Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Behind the Country Music: No Regrets with Spencer Crandall

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

Get ready for another awesome episode of The Radcast! Today, our host, Ryan, is joined by the super talented country music sensation, Spencer Crandall. They have a captivating conversation about Spencer's incredible journey, the struggles of hustle culture and burnout, making it in the music industry as an independent artist, leveraging the power of social media, and of course, his amazing new music. Join this inspiring exploration of the world of music, travel, personal growth, and the pursuit of dreams. Spencer's story serves as a testament to the power of confidence, resilience, and staying true to oneself in the face of challenges. Don't miss out on this episode full of valuable insights and exciting updates from a rising star in the country music scene.Key notes from this episode: Spencer shares fascinating stories about life on the road as a country musician plus the ups and downs, the adventures, and the unique experiences he has encountered along the way. (01:23) The duo discuss how Spencer's love for music began and the pivotal moments that shaped his career. We hear the insights into his early musical influences and how they continue to inspire his work today. (02:52) Ryan and Spencer discuss how Spencer tapped into his natural musical talent   and nurtured it, along with the importance of confidence in pursuing one's dreams and overcoming self-doubt. (06:34) The pair have a candid conversation about the pressures of hustle culture and its impact on artists. Spencer opens up about his experiences with burnout and the importance of self-care in maintaining mental and emotional well-being. (14:41) Ryan brings an  inspiring discussion about Spencer's personal journey with sobriety and how it has shaped his music, his outlook on life, and the positive impact it has had on his career. (19:04) Spencer shares his insights into the advantages and challenges of being an independent artist. The duo discuss the freedom, creative control, and unique opportunities that come with being independent, as well as the potential benefits of working with a label. (23:01) Spencer focuses on creating emotionally evoking music that pays homage to country while straying from the sound of other popular artists in the genre. (30:41) Ryan and Spencer chat about  his new music releases, collaborations, and future aspirations. Get a sneak peek into Spencer's upcoming projects and his creative process. (40:11) This episode is packed with information, wisdom, and passion and we know you will get a ton of value from this.If you want to learn more about Spencer Crandall, follow him on Instagram @spencercrandall or on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@spencercrandall and his Spotify Spencer Crandall.Learn more by visiting our website at www.theradcast.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/RadicalHomeofTheRadcastIf you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, Like, Share, and leave us a review! 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.

You're listening to the Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. 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. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. We say, if it's radical, we cover it. You know what?

I'm being know this artist pretty well behind the scenes. I'm happy to have them all today. He's independent country music. All-Star. I'll call him an independent All-Star because there's either independent music's getting bigger and things like that, but he's an all-star. You'll know his music when you play it. Spencer Crandall, welcome to the show. What's up, dude?

Thanks for having me, man. Hey, my pleasure. I'm trying to get all the country people I can get. The show's gotten big enough to where I can, like, have my, like, crossovers and things like that. I'm looking forward to talking crossover, but I love having country music artists and talking their journeys. So it's been great. Absolutely. At least behind the scenes, seeing your story and listening.

into more of your songs that I had already heard. It was like one of those where names sounds familiar. It's real familiar. Oh, there's a song. Made. I knew that song. I was like on the playlist of Ryan's summer faves. It was on the playlist.

Like, already. Good to have you, brother. How's Nashville treating you? It's good. It's Nashville. I've been here for whatever 12 hours. I got back in from Maui. So I'm in my weird time zone era where I'm like,

I have no idea what time it is in my head. It feels like 5 a.m. Yet it also feels like 5 p.m. So we're here. We're doing the dang thing back in town for 72 hours and then we're back on the road. I know. I always wonder like with artists like the time zone thing and just to travel, you got to just be built for it. And even if you are built for it, you're going to have to get some scars and just used to it.

Right. Yeah, there's like a callus in your mind that just builds up. I was on a flight last night and I weirdly. maybe like a psychopath. I was like, this is my home. This is where I belong. I'm always on a plane. So it's real, man.

I feel like half of the airports in the United States, I can be like, oh, dude, there's this great chick flare. There's a jambu who's right around the corner. Like, I know airports weirdly too well. I can sleep anywhere now, which is a superpower.

I can just take a 10 minute power nap on the floor of any terminal than ever existed. So again, these are like superpowers, yet also probably my red flags at this point. Dude, I flew like 200 legs. I used to fly. I lived in Manhattan and worked in advertising and flew like every week.

And you kind of get used to it, but you never do. But I tell you what, if you weren't a good napper, you're in trouble. Like, you have to learn to nap. You're going to be hurting, dude. You got to fall asleep at any place, like in the chair or wherever it is. But Spencer, man, let's do some background. Guy from Denver somehow got into country music. I guess Denver's kind of, I don't know, the country town of the west a bit.

People in Denver will eat you alive if you don't. don't say their country because they are sneaky country in Colorado. Denver specifically, it's like any city, right? You have city folk and then you have, you go, I was in a cool place and this really informs a lot of my music because I lived in a stubborn called Hounds Ranch, Colorado. And it's 30 minutes to downtown and then 30 minutes this way is like where we would go camping, like Devil's Head, which is like the middle of nowhere looking out for miles and it's just mountains and pine trees.

