We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jay Pitts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
I would say the biggest Challenge to profitability in the music business is streaming revenue. Around 2015 the streaming era really began when music consumers were transitioned from buying their favorite artist’s singles and albums outright, whether in a physical store or digitally on iTunes, to paying one premium per month to access all music on Spotify, Apple Music, or other streaming platforms.
This new, “streaming era” promised artists more accessibility from consumers and a better way to earn a living as an artist. However, it ended up being a sham.
So even though I have tens of thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify every month, I still only get paid $0.0033 per stream. This means that a fan would need to stream one of my songs 1000 times for it to be equivalent to one unit sold. A lot of consumers don’t know how streams have slashed artist profitability beyond comprehension. It’s quite arguable that it was easier to sell 100 albums for $10 a piece back in the iTunes days, then it is to make that equivalent amount from streams. But because social media and technology has moved so fast, this current streaming model has been baked in to the fabric of artist’s reality and expectations.
Once I came to realize how much I was losing to these platforms I started looking for ways to close the huge financial gap. There are tons of ways that artists can supplement their income. Me personally, I started to make content on TikTok, leading to many opportunities with brands on and off the platform.
But this didn’t stop my growing concern for my streams that are grossly undervalued. That’s when I found out about Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in the city of Detroit, who worked on a bill called, “The Living Wage for Musicians Act” proposing that artists on streaming platforms are paid 1 penny per stream as opposed to a fraction of a penny. I scoped the entire bill out line by line and was amazed at the implications. It would mean a 300% raise for artists across the board on Spotify alone. It highlights how artists have the right to earn a living wage for their digital works via streaming platforms. UMG and Spotify continue to grow in profit from the 60,000+ songs released per day as artists continue to split the same pie of profit. So I joined the United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) to join forces with the folks responsible for the bill and pushing awareness to the masses. We hope to present the bill to congress again in a few months and I personally look forward to this being passed! Fingers crossed of course.
Jay, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m an independent artist from Detroit, MI. My foundational inspirations are Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar and Lauryn Hill. If you were to ask what my inspirations and I have in common, I’d say, they all are like my wise sages that represent various fighting styles in Hip-Hop. They exude rich black soul, lyricism, cultural relevance, experimentation, social rebellion, self development, honesty and vulnerability. That is all I hope and strive to represent.
I got his first major spike in engagement from a single, “Windows”, which I wrote during Covid while driving with my windows down in the vacant streets. I remember feeling grateful to be alive, I’d lost a couple loved ones to Covid, I quit my job in the psych ward I worked at for 7 years and my future was uncertain like many other people. I have a family that relies on me. But for the first time in a while, I had the time to really hear my soul while being quarantined. I wasn’t sure of the future, and I let my creativity shine as it reignited my purpose. I had no idea a song I wrote in my Honda would go on to be my biggest record. God works in mysterious ways.
After I simply introduced himself and the song through a voice over video montage on TikTok, people took to my honest, wholesome and charismatic approach, leading the video to go viral and getting noticed. “Windows” went on to be featured on the NBAs official playlist and garnered millions of listens across streaming platforms, still being my #1 song. One of my favorite moments during the viral run of “Windows” was when Smino (one of my favorite artists), played the song on his IG live and praised the record.
That’s one of the moments I’ll never forget. I was on TikTok Live telling stories from when I worked in the psych ward and then people are in my comments telling me Smino is playing my music on IG. It felt too random to be a lie, so I went to check. There he was streaming and vibing to ‘Windows’. I was shook and honored. It was validation I wasn’t looking for but definitely needed.
Currently, I release both thought provoking content and music. I enjoy sharing with my TikTok audience about my time working in the Psych Ward and the many wild situations I faced, often leading to large life lessons. I also enjoy offering my perspective on various Hip-Hop topics, creating my own remixes of popular or personally beloved songs, and of course, offering my own music material.
