Latest / The Scene Projects / Dan Smith on Navigating Music Industry Challenges and Showcasing Talent

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Dan Smith on Navigating Music Industry Challenges and Showcasing Talent · The Scene Projects

• 0:16
  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host Bubba Starts, and with me today from Smart Choice Entertainment, my brother,
• 0:23
  Dan Smith.
• 0:24
  Dan, welcome to the show, man.
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  Thanks for having me, bro.
• 0:27
  Yeah.
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  I appreciate you taking a little time out of your busy touring schedule.
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  Your band bound and determined, just getting back from Nashville recently.
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  Some great stuff going on on there.
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  But we're really here to talk today, about what you're doing with Smart Choice Entertainment,
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  namely the Ag City Music Festival coming up here soon.
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  We'll throw up that banner.
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  June.
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  Correct?
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  Yes, sir.
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  That's gonna be a blast, man.
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  And you've got a lot of your artists from your company that are on there.
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  But before we get into all that and talking to just wanna get a little bit of your backstory,
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  and I'll let people get to know you a little bit.
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  Well, you know, I started out, I guess, when I was about 19 years old, just picking up the
• 1:11
  guitar.
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  And, roughly eight years ago, I had a guy I went to high school with approached me about,
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  getting out and playing some acoustic duo type stuff, and that just kinda developed into, you
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  know, putting a full band together, bound and determined.
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  And, you know, in doing so, just kinda, you know, contacting venues about booking, you
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  know, my particular band.
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  Well, you know, we kinda book up about six months to a year in advance.
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  And, so I get phone calls from venues wanting to book us.
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  And, you know, if we were already booked, I started trying to help some of the other
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  artists that I knew, pick up some gigs, get in those venues, and that just kinda evolved into,
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  developing Smart Choice Entertainment.
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  You know, we have gone from just kinda helping some other artists, you know, fill some slots
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  to actually where we're at now.
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  We're we're a full festival design and management company.
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  We're doing festivals, providing production stage light sound.
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  We can do food trucks and vendors, kids zones with bounce houses and face painters and all
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  that kind of stuff.
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  So kind of a one stop shop for fairs and festivals and concerts, and, you know, it's,
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  we're just having fun doing it, man.
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  Yeah.
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  And I feel like not not a ton of musicians kind of fall into that, but your background as a
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  successful business owner and all of those skills bringing from that side kind of laid you
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  perfectly in this position to be a a little bit of that business mind behind the artist and now
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  behind these incredible festivals like Ag City Music Festival happening in June.
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  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  You know, I've I've owned a security company for twenty one years.
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  And, you know, I've I've taken the lumps of, you know, the OJT on the job training.
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  You know, my my background is sales and marketing, and that's, I think one of the
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  things that's allowed, you know, the success of not only my my personal band, but the business
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  as a whole.
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  That's one of the things that I'm really trying to help young artists that are trying to get
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  from, you know, their practice rooms to a local stage and then growing to the fairs and
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  festivals and corporate gigs level.
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  And, you know, there's a lot of really, really good talent out there that nobody's ever heard
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  of.
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  And I've asked myself why.
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  And it just boils down to having that sales ability to be told no a bunch of times and and
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  keep going.
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  And, you know, ultimately, it's all a numbers game.
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  You know, the more people that we contact and talk to and the networks that we create, that's
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  actually what catapults people to those bigger and better stages.
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  So, just just trying to do my part to try to help out other artists, man.
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  I think a lot of people would look at the success of bound and determined, and I know
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  that you've won Kansas City's best, you know, cover band and and a lot of a lot of awards
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  over the past several years.
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  And they just see those, and it's like, man, all he does is hit home runs.
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  Right?
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  And they don't see the time in the batting cage, if you will, to keep the baseball
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  references going, the swings and misses, the 100 unanswered emails that you got when you
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  were reaching out early.
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  And all the success that you're having now is really attributed to the, you know, the six
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  prior years that it was reaching out and being told, well, you guys just aren't right now.
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  You just aren't right.
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  And then as you continue to raise the profile of the band, all of a sudden, you're not having
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  to make the phone calls.
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  People are calling you, which just kind of turned into the natural evolution of smart
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  choice entertainment and, you know, a lot of a lot of your success, is attributed to things
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  that nobody would ever see.
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  Well, that's it.
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  I mean, no no matter how we look at it, it's all a grind.
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  You know?
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  And being able to keep your head down, stay focused, stay motivated, don't take the
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  negatives to heart.
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  You know?
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  You know, the thing about music is there's so many different genres because people have what
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  they like.
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  And maybe we don't check all the boxes, but we do check a lot of the boxes.
