Meet Jacorey Barkley (aka Kohrey) of Art of Society

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacorey Barkley (aka Kohrey).

Jacorey, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My very first music industry gig was working for a publicist. From there, I transitioned into managing a rap artist for a few years. About a year ago, I decided that I wanted to start some type of marketing company, but I didn’t really move on the idea.

Around this time, I had been gathering the contact information for Spotify playlist curators, Instagram influencers, YouTubers… you name it! I was doing so because I wanted to help my artist create a solid marketing plan for a project he had coming out.

Fast forward a few months later, me and the artist get into an argument, and we have a falling out. I remember thinking to myself “Shit, what am I going to do.” Then, I realized I had this long list of connections I’d built, so I decided I’d use it to help other music artists out. And boom, my company was born.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No definitely not. I feel like every few weeks I have to level up to meet a new challenge.

My biggest struggle at first was my limited skill set. I quickly learned that in order for me to handle bigger campaigns I would have to consistently teach myself new things and stay on top of what’s going on in the music marketing world. I also had the challenge of getting a consistent amount of business.

At first, I was surviving off of word of mouth promotion, recommendations from friends, and pure luck. But then I started putting out content, on YouTube (via Brandman) and Instagram, and everything started to pick up.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
So The Art of Society is a creative service and marketing company. On the marketing side, we offer Spotify playlisting, influencer marketing, viral marketing, and paid advertisement services.

Basically, we handle social media marketing and promotion. We also handle graphic design, video production, photography and event planning services. The idea is to be a company that can create, market, and sustain our client’s digital footprints.

Most of our clients are music artists or music related, but we’re always down to work with clients we like, no matter the industry.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I’ve always been extremely into music. Since I was a kid, I was always surrounded by music and knew that I would work around music in some way, shape, or form. At one point, I wanted to create music but learned that I had stage fright.

So from then on out, I was always in search of my place in the music industry. I used to be a very shy and aloof kid, but I transitioned into a confident, aloof adult. I think a large part of that came from me growing up in a very small town, and then finally breaking out of there and living life on my own.

Image Credit:
Sam Levine

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