We were lucky to catch up with Michaela Jordan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michaela, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

My whole career has been about taking risks. I grew up in a small backwoods town but always knew I wanted to pursue music. In fact, I wasn’t much good at anything else. I tended to question authority a lot in my early jobs; a foreshadowing that I was supposed to be running my own company.

By the time I left at 23 years old I had $400 and my cat to my name and went to Philadelphia. All I knew was that I had experience teaching music lessons and that I was withering away doing anything else. I started teaching at and, subsequently, running music schools and after school music programs in Philly. It was through these I first became familiar with Ropeadope Records. Ropeadope is the biggest label in the Philly area and one of the most respected jazz and soul labels in the world. They have an internship program that selects 4 people out of thousands of applicants every year. These are typically reserved for college students in prestigious music programs. When these slots opened up I not only wasn’t in one of these music programs but I wasn’t in college at all; having to choose years before between going to college and paying rent. But, I decided to take a chance and apply anyway. On Christmas eve I was told I got the internship. From there I began working one on one with the CEO of Ropeadope. It was intimidating but I ended up staying on and working with them long past when the internship was set to end.

As things with Ropeadope wound down I knew that there wasn’t much left for me to do in Philly and I knew I wanted to work for a record label and manage artists. Meanwhile, my own music career was beginning to take off. The blues trio I had been playing as, The Sea Tease, was gaining traction as I played gigs around the Philadelphia area. So, true to form, I took another risk and decided to move to Los Angeles.

I secured a short lived job with a record label out here that was less than ideal but it helped me learn the ins and outs of an industry I was attempting to build a life in. I was working that job when I was asked, days after moving to Los Angeles, to play my first gig in town. I was offered a coveted slot at The Whisky a Gogo. I had grown up listening to all of the music that had passed through that venue so playing it was a huge opportunity and fantasy. what happened next was something out of a music biopic.

I began preparing for my gig at The Whisky a Gogo and knew that I wanted complete control of the sound. So, I decided to play the Whisky a Gogo acoustic. As I took the stage there was some confusion, it was just me and a guitar after all; unheard of in this establishment. However, little did I know, the audience, which was filled with musicians and producers, would consider it ambitious and bold. As I got of the stage I was approached by producer Fernando Perdomo to make my debut record. I, of course, immediately took the opportunity. Word of my project, The Sea Tease, began to spread as I became a full fledged member of the Los Angeles music scene.

Meanwhile, my job at the record label I had begun working at became more stressful than I could handle. So, three months after my Whisky a Gogo gig in January 2020 (fateful timing) I left that job to start Golden Poppy Music.

Golden Poppy was different than anything anyone had done before. It was a company that offered all of the services of a label and management to musicians but left them in complete control in all creative and business decisions; a risk many companies did not want to take. I decided that, instead of taking ownership of an artist’s work or a percentage of their earnings I would charge a flat hourly rate.

The artist would decide on the number of hours per week. The artist would determine what services they required. The artist could come and go as they pleased. Risk. Risk. Risk.

But something magical happened in that sea of chances I took: Golden Poppy began to work. Despite a pandemic and despite the unorthodox methods it began to take off.

Now, three years later, I have released my second album as The Sea Tease and have played internationally. Golden Poppy has clients all over the country and is thriving.

All because I decided to trust my intuition and take risk after risk.

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?

My work is separated into two parts: my solo music project, The Sea Tease and my company, Golden Poppy Music.

The Sea Tease is a guitar shredding siren song described as Led Zeppelin meets Adele. I have performed internationally, highlights including The Troubadour, The Whisky a Gogo and Viper Room in Los Angeles and Club Dauphine in Amsterdam. The debut album, Resilient, produced by and featuring Fernando Perdomo on bass, has gained international radio play and press. Resilient was followed by a live album as well as two singles, a cover of Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin and Slipping, an original. This was followed up by the singles, Slipping, One Step (featuring Prince trumpeter and horn arranger Philip Lassiter), and Pills, Lines & Patterns in anticipation of the sophomore album Come Home To Yourself. Come Home To Yourself has been featured in Psychedelic Baby and on countless playlists. I have also been featured as a guitarist and vocalist on Ram On, a tribute and rerecording of Paul McCartney’s Ram featuring Denny Seiwell and sanctioned by McCartney himself. I had the privilege of performing with Denny at the Ram On release show at The Troubadour.

Golden Poppy is an artist focused alternative to a traditional record label or management deal. Golden Poppy charges a flat hourly rate for our services; the amount of hours per week is set by the artist based on their needs We provide an artist the tools and support they need to succeed in the music industry. However, unlike a traditional 360 record label, management structure or anything else that provides similar services, the power and rights to all of the work remains with the artist. This system was brought about by 15 years of experience in the music industry as an artist and working for various record labels. Creating a way to provide artists with the vital services that they required without the dilemma of them sacrificing the rights to their music, their royalties or their performance fees. We are an international company serving artists from LA to Nashville to Amsterdam and London.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I feel that non-creatives do not understand the very deep, primal need that we have to create and be creative. There is a comfort and security of working 9-5 and a lot of folks can compartmentalize that type of work and live a life outside of it. When you are a creative it just feels wrong putting your time and energy into anything that isn’t your craft. Anything I did outside of music never lasted long, it wasn’t because I wasn’t a good worker or didn’t want to do a good job, it was just so unaligned with how I functioned and far from where I needed to be.

Creatives do a lot of work for free, we put more time than most folks realize building a business to try and make a living off of our work. We are playing with a very cosmic thing when we create. The need to express ourselves in physical form is something that resides deep within us. Once you crack that box open you can’t put it back. Creation becomes a need, not a want.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Value art. Period. Society expects art to be given away for free and I truly wish we lived in a society that allowed us to survive by doing so. But, unfortunately, to keep creating we need to make some sort of living. So much unpaid time and energy goes into what we do and folks need to understand that we are charging what is fair. If you have the extra $20 to go to a local artisan to buy a gift instead of Target then do so. Support creatives in anyway you can by paying for their goods and services instead of going for mass production at every opportunity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.goldenpoppymusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenpoppymusic/
• Other: Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelad567/ The Sea Tease: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theseatease/ Website: https://www.goldenpoppymusic.com/theseatease.html

Image Credits
Pierre Robert Boston Schultz