Latest / The Scene Projects / Vinny Ribas on Building Music Communities and the Power of Collaboration

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Vinny Ribas on Building Music Communities and the Power of Collaboration · The Scene Projects

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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of Real Biz.
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  I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is my good friend from Indy Connect, Vinny
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  Rebus.
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  Vinny, welcome to the show.
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  Thank you, sir.
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  It's great to be here.
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  I appreciate you having me on.
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  Well, I appreciate everything that you've been doing for, independent musicians for a long
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  time, and I'm happy to have you on today.
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  Before we get too far into Cartney and everything that you're working on now, would
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  love to just give you the floor off the top here and get a little bit of your backstory.
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  Oh, that's a long one.
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  I've been when you're 71 years old and you've been in the industry for over sixty years,
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  you've got a lot of backstory.
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  But, basically, I was a full time musician for long time, had my first paying band when I was
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  seven.
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  And I won't go into all the details, but I did the rock scene.
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  I did the country scene.
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  I then went toward, like, hotels and things like that, done lots of fairs, and and I worked
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  on cruise ships.
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  I mean, basically, everything that most musicians would like to do, just make a living
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  playing music.
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  And then I, got out of that, not wanting to be on the road as much anymore and, started
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  working with musicians, coaching them a little bit.
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  I started a business in in Reno, Nevada where I had, a studio.
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  I had my own studio in there, and I had a a room for meetings.
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  So I would run a lot of the songwriter meetings and things like that.
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  And just grew from there and, you know, kinda did a little bit of everything in the business.
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  And then I moved to Nashville, almost twenty years ago and got involved with the industry
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  here by, actually, by accident.
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  I was running networking meetings for general businesses, and I had a lot of musicians coming
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  to the meeting.
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  So I said, don't we get together once a week and talk music business?
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  And so I had a group of five that that met the first week, and then the second week, I had 10
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  people there.
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  And the next week, I had 30.
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  And before I knew it, I had six meetings going every single week all around Nashville.
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  And that's how I kinda built my, my network in Nashville.
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  And people started asking me more about coaching and and connecting them with people
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  and managing them and everything.
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  So I went into well, I had done management before, but I went back into management.
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  And and then from there, after about fifteen years of that, I realized that everybody's been
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  asking me the same questions and having the same challenges for years.
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  And so I decided to put together a program that would answer all those questions so I didn't
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  have to keep repeating it all the time.
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  Everything from how do I tour to how do I copyright my songs or, you know, how do I
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  establish my brand or how do I release a a record and everything.
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  So I formed a a business called Cartney, c a r t n e, and it's basically, the cartney.com.
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  It's an online program, elearning for the music industry.
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  It's got over 200 videos on there that from interviews that I've done with people from all
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  around the world who are experts in different areas of the industry.
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  And now I'm converting that from just being a a a stagnant learning site into an actual support
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  organization for artists and songwriters.
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  A lot of the genres out there, they a lot of them have support organizations, but they're
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  only good for, like, their conferences like the American Association, Country Music
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  Association.
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  They don't support you on a daily basis.
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  And so this is gonna be an organization that will encompass all genres, and it'll be just
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  connecting people with each other and getting them coaching and just being a a support
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  organization, doing some advocacy for them, little bit of everything to make sure that
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  everybody who wants to be in the industry and wants to be successful, has the opportunity to
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  do that as long as they have the passion, the drive, and the work ethic.
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  No.
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  And I think that's where our power is, these days is in communities, and getting people
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  together.
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  It's not necessarily locked behind a coaching wall or Absolutely.
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  Anything like that.
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  I think there's so many of us starting out, everyone at a different level that a a
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  community organization and learning platform is really where the power is.
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  It's why we have the Scene Projects Academy and links to different mentors and coaches and
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  programs because everyone is coming into this music thing.
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  We all come from different spaces and and different levels of experience and different
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  genres and what works in one isn't necessarily effective for another.
