Raspberry Beret (Cover)

MULTI-PLATINUM MUSIC PRODUCER, MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST, RECORDING/MIX ENGINEER & SINGER/SONGWRITER.

I have a Gold record plaque to my name...that I earned thanks to my brother platinum music producer James "Jae-E" Earley...for the R&B remix of "En Vogue's "Free Your Mind". James allowed me to collaborate with him on the track, and since her taught me how to write and arrange songs...this was particularly special for me when I got to hear it on the radio. One of my favorite industry stories, is the fact that my brother and I spent a week with the New Kids on the Block at the height of their fame. It was like the movie "Almost Famous". Trust me, you had to be there to get it. In those years, it was strange and fun to be in the biz...as we got to meet people like David Bowie, Jimmy Iovine and Randy Jackson ("American Idol"). It was a time when the record industry was still the Wild Wild West...and recording budgets were still lavishly big at the major labels. As such, the record companies were open to taking risks...and were focused on artist development--with a focus on the longterm. Nikki deserved to get signed, a lot of people do...but alas...sometimes it isn't meant to be. it's an odd business, and God may answer your prayers...by not answering them. Trust me, you have to be there (or have been there) to get it. Since, streaming has changed things in the business...both for the good and the bad. The Good?: You can near instantly upload your music on the Internet and be discovered by some DJs in Australia, Germany or Japan, etc. The Bad?: You are now competing with about 1 billion people, to become a 1 in a million star. And amid all this, you are competing against well-funded and well-connected trust fund kids...for horribly reduced record budgets, dwindling profits and increasingly unfair record contracts. Further, most would-be artists are targeted by con men and/or sex traffickers--as anyone can pretend to be most anything on the Internet--and they do...just that.

Raspberry Beret (Cover)

James Jae-e Earley