"You Have To Be Your Own Boss" Interview with Zhixiang Jeradayah About His Independent Record Label

Since the launch of social media and indepedent distributing sites and platforms such as DistroKid, TuneCore, United Masters and Routenote - independent artists and musicians have made a new way in the music industry where the creators are now in control of their creations. The old days of recording in a seperate studio, needing twenty other people associated in the upper tier of the music industry to put you on the radio, managers and the vintage "pop/rock star" lifestyle are officially over. Gone are the days where just talent would make you famous. The appeal of the "Global Icon" is quickly diminishing with the democratic effect of social media platforms such as; Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, X and Facebook. Where everyone now has the ability to legally own and capitalize of their own creations. Zhixiang Jeradayah explains his experience and story as becoming an independent artist and musician.

"Zhixiang, You have started your independent record label 'JeradayahRecords' in 2023 and built your own music studio and are now creating new albums, ep's and singles. Can you tell us your journey towards being an independent musician and distributing your own music and owning your own music studio and creative work."

"I started my record label after a couple of horrendous events where I wasn't respected as an artist, musician and person. My work was constantly used by so called creative communities for their weird ideologies, I wasn't getting paid the money I felt I deserved, the constant stress of networking in a community and industry that is naturally exploitative and predatory. I have always dreamt of being a musician since I was seven years old. I have played in bands, I have played in orchestras and have been a background musician for other musicians most of my career. And truth be told, I didn't got anything useful out of it. Some scraps of money - not enough to pay rent. Also keep in mind you have to travel from this place to another place, that cost money too. And if you're twice exceptional (Gifted, ADHD and Autistic) socializing and networking is a constant humiliation ritual.

I felt creatively violated whenever I worked as a replacement for other band mates, filling their spot temporarily for a gig, not getting paid or underpaid, when creative communities only wanted to have my work for their commadities and ideologies. Even going as far as people sampling and copying my music or make remixes out of my songs, mostly done by entertainers such as DJ's. I was scraping for the bare minimum traveling from town to town, city to city, country to country to perform for other people and be of service to others. However I had to check myself when I experienced a fall out with certain communities. I stopped and thought why I was not where I wanted to be musically when I have the skills to be twice as far I am now. It takes a while to realize that I had to be in control of the direction of my career and no longer depend on corrupt systems, communities or groups for social and financial validation and that I had to build everything myself."

"That must have felt draining and exhausting. You mentioned that you already had the skills and abilities to be independent, why did you wait until you turned 20 to start your own studio and Record Label."

"Because it was a dead end. I quickly realized at 19 that this lifestyle, constantly networking with people who dont understand or respect me, constantly going to places to perform for crowds I won't see anyways, not creating the music I ACTUALLY wanted to create... Eventually I began to ask myself: 'Why am I doing this if I am not having any fun?' Sorry, call me lazy but, I am not going to bend over backwards, do the most and get the least to try and belong in a world that doesn't want or respect me. I am not doing that. There is nothing noble about staying in the gutter, performing in shady streets for scraps of money, be the starving artist and let others dictate your creative direction and try to morph you into someone you're not. I couldn't do that. Okay. Call me lazy or say 'You didn't wanted enough.' No, you're right I didn't want to be a musical prostitute that badly. I wanted to become independent, create my own music, compose, write, direct, arrange my own compositions, singles, EP's and albums. Distribute everything myself and have my own record label.  So I chose that path.

I had to disappoint a lot of people and fall out with many people who first claimed to have the best intentions with me. So be it. The funny thing about having an ethnic name is that when people try to manipulate you with the phrase; 'I know you better than you know yourself.' You just have to ask; 'What's my name.'  And watch them stutter. Yeah, that's when I was done. Everyone who claimed to love me suddenly turned their backs onto me when they suddenly had to pay for my music. Pay for my assistance, pay for collaboration and give credits for my music. No, you're not going to use my self produced album without my copyright. NO! They tried to throw this Kumbayah new age community nonesense that I had to care about the community, care about the collective, meanwhile they never liked or respected me but had a fetish for my creations. No, fuck that shit. The moment I kicked everyone out they kept emailing me until I released a diss track and roasted the fuck out of them. 

