WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.800 I think my journey now is to kind of break 2 00:00:02.840 --> 00:00:07.320 out of that box of bedroom pop or indie pop. 3 00:00:07.520 --> 00:00:10.440 I think that no matter where you started making music, 4 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.520 you could still be a pop star or a rock star. 5 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:19.480 From media and PRX. 6 00:00:19.520 --> 00:00:20.600 It's Latino USA. 7 00:00:20.840 --> 00:00:25.360 I'm Maria Jojosa today a dive into bedroom pop, a 8 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:29.400 genre where young LATINX artists are breaking new ground and 9 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:37.040 reclaiming their place in the music industry. Even if you 10 00:00:37.080 --> 00:00:40.920 haven't heard of the term bedroom pop, you'd probably recognize 11 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:43.080 the music in this genre pretty quickly. 12 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:45.279 What's it kinda take me now? 13 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:51.080 Bedroom pop music is dreamy and nostalgic, often acoustic, with 14 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:52.120 minimal production. 15 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:55.680 Don't tell me what it's kinda take me now. 16 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:59.800 It's not meant to sound like a massive studio production. 17 00:01:00.400 --> 00:01:04.399 In fact, bedroom pop got its name because of its origins. 18 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:08.920 Most times this music is produced by independent artists from 19 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:15.880 their actual homes and their bedrooms. Do it yourself music 20 00:01:15.880 --> 00:01:18.119 phenomenons like this aren't new. 21 00:01:18.600 --> 00:01:19.319 House music. 22 00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:24.320 Garage, grunge, even hip hop began in garages and backyards 23 00:01:24.360 --> 00:01:29.600 and underground parties outside of the mainstream. It's where young artists, 24 00:01:29.600 --> 00:01:32.840 often artists of color, were able to experiment with new 25 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:36.480 sounds on their own. In twenty twenty one, up and 26 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:40.720 coming artists are continuing this legacy in bedroom pop. A 27 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:44.679 lot of young stars today like Billie Eilish, Cliro and 28 00:01:44.800 --> 00:01:49.840 Rex Orange County, got their start in bedroom pop, and 29 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:53.120 as the genre's gone more mainstream, a lot of young 30 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.800 La the Next musicians are making a name for themselves 31 00:01:55.800 --> 00:02:00.280 in this space too, the Marias, Omar Apollo, Google, just 32 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:06.680 to name a few. But some artists say this glamorizes 33 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:11.080 an actual struggle. When you don't have access to resources 34 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:14.080 or connections, you don't really have a choice but to 35 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.760 make music from your room, and the bedroom pop phenomenon 36 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.440 can obscure the fact that a lot of these artists 37 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:25.360 are making music this way out of necessity. It impacts 38 00:02:25.440 --> 00:02:29.880 a lot of musicians of color who are historically underrepresented 39 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:33.239 and lack support in the industry, even when they're often 40 00:02:33.320 --> 00:02:37.079 helping to pioneer these hot new genres, like many Latinos 41 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:42.720 and Latinas are doing today. With bedroom pop producer Daniela Teo, 42 00:02:42.760 --> 00:02:46.840 Garson spoke with a few LATINX musicians about the challenges 43 00:02:46.880 --> 00:02:50.000 that come with being independent artists of color and their 44 00:02:50.040 --> 00:02:54.400 experiences is rising bedroom pop stars Daniela is going to 45 00:02:54.440 --> 00:02:55.239 take it from here. 46 00:03:00.600 --> 00:03:02.480 I don't know, I don't know. 47 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:04.120 I don't know. 48 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:07.040 This is Victor Internet. 49 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:10.280 I don't know, I don't know. 50 00:03:10.600 --> 00:03:13.400 They're a young artist who started out by using YouTube 51 00:03:13.600 --> 00:03:17.480 to teach themselves how to play music. That's not their 52 00:03:17.480 --> 00:03:21.639 real name. By the way, Victor's Advanthus adopted Internet as 53 00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:25.560 their stage name after deciding to become a musician. Today, 54 00:03:26.040 --> 00:03:29.320 performing as Victor Internet, they have millions of streams on 55 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:33.840 Spotify and tour all over the US. Victor, who uses 56 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:36.880 they them pronouns, makes the kind of music that makes 57 00:03:36.880 --> 00:03:40.640 you feel seen, touching on the highs and lows of 58 00:03:40.760 --> 00:03:44.600 love and life. Their melodies make you want to dance 59 00:03:44.720 --> 00:03:46.160 and cry at the same time. 60 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:49.680 I think it either feels like an anonymous love letter 61 00:03:50.480 --> 00:03:54.320 or it feels like laundry, like fresh out of the dryer, 62 00:03:54.480 --> 00:03:56.400 and it just smells really good like linen. 