Called To Music Podcast

What if all of your imperfections, insecurities, pain, trials and weaknesses are where your BEST songs come from? On this episode of the CIAS Podcast I discuss why I believe our weaknesses actually make us stronger and our music better, and share a little of my testimony too (which is something I have never shared on the podcast before) Would love to hear your thoughts on this!  To connect further...

On the latest episode of the CIAS Podcast I had the privilege of interviewing Nashville based artist, singer, and songwriter Grace Graber. I felt called to reach out to Grace after hearing about her mission to bring attention to mental health issues in the Church and the Christian music industry. After experiencing both physical and verbal bullying in her childhood, a song saved her during a defin...

Have you written an incredible song but every time you share it with people you don't get the response you were hoping for? I think this might be why… The best way to give your song a chance to make impact starts with a great demo. True, a great song is a great song no matter the quality of the demo, BUT a better sounding recording is always going to increase its chances of being used.  Wheth...

Have you ever felt like you are stuck on your music journey? Like you can't get the ball rolling because it feels too heavy? Well, I think I've got something to help you with that… On this video I discuss 5 ways to keep going on your music journey. Get our music production course "Logic Pro X for Artists and Songwriters" here: https://www.bryanbolivermusic.com/logicproxforartis...

In the music industry there are not many sure things. It can take a long time to achieve anything great and there are so many unknowns. Every story of success you hear will be unique to the person telling it. But what if there are some general steps you could take to set you up for success in music?   I wanted to share 6 steps I took on my music journey that got me to being full-time. These may co...

One of the most important pieces on our music journey is the relationships we have. Without relationships, success may not only be tough, but it's basically impossible. We need people to serve, and we need others to serve us to make impact. But how do we meet people? How do we build lasting relationships? Networking is a great way to build relationships.  Attending events, joining groups, and...

Do you want to know the specific personality traits and habits that can help you go pro as a songwriter? I have had the privilege of collaborating with professional songwriters in my career. Outside of sheer talent I have noticed some common personality traits and habits of the pros. Yes, skill and craft is the key element that will get you in the door to work with pros, but I believe these 10 tra...

Is it possible to stand out and is it even worth it if you can? What does it take to make your own space in the music industry?  I wanted to talk through 3 points of why and how I believe you DO have a place in the music industry. Especially as a Christian indie artist, this is a calling, so not only should we work towards making impact with our music, but I believe we HAVE to do so. Check out our...

One of the most popular ways to write songs is toplining. Toplining is writing lyrics and melodies to a track at its core. Whether working with a producer in session, or building from a pre-made track, top lining is common in today's songwriting culture. I wanted to walk through 3 tips for toplining that will help you write the best songs possible. Whether you have top lined for years or have...

On this episode I walk through 8 categories of gear you need to get started in your home studio, with different options depending on your budget and need.  The term "home studio" can feel intimidating, but with just a few basic pieces of gear you can be making high quality, release-ready music in no time. It can be overwhelming and you may think you need everything, right away to get sta...

 On this episode I had a great conversation with my good friend Chris Clayton. Chris is a Nashville based, producer, songwriter and worship leader. He has a passion to help serve artists to equip them and their churches with impactful music glorifying the name of Jesus.   I met Chris in 2017 at a Kingdom Songs event and he has been a personal champion and encourager to me along the journey. Whethe...

On this episode I wanted to talk through 5 things that you should NOT do as an indie artist. You'll want to stick around for #5! I believe by avoiding these things it will help you go further, faster on your journey. And within each point I will also say what you CAN do in place of these common mistakes artists make along the way. For more helpful tips and resources head to: https://www.bryan...

  One of the most important parts of being a musician is having a community. Without a community we are working and creating with no real concept of reality. As a musician we are the sum of all of our influences and this is an ongoing process. A true community incapsulates all of the people we work with and the people who love our music.   With the internet it has never been easier to build a comm...

  The way we promote our music is crucial to how many people it can impact. If you do a google or YouTube search on music marketing you will find thousands of videos and many may have conflicting, or even contradictory information. So, how do we understand the best way to market our music with so many options? Although there are many sub categories I think the main categories of music marketing ca...

  On this episode of the CIAS podcast I had a great conversation with my friend Daniel Doss. Daniel is a Nashville-based artist, songwriter and producer and has accomplished so much on his journey so far. From being a signed artist with Sparrow records, having a publishing deal with Word Publishing, leading worship at several churches, and having  success as an independent producer and songwriter....

Happy new year! Over the last couple of weeks we have been reflecting and assessing everything that happened in 2021. I hope that you were able to celebrate the wins and find areas of growth for the new year.   With all of that information in our minds I now wanted to look to the year ahead. We have just begun 2022 and we can bring everything we've learned and make this the best year yet. On...

  One of the most important things we can do as artists and songwriters is reflect. Not only is this a great source of creativity and inspiration, but it's a great way to evaluate where we've been. It's that time of year again where we all are working on our goals for the new year. I love setting goals and looking back on the goals from the previous year to see how it went.   I am l...

 There are a lot of twists and turns on our music journey. Within the same day there can be a wide range of triumphs and trials. The key is consistency, but how do we keep things exciting, how do we stay inspired and how do we keep it fun?   One of the best ways to accomplish this is by never losing the wonder of it all. There is a certain quality to creating music that has a bit of magic to it. I...

  On this weeks episode of the CIAS Podcast I had an incredible conversation with my friend Temitope.  Temitope is a Nashville based singer, songwriter, artist who has been on a mission to unite the Church across all races and backgrounds, through his honest approach, and in a conversation we should all be having right now.    We discussed many of the things Temitope is working on and why he feels...

There are many traits that make for a successful career in music, but I believe the most important is being consistent. The ability to show up over and over AND OVER again will set you apart and help you build a long-lasting career.   I have heard it said that most people give up after their first failure, and nearly 95% give up after a second, but if you can push through and be consistent it&apos...

The yearly Spotify Wrapped numbers came out this week and if you've been on social media, you've seen everyone sharing their results. This is an exciting time for some and there is so much to be gained from it.   Just in case you don't know, every year Spotify releases a cool, animated video showing all the stats over the past year on your Spotify for Artists page. They cover a wide...

TOP 5 Hidden Waves Plugins   Happy Black Friday! Today is the best day of the year to pick up plugins. The deals are insane and if you are anything like me, you patiently wait to see all the new deals.   I wanted to cover my top 5 favorite hidden gems from Waves. I use Waves plugins every day in the studio and love them. I have talked about many of my favorites before, but I wanted to cover some l...

There are many layers to a music journey. Many of us get caught up in not knowing how to set aside time in a healthy way for each area. The main parts are songwriting, music production, promotion and brand building. Yes, there is more to it, but I think these 4 cover the most commonly disguised aspects.   Identifying each part is important. I wanted to take a minute to break down a few ideas on bu...

On this episode of the CIAS Podcast I had a great conversation with my friend Tailah. I met Tailah through my good friend Jerricho Scroggins and my wife and I attended their wedding this August in Nashville! Tailah is doing big things. Tailah is an artist who has been writing and releasing songs for most of her life in Nashville. The combination of a degree in marketing from the prestigious Belmon...

On this episode of the CIAS podcast I sit with Suzy and we discuss the hacks and scams that are affecting so many of us.  My Facebook was almost lost to a very sophisticated hack last week. We were able to get it back but we are still uneasy and taking steps now to be more prepared going forward.  On the show we talk about: *Our hack and how we were able to resolve it   *Different types of hacks a...