With his current album, Start to Move, singer/songwriter Jason Antone combines his love for pop compositions with funky club productions. He discusses his creative process; being an openly gay artist; and running his own label, Chickie Records. (You can hear the interview in its entirety on BlogTalk Radio.)
Let’s talk about some of your early sonic experiences. You studied music in college, right?
I was a vocal major in college. I also got a degree in Business Management, and I got an MBA too, because I didn’t feel I knew enough.
What did you think about the program you went through at DePaul University?
I liked it. I definitely always wanted to be a vocalist and a singer-songwriter, and because that came so naturally to me, I just felt I needed to feed the business side, just so I knew how to conduct myself. The bottom line is, music is a business. Now I run my own record label, so that stuff was definitely a nice foundation to build on. You either have a business instinct or you don’t. I know what contracts and accounting are. It just gave me confidence. It’s like selling anything. To be a musician, you’re selling your music and your image. You could be selling used cars, but you’re still selling. It’s like that famous widget thing that they would sell in school.
Speaking of that, you’re selling your new single, “Ooh Ooh Ooh,” which is climbing up the Billboard Club Chart. What approach are you taking to getting it out there?
Any one that works! [laughs] It’s the first single that I’m promoting as a dance single. I released “To The Limit” off my album last June with a big push, too. This was my third single on the dance charts, but it’s a little different taking a pop song and making it a little more dance-friendly. It was interesting — with respect to the vocals — commissioning remixes and getting different sounds out of it. It’s the most diverse package I’ve ever had.
There are a lot of mixes of it.
Yes, and they just fit different genres and different clubs. I wanted to do more of a pop artist approach instead of strictly club. Sometimes you’re in and out of the club and you don’t even know who it is. I always put my image first and think of the video and the song, and how this can relate to my fans. There are a lot of thoughts that go through that part, and formatting myself to be club-friendly, as well.
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