About Josh T Smith
A lot of people in the music industry exaggerate that they’ve spoken with thousands of artists in their career. Not as many have the experience I do to back it up.
As well as nearly 2 decades working as an executive in the independent music industry, being an artist producer myself means I know the real troubles that artists face. I think every single day about how to solve them.
I’ve been involved in many projects that have aimed to solve some of these problems, and part of my life’s purpose is to focus on ideas, solutions, platforms and strategies that increase the probability of an artist living solely dedicated to their art.
It’s all about reducing friction between ideas and outcomes for all involved in making that happen.
I have worked in music industry leadership positions that have involved complex strategy, concepts, development and execution for innovative business models. Now, I want to do that away from industry ties.
Timeline of my experience
My "why"
Growing up, getting into music outside of the city – there was no immediate opportunity in the music industry, I had to hustle from the start.
But I pursued my passion for creating music, firstly achieving a Music Diploma, then my focus shifted to production instead of performance, so I took a Music Technology Diploma. I carried this on and achieved a BA Honours Degree in the field and graduated in 2011.
Writing my dissertation on the upcoming servitisation of music commodities, I realised that a career as a music producer wasn’t a wise choice in 2010. Spotify had just been released, and it was unclear if it would be successful.
The music industry had no entry-level roles for me, and even with remote working capabilities, working outside of London was not an option. This has been something I’ve wanted to change for others ever since, and it continues to be an industry-wide issue.
I believed the only way to succeed in the music industry was to understand the things people with money showed interest in: to gain knowledge of startups, business development, sales, and marketing in profitable industries, and then use that knowledge to revolutionise the music industry.
Those years were about gaining first-hand experience, both by growing businesses in established industries and building my own music business at the same time.
In addition to running my own record label, in my early working days I developed my career in IT Network Infrastructure to the point of leading a sales and marketing department. I generated 7-figures in sales, helped the company grow and it eventually formed a successful merger.
Seeing how unhelpful people in the music industry were for helping an aspiring producer outside of London into the industry, I vowed to be part of making a difference to this situation. Seeing how useful I could be at making money in another industry, I felt sure I could do the same in the music industry.
I worked in the music industry full time for nearly a decade. From music sync tech, through publishing, to DSP (streaming) specialisation at a high profile record label.
Later, after years of chasing the answer to making money in the music industry, I realised that I had lost touch with what I really loved about music, making it, and this changed my whole perspective. I now teach artists that it’s as important to hold onto the magic of their art as it is to chase making money from what they create. It’s too easy to get lost in the latter.
The disruption that the pandemic brought to my developing career in the music industry snowballed into a renewed mentality in my approach to music.
I got a degree in Music Production because I love producing music. I worked in the music industry as an executive for nearly 2 decades because my brain is wired in a certain way that makes me good at “doing business”.
But I hate “doing business” – I’m an anti-capitalist.
How do we start prioritising what makes us feel wholesome, and gradually rejecting what does the opposite?
This question became central to my experience.
I managed to stay in the industry all through that turbulent pandemic era, watching many peers fall out of the industry and never return. I worked deeply on a project that’s still a big deal today. I loved the company, and worked with a great leader, but the situation in the world drained the life from me.
After the pandemic, I went to work at one of my favourite record labels – I loved working there and I love those guys. It was a fixed-term contract, and that brought stress.
I was earning decent money. I should have been pumped and deep into a successful career.
This validated a truth I had long recognised but not fully accepted: a life in music is full of impermanence. Expecting anything to last is futile.
It’s far better to build resilience to weather change.
This is where I realised: just because we’re musicians, doesn’t mean our live has to be entirely about music. We need to look at other parts of our personality, brain
The goal is to have the skills to walk in or out of any opportunity without hesitance or regret.
How I got here and what gives me the credibility to consult and coach artists
- 8 years running my own independent record label.
- Running a team of 8 freelancers.
- Restructuring Customer Success at a Sync Music Tech company. Speaking with around 300 artists, independent record labels and publishers per week.
- Running Enterprise Business Development for a Sync and Publishing Music Tech Product.
- Conceptualised, developed & A&R’d a Publishing department for a music app with over 1m active users.
- Managed DSP Operations for a record label with over 2bn streams.
- A&Rd at an independent record label.
- All the while producing as a self-released artists and for other artists.
Skills
- Project management
- Strategy: knowing the processes an artist needs to follow to effectively develop
- Music production
- Songwriting
- Coaching
Experiences
- Music producer
- Ran a record label
- Worked for a sync agency
- Worked for music tech companies and have spoken with uncountable number of artists and know their experiences and problems
- Set up and ran a publishing division for a leading music tech company
- Managed A&R for a social network
- Worked as DSP (streaming) specialist for a successful independent record label
Personality traits
- Anti-conformist
- Self-empowered
- Humorous
- Encouraging
Qualifications
- B A Honours Degree in Music Production
- Diploma in Music Technology & Music