Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Alina Smith - Hit Music Producer, Singer-Songwriter, and Podcast Host

Episode Date: November 16, 2021

In this episode on The Radcast, host Ryan Alford talks with guest Alina Smith, Hit Music Producer, Singer-Songwriter, and Podcast Host. Alina talks about where she gets her inspiration when writing music that hits the top charts. Alina shares the challenges as a producer and the difference from being an artist who writes her own music. She also talks about her podcast, Crossover Creative, things she wants to share with the community and tips for aspiring artists. and more...Alina also has a quick take on our segment RAD or FAD with keyword trending topics; TikTok Kanye West Billie Eilish iPhone 13 Learn more about Alina Smith at https://www.lyreofficial.com/. Follow her on Instagram (@thealinasmith)(@lyreofficial),TikTok (@lyreofficial), Twitter (@thealinasmith) listen to her on all music platforms Apple Music - (https://music.apple.com/ph/artist/alina-smith/375716571) Spotify - (https://open.spotify.com/artist/0yRUDVI598cLXxDpzn9TY8) and YouTube (https://youtube.com/c/LYREMusicOfficial)If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, let us know by visiting our website www.theradcast.com. Like, Share and Subscribe on our YouTube account https://bit.ly/3iHGk44 or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Be sure to keep up with all that’s radical from @ryanalford @radical_results @the.rad.cast If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Basically, K-pop is pop music from Korea. It's very, very obvious. But I think there's a lot of kind of special aspects to it that Western music, pop music doesn't have. I focus very heavily on authenticity, like, especially with my own music. Like, I want to just speak the truth and nothing but the truth. And I almost kind of went like the opposite way with it, you know, after kind of suffering, kind of hiding behind all these masks. Now I'm just like, I'm going to say whatever the fuck I want. However the fuck I want.

Just to kind of like give you guys a little bit of reality. You know, even something that streams a million plays is not even covering like a normal production fee for a producer. You're listening to The Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of The Radcast. We've been going down the road of entertainment and music.

We've had a cuttery flair to it, but today we're going pop, R&B, and, hey, I think we might get into a lot of different genres, but I'm excited to be joined by Elena, Lena Smith, hit, producer, songwriter, podcast host, and all around badass. What's up, Alina? What's up, Brian? How are you? I'm good. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. I know. Hey, you got your hands. a lot of stuff. We're going to get into all that.

Grown fucking woman's the latest single. We're going to talk about that. And I just like enjoy, you're like the first guests I've had that's had like a brand or a song that has fucking in it. So like I got to, I got to have a potty mouth either way. But it's, it's cool to actually be able to say it for, you know, a real purpose. Yeah. Every time I do an interview, I'm always like, can I cause or can I not? No, yes, you can.

Be yourself. Hey, it's the radcast. Shit. Like, you know, like, if we were at the radcast, I'm like, I really need you to not say any cuss words or talk bad. No, it's all good. It's all good. Be yourself. But, uh. Nice. Yeah, I think definitely it's really fun to have a lead single that has that is like that explicit. Because, you know, it's definitely, when I first wrote the song, I was like, oh, like, should I clean this up a little bit? but I feel like it's like you said, when it has a purpose and it has an energy behind it, you know, I'm not just saying it to be a potty mouth and, you know, have the kids think I'm cool. There is a very particular energy that comes with it.

And then, you know, I have plenty of clean songs that don't need that. So I'm not going to put that in it because it doesn't need it, you know. Exactly. So it is fun to like play with something that's so powerful and such a powerful message too. I know. And I can't wait to get more into that. But let's start. let's back up a little bit.

You know, we've got the hit of today, which we'll get to and we'll talk more about your music. But I know it all is centered in that in some ways being, you know, a songwriter, producer, and all those things. But let's give everyone a little bit of your background in the industry and just, you know, some of your professional highlights and all that stuff. Yeah, absolutely. I always feel so awkward talking about myself that way. Come on. Like, hi. Yeah, so basically I'm in.

artist, writer, and a producer. I kind of have my hands on a lot of pods. I've been doing this for a really long time, just to give you guys like a very quick overview. I started when I was a kid. I'm actually originally from Russia. And I basically was in this like kid singing group from the time I was, I think seven. I was forgets like a long time ago. Yeah, I was a little kid. You know, we toured all around Europe and performed in a lot of venues. So that was kind of my. entrance into that. And then as I grew up, I moved to the States and I was pretty much ready to pursue doing music as an adult. Like I didn't really ever have a moment of like, oh, what, what else should I do? I always just kind of knew that, oh, well, that I do this well. I should probably just keep doing that. So, you know, and I've kind of had, you know, a long journey, a very long journey. I'm 34 now. I started when I was 17, like full time. So pretty much half my life at this point. And definitely for the first 10 years of that, I had pretty much like no success at all. And I definitely, I always feel like kind of weird saying that because I know a lot of aspiring people that listen. That's not like a very fun thing to hear and maybe a bit discouraging. But I always say like I had a lot of detriments that were kind of holding me back. Like one is definitely kind of like not even just a language barrier because I learned English fluently to speak English fluently really quickly.