63 00:03:57.080 --> 00:03:58.480 I think that's how my music is like. 64 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:04.080 Victor is first generation Mexican American from the South Side 65 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:07.800 of Chicago. Both in their music and on social media, 66 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:11.520 they've been outspoken about their heritage along with their queerness 67 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.120 and their mental health journey. They've also been outspoken about 68 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.359 their struggles making it as a full time musician, and 69 00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:20.960 as passionate as they are about it, it hasn't been 70 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:25.080 an easy journey. Victor didn't have any formal music education. 71 00:04:25.640 --> 00:04:27.919 Their passion for music started with their family. 72 00:04:28.400 --> 00:04:31.039 They grew up in the church, and both my parents 73 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:34.799 sing or play an instrument. My dad is a maiachi, 74 00:04:34.880 --> 00:04:37.360 so I grew up around him playing the trumpet, and 75 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:39.600 my mom is a singer or so I just kind 76 00:04:39.640 --> 00:04:40.479 of grew up around that. 77 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.680 But even with their parents' musical backgrounds, Victor had no 78 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:47.120 idea where to begin if they wanted to do this 79 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:50.159 for a living. They couldn't afford to pay for music 80 00:04:50.200 --> 00:04:54.200 classes or high tech software and equipment. They didn't have 81 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:57.560 any connections to music labels in the US or any 82 00:04:57.560 --> 00:04:59.760 other kind of foot in the door to the industry. 83 00:05:00.440 --> 00:05:02.880 So Victor took matters into their own hands. 84 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:06.320 That was born the year two thousand and computers were 85 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:11.080 rolling out and becoming really big thing. So I decided 86 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:14.919 to teach myself through YouTube. I didn't go to school 87 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.440 for music production or anything like that. I just taught 88 00:05:17.520 --> 00:05:18.840 myself through the Internet. 89 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:23.200 Victor learns how to use digital audio workspaces. Those are 90 00:05:23.320 --> 00:05:28.000 music production software used to compose, record, arrange, mix, and 91 00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:32.680 master audio. The first digital audio workspace that Victor used 92 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:36.680 was fl Studio, and they eventually moved over to using ableton. 93 00:05:37.520 --> 00:05:40.719 They torrented the software off of illegal websites and would 94 00:05:40.760 --> 00:05:43.159 borrow their friend's microphone to record their music. 95 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:45.640 I thought that was cool, like the fact that I 96 00:05:45.640 --> 00:05:48.240 can learn the things that are taught in schools that 97 00:05:48.400 --> 00:05:50.719 people pay a lot of money for. I just thought 98 00:05:50.760 --> 00:05:53.400 it was really cool that anyone could just hop on 99 00:05:53.440 --> 00:05:54.880 YouTube and learn that stuff. 100 00:06:04.960 --> 00:06:08.039 Victor was about seventeen years old when they started posting 101 00:06:08.080 --> 00:06:12.000 their own original songs online on streaming sites like SoundCloud 102 00:06:12.080 --> 00:06:15.599 and YouTube. They journeyed into underground stardom at around the 103 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:18.200 same time as other artists who were doing the same thing. 104 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:34.240 FU For the artists that were making music this way, 105 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:38.040 the process felt really democratic. You just make your own 106 00:06:38.080 --> 00:06:40.640 work and upload it online, letting the rest of the 107 00:06:40.640 --> 00:06:42.240 world decide if it likes you or not. 108 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:48.839 There was this era on SoundCloud back in twenty seventeen 109 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:53.200 of people like me who also just like learned online 110 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.960 or just started out in their room with like really 111 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:59.040 cheap gear, and that scene was blowing up. 112 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:01.320 We all grew up together just doing the same thing. 113 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:10.680 I was seventeen years old at around the same time 114 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.960 that Victor was. I wasn't uploading music to SoundCloud, but 115 00:07:15.080 --> 00:07:17.440 I was on the receiving end of this movement they're 116 00:07:17.440 --> 00:07:20.640 talking about. I was one of thousands of people that 117 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:24.480 were discovering hidden gems like Victor Internet, and I quickly 118 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:25.680 became a huge fan. 119 00:07:26.760 --> 00:07:29.160 Much on my min last. 120 00:07:31.440 --> 00:07:34.880 I became obsessed with discovering small artists on the Internet. 