We were lucky to catch up with T-Ray recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, T-Ray thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been fortunate enough to be able to earn a living full-time from a career in music for the past 10yrs. I started out teaching for a year and a half and during that time I began to prepare mentally and financially to make the transition to becoming a full-time artist. It took a solid year or so before I really began to sustain my living solely from performances and artistic works without having to pull money from my savings account. I will say, that it was difficult in the beginning to understand my value as an artist, person and how it related/translated to the monetary aspect. I began to detach myself and compartmentalize the art and the business as two separate things. To perform and be in the moment is one thing but to know that your livelihood is dependent on negotiating terms and payments that will work for you is a totally different aspect that I encourage all artist to get acclimated with. It will make your life much easier in the long run. The interesting part of this journey is that there is no one set of rules that every person can apply to “make it” or “be successful”. For me, it truly has been a trial and error process of figuring out what works best for my career, journey and path.

T-Ray, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been in music my whole life but professionally, I have been a part of the industry for 10 years now. I started out as a full-time music teacher and after only a year and a half of teaching, I decided to make my transition into the world of being a full-time performer. My primary role now is as a performing and recording artist. I have had the opportunity to travel across the world and perform for various groups of people and events. From Washington, D.C. for top government officials all the way to performing for crowds in London, UK with my brother DJ RQ Away. There have been a multitude of capacities that I’ve worked in as a performer, educator and empowerment speaker. I am always working to infuse the world of empowerment speaking with my music performance to empower others to know that anything they want to accomplish is possible. It was that same methodology and thinking that pushed me to take my leap to become a full-time artist. We all have the power within us to do amazing things and it is truly up to us to tap into that power and make it a reality! I’m most proud of the fact that I have been able to build community through music, inspire others to chase their dreams (whether it’s in music or not) because was only live one life (to my knowledge anyway) and it is imperative that we do the most with our time while we are here. No matter how young, old, or how many mistakes you feel you have made in life, you are still here which means there is still time to go after everything you desire to accomplish!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I believe the best way to support artists is to show up to their shows and events, buy merch and most importantly (which is also free) SHARE THEIR CONTENT WITH OTHERS! We are living in a world that is overly saturated with social media content, with lot of noise out there. However, one way that “true fans” and people who run across music and content that they like can do to spread the word is to SHARE IT! Sharing is free and you never know how much that can impact someone’s career if the right person(s) sees it!

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Creating a solid business plan and structure. I created my first business plan 5 years after going full-time and in hindsight, one of the things I with I’d done earlier was to create that plan and a structure for my business that included actionable goals that would create tangible results. I was super busy just “grinding it out”, working to get my name out there, and pay the bills, that my energy and focus was strained (and stressed) on just those two aspects. Having a solid business plan with actionable and attainable goals will assist you in staying on track, focused and working effectively to reach your goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.traytheviolinist.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t_raytheviolinist/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TRayTheViolinist/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/t-ray-the-violinist-41619853/
• Twitter: https://x.com/TRayViolinist?s=03
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TrentsViolin/videos
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/t-ray-the-violinist

Image Credits

(1st image uploaded) Devonte Williford of Raresighting Photography