So it's this really cool dichotomy of I can be downtown in hustle and bustle, and I can go absolutely nowhere. I grew up camping, fishing, hiking, snowboarding every single weekend. So that's just kind of cool. I was a Colorado kid. And then I moved to Nashville. And there's no hiking and there's no outdoors. So that's why I'm frequently in Denver. But, yeah, I came to it.

Honestly, my parents are fanatical country music fans. So, like, Kenny Chesney and George Strait and. and Shania Twain and Garth. It was just on in the car. It was on when we were camping. It was on during everything. So I remember there's a point in middle school where some of my friends started to play like rap and I was like,

I felt like I was raised in a cult. I was like, what is this magical music that you play? And then my older brother was the opposite of me where he was like, whatever mom and dad do, I'll do the opposite. So he went on LimeWire and crashed all our computers and started listening to rap and stuff. But it was always country music for me. I didn't know anything different. I love that.

But like, how soon did you pick up the guitar? Was that an immediate thing, or is that, like, later, like, teen years? Yeah, it was a weird story. So I never really did music. I sang in the choir when I was a really little kid. And then my voice changed, like, I got the squeaks. Yeah. Puberty hit me, like, a ton of bricks around, like, 12, 13.

So I just thought, okay, singing is off the table, unless I want to have a viral YouTube video of me squeaking along to the national anthem or something. I was out. Then around, I guess 18, they do this thing in my high school called the Senior Project. There's this big emphasis on you have to have a learning stretch. You got to try something brand new. And I was the football captain and wrestling captain. So I felt like it was cool to try something in musical world. I was obsessed with music just as a fan. I think that's where my love of music really just comes from. I went to concerts as a fan for 20 years before I ever played a concert.

And so for my senior project, I learned to play the guitar and write a song. I thought that was a cool, like, a way to stretch myself. And I fell in love with it. But then I went to go play college football, and I never thought about it again. I was like, oh, what a fun thing to do for my project.

And then when I got hurt in college, I got two shoulder surgeries, tore up my labrums, did all this crazy stuff. Had a bunch of doctors like, dude, stop hitting really big guys at fast speeds. You've got to cut that out of your life. And so I was bored and I was tired and I was burn out and I would just sat in my dorm room and I would learn covers and chords and just became obsessed. I started skipping class, not even on purpose.

I would just look down at my clock and be like, oh my God, I've been here for seven hours on YouTube just learning random little things. And so I came by it in a weird way. I went to go play college football and ended up finding a guitar in my dorm room. And the rest is kind of history. I started posting. I started playing these little tailgate parties at my college. And just it felt like free drugs. Every time I did it, I was like, people do this for a living.

Like, I want to do it for a living. And here you are, doing it for a living. The endorphins that come from playing live, I grew up with a family of musicians, actually. And it's funny when you're talking about that journey and having the brother that did everything counter to parents, whatever. I grew up with the dad that played in bands and not anything big, just local stuff. But very talented musician. And I never was into it because it wasn't.

It wasn't like I was against it. I wasn't like, but I just couldn't quite get into what dad was into. And then it took me getting into college and learning to play and all that and got it. But it's funny how you never know how the journey comes together, depending on what it is. It's crazy, right? Were you natural once you start? Sounds like you worked at it. Some people are just like, have that natural rhythm. I do think I have a natural ability for music.

Like, it would be a lie to say, and I sat there and I had to grind it. out. I think it came pretty naturally when I got on YouTube and stuff. But I don't think when you listen to my voice from the time I started singing to now, like I'll show it almost as like a party trick because people are like, what? That can't be you in like a good way. I think I was naive enough to think that I was better than I was. Or maybe there's, there's some healthy delusion early on to be like, I'm good enough to at least just keep going. Because it really pulled me through. And so I think there was some natural ability matched with some I'm a mama's voice. And maybe there's some confidence that was given to me on some sort of level for my mom,

just thinking that I hung the moon or something. And then I think there's definitely some hard work. I think there's also a part of the story where, you know, when you're sitting down for seven hours playing the guitar, it's not every minute is like ecstasy. You're hitting the wrong notes 17 times in a row. That's where most people dip out. And I think doing that with the internet, doing that with songwriting, doing that with touring, like there are parts of this journey where it feels like banging your head against a wall.

But weirdly, the obstacle is the way. I say that in stoicism. It's like the way forward is just through the pain and through the hard work. So it's a weird mix. And everybody's mix is different. But it got me to where I am. So I'm happy about the mix. I'm a big believer in confidence.

And I think you have to have it on some level. to fuel people that become great, whether it's delusional or not. And there's a fine line of confidence and arrogance. And I'm sure you were called both. And not everyone that's ever been confident had a little bit of those. But I think it's necessary to push yourself to those further channels because if you lack confidence, it's just real hard to get there. Super hard to get there.

And I think the hardest part is that it's really hard to start. Yeah. And I think that's where 99% of people dip out because here's a great example. I'm in college and I start showing up to parties and people ask me what I do. And I just start saying I'm a country artist. And half of my friends are laughing in my face. And I just had this thing in my head. I'm like, I don't know why this example comes to mind.