Why I waited for so long was out of disbelief and ignorance. I simply didn't know how to be independent, how to distribute your own music, how to license your music and how to be your own.. boss! In that sense. And what man doesn't know he fears, we're creatures of comfort so I staid in that role out of ignorance."

"To come from a place of constantly being of service to others, creating things for others, being their for other artists and musicians and not getting any credits. How did it felt when you stepped out of the game and started doing your own thing and create your own lane?"

"There was a lot of anger involved. Creation isn't nothing. People stealing stuff from you, isn't nothing. Not getting paid after a gig when you need to buy groceries for the week. Isn't nothing. A lot of talented and gifted artists are simply thrown out of the bus because they lack boundaries and business savviness like I did, to not know when to draw a line and tell people; 'That cost $800,-.' They don't have that. I know how horrible it felt when I began to charge my first performance as and independent musician owning my record label in the prize range of $700-900,- . Imagine feelings bad for charging what you're worth. Because I was still operating in the mindset of; 'I need to be likable, I need to be adjustable. I need to be open for everyone and be easy, take whatever there is otherwise I wont eat.' And that's not the way to do business let alone to live. Especially with the age of the internet where you can earn $20.000 from your room, your studio with your own equipment selling bunch of samples and beats. Scraping for $150,- for performances is long done.

I felt as if I did something wrong, as if I was really as bad as how some communities described me after not doing anything for free for them. But that's emotional manipulation and guilt tripping. And that doesn't work with me. I know what I want and I am not going to settle easily.  Till this day they still didn't want to add my name to their work because a lot of them are actually in financial debt with me. They still have to pay me for the stuff they stole, the commissions I did for them and the performances we did together. So no, I am not going to be friends with you until you pay up! And a lot of underground artists start out like this. And with the age of the internet with Bandcamp, Routenote, Beatstars, streaming services and social media AND AI. Being a broke musician or the starving artist is really a choice. Today I still see some artists swervin' and scrapping the same streets they have been stagnant in for over a decade. No, that can never be me. If that man promised you to get you off that street... Why are you still there? I didn't want that. Hence why I license and distribute everything I create and release. I don't even do 'free copyright music' ... well sometimes. But most often than not, its been through my distribution. Because its my creation. My possession and MY DOMAIN.

When I stepped out of this rat race of; being a young creative, search other young creatives through social media, link up, jam together, trying to organize some events with other people, perform, social media, get some scraps. And stepped into ultimate creation and ownership over my creation... Yeah that's a different ball game. My priority isn't to be digestable, liked, or accepted by everyone. No it was about creation, ownership and dominion over my creation and capitalizing off of it. That's a whole new level. You have to become your own boss and realize that you need to set deadlines for yourselfs for commissions, you need to be your own PR, your own manager, your own creative director and invent who you want to become for yourself. And not be dependent on other people." 

"It was about Creation, Ownership and Dominion over my Creations and capitalizing off my own Work." - Zhixiang Jeradayah

"Those are some powerful words. Coming from a young independent artist and musician who finally steps into his own creative power. I do want to know your opinions about creative communities and creative industries. You mentioned that you had a rough time with these communities. With the age of the internet, social media and AI - Where do you stand in the friction between the traditional way of the music industry and music career and the new ways of doing things in this creative field?"

"I've let the old archetype of the starving artist, the rockstar, the broken artist and anything like that die. Let it die completely.  Before social media if you wanted to become a musician you really needed to have abilities, skills, charisma and power to even make it on the radio. I think that may have been the reason why music back in the days were simply... better. Yeah, sounds so stereotypical but its true. In the 70s-90s when you said: 'I want to become a musician.' You actually had to BE a musician. There was a standard where we could objectively see that there needs to be a specific skillset, level of ability needed to be seen as an artist and musician - besides personal taste. That's why Prince, Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Springsteen, Michael Jackson were THE Icons of the pre-social media era. Because when you said: 'I want to be a musician, a vocalist, a singer.' That level was your competition. So everyone also worked harder to actually make great music and believe it or not, back then it wasn't an album every month. No it was an album every year. You had to search really skilled and technical musicians to form a recording and a live band, rehearse, write lyrics and actually hone your craft. And music labels also favored skilled singers. There was a standard.. It didn't prevent exploitation, no not at all. But you actually had to be a musician to be A MUSICIAN.

