We were lucky to catch up with Jeff Miller recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, thanks for joining us today. Do you have an agent or someone (or a team) that helps you secure opportunities and compensation for your creative work? How did you meet you, why did you decide to work with them, why do you think they decided to work with you?

My band Black Crystal Wolf Kids signed with an agent in 2021 after being a band for almost 15 years. I thought that it was like a pinnacle of where we were headed as a band and was so excited to work with him. He and I ended up having very different philosophies of how the band should be making money and where to put our resources, and we split amicably earlier this year. I learned a TON about negotiation from him and am forever grateful for the experience of working with an agent — I’d love to find someone I’m a bit more aligned with in the future.

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

I do a ton of different things all in the creative/content world, and the question “what do you do” always starts with a story: I spent the early part of my career as a freelance music writer and eventually started writing about culture and celebrities as well. I was then hired to launch Thrillist in Los Angeles; I was the editor of Thrillist LA for 10 years, which I parlayed into hosting TV shows for the Travel Channel and Cooking Channel. Through that whole process I played music with my band Black Crystal Wolf Kids — the world’s first indie-rock tribute band (think: same party vibe as an ’80s or ’90s tribute, but songs like “Float On,” “Mr Brightside,” “Dog Days Are Over,” etc. These days I put a ton of my creative energy into the band as well as writing for LA Magazine, Variety, and others about food and music; I also work as a consultant, and in the recent past have taken on projects (mostly in the marketing space) for Starbucks, Postmates, and other large corporations, usually with some sort of writing or editorial or social media tilt. I love projects that have me solving a problem via content or communication between teams!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I went to this NFT-centric party in the underground/backstage area of the Forum that was one of the most over-the-top events I’ve ever been to: headliner bands like Kings of Leon and H.E.R. playing to about 300 people to celebrate NFTs in a video game or something along those lines, with speakers talking about the “revolution” that was coming from them. Dinner was steak and sushi.They clearly spent millions of dollars on this event.

I couldn’t follow any of it. Either I was dumb, or the whole thing was BS.

I don’t think I’m dumb…but maybe?

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

I think my life changed when I realized that “no” doesn’t change what your current situation is — essentially, that if you already don’t have something, and you ask for it, and you don’t get it, your life hasn’t changed at all. This goes for all aspects of life: if there’s a gig you’re interested in, and you ask, and you don’t get it, guess what: you didn’t have the gig in the first place. Nothing has changed. There’s no reason to be upset. If you’re interested in getting someone’s contact info, and you ask for it, and they’re like “nah,” there’s no reason to take that rejection personally: you didn’t have it in the first place so nothing has changed.

That one realization has both opened up so many doors and made me such a more confident person, marketer, and I think much more successful creatively as well. It makes more sense to say yes in many instances than no, and so many more doors are open when you don’t take that “no” personally.

Contact Info:

• Website: blackcrystalwolfkids.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jeffmillerla
• Facebook: facebook.com/journalistjeffmiller
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/jeffmillerla
• Twitter: twitter.com/jeffmillerla
• Youtube: youtube.com/blackcrystalwolfkids

Image Credits
Annie Lesser, Mallory Gibson Francks