Like when you first start to wear like a different cut of jeans and people like, what are you doing? That's so weird. And then a month goes by and they're asking you where you got your jeans. Yep. That to me is kind of like career choices. is like when people are like, how do I become a country artist? I'm like, ready?

Say it with me. I'm a country artist. Oh, I want to be an author. I'm an author. I think Sean Mendez said that, like really sustained please. If you want to be a songwriter, just say you're a songwriter. That's all it is. It's just you jump into it.

And then even though you're not it, telling yourself that you are on a daily basis, confirming that with your tribe and your community, confirming it with your actions and your head, that's where you build confidence. So even though I sucked and even though I had no business being like, I'm a country artist, because when you think country artists, you're like, you're not Kenny Chesney. But even Kenny Chesney, one day sat down and looked in the mirror. I was like, I'm a country artist. And it felt weird. It didn't fit like a glove.

So it's that, are you confident or are you like saying that you're confident, which makes you confident? And I just went with, fake it till you make it's definitely a weird thing to say. but at the same time, those first couple months, you're faking it a little bit, and that's okay. There's this kind of growing into it, and that takes confidence. That takes starting and sticking with it and having people laugh in your face, and then five years later be like, hey, dude, I see you're playing at this venue. Give me my girlfriend get tickets. You're like, you last to me for calling myself a country artist.

Get out of here. All right. I'll send you out. Actually, you do put them on the front row then. I can do, and it makes me super happy because there's something about that. Just I'll do what I can. And that's like being kind to others. And if people want to do what they do, let them do what they do.

Yeah. But you know what? It goes back to if you want anyone else to believe it, you got to believe it first. Absolutely. Maybe my manager talked about that all the time. Like sometimes I can feel frustrated, even in the songwriter room or whatever. And a lot of times the things that I end up like messing up or the things that are not satisfied with, it's coming from me. Like I am this engine.

and my manager and my PR team and my publisher and my agent and all these people, they're only multipliers of me. Like if I'm giving zero, they can't 100 X zero is zero. So it has to like come from this core, which is me. And that can be frustrating at times because you're like, I want, I wish there was like a stunt double where this person could come in and play the show or write the song. But that ain't it, man.

It's got to come from this one place and you got to exhumed. the confidence because if I'm the captain of the ship and I'm like, we're going there. That's how people get behind you and blow more wind in your sales. You know what, Spencer, you really opened something for me. I didn't ever think about this, but I'm an entrepreneur and far businesses. And but every artist is truly an entrepreneur. And what you just described is like being the captain's, it is. And I don't know why I never thought about it that way.

I guess I always thought on the team and whether you're independent or not, you've got all these people. I'm like, no, but you're actually the big boss man. And it's all behind you. And if you don't have the ideas, the energy, the drive and all of those things, then it kind of starts and stops with you. And you can feel it. There are certain artists where they don't have a plan and people tell them what their plan is.

Yeah. And it just never quite works the same when it's coming directly from the source. And so it's freaking real, man. I talk to a lot of people who are getting into this and they'll ask me about my journey. And I frame it as there is the art and there is the commerce and they don't have to compete. They actually beautifully work in and out of each other. And to become not only an artist in your head, but there's also a day in my mind where I went, I'm a country artist and I'm a CEO.

And that's going to sound douchy to people because there's this hustle culture and everyone has CEO in their bio. But the reality is, if you have a business and you're making the. executive decisions of that business day in and day out, you are paying people's electric bills, you are putting people in positions where their job is on the line, you got to think that way. And I think there's something really cool about flipping that switch specifically for artists, and then even more specifically for independent artists, to go, there's nobody coming. There's no rescue mission to come scoop you up and put you on Star Mountain. You got to wake up in the morning and go, what are my finances?

what is my schedule. What do I want to say as an artist? Nobody's going to come tell you that. So you have to wake up and flip that switch every morning and go like, all right, this is my baby. If I don't want it, no one else is going to want it more than me. So I got to like almost re-up my contract with myself on a daily basis and be like, all right, I love this thing. I want to say this. I want to sound like this.

I want to tell this story. I think it's what great CEOs do as well. Very insightful. A lot to unpack there. and I want to go down the independent versus signed artist thing. But before we go there, I do want to enlighten people because you're a very insightful, bright guy. It takes me. This is like episode 360 for me.

I've interviewed a lot of people. You're very well spoken and very bright. And you will do great. Even if you, even if the music never, you'd be a CEO somewhere. You already got to figure out those parts. Let's talk. I do want to talk. It hasn't been all roses.

So what have been. the biggest pain points of the journey thus far before we kind of go down that independent label route. You know, it's funny because I think it's almost the same route because in so many ways, I came to town. I thought the answer was, I'm going to sign this giant record deal. People are going to come scoop me up and take me up to Star Mountain. And everybody looked me in my face and said, go home.