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  So you really need to have something that is very broad and all encompassing, to really
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  deliver on that.
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  And I think that's very hard to do with just a simple one for one coach to teacher
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  relationship.
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  I think where we have our power is by getting the pupils altogether that they can converse
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  and and to treat teach one another.
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  And that's the kind of that's the community that I've always seen here in music and that
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  I've had envisioned for the scene projects as a whole and now with Cartney, being able to
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  integrate even more into that.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  It's it's really difficult for any artist to try to do stuff on their own and even to build
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  a small team.
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  It's just, you know, if you don't have people who have some experience, some expertise, if
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  you don't have other people's ideas in there helping you out, you just get lost.
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  And what I find the biggest challenge that most artists have is that they just don't know
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  what's available to them.
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  They don't know how to get I mean, you you can be have have no following online and get paid
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  really, really well with certain gigs because they don't care about your following.
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  They, you know, they already have people there like a fair or something where you can get paid
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  if you're a great entertainer and a college and things like that.
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  So it's that that insider knowledge that only comes from people who've had experience.
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  And so that's what I'm trying to do is get not only the people connected with each other for
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  songwriting and for collaborating, but also to have access to mentors.
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  And right now, have about a 125 mentors signed up.
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  Incredible.
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  Yeah.
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  So important to be able to connect those people.
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  And, Vinny, I think that you and I are probably a lot alike in that is that we may not know
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  everything, but we know we know a guy or we know a gal
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  That's right.
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  Who who can walk you down that path and might have a little bit more time on their hands,
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  available to do the the specific thing.
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  I I feel like both of us have, done a really good job in our lifetimes.
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  Obviously, yours a little bit longer than mine here and and a valuable, you know, thirty years
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  extra of experience that you have, but that we have always sought to kinda give ourselves a
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  very broad education and to find a way to connect people with the more specific courses
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  or mentorship or coaching or whatever they may need in that way even if it doesn't come from
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  ourselves.
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  Exactly.
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  That's why twenty years ago when I started my company, I called the IndyConnect because
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  that's what it's about.
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  You can't do it yourself.
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  Nobody can do it themselves.
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  No.
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  It's tough.
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  Even just getting back from a eighteen day tour as I did last night.
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  And, you know, it it was a team effort across the board.
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  Although it's me on camera and in that space a lot.
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  And, granted running a lot of the behind the scenes as well, we really saw how valuable our
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  team already is and looking forward to growing that team as well, so that we can do even more
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  out there in the world to support the indie artists.
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  Absolutely.
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  That's what it takes.
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  We all need to work together.
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  You know, there are lots of organizations, songwriter organizations, and and support
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  organizations, and we all need to work together because everybody has their little niche that
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  they specialize in.
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  But, like, there's some industries, pop, rock, metal, hip hop.
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  They have no support organization whatsoever.
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  There's nobody advocate advocating for them, and there's nobody telling them what to do.
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  And people have come to me and said, would you manage me?
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  And they're a hip hop artist, and I don't have anything.
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  I don't have a clue about how that industry works, so I can't help them.
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  But now because I have developed all these connections, I can connect them with somebody
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  who can.
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  And that's, you know, to me, that's the key.
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  If you can build a network that's willing to do that, everybody supports each other.
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  What I found when I started doing my networking meetings was our our process was everybody had
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  a chance to say, this is me, this is what I'm working on, and this is what I need next.
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  And then everybody would chime in.
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  So you might say, I'm a songwriter.
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  I'm looking to co write with somebody.
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  And somebody say, what kind of music do you do?
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  Are you better at lyrics?
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  Are you better at music?
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  Are you are you signed with a publisher?
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  And and they would all build on that until they found somebody who said, oh, well, then I know
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  somebody who would fit perfectly to work with you.
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  And it it took all those minds to come to that one conclusion to be able to help that person.
