Josyah Lavina-Maldonado is the co-founder of TRNDSTTRS. Josyah is a High School student who is a part of a music group that creates rap music and videos. The group is composed of Josyah and his brothers. This group of boys have always shared an interest in music, this accompanied with their interest in having fun and spreading positivity has created something wonderful. These productions give a positive message by talking about the value of friendship and more. To me it is so interesting and fascinating that this group of boys have turned their talents into spreading a positive message for their audience. I think that this innovative way of creating music and spreading a positive message about certain values, is a fantastic way to reach and inspire younger audiences to do something similar. I think that this group of boys have received appropriate attention from companies. I think that they should continue to grow and engaged with a larger audience, especially the youth. By spreading these positive messages and reinforcing certain values, I think it will help the culture for the generations to come. I have also found myself to enjoy their songs and performances. The group is incredibly talented and very entertaining. I am very curious to see what happens with the group as they become adults and are offered even more opportunities. I wonder if they will continue with the trend of positivity or if they will change their material to something else? Regardless, I am sure that this group will continue to thrive and have a positive impact on their audience.
Archive for Music – Page 2
https://www.businessinsider.com/soundmind-gen-z-founders-pandemic-stress-trauma-solution-2021-11
Travis Chen and Brian Femminella acknowledged how there was a lack of trustworthy mental health resources, and so they decided to come up with an app called SoundMind, which uses music to help reduce anxiety for individuals. Both of these individuals battled immense challenges in their personal lives, and they used them as inspiration to try to provide resources for other people. They created an online environment for people to have crucial mental health resources, and have a sense of community for others who understand the struggles that they are going through. They plan to expand their app even further to allow creators to upload their own sounds, along with commission opportunities.
Sara Kays is a 21 year old singer/songwriter from Indiana. Currently in college, Sara continues to write music while getting her degree and performing her songs. She started her craft when she was 13, taking an interest in guitar and learning to sing, write, and perform in high school.
After graduating high school, Sara moved to Georgia to grow in her music, and recently moved to Nashville to continue performing and writing. Sara Kays has been publishing her music since 2018, starting with releasing her first song, “Rich Boy”, in October 2018. After releasing that first song, she then released the accompanying album to “Rich Boy”, called “A House Too Big”.
Since 2018, Sara has released 3 singles in 2019, 4 singles in 2020, and an album in 2020. Her social media presence is most well-known on TikTok, but she also has YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter accounts, as well as a website for her merch (https://www.sarakays.com/).
Her music relates to our generation, speaking through the music to those who have been in negative situations and have been affected by those situations. It’s almost like Sara’s way of soothing the hurt many have felt and being a helping hand in her own way.
When I was in elementary school I ran 5ks and other races because my mom did. However, the only way I would do it was if I had my iPod Shuffle. The problem with the Shuffle was that I had to buy music and download it on to it. I think it cost $1.29 for each song, and when you are 7 years old that can really add up. Daniel Ek saw that problem and changed the music industry forever by creating Spotify in 2006. The problem initially was that Apple’s iTunes provided the music industry much more money with its pay-per-download model. Ek continued to push that over time the music service will generate substantial royalties while avoiding music piracy. In 2012, Spotify had 18 million songs and 20 million active users, though not all were paid subscribers. Only five years later the site has over 35 million songs with 160 million users where 70 million of them are monthly subscribers. The service has blown up and made music streaming the new norm.
This story is so interesting to me because it fixed a problem that was generally accepted and dealt with. Only after it was created did people really see the problem with downloading songs for so much money and piracy. It inspires me to look at the world around me and not always look for problems but ways to make generally accepted parts of life better for everyone around me. 
Spotify was founded in Stockholm, Sweden by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Spotify was developed in 2006 in response to the growing piracy problem that the music industry was facing. Two years after developing the software they launched and made music free for people who only had to listen to advertisements every so often. Ek and Lorentzon realized that there was no way to prevent pirating music with the way it was being sold at the moment, so they found a way to give the listener all the music they wanted, while compensating the artists.
Spotify grew rapidly and became known as the number one name in music. Spotify’s main rival, Apple Music, came into the market in 2015 and also launched a pay per month subscription to listen to music. Spotify was designed as a platform to listen to music, but has adapted and molded into different areas. Spotify has linked up with different services, like Hulu and Showtime, for linked subscriptions.
