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  • Radio-style summary of the story with quotes
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Jake Laporte was 10 years old when he first wanted to be a musician.

 

“I heard The White Stripes song ‘Seven Nation Army,’ and I knew I had to play guitar because I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” Laporte said. “I got one from Best Buy. It was a piece of [expletive], but it worked.”

 

Laporte bought his first guitar at 10 years old, was in a band at 13 years old and when he graduated high school, he turned down Berklee College of Music to move to Austin, TX.

 

Three years ago, Laporte started a band with his roommates called Toast Party. The band falls within the genre of garage rock, and its namesake hails from a list of band names which included Trash Salad and Robocougar.

 

Despite the funny business, Laporte is serious about his work. He invests 40 hours a week into his music. Aside from the work he puts into Toast Party, Laporte teaches guitar lessons and is a part-time student at Austin Community College.

 

Laporte describes the scene in Austin as “huge” and “giant.” He says Austin doesn’t pay as well as other cities do because there are so many bands in Austin that they’re willing to play for any price.

 

Additionally, because Austin is a tour destination for so many bands, it gives local bands the opportunity to open for big names and grow their audiences.

 

Laporte is not alone in working double-time in the music business.

 

Brodie Elkins is the founder and face of Brodie’s Fault.

 

“I call it a music label, but to simplify it, it’s a professional service company. We [Brodie’s Fault] take over everything the artist shouldn’t have to focus on, and we think the artist should only focus on music,” Elkins said.

 

Like Laporte, Elkins balances music with education. Elkins is a full-time student at St. Edward’s studying marketing.

 

When looking ahead to the future of Brodie’s Fault, Elkins sees it as a project he can focus on during the weekends while working full-time.

 

“[Brodie’s Fault] started as a hobby, but it could make money,” Elkins said. “It’s not lucrative in the grand scheme of things at the moment, because I back all the productions financially. But I own half of the artist’s publishing rights. When they get signed by someone else, which is what we want, we’ll make money.”

 

In order for an artist to get signed, their best bet may be the internet.

“The internet is really blowing things up right now. It’s how a lot of artists are found,” Elkins said.

 

“The internet is the best. I recorded a song and released it, and people thought we were cool before we even played a show. You can definitely market yourself on the internet,” Laporte said.

 

Another voice in the music scene had a different opinion.

 

“I think it’s sweet [the internet]. Ideas get passed around; it’s great for creativity. But it can water music down a whole lot, music listeners and consumers get oversaturated with music and become desensitized to good music,” Mason Dennard said.

 

Dennard is an intern at a local studio who’s on the path to being a sound engineer.

 

“Sound engineering is basically the behind-the-scenes of the song,” Dennard says.

 

FROM HERE:

 

  • The internet’s role in an artist’s success or lackthereof
  • Touching on genres represented by ‘the scene’
  • Why isn’t music lucrative at the beginning?
  • Music becomes lucrative for those who work for it
  • Being in the music capital of Texas is inspiring for aspiring and current musicians and those in the industry, but it’s not necessarily the best paying venue for artists.

 

One of my interviewees cancelled and we rescheduled for this afternoon. So far, he will be the only artist that I interview who is self-sufficient.