It's more like a cultural barrier, I think, is a lot tougher. I think it's a lot harder to absorb the culture of another country to then be able to regurgitate that culture in an artistic way and serve it to the people. I think that's a really tough call. So it took me quite a long time to kind of like really understand what was going on here, culturally, business-wise, like in the music industry. You know, and I would say kind of like the 2010s, earlier 2000s, it was not like as I don't know as honest of a time as good of a time as it is now I think things have gotten a lot better

so it was it was tough you know but once I kind of started getting my footing I started having a lot more success and writing for a lot of different projects I've done a lot of things in k-pop which is really funny because when I started everybody was like what is k-pop what is it what is this music that you're right And now everybody wants to write K-pop. Everybody wants to go to Korea to do writing camps. It's really, really funny to me. But, yeah, I've had a lot of success with bands, like Itsy and Red Velvet and Produce 101, like, shows these kind of like finding singers type shows in Korea, Japan, and China.

How would you describe K-pop? I'm going to let's keep going. But I do want to tell people because, like, you know, our audience is, you know, probably fairly fluent middle-aged. Like, they're probably hearing now, BTS, like, all this. stuff, but like, what is K-pop? Like, what is K-pop? Basically, K-pop is pop music from Korea. It's very, very obvious.

But I think there's a lot of kind of special aspects to it that Western music, pop music doesn't have. It's really, gosh, it's really hard to describe it. I think it's just, you have to kind of listen to it and experience it for yourself. I will say that it's extremely musical a lot of the times. It has great singing, great dancing, amazing, amazing. music videos, usually much bigger budgets for music videos than artists in the West. So it's like a whole experience that is very, I don't know, bright and vivacious and vibrant.

I really, it's such a great question. We'll link to some K-pop hits from Alina on our show notes. So look for that. Okay, I'll let you keep going. I had to pause there to give our best interpretation for. Of course. Because everybody's hearing that now. I mean, you know, with it becoming more mainstream.

I definitely just suggest going on the internet and just checking some songs out, some bands out. You would be surprised by what you will find and you will probably love it. I thought. But yeah, so and basically I've worked with a lot of artists. I've worked with a lot of influencer, like content creator type artist that started on YouTube. Like Kenzie Ziegler and Nikki and Gabby, Nikita Dragon, people like that. And, you know, I've worked with some traditional U.S. artists like Fall Out Boy as well, Betty Hu, people like that. So it's been quite a journey, you know, and I've mostly had my success as a producer and writer.

But very recently, I started releasing music as an artist myself, which is very fun and rewarding for me because I kind of get to do whatever I want as an artist. When as a producer, I'm always following guidelines from labels or artists or other writers. So it is a really fun new venture for me to be in, for sure. That's cool. I mean, so again, maybe the unknown, like obviously songwriting is self-explanatory, but producing is a complex, you know, undertaking, you know, as far as different roles for what that can mean. what has you know from sound design I mean like what what are kind of you know some of the hats you've worn working with those artists from a producer standpoint that's such a great question yeah producing definitely encompasses a lot and I pretty much kind of do all of it I pretty much produce right I mix

I try not to I like to work with outside mixers but I can do pretty much all of it and I think Production is really interesting because I think a lot of people feel intimidated by it because they think it's very technical. And like people look at, you know, the things I have on my screen and they're like, oh, this looks like physics. Yes. And I, my perspective on it is a little bit different. I see all of those tools as simply tools. I mostly focus on creativity and music and arrangement. I definitely have like a very creative, right brain approach to it, you know, and I definitely use a.

the tools and, you know, all the things that look like physics. I know how to use them, but I definitely think there's producers that are a little bit more like on the kind of like creative, wild, like, let's put different sounds together. See what sounds like that side. And then there's ones that are a little bit more technical. And even though I use the technology well, I definitely am more of like the fun creative type of person. I love it. What are any like you called out a lot of them, but anything that.

really stands out in that journey for you that's like, I mean, not necessarily highlights because you worked with Fall Out Boy. I mean, and people know that name. I mean, but like highlights from just a professional journey and things that you really, you know, that stand out in your own mind. Yeah, of course. I think one of the recent things that comes to mind is I worked on the song Mafia in the morning for this band Itsy, which I'm super happy about because it's kind of like my favorite

type of k-pop so there's actually a lot of different types of k-pop getting into it and then there's this particular subgenre called girl crush basically it's like these badass really cool girls that dance that sing that rap and the way it differs from a lot of other female k-pop is a lot of other female k-pop is like really cute which i love that too but uh i do love kind of like the powerful like girl power vibes So I'm really happy about the song, and it's done really, really well. It was a single for Itsy. And they made the most amazing music video for it. If you guys want to look it up just to kind of see some really insane video transitions and gorgeous sets and costuming and all of those kinds of things.

