We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Otto D’Agnolo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Otto below.

Otto, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

In 8th grade three friends of mine had a rock band. They also had a gig coming up at a retreat for girls when they asked me to join. I had an electric guitar but I had no experience. I hadn’t taken any lessons or learned any chords yet. So it was decided at our first and only rehearsal that I would play lead guitar, which for me at that point meant simply playing random notes while figuring out which ones were the bad ones in each song and avoiding them. A few days later at the big show (which was certainly the first time these eighth graders had ever actually seen a band) a few of my high notes made some of the girls scream. I was astonished, so naturally I played a lot of high notes the rest of the show. At that time in my life I shared a bedroom with two of my brothers. Upon returning home I woke one of my brothers, the one closest to my age, I grabbed his hand in a tight full fisted hand shake and said “I know what Im going to do with the rest of my life!” I’d experienced the power of music and the power of performance. I was hooked.

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

At this point in my career, my professional focus is split between performing on stage as a singer and guitarist, producing and recording music for my clients, doing my weekly podcast, filming and editing my reality TV show (on Amazon Prime called “The Recording Artist”) and growing my on-line subscription business at “TheRecordingArtist.com”.

My personal focus is on helping the people in my life as much as I can and in any capacity I’m able, which includes making instant mash potatoes on demand for my 17 year old daughter pretty much anytime day or night.

With 40+ years in the music business I guess you could call me an elder. As such, I occasionally find myself chatting with younger professionals about their difficulties in navigating the emotional aspects of this crazy business. In those moments I get to combine my personal and professional passions and impart some hard earned knowledge about life and love in the music business.

All aspects of my life reflect that I am a minimalist with a near allergic reaction to wasting time. This of course means when people say “we should hang out” my gut reaction is “I don’t know what you mean”. I don’t hang out. I do things. I make stuff. If you want to do something, give me a call.

As a music and multimedia content creator, I tell stories. Story telling is a major component of any artistic expression and I too am an experienced (and published) story teller; in song, novel and screenplay form. I’m also a visual story teller as I love directing, editing and post production color for TV and film.

Ultimately, working or partnering with me means attention to emotional and technical detail. If it isn’t right, it most certainly isn’t finished. There is little point in making a product (song, film, commercial…) that isn’t special in it’s own right or one that makes you feel you have to apologize for as you share it. If you and I work together, you’ll have a proud smile on your face when you invite people to see what you’ve done.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Life as an artist or creative often demands a daily work schedule that is not in sync with the typical work schedule of most of the work force. It’s really a weird benefit to the day to day activities of life, meaning I am RARELY on the road during rush hour so I have the impression that town isn’t as crowded as it is. I’m shopping when others are working so grocery stores seem less crowded for me than for your typical nine to fiver. My whole life is out of sync with the herd that is “normal life”, making my experience different. I actually live in a less crowded world than my next door neighbor. I’m often surprised by crowds or traffic if I happen to hit rush hour or encounter a big crowd.

Working as an independent creative also allows me to schedule my clients around my other needs. I can do more of what I want, when I want. This helps reduce stress in life as does living out-of-sync with the crowd. In addition, being paid to do something that you really love also reduces stress compared to those in jobs where the only real benefit is a check at the end of the pay period. These simple things add up to a life where I look and feel much younger than so many my age.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 1999, I did something I’d repeatedly said I’d never do… I became a studio owner. The opportunity presented itself, the market seemed uncharacteristically amenable so I pulled the trigger and built a big fancy studio.

By 2012, I realized that the typical business model for operating a music focused recording studio was becoming obsolete. I had to find an alternate source of income as my two main types of clients were disappearing, namely record companies and independent artists. Record companies were hiring producers with studios (not stand alone studios like mine in which their producers could work) and independent bands were increasingly recording in their own make shift studios at home. Both of my primary sources of revenue were drying up and so were everyone else’s.

Some studios became record labels or publishing companies, two administrative headaches I wasn’t willing to take on. Others began offering classes which I felt was a sort of cannibalism, creating more trained people for a market without any new jobs leaving many to open their own studios and in the process diluting the marketplace further.

I studied the way money was willing to flow from fan to artist and the ways it wasn’t. Artists too were having a difficult time as people streamed instead of purchased and far less money made its way to the artists who still had to record, hence recording at home for free became the only answer. This solution doesn’t include an experienced engineer or producer so many projects suffer, while studios suffer.

My solution was to set up cameras and charge people to watch, then pay the band to record. This way the band gets to record in a pro studio with an experienced engineer/producer AND the fans pay money AND the bands get paid. It seemed a pivot worth taking, but in 2012 the idea was a bit ahead of its time. I turned my complete studio focus on this project and after 18 months I shut it down, and the studio.

However, five years later the timing seemed more appropriate and I geared up to restart the project in my new home studio. The idea had simmered and grown but without the attempt to pivot in 2012, I would not have had the clarity of vision or confidence of my previous experience to rebuild and launch the new version in 2020. “The Recording Artist” was reborn.

The pandemic shut my team and I down just as we began but once the AZ Gov lifted the “stay at home” order we got started. Now, after our first 18 months we’re nearly profitable and our hope is to become self sufficient in our second year with no limit to what we can achieve moving forward. To participate in this project, visit www.therecordingartist.com and to watch us in a short form reality style tv show go to Amazon Prime (or Amazon.com) and search for “The Recording Artist”. You can be a part of this new endeavor by supporting our Indiegogo Campaign running through May and June at the following link – https://www.indiegogo.com/command_center/the-recording-artist-season-2#/

Contact Info:

• Website: ottod.com
• Instagram: @ottodagnolo @therecordingartistdotcom
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otto.dagnolo.
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ottodagnolo
• Twitter: @ottodagnolo @TheRecArtist
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP-KANWo0AkhAdmFJPOQS9Q

Image Credits
Carrie (Motzing) Willis