121 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:39.160 I'd fall into rabbit holes on SoundCloud and Spotify, and 122 00:07:39.200 --> 00:07:42.680 I'd follow these artists on social media. A lot of 123 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:48.120 these artists were teenagers like me. I started making playlists 124 00:07:48.200 --> 00:07:53.840 and sharing them with my friends. The music was warm 125 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:58.680 and inviting, especially the music by latinx artists. 126 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:02.160 Like me. 127 00:08:02.640 --> 00:08:04.960 A lot of them were raised by immigrant parents in 128 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.280 a country that differed vastly from the culture their parents knew. 129 00:08:09.200 --> 00:08:13.800 This music reflected those experiences, sometimes in both English and 130 00:08:13.880 --> 00:08:17.120 in Spanish, and listening to it made me feel at home. 131 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:20.760 Even at my majority white high school, where I was 132 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:24.800 surrounded by people I couldn't identify with, I could identify 133 00:08:24.880 --> 00:08:30.160 with music by Boy Pablo Losretros Danielandra, Luna Luna and 134 00:08:30.280 --> 00:08:34.840 other LATINX artists. They made up a majority of my playlists. 135 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:39.800 Victor and these other young artists, and to a lesser extent, 136 00:08:40.040 --> 00:08:44.520 listeners like me too. We were fueling a movement, and 137 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:48.400 without necessarily realizing it, we were stumbling into the world 138 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:49.320 of bedroom pop. 139 00:08:50.640 --> 00:08:55.880 Bedroom pop is a DIY, do it yourself form of 140 00:08:56.360 --> 00:09:01.320 music production that generally involves an artist working for very 141 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.000 limited tools and production methods to create pop music. 142 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:12.080 That's Andrew Casillas, a music contributor for Rolling Stone. Andrew 143 00:09:12.160 --> 00:09:16.319 ran the Latin music blog club Phonogramma between twenty eight 144 00:09:16.400 --> 00:09:20.800 and twenty sixteen. Andrew says that today's bedroom pop scene 145 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:22.320 was decades in the making. 146 00:09:22.800 --> 00:09:26.920 Commercial recording equipment was very bulky back in the nineteen 147 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:29.960 fifties and sixties when rock and roll and even hip 148 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.480 hop were really ursioning. It wasn't really to the eighties 149 00:09:33.520 --> 00:09:36.080 till they were a little bit better commercial equipment that 150 00:09:36.160 --> 00:09:38.920 people could kind of purchase for their own home, studios 151 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:43.199 or themselves. But it really wasn't until the digital audio 152 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:46.600 boom back in the late nineties early two thousands where 153 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.959 bedroom pop really became its own sort of scene. 154 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:56.160 By this time, digital audio was making it easier than 155 00:09:56.160 --> 00:09:59.240 ever for artists to create and share music from home. 156 00:10:00.040 --> 00:10:06.000 Technology only became more and more accessible enter streaming. In 157 00:10:06.040 --> 00:10:09.080 the mid twenty tens, artists started uploading their work to 158 00:10:09.160 --> 00:10:13.680 platforms like SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify, just like Victor did. 159 00:10:14.520 --> 00:10:17.880 More and more people began experimenting with music from home, 160 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:21.840 leading to a real bedroom pop boom. 161 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:24.320 I think what makes it a movement is just that 162 00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:28.199 it is so easy to make nowadays. Now, I mean, 163 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:30.959 we have Garage Band, which comes basically with every single 164 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.400 Apple device, and there's a ton of others you can 165 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:36.000 just download online that allow you to make whatever kind 166 00:10:36.040 --> 00:10:38.760 of music frankly that you want to make. I think 167 00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:43.800 what sets it apart over generationally is that it's become 168 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.120 a lot more popular in the mainstream. 