We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steven Lufkin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steven below.
Steven, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.
In early 2019 I had the idea to bring a handful of of indie-artists together for a music tour up the West Coast of the US. I had never planned a tour like this before but, I have a way of letting my passions drive me into things that I don’t always have the expertise for. My initial inspiration driving the tour was to bring artists together for a collaborative experience, reminding them that they don’t have to be lone-wolves in their artistic journeys. Each of these artists were a part of a subculture of faith-based music and shared many crossover listeners on Spotify. Being indie-artists, there were no labels or booking agencies at the time willing to take risk at giving them touring opportunities. I knew and believed in their talents and felt that, collectively, we could find live audiences up the coast. I had been touring as an indie artist myself beginning the year prior. After thousands of miles out on the road, touring alone in my van, I was ready and excited to get other people involved. Countless moments during the 4-months of planning, I felt the weight of the risk. I had to sell all these artists, of whom I had great respect for, on the idea to jump in a van and rough-it for two weeks from San Diego to Canada with zero budget and no real promise for an audience at any of the shows. Sounds like a typical indie-tour. Speaking of a van, I didn’t even have that at the time. I went out and purchased my first dealership-car only a few weeks prior to embarking on the journey. It was a 15-passenger, white church van. Good ol’ Vany. The dealer who sold it to me was a silver-haired schmoozer who smelled of cigarettes and hair gel. He called himself Mugsy. Taking out the loan to buy this yacht-sized and incredibly non eco-friendly gas guzzler felt like a risk. I remember driving it home that day thinking I was some kind of crazy. So the journey began. All the event pages went live and we started to see some traction online as a few tickets began to sell. I was putting a good amount of my personal investment on the line, hoping we would at least break even in the end. Showing up to the first show in San Diego was when it hit me. We had a long trip ahead of us and there were suddenly 12 people I was responsible for wrangling together to make a captivating concert. Each night, there were 5-6 different artists playing short sets of their music. The transitions were far from smooth and we were “flying by the seat of our pants” for most of the trip. Regardless, people showed up and I felt God was on our side. Friends got behind the vision and served. There were so many trials that I couldn’t have foreseen or anticipated, but we learned to cross those bridges as they came. We didn’t always have places to sleep. Hosts came through and lined their living rooms with blow up mattresses for us to respite. We had major gear issues mid-show and friends came through to loan us sound mixers and guidance. Artists got sick on the road but we locked arms and persevered. New friendships were cultivated and we felt the significance of what this tour represented not only for our personal artistic journey’s, but for the greater community of the scene we served. The tour not only broke-even financially but I was able to compensate each artist for their contribution to the movement. My exhaustion by the time we finished our final show in Vancouver threw me into a roadside motel where I slept for about 18 hours. All in all, the risk far outweighed the reward. This was a true lesson in experiential learning and I walked away from the tour with a confidence to continue taking “steps of faith” towards my “artistic dreams”. It was a true reminder not to worry or even think about tomorrow because today’s worries are enough for today. As a full-time creator and business owner, that is a principle I strive to live by (though fail at daily). It’s wise to anticipate the roadblocks before taking risks as long as it doesn’t hold us back from actually trying. When I think about that tour, I’m reminded that it could’ve easily never happened. I could have decided early on to give up or decided against even the initial dream, knowing I was ill equipped. Taking that risk ended up stretching and growing my character, skillset and faith. That is a win in my mind. Even if the tour had completely flopped, chasing experiences that lead to that kind of growth in my life will always be invaluable to me.
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?
I have been recording music and touring internationally under the artist name, LOVKN, since late 2017. I spent many years as a teenager and young 20-something dreaming about music being a full-time career. What I lacked for the longest time was a tangible vision for what that could look like. In recent years I’ve increasingly realized that having a full-time artist career has a lot to do with the practicalities and disciplines of managing your own small creative business. I am far from perfect but learning more and more about this journey as time goes on. Every artist has something to say. There is a heartbeat behind every outburst of expression. I didn’t find that for myself until I was 24 and experiencing the trial of divorce. It took a breaking within myself to unlock a sound and lyric that had emotional depth. It sent me into the trenches with my heart exposed and a piano at my fingertips. I turned to my creativity to help me process and most importantly, pray. My songs took on the form of psalms as I used the vehicle of music to ask God the hard questions while wrestling through the pains of heartbreak. Every new song I wrote in that season was dumped into a dropbox folder where it began to dust away. I woke up one day feeling convicted by this. I felt it was time to start sharing my songs online. What started with SoundCloud eventually moved over to Spotify, etc. I thought, “it’s worth it to release all of my music if even one person stumbles upon it and is transported back to a place of hope and peace through a season of trial.” I wanted my music to do for others what it did for me. If that was the light I had to offer the world, I wanted to do whatever I could to let it shine. As my audience grew, I decided to head out into the world and start touring. I spent all of 2018 and 2019 driving around the US and playing in backyards, churches, coffeeshops…anywhere I could find an open door to share my songs and story. That journey has continued and brought to where I am now. I have released 8 full length albums and a handful of EPs. I also started a network for indie artists to connect called One Big Family. We organize tours, produce albums and engage in projects that inspire indie artist collaboration.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I’m sure most have heard of it but, the 1,000 True Fans article from 2008(?) has always been a significant reference for me in my entrepreneurial artist journey. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when looking ahead and realizing how far you truly are from the larger, overarching goals in your career. A lot of times that overwhelming feeling can freeze us in place to the point where we risk giving up all together. I heard it said once, something along the lines of, “you may never be Starbucks (honestly, thank God), but you may be that mom & pop coffee shop on the corner that serves it’s small, local clientele really well and makes delicious brownies.” Basically, celebrate where you are and what you have. Don’t be discouraged by the fact that you may not have a million streams on your song. Try quickly and effectively identifying the audience that you are serving and who is currently paying attention, even if that number is relatively small. Ensure that you are making those people feel seen and valued as your customers/consumers. The whole point of the article is that you don’t actually need the mega numbers to make a sustainable creative career possible. That was and continues to be an encouraging reminder on my journey.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
For me, my mission is externally focused. I write music so that it can be shared. I write music so that it can provide a soundtrack to other people’s lives, experiences and stories. Beyond just being a soundtrack, I’m motivated by the power music and lyrics have to give language to people’s pain and process. If I can write a song that helps point people to a place of hope, peace and joy in the midst of hard-times, that is a total home-run in my book. The wild thing about art is, you can never truly predict when or how that response comes. I’ve found it’s most important to be true to yourself and as honest as you’re willing within your expression. Vulnerability is key. Make something you believe in. Make something that matters to you and don’t be surprised when you find that it matters to others as well. Don’t be afraid to go against the grain and delve into forms of expression that are unique to you. Enjoy the process of creating and don’t lose your love for it once it becomes a job. I see a lot of artists who are better off creating as a hobby because it’s no longer enjoyable once the pressures of income are behind it. That’s fair. Be honest about that with yourself and realize that even if your art isn’t a full time endeavor, it’s wildly important and a true gift from the true Creator.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.lovknmusic.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/lovknmusic
- Facebook: facebook.com/lovknmusic
- Youtube: youtube.com/lovknmusic
Image Credits
Elita Coralee, Matt Le