It's been over three months since the last edition of the newsletter. It's not what I planned, but February came and went in a hurry, and March felt like I was making up for what I didn't finish up in February.

My planned cadence for this was once a month, and I broke that cadence. Once a month seemed feasible when I came up with it, but it's still something I though up out of thin air. As structured as I tend to be, sometimes it's good to challenge that structure with a bit of chaos. I also took a week off from social posting to be able to complete this edition. I'm testing out different ways of keeping this project alive, but from a place that takes the reality of life into account.

No surprise here, but I changed up the slogan to the newsletter from something that feels like a constant sales pitch, to something that better describes much of what I'm talking about in these periodic digests you signed up for. From "Connecting your Art to your Audience" to "On Craft and Creativity," which is less in your face.

On Craft and Creativity

The point is that I'm not here to share strategies that get you selling more of your art (though, I may delve into that at times.) I find it more interesting and beneficial to become familiar with the many faces and stages of the creative process. Appreciating this process from different perspectives will hopefully influence your unique process, which should eventually improve that bottom line (a.k.a. financial profit).

What I am here for is related to the concept of craft, which I touched upon in the last edition of the newsletter. Sometimes you have to forget about the algorithm, and being an efficient producer of content 24/7. Craft is about embracing your art and the creative process you've built; allowing it to be confusing and inefficient. There are times that you need to slow down and reflect on what you're creating so that you can come up with stronger ideas. This builds a healthier relationship with the craft that you are living and breathing. This is dedication to and respect for your art.

It Came in Three Parts…

It's been a challenging start to the year for me, but it is what sparked a simple (layered) idea that changed my course for the better. It came in three parts.

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First, I spent the better part of my professional work in the music industry chasing the next shiny thing. In part, this is because that shiny thing was distracting and new, it seems logical that I would go after it. Yet, the main contributor in not staying on one thing too long was my fear of failure.

I didn't know it at the time, but this fear is what influenced so many of my decisions early on. It wouldn't allow me to dig deeper. Instead, it motivated me and convinced me to shift directions instead of shifting gears. Avoiding the pain of failure allowed me to float along life without a real plan, without a deeper connection to my craft.

In more concrete terms, I've left cities, I've quit being an audio engineer, I've dropped out of projects, I've given up on mixes, I've missed so many opportunities, all to avoid the pain of failure. The truth is that if you're consistently working on an idea, you will encounter failure and you shouldn't avoid it. This is where you come face to face with the real value of the idea you've been building on. Is it all worth it? Keep digging deeper through the failure, and you'll find out.

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Second, all last year was an experiment on what changes would occur if I began to post online more often. What I've experienced has been surprising, challenging, confusing, and magnificent all at the same time. I can get into the details about this at a later time, but I want to focus on the fact that last year was all about building this foundation for my online presence.

Eventually, laying the groundwork must cease, sowing the seeds indefinitely can become a trap if you let it. There is a time for building and creating quietly, and another for action and connection with others. Enter the harvest phase, when you begin to leverage the foundation you built. This is when you realize all of the work you previously put in that results in success.

The external change was slight, but it was a big shift in my mind. It is now about approaching opportunities with this type of focused, dynamic energy. The difference is noted, and it is already attracting the right type of projects, and the collaborators that will help me achieve them.

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Third, earlier on in my career as I began to diversify the services that I offer to artists, I didn't realize this would be a hindrance for actually selling my services.

I'm an audio engineer, a mastering engineer, a music publisher, a writer, a music distributor, a consultant, it was all too confusing as it relates to how I was presenting myself to the world. Each time, I was trying to guess which service each prospective client might be interested in. Let's just say, it was confusing to me and much less convincing to them.

This year, in the pursuit of effective clarity, I chose an umbrella term that all my services fit under... Artist Development. This suddenly cleared my path and it took the guess work out of prospecting. What do I do? Artist Development, and these are the services I offer. This simplified approach now puts the ball back into the prospect's court. Why should I be guessing if the client is the one that knows best?

This simple perspective shift also allowed me to lead a less fragmented life. I can mix a song, but also send out songs from my publishing catalog to a sync opportunity, or prepare a new release to be digitally distributed. These can all co-exist, and it doesn't make me less effective with any of them. It actually allows me to transfer valuable knowledge from one area into the other. This is what makes my approach unique, no one has experienced my professional journey in the same way that I have.