When we look at figures such as Prince, we could easily tell that he was on the spectrum of something neurodivergent. But that was celebrated because we used to celebrate uniqueness. After the introduction of social media, the internet, streaming services and especially when Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube blew up - EVERYONE was given a democratic platform to post their art, music, dance, literature, piece of work whatever and gain traction. That's where we saw even more subcultures arise because everyone had a platform. A voice. Gone was the pressure to try to belong or fit in somewhere because ANYONE can now start a label. ANYONE can now download FL Studio and make beats. EVERYONE can have a TikTok account, craft a rockstar image and make money off doing tiktoks dubbing your own music or samples. There is no more star quality, or let's say, allure to the stereotypical musician or artist.

And that's where we started to overvalue democracy, image, mini popularity, identity politics and relatability over actual talent. This of course has pre's and cons. Depending on your intention. If you know how to treat music as a business and be an anonymous yet well known beat maker and operate more as beat and soundtrack generator by releasing and scaling your work through the internet by yourself without human contact? PERFECT. That's why you have social media. You can craft a persona, be whomever you want to be, create what you want and attract your small cult like following online out of your creations. About the creative industries and communities, for some reaosn they operate more like a cult than actually a group of freedom liberators or whatsoever. It starts to become pretentious and inauthentic and that's where I buzz out."

"Would you consider yourself more as an introverted creator who values creation, or someone who jumps onto the first popular band wagon? Because you stated multiple times that you value creation over conformity. How do you stand between marketing yourself, treating your music as a business, networking with people and getting your name out there?"

"That's a difficult one. Uhm.. I prefer to be by myself because whenever I am in the creator consciousness... Creation happens so fast and its as if I am working in a trance. From one beat, one bar, one track to another..One instrument to that instrument. To get out of that stream of consciousness and suddenly force myself to interact with other people is exhausting. I work on instinct, intuition and impulse. Whenever you have to collaborate you have to communicate and connect with others and that never worked for me. Most other musicians only care about the image of let's say a rock 'n roller, a hiphop artist, pop star. And thus rely on sampling, image manipulation and AI generated beats and vocals to dominate the online spaces. Which, I already predicted would happen. I used to be worried that I'd never get a stage due to me not being obsessed with maintaining images, popularity games and whatever have you. I felt excluded and on the outside. A real outsider. Now with artificial intelligence, I think a lot of the same artists who have pushed people like me on the outside are going to experience the same thing I've experienced. Artificial Intelligence made such a quantum leap into evolution where we don't even know what's real and what's generated anymore. We rely more on CHATGPT as our therapist than a licensed professional. And musicians now also use AI to help them write and compose music. With such rapid progress with artificial intelligence, what is stopping AI from not pretending to be an alternative artist in a capital being all edgy and what not?

Honestly think about it. If we spend most of our waking hours in the digital realm, who determines what is real or what is not real anymore? Exactly. When its only about consumerism and production. Whether its man made or artificially made, its a part of the capital and its earning money and attention. Both are the most important currencies. When consumption overpowers creation no artist or musician is safe. Because no one values authentic creation anymore. People value consumption and a false sense of belonging over anything else. So the position I faced as an independent artist/ musician where you're not being valued, see, accepted or respected - yeah - a lot of the people and organizations who did that are going to find themselves in my position soon. Then what are you going to do? Run to a municipality for fundings? They wont give it to you because they are also business people. Why invest, let's say 15.000,- into artistic communities if they can invest 2.000,- in AI and copy the same stuff? The only thing you have left at that moment is your community, the same community that has fucked you over with debt to keep you compliant to their agendas. When its about the business side of music. I mainly focus on ownership over my creation, selling and investing. I am not bothered by 'the game' because that game is lost the moment AI steps in. No one can beat a machine. I am flesh. I have limits. AI is limitless. No one can win that. So I market myself in a way where people who value honest, artistic expression can invest their money into something they value and want to be a part of. I have learned the hard way that if you can't compete with the big guys, you need to find your own lane, stay in that lane and capitalize off of it. 

Networking? No. I don't do that. I am quite reclused and in my own world. I tried. I really did. It felt horrible so I quit doing that and focus more on creation. Whenever I speak to other artists or musicians - I don't click with them because most of them are obsessed with belonging somewhere and attention and not creation itself. And I have only wasted my time and money with trying to belong into places and communities I deep down already felt I didn't belong. I am not necessarily anti-social. But when its about my artistic creations, I take it very seriously and in my experience I find most of my peers being wreckless with my creations and overvalue social conformity than creation. I call them clout chasers, creative prostitutes, entertainers at best. But not artists. I don't. I only network with my fans to let them know I am making a new album or if they've enjoyed my product or not. "

"Reclused in your own world and anti conformity. Hmm.. That has to come from a specific place. When artists first get out in the scene there is a sense of.. 'I want to belong so I am going to act and look like this.' Have you ever felt the pressure to adjust yourself or to conform to specific standards in order to feel as if you're a true artist?"

"DEFINITLY! I hold my up hand and admit I did the most stupidist, ridiculous bullshit things just to have a sense of belonging or trying to appear as if I belong. I truly did. Hair dye... oh fuck, bleach, weird clothes, weird aesthetics, using my European name instead of my ethnic name. Yes of course I tried to conform and failed. I realized that no matter what I did or tried to change on the outside it didn't change the inside of feeling I didn't belong anymore. And it truly seperated my psyche between when I was being 'accepted' and 'liked'  for my musical abilities and then being excluded, rejected and abandoned by the same people who fetishized my musical abilities. I was torn between two realities. Questioning whether I was the problem or the solution. Because how can I be love bombed and praised and yet they constantly tried to change my work, alter my work or try to change who I am. For a long time I performed music I didn't like just for grocery money. That's embarrassing. Fighting to be in a position you actually don't even want to be in because you're used to doing it.  Now I don't do that anymore. Its a different ball game now. 

Whenever I go to the studio, I create what I want to create and legally own my creations. I am no longer concerned with trying to sound like XYZ, looking like XYZ, trying to be the next XYZ. I don't hold myself to anyone's standards other but my own. That's why I have creative freedom and ownership. Having my own creative direction and what I want to do and perform what I want. I gained my creative freedom when I left the creative industry and communities, returned inwards and focused more on myself and creations instead of social politics. You will never win that game as an outsider. You just won't. That's why I turn my focus to creation and not conformity.  I am no longer worried about fitting in somewhere, blending in, adjusting myself - no. I am my own boss and director now. I decide the path my music takes. I decide the sound of legacy I want to leave behind when I am gone. I compose, produce, arrange, write, record what I want, release it, legally own it and generate my own wealth out of it. I think freedom is the highest level a musician or any sort of artist can reach. Clout chasing is easy. Freedom... Yeah, you gotta have balls to truly be free and express yourself." 

"FREEDOM... YEAH, YOU GOTTA HAVE BALLS TO TRULY BE AND EXPRESS YOURSELF." - ZHIXIANG JERADAYAH

"As for the future what can we expect from you as an artist? What are your future aspirations and where do you see yourself in five years? And what would you say to your younger self five years ago."

"The future for me? Creation. Pure creation and keep creating. Creating my own legacy and empire of artistic, musical and technological creations. Musically, I want to dive deeper into making more compositions for movies, films and series. Besides my personal albums where I am experimenting with new genres and musical techniques. I have been listening to a lot of hiphop, rap and heavy metal lately. So I have some ideas for a next album. For my career I am doubling down on building my creative empire and portofolio. For the five year plan? Build a bigger studio, have my own house, create more dope shit, create more epic shit, keep creating, owning and releasing.

I really hope that there is still room for independent creators who value creation more over clout chasing. As for what I would tell my younger self: Get your money. Get Paypal. Focus on creating and selling. And don't mingle with popularity games, simply focus on creation and promoting your work. Prioritize your work. Love your work. Create more work. Save half your money, invest the quarter and spend the rest... Hmmm..  Oh yeah DONT EAT FIRE NOODLES BEFORE A PERFORMANCE JUST DONT!!" 

Zhixiang Jeradayah, the multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer, producer and musical polymath is currently doubling down on his work by creating his next album which he claims will be one of the most honest pieces he has created. If you want to hear more about Zhixiang Jeradayah and his music listen to his work on Spotify, Itunes, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Bandcamp!