Spotify has innovated and adapted to stay ahead of its competitors. It started as a solution for people pirating music, and innovated and changed into the largest name in music. Spotify succeeds because of the relationship that they build with the users, building community playlists and events.
Travis Scott is a secular rapper who grew up in Houston, Texas. Scott comes from a family of musicians and started playing the drums at three years old and continued to learn more and more about music as he grew up. Scott attended the University off Texas in San Antonio until he dropped out to focus and pursue his dream career. Travis Scott’s music started getting a lot of intention and suddenly, he was one of the most popular rappers. Scott’s story however, doesn’t end there and it hasn’t been a simple world of success with music. He showed an entrepreneurial spirit and mind with how he branded himself.
Travis Scott is very famous for his music, but he has used that popularity to expand into other areas of earning revenue and popularity. Scott has done several collaborations with Nike, designing shoes and clothes that have become sought after and very expensive on the resell market. His shoe designs have been super unique, even for Nike. Scott took a classic Jordan Retro 1 high and made the swoosh bigger, but then flipped it backwards and people fell in love with it.
Fortnite took the gaming world by storm and Travis Scott realized this so he seized an opportunity and performed a virtual concert in the game for more than 12 million viewers. This concert in the game was completely free, but Scott made a fortune off of his merchandise line where he collaborated with Fortnite.
Finally Scott also did a collaboration with McDonald’s and created a $6 meal. Scott was able to reach a much younger market with this meal and attract new listeners to his music. McDonald’s chief marketing officer Morgan Flatley said, “His ability to kind of see where culture is going and have a hand in where culture is going is really unique.” Travis Scott has time and again showed an entrepreneurial trait of always being able to adapt and find new ways to make money and attract new consumers to his brand.
Travis’ Background
When most people hear the name Travis Scott, they think of the 29 year old rapper who is one of the most popular artists today. Although Travis is most well known for his music, he is also one of the most influential designers and marketing influencers in todays culture.
Designing a shoe Empire.
Travis Scott has been extremely successful in the music industry for the last few years. He has produced numerous hit songs and albums, and created a large following for himself. This success quickly drove him to innovate in ways that didn’t involve only music. Travis has a passion for collecting shoes, especially high demand shoes that not everyone can get their hands on. This passion for shoes influenced Travis to go out on his own and begin designing his own line of shoes. In 2017, Travis signed a deal with Nike to begin designing his own styles on many of Nikes popular shoes. For the past three years, Travis has designed numerous shoes that instantly sell out as soon as they hit the market. Travis stands out from other competitors, because his shoes are unique to himself and his design. He produces limited amounts of shoes, which drives his fan base to try as hard as they can to purchase these shoes before they sell out. These shoes are in such high demand, that fans have paid as much as $3,000 on the secondary market to get their hands on a pair. His design success has lead him to begin producing clothing items as well, which continue to be successful each time they are released.
Marketing Influence
This fall, Travis signed a deal with Mcdonalds to market a “Travis Scott meal” for a limited amount of time. This meal was available throughout the month of September, and it was certainly a success. Fans throughout the world purchased this meal, and loved the idea of being able to eat Travis’ favorite burger from Mcdonalds. Social media was a huge influence on the success of the Travis Scott meal, as thousands of fans posted pictures and videos with the limited time offer.
Innovating through a pandemic
This past summer, Travis was unable to perform concerts due to the Covid 19 restrictions. His entrepreneurial mindset allowed him to innovate in a way that would still allow him to connect his music to his fans. Travis partnered with the popular video game, Fortnite, and performed virtual concerts on the platform. In these “concerts”, Travis was depicted as a character in the game as his songs were played for fans. This was a huge hit across the globe, as thousands of fans tuned in to catch a glimpse of their favorite artists during the pandemic. This innovation allowed Travis to stand out from other artists who also couldn’t perform during the pandemic. Although he could’t perform in person, he found a way to still connect with his fanbase and build his following.
My takeaway
Travis Scott has certainly inspired thousands of fans across the world. I personally find it very inspiring that someone at such a young age has already found ways to innovate and become a successful entrepreneur. Not only has Travis found success in the music industry, but he also ventured into other markets and quickly took over. His drive for innovation in challenging times is very inspirational.