I highly recommend it. I love it. And I know we taught pre-show started getting you down the alley, and I wanted to save it for the recording. you know, some of your songwriting. You actually lived in Nashville as a country fan. That perk my ears up like you've done writing on different things. What can you talk about in that avenue? Yeah, of course.

So I actually lived in Nashville for quite a while for about four years and had an interesting experience there in country music. So I definitely am a fan of country music. I did leave the town and move to L.A. Because I think at least at that time, and I don't know how it is now because I've been kind of out of that game for like five years now. But at that time, it wasn't a very friendly environment to females, like female writers and female producers.

There weren't a lot of female country artists that we could even write for, right? And I think it's definitely a little bit of a stretch for, you know, somebody like me to write for Lou Bryan, for example, to, like, write about trucks and, like, beer and girls. Like, I can, but there's probably male songwriters that can, like, nail a lot better than somebody like me. You know what I mean? And so definitely at that time, again, I can't speak for how it is now, but at that time, it just felt like it wasn't a very, like, friendly environment to women and there weren't a lot of opportunities. So when I moved to L.A. is when I kind of started having a lot of my success.

But I still definitely am a big fan of country music. I even, you know, released some music as a country artist back in the day, you know, kind of played around with that. But I think it was one of those things that as an artist that really, you know, really. wasn't very authentic to me. I like a lot of things about country music, like harmonies. I love live instruments, like guitars. I love a lot of kind of like bendiness and vocals, too. I still have retained some of that in my style now. But I, you know, I think it was one of those things where I felt like I was really trying

to stuff myself in a box, like trying to fit this thing everybody was doing at that time and make my voice fit it and make my style fit it and what I look like fit it. And, you know, it kind of. wasn't working and I learned a really important lesson than basically be yourself. Yeah, that's important for sure. And I mean, because it doesn't, it just doesn't play well. People see through it, you know, eventually. It's like, right?

They do. They really do. And you also aren't happy as an artist pretending to be something you're not. I mean, I don't know. Maybe some people are. I definitely wasn't. I guess if they're good enough and get popular enough, maybe. But I don't know.

Yeah. They're making that money. Maybe. But yeah, for me, it was one of those things. I just kind of felt like I was trying to create myself, like, craft myself into something that I really wasn't. Like, I even visually changed what I look like. Like, you see what I look like. I have a brown hair, but I, like, dyed my hair blonde, you know.

And I was trying to look like, you know, an American country, Southern girl. And, like, if you look at my bone structure, I look very Russian. Really, like, wasn't working. So, you know, for me, I, since then, I focus very heavily on authenticity, like, especially with my own music. Like, I want to just speak the truth and nothing but the truth. And I almost kind of went like the opposite way with it, you know, after kind of suffering, kind of hiding behind all these masks. Now I'm just like, I'm going to say whatever the fuck I want, however the fuck I want. And if people like it, great.

If they don't like it, great. I don't care. Hey, that's the way to be, though. and I applaud you for that. I don't want to talk about the business of music, you know, certainly building to today, but I know, you know, you've had your hands being, you know, quasi-independent, you know. That's kind of a loaded word in the music business. It means certain things, but both as independent as a producer and artist, like in your own style,

but also, you know, using social media and the avenues and the growth channels. I mean, talk about, you know, how you've utilized, you know, those mediums for longer than even most now that it's mainstream, but maybe just some of the alternative paths of growth that have come in the business the last, you know, eight to 10 years. Yeah, 100%. You know, I feel like my story's been really interesting because I definitely have been quasi-independent. I think that's a great way to put it because I wasn't a publishing deal, like a major publishing deal for seven years. I literally just left that deal this year. And for those I don't know, publishing. deal is basically a record deal for songwriters. It's a company that works with you as a

songwriter or producer to try to send your songs to artists, develop your career, stuff like that. So I had a major deal. So that part, I was very much kind of following a traditional path. But I do think my passion has always lied in like exploration of non-traditional path as a songwriter, as a producer. And I think a lot of my success has actually come from that. Funny enough, some of it has come from the traditional path. I will never knock it because, you know, again, don't want to lie. Some of it came from like these very stylish channels, but some has been very surprising. So for me, I definitely have been an internet person for a while.