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  And that's why, to me, the the power of the mastermind, the power of doing this together is
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  is so critical.
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  And that's why my meetings be blew up where I had six of them going every week in the music
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  industry here in Nashville because people didn't know what to do even though they're all
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  here and they're all, you know, they're all waiters and working in restaurants and stuff.
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  But there was no collaboration.
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  There was no mastermind where everybody could say, okay.
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  I need help with this.
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  And 20 people would join in and say, in three minutes, solve their entire problem.
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  You know, this is what you do.
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  This is where you go.
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  Let me introduce you here.
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  It it was just so powerful, and that's what I'm trying to duplicate on a a mass scale now.
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  Yeah.
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  It's just incredible to see the success that you had, you know, doing them in person and now
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  looking to scale that even more by providing that online and doing that.
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  Do you still do the, meetups in person in Nashville?
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  Occasionally.
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  When I have when I have something like, I have an artist that I'm working with coming into
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  Nashville, so I just scheduled, one of those for April.
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  But, not on a regular basis because I live a 100 miles away from Downtown Nashville now.
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  That's not not a bad place to stay having driven through Nashville traffic a couple of
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  times in the last two weeks.
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  It's crazy.
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  It's crazy.
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  Now we're out in the middle of the country, and I just absolutely love it.
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  I'm surrounded by farmland.
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  You need binoculars to see my neighbors.
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  It's heaven.
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  And I never thought I would say that because I was the one that lived in you know, worked in
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  New York a lot when I lived in Connecticut.
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  Lived in Reno, but did a lot in Vegas.
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  I was always around the city living in Nashville.
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  I wouldn't change this for for anything.
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  No.
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  And truly, that's the beauty of this age of information that we live in is that you don't
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  need to necessarily be in the center of the universe to be able to collaborate with
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  everyone that is.
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  And I found that on this tour, that as long as I can get to these places and I can connect
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  with everyone online, then we can be just as effective as if we did live there.
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  And it it's been eye opening to me to know that what we've been building for the last two
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  years, which is essentially the network, not just the actual media network, but the network
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  of people.
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  Right?
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  The physical, boots on the ground in all these different, you know, giant music industry
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  places.
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  You know, I I live in the middle of the country myself, Vinny.
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  Our town's a thousand people, separated by, you know, an ocean of corn and soybeans from
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  essentially everything else.
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  I know it will.
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  Five hours from, any major metro, five hours from Kansas City, five hours from Minneapolis.
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  And what I've found over the last, you know, twelve months of essentially getting out and
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  touring around these places is as long as I'm able to show up once or twice a year, that I
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  can keep a little bit of a toehold in all of these major markets.
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  And we can hold our own there as long as we're able to travel to them and to maintain and
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  water those relationships while, you know, while we're away.
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  And that's exactly what we're striving to do, out there.
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  And I know that our our collaboration with Cartney and Indy Connect now moving forward
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  will only, open more doors for all of us and and provide more opportunities for the scene
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  projects to support these artists on the other side.
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  Now you have your works and you've collaborated and you've created something.
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  Hey.
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  Now come talk to Bubba about it and let's get it out there on the airwaves.
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  I think that's a big lesson for artists too because a lot of them do work in a bubble.
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  And they may make a contact, but they don't follow-up with it.
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  I mean, the way I built my network, I was running my meetings, but I always had a speaker
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  come in to speak.
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  And it didn't take long before they were calling me.
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  I didn't have to call anybody.
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  But then afterwards, I would take them out to breakfast or lunch, and I would get to know
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  them and just pick their brains and not ask them for anything.
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  Just pick their brains.
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  And it became where they trusted me because I wasn't asking for anything, and we became
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  friends.
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  And and so now, you know, I have the reputation where pretty much I can find anybody in
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  Nashville.
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  I can ask for anything, and somebody will help me and everything.
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  Artists need to do that.
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  You need to build your own community.
