We were lucky to catch up with Jesse Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jesse thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

10,000 hours like everyone says. I regret nothing about my process and honestly wouldn’t change it.

My biggest advantage was deciding at 16-years-old that 10 years was an acceptable timeframe for reaching the level of mastery I aspired to.

By the time i was a senior in high school, I decided I wanted a label of my own and wanted to do so the independent way.

I told myself that producing instrumental music for vocalists would be my bread & butter, but I would also need to learn quite a bit about each department over time.

My faith was unshakeable. I was arrogant, even. I dropped out of Webster University purely based on their interruption of my own self-disciplinary practices. Once I got a sense of daily time management, I decided it was better to learn by working.

Soon enough I was in art galleries showing my paintings, thanks to my Webster friends. Then my assistant, who helped me hang paintings, takes me to a hookah bar where I land a series of production contracts for Strange Music, Inc. in Kansas City. I also started singing and directing music videos during this time.

Aside from networking, visual design, music registration and music production, I also needed to learn computer science and did so through my best friend Bishop. He’s a DJ and CTO who saw promise in me early. He encouraged me to study and graduate Front-End Web Development at Launchcode.

A lot of my learning can be attributed to mentorship situations like the one previously described. This includes last year’s internship at Temple Studios. I sharpened my audio engineering skills, my construction skills (drywall, paint, carpentry, ventilation, soundproofing) and management skills.

I now work at Aesthetics Records (Montreal, Remote) as an A&R offering our PR services to artists.

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.

My own music is gaining traction and finding its audience. My first solo album as a vocalist has led to many new developments in live concerts and domestic radio this year. I still fund a lot of my own shows and handle live sound/PA.

I’m finally getting a chance to get my footing in fashion design and put out my first merch line for F/W 2024-25. I’ve been designing such merchandise and scouting manufacturers for years now to help out fellow artists and businesses. Built some Shopify stores for practice and now I’m moving my own pieces.

I was also hired as an A&R for Aesthetics Records in Montreal. Despite the name, it’s a PR firm that gained a reputation for building organic, high-quality playlists, running effective ads and making visual edits for independent artists. Paired with my networking among radio DJs, I’m in a great position to help the right song into the public conscious.

Overall, I’m just BIG on education when it comes to helping artists so one day they don’t need my help or anyone else’s.

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

At the risk of exposing my vanity, creatives could focus more on educating ourselves, collaborating to patch skill gaps, and securing residual income from artistic ventures. A lot of us have the creative thing figured out, but we doubt it due to other career aspects we haven’t nourished.

An artist educated on the business of their industry is hard to take advantage of and fortifies a higher standard for the way artists are treated by larger entities.

You literally get every artist paid more, including yourself, when you choose to dignify your business through knowledge. If you’re making music for fun, you should be clear about that; otherwise, we should always be learning.

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

At Temple Studios one day, I used PVA paint to finish the drywall we had just cut and hung in Studio B. It was sticky and I wanted to change my clothes. I’d been focusing more on my appearance as a part of manifesting a new version of myself.

I wanted to change before speaking to a, frankly, legendary songwriter and executive in Studio A.

However, I was stopped by the owner, who advised me to keep my smocks on. “Dude look at you. You should keep that on, go get your guitar and play for her. Listen, a lot of artists aren’t willing to work hard and a lot of the industry can be vain. Sort that all out by being yourself and showing your work ethic on you proudly. It stands out.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://livejesselive.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/livejesselive
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@tdwwxyz?si=dn2C-m7qyi34CFuA
• Other: https://label-killer.univer.se/

Image Credits

Hannah Teverbaugh
Dredge from Clockroach
Conrad Blaise
Sean Cothrine
OptionAlt
Bino