I've been in and out of it and I'm very much in it now, but I started back in MySpace days. Back in like 2005 when I was like 18, 19, whatever. Oh, G. MySpace. Yeah. Oh, gee, I had a Myspace. It was popping off. Yes.

I definitely had a bit of a good run with Myspace. You know, it was very easy back then to kind of get your music in front of a lot of people using that tool. So that's what I was doing. The only thing I would say is at that time, my music wasn't that good. And you have to have good stuff to, like, really make this work. Yeah. I don't like those things. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, definitely like with music or any product, I think like the product quality is first. You know, for music, I think listeners are really smart. They're constantly getting bombarded with stuff these days because everybody's, everybody's trying to be an artist. And they can pick up on quality in like two, three seconds. So, you know, it is really important to have great stuff. So but other than that, ever since those days, you know, I've been on every social network. I've done, you know, when Facebook was popular, I was on it, Instagram. I'm on that now.

I'm on YouTube. I'm on TikTok. I'm on all the things. I definitely think that what I've noticed is that I've had a lot of success with is putting out content about production and songwriting. I think there isn't that much content on those topics out there. There is some. But I've noticed that a lot of it comes from content creators that solely focus on content creation, which is great because it's kind of a full-time job, to be honest.

I have some help. I have an assistant that edits my videos. I don't think I could do it otherwise. But I do know that a lot of this kind of production and songwriting content comes from people that only do that. And a lot of them do it extremely well. But I do think some of them kind of lack a little bit of this industry perspective that I have from having pitch songs, having had songs recorded by artists, having work with record labels with publishers, publishers, managers. Right. So I think I put a lot of this kind of just knowledge that I've accumulated it over.

over years into these videos that I make, and I find that a lot of people, at least from what they tell me, are benefiting from it. So that's been definitely fun to do. You know, I have a YouTube. You guys can look it up. It's just Lyre, L-Y-R-E. That's my production team's name. But I've also recently started TikTok, and I will say, currently, that's probably the most powerful tool for promoting anything, but especially music. I pretty much got, so I've had it for maybe like six months or so, but I got on it like really seriously last month. And I think I grew like 20,000 followers in a month just by posting consistently

and like kind of catering to the audience for this type of production and songwriting type stuff. So I definitely highly recommend that to anybody that wants to grow their following. And there's a lot, there's definitely a lot to it. there's you know the algorithm you kind of have to study it and I feel like it's kind of a moving target too it's constantly changing so but uh recently I feel like I've had pretty good success with that with that's cool um I do want to talk about you mentioned it a little bit earlier um with the country music stuff and you know I don't want to be I want this to be positive but I do think there is some realities of the business especially as it relates to you know female empowerment female opportunity with producing and songwriting. And I mean, I don't know if artists, I mean, it seems fairly balanced with the artist. Maybe not.

You can enlighten me on that, but certainly with the production side of things. I mean, I know you have a strong stance on that, but is it just, is it kind of one of those things that's always been this way, so it always stays this way, and there hasn't been advocates for it? Or, you know, I'd love to get just your perspective on it.

Yeah, I think it's, It's a really complex topic. It's definitely originated in sexism. Yeah. And it is definitely shifting and getting better. But I think I get this question more than any other question from anybody. Why is there not more female producers and engineers? And I think it's simply because female producers and engineers haven't been encouraged to go into these types of fields.

You know, when you look, when you're a young girl, you're considering what do I want to do? I want to do music. What are different kinds of jobs I can do music, right? If you look it up and you look up producers, you're probably going to find, you know, pictures and videos or whatever it is from a bunch of guys, right? And even subconsciously, when you see that as a woman, you're like, oh, well, this doesn't look like it's something for me, right? So I think it's just simply the factor of not having the representation there. So, but I do think there's a lot of positive shifts in this direction that I've seen in the last two, three years because I feel like when I was starting out, I definitely felt like very overt sexism about this. I had my own team member on my own publishing team tell me, yeah, but why are you putting so much effort into like learning all this production stuff?

Like, you're a pretty girl. You can sing. Like, you can write. Like, why do you need to do this? You know, and it was very like, insulting and definitely, you know, I'm the kind of person that you tell me something like that. I'm going to be like, hey, let me prove you wrong. You're going to triple down. Yeah, but I think for a lot of people, they will get discouraged, and it's not their fault that they would. You know, it is very discouraging thing to hear. So there's definitely positive movement. There's companies, well, organizations like she is the music, which are constantly putting out, you know, information about how to become an engineer, how to become producer.

host panels and podcasts and just really try to increase representation. You know, there's been some conversations like this from the Grammy board. So I do, I haven't had any comments like that spoken to me at least in a very long time. So that feels really fun and, you know, encouraging that there are conversations, not just from women, but from men too who are saying, hey, like, I would like to work with a woman. I'd like to have a different perspective. I'd like to have a different sound, something that, you know, includes a feminine energy. So I do think things are getting better.

