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In this episode of the Thriving Musician Podcast, Spenser welcomes Carolyn Ortiz, a seasoned marketing and operations executive with over 20 years of experience in the music industry. Carolyn’s career has spanned across prestigious organizations like Universal Music Group, Chanel, Viacom, and more recently, her own venture, Big Ass Kids, a record label and creative agency she co-founded in 2020. This in-depth conversation dives into Carolyn’s insights on industry evolution, artist support, financial literacy, and the challenges of balancing a career with personal life.
Journey through the music industry
Carolyn’s career is rich and varied. She started working at a very young age and has always been ambitious and solution-oriented. Her initial experiences as a paralegal provided a foundation that helped her anticipate and prepare for potential issues. Her journey took her through various roles, including operations at Viacom, business development, and brand marketing at UMG, managing independent artists, and later PR and publicity roles during the New York blog era. Despite her corporate success, Carolyn felt a pull towards working with independent artists, which ultimately led her to leave UMG and fully immerse herself in indie music. During COVID-19 in 2020, she made a significant pivot towards managing a friend’s PR firm and eventually teamed up with Leroy to expand Big Ass Kids into a comprehensive artist services division.
Balancing family and career
A central theme in the podcast is the challenge of balancing professional ambitions with personal life. Spenser and Carolyn discuss the inherent struggles musicians face when trying to juggle their careers and personal responsibilities, such as raising a family. Carolyn shares her personal experience, emphasizing the importance of time management, setting priorities, and being patient during different life seasons. She underlines the necessity for musicians, especially those with families, to consider their music career as a business, requiring strategic planning and financial stability. Patience and adaptability are crucial, recognizing that there are seasons in life where priorities shift, and that’s perfectly normal.
Introducing Big Ass Kids and the Playground
Big Ass Kids is not just a traditional record label. Carolyn and her partner Leroy started it with a unique vision – focusing on compilation projects rather than signing individual artists. Their goal was to create a supportive ecosystem for indie artists. The idea of the Playground emerged from their desire to offer a safe and resourceful community for musicians. Officially launched in November 2023, the Playground is a membership-based community that connects artists with vetted music professionals across 24 countries, offering over 40 specialized services. The platform ensures that musicians have access to reliable and trusted professionals, critical for their career development.
Navigating financial decisions in business
Spenser explores the intricacies of financial planning within the context of starting and running a business. Carolyn provides insights into the financial challenges they faced while building Big Ass Kids, including the decision to bootstrap the company and focus on reinvesting earnings back into the business. She discusses the importance of making intentional financial decisions aligned with long-term goals rather than immediate desires. Navigating personal and professional finances can be complex, but it’s about aligning spending with values and recognizing the necessity of sacrifice for future gains. For Carolyn and her team, this meant prioritizing business needs over personal luxuries, understanding that their current sacrifices would lead to greater stability and success in the long run.
Final thoughts on thriving in the music industry
Carolyn wraps up the conversation with invaluable advice for musicians: to think of themselves as entrepreneurs, to trust the process, and to build a community around them. Big Ass Kids and the Playground are embodiments of this philosophy, aiming to provide resources, support, and a trustworthy network to ensure that artists can thrive in the often challenging music industry landscape.
For those interested in joining or learning more about the Playground, visit www.bakplayground.com
Thanks for listening and keep thriving!
