YOU’LL BE AMAZED BY
ADAM SMALL
JOB: Everything...literally. Just read to see! LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL STORY?
In my 20 years working professionally in the music business, I’ve pretty much seen it all. I started my career as a bassist in NYC playing with great artists like Larry Goldings, Bernie Worrell (ParliamentFunkadelic), Ari Hoenig, Sam Yahel and many more. I played a ton of gigs, toured both domestic and internationally and recorded in a variety of contexts. Around 2002, I began delving into music production, composition, recording and mixing and quickly realized that I enjoyed these elements as much as live performance. After working on a couple albums I stumbled into the world of music licensing and I got my first taste of royalty money, which quickly gave me inspiration to pursue music licensing and publishing further. In the following years I learned all of the ins and outs of licensing and publishing deals, contracts, networking, music placement and politics. I also became involved in film scoring and composing for all media. Some of my favorite credits are from the award winning film, “Another Earth” and the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”. Along with the experiences and skills I’ve listed above, I’m also a mastering engineer, studio consultant, video editor, web designer, computer tech and all around over achiever. These skills were all learned at various stages of my career due to necessity, since I’ve always been a full-time musician working in a variety of areas. This is one of the most important lessons I try to relay to up-and-coming musicians: learn as many skills relating to your music career as humanly possible, because if you don’t understand the ins and outs of this business, you’ll get “taken for a ride.” This is why I’ve taken on a different role at this stage of my music career. My goal is to use my experience to help musicians protect themselves, protect their music and advance their careers without getting beaten down by the industry. Currently I run the website, www.MyMusicMasterclass.com, which is aimed at helping motivated musicians attain “real world” music industry knowledge and take their careers to the next level. I film top music industry artists, who share tips, tricks, advice and more. Essentially they tell you how they got to where they are and what it will take you to get there. Also, I’ve archived over 2000 pages of free resources focused on helping musicians with performance, business, technology, practice and legal concerns. Aside from the website, I’m a music industry speaker and panelist at industry events, colleges and more. I’m always happy to steer
motivated musicians in the right direction so they don’t have to learn the hard way.
WHAT ARE THREE OF YOUR MOST MEMORABLE CAREER MOMENTS?
I’ve had many memorable moments in my career and it’s hard to pick three. That being said, here are a few… 1) The last tour I did (as a bassist) with “The Sam Yahel Trio” was very memorable. We played as the opening band for “Steely Dan” throughout their US tour. It was great playing artistic, instrumental music in large amphitheaters to appreciative audiences. And of course, Steely Dan sounded amazing every night as expected. That was really fun! 2) A couples years ago I played a private party for Burt Bacharach and we performed arrangements of his songs directly to him. It was truly an honor and thankfully he enjoyed it too… Burt is a total genius and a very nice man. 3) The last memorable career moment I had was when I founded “My Music Masterclass” about a year ago. I had been thinking for years about building a resource for the professional music community because I noticed that there was a lack of “real world” music education available online and in schools. Even though many people spend thousands of dollars on degrees and lessons (and are talented and skilled), many of them don’t really know how to make a living in the music business (since there are many factors involved). So, I decided to go for it and build this crazy thing and I’m really proud of how far it’s evolved in such a short time. It’s definitely one of the major highlights of my career and I feel like I’m finally giving back to the industry that has supported me for all these years.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH?
Like I said before, I’ve been a full-time professional musician for the last 20 years and that has always been my main goal. I’m very fortunate to have played with some of my favorite artists. I’ve also recorded, produced, composed and licensed a lot of cool music over this time. My only remaining goal is to help musicians facilitate their own successful music careers. Also, I want to make sure others actually get paid in this economy. So essentially, I hope to help musicians get to the next level using my experience…that would be a really cool accomplishment! MyMusicMasterclass.com facebook.com/MyMusicMasterclass twitter.com/MMMClass mymusicmasterclass.tumblr.com/