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  You do it with your fans, but you also do it.
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  You could have interns.
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  You could have, you know, school.
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  You have your, if you went to to school for music, you've got your alumni association and
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  everything.
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  You gotta build these relationships and tap into them because it's amazing how many people
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  are willing to help.
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  At any given time, they're willing to help if you just ask.
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  And Well, and it's often it's often those relationships that carry us through the darker
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  and lower times of our careers.
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  It it it may be those that carry that big break with them, as well.
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  And forming those relationships is just as important as creating amazing art.
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  Absolutely.
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  I mean, I guarantee you every one of them has been in the same position where somebody helped
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  them.
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  Somebody gave them a hand up, and that made all the difference in their career.
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  And and it's amazing how many people are willing to give back.
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  I know just because Courtney.
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  When I started putting the word out that I was looking for mentors, I've got a 125 mentors
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  right now, and I I've probably got 200 more on the list yet that I have to, get together with
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  an an interview.
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  So it's just, you know, the work the help is out there.
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  The connections are out there.
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  The experience is out there.
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  You just can't be afraid to to tap into it.
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  You can't feel like I'm too small of an artist.
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  I mean, the the artist that I manage, she doesn't have didn't really have anything going.
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  She had a a good TikTok following, but it wasn't even for music when I first started
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  working with her.
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  And now she's, you know, she's blowing up.
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  She's doing some amazing things.
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  I I've saw her.
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  I saw her work ethic, and I said, let me mentor you.
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  I didn't ask for anything.
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  Let me mentor you.
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  And there are people out there that are willing to do that.
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  That, you know, they'll do it without asking for anything because they believe in you,
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  believe in your work ethic, believe in in, you know, the way you you can you know, not only
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  your art, but the way you express yourself and and your professionalism and everything.
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  There's there's people out there.
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  You just can't you can't just ignore them.
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  Vinny, how can people get ahold of you?
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  I know we have the website, AnyConnect up here as well.
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  Is that the best place for people to start, or should they go straight to Kearney?
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  Kartnee is probably the the first place to go.
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  And the reason for that is it's got 200 videos.
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  I keep adding more, and it's divided into beginner videos.
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  So those are really basic things.
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  How do I get my first gigs?
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  How do I put my band together?
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  Things like that.
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  And then I've got an intermediate section, and I've got a, you know, a more professional,
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  section.
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  So it's divided by, you know, what you wanna do, and it covers everything from gigging to
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  protecting yourself legally.
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  The biggest things I have on there, I have a lot of videos on how to avoid scams because
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  that's one of the biggest challenges that artists have.
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  They get scammed all the time.
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  It's a an ego driven business and people take advantage of that, and I got tired of it.
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  I've got things for parents.
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  If you've got a talented child, you know, I've got videos for that.
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  And it's not just videos.
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  We have notes with it and everything.
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  And you can reach out to the people who were the mentors directly through the community.
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  And so I would start there and see what you need, and then you can reach out to me, and you
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  can reach out to me through the community or through Vinny at Indy Connect.
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  And I can help.
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  I'm more than happy to spend a half hour with somebody and just explore any ways that I can
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  move them forward.
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  Not not getting paid, not asking for anything, not looking for clients.
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  I'm I'm full, but just being able to help people.
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  And it's it's it's a process, but it's, you know, it's designed now so that I can literally
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  tell you, look at this video.
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  Look at this video.
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  Look at this video.
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  And that'll get you where you're trying to get right now and then come back and do this.
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  Incredible stuff, Vinny.
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  Can't wait to see, what continues to grow with Kartnee.
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  Can't wait to be a part of it with the SCENE projects and seeing where our partnership is
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  able to go and grow from here.
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  I appreciate you taking a little time for me today, and I appreciate you being part of the
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  scene.
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  I'm looking forward to to the collaboration as well.
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  So thank you.
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  Have a good day.
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  You too.
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  Bye.