Rising Stars: Meet Stanthony Goolsby III

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stanthony Goolsby III.

Hi Stanthony, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I always loved music since I was young but definitely gravitated towards the instrumental aspect and rhythms and all. I knew I wanted to produce but I didn’t start until my last year of high school. Between that time I was in band as a percussionist learning literature and actually studying music and playing a number of instruments. Being a percussionist gave me all I needed to be a self-taught producer because I learned how to play scales and melodies through xylophone, bells, piano, etc and I learned how to play and put together different drum patterns as well. By the time I got on FL Studios in 12th grade, I just needed to learn how to use the software because I was fluent with putting together sounds. I started September of 2017 and I’m grateful to have received love from upcoming artists, producers, and regular listeners and just being able to start working with others was cool.

After getting a hang of using FL I started to learn how to engineer as far as with producing the beat. I wanted to learn how to flip sounds and turn them into what I wanted them to sound like whether it was a bell, atmosphere sound, a clap, or a drum. This allowed me to have more creative control with my art which I felt was important in this industry that is always changing. Next, I started to build more a brand for myself. I had already been interacting with different people in the industry but I wanted to start performing more services for artists, producers, influencers, etc. At the end of 2019, I dropped my first instrumental project titled “Underrated- EP” under the label of MM. It stands for Money Motivated Music Motivated which is sort of like a double acronym because MM could mean either or but to understand it better it symbolizes making sure money is being made off the production coming from the art being made and it’s an everybody-eat type of establishment that is totally independent. Anybody who collabs with me I send our music out for placements.

Any artists I work with I market our work for the world to see. The mission of MM is to be able to provide all-around production services which can include but is not limited to: beats/instrumentals, engineering, loop creation, collaborations, background music (video games, movies, content creators, etc.), publishing, distribution with royalties, sound design, and more. After the first project, I dropped two more instrumental projects titled “Drummer Boy” (2020) and “Music Motivated- EP” (2021). I also had the chance to work with some hard upcoming artists and producers big and small and was able to get my name out to managers, A&Rs, and other professionals in the industry. Fast forward to today I am getting ready to drop the sequel to “Drummer Boy” (“Drummer Boy 2”) which will be my first project to feature other artists and producers. It will drop in early June of 2022 on all platforms. I’m continuing to build up my craft and brand with aspects mentioned before and with new ones such as: YouTube, NFTs, UnitedMarket, etc.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The journey has been anything but easy especially being independent. When I first got FL on my laptop the laptop was already a few years old and I ain’t really take good care of it but it still worked lol. I didn’t start off with a MIDI which is just the keyboard that producers use to play the notes that are used to make the beat so I had to use the keyboard on my laptop and translate the keys from the piano to the laptop keyboard to make my beats which is much more difficult to use rather than simply playing on piano. There’s a lot of beats that didn’t make it to today cause of corrupted files or sometimes I’d be using the demo version on another computer just to make some music and sometimes I didn’t finish.

I remember when my battery corrupted the only way I could use the laptop was by plugging it into the charger so it was basically functions like a desktop rather than a laptop. Starting off I had limited sounds too so I was trying to work with the things I had to try to make the best possible sounds. I’ve had instances with other people in the industry that agreed to do business a certain way but never follow through which led to connections being cut and in one case a whole project having to be taken down that could’ve elevated everyone apart of it. There have even been opportunities for me to be signed or to work in promising settings that I wasn’t able to grab because of personal reasons.

Also, I work and I am an entrepreneur of other businesses so I can’t always spend my time on music. Regular life and the stresses that come along with it can be very conflicting with creative processes so I’ve had times where I would sit in front of my computer and not be able to put together anything which I can say was one of my worst struggles. I learned a few ways to come out of that though cause that’s one thing I’m never doing again. Crazy thing is around the time I was kinda thinking maybe I need to only engineer or sum but coming out of that block I made “Music Motivated” and it was my best project in my eyes at that time and that also made me realize even if I retired from music I’ll never stop creating.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a producer that looks to provide sounds to producers and also I want to help the artists bring their visions to life whether it’s through instrumentals, designing certain sounds/feelings, or even just being able to offer a discount on any beat bought through a project or NFT. I like to get them the sounds they are used to but more than anything I love to create different sounding tracks because I just like being different. I’m most proud of my ability to be able to add my creative input to any type of track. I prefer hip-hop/trap but I don’t at all mind touching any genre and if anything it allows me the opportunity to grow in areas where I’m not as comfortable. I have been in a few beat battles and I go live on Instagram to cook up and show the creative process from top to bottom. I’m always looking for a way to differentiate myself.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
1. Work, work, work. The more you work at anything the better you get but with making beats you are literally creating something. What you create today can’t be made tomorrow. If you never made what you made yesterday it’ll probably never be made. You can miss out on a stock move and the next week capitalize on it and make money but you can’t expect to create a beat the exact same way it would’ve come out had you made it at the moment.

2. Never allow someone to tell you your creative process is wrong. There is no right and wrong way about making music. There are PREFERRED ways of doing things because of how those preferred ways made their way into being accepted by music consumers but there is no right or wrong way to make music. When you break those boundaries then you’ll find yourself becoming a leader in the industry in my opinion.

3. If you want to be independent be ready to fund your business and not just with dollar funds. Being an entrepreneur is not easy so be ready to spend more time doing research, planning, marketing, etc. Be ready to hear a lot of people saying no. Also, be prepared to say no.

4. Love what you do and have fun with it. The main thing I learned with life period is that it’s set up for us to work towards something. A lot of us are in situations where we have to work somewhere we wouldn’t prefer to just to live. Everybody wants to live good though. That’s why I believe people should do what they love because it’ll never feel like a job, you’ll want to progress, and you’ll have fun doing what you love.

Pricing:

• Leases start at $100
• Exclusives start at $250

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/ProdbyStant
• Instagram: Instagram.com/Prodby.Stant
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCJjyCoxnG8FpZfo26wMq7hA

Image Credits
“Drummer Boy” and “Music Motivated” (0beythygod on Instagram)