White Musicians for Black Lives

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My thoughts on what this moment and movement surrounding Black Lives Matter, #DefundThePolice and the death of George Floyd requires of white people. Namely musicians.

Quick links:

1:20 - About the Black Lives Matter movement and the system that has been setup to strongly favor white people

3:30 - Attending the Black Lives Matter protest in Hollywood, California and the work the black America needs us to do

10:45 - What does defunding the police actually mean?

14:00 - Alicia Garza's interview on Meet The Press about defunding the police

15:24 - Patrisse Cullors on defunding the police

17:09 - "But all lives matter!"

20:18 - Trevor Noah on the right way to handle things

24:06 - This not a time to tune out and why the show had to be paused on June 2nd

30:00 - Two actionable things you can do to educate yourself

31:18 - Ta-Nehisi Coates testifying in Congress about reparations for HR-40

Resources mentioned:

Who in Music is Supporting the Black Community (spreadsheet): https://aristake.com/post/music-supporting-black-community

The Case for Reparations: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

13th: https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741

Rolling Stone: The Music Industry Was Built on Racism: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/music-industry-racism-1010001/

Sonya Renee Taylor: https://www.instagram.com/sonyareneetaylor/

The Show Must Be Paused: https://www.theshowmustbepaused.com/

Trevor Noah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c

Ta-Nehisi Coates testimony on reparations at House hearing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCnQ3iRkys

Meet the Press interview with BLM’s Alicia Garza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxwFJIQUWfg&t=1424s

BLM’s Patrisse Cullors on Defunding the Police: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYa1WjHtzKc&t=119s

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Previous Episode

Kevin Garrett on Writing for Beyonce and Recording as an Independent Artist

My guest today is singer-songwriter Kevin Garrett. He is an extremely talented R&B, Neo-soul, and soul songwriter. It was such a treat to speak with him. Famously, he's Grammy-nominated for writing Beyonce's track "Pray You Catch Me" from her 'Lemonade' album.

In this episode we discuss his music publishing deal with Roc Nation and his distribution strategies, his music creation process, and remaining independent.

Note: We recorded this call over Zoom, and the technical gods were not in our favor during this interview. If you're hearing glitches and sentences being cut off, that's what's going on. We edited it as best we could so you can understand him, and it's still an incredible conversation.

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Quick links:

3:14 - Staying busy during the quarantine

6:14 - Kevin playing UnCancelled Music Festival + keeping the local music community venues alive

8:21 - Growing up in Pittsburgh and going to New York University

10:54 - Kevin's first release, 'Mellow Drama,' and how it was made

12:09 - Is the home studio just for demos or do those recordings make the album?

13:22 - About the music creation process and using samples

16:14 - Kevin Garrett's unique sound

20:34 - Remaining independent and the behind the scenes to a growing career

27:54 - Kevin's publishing deal and how everything gets set into motion

33:44 - When Kevin found out he made the cut on Beyonce's 'Lemonade' album

37:06 - Kevin's writing process when he's collaborating with others in the studio

41:14 - Protecting yourself with agreements and contracts

44:34 - The conversation nobody wants to have: splits, ownership, money

48:49 - Kevin's deal when he's the producer

54:06 - What it means to Kevin to 'make it' in the new music business

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Connect with Kevin Garrett:

Website: https://kevingarrettmusic.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinogarrett/

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Next Episode

Making Music During COVID-19: Ari's Take Academy Roundtable Discussion

We are in very interesting times. Last week's episode was all about musicians for black lives and what this movement is all about and what we can do as allies. It has been a challenge for me personally to understand where I fit in with this movement. I've been using my platform to encourage other musicians and people with influence, namely white people, to stand up and support our black brothers and sisters through this movement.

I've been getting a lot of questions about releasing music right now. I've thought a lot about that because it's not just about releasing music but what we should be posting on social media. Should we be promoting anything other than the movement? There's really not a right or wrong answer. I think everyone needs to do what makes sense for them.

If you have more money than time, then donate to organizations that are supporting the movement. If you have more time than money, then spend time educating yourself.

We recorded this episode about a week before George Floyd's death. So we're not going to be mentioning this uprising. We talk about what it's like running our careers and writing music during COVID-10 and quarantine. We hear from all of the Ari's Take Academy instructors, including Lucidious (Streaming & Instagram Growth), Vo Williams (Advanced Sync Strategies for Film, TV and Video Games), Kristen Mathe (Cracking Colleges), Andrew Spalter (Breaking China), and Allyson Toy (Breaking China).

Connect with Ari’s Take:

Website: https://aristake.com