You don't belong here. This isn't for you. Like, we have enough of you. And I felt just ostracized in a lot of ways. And so I don't recommend this, but I also, this is the superpower that me and my manager found is that when you get kicked off the island, or like it more if you get banished to the island and you have to learn how to survive, you learn how to do it for real. And there's a difference between I want a songwrite because it'd be nice to have a hit song versus I have to song versus I have to song. right because I have to make this work for me. There's nobody to come get me.

And that desperation was the hardest part, but also it's like such a driving factor and it's why I am where I am. But it keeps me up at night. It definitely, there's been moments on a journey where it feels just very overwhelming to go, you're telling me I have to write the song, edit the song, produce the song, mix the song, master the song, market the song, put the song out, distribute the song, tour the song, play it at VIPs, do podcasts, do make the TikToks, edit the TikTok. There's so much to do. And there's only 24 hours in a day. There's only so much bandwidth

that my brain can handle before it feels like it's just overwhelmed. And I think last year, like we referenced this in a, in a joking way, but in a serious way as well, in my my camp of let's not go back to September 2020 and everyone just goes correct which is we all were just burnt to a crisp we were so tired at that point it was six years straight of just 14 15 hour days no weekends off and I'm looking in the mirror going I love this thing but it's eating me alive it my balance was so off and that's the problem with the hustle culture is you can be led to believe that you have such little time. There's no such thing as patience. You have to go today. And in fact, I just robbed myself of filling my well up as I went.

And then the injury that happened, and I use injury kind of intentionally, because for the last six months, I've been battling burnout, almost like an injury, like a bum knee of, dude, I can't even play the game I want to play because I'm like scared. I'm scared to go out there. You see this in football guys who go and break their femur and then they go to be running back again and it's not the same. I feel like I'm over that hump now, but there was probably a few months at the beginning of the year where I was like, I don't even, I don't want to go right. I don't want to play shows. I'm just going to get sick. I'm just going to feel burnout. And that's really hard to overcome. And that comes from it's cool. When good things happen and you're the guy, it can feel awesome because everyone's

You did that. You're the man. No one could stop you. But when you're burning out and drowning alone, it can feel very isolating. And it can feel very, just, it's a lonely road. And I think that's, nobody talks about that because there's not a lot of us on the lonely road. Yep.

The road few have traveled. Yeah, dude. It's freaking real. All right. I'm going to ask you this. I think I've asked every country artist this that I've talked to or if I didn't, I meant to. How do you not party every fucking night? I was thinking, I was like, you're doing a show and it's a party.

It's everybody's party they're at. You're trying to be pumped up. You're throwing the party. You're throwing the party every night. And I know that some people do. And this is why the artists like completely burn out. They either make it or they give it a hump or they do it. But how do you make it?

What's the balance of that? Dude, for me, I don't do balance as well in a lot of facets in my life. So I have to make tough decisions. and one of the tough decisions I made six years ago was just to give it up because I couldn't do it anymore. I was going so hard. I moved to Nashville and I, for the first six months, all of a sudden I woke up and I'm like, am I going out five, six nights a week? Like, my goal is to play a football stadium, but I'm writing a song a week because I'm so hungover.

I can barely move and I would do it in the name of connections or in the name of networking. The reality is I was doing it because I had this kind of addictive personality to be in the life of the party and going out and this job will already spit you up, chew you up, spit you out kind of thing. And for me, I had to give up alcohol. So I've been sober for six years, but I don't understand. God bless the people who can do that every night because I already find so much struggle and just how hard it is doing this sober. I don't understand. God bless these people who can get mess up and then wake up the next morning and sing again. Like, I don't think it's hard.

A lot of people do it, don't they? Don't a lot of the people in Nashville do it? You probably know them. So many people do it. So many of my good friends and they don't have drinking problems. They're just having a good time. But I do think it is a heavy factor in burnout. And I think a lot of people that I've talked to have started to lean off a little bit because I

I think at the early levels you can get away with it, the higher up you get, man, like, it's no longer just for funsies. There's mess up a weekend by getting too drunk and you get sick or you lose your voice. Some of these guys, you're giving up half a million dollars to a million dollars to go have a party. The sacrifice is real. And I think for me, I just felt like if I really wanted to live this dream of mine and I mapped it out starting at the end goal and working backwards, I couldn't get the math to work out where I was still drinking and partying.

So for that and many other reasons, I hung up the cape a few years ago. And congratulations for seeing and sticking with that. That's not an easy thing to do, man. It's not easy. It's definitely not easy to do. And three nights a week, you're throwing the party and people are handing you a shot on stage. So it's a weird job. It's a weird way to make a living, specifically when you're throwing

the party and you don't party. Has it gotten easier? It's gotten much easier. I think year one is really tough because it feels like you could say, oh, I took a break, but now I'm back. Now I think I actually take a lot of pride in my sobriety. So to give up my six year number just doesn't feel worth it anymore. And I've had the benefit of watching countless nights now where it's, yeah, I went to bed early and I feel fantastic and I got a workout in and my voice feels good and then my buddies get up and they're not feeling the same way. So in a lot of ways, you just reversed where the pleasure is, right? You reversed their pleasure. Instead of being 11 or 12 at night when they think they're having all the pleasure, you're up at 8 and you've had a good breakfast. You feel good and you

want to attack the world, right? Yeah. Sometimes I feel like a spokesperson for sobriety because I've just seen the benefits of it. So I got to be careful because there's lots of people who can just drink for fun and have a great time. So if you're one of those people, keep doing it. If you're not one of those people and you're wondering if, is it worth it? I would actually say it's pretty worth it, man. It's been pretty life-changing.