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  And it's just important to make sure you're putting out a good product, a good service, and
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  making sure you're staying professional and, deliver on what you say, have, have some
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  integrity, be a man of your word, and, treat people with respect.
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  And I think with all of that, if you can focus on those things, it all just kinda lines up.
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  And, you know, you got gotta be willing to work hard.
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  You know?
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  They might see us on stage for three hours, but they don't see the eight hours leading up to it
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  and the drive time and all the time in rehearsal and all those different types of
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  things.
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  And I don't think I've ever been a part of an industry that has so many variables that have
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  to line up for success.
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  And, you know, it just comes down to being willing to work hard and and not give up.
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  Well, and speaking of things lining up, you guys just got back from a big trip down to
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  Nashville.
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  You were part of a showcase at Tootsies, the world famous Tootsies.
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  Talk a little bit about that experience and then what kinda came from that moment and now
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  leading into, hopefully, a lot more trips back to Music City.
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  Well, you know, it was, we were invited down.
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  This again, the networking aspect of it.
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  We were invited down by a label, and they have this process, if you want to be a musician in
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  Downtown Nashville.
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  You go to Tootsies.
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  You do this little showcase.
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  If they like you, they invite you to Monday at Kid Rocks, to where you can actually get up and
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  play two or three songs for industry professionals.
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  Actually, the a gentleman that was kind of heading that up used to be Garth Brooks' bass
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  player and has worked with a lot of other a list artists.
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  And so you go up there.
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  It's all industry people and other musicians.
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  You do your thing.
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  And, you know, fortunately for us, we were told that, you know, there's not a lot of bands that
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  come to Nashville and do what we did.
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  And they're looking at bringing us down, having us play a few shows on Broadway, and they're
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  they're talking some bigger and better things after that as long as people, you know, like
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  what we do.
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  So it was a great experience.
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  I'd recommend it to anybody that's trying to, you know, make Nashville home and and kinda
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  continue to climb the ladder.
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  Yeah.
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  And having been in, Kid Rock's big ass honky tonk, while I was there back in last November.
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  You guys are such a perfect fit for that main stage and what they're trying to bring on that
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  knowing a little bit about your band and your set list.
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  They're really riding that line between rock and country.
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  It's not, you know, like Robert's Western World where you're getting very traditional country
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  music, country and western music up there.
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  It is very much, what I would say, the newer kind of country genre.
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  Right?
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  A lot more rock and roll influences.
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  You're gonna hear a lot of rock and roll covers while you're in there as well.
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  It's crazy for people who haven't been to Nashville recently to really understand what
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  the scene is like down there.
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  It seems like all the bars are at least three stories tall and maybe a rooftop as well.
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  When it's rocking and rolling, it's it's a band on every level, and you kinda start from the
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  top and work your way down.
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  Right?
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  Newer bands getting an opportunity to start in some of the the, you know, the 3rd story bars
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  in the middle of the day when there's really not much of a crowd, you know, depending on the
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  day of the week, and you eventually kinda grind it out to that.
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  Or you can do what you guys have done and grow a name for yourself where you're at.
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  Raise the profile of your band first and then go to Nashville or get invited to take part in
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  some of those things.
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  But you don't have to go and necessarily kinda slave it out playing for tips on the rooftop
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  bar starting out to be able to get those opportunities.
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  There's different ways.
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  And I think, what Bound and Determined has done is a great a great example of how to grow at
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  home that you are ready for those bigger opportunities in some of the, you know, music
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  centers of the world.
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  Yeah.
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  I, you know, I would say that anybody that has the the want to to go to Nashville I mean,
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  let's face it.
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  It's the Mecca of music and especially country music.
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  But you kinda hit the nail on the head.
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  What they're looking for, you know, they have this big list of the most played cover songs in
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  Downtown Nashville.
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  When they sent it to us, I went, oh, well, like, we're already doing 75% of the songs on
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  the list.
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  So, you know, as an artist and a musician, you know, sometimes we play songs that, you know,
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  we've played a thousand times, and we can really care less whether we play them again or
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  not, but it's not about us.
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  It's about the fans.
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  As it was explained to us down there, you never know what song was maybe your dad's favorite
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  song or your grandpa's favorite song.
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  So, you know, when you're standing in that crowd at Nashville and somebody plays that
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  song, it takes that fan back to something that really truly means something to them.
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  And, you know, so that's that's what I tell the band all the time.
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  I'm like, you know, it's not about us guys.
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  It's about putting smiles on the faces of the people in the crowd, making them happy, you
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  know, making them feel something.
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  So it's important that every song, every time, we have to do the best job that we can to make
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  sure that, you know, those people are having a good time.
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  So very important.
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  I think that's something that gets gets lost on a lot of artists who are songwriters and and
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  really wanna be known for their original music, which is fine.