169 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.720 A new generation of bedroom pop artists started getting more 170 00:10:49.800 --> 00:10:53.120 and more popular around the late twenty tents. Right as 171 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.800 artists like Victor began to make a name for themselves 172 00:10:55.800 --> 00:10:59.920 on the Internet, streaming services and major labels took notice 173 00:11:00.280 --> 00:11:04.240 and began to really push the bedroom pop brand. Today, 174 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:08.920 Spotify's bedroom Pop Playlist, which helped popularize the term, has 175 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:15.920 over eight hundred and eighty thousand subscribers. Bedroom pop stars 176 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:19.640 are competitive in the industry. Billie Eilish, who started out 177 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:23.200 recording music from her parents' home, is winning Grammys, and 178 00:11:23.280 --> 00:11:27.360 homemade music videos are racking up millions of hits. Clara's 179 00:11:27.400 --> 00:11:30.400 video for the song pretty Girl, for example, has over 180 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:35.200 seventy eight million views on YouTube. But some quintessential bedroom 181 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:39.000 pop artists, like Victor Internet, took issue with the hype. 182 00:11:39.800 --> 00:11:42.480 Victor noticed that they were being grouped in with other 183 00:11:42.640 --> 00:11:46.319 artists who were actually backed by lots of money and resources. 184 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:50.200 From the jump, they just like went crazy and they're like, Wow, 185 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.240 this is like the next big thing, and yeah, there 186 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.319 were a lot of people in the industry, a lot 187 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.720 of artists coming out who claim to be self made, 188 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:03.160 like you know, bedroom pop, but they weren't. 189 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:10.080 Victor says, the commercialization of bedroom pop feels inauthentic. They 190 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:13.280 acknowledge that the term bedroom pop originated to describe a 191 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.400 certain type of music and how it was made. But 192 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:19.600 when trends like this become popular in the mainstream, sooner 193 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:22.319 or later you start seeing efforts to profit off of it. 194 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.760 What bedroom pop really is, It's kind of evolved beyond 195 00:12:27.880 --> 00:12:31.559 its roots. To where it literally was made in a bedroom, 196 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:34.520 made by yourself, or maybe made with yourself and a friend, 197 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.240 to where people can have full bands that can kind 198 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.600 of co opt the aesthetic nature of bedroom pop. 199 00:12:42.400 --> 00:12:45.360 Andrew is referring to the fact that it's become easy 200 00:12:45.400 --> 00:12:50.760 to recreate the bedroom pop sound in studios using professional engineers, bands, 201 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:55.120 and advanced production equipment. Bedroom pop has also become a 202 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:00.960 marketable esthetic think polaroid photos, dim lighting, and a acoustic guitars, 203 00:13:01.280 --> 00:13:04.760 with young singers posting fuzzy YouTube videos of them performing 204 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:08.760 in their bedrooms. This kind of elaborate production and branding 205 00:13:08.880 --> 00:13:11.840 is a sharp contrast against the stories of Victor and 206 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:15.040 other young artists like them. But this isn't the first 207 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:18.280 time the music industry has witnessed this kind of mainstreaming 208 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:23.720 of music genres. Bedroom pops humble beginnings echo past musical movements. 209 00:13:24.400 --> 00:13:31.040 For example, there's house music. House is a form of 210 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:34.840 electronic dance music that originated in Chicago in the late 211 00:13:34.920 --> 00:13:40.079 nineteen eighties. Black American DJs pioneered the genre using drum 212 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:43.439 machines and splicing together records to make music at home. 213 00:13:44.400 --> 00:13:47.560 Their music first took off among black audiences in the 214 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:52.000 regional underground club scene who boosted its popularity across Chicago, 215 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:57.280 the US, and the rest of the world. And then 216 00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:03.439 there's grunge. It started out in Seattle with artists playing 217 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:07.920 music from their homes, literally in their garages. Influenced by 218 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:11.240 punk rock and heavy metal, the grunge movement was all 219 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:15.240 about being nonconformist, and it was characterized by this idea 220 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:20.120 of sounding dirty and unpolished. The successive groups like Nirvana 221 00:14:20.160 --> 00:14:23.440 and Pearl Jam took this anti mainstream music all the 222 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:27.560 way to the Billboard charts. So much popular music has 223 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:31.680 origin stories like these, such as techno, garage, down tempo. 