I appreciate that transparency, man. I think that a lot of people can relate to that. So let's talk independent versus non-independent. We got so much going on, man, with social media and all these other outlets now. But let me just, you are going to tell us, because I want to hear your point of view on it. But do you want to remain independent? it? I think that question, it reminds me of a similar question, which is, do you want to get married? Which I think the answer is an obvious yes, but I don't want to get married to get married. I don't want to get married because my friends are getting married.

And I don't want to get married because I have a fear of not getting married. Yeah. So let's translate that over to labels. I don't want to sign. I don't want to sign because my friends are getting signed. And I don't want to sign because I'm fear never signing. So it really needs to be a good fit. I think a lot of the miscommunication between me and record labels has been thinking differently, just about how business and life and these things work. And I think people are getting a lot more creative, so I feel more hope than ever. I saw that. I just signed a publishing deal, which is really exciting. And Warner Chapel got creative with us, and they got realistic with us.

And they started talking about making music and writing songs. in 2028 instead of 22,000. That's the difference. And I think nowadays, artists have so much to do and they have so much agency and autonomy. So to give all that up, it has to just make sense. And it has to be with people who the ideology is aligned perfectly. And I think we've come close. I think we've talked to some awesome people.

But it's like dating. Like I've gone on some great dates. I've even had some long-term relationships that are really nice. But I've never felt that I've got to get hitched and I got to get hitched to What does it open up? Like in today's world, what does, I know what it meant 15 years ago or 10 years or maybe even seven years ago, but what does signing open up for Spencer Crandall that you don't already have at your beck and call? It's a great question. I feel like in country music specifically, there are a few key factors.

One would be just pure capital, right? We can't ignore the fact that if I want a million. dollars, I have to wait till I have a million dollars. Yeah. If I'm with a record label, I can take on a million dollar loan against myself, which is a whole other conversation, at any moment. And so I can go do things today that I couldn't do because I have that up front capital. So that's important.

They operate as a bank, and that's the game that they play. That's how they make money. And it actually does benefit a lot of artists because they can go record the album now. They can hop on the tour best now instead of waiting or just not being able to do. in general. So that's nice. I always say this and I meet it in a loving way, but there's like a Game of Thrones aspect to labels. There's these five humans, honestly, it sounds conspiracy theory but it's not. It's like there's really max 10 people and they're just trading favors back and forth. So it's like, we will give you the Morgan Wallentor if you give us the insert, the

insert other cool artist tour because there's just this kind of trading and ability to leverage favors against each other. And I don't have that. So when you look at a lot of these people on these really cool tours and they're crushing it, they don't have, and this is not even like to talk shit, it's just there's like a reality in the numbers here. I have better numbers than a lot of these people on these tours or all these artists to watch lists. You watch like 20, 23 hottest artists. and I'm going through and I'm going, my monthly listeners are all of these people combined

yet we can't get on the list. Oh, let's go down the list of people. Sony, Universal, Big Loud, Sony, big machines. They're all sides. Of course, I just miss out on those opportunities. And those opportunities, weirdly, I think there's some beauty in industry-facing, and letting those cups pour in and out of each other.

So when you get on the billboard, you take that to your people and say, look what we did, that this is our thing. And they blow it up and they stream the music more. And then you take that to the industry and they go, look, this is our thing, like what we're doing. And they cup pours back and forth. So I missed out on a lot of those opportunities. And it puts you in the best rooms in the world.

There's something to say about like the best rights, the best producers, the best, everything. I can't get in some of those rooms. So there's just more locked doors. And I would say time. I think labels can buy you some time and let you skip some steps in some way. that maybe aren't real, but they help you get there where Jeff is my manager and Jeff and I, a lot of times we just go, cool, we'll do the same thing in a year. And we just have to be okay with that opportunity cost.

Fascinating. I've asked that a few times, but the bank analogy is it really crystallized for me. I don't know why no one has quite framed it that way, but that makes a ton of sense. I can get out on tour. There's a lot of things. and out throwing your whole entire life savings and every person into it, put so much risk. You can use other people's money to kind of get out there.

Right. Now, what you're giving up is what you get back from that. So if you want to borrow a million dollars, they'll go, cool, for sure. Now you make six pennies on every dollar because we need to make our money back. The crazy part of what we do is I make freaking 93 pennies on every dollar. Yeah. And so when something really blows up and it's happening organically, what I can do is actually, I think there's a lot of benefit to speed.

Some of the cons of labels are like all of a sudden you have 17 cooks in the kitchen, and you want to just get one album art approved, and it's two cooks say no, the whole thing gets scrapped. Now you're waiting seven months for an album art, and the song is already dead on TikTok. What are we doing? So that's the old guard, that's people who don't understand how the internet works, how really the world works today.

