Voices Behind The Music is a limited series podcast bringing you an inside look at some of the greatest music professionals and their inspiring careers. Join host, Jeff Yasuda, for fun conversations with fascinating people who have helped transform music as we know it. From intriguing personal stories to professional tips, and even incredible new developments in the business, this podcast is for every music lover who wants to know more about day-to-day life in the music industry.

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group, the leading b2b music licensing platform, and is produced by Growth Network Podcasts.

Ever wondered what it’s like to be an international funk guitarist, playing shows and events all over the world? Get a fun behind-the-scenes look as Jeff Yasuda speaks with Eddie Roberts about how he discovered jazz through record sleeves, his international performance career, the music discovery platform he created called Color Red, and why he was pressing vinyl during the pandemic. 

Eddie Roberts has been producing music for over 20 years. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the funk & soul world as a producer, composer, and musician, including members of The Meters, Headhunters, Lettuce, Soulive, The Motet, Galactic, Greyboy Allstars & Robert Walter, Matador Soul Sounds, Reed Mathis, and West Coast Sounds, to name a few. Eddie's sound is an integral part of today's Funk & Soul scene. 

Follow Eddie on Facebook and visit Color-Red.comNew Master Sounds: thenewmastersounds.com

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts

Does the world of NFTs and crypto confuse you? Well, Cherie Hu is here to thoroughly explain the world of social tokens in music. Learn why digital collectibles are on the rise, and what this means for the future of music. Cherie also discusses her next big predictions for the music industry, as well as her experience having dinner with Jack Stratton from Vulfpeck. 

Cherie is an award-winning researcher and entrepreneur focused on the nexus of music, technology, and business. She is the founder and publisher of the paid music/tech newsletter Water & Music, and has freelance bylines in Billboard, Forbes, NPR Music, Pitchfork, and many other publications. She also teaches classes on music, business, and gaming at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. 

Big Takeaway: The economics of streaming does not work for all artists in all genres. By utilizing crypto and NFTs specifically, artists can code their own economics around their creative work into their social tokens.  

Follow Cherie @cheriehu42 on Instagram and Twitter and learn more at CherieHu.com  

Subscribe to her newsletter at waterandmusic.com 

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts

From touring with Whitney Houston to booking the Fleetwood Mac tour by subbing for Stevie Nicks, Taku Hirano has played with some of the absolute greats. His skills as a drummer are unmatched and have led him to have one of the most interesting and exciting performance careers. He recently released his debut album of original music, and is heading out on tour this month! 

Taku found a passion for music at a very early age, and with the support of his parents, and amazing teachers along the way, studied across the globe from the Hong Kong International School to Julliard, to the Berklee College of Music. Taku speaks with Jeff about some of his best memories on tour and funniest mishaps. He also shares his most important tips for young musicians looking to build a career in music.  

Big Takeaways: If you want to be a working musician, you have to have an understanding of various genres and techniques. No matter what instrument you play, you have to embrace music.  

Downloading/Streaming/Purchasing "Blu York - Live in NYC":https://takuhirano.bandcamp.com/

Website - Tour dates, info: https://taku.ninja/

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts

We all use music tech from companies like Spotify, Google, or Facebook, but we may be using it without really even knowing what’s involved. This next guest certainly knows and is here to explain to us how finance and acquisitions affect the music industry.  

Sun is a Partner and Head of Digital Media at Nfluence Partners. She has a passion for the music industry and has sold music tech companies to Facebook, YouTube/Google, SESAC, SOCAN, and Spotify amongst others.   

With her expertise in investment banking, Sun offers amazing advice to music startups and entrepreneurs on getting their business funded, and what kind of strategic moves will help them succeed.  

Big Takeaway: There are a lot of really exciting verticals for music outside of just the explosion of growth in streaming. Some of the verticals include gaming, social, and fitness, and we are likely to see an influx of acquisitions in those sectors for music-related companies. 

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts

Have you ever wondered how managers and producers find the next biggest star? How do they know they’ll be popular, and what do they do to develop them into the artists they eventually become? David Boxenbaum breaks it all down from his perspective having discovered the legendary Maroon 5! Learn what is possible to fix versus what can’t be learned, and why some artists are just natural stars. 

You’ll also hear some great stories about Dave’s interactions with stars like Beyonce and Diddy, and how he is using his music biz experience in his latest business venture.  

Davids Boxenbaum is the CEO of Newport Media Advisors, providing strategy consulting services to technology companies in media and entertainment, with a focus on the music and book publishing verticals. Throughout his career, he discovered and developed several platinum acts, including Maroon 5. David co-founded A&M/Octone Records, where he developed the upstream business model (now an industry standard) and was one of the early innovators in multi-rights artists deals. 

Big Takeaway: Scouting an artist is like scouting a baseball player. It’s not about how good they are now, but how good they good be in 2 to 5 years. You can polish a star, but you can’t create a star, so you have to know what you can fix and what you can’t.  

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Do you love a good origin story about how a musician got their start? Did you hear about the one where her brother got his hand stuck in a pasta machine and that ended up being the start of her international touring career? Maureen Herman is her name and she tells Jeff all about how tragedy led to opportunity not once, but twice during her music career.  

Maureen is a writer and bass guitarist, who played with the iconic Babes in Toyland. They played venues all over the US and Europe and she is now in the midst of writing her memoir.  

Big takeaway: Having a community of creative people around you is the best support, inspiration, and built-in network you can find. 

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Have you ever attended a concert in Augmented Reality? OR have you ever used an Instagram filter that made it seem like an artist was performing right in your living room? Well, now you can! This week’s guest is Vivek Agrawal, and he is sharing his amazing journey from tech executive to musician. What he learned in tech that betters his music, how artists have to promote themselves differently during a pandemic, and why following your passion is so important. 

Vivek Agrawal makes Hindi music in augmented reality. A technologist turned composer, Vivek has spent the past several years completing his debut album and developing mixed reality experiences to showcase his music. He has worked with AR Rahman, co-created the Bose Frames, and is passionate about the power of immersive technology and the 3D metaverse to elevate the music listening experience. 

@viagrawal on Instagram 

Big takeaway: Facetime and Zoom meetings may not feel like authentic connections to many people, so seeking out alternate ways to forge connections between an artist and their fanbase, or any human at all, is particularly important right now.  

Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts