Inside the Founder’s Studio — Mike Murphy of Studio Talk

Mike Murphy, coming from Upstate NY, had to take a trip to get started on his dreams. Now splitting time between Upstate and the Big Apple, Mike Murphy has launched Studio Talk. Attempting to educate a new generation of aspiring music industry figures, Mike brings a lot to the table.
From a love of Jay-Z to a deep understanding of the industry, and plenty of experience in it, Mike is a valuable asset to anyone looking to find their way. Even if music isn’t your thing, you might find his podcast — Unsigned — helpful.
Who are you? What’s your background?
I’ll start right at the top. I’m Mike Murphy, originally from the Capital Region. Mechanicville, graduated from Ballston Spa. Currently living in the city, but I’m back and forth between the two a bit. I started in the music industry in college, I interned at Def Jam. From there, I was actually supposed to have a job with them when I graduated but I graduated in 2009 right before the recession. So, that job got cut.
So, I did a couple freelance gigs. I worked at Universal Motown, Vevo. Unfortunately, the industry still wasn’t in a position for growth. Hiring was at a standstill. I eventually moved back Upstate, and opened my own company the CKMJ Group. We’re a social media management company, studio, record label. We recorded local artists and artists we had signed.
That was great, but I wanted to get back to the city. I had the opportunity to in 2014 with Sony Music. Then I was with Translation, a music advertisement company. I got to lead a lot of cool projects, I got to lead the HBO campaign, the Dre and Jimmy Iovine documentary that came out a couple years ago called “The Defiant Ones.” I also got to run a Beats campaign that featured Translation’s owner, Steve Stoute, doing a barbershop talk with a bunch of big names like like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Future. Beats filmed all that footage and we chopped it up and we ran this whole campaign across Beat’s social media channels. Then LeBron actually took that idea and ran with it and he now has his show on HBO called “The Shop”. So that was really cool to be a part of something from way in the beginning.
And then I was also running Reebok. They had just signed Rae Sremmurd, so we were incorporating Rae Sremmurd to all their campaigns. We did an activation at the Governor’s Ball where we had Rae Sremmurd driving around NYC in a tour bus that looked like a Reebok shoe.
I was doing that type of work until it dried up, and then I started to work by myself doing music advertisement. And then about a year ago started Studio Talk. And the goal of Studio Talk is to show artists and managers that are just starting out the game plan for how they can build their career. So, we’re in the process of getting that up and running and launched.
What inspired you to start Studio Talk? Was it just an altruistic thing, a hole you noticed?
Yeah, I mean, a little bit of both. Number one, that’s the space that I’ve always really worked in and really loved, artist management. And then, you know, just seeing the way the industry is changing. There’s a definite need for that information right now. With technology making things so readily available, it’s completely different than it was, 25, 30 years ago where the path to stardom was relatively simple, right? The barrier to entry was high because it was so expensive, so it was hard to make the music but once you made the music, it was pretty straight forward. The goal was to try and get into the hands of an A&R at a record label and get them to give you a singles deal. And because it was so expensive, the competition in terms of artistry was relatively low compared to what it is today.
Now, with the advances in technology, you can make a song on your phone and upload it anywhere immediately. Because of that, there’s so many more people making music and the trick now becomes, how do you stand out amongst the noise? It’s a real issue that people are having. So that’s one of the problems with it, but it’s also one of the good things, right? It’s a double edged sword because now there can actually be a middle class of artists that wasn’t there previously. Before it was like, you’re either on the Jay Z, Kanye West, Eminem level, or you’re a local act that does karaoke nights or a cover bands, there really was no in between, so to speak.
Now there can be right because everything is democratized. So every single person has their own niche and with that, people are going to need guidance on how to build a career. This is like the third consecutive year that the entire industry has grown and revenues increased so it’s looking like the start of another golden age. So artists are going to need that information to help them be sustainable. And so with my background in management and my passion for new music, it’s something that I wanted to build out.
It’s also that I don’t want to work for anybody else anymore. You know what I mean? I know my years of experience, the value that I bring to the table can help people in need. And, I want to be a little bit more on the product side of things. We are offering help, so that is service based, but it’s through a product. And it’s much different than the traditional service space.
Do you see a lack of information in this space?
Well, I wouldn’t say there is necessarily a lack of information. There’s a number of companies that have been putting out information for years. But there’s a couple of caveats to that. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, we’re not the first people to create an online course and definitely not the first people to create an online music business course, but it’s all about the execution.
There’s a couple of online distributors that have been putting out free information for years but it’s always in service to their actual product. They haven’t really sat down to work with artists one on one to guide them through how exactly to do implement that information or answer their questions on the spot. So, that’s where we feel that we’ll be able to differentiate ourselves.
What are the differences in working with a middle-class artist versus working for HBO?