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  And and I'm guilty of this myself that I wanna play the things that I want to, but I've always
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  been very cognizant of the fact that, like, you have to be able to bring that crowd in.
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  And it's funny when I was in Nashville and I was at Kid Rock's place, I started on the 3rd
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  Floor.
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  We were at a private event for a racing outfit, and they they started I I they played a medley.
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  As I'm going down three different bands, we're playing three different songs that I play in a
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  medley.
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  For me, I think it was, like, started with, you know, fishing in the dark up top that I heard
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  what I got, and then I heard the joker mixed with, the, the, Shaggy song, Angel, when they
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  redid that one.
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  Right?
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  And, like, I'm walking down.
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  I can't help grinning where I'm like, my my band and my show would do okay in Nashville.
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  Right?
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  Like, I'm on the right track to do that, but I didn't necessarily have to move there to figure
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  that out.
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  Right?
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  I didn't have to go there and pay seven times more in rent than I do at my mortgage in South
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  Dakota, to to go down there and figure it out.
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  And if I wanted to, I feel like there's an avenue for my band or other bands that want to
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  go to Nashville and to get some time there.
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  Because like you said, they're looking for some fresh meat and to go through these cycles.
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  And, yes, these residencies are fine, but all the bands that are playing in Nashville are
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  trying to get out of Nashville and out on the road.
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  So it's this weird dichotomy that that we're in.
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  Like, all the bands on the outside are trying to get in, and the bands on the inside are
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  trying to get out.
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  And I feel like guys like you and I who have really great connections and out here in the
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  Midwest, especially, to some good paying gigs that can actually help bands, maybe not booking
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  an entire tour for someone, but maybe two or three dates throughout our respective states or
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  or regions to keep them on the road and maybe keep them floating along.
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  And I feel like that's why, you know, you and I get together so well is that we're both not
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  only capable of doing it, but extremely willing to do that both with the scene projects and
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  Smart Choice Entertainment.
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  Absolutely.
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  You know, it's it it really is all about the grind.
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  You know?
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  You you kinda touched on, you know, original artists, and, you know, we have spent you know,
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  we've had some change in the band, but we spent, you know, a good portion of this winter
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  writing some original music, which has been absolutely a blast.
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  And, you know, things are going well there.
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  But, you know, the the average listener, you know, they have their favorites.
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  And, you know, we we've gotta make sure we're playing those.
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  And, you know, you take your a list artist out there that are on tour.
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  Yeah.
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  They're playing their songs, but they usually pepper in some of the covers as well.
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  So it's important that, you know, we're we're playing a little bit of everything.
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  And, yeah, we wanna get our original music out there, but, you know, I've been predominantly
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  in a cover band my whole career.
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  And, you know, that's that's what people are you know, we're live jukeboxes, basically.
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  And, you know, because, you know, we're not asking people to throw don't know.
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  It's a little different nowadays, but the only way was throw a quarter in the jukebox and play
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  a song or a dollar bill and play three songs.
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  And, you know, so our tip bucket is the coin slot, basically, and we just keep on rocking.
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  Yeah.
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  And having heard, some of the demos, I I guess you would say, of some of the bound and
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  determined originals that are gonna be coming out.
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  I'm really excited about this next phase of your band in particular, and it it's exciting.
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  And no matter what age you are, you know, I would consider us both kinda OGs of the scene
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  at this point.
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  And, you know, I've been doing this since I was a teenager playing in bands and on stage and
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  all kinds of different, size venues from, you know, festivals and amphitheaters, to those bar
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  gigs where there might be 12 people in the crowd.
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  Right?
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  And I get so much gratification still playing music.
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  I don't see myself ever stopping, and I'm kinda riding a different wave now.
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  Growing our platform here, no different than Smart Choice, and the festivals that you're
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  doing, may may overtake sometimes, what you're doing with the band.
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  And we finding those that that rhythm.
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  Right?
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  Obviously, the summertime is is the busy time for getting out and playing music as more
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  venues are available because you have these outdoor stages and play you know, festivals
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  going on.
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  And then when you come back, the wintertime is a great time to really hone in with the band
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  writing new material.
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  And, I think that the future of both Bound and Determined and Smart Choice are incredibly
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  bright and glad to be here for it.
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  Dan, I would love to kinda touch a little bit more on the AgCity Music Festival, going on
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  June this year.
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  You guys are celebrating America's two hundred and fiftieth a little bit before the fourth.
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  I know you have friends in service of heroes.
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  Our friend Paul Choppa and his organization, FISH for short, involved as well.
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  So tell us a little bit more about the festival and what people can expect.
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  Ma'am, we've got, you know, it's Father's Day weekend.