And, you know, for anybody that's listening, that is a woman that is looking to explore this field. I would definitely encourage you to follow something like she's the music. There's even another Instagram account called Music Production for Women run by an amazing female producer. You can follow them. And then even something like YouTube, you can look up up female producers on there that are teaching production that are showing off their production. And you can follow them as well because I think if you, you know, it's like you are what you eat and, you know, we all look at our feed and our feed is feeding us.

So if your feed is full of female producers and engineers that are killing it, like, I'm sure that subconsciously will help influence you in a positive direction. I love that. And, you know, very sage advice, even if you look 24 and you are 34. Yeah. Wow, you look great. And it threw me off. I was like, I read it and I was like, man, no, she can't be. She is. Oh, my goodness. It's all the Botox. Oh, that's what it is. Hey, we live in that world. Yeah, you're in LA or in Atlanta. Are you in LA? I am in LA. Yeah, you're in LA. There we go. It's all every corner now, I think. No. What's, you know, changing gears a bit into the back to the music. I mean, is there a song, and I know we'll talk about your most current stuff, but like, is there a song or something you've produced, like a particular one that's really just stands out? I know you mentioned one earlier, but is there anything else that just stands out as something, you know, that's memorable or you're proud of or, you know, something that, you know, another track or something that everyone can maybe look up or associate with?

Yeah, of course. Well, here's a really funny kind of industry answer to that. And I think a lot of songwriters, producers would relate to this. A lot of our favorite stuff has never seen the light of day. I see. You don't understand that. Yeah. That is definitely.

We're doing in the ad agency business. There's a lot of commercials that are our favorites that never see the light of dates because of clients. Oh, no. No, I've never even thought of that. Yeah. See, and that's exactly right, too, because, yeah, of course, we don't use a music world, right? We don't use words like product or client, but really when we say artist or song,

like that's what we mean. Yeah, so the thing is, yeah, a lot of the stuff that we write that, you know, we put our heart and soul into never sees the light of day because it doesn't, you know, necessarily 100% fit an artist's vision or a label's vision for that artist. So it is a tough game getting songs plugged. That's what it's called like pitched or plugged. You know, that's why a lot of people write with artists in the room and no shade, but it's kind of interesting because a lot of artists are not really strong writers. You know, they're more performers and singers, but they put them in these rooms and they force them to write, even though I feel like it would be better for them to just receive songs that are written by professionals. But, you know, that's why a lot of artists

are just like in the room trying to help because, you know, it helps out kind of their connection with the song. And when they're here and we can ask about their life, it's easier. are kind of crafted to them. So yeah, there's definitely songs I love. Like you guys can look up OK by Ellie Moore, E-L-L-L-I, is how her first name is spelled. That is my music partner and my team liar, L-Y-R-E, not like pants on fire, like the instruments.

But she has started releasing music as an artist herself about a couple of years ago. And that song is definitely my favorite that I've done with her. It's just super, super fun. And, you know, warning, it's so catchy that will probably be stuck in your head for a long time. So if you don't want, like, a little jingly thing going off in the back of your brain, maybe don't listen to it. But, yeah, that's definitely one of my favorites. And it isn't like the biggest song I've done by any means, but it's just one that matters a lot to me because it really encapsulated her story.

And she's my best friend. So it matters a lot to me. Who's your favorite I'm going to give you? favorite mainstream artist indie genre and maybe favorite whether it and K-pop is certainly

getting mainstream but whether it's K-pop whether it's off the radar who's a who's a favorite or inspirational mainstream artist and then maybe one off the radar

that is such an interesting question I feel like a lot of people ask me like who do you listen to and it's kind of that question but it's kind of not only what do you listen to but maybe what inspires you a little bit

Yeah, I think, you know, this is an interesting answer again, but a lot of what I listen to are demos. They're unreleased songs that are mine or my friend's songs. So I end up listening to a lot of stuff that isn't out there anywhere. So a lot of that stuff inspires me because I think like that is, what I'm listening to is like the next wave. It hasn't even been released yet. So a lot of like the freshest kind of ideas from the writers directly is what I really enjoy.