The same principles apply, right? You’re trying to create something that is going to be engaging. And I think that’s the misconception. Excuse me, not a misconception. A misunderstanding. Or just not really knowing. If you’re a young up and coming act, a lot of times you’re like, “Yeah, I want to be the biggest act in the world!”, right off the bat. They’re just like, “Yo, I make great music. Why don’t people love me like Drake? Why don’t they love me like Khalid?”
Well, there’s a lot that goes into that. When you’re new, you don’t know all the things that go into how you create a story, how you create a brand, how you share your story with the world, how you interact with your fans. You think because you make hip hop music that you automatically deserve attention when that’s not the case.
So what happens is people start to expect that outcome. Then when it doesn’t happen like that, artists tend to get bitter that people aren’t fucking with them, because they think that they make great music. And then they end up quitting before they ever really got going because they didn’t really listen. At the end of the day, it really comes down to being able to listen.
So, it’s about having a better understanding of where you are compared to where HBO is, or Drake or Khalid. You can’t compete with HBO. It’s like a basic idea is you’ve got to spend money on Facebook and Instagram. Yes, no shit. You need to do that. But how do you do that? And how much do you spend? You cannot compete with HBO, right? So you need to figure out a creative way to leverage the little bit of money to make the biggest impact.
So those same rules apply to anybody. It doesn’t matter if you only have $1,000 for your campaign, that’s your budget. HBO might have a million dollars for their campaign, but that’s their budget. A million only gets you so far. You only get so much at a time and only get so many commercials. So they have to be creative with that in order to make sure that they have the most reach. So, it comes back to storytelling and the execution. It’s not just about getting likes on Facebook and Instagram. You have to think, where are you sending those people? What do you want those people to actually do? A like doesn’t equate to them being a fan, doesn’t equate to a ticket sale, doesn’t equate to an album sale. So without knowing the ins and outs of that, it becomes very hard to have a career because you throw a little bit of money at things cause you think like, “oh, I just need likes,” when that’s not the reality. The reality is you need the information, you need to understand the guardrails, and you need to put that little bit of money that you have to good use. And you’re able to do that when you have the information.
Are there any artists who are good examples of those principles?
Hip-hop is my specialty, so I’m always going to lean towards that. But there’s a rapper named Russ. I think what he’s done has been extremely smart. He was super nimble, really paying attention to his audience, really engaging with his audience, really tried to figure out, “hey, what do these people like?” And then giving them that. Now the reason I applaud that is because a lot of times artists are like, “I make music for myself. Fuck them. They either like it or they don’t.”
If you have that attitude, chances are they aren’t going to like it. And you’re not gonna take off cause you’re not trying to understand that. A lot of upcoming acts fail because they don’t know how to engage with someone else. Unfortunately, this a business, these are the rules. If you want success, these are things you need to focus on. If you just want to do creative writing, that’s awesome. But it’s not a career.
You need to have the empathy to listen, because that could help you grow.
How does an artist reconcile listening versus not wanting to be a sellout? Or be perceived as one?
I think if you look at the really successful writers, people like Kendrick Lamar, people like Drake, you’re putting your music out there, right? But you are listening and paying attention to how it affects people. That’s super important. So if you’re trying to affect people at scale, at any sort of scale, to make this a career, you have to do that, right? I’m not saying you need to sit there and listen to somebody who’s going to go through line by line and say, you should switch this and you should change that. That’s not it. You need to listen to other people, but you can’t take it as gospel.
It’s about paying attention to the way the crowd reacts. Are people interacting with your music? With your delivery? Are they interacting with your stage presence? If they’re not, those are clear cut signs. I’m sure you’ve been to two types of events. Sometimes the music is there and it’s whatever, and sometimes it’s moving you to tears.
If you want to make this a career, you want people to feel strongly about your stuff. So, I think it’s just about paying attention to how to do that. It doesn’t even necessarily need to be about your music. It could be about your image. How do you show up to your shift, in the real world? What’s your show like? Do you stay back after the show? Do you sign every fucking autograph? What are your online videos look like? How are you interacting? Are you liking every person’s comment? You’re listening to your audience that way.
Is there a person or maybe a piece of art, for you probably an album, from outside of the business world that’s inspired you inside of the business world?
My favorite album is Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint.” That inspires me everyday. I was just listening to it yesterday, and it came out in 2001. Honestly, Jay-Z inspires me everyday. Everything he’s done and been able to mature into. Nothing short of inspiring. I definitely have some bigger plans, especially back Upstate. That’s what inspires me to do more and be better. Definitely that album.
If you’re in the music industry or want to be, Mike has a lot of experience that could be helpful. And if you aren’t, you can still learn something from him. Check out Unsigned for a look into how those basic principles can express themselves.
