We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful John Tyler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with John below.
Hi John, thanks for joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
My first dollar as a creative was summer of 2015. I was 15 years old, a rising sophomore in High School.
At this time, I was working on my debut album titled “True Art”. I was desperate for any live shows that could book me so I can show off my upcoming songs.
Surely enough, through a connection of a friend’s mom, I got booked to play at the infamous Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Downtown Baltimore for $100.
All my youthful dreams were fulfilled. I got to showcase my talents for 1 hour for money! At this time, the most money I made in a day was $30 for cutting grass for 5 hours…. So as far as what I knew, I made it!
I still have that cashed check to this day as a souvenir.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
If you’re not familiar with me my name is John Tyler, and yes that is my real name.
I am 22 years old. I considered myself an Artist, Composer, Creative Director, Designer, & Architect. I am from & based in Baltimore, MD.
I currently manage three businesses. The first business is John Tyler Sounds LLC. This business is for my Artist & Composer career. I perform at festivals, go on tours, and release music through this business. I also work a lot in the film industry composing for commercials, full length films, short films, and even writing theme songs & jingles for variety of businesses. Ultimately this business is my main source of income. I am able to eat everyday because of it. I also have formed many partnerships through this business as well. Including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, & NoMuNoMu, just to name a couple.
My 2nd business is Love Groove Festival. I started this business in 2017 to highlight & unit Baltimore Artists of all genres of music & art. It takes place in late summer with smaller events throughout the year to identify, inspire and promote young talent in Baltimore (ages 16-30).
My 3rd business is relatively new. It’s called Love Groove Entertainment (LGE). LGE is an agency I created to be a bridge between the corporate world & Artist world. We manage & curate for live events, art exhibitions, film exhibitions, and even film scores & soundtracks. We’re currently working on a huge event with PNC Bank! Watch out for that on my IG.
If you wanted to get to know me on a personal level I love cheesecake & biking.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Growing up reading books was looked down upon as stupid. “Only losers read”. Reading also wasn’t necessary forced in the schools I went too. Everyone used to just Google search summary websites for required books in our Literature classes.
With this background I did not read my first book/novel until 2022. My god…. I have missed out on so much.
The first book I read that changed my life and perspective on the music & entertainment industry was “How to Make it in the new Music Business” by Ari Herstand. This book dissects the music industry and the life of an artist life so well that I called over 30 of my artist friends and told them to go buy this book ASAP!
The 2nd book that I read that changed my philosophy is “The Black Experience in Design” by Anne H. Berry. This book is curated to Black, Brown, & Queer designers, but the idealism of the essays, interviews, & research within the book changed how I look on art, and how I want to proceed to creating great art and leaving doors open for the next generation of artists.
I recommend everyone to check out both of these books!
I am also a big fan of documentaries, video essays & analysis, & interviews. I watch these styles of film everyday of my life. Here’s my playlist of videos for you to browse through. Enjoy!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
First and foremost, we should have art & music in schools. Due to budget cuts, art & music got cut in my Elementary School. That was a big part of my creativity just gone. Then when I got to high school, we had art classes, but zero music classes, and during half of my class, I wanted to make music.
Thinking about this on a wider scale what about kids who want to do other art mediums? Most schools don’t have other art classes such as photography, dance, theater, electronics, & graphic design.
I think as a society if we can’t afford this in our schools, we should be at least putting funding into after school programs, and make sure everyone shares about it so the word gets out.
Then after this we should be teaching the youth how to strive to their dreams. When you’re in elementary school they always ask you what you want to do when you grow up; but never ask you how you’re going to get to your dreams. Reflecting on this statement I thought about how I grew up in an all black neighborhood with mostly black people that lived out the “American Dream” by going to college, but most of them never got to see their original dream, because there’s no blueprint on how to accomplish it. You’re just told to go to college and figure it out, but now with today’s technology and accomplishments, there is no reason why every kid should have access on how to get to their dreams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://johntylersounds.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/johntylersounds?igshid=YWJhMjlhZTc=
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/intent/follow?screen_name=JohnTylerSounds
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCCNBoobXd7qjlt2EOD0ugVQ
- Other: https://poplme.co/LjxNyLni?fbclid=PAAaYi50REBiXrf3ixOm8a6qaDecvltC1jt5-ZErZdqmJz_5unnLgJ_kzROvE https://lovegroovefestival.com/ https://lovegrooveent.com/
Image Credits
Brandon Armstrong Jill Fannon