So you got to find this kind of hopefully the goal is to find somebody who understands what we do, what I'm good at. And then they go, look, you do what you do. We'll do what we do really well. We can give you more money. I can open political doors. But I'm not going to stop you from being able to play the game like you need to play the game. Yeah. That's really interesting.

What's your favorite song you've done? Interesting question. But you haven't had that one. I feel like I don't have children, but I've heard that songs are like children and that you love them the same yet differently. I've got a few songs that really change things for me, which is incredible. And I think that's, it's been a really crazy journey to go from the guy learning to play the guitar in my dorm room to having people show up and sing the songs and stuff. I have a song called My Person and that song's really special to me. It's the one that led the way for so long, open all the block.

doors that I couldn't get through. I have a song called Made that for me just really says something cool and sounds the most like me because I think there's so many love songs in the world, but to have a song that talks about how hard work or love takes hard work, excuse me, I think it's really special. And I think I'm really proud to be a part of that message. And the fact that it did so well with like a subversive messaging like that is really cool to me. How does that handle Like, Maid, that's all on my playlist. And that's my favorite song of yours. Up until I will say, what I didn't do is going to be a smash with Cooper Allen.

We're already going to go down that road, brother. I want to hear the whole thing. You got to send it to me like after the thing. I'm totally waiting. Yeah, I'm going to stop waiting. I'm like, I got to have at least a little inside something here. Like, it comes out in two days, I think. Yeah.

We'll talk more about that in a second. But I do think change is big. But back to the independent thing, something's like, like, like, Maid comes out. And it gets on serious. It's on serious. Is it hard to break into this? Like, how do independent artists get on serious? Dude, welcome to the Game of Thrones.

We had a buddy over there. His name's J.R. And J.R. Changed a lot of stuff for me because he just believed in me as an independent artist. And so he stuck his neck out, put the song on XM to test it. And it did what it did. It went number one on the highway. And that's where it's crazy.

Because without a label, I'm getting played to whatever serious is, audiences like 30 million people or whatever. And that's a game changer for that song to sit on the hot country playlist on Spotify. Like that's the biggest country playlist in the world. It doesn't get bigger than that. Do the labels get mad when an independent artist is sitting there? I know they do. I'm not going to.

It's because they've spent $2 million on somebody and they can't crack them on one of the small playlist. And this is why some of the label stuff doesn't work because a lot of it is just trying to conflate. a career versus laying bricks, like real bricks, fan, stream, tickets, that shit that nobody can take away from you. So I'm really proud that we've done that. And then you watch people who are this inflated version of what you're trying to be not get the things. Yeah, that people get pretty angry, pretty quickly. And that's the difference. I can't sit on Hot Country for two years like

some of my friends do because the labels start to throw a fit and they find a way to get their people on those lists because it's trading favors they're like yo we'll get you this if you get us this and it's not i'm not saying that in a mad way i'm also not saying i wouldn't do the same thing yeah it's just the reality of the business i'm not jaded i'm not callous i don't have my middle fingers up i'm always going to be independent like the machine works it's just when you're on up on the outside of the machine, you get, you get steamrolled by it pretty quickly. So there's an easy way for people in this town to start to, to not like you because you're taking things from them. And that's real. I talked to Michael Hobby from a thousand horses, he's cut him in Carolina,

I've become good friends. And he talked about the pressures of making the next hit. And I'm sure you can relate to that. It's, that's back to what you talk about, the art versus the commerce. You have the talent, you know, how to write, you have what comes natural and all these things, but then the balance of, okay, what's hot and fresh right now, what's going to move the needle, what's going to pop off. Talk about that pressure. Man, it's so real and it's so hard to, we live in this, like, TikTok world, this TikTok era, and I've benefited from it almost more than anybody. You watch my career and pre-Tik-Tac and pre-the-internet where it is today. I had some success, but nothing close to what I have now. And I think I've been able to strategize these apps and market myself well.

And now when you go to make something, it's hard in the back of your head to not think about that while you're making something. And Rick Rubin, who's like a freaking musical genius and he's produced everything from Jay-Z to like the Beastie Boys, right? He talks about making a thing in a vacuum and really taking the commerce out of it. and trying to impress yourself. I always say that the rule is, am I listening to it in the car? When I get in the car, am I listening to this song like it's one of my favorite songs?

Do I get the kind of addictive feeling that I got, just as a fan of music, when somebody put out a song and you get in the car, and you're like, ooh, I got to hear that. It's just, that part of my brain. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to really make stuff that me and my friends, and my co-writers and my manager,

when at 7 p.m. You've clocked out of music and you're on your way home from dinner. You just want to listen to it one more time. And once you do that, then the hope is, okay, then it's also marketable because you have this incredible thing.