A Massachusetts native, Kelce, is a singer/songwriter who is pursuing her passion to create music that is relatable to her listeners. Born into a musical family, she was exposed to music at a young age and always loved it. She began song writing at the age of 13. At the age of 14, realizing her talent was an incredible gift from God, and taking the opportunity presented to her by Him, Kelce got connected to a musical mentor. Her mentor trained her and strengthened her songwriting abilities, as well as got her connected to a local producer.
Kelce is a determined and passionate entrepreneur, she is not afraid of failure, knowing that working in the music industry is a not going to be easy. She took her passion for music, combined it with the need to create music that is relatable to listeners and uses her music to create her brand, Kelce. Her, “favorite aspect of the creative journey is the writing…’ Kelce brings value through her lyrics that are not only relatable to listeners but are connected to her music to allow the listeners to really feel what the words say. She hopes to impact the way people will be able to process life 
through her lyrics the way she does as she writes the amazing songs.
Realizing that the music industry is not a piece of cake, Kelce is always finding ways to engage her listeners, and build up her follower base. She takes advantage of the tips and tricks that are provided by Spotify about finding the right ways into the algorithms and onto discovery playlists. She engages her followers through social media by providing content on a regular basis. She creates personal and active connections with her listeners, in ord er to grain traction and build her brand.
Her latest EP, Perspective, just came out, but my personal favorite is New York at Night!
Follow her @kelce_m (Instagram) and give her a listen on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QLwaRmbePjpI243zQEg2L?si=qY37IixVQmqIlpTGgaD-WQ
Lin Manuel Miranda was born of Puerto Rican decent in New York City in the early eighties and was raised in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of Washington Heights. After completion of high school, Miranda attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut. It was here that he would get his beginnings as a playwright. He wrote and performed the first draft of his first successful stage musical, In The Heights, during his sophomore year in college (1999). The musical is a fictional story, based on Miranda’s childhood neighborhood (Washington Heights). After graduation, he met director Thomas Kail and the two of them revised the show, leading to a successful off-Broadway run and eventually opening on Broadway itself, casting himself as the main character. The musical was a hit, receiving 13 Tony Award nominations, four of which they won, including Best musical and Best Original Score.
After brief stints on television shows and various other song writing projects, Miranda struck what is now considered theatrical gold, his most well known work, Hamilton: An American Musical. This show took him over half a decade to write and revise and stage, but it was well worth it in the end. The show premiered off-Broadway in the Public theater in January of 2015, again with himself cast as the leading role. It’s since opened on Broadway in the Richard-Rodgers theater (the same theater In The Heights showed in). Miranda hosted daily performances outside the theater entitled Ham4Ham in which attenders would have the opportunity to enter a ticket lottery for a chance to see the show in the first row. In addition to having an incredible show, it was engagement with his audiences, both formal and general, that made Miranda so successful. The show still runs full time in New York City as well as Chicago, London, and San Francisco, and it also has two national tours. With each of these performances, Miranda receives a 3% royalty fee which, as you would expect, has lined his pockets quite nicely. He’s used this platform for political activism, especially calling for faster and increased aid to his hurricane-devastated homeland of Puerto Rico. The cast of Hamilton frequently raised money for various causes after shows (a practice they still continue today). These actions and interactions with the media, other celebrities, and even the common american, has helped build show brand that is not only incredibly profitable, but is beloved by the world.
Since leaving his Hamilton project behind, Miranda has starred in the Disney movie “Mary Poppins Returns” as well as writing the music for “Moana,” the upcoming live action “Little-Mermaid” remake, and even the new Star Wars trilogy. He continues to add value and personality to every project he touches, which in turn continues to make him as successful as he’s been.
Daniel Ek is the founder of Spotify. He came up with the music streaming service idea at only 19 years old and by 2017 he became the most powerful person in the music industry. A simple idea from such a young entrepreneur revolutionized the way we listen to music, proving that age is not a factor in creativity. Ek was able to see potential in streaming music before it was popularized and his revolutionary ideas pushed the music industry into a new era amidst brilliant minds like Steve Jobs.