224 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:36.680 The list goes on. There's a similar theme here. So 225 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:39.560 many of these musicians started these movements from their home 226 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.000 DIY style, because sometimes making music from their bedroom is 227 00:14:44.040 --> 00:14:46.320 the only point of entry for a lot of artists, 228 00:14:47.040 --> 00:14:50.280 especially artists of color, who often don't have the money 229 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:53.640 or resources to break into music, or don't have the 230 00:14:53.720 --> 00:15:05.960 right connections to do so. For Victor, sometimes it's frustrating 231 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.240 to watch bedroom pop take off the way it has. 232 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.360 Me and my friends work so hard from our bedrooms 233 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:16.520 to try and get to where we are now. I 234 00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:20.840 started making music out of my bedroom, which wasn't a choice. 235 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.360 It just happened that way because I didn't have a 236 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:27.040 lot of money growing up, and so I didn't have 237 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:28.480 access to a big studio. 238 00:15:30.160 --> 00:15:32.520 There were streaming platforms at the time. 239 00:15:32.560 --> 00:15:36.000 That started coining the term bedroom pop, and they would 240 00:15:36.040 --> 00:15:40.720 create playlists to cater to different audiences, so it felt 241 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:43.240 like they were profiting off of a struggle. 242 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:51.680 Coming up on Latino, USA. Bedroom pop is sweeping the 243 00:15:51.800 --> 00:15:55.920 Internet as a popular new music genre among young artists 244 00:15:55.920 --> 00:15:59.960 and audiences, but the struggle to build a music career 245 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.360 offline is real. Today, Latino and Latina artists are trying 246 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:07.000 to figure out how to make it in an industry 247 00:16:07.360 --> 00:17:00.320 that historically has shut them out. Stay with us, Yes, 248 00:17:03.760 --> 00:17:08.919 Hey we're back. We've been hearing about bedroom pop and 249 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:13.880 how young Latino and Latina musicians like Victor Internet got 250 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:19.280 their start as independent artists, literally working out of their bedrooms. 251 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:23.480 But making a career in music is about more than 252 00:17:23.600 --> 00:17:27.200 just talent, and being an independent artist comes with its 253 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:31.600 own set of challenges. Producer Daniell Llea Teo Garson picks 254 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:32.680 up the story from here. 255 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:44.600 The drum solo in the song You're Hearing is being 256 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:48.000 played by Chris Sanchez. He's a twenty one year old 257 00:17:48.080 --> 00:17:49.920 Mexican American drummer from Chicago. 258 00:17:50.760 --> 00:17:52.320 I absolutely love what I do. 259 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.520 I've been doing this you're professionally for a while now, 260 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:58.240 and honestly, it's been a roller coaster. 261 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:06.359 I want to do this for the rest of them. 262 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:08.840 Chris has always known he was going to be a musician. 263 00:18:09.560 --> 00:18:12.119 At the age of three, he started banging on pots 264 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:15.480 and pants, even breaking his parents spoons from playing too hard. 265 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:18.760 His parents bought him a drum set and he taught 266 00:18:18.800 --> 00:18:21.320 himself how to play when he was five years old. 267 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.320 When he was twelve, Chris found a mentor that would 268 00:18:24.320 --> 00:18:26.800 give him lessons in exchange for helping out at gigs. 269 00:18:27.560 --> 00:18:31.200 Almost every weekend for several years, Chris would help carry 270 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:34.200 equipment and set up on stage, and when the show 271 00:18:34.280 --> 00:18:37.280 was over, he would be there to help take everything down. 272 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:42.520 Chris has been working independently as a full time musician 273 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:46.720 for seven years. He is a freelancer for different bands, 274 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:50.960 including plenty of bedroom pop artists, but he doesn't want 275 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:53.240 to be pigeonholed into any one genre. 276 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:58.760 Bedroom pop is a I think it's down terrible how 277 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:02.320 music is music. Sometimes I feel like people look down 278 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:06.159 upon bedroom pod because it wasn't made it like the 279 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:09.680 professional studio. It's a funny term for that style of music. 280 00:19:09.800 --> 00:19:10.840 I think the. 281 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:14.000 Risks of being looked down upon and then exploited are 282 00:19:14.040 --> 00:19:17.880 even higher as an artist of color. As LATINX artists 283 00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:21.800 Chris and Victor Internet have both experienced discrimination in the 284 00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:22.640 music industry. 