But to do it in a vacuum, to like really not focus on, is this going to go viral? Is this going to do whatever? And especially when you're writing something about life or something about a breakup, those things aren't as marketable

on paper. But if it's from the heart and you feel it and you connect with it, the hope is there's millions, potentially billions of other people who have gone through the same thing. And the gift of music is giving someone language for something they didn't even know they needed to say, right? Oh my gosh, I felt that way, but I didn't even know that I felt that way. So to capture that in a bottle, without the pressures of, is this going to be my next maid? Is this going to be my next my person? Is this going to change my life? is it's going to pay for my car. Nope.

Take that off the table. Be a fan of music. What do I actually want to listen to in my car? Why is this different than Luke Combs? Why is this different than Justin Timber? Like, how do I take all the things I love, like use alchemy to boil them down and then take Frankenstein them back together

with this thing that I'm freaking out about? It's hard to do, especially in a world where everyone's asking you, how's your TikTok? How's your Spotify streams? To make something incredible a lot of times, it takes time. And people in today's day and age are going like, hey, we want more right now, this second,

we want it yesterday, when's the pre-save link, when's the next album? I put out two 20-song albums in two years, I guess over the course of three years, three or four years. And I got to the end of that, and I was like, dude, I have nothing else to say.

I got to go live some life. I got to go talk to people. and fall in love. Develop more feelings. Create great music. So it's tough to do it without the pressures of the world. You know, how slippery is a slope for you in today's world? You have the sound with your voice in that we talked about this pre-episode and you brought up to be JT, which is what I thought of when I listened to a couple of your songs that crossed over a little bit.

I was like, this guy's, you could 100% be a pop artist that never hit Nashville. You have that voice. You have that sound. Sure. But is it a slippery slope of holding true to the country artist and wanting to be a part of that community versus the crossover? Or is it, I know it's open and welcome now because you have so many people going back and forth. But do you have to be careful with that? Or would you be fine if, you know, your label and your opportunity just somehow went back with that direction?

It's funny because I've just never, when I think of country, country versus pop, this is usually how I delineate between the two. Pop music is the soundtrack to the movie, and country music is the script. So pop music is, there's a really happy moment going on. It's not getting in the way of that moment. It's supporting that moment or emphasizing that moment or sadness or whatever, insert emotion here. I think country music is the script where it's like you hear the clacking of the boots up the gravel driveway. He's wearing a red shirt against his old silverado.

It's real life, and it's just real stories about real people. And that's what's been so addicting to me. And I think most of my songs, especially the biggest ones, I can whip out an acoustic guitar and tell you that story just with the guitar. You can take away the 808, you can take away the background vocals, you can take away any of the non-traditional stuff. The reality is it's a guy spilling his heart out in a song using image-driven lyrics, taking on a journey, a story A to B.

I think that's what country music is. It's about real people in the real world. So much a rap and hip-hop and pop is more fetishism and this daydreaming of life, like what it could be or like that soundtrack versus the story. And I think country music wins when stories are really good. And so that's what I want to do. I want to tell incredible stories with my music. I want to honor country music.

I don't want to be the guy who like calls himself a country artist and it's laughable. At the same time, I don't want to do what Luke Combs is doing because Luke Combs does that really well. I don't want to be a Diet Coke Morgan Wallen. I want to be just me. And somewhere along the last couple of years, I noticed that my fans don't give a shit about genre. They just want great music. They want country music to be respected and they want authenticity. If I continue to do all those things, I think I'm going to be okay.

I know in my heart that country music is where I belong in country music is the most impactful, in my opinion, because of the storytelling. So that's what I want to keep doing. You talked about the song I have coming out a few weeks. To me, although we use some elements that aren't traditionally found in a country song, that is exactly what country music is about, is telling your story, telling your truth in a way that people can identify with. I used to give it a ton of thought. I think the conversation becomes more and more convoluted. It gets a little boring as you get into. Is this instrument country?

Is this, like, album art? Like, in my humble opinion, and I'm just a guy sitting next to his Peloton, who gives a shit anymore? We all listened. We grew up with LimeWire. We grew up with these iPods where you'd go, Justin Bieber, to Ludacris, to Alan Jackson, to Eminem, to Shania, Twain. we all were infected with multi-genre love of music. And so I think it's important for award shows. I think it's important for the iTunes charts.

But other than that... Yeah, people don't care. I don't know that people care. And it's more about people are starved for authenticity. And so if my authentic voices, country music meets this kind of funky or soulful pop thing, then it will work because it's authentic. And if it's not, it will also not work because it's not authentic. And so those are the North Stars I continue to chase.

It's not about genre. It's not about awards. It's not about streams. It's about making something I just really want to listen to in my car and something that I think hopefully helps people, whether that's help them have the best night of their life and party, whether that's get them through a breakup, whether that's make them wake up and realize they have one life, whatever. That's the gift music has given me. And that's the gift that I want to give people through my music. What's on your playlist, Spencer? So who's on the regular Spencer Crandall playlist?

I'm trying to think right now. Who I'm listening to. Dude, I'm listening to a lot of Bain Camino. Okay. They're so good. I'm listening to the new version of Speak Now by Taylor Swift. Taylor's version. Shout out to Cliff Swift.

Hopefully things work out for her little. Yeah, I know. She's struggling. Really hope that she finds some light in the tunnel. Poor girl. Let's see. I'm back on my John Bellion kick. He's awesome.

