We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tye Huntley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tye thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

There really have been 3 projects that have embodied all that I strive to stand for as a entrepreneur, creative and servant to the creative community. The 1st of those was being the featured songwriter for the Multi-Platinum selling and Grammy Award Winning R&B Group 112 on their EP (112Forever) Released in 2021. What made that project special was the fact that i was a credited writer on 8 of the 9 songs, and the project featured the song “For Us” written by me and submitted for The Grammy’s Best Song for Social Change in 2022. Another meaningful project that I am currently involved in is the Artist Development and Career cultivating of the Independent R&B Artist Ashley King along with my Production Partner Franklin T. Smith. In the process of collaborating and contributing to Ashley’s growth as an artist we have created songs that meet our listeners where they are in life’s journey. For example, Ashley’s 2nd single co-written by me, entitled “Thankful” is currently featured in a Documentary by the Emmy Award winning Director Emmai Alaquiva entitled “The Ebony Canal” featuring narration from Multi Award Winning Actor Viola Davis. The documentary “The Ebony Canal” was recently screened during The Sundance Film Festival in January of this year and is nominated for Best Short Documentary at The Pan African Film Festival. The 3rd project that has been meaningful for me and the creative community, has been my on going mentor and advocacy work & support for the Association of Independent Music Publishers, the Black Music Action Coalition and the Recording Academy (Grammy’s). It has been beyond fulfilling to share my knowledge and experience with todays and tomorrows creators and young professionals of the music community.

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?

After graduating from Collinwood Highschool in Cleveland, Ohio I moved to Atlanta Georgia. I had spent my Highschool years learning music theory, playing instruments in the concert and marching bands while teaching myself to compose my own music and write songs. Once I moved to Atlanta I worked a retail job by day and did everything I could to find my way into the music writing and recording community at night. I couldn’t be financially dependent on my family so I worked a regular job, but I made time to focus on pursuing my passion for music.

I wrote a lot of songs and met tons of singers, writers, producers and talent managers over the next several years. I never could seem to get that one big break or opportunity to make music my full time career. I also never stopped learning and progressing through the ranks at my retail job. At 20yrs old I became a Retail Manager and spent the next several years continuing to burn the candle at both ends, Business by day and Music by night. Leading retail teams within a structured multi million dollar environment during the day helped me to see how important planning, organizing and promoting were to a successful business. Gaining an understanding for business opened my eyes to how many of the music artists and managers that I collaborated with needed help bringing structure to how the administration and promotional part of their music business was being handled.

Finally, After writing a catalog of really good songs with my cousin Jamaica Smith, I was offered a production and publishing deal. The contract terms did not seem favorable to me. I asked my sister (Attorney Shay M. Lawson) who was a recent law school graduate to take a look at the contract and advise me on what she thought I should do. My sister and I agreed that signing that deal was not in my best interest. The experience of being presented with an unfavorable yet industry standard contract and the realization that so many people in the music community around me didn’t have the needed structure, administration and promotional strategy acumen needed to stay away from unfavorable deals and create their own opportunities is what inspired me to become an Advocate and Conduit to resources for Independent Artists and their teams.

I started out working with my production partner Franklin T. Smith on creating music specifically for Independent artists and developing their talents to maximize their potential and industry appeal. Once the music was made, Franklin and I found ourselves guiding and coaching artists with song promotional strategies, single and album cover art, social media presence and even sync opportunities. By this time I had become an advocacy expert as well, becoming a member of the Performance Rights Organization BMI, also a member of the advocacy organization Song Writers of North America, Association of Independent Music Publishers, The Recording Academy (Grammys) and the Song Writers Hall Of Fame.

The ability to not only create music but also help build out the way music could be supported in the market place is what drove me to start my company Smart Cadence Media. All the hands on experience and creator organization supported education about the music industry had prepared me to help others. I saw a need in the market place for the know how, the structure , strategy and even compassion for the creative community. From performing artist to producers, to television, film and commercial creatives I have been fortunate enough to create, collaborate and elevate projects of all sizes.

I’m excited about what’s next to come! I feel as though this project is the culmination of all my talents, passion and knowledge. My company, Smart Cadence’s newest endeavor is a partnership with Smith Young Talent Agency, one of the most successful talent agencies in the southeast, which also operates an LA office. Together we are building out infrastructure to create opportunities for collaborating tv, film, and music supervision clients. We are placing the emphasis on building talented creative communities that can then layer their talents to create high quality visual story telling content for a diverse consumer audience. The ideal of bringing creative individuals from music, television and film together and helping make concepts and dreams come to life for viewers around the world to enjoy, is an inspiring challenge that I’m looking forward to.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I consider myself an artist turned executive. So for me there is nothing more rewarding than creating something to share with others and helping other creatives reach their full potential.

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

The best thing society can do to support artists is to be open to new experiences, promote freedom of expression and consume the content they enjoy in a way that gives back to the ecosystem monetarily. Buy tickets to shows movies/music, patronize streaming platforms that benefit the creators whether its Youtube, Tubi, Tidal or Independent Music, Movies or Media websites.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sytalentagency.com/
• Instagram: @justcalltye
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tye-huntley-316a3642/

Image Credits

Ashley King
Kahncept
Shay M. Lawson
Franklin “Trapp” Smith
Chris Young
Isaac Hayes III