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  So one of the things that we really wanted to do is we wanted to make sure that it's family
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  friendly.
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  We're touching on the two two hundred and fiftieth birthday of the country, doing some
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  donations to a wonderful charity.
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  But we've got you know, on Friday, we've got two great tribute bands.
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  We've got a Molly Hatchet tribute band flirting with Molly, and then Edge of Forever, who is a
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  Leonard Skinner tribute band.
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  Then on Saturday, we're doing a tractor pull early in the morning.
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  About 01:00, we're gonna have an all veteran skydiving team drop in with the American flag.
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  Damian Gunn, who's the first on stage, is gonna sing the national anthem for us.
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  Damian's a great artist, been touring the country.
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  Savannah Chestnut, who was on The Voice.
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  My band, Bound and Determines Plan.
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  Noe Palmer, who's a Nashville recording artist, got videos on CMT and all that kind of stuff.
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  And then headlining the show, we've got Tate Stevens.
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  Tate won the x factor season two back in 2012.
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  And so a lot of local homegrown talent this year.
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  And, you know, gonna have a little side stage as the main stage switches over.
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  We got Michael Pierce, Josh Collins, and Jillian Riscoe will be doing solo acoustic sets
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  while that's happening.
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  So just you know, it's gonna be an awesome time.
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  Family friendly.
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  The kids phones fun zone's gonna have, you know, 10 or 12 bounce houses, face painters,
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  fire breathers, foam pits, you know, dump tank, all kinds of stuff for the kids.
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  And we're just looking forward to celebrating.
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  We're donating $5 from every ticket sold to friends in service and heroes.
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  For for people out there that are prayer warriors, please give Paul his family prayers.
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  He just lost his dad a few days ago.
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  I have talked to him.
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  He's he's doing okay.
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  But, you know, I lost my dad a couple years ago, so I know know what he's going through and
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  love Paul to death.
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  And what him and his organization are doing for veterans is just off the charts.
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  So we appreciate, you know, having them involved, and it's just gonna be an awesome
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  weekend, man.
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  We're praying for good weather and just great music and family fun.
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  Yep.
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  Sounds like a heck of a time, Dan, and I may have to rearrange some of my travel plans, to
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  try to see if I can get down there.
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  It's, gonna be a great time, and we're really appreciative, of you, this monumental task that
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  you've taken on.
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  And I know you've got a great team around you that are helping to bring this all to fruition,
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  but it's incredible.
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  And I really look forward to the future of not just AgCity, but, a lot of other events that
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  you're putting together as well.
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  This is, in many ways, just the start for what Smart Choice is kind of evolving into.
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  And really happy not just to know you, but to call you a friend and a brother, and I can't
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  wait to continue working together for many years to come.
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  Heck yeah, man.
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  Yeah.
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  We're we're actually working on another one.
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  It's called the horsepower music festival that'll be going on in September down at the
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  Ozarks International Raceway at Lake Of The Ozarks.
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  Recently met with Lucas Oil Speedway.
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  They're wanting to do some you know, an event there at their place.
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  And, you know, so we're we're definitely moving in that direction of, you know, bigger and
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  better and just continuing the growth, and and I owe it to my team.
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  You know, without them, I'd never be able to do some of the things that I'm doing.
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  By the way, I've already cleared.
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  You've got a press pass waiting on you for the Ag City Festival.
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  So if you can get down here, we'd love to have you here, brother.
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  Well, I would appreciate that, man.
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  Bring the cameras and do interviews with all of our artists and capturing that moment so we can
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  promote it all for next year.
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  I think it's gonna be an incredible time.
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  So, Dan, appreciate you.
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  Everyone can go to smartchoiceent.com for more information on the festival and on Smart
• 20:51
  Choice.
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  If you're an artist or an entertainer, I highly suggest that you connect with Dan.
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  You never know when a gig might float down the river that might be a perfect fit for you guys.
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  So you've been a blessing to me.
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  I have you to thank for the first gig I ever played in Missouri, and I just really
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  appreciate everything that you're doing for artists and for communities as well.
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  I I think it's really awesome.
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  And, obviously, our veterans are so important to us.
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  Big prayers to Paul Chapa and his family, an incredible human being, and, our our hearts are
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  with him and his family at this time as well.
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  Dan Smith, thank you for taking some time for me today, and thank you for being part of the
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  scene.
• 21:33
  Well, thank you, brother.
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  And we have another website.
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  It's www.agcitymusicfestival.com.
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  That's we where can get all that all the information for the Ag City, purchase tickets,
• 21:45
  all that kind of stuff.
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  And, man, thank you for what you're doing, you know, helping another platform for us musicians
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  and industry people to to get the word out.
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  So thanks a lot, man.
• 21:57
  I appreciate you.