This all may seem particular to my situation and maybe you don't see how it can apply to you. Though, if you give yourself sometime to reflect on your particular situation, I can almost guarantee that you will find a way to apply one or more of these concepts. I'm not sharing this as an instruction book that you follow and then stash away or discard as trash. It's for you to distill and make it your own. The trick is in creating the intentional space to be able to reflect. This is where you will uncover the slight (or substantial) modifications to your creative process that will guide you ever forward.

The Latest and the Greatest

Just a few client updates from this second quarter for Lucesca Publishing:

• Montañera will be sharing the stage with Juana Aguirre on May 3rd at the Moth Club in London as a part of La Linea - The London Music Festival.

• partywatcher is set to drop his newest single, ESO YA NO VA, in just a few days and he'll be performing it live for his Chicago folks shortly thereafter at Margarita Fest on May 16th - 18th. It was supposed to drop April 16th, but was postponed due to the Jet Set tragedy in Early April in the Dominican Republic. Pre-save the single HERE.

• Doug Lanza (a.k.a. Rookie Move) and I are set to begin a new production with another Florida artist in mid-May. Stay tuned for updates on this!

• Fvck Error recently put on a funky and energetic show alongside pixelboy - Check the recap HERE!

Some internal updates ↴

• I recently began working with a new sync rep for the publishing catalog. His name is Jeremiah Moss, and he's also a music supervisor on the rise. It's nice to have a partner dedicated to this space who is showing some love to the songs and exposing them to real sync opportunities in the industry.

• The two artists interviews I did for The Tonearm are ready to be enjoyed. The first is with the music producer and multi-instrumentalist from São Paulo, Brazil, Zé Nigro. The second is with Daniel Michel, member and producer of the ten-piece Afrobeat band from Bogotá, Colombia, La BOA.

• In Late February, I was chosen to be a judge for the artist presentations in this year's Measure of Music conference. As expected, each presentation was fast and furious, but there was such good energy and collaboration among the participants that show up from all over the world.

• In the last edition, I mentioned I'd started exploring pCloud and Bridge Audio as options for showcasing my publishing catalog. Bridge Audio didn't turn out as efficient as expected, but I still use it to generate ideas for the descriptive tags added to the metadata in each song. On the other hand, pCloud has proven to be a formidable replacement to my former Dropbox account. It does all of the things Dropbox is known for, for a fraction of the price, and I've been using it to create branded links for the sync briefs that we're pitching to.

• I finally created Lucesca's own Spotify account so that I could create the 2025 sampler. These are all picks from the publishing catalog. Let me know what you think - Sampler link

Lastly, some of the top recent finds ↴

• This is more of a local to the Tampa Bay area kind of find, but Stay Tuned Records officially opened up this month on Record Store Day in the heart of downtown Tarpon Springs. I'm highlighting and celebrating this one because its lovely owners are Doug Lanza (Rookie Move strikes again!) and his girlfriend, Aimee. If you're ever in the area, be sure to pass through.

• My top radio show was Pacific Notions on Seattle's KEXP, but I happened to land on it when Albina Cabrera (who hosts El Sonido on the same station) was filling in as guest DJ. Her selections were centered on Latin and Central America and they were phenomenal. The link to her show will be active in the archive for only a bit longer. Check it HERE!

• This edition finds me stuck on The Marias latest single "Back to Me." It's not my usual song to have on repeat, but there is something catchy about this one and it caught me off guard.

• There were a handful of movies that I wanted to recommend, but I cut the list down to the top three:

• On Body and Soul - I had this one in my list for a long time, and it was such a quirky and cool watch once I gave it the time of day.

• I'm Tim - I'd heard the Avicii doc was a tough one to watch, but I didn't expect to get as affected by it as I did. It was a heartbreaking story about a phenomenal talent gone too soon.

• Jojo Rabbit - You can't take things too seriously to enjoy this one. I'd label it a dark comedy set in the midst of WWII Germany.

• I finally completed Stephen King's Dark Tower series and I wholly recommend it, but many of you may not like it. I was a hater until I encountered this series. If you're already a fan, then definitely dive in. If you're not, maybe give the first book in the very long series a try and see if it catches your attention.

If interested or just curious about any of my artist development services, whether it be audio engineering, music publishing, consulting, or anything in between, please don't hesitate to contact me. If we follow each other on social media, just send me a DM. You can also send a reply to this email or book a date on my calendar HERE.

‘til next time! Abrazos!