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

Tyler , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I played guitar growing up and played in church a bit but sports was my whole life. I earned a football scholarship to South Alabama and quickly realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I came home and worked in the restaurant/bar business for a while before picking guitar back up. Hanging with local songwriters I was suddenly very intrigued by this idea that you could make money playing local shows and not have to work as much at your actual job. After I played my first show it was over with, I was hooked. After I wrote my first song and performed it live I was REALLY hooked. I had found my “calling”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Music found me, working in bars and venues. I’m naturally a song writer, that’s the part that just kind of fell out of me and something I chase rather than have to work really hard for. Singing is another story, I had to work really hard for that. I’ve been at this for going on 13 years and I’m just now to the point where I feel really confident as a singer. I didn’t start until I was 19 and was not very good back then. My true friends will tell you. But the vocal cords are a muscle and if you work them out consistently, eventually you will begin to have control of them and your singing gets better and better. But in the end I think I’m just proud of the music I put out and the fact that it’s real & honest music. I try to write songs people can relate to feel something. There’s a lot of rinse, wash, and repeat going on in music today and I’m just trying to be my own artist and follow my own path.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Supporting artists is so much easier than most people realize. First of all, support live music! Simply go to shows and stop complaining about the cover charge to get in. Most places it’s $10 to get in and see TWO bands, yet it’s over $100 to go see one mainstream act these days. Secondly follow bands you like on social media, if you’re at a show and are digging the band that’s playing, right then look them up on your go-to social media app and click follow, easy. Lastly, streams. Streams are what makes the music world go round, stream their music but also click follow on Spotify or whoever you use. This way all of their new releases go straight to your playlists and how many followers you have is really what labels are paying attention to.

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 think most people believe that artists are basically just homeless people that can somehow afford rent haha. I know plenty of musicians that make $35-50k a year. There are plenty out there making $100k a year and you’ve never heard of any of them. It’s very doable. You get out of it what you put in just like anything else in life, you treat it like a business. When you’re starting out you won’t make much, just crumbs. But as you build your name up you can start asking for more money and be travel ready so you can spread your reach and grow your market. I had a great friend make this comparison recently, It takes doctors 15-20 years to really start making any money and get out of debt. It’s the long game for the big payoff, music is no different.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tylertisdalemusic.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tylertisdaleofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tylertisdalemusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tylertisdale_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpE6RT00IbXDvQikuPi5mIw

Image Credits
Rob Walker Bud Gambrell Zachary Hart