HIFI Labs Launches EQ to Increase Access to Music Business Knowhow
There’s no real roadmap for navigating the music industry. From mental health to complicated innovations in technology, there are always…
There’s no real roadmap for navigating the music industry. From mental health to complicated innovations in technology, there are always new paths to explore. Until now, there’s been little support to help musicians and producers overcome these challenges as they try to translate creative skills into a viable career.
“So much information on how to navigate the business is closely guarded by gatekeepers,” says Taryn Haight, Head of Strategy for HIFI Labs. “We want to give artists access to tools to help grow their own careers and get past mental blocks to create their best art.”
To break down those barriers, HIFI Labs is launching EQ, a new community-based website where artists can have open conversations and build solutions collectively around real issues they encounter. EQ connects artists to resources to help them thrive based on themes and findings that come up as they work with clients in their Artist Lab.
An ever-growing set of original materials and outside media yield valuable insights from professionals of all levels. A companion Discord server gives users a place to discuss what they’ve learned and help teach each other.
“We want the site to be a living, breathing, evolving conversation,” Haight continues. “The community can contribute with articles, ideas and questions, which will all feed back into the content we post on the EQ website as conversation starters.”
Community manager Crystal Desai emphasizes that the site is a starting point, one both flexible and interactive. “Whatever musicians want, it should be for them. Some people are more visual or creative in other ways. Different people process feelings in different ways. If you make videos or write poetry, you can contribute in that way, too.”
With its first edition, EQ addresses the topic of resilience. Developed with the help of Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal, whose Resilience Leadership Institute counts Fortune 500 company executives and Hollywood stars alike among its clients, the interviews, apps, articles, podcasts, and playlists featured in this issue offer artists strategies for building a more resilient lifestyle in an industry that often seems unsustainable. It promises to be the first of many crucial subjects EQ tackles with real repercussions for those pursuing a creative lifestyle.
Ultimately, HIFI sees the EQ community as one major step in a much-needed overhaul of how the mainstream music industry treats the artists it’s built on. “EQ is about trying to inspire a more transparent music industry,” says CEO Joe Barham. “This is an empathetic, open-source community for knowledge sharing.”
Desai agrees. “The EQ community is a place where artists can learn and feel heard. Musicians often go in cold to the business, and it’s challenging. It’s healthier for artists to work together, and EQ gives them a way to find each other.”
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