But as far as stuff that's out there, I'm very old school. I love stuff that I grew up with, and that's the stuff that brings me the most, like, catharsis really enjoy. As much as I love a lot of new artists in pop, like Dolipa, really Irish, I personally just don't feel that level of connection,

you know, that I felt when I was a teenager, listening to Michael Jackson, for example, or to Alicia Keys, artists like that. So for me, it's definitely... Lauren Hill, may I? Yes, Lauren Hill. Yeah, a lot of. of the kind of like 90s, 2000s stuff is what I grew up with.

So that's what I'm passionate about. But gosh, as far as underground, I still want to keep plugging my partner, Ellie, more. Everybody I go listen to Ellie. Yeah, it's a lot of just kind of my friends music. There's a really fantastic band called Stereo Jane that I'm friends with. I don't write for them. So this is not me plugging my own stuff. They're pretty like rock, rock pop, I would say, is their genre.

And it's just really, really. really cool. It's two girls. One is a drummer, one is a singer. They're both amazing and they write their own music and it's, yeah, I think it's pretty underground still for them, but their music is amazing. So she does want to check them out. They're great. What's, you know, we talked about the social media avenue. I mean, can you as an, can, when I say you, I mean, a person and an artist, I mean, can artists go 100% independent now? I mean, like, are we at that pinnacle? Like, I mean, if they're good enough and they have a team and whatever that that production songwriting, all of that stuff that comes together, between TikTok, between self-production, between I can

upload it to Spotify, like, I mean, are we at that point where you could be, go there, or is it still kind of necessary to be signed? Okay, so I'll give you guys some truths. Some of them are fun, some of them are not fun. I definitely think none of us have any clue, whether it's people that are independent or people that are working, managers are working for labels. It's definitely such,

there's like an element of magic to this, right? Sometimes things just really, really work. Sometimes they work on a smaller level. Sometimes they don't work. And sometimes they work with a delay, you know, because even like the song I mentioned, okay, by Ellie Moore, that song's been, you know, kind of trudging along,

like a couple of 100,000 views or something, 100,000 views on Spotify. And then it got picked up by the show, bold type, and it was featured in the background of one of the episodes, and it's just growing like 100,000 plays a month now. So it's, and it's been two years since the song's been released. So it's one of those things that it's really hard to know, even if something is working.

I do think labels still definitely have more access than independent artists. I mean, just being super real, like they definitely have most of the playlisting on lock for Apple Music and for Spotify. There is a portion, a small portion, that's dedicated to independent artists. And, you know, we're all fighting for that little chunk.

And it is a little bit, a lot of bit tough to get into these editorial playlists. I will say that. And I do think, think, though, that it is 100% possible to have a viable independent career because I've seen people do it, right?

With enough of promotion on your own, with enough Facebook ads run, with enough TikTok exposure, it's definitely all possible. I would just say that it probably takes time these days. And I think

we're going to see a lot more of this in the future, too, of people that have just kind of been building. underground for a while and then it kind of reaches a tipping point and then it really explodes you know and that's when they kind of get like the labels coming like knocking on their door asking to work with them so I do think it is possible and I'm actually kind of excited about it because I think back in the day everything was a little bit more tied up right like there weren't a lot of opportunities I mean maybe like go on American Idol like that was like an opportunity for an artist

but there weren't as many kind of these self-sufficient opportunities, and there are now. So I think we're going to see a lot of artists that are, you know, maybe a little bit older than we're used to seeing, because we're used to seeing basically kids, like teenagers, early 20s, people that just got signed to a label, really young, have been building since they're like 11, you know, and they got this opportunity.

But I think we're going to see a lot more people in their late 20s and their 30s and the 40s that have been building their own brand and building their own platform and fan base doing really well on this independent level. And I would say there are a lot of opportunities, especially if you are somebody that can write and produce their own stuff as well, because, you know, you end up keeping 100% of your master, which is, you know, you're recording. Not to get into like all of these kinds of technical things. But yeah, you get to keep a lot of your money where a record label would pretty much take all of it or most of it.

or they would make you recoup all your promotional costs as well. So I think it's definitely like a very tough thing. And I wouldn't encourage people to like jump into any sort of deals if they're new and they don't have like professional help. I think like building on your own learning in like a more paced way is a much better thing in the beginning. You know, and as you get more experienced, you'll be a lot more. You'll be just in a better place to be able to call these decisions because it is, it's

definitely one of the most confusing businesses, I think, because I have people that do, you know, friends that do other things. And I hear about how much more straightforward their careers are. And I'm always like, wow, okay, not here. So, but I am excited about all of these opportunities that are in front of us now. Where does live music come in to play with today's world? I mean, I, and remove, I know it's hard to, especially being in California where it's been a little more lockdown than it is in, say, South Carolina, although we've had our ups and downs with COVID. But if it's possible to put COVID to the side, where does live music and getting in front of people play on, you know, this type of stuff, of your type of music and the type of music that we're talking about? man that's a great question i definitely don't know if i'm the expert to speak on this because i haven't had as much experience with live music as i have had with things in the studio i definitely

