COVID changed everything about the music world. With live shows cancelled across the world in 2020, tours, meet and greets, and all the usual things artists do in person to connect with their fans and promote their music, we’ve had to buckle down, adapt, and weather the storm quite a bit. As a songwriter/producer/artist, I also usually make a significant percentage of my income at the studio from licensing in film/tv, and the licensing industry has been down in many cases over 50% this year with stalled video production.
But as is a part of my studio’s ethos with the name “ENDURE Studios”, I find that the greatest strength always rises out of adversity, and that if we stick it out, don’t quit, and learn to adapt, we’ll be far better in the end. What I’ve done is double down on production of new content – writing songs both for myself, a handful of L.A. artists, and finishing the international project with Syrian refugees that I recorded in Beirut in 2019. I’ve been producing, mixing, and mastering songs at a pace far greater than I ever have before, and though the cash flow has taken a major hit this year, I don’t think I’ve ever created so much value in a short period of time in my life. I find in many industries it’s all about the long game, but in the entertainment industry sometimes that idea gets forgotten because of how quickly things can go from 0 to 100 in L.A….or from 100 to 0.
Overall, the way I have dealt with setbacks, financial difficulties, and the struggles of 2020 have been to go all-in on our vision here at ENDURE Studios, work my tail off to create more value than we’ve lost, and to keep fighting to pave a way for my artists and the stories that are coming out of this strange time in the world.
