, and have a good time.
I would say I’m most proud of one of my most popular albums to date ‘Desert Sounds’. It really is a Sonoran songwriter tribute to Arizona and the Sonoran Desert. I’ve lived most of my life here, and it is still one of the most magical, inspiring, and beautiful places for me. I was born here in the desert, and I feel like I will always be deeply connected to it, and all of the wonderful mountains, sunsets, flora and fauna.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I actually believe there is a creative quality in everyone. I think how you discover your creative calling or quality can either be one of the easiest or rather most challenging things you’ll experience. The key is not thinking too hard about it, I suppose. Just go experience things. Find out what brings you joy or stimulates and inspires you to dive deeper into the experience you’re having. Maybe even that particular experience gets combined with another, and you find yourself combining your inspirations to arrive at your creative talent. Maybe you’ll miss it for years, but when you start doing the thing that inspires you, it feels like maybe it’s always been under your nose. And the chances are, your creative mind will change over time. We are all creatives, in some way or another.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Honestly, the best way to support an artist that you wish to be solely successful living off of their art form is to sponsor or commission them directly once or even many times, donating to them and telling other people how great they are or helping them spread the word, then going to their shows or events, then buying their merchandise or art, then talking and posting about them on social media, then social media likes. That seems close to the order an artist will truly feel supported, and able to sustain a livable wage, in my opinion.
There’s just a lot of artists out there, and more are discovered every day. Though my particular art form of music is often perceived as a free or small ticket item in our global economy to people who love to listen to it, myself included, an individual artist can’t live on claps or kind words alone. And the thing is, deep down we love and need music so much more than we even acknowledge or think about. When you try to think of which artists you would regularly give money to, which come to mind? Great, give them anything you can. They all need it more than they will let on.
Speaking of, you can donate to me directly anytime on PayPal or Venmo. It all goes back into the art, since it’s what I do full time. Thank you always, for your support!
https://paypal.me/jacobacostamusic
https://venmo.com/u/Jacob-Acosta-Music
Contact Info:
- Website: http://jacobacostamusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacobacostamusicofficial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacobacostamusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jacobacostatv
- Other: https://www.beatport.com/release/falling/3056140 https://jacobacosta.bandcamp.com/music https://mason.bandcamp.com/ https://hyts.bandcamp.com/ https://www.beatport.com/release/whispers-and-cries/3393413 https://rollacosta.bandcamp.com/ https://raceyouthere.bandcamp.com/
Image Credits
Phil Kelly Kerry Whelan Ray Squared Tad Sallee David Scott Moyer Juan Pablo Garcia