285 00:19:23.320 --> 00:19:27.200 Folks avoid me after shows. Well, they congratulate my white bandmates. 286 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:30.600 One time, when I was younger, I received a check 287 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:35.720 that was a lesser amount than my white bandmates. I 288 00:19:35.760 --> 00:19:38.399 was the only brown person in the band, and I 289 00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:43.359 was also the youngest person in the band. I have 290 00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:47.400 to work twice as hard because I have brown skin. 291 00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:49.400 I feel like I have to work twice as hard 292 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:52.280 to get the same gig, twice as hard to get 293 00:19:52.320 --> 00:19:56.760 the same opportunities that someone else with white skin would 294 00:19:56.760 --> 00:19:57.920 get a lot easier. 295 00:20:00.080 --> 00:20:02.280 I feel like a lot of artists of color and 296 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:05.200 the industry get treated so unfairly, but you know, they're 297 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.639 still praised when they talk about their trauma and stuff. 298 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.000 So white people in the industry they love that we 299 00:20:10.760 --> 00:20:14.720 talk about the suppression and how we struggle with these 300 00:20:14.760 --> 00:20:19.080 traumas and the things that we've gone through, but it's 301 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.639 just it's weird because they don't really do much to 302 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:26.119 help out. I feel like white artists definitely get praised 303 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:29.040 for doing the bare minimum sometimes and it's a very 304 00:20:29.040 --> 00:20:30.080 frustrating situation. 305 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:35.679 Chris and Victor have been able to push through to 306 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:39.240 find success on their own terms. As the bedroom pop 307 00:20:39.280 --> 00:20:42.919 phenomenon shows, there's different ways to make it as an 308 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:47.480 independent musician, either full time or part time. For many 309 00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:50.399 artists who get into music professionally in the first place, 310 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:55.439 that's exciting, multiple opportunities to do what you love. Here's 311 00:20:55.480 --> 00:20:58.959 Andrew Casillas again the music journalists we heard from before. 312 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.679 Depending on the kind of setup you have, you make 313 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:04.000 your income a lot of different ways. 314 00:21:04.080 --> 00:21:04.280 Right. 315 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:07.080 You make your money off of physical sales, you make 316 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:10.439 your money off of streaming numbers. There is the touring, 317 00:21:10.520 --> 00:21:14.240 there's the merchandising, There are the commercial aspects. 318 00:21:14.520 --> 00:21:17.560 If you're lucky, streaming numbers can turn out to be 319 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:18.480 pretty lucrative. 320 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:27.720 I started putting out my first songs through distro Kid, 321 00:21:28.040 --> 00:21:30.080 so all of the growth was very organic. 322 00:21:30.520 --> 00:21:34.520 Distro Kid is an independent music distribution service that allows 323 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.720 artists to put their music on streaming platforms and monetize 324 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:38.400 their listens. 325 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:41.560 Many times at the ground, okay. 326 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:44.239 It's considered one of the easier ways to get your 327 00:21:44.320 --> 00:21:46.280 music out there. 328 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:48.280 Like me too. 329 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:51.440 After a few months, I started seeing like five hundred 330 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:54.120 dollars ruling in. I was like, oh, that's crazy. I've 331 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:55.920 never had five hundred dollars to my name. 332 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:56.880 That's so crazy. 333 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:01.240 So after that, like it just kept going and growing, 334 00:22:01.280 --> 00:22:03.920 and I would just notice that my monthly listeners would 335 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:07.520 go up, and then five hundred turned to five thousand. 336 00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:11.040 Platforms like Spotify pay artists a rate of about one 337 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:14.679 dollar for every two hundred and fifty streams. To be 338 00:22:14.800 --> 00:22:18.199 making that kind of money off of streaming, Victor Internet 339 00:22:18.280 --> 00:22:20.440 had to be racking up more than one point two 340 00:22:20.520 --> 00:22:25.760 million listens. Admittedly, that's not easy for a lot of artists, 341 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:30.160 but even if you don't become huge online, it's definitely 342 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:32.960 possible to be a working musician and have a regular 343 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:34.080 gig based income. 