Josh T Smith

There’s a paradox in the music industry: you need support to reach the threshold where people start taking real notice, but you can’t access that support until you’ve already reached that threshold.

In the glory days of the music industry, artists in this stage were labelled “development artists” (or, artists in development), and record labels gave small advances to these artists whilst A&Rs shaped them into commercial artists.

These types of advances are now practically non-existent. But there are a few people like me who do artist development as a paid service.

For nearly 20 years now, I’ve worked with artists at this stage, seeing them survive and fund themselves through making and sharing music. Not always crossing over into the spotlight, but making a modest living in music. It is possible.

But it often takes another way that promotes peace of mind and a stable structure to grow from. It’s rarely about going “all in”.

There’s no doubt that the music industry is broken, and if you put all eggs in that basket straight away, they will break. That I’ve seen too many times.

I’ve always put the value of art above income. I have always refused to work at major record labels or publishers, despite having the opportunity to do so. 

I’ve worked for some great independent music companies since 2010 and have a huge amount of knowledge to share. I carry a background of fierce independence and integrity into my work. I want to work with artists, labels and publishers to do the same.  I’m done with music business as usual and want to give others the courage to find their own new way too.

Josh Smith Jose Schmitt in the studio

Current positions: 

  • Composer and Music Producer as Jose Schmitt
  • Independent Artist Development Coach
  • Horticulturist

I’m not a guru of the DIY Artist movement. I’m not here to give you worn-out advice about how to turn your music into a business.

If you want the LA/Nashville dream and you’re driven by material success, I’m not your guy. That advice is out there. Most of it is on ChatGPT these days.

My purpose is to help you keep your love and focus on being an artist. To get absolutely buzzed about collaborations and partnerships that help you develop your career. To not care if you have to spend a couple days a week doing a job that isn’t music – because all of your other time is focused on music.

I’ve been told I’m like a cross between an artist manager and a coach.

I’m here to empower you and give you the knowledge you need to be continually resilient every time the world brings you reasons to stop making music.

 I’m here to give you the pathways to follow when you’re looking for a way out of a plateau. I’m here to tell you what to do next when you get stuck.

I can give you first hand advice on things that might not be working with your music.

I can give you the right goals to work towards at your stage of artist development. I can give you custom systems to follow that with consistency will bring you gradual progress towards your goals.

I can make you say that you don’t care about the music business, because you love making music and that’s enough. I can help you recognise that being  devoted to your art is the real quest you seek. 

We’ll discuss the tools and business savvy you need to gradually build a life where art is at the centre.

I can teach you how to act as a record label, music publisher and sync agent for yourself, until you’re ready to delegate those tasks to others as your demand to create music increases. 

When you are ready to work with partners, I can ensure you know how to navigate a good deal and demand terms that align with your goals – or walk away without any FOMO.

I consult record labels, publishers and music tech on how to do these things, so I give that ability to artists directly too.

Background and skill set

My Story

My background in the music industry has given me a wide area of specialisations:

My goals have become far bigger than my platform can currently provide. I am working on something bigger, and I’ll be working on it increasingly in public.

I’m not talking about some new entrepreneur pursuit, like a new music tech solution to existing issues with the music industry.

I’m interested in real change.

I want to create a world where artists are valued and are able to survive as contributors to society, without having to win a capitalist game that works against them. 

This means I want to be involved with and push as hard as possible in political changes such as:

  • Artist grants
  • Social welfare
  • Normalisation of B-Corp companies
  • Basic Income
  • Copyright asset value education and systemic reform

I’ve always been driven by bohemian ideals, counter-culture and left wing politics. I’m from a working class background and I’m still here. Even though I’ve got a degree, even though I’ve launched multiple startups, even though I’ve worked for leading music tech companies; I’m still working on a low income. 

This is because capitalist powers don’t value art in the same way as other sectors. This a virus in our system as humans, and it needs fixing. 

Music and artists should be key players in exposing truths, describing the human condition and helping people cope – but we’re losing that value to capitalism.

I’m starting this journey by writing – to educate artists how to survive in the broken system we’re in, and prepare themselves for a new system that’s actually built for them. I’m also starting to involve myself more politically. 

However, I have no funding to help me on this mission – and I’m still in the cycle of needing to keep up my minimum floor for bills. Please Support Me on Patreon and help me create a society, and inspire a world, that gives artists the platform they need to grow and thrive from.

These are big ambitions and I need your support

Support me on Patreon

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Work with me

My specialities have always been helping music teams solve problems, break through bottlenecks and improve workflows. Output and consistent results are the goal and I can help achieve success in an interdisciplinary way.

I believe the foundational key to long-term sustainable business growth starts with:

  • A proper understanding of value proposition
  • Systems, processes
  • Continual optimisation
  • Motivation and perseverance 
  • Autonomy

We will focus both on clarity of your long-term goals and what needs to happen now to get there.