I believe my purpose is to use Hip-Hop as a vessel to be as lyrically honest as I can. I try my best to bring the potency from my greatest and darkest moments to shape my words with the intent to relate and even to heal. Having a wife and child electrifies my ability to give love, peace, a reason to fight, a reason to hope. I want that for others because I find it necessary for myself. Creating music and art through that lens gives me the highest level of fulfillment. I’ve never experienced anything like it elsewhere (at least in a way I can wield and control) and I can’t see a time in life where I’m not making music or thought provoking content. My goal in all of this is to be have an impact and be wealthy enough to be financially free. Financial freedom is a great way to continue boundless creativity and increase my impact on the world. I intend to practice what I preach by creating a free world for myself and my family to live, learn, and create. I hope and intend to accomplish this level of freedom by my music, content and personhood inviting it in as a reality. I have to exude what I want to become and therefore I’m on my way.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In the year 2022, I was really growing on TikTok fast. This was during a time where brands weren’t necessarily sure how to gauge the value of influencers on TikTok and there was a lot of money floating around. I was able to get over $50,000 from brands that year. And as fast as I was growing, I only assumed that the following year would be more of the same. Additionally, I signed my first distribution deal with a company I was very excited about. I was also invited to Vidcon where I was able to see other influencers and be around the hot happenings and the who’s who.
It was my assumption that my current trajectory would show more of the same if not greater in the following years to come. Well that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only did brands stop pouring money into TikTok after influencer virality started to level out, but my distribution deal partnership did not go as planned and my monthly listeners began to plummet. I quickly realized in order to sustain any amount of growth, I was going to have to pivot and fast and it was during this transitionary period that I learned the importance of putting my art over an algorithm.
The very next year was such a financial struggle and I started to think maybe this music thing is just a hobby. Maybe I’m not meant to make a living off of my talent. Maybe the year before was as good as it was going to get, and I should just be thankful and move on. But then I realized I had placed too much value in metrics and virality and not enough in what I truly wanted to say and do. Because virality had come to me so easily before for a little to know real marketing efforts, I tricked myself into believing the fundamentals were no longer necessary. It was in that low place that I dusted off the origins of my purpose and learned additional skills like music production so that I could be more self-sufficient. I had to realize that success isn’t linear and it’s important to stay focused while moving forward.
During this time of reflection and refocus, I was able to see the possibilities of monetizing directly to consumers. I realized the importance of building a proper vessel that will endure the longevity I intend to have in this career. This was a tough task to take on while being a husband and a father. But when you love what you do, you don’t just let things get in your way. You find a way to make it happen.
How did you build your audience on social media?
The way I built my audience on social media is mainly from my storytelling. Whether in music form or sharing some of my life lessons and times working in the psych ward. I do think it’s important for music to be good and also to be able to connect with others. But above that I believe it’s most important to be authentic and unique. How many rappers do you know that also used to work in a psych ward?
Leaning into what makes me different and unique from others and it allows me to penetrate differently to my audience versus being just another artist that wants you to believe in their music career and help them go viral.
For a bit, I wasn’t sure how my Psych Ward stories could benefit me at all when it comes to my music career. They would do well and sometimes even go viral into the millions of views, bringing in tens of thousands of followers to my TikTok. But there were times when I would post my music and it just wouldn’t go anywhere.
It wasn’t until I wrote a song called “Psych Ward” where I talk about what it was like working there and the effect it had on me, That I started seeing my audience start to gravitate toward my music. I was able to showcase my storytelling ability and lyricism, while also delivering an aspect of myself that my audience really enjoys. I’m still in the beginning phases of this and I am enjoying the process of converting casual followers into fans.
Contact Info:
- Website: JayPittsmusic,com
- Instagram: Jaypitts100
- Facebook: Jaypitts
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jaypitts100?si=8zyI_HllwJGpSA1_
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/2aKkwrrjXUKq67PUA
Image Credits
diiproductions
aapvictoryfund