do know that people still love concerts there is a huge huge demographic of people out there that you know have been suffering through covid because they can't go to concerts it's one of their favorite things to do is to experience their favorite artist live And, you know, from my kind of perspective, even with K-pop, I know that their live show is so incredibly important to them. A lot of the kind of briefs I get from record labels and the songs they're looking for, they always include Great for Life performance, danceable beat, you know, because those fans, there's something so magical about experiencing those types of songs, you know, when the band's singing and they're dancing and there's all of this kind of stage production going on. I just think it's irreplaceable and it's, I don't think it's ever going to go away. So it's a very important component. Yeah.

What, um, transitioning to the latest EP, your first and latest, I guess we should say. Yes, it is. So long, like, 2000s, uh, first single grown fucking woman. It's kind of enjoy saying it. You know what I mean? I mean, you know, like I, you are a growing fucking woman, you know? like you've been doing all this stuff like you know like it's got it's an empowerment song right i mean i'm i was born two days ago but maybe not yesterday like you know i get it i get it

you're living and breathing it it's great let's talk about it what was the inspiration i almost can back my way into the first to the track but maybe for the the ep as a whole okay so this is kind of an interesting thing so i wanted to be an artist since i moved to the states. You know, I moved here and I was like, I'm going to be a singer. I'm going to be a singer. You know, and of course, coming from Russia, not knowing a single person having no money, it was kind of a tough call. And I didn't realize how tough of a call it was going to be. I was very confident. And I was just like, I'm going to do it. I'm talented. You know, and I realized after quite a long time that it was. a really difficult thing to do and that there's a lot of elements that need to come together

that aren't just raw talent, right? Because I definitely am not somebody that knocks raw talent. I think it's extremely important. And for people that I work with, artists, I always get excited when I discover somebody that I think has like incredible raw talent. But I do also know that honing that talent and having development for it is extremely. extremely crucial. And one kind of like shade I'll throw out our industry is that there really isn't artist development. Back in the day like 90s, there used to be like a whole department basically devoted to developing artists, right? Getting them in the studio with professional producers and writers and finding their sound, even singing on a microphone, that is not a natural skill. That is a skill that

used to be developed. I work with people all the time that are like a great live singer and they don't really know how to sing on a microphone if they're new at studio recording, right? And I have to coach them through that. But when I was starting out, I didn't have anybody to coach me and I didn't have anybody to produce my music. It was one of those things, you know, and this is just a reality of it. To get with good people, good producers and writers, you have to pay them in the beginning because they can't make money off of you for probably quite a long time. Like, just to kind of, like, give you guys a little bit of reality, you know, even something that streams a million plays is not even covering, like, a normal production fee for a producer. So, you know, if you stream anything less than that, like, that's really not covering the expenses of your team, right?

So that's why new producers, I mean, new artists have to kind of either work themselves into situations where, where they're working with somebody new who's also developing as a producer and writer, or you just have to kind of gather a budget. And my thing was, you know, I wasn't an immigrant. Like, I didn't have $3. I didn't have thousands of dollars to pay for artist development. So I kind of had to figure out how to do that myself. And that's when I started producing.

At one point, you know, I kind of was just like, let me see what I can do with this. I can't be that hard, right? Fast for 10 years, I got good at it. Hey, practice makes perfect. Exactly, exactly. So, you know, I did have like a rocky start with that and I never could pretty much release music because a lot of what I created by myself at that time or, you know, with some of the newer people that I could afford working with. It just really wasn't on par with where it needed to be. And I could tell.

So what I did a lot is just make music and not release it. make music and not release it. And it was definitely very frustrating. And I think it kind of came to head for me in Nashville because at that point, I really did know what I was doing. You know, I have been doing it for quite a long time at that point. And I created this country UP, back to country music, which I still think is great. I would love to have somebody sing it. If any country artists are listening, hit me up. But, you know, it was for a girl or a guy. It was, for a girl, definitely for a girl. There was a lot of songs that are talking about. you know, high heels and flipping your hair and, you know, hey, we can put you in a wig, right?

