Today we’d like to introduce you to Keith Phelps.
Hi Keith, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I initially started as a pianist and a producer with a musician father, honing my skills in both arenas at the age of seven. His approach was always extremely orchestrated, big, and very maximalist. While I’ve been afforded the opportunity to produce for and tour with several noteworthy acts, I’ve found myself supplying “orchestrated, big, and very maximalist” music and business administration to the wonderful world of TV & Film.
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 road has been all but smooth. Many contexts for music consumption are often much smaller than the context for TV & Film music. You find yourself appearing “too diverse”, “too ambitious”, or just “too much”, for the space you’re in. The common questions arise; “Does this work for the club? for Tik Tok? for radio? Does this overshadow the artist/client’s expectations or aspirations?” It’s tough being in a less than ideal ecosystem when you are going to be the James Cameron or Elon Musk of the music business. I’ve heard it all. “Focus more on being an artist than building the business”, “You do too many things, pick one!”, “It’s less about the quality of the content and more about the perception of success”. I’ve found it far easier to be myself and maximize my potential composing and producing music on the TV/Film side of things.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I think there’s a recurring theme within my career to understand the 2-sided existence of most scenarios. Many producers don’t have the ability to play live and live musicians usually don’t legitimately produce records. Rappers usually don’t sing well, and singers usually don’t rap well. It’s even more rare that a film score composer possesses the ability to rap at an extremely high level or vice versa. Creatives don’t usually understand or enjoy business, and business people usually don’t possess or care to be the talent. I am all of these things at once and continue to foster a driven business environment that encourages the development of creatives holistically. I think the greatest benefit to this kind of existence is not being limited to a narrow context for creation and actually being in a position to build wealth with the intellectual property that is produced and developed!
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I’m not a risk taker in the traditional sense where I will shoot and aim later. I ride the line of being a calculated risk taker while being a consummate planner. The default approach is to plan as much as possible and prepare for everything. However, as of late, my team and I have had to pivot and move rather quickly as opportunity continues to present itself. There’s no concrete roadmap to success and if you are looking to innovate and blaze a trail, the user manual of other’s experience can serve to be even less helpful. Moving to ATL from North Carolina, a year ago, was a huge risk knowing that I’d be experiencing an extreme cost of living increase and an income decrease. However, the startup community, rapidly growing film and music industry, and Georgia being the #1 state for business nine years running, made the risk extremely attractive. Those considerations are a direct result of being as calculated as possible with regard to risks.
Creatively speaking, I believe a hip-hop solo project that serves as a soundtrack for a Disney grant-funded film is quite a risk. Partnering with film production company, BLK MGC for “Saturday” and providing both a score and a fully-furnished soundtrack incurs so much risk due to the creative formula being so non-traditional. The “Saturday” film got the entirety of the grant budget, and my company had to be extremely resourceful without a huge film studio backing and guaranteed marketing budget.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/keithphelps
- Facebook: facebook.com/keithphelpsmusic
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/keithphelpsmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/keithphelps
- Youtube: youtube.com/keithphelpsvevo
Image Credits
@calsoscoped