Speaking of that, John Bellion just produced the new Jonas Brothers album. And the Jonas Brothers album is fire. It is one of the best pop albums I've heard in many years. Jelly Roll. Jelly Roll is killing it, man. He's just so cool to watch. Like another guy, talk about genre.

What genre is Jelly Roll? Who freaking knows? Jelly Roll doesn't know. And that's why it's working. Exactly. You know, what genre is. party. It sounds sick. He has metal

drums and screams in his songs. When he did that STP, Stone Dipple Pallet's cover, I was like, that's perfect, because that's him. He was more STP than they were. I don't know. It was like... Yeah, dude, half these guys in country music are like scene kids, like emo kids that grew up.

Their dad would listen to country and their friends would be in Mosh pits. And then all of a sudden they make this thing that's authentic to them. And I think that's really cool. And the stuff that I end up loving is usually what if this and this had a baby what if this was this but flipped upside down like I love stuff like that Keith Urban's always on my playlist candy Chessney's always on the playlist I'm trying to think of other people right now I would say Jonas Brothers and jellyroll a lot of that yeah I know what brought you and Cooper Allen together I think it's just the shared weird experience of being independent artists and I think the song There's just a reality of, if you don't have a good song, there's no reason to do a collab. It takes too much work.

It takes too much, like, planning. So we got really lucky that Kup just loved the song. And when we sent it to me, he's like, yep, I'm in. Because it's something we both want to say. But I'm really proud of that song, dude. It's one of those, I hope on my deathbed people continue to find that song. I think I'll be really proud of that one. Yeah, what I didn't do, right?

That's what it's called, what I didn't do. Yeah, so the hook is just, I'd rather agree. it when I did than what I didn't do. And that whole first verse was literally just me speaking into my iPhone. I literally just said, sometimes I catch myself living like I'll never die. And then I said something else and I didn't have a rhyme. But it was like, then I'm going to be down here forever. And then I get to just live again.

And that's just not real. Like you get, as far as I know, we get one shot. And I did the math on this the other day. It was like spooky. I have, if I only live till 80, I only have some thousand more days left in my life. And that's not like, in our heads, it's like, we have millions. We just have millions of more coffees and a thousand Christmases.

No, you get 80. If you're lucky, if you're above average, you're getting 80 summers. You're getting 80 Christmases. Why do we all act like it's just not going to be over so fast? My existential crisis led to writing this song that is more about, like, Drake said Yolo, I think that's my version of this. It's like, I would rather go and try everything. I would rather kiss the girl and stay up late and go on the vacation and tell people I love them because your deathbed is sooner than later. And I think to have no regrets in that moment,

or at least if your regrets are I tried or I failed, I think I can live with those. So that's what the song's about. And Cooper just, I think, feels the same way. And we have this kind of trauma bond about being independent artists in 2023. Nothing would be more fitting, though, would be two independent artists and that just blowing it up. And I think it's got the sound to do it, man. I was listening to it.

And I always had it's like these 20-second teasers and not had the whole thing, but I'm like, that's a hit. It sounds like a hit to me. It smells like it. It looks like a hit. It sounds like a hit. Yeah. Dang. It's a hit. Yeah, I think it is. I think we will, the Rack has

and Ryan Oliver is going to help blow it up too. Let's go, dude. I appreciate you. It sounds like you have a good ear for music if you haven't all these guys on. So I'm honored to be in the lineage. Oh, yeah. I'll add it immediately to the playlist. So you're going to have to send it to me.

Yeah. Where did it come out? It's like July 14th. Yeah, July 14th. I don't know what today is because that's this week. It's today, July 10th. Yeah, so I know we're recording on the 10th. So if you're listening, it may or may not be the week of that you're hearing.

It'll already be out. If you're in the future, And it's July 14th already. You can go stream didn't do with Cooper All right now and see what I was. That's right. It will already be a hit by that. We're going to will it to win. You got to believe it before they'll believe it.

You're officially invited to the number one party. Hey, see, I want to be there. Exactly. Write that down. Grace put it, put note on that. Number one party, Ryan offered is invited in Nashville. Absolutely. VIP, baby.

Exactly. Where can everybody keep up with all things, Spencer Crandall? Just at Spencer Crandall and all the things except for Twitter. I'm at Spencer Boo because I made it when I was 14. But other than that, at Spencer Crandall. And yeah, say what's up. I'd love for anybody that hears this podcast, like just shoot me a DM. Say what's up.

Awesome, man. I really appreciate your authenticity, your openness. We have a lot of guests that come on. I feel like there's a little bit of a wall up. And I haven't felt that way at all for Spencer. So it's been really great. Good, dude. Thank you.

Yeah, man. Hey, guys. You know where to keep up with us to radcast.com. Search for Didn't Do. You'll find all the highlight clips from today's episode with Spencer Crandall, the soon-to-be number one hit from the independent artist with Cooper Allen. You know what to find me at Ryan Alford. I'm blowing up on TikTok too, just like Spencer.

We'll see you next time. Radcast. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the dot rad. dot cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.