I know a few people in the business, they will send them. We'll connect after this. I know a few we might can send them to. Amazing. Amazing. So, but yeah, I made this to be, I was really excited about, you know, I had a professional team at that point publishing, like management, all of that. They were very excited about it. But we pitched it to like a couple of record labels in Nashville. And everybody was just like, we don't really understand this project. Like, she's not. American. She's not Southern. Like, you know, like, how real is this? You know, and they kind of called it because I was totally putting on a fake country accent when I was singing. It really wasn't authentic to me. So I'm really glad that didn't happen for me because if it did, I'd be sitting here, you know, talking to you like, and they're putting on a really fake accent, which I don't want to do. I'm like, give you some of mine. I don't know if it has transferative properties. She's like, mine meld.

So I'm really glad that didn't happen, you know, and everybody kind of turned me down and it kind of put me on a different path. I moved to L.A. I worked on all this pop and K-pop and, you know, it was much happier. But I think it was one of those things. Once I moved here, I pretty much gave up and being an artist. And I kind of felt like, oh, I'm too old. I'm like 29, 30, whatever I was at the time.

It's like, I don't, you know, I don't think I can start an artist project now. And I don't, you know, I've been through. much too with it trying to figure it out on my own that I was like I am done I don't want to do this like I'm I am traumatized I'm done so and then a couple basically a year ago I kind of started just writing songs you know it was COVID COVID just hit and I was like oh you know all my sessions got canceled nobody's coming to the studio I got nothing to do so I'm going to just sit down and write some songs just for fun and I saw that what was coming out was very much personal and very very like my real stories and I kind of had this moment of catharsis of like this is the artist that I've always wanted to be this is what I wanted to say but wasn't brave enough to say this is how I wanted to sing but couldn't figure it out because I didn't have the skills right this is what I wanted to write but couldn't figure out a way to do it because yet again I didn't have the skills so it was just this moment of like oh musically like everything came together like my experience and just my growth

as a human being too, like even that whole experience of being so fake and trying to be something I'm not. Like, I basically ended up putting all of that into this project. So, you know, and then I started releasing the music bit by bit and realized that it felt really rewarding. And it was great to talk about all of these different things. Like there's a song, a girl that was perfect. It's about an eating disorder that I've been through, you know, it's not as dark as it sounds.

it's actually kind of like a bop, you know, or even a song like Grown Fucking Woman where I talk about just all the different challenges I've been through, you know, like immigration and even some of my time in Nashville. They've kind of tucked some of those lyrics in, you know, where anybody, most people probably wouldn't even realize, like, what I'm talking about.

But for me, it's really important and feels very, like, freeing to just talk about what I want, you know. And then there's, like, songs like Hollywood Heart, which are talking about, basically LA and kind of like mentality here and the mentality of always chasing success and kind of the never-ending cycle of that. So yeah, for me, I'm really excited just to be able to put things like that out there because as a producer-writer, you know, I'm always catering to others and what they want to say, which is great, which is what I think every producer-writer should do. You shouldn't like impose your kind of artistry on other people,

but it is good for me to have this outlet for myself for sure. I love it. And where can everybody keep up or find the album? Obviously, Google Alina Smith, all of this stuff comes up. But you're on Apple Music, Spotify, all the channels, right? Yeah, I'm on all of those things. You know, if you want to kind of follow my personal journey, it's the Alina Smith, it's A-L-I-N-A on Instagram.

If you are more of a producer-writer that kind of needs more tips, and help. Actually, my other Instagram page is Liar Official, L-Y-R-E, and there I pretty much exclusively post content for producers, writers, artists, singers that's catered to helping them grow and, you know, tips and tricks and stuff like that. So, you know, I have two different types of things. So think whatever you want a la carte. I know. I need a, we need to like a produced track for the radcast. I need some. I'm going to have to like hit you up and be like, all right, what we got to do here? Get me up. Yeah.

You got time for a quick segment. We call rad or fad. I give you a keyword. You tell me rad or fad. Okay. TikTok. Rad. Oh, yeah. All right. Kanye. Fad.

Interesting. I love Kanye. But, you know, some of the misogyny in the lyrics, I am not a fan. I can see that. I can see that. It's kind of all over the math these days. How about Billy Elish? Rad. Oh, yeah. How about the new iPhone 13?

There's an iPhone 13. No, yeah. I just came out like yesterday. I'm going to say question mark. I don't have an answer on that one. To be determined. Alina, it's been a lot of fun. I really appreciate. you coming on it's been a great story you know learning about your background and you know kind of your perspective on the industry it's been really enlightening i really appreciate your time of

course thank you so much for having me this was so fun yeah great well alina told you where to find her go download her latest track grown fucking woman and go find her on instagram and fall along with her and and liar you know where to find us we're at the radcast dot com search for alina smith search for grown fucking woman. You'll find all the highlights from today's episode. You know where to find me. I'm always on Instagram at Ryan Offord. We'll see you next time on the Ratcast.