Thriving Musician Podcast

Patrick Ermlich is a seasoned music industry professional hailing from Brooklyn, New York. Born into a musical family of opera singer-entrepreneurs, he inherited a unique combination of artistic and business acumen. He honed his skills through formal education, including studies at Northeastern University's music business program in Boston and The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Arizona. Starting as an engineer and producer at the renowned Cutting Room Recording Studios in New York City, Patrick rose through the ranks to eventually manage and develop the studio into one of the most successful in the city, collaborating with some of the biggest names in the music industry along the way. His entrepreneurial spirit led to the launch of an independent record label followed by a music publicity agency, Gramophone Media, where he served as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager / head of A&R. With over 1000 artists in his portfolio and a reputation for insightful, direct, and thoughtful artist and business development, Patrick is a sought-after mentor, strategist, and collaborator. Patrick continues to leave his mark on the industry through his mentorship, speaking engagements, blogging, and his role as an educator at Berklee Online. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-72

Casey Andersen was born in Pasadena in 1991, and his family relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico, a year later, where he remained until he turned 18. His first instrument was the drumset, which he played from about age 6 to 16. In the fourth grade, he began playing the upright bass, participating in orchestras, Jazz and Rock bands, among others. He auditioned for Berklee College of Music with the Electric Bass as his primary instrument but changed his major to Jazz Composition within the first year. After graduation, Casey took a job as the bassist in the house band of a cruise ship. However, it wasn't the right fit for him, so after his contract ended, he had to engage in some serious rethinking about his career direction. Returning to Santa Fe, Casey started teaching various music classes at his former school, the Santa Fe Walford School. He kept busy playing gigs and teaching during the day, but also found time to practice Yoga and indulge in reading whenever he wasn't working. He earned two Masters degrees from St. John's College in Santa Fe—one in Western Philosophy Liberal Arts and the other in Sanskrit, focusing on the Eastern Classics. Casey met his wife in the Eastern Classics program, and they have recently relocated to Oxford to further their studies. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-71

Jason Hanan was born in Kenya, went to primary and high school in Washington, D.C., went to university in Montreal, Canada, and then moved to Los Angeles in search of warm weather and creative opportunities 21 years ago. He is now the owner and president of Pro Audio LA. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-70

Ryan Hurn enjoyed a 15+ year career recording and touring the world with Les Brown's Band of Renown, Andy Williams, Ann-Margret, and The Texas Tenors. Select performances include Royal Albert Hall, Cleveland Pops, Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra, Salt Lake City Symphony, & the Phoenix Symphony. He held endorsements by Vic Firth Sticks, Remo Drumheads, and Paiste Cymbals. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-69

Andrew Simmons and Josh Matotek from The Home Studio Hangout Podcast interview Spenser about financial literacy for musicians, producers and mix engineers. We talk about the basics to set up early on and how to financially plan for your future as a freelancer. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-68

Sarah Eyden is a professional singer / confidence and business mentor for musicians. She has worked as a singer for over 25 years while managing depression and high levels of anxiety due to childhood sexual assault. She felt hopeless sometimes on stage and learnt how to manage it and go on to tour the world, work for Elton John, Tony Bennett and Ozzy Osborne and sing on over 450 film soundtracks at Abbey Road Studios over the past 25 years. She is now passionate about helping musicians feel confident to apply the business skills needed to help their music career, boost their income and step into their power as a musician with all the business tools they need to succeed. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-67

Susan Hanlon Ferrer has built a career around setting singers up for the spotlight and helping them gain freedom and consistency in their singing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Master’s of Arts in Music with an emphasis in voice (both from UNT). Susan has been honored to give guest presentations for classes at LSU, TWU, UMKC, A&M Commerce, The Speakeasy Cooperative & The North Texas Chapter of PAVA (Pan American Vocology Association). As a teacher, Susan has loved running her busy private studio for the past 17 years, enjoyed her years as Professor of Commercial Voice at Collin College and cherishes her early years of teaching in several school districts as a private voice teacher. As an artist, Susan has released two jazz albums. The most recent album, Louder Every Minute, was co-produced by Susan and features some of her original songs. Part cheerleader, part Sherlock Holmes, Susan loves helping singers accomplish their goals and solve their vocal mysteries. She believes that every singer deserves to be appreciated for who they are and what they bring to the art form, and strives to create a space of belonging for all voices. When not teaching, you can find Susan binging podcasts, watching documentaries, walking her puppy Bruce, and slowly learning guitar. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-66

Lisa Machac is a music consultant, producer, and the director of Omni Sound Project, an inclusive community for women and marginalized genders in audio engineering. Her writing has been featured in Tape Op magazine and a popular Substack newsletter. She is the creator and host of the Reference Track podcast, which features producers and engineers discussing the songs that shaped their careers. Lisa coaches independent musicians who are looking to grow their audiences and promote their music. She adds 20 years of community building and marketing experience to a natural enthusiasm for mentoring others. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-65