344 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:37.520 There are a couple of sources of income that as 345 00:22:37.560 --> 00:22:41.320 a musician you can acquire. One would be steady gigs, 346 00:22:41.520 --> 00:22:45.560 you know, like wedding gigs, you know, regular weekend gigs, 347 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:49.240 or just background gigs, or you can just cut a 348 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:51.199 really fat check from being on a record. 349 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.320 Chris is hustling to make a name for himself as 350 00:22:54.320 --> 00:22:57.800 a working musician, but breaking into the industry is about 351 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:00.760 more than just being good at music. This is true 352 00:23:00.800 --> 00:23:04.240 for plenty of bedroom pop artists or smaller artists in general, 353 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.200 and for freelance musicians like Chris, and for a lot 354 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:11.680 of them, the independent lifestyle is sometimes the only way 355 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:15.959 to get started. As an independent artist, Chris manages his 356 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.560 own schedule, his own gigs, his own promoting, and his 357 00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:23.320 own finances. In the past, he's worked side gigs for 358 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:27.640 Uber and Popeyes to supplement his income. Chris is currently 359 00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:30.879 a full time musician, but being your own manager is 360 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.639 basically a second job on top of the music. Chris 361 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:38.119 can be skeptical of the music industry and typical markers 362 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:42.000 of success, like signing to a label. He sometimes wonders 363 00:23:42.080 --> 00:23:44.760 what it would be like that would mean more money, 364 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:49.080 better equipment connections in the industry. He could keep working 365 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:52.520 with other artists like the bedroom pop bands he collaborates with, 366 00:23:53.080 --> 00:23:55.359 and he could also have more time to figure out 367 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:58.960 his future plans. But Chris doesn't want to get burned 368 00:23:59.520 --> 00:24:01.280 or feel like he's being commodified. 369 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:05.800 I've been doing well, you know, releasing music independently. If 370 00:24:05.800 --> 00:24:09.159 a label decides to end me up with an offer, 371 00:24:09.280 --> 00:24:12.000 I'll think about it. But if they're not going to 372 00:24:12.040 --> 00:24:14.760 be working for me, then I'm not going to SCIENTI 373 00:24:14.760 --> 00:24:16.760 a label that's that's just going to take advantage of 374 00:24:16.800 --> 00:24:20.960 me as just the front, you know, for being diverse. 375 00:24:21.320 --> 00:24:23.879 I'm not going to be used as an object to 376 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:25.520 raise more money for other folks. 377 00:24:27.080 --> 00:24:31.680 There are limits to a fully independent lifestyle, though. Soon 378 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:35.359 after blowing up online, Victor Internet noticed the logistics of 379 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:39.560 operating as an independent artist. We're overshadowing the creative work. 380 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:43.680 They began to wonder, after reaching a certain level of success, 381 00:24:44.320 --> 00:24:46.840 do you reach a point where your bedroom becomes too 382 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:47.560 small for you? 383 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:48.439 I just. 384 00:24:49.840 --> 00:24:53.760 Something. 385 00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:02.960 Victor decided to try a musically out. In twenty eighteen, 386 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:06.560 they signed with a small label called Terrible Records. 387 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:09.480 I had never thought that I would sign with a 388 00:25:09.560 --> 00:25:13.000 label or distributor, but I think there comes a point 389 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:15.640 as an independent artist where you just need a little 390 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:16.159 more money. 391 00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:21.119 Victor says they liked Terrible Records business model because it 392 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:24.439 operated a lot like a music distributor and was a 393 00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:28.120 lot more hands off than traditional labels, So once their 394 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:31.760 contract was up in twenty nineteen, Victor decided to seek 395 00:25:31.800 --> 00:25:33.680 out an actual distribution network. 396 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:35.879 I wanted to just explore my options. 397 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.040 So Terrible Records is really cool and I'm so grateful 398 00:25:40.040 --> 00:25:41.879 for everything that did for me. I just wanted to 399 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:44.879 branch out and try and working with other distributors and 400 00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:45.920 see what they could offer. 401 00:25:50.320 --> 00:25:54.040