“In this age of AI and, you knew I was going to go here at some point, so how can an artist differentiate themselves now that AI can basically create music with the push of a button? Like, it’s hard. It was hard before, and now we have this to worry about. I think you touched on it maybe indirectly earlier in the connection, the spirit of creating and being a human. I think it is the dopest superpower that we have, and I do believe that everyone has it. It’s just, you know, what level it’s in, but just because it’s not, like, music or visual art or dance or something doesn’t mean you’re not creative.” – Jastin Artis

This episode is the second half of my conversation with artist, producer, and creative sound leader and founder of A&R in Your Pocket Jastin Artis, as we talk about what musicians need to know when they’re starting out as professionals, whether record deals still matter in the digital music scene, and how AI, from digital assistants to licensed voice cloning, is reshaping the industry.

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(00:00) – Navigating the Fine Print

We start the second half of our conversation with a focus on some of the lingo of the music industry, such as PRO, short for performance rights organization, payments. “That’s how you get paid royalties on the back end,” Jastin explains. “You might hear that phrase, right? For when your stuff is played on these different avenues and, you know, obviously streaming.” We talk about split sheets and how payments are divided in a group, and the importance of figuring things out ahead of time. “It’s easy if it’s just you, which I know most of us are often doing, right?” he says. “But you have your producer, maybe you have another songwriter, that’s three people. You wanna make sure you have your equally splits or whatever share… you guys agree to. Do not do that after the song is out.”

(13:13) - Creativity in the Age of AI

The conversation shifts to building the foundation for musical success early and the challenge of starting out in the industry. “There’s people obviously we’ve seen in music that are A-list artists because they did have the team,” he tells us. “But if you talk to them in the beginning, they didn’t know what they were doing. They felt like they could figure it out, and they did.” He shares how AI has changed his workflow and approach to music, and his confidence that the human touch isn’t going away anytime soon. “We still have to just believe in, like, the human aspect of what we do,” Jastin says. “That can’t ever go away. I don’t care, regardless of what is happening now, what could happen. It just, and maybe that’s just my belief, that’s just where I’m gonna keep my eyes on the prize.”

(28:55) - Human Connections in Music

Our discussion comes to a close as Jastin tells us how listeners can get in touch and what he’s working on right now, including a leadership coaching program. “It’s a 12-week program that’s centered around being sync-ready,” he explains. “Like, that’s a big thing that I’m leading with, and we’ll continue now that I’ve seen how it works. And, I know I’m still learning too, but man, I’m getting paid for beats that I made in, like, 2006.” He also shares his latest musical successes, including his upcoming album. “There will be new music coming,” he says. “Probably not by the end of [2025], but… I’m working on my thirteenth album. That’s kind of like, wow, I can’t even believe I’m saying that.”

Episode Summary

Jasten shares his insights on forming a strong musical career foundation.
Our discussion on how AI and the digital music scene has affected musicians.
Jasten’s thoughts on the necessity of human creativity amidst AI growth.

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