Max Allyn is a producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He’s spent the last 19 years professionally producing artists and has worked with the likes of Joaquin Phoenix, Jason Wade, Toby Scott, Lifehouse, Steve Perry, and many more. His works have been featured in primetime television and high-visibility ads. Brands and networks include Masterclass, CW, FreeForm, ABC, Disney, Aetna, Dove, Suave, American Advisors Groups, and more. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-64

Lauren Estes is a native Memphian, financial planner and artist, creating copper and silver jewelry and art on copper. Art has been part of her life since she was little with her dad being an artist and having grown up in studios and galleries. Lauren has always done some form of art but finally took it seriously a couple years ago. It helps her find balance. Everyone is a creative, we just have to take the steps to express it! And most importantly we all have to have a plan in place to be successful whether that is doing a major show or saving for retirement. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-63

Ryan Moore is a touring drummer, songwriter and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. After working an office job in the financial planning industry for several years out of college and gigging on the weekends, Ryan now tours the country with an artist named Pony Bradshaw and runs a virtual paraplanning company that provides outsourced financial planning services to other financial planning firms. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-62

If you recently lost your music industry job, I'm sorry for your loss. Things will get better. If you're here to prepare for a potential layoff, I hope you never experience one. These are the crucial topics I consider as a financial planner when helping my clients. www.moneymaestroblog.com/layoffs

Jesse Josefsson from the Thriving Musician Podcast episode 55 interviewed Spenser on his popular Sync My Music YouTube channel! We talked about: What it means to be “financially literate” Financial mistakes I see musicians make Common sense rules to prepare for artistic freedom

Carly Crawford is a tax preparer (Enrolled Agent, to be exact), lifelong theatre person, and online business manager with a penchant for cheesy carbs, cross stitching, and books of all kinds. Carly lives in Memphis, where she loves the heat and humidity and basically lives on her screen porch. Carly graduated from UNC Asheville in 2009 with a degree in Drama and Literature, and spent the last 10 years pretending to be small children onstage, most notably Peter Pan, Pinkalicious, and Junie B. Jones (all multiple times). She also earned a Master’s in Arts Administration from Savannah College of Art and Design, learning how to turn her make believe into a functioning business. In 2017, she began her work as a tax preparer as well as fulfilling the requirements to become an Enrolled Agent. In her practice, she is compassionate, honest, and knowledgeable. When she’s not preparing and filing your taxes, reconciling your books, or designing your next workbook/ebook, Carly is probably reading while cuddling her pup, Rocky, playing board games with her wife, Nikki, or stubbing her toes on things because she’s inordinately clumsy. She likes lists in threes. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-59

Sebastian Tenorio-Vallejo was born in Cali, Colombia but has lived in the greater Tampa Bay region most of his life. He started his career as a professional musician in 2015 and makes a living playing guitar and singing full time. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-58

Mark Ettingoff grew up in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. He excelled in math, music and humor. Then moved to New York for college and was swallowed whole by his passion for expressing himself through performance, collaboration and recording. He's lived in Santiago Chile, toured 30 states and 5 countries and spent 7 yrs in the desert "finding himself" artistically. He joined forces with the financial industry in 2021. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-57

Rosh Roslin is an LA based guitarist, drummer, and digital nomad. Some of his credits include Def Leppard, Melissa Etheridge, Steve Vai, Maroon 5, Dweezil Zappa, A Perfect Circle, Kylie Minogue, Bush, Dweezil Zappa, Papa Roach, NOFX and more. With an ear for sound, Rosh bridges the gap between technology and music helping musicians both live, and in the studio craft perfect sounds, build playback/guitar rigs for their albums and tours. He has a client base that spans the globe from places as far as London, Slovenia, Spain, and Singapore. While he can work remotely with them, he also enjoys traveling to work with these overseas clients onsite. When home in Los Angeles, Rosh keeps a busy calendar performing as both a guitarist and a drummer playing in a variety of musical projects as well as teaching music classes, private lessons and producing and engineering music. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-56

Jesse Josefsson is a 15-year TV/Film music producer that has secured over 7,500 TV/Film placements including shows such as American Idol, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Succession and networks such as NBC, CBS, MLBN, MTV & Fox Sports. He has composed roughly 1,000 tracks that have been distributed through various Production Libraries including Megatrax, 5 Alarm Music & Position Music. His commercial placements include national campaigns w/ Nike, Ford, Jack in the Box & Outback Steakhouse. Jesse created 'Sync My Music' in 2016 to help other producers and composers follow in his footsteps and create significant income and exposure through the TV/Film Sync Licensing industry. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-55

Over the last two decades as an artist manager, Andre Mullen has helped recording artists and labels gross $6,780,000 in new business, deals, publishing, and royalties. Then, in 2021, he burned out. So, he retreated. Now he runs a boutique consulting firm for artist managers and creative entrepreneurs and create digital products for artist managers. When he's not consulting and building products, he is an active member of The Recording Academy, a mentor to other artist managers and artists, and a speaker at yearly music conferences such as Canadian Music Week and Daze Summit. https://moneymaestroblog.com/ep-54/

Lindy Venustus is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ helping creatives with financial planning. She founded Create Financial Planning in 2020. She is a fiduciary fee-only trusted advisor that you can come to for honest advice, and not worry about commission sales. www.moneymaestroblog.com/ep-53