We were lucky to catch up with Jesse Thomas 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.

I fell into songwriting by writing songs for no one but myself. It was pure creation without the noise of “industry standard.” It’s a great place to start because you can learn a lot about yourself and your natural instincts in this phase. After a year or so of doing this, I started to share my music with my friends and peers, which led me to open mics, which led me to collaborators. The collaboration process is where a lot of learning comes in. If you keep your ego in check, you can learn a lot from other writers, and their perspectives. At the beginning I was only writing with one producer, and looking back I wish I collaborated with as many people as possible while I was starting out. It wasn’t until I shifted gears from artist to songwriter before I started working with a lot of other people, and doing 4-5 sessions a week. It’s like bootcamp writing with and for other people, and a key moment for every songwriter. You get your 10,000 hours and sharpen your skill. You learn tips and tricks and how essential creating safety and vibe is. Networking is essential, and collaborating is a great way to do that. Once you do it enough, you can really hone in on your people, your sound, your overall signature skill. Once you find that, you’re golden.

I think I could have gotten success sooner had I not let my ego get so involved early on. It’s a weird thing being a artist. You have to stand in the face of so much adversity, think the impossible is possible, and you’re going to be the one who does this job everyone wants but no one can get. You have to almost have an inflated ego. Once you get to the big leagues though, you are with a bunch of people just as crazy as you are, and the ego shit doesn’t work anymore. You have to really look at these people as your peers, and they all probably hold some amazing information to help you become better if you shut up and listen. It took me a good 4 years to learn this, and I lost a lot of great opportunities because I thought I was above them or I believed my own hype, and wanted to blame other people for my lack of success. Now I’ve accepted that its a true honor and privilege to be doing this everyday. I’m so grateful to be in the room and am always open, non judgemental, and giving my extreme focus to the art. The songs are better, the sessions are more fun, and people want to be around me now!

Jesse, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Jesse Thomas. I’ve been a professional songwriter for 8 years, and am signed to Brill Building Publishing. My songs have been nominated for 3 Grammys, I have a platinum record with Martin Garrix feat. Troye Sivan with 600 million streams, and my work has accumulated over a billion streams. In my spare time I curate and host Jesse & Friends, LA’s only monthly songwriter showcase, feature some of the biggest writers of all time like Michael Pollack, Billy Steinberg, Bonnie Mckee, Sara Hudson, Rick Nowels and more.

I got into songwriting because my ex girlfriend was a musician. I would mess around at the house, and learned to write songs watching her. When I started going to open mics, it was because my roommate heard me fucking around in the bedroom. Open mics helped me start to feel like an actual musician, and I started meeting other people in my position. That grew into an artist career that I pursed for 8 years. Once that flatlined I switched gears into songwriting. I put a year into making a great folder of my work, and then started sending it to everyone I knew. I was lucky enough to get some great meetings with some publishers and was eventually offered multiple publishing deals. I chose Warner Chappell and was thrusted into 5-7 sessions a week, and just like that I was a professional songwriter. I worked with Jessica Simpson early on, and Beyonce’s A&R was at the session, and it was that moment I knew my life was different. (The song came out too!)

Since then I’ve never really looked back. I’ve learned a lot, and I think today I am a writer who excels at lyrics and also pulling emotion and truth out of artists. I’ve learned that gratitude is key, and having fun is essential. Working with people who support you and give you life. Not getting caught up in the rat race, and to focus on the art. I’ve learned to raise my own bar, and take the craft seriously.

I started Jesse & Friends when I noticed there was no where for these incredible people I was working with to play. Songwriters didn’t really have a stage, like in other cities like Nashville. I started inviting people to come up and play a few songs they wrote for other people, and the first show sold out in a few days. People loved the concept, and it was songwriting coming to see the shows. It quickly became into this little hidden songwriters hang, and even though we’re on our 8th year, we are in a bigger venue, and we still sell out every show, it still feels like a little gem. A place we can all hang out, get inspired, network, vibe, and celebrate being in this crazy industry together.

On top of the monthly live showcase, the Jesse & Friends social media page has become a hub for our community. With weekly tips from some of the biggest writers in the game, music memes, live songwriter video mashups, and more. Eventually I want to grow it into a label, a podcast, a center for advocacy, and I plan on writing a songwriting book as well!

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

I think the best thing we can do as a society for artist is to tap into your gratitude when consuming music. Music is such a gift to peoples lives. It makes movies better, it makes driving better, sex better, vibing better… it literally opens us up and teaches us about ourself, and makes us feel less alone. I think it’s safe to say it is incredibly valuable to our lives, but the monetary value continues to greatly diminish with streaming, not to mention, the payout imbalance that plagues our industry as well. Unfortunately, people have gotten so used to the convenience of streaming, we forget to slow down and think about the human beings and the work that went into creating the art. Maybe this gratitude and appreciation could lead to action or advocacy.

Mostly I think songwriters are waiting for someone to save them, when really it is going to be an inside job. There are so many powerful people profiting off of our work, that I believe the only way to really make sweeping changes, is to take our power back, and remind all these people where they are getting their product from. Without a union, it seems challenging to organize a movement like this, but I’m hoping with how dire the situation has gotten, our hero within the community will emerge.

Songwriters are really struggling and something needs to change. I think a lot of people don’t realize what’s a stake here. The greed is not only hurting us, but it’s hurting music in general. When your constantly struggling to stay afloat, it’s hard to slow your mind down enough to write a hit. You also stop writing what you love, and what you think you need to write, so everything on the radio starts sounding the exact same because everyone is playing it safe out of survival. I think if people knew that them mindlessly agreeing to free music, is actually making the sonic playground sound cheap. I think we could have a musical renaissance if songwriters had a nice little cushion in the bank.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

As a young artist and songwriter I used to reach out to the wrong people. Like, if you’re a songwriter, and you want a publishing deal, the logical thing to do would be to try to hit up a bunch of publishers and tell them to sign you. Well, publishers rarely will listen to a no-name writer, and if they do listen, signing a writer without big cuts would be too risky and lot of work to get into rooms. It would be better to look up the artists you want to work with, all levels. Look up who made the song, find their instagram, and hit them up for sessions. Send them two of your best songs, tell them you dig their work and you’d love to get a session. Be chill and keep it short. Also don’t ask them out for coffee. So many people ask me to coffee now, and while I’m grateful, I don’t have time, and what will I get out of the coffee? What are you bringing to the table? Your time is better spent starting with something that brings value, like a great song. The goal is to prove to these people you are worthy of their time, and nothing will speak louder than a great song.

Hit up these people on DM, or email, or whatever, and do it to as many people as possible until your calendar is full. When the sessions are over, get another date. Hustle. Don’t go to the top of the food chain and ask for a deal. Make a name for yourself, get good at your craft, prove your value by getting cuts, ect. The publishers will find you, and you’ll get a much better deal when they are begging you instead of the other way around.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jesseandfriends.club
• Instagram: @jesse.and.friends
• Tiktok: @jesse.and.friends

Image Credits
Camron Driskill, Rommel Nunez, Justin Higuchi