Joe Eddie: That was when that magic click happened, when I realized that what I was doing and giving to people had real value almost right out of the gate because people would listen and they would tell me that they really loved it. they'd tell me where they're from, what they're interested in, and people have this natural inclination to tell you about their struggles, and when people start telling me those things, it chokes a guy up because you see that these people are human they really value just the music, the message, the connection it's almost invaluable to people, just sharing and connecting, and that's been probably the most rewarding thing out of all this is a human connection to people that I've never felt before. 

Michael Walker: It's easy to get lost in today's music industry with constantly changing technology and where anyone with a computer can release their own music. I'm going to share with you why this is the best time to be an independent musician and it's only getting better. If you have high-quality music, but you just don't know the best way to promote yourself so that you can reach the right people and generate a sustainable income with your music, we're going to show you the best strategies that we're using right now to reach millions of new listeners every month without spending 10 hours a day on social media. We're creating a revolution in today's music industry and this is your invitation to join me. I'm your host, Michael Walker.

All right, I am excited to be here today with Joe Eddy. Joe is a six string slinger hailing from the great plains of North Dakota. He's been playing guitar since the ripe old age of nine. He's written over 500 songs and multiple books of poetry, fingerpicking, singalongs, melodies that take your heart on a trip and rock and roll that awakens your soul.
I got to say it was one of my favorite bios that I've read, Joe's awesome and it totally embodies you and who you are and getting a chance to connect with you in person that our masterminds, the last, over the last 12 months has been amazing. And man, hearing you share your story at those masterminds has just blown my mind.
And I wanted to connect with you personally on the podcast, you could share your story, and I think it's something that could be really inspiring for a lot of people who are just getting started and trying to get their careers launched. So thank you for taking the time to be here today. 

Joe Eddie: Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me here. It's awesome.

Michael Walker: All right, sweet. So maybe we can kick things off for anyone who this is their first time connecting with you, maybe you could introduce yourself briefly and share your story, how you got started with music and what kind of brought you to Modern Musician in the first place.

Joe Eddie: Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I started playing guitar when I was nine years old. I saw Poison, the band on MTV. CC DeVille, rocking that BC rich. And I told my mom that I want a guitar. She was excited about that. Went right out and bought me an acoustic guitar, got me into lessons and started learning folk songs and just basic guitar chords.

And I really loved it. Took a few years of lessons and then started just learning on my own. I've been writing songs since, even before that, my parents had a piano and I would just tinker on that. And I devised my own little notation system and made a couple of compositions and I guess the magic of creating something out of nothing like that really sparked something in me and I've always loved just creating things.

I get a lot of satisfaction out of that and sharing it with people has been really nourishing for the soul. I went through high school, went to college. I was learning guitar, jamming along with jam bands, Fish, Neil Young, I got into Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, The Beatles. I was really attracted to songwriter types.

Working on that stuff is what started to shape me. And then writing over time became a tool for me to express my emotions just for my own sake and to maneuver through life. So I've been writing a lot over time. And but sharing my music was a kind of something that I shied away from, I didn't think it was good enough.

I didn't think my words were wise enough or worth sharing. Even up to more recent times, the recordings that I would make, I didn't think they were good enough. I thought there was some threshold of quality that I had to get before I could release anything. I was sharing my songs with just a small group of friends and bandmates, and through their encouragement, I started to want to share my music.

And I've always wanted to make a business out of it too, and have it make money, make sense, and be worthwhile. Not just a hobby so I've tried different marketing programs. I do web development as a day job, so I understand the internet and websites and internet marketing. But for me being able to tie it all together it was never clicking, like I felt like I was putting a lot of effort in this direction and then a lot of effort in this direction and those things would fizzle.

So it wasn't until I found Modern Musician where I found a system that worked from end to end and it provided this business platform that made sense and my efforts started to gain traction once I got going with the program. And now being with the Modern Musician program and with you and the other mentors I've got this self identity and this courage that helps me embrace it and stand out and share it and not shy away from putting it out there.

It's been really great. I've started to build a fan base. Results of that are really outstanding, in my opinion. My email list is one of my main metrics and that's just been going crazy. And so then the feedback that I'm getting from my music has just been amazingly uplifting.

Like I could cry about it. I almost do every day because I'm constantly getting messages from people saying they love the music, they want more. When it first started happening, it was so surprising to me. I didn't expect it. I thought people would be like, yeah, man, keep trying or, don't quit your day job.

But it's been, they're, people are asking for more and they want more. And now here I am out here on the road, I'm heading to Toronto. I'm driving across the country to play shows. I've got a fan base there. Gonna hit that up and the future's looking bright. Feels great. 

Michael Walker: That's so awesome, man. Thanks for sharing.

And when you talk about at the beginning wondering, am I really good enough? Is my music really good enough to have to reach certain quality? I know I certainly can relate with that feeling and I'm sure a lot of people who are listening to this right now have at some point as a musician kind of gone through that feeling and so you're having that initial  of validation moment.

I'd be curious to hear specific moments that helped you realize sort of the value and sort of like the connection. You talked about having these conversations now with fans and sort of hearing the impact and how that creates a sense of connection and realness you see like the impact.

So I'm really looking forward to digging a little bit more into that. And also I just want to celebrate you and celebrate what you've accomplished because it's incredible. Maybe you could share a little bit about your starting point, coming into the program and what happened for you and where you're at now in terms of the growth that you've experienced.

Joe Eddie: Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I had put efforts into marketing my music and hadn't got real far. I hadn't got any traction going when I started Modern Musician, my main metric is my email list, because I had this epiphany somewhere a few years ago that a fan by email is worth two in the crowd.

Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. But a fan by email, you can connect over time. You get that initial connection and then you get the opportunity to continue that connection by maintaining the email conversation. And so that's been my main metric. And when I started Modern Musician, I had 35 people on my email list and that had taken me a couple years of passive effort and failed effort to get there.

And that email list three of those emails were mine, one was my mom's, so it was just a really small group, but once I got my ads running, got my system set up with Modern Musician, things started to click, and I was having conversations with people through my ads they're opting into my email list, and right away, things started going.

I was up to 300 people really quick, and then it was a big celebration with myself and my friends and bandmates when we got to 500 people, it was another couple weeks, it was up to a thousand. I think within probably three months I was up to 3,000 people. Yeah. And now I went through that first big rush and then pulled back just a little bit to reassess my messaging and stuff.

So I've slowed down a little bit, but here we are the start of August and within a couple of weeks, my list will be up to 5, 000 people. It's 4, 600 something right now. And that's huge to me, to know that many people out there want to hear my music. They're listening to it. It's just been amazing.

And not only that, the 5, 000 people on an email list, but it's probably been 500, 000 people that have seen my message on social media and click through to listen to my music. So just knowing that it's getting out there and people are hearing it is huge to me. And the email list itself.

That's something that I can build a business on. And I'm doing that: I'm selling CDs, t-shirts, little merch starter packs, stickers, guitar picks, postcards, signed little notes. And yeah, right away when it started happening, when people were listening to the music and responding that was when that magic click happened, when I realized that what I was doing and giving to people had real value almost right out of the gate because people would listen and they would tell me that they really loved it. They would ask for more, and through our conversations they'd tell me where they're from, what they're interested in. And in those conversations people have this natural inclination to tell you about their struggles, financial things, physical illness, emotional things, and when people start telling me those things, it chokes a guy up because you see that these people are human, it's not just some robot screen out there, it's a real human, they really value just the music, the message, the connection it's almost invaluable to people, just sharing and connecting, and that's been probably the most rewarding thing out of all this is a human connection to people that I've never felt before. 

Michael Walker: Man so awesome and again, I want to iterate and celebrate you for one, having the courage to put yourself out there and take all the music that you've been keeping to yourself and actually have the courage to share that. Because a lot of us, that's really scary to put it out and that initial sense of vulnerability of putting yourself out like that can be challenging, but, hearing how you've sort of experienced the connection and the relationship that you're building and seeing and hearing the impact it's actually making on people's lives is amazing.

It's interesting. Not everyone has a story like yours where it's like they come in and have 35 email subscribers and then in a few months they have 5, 000 email subscribers. That's amazing like it's struck like a vein and like you mentioned for anyone listening, an email subscriber, I've heard it described that one email subscriber is worth at least 10 social media followers essentially.

So and then like you mentioned, a follower is probably worth like 100 impressions, that's incredible. But what I do hear all the time is that same story, that same experience of wondering, am I really good enough? Is my music really good enough? Does it really have value?

Do I really have what it takes? Having those conversations with fans for the first time in some cases and really experiencing that impact and that being sort of a light bulb moment for people. So I would love to hear your advice for anyone who might be listening to this right now, or maybe even if, if you had a time machine and you could go back to yourself at the beginning when you're at that point and there's a piece of yourself that was wondering am I really good enough to do this?

What would your piece of advice be for yourself at that point?

Joe Eddie: I would say do it, take that one first step, open up, sit with yourself for 10 seconds, take a deep breath, find the courage to open up just a little bit, because it's incredibly rewarding, and the fear that you have is going to be replaced with light and love. I've talked at the Mastermind a couple weeks ago about my reluctance to still be vulnerable and to still tell my story. There's a lot of parts of me that I haven't opened up and shared yet because I still have that fear of being vulnerable.

How are people going to judge me and my actions? Part of what we do as artists is we tell stories and we tell our story and for me, I feel like there are parts of my story that aren't pretty and I'm not always the hero in my story. Sometimes I'm the villain. Sometimes my actions aren't courageous.

They're more cowardly. But those are human things that everybody experiences and everybody goes through similar things. And if I were talking to myself back a few years ago or talking to someone who's just starting out, you don't have to barf it all out and spill it all out right away. You can tell a little part of it and open yourself up just a little bit.

And that's gonna give you more courage and more strength to open up more, which is what we're all dying to do inside, whether we know it or not. So I think if you can just take a deep breath, go within, find that little piece of courage to open up a little bit and take just one step forward, it's going to light your path that much.

And it's going to be life changing.

Michael Walker: Hey man, this is so good. Thank you for sharing that. And, I know I certainly can relate to, being different characters, in my life. And there are mistakes, a lot of mistakes that I've made and I try to learn from. And I think everyone has had that experience. So your ability to share that and, to be able to grow from it, I think it's, yeah. But like you mentioned, it's sort of like part of. The hero's journey, you're part of our human-ness. Thank you for doing that and, being on that journey, sharing that with your community.

Thank you for sharing your light and sharing your story with this community and with our podcast interview. And, I know you're on the road right now. You're actually getting ready to travel and play some shows. I'm gonna let you, I'm gonna let you go. But beforehand I want to make sure that for anyone here who's interested in hearing more, maybe checking out your music or connecting more, where's the best place for them to go to dive deeper? 

Joe Eddie: Yeah, you can just go to JoeEddie.com, and I have some content there. I have links to my social media. I'm on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, all that can be found on JoeEddie.Com. Send me a message. I love connecting with people, it's what it's all about. Yeah, and I guess just to add to what I was saying before this whole thing has been really life changing for me. I can look back to a year ago to how I was feeling emotionally to how my relationships with my family, my friends, people I work with. Having this ability to be authentic with myself and share my authentic story through my music and my art has been so immensely life changing. I wouldn't be sitting here at a cabin in Wyoming. I wouldn't be on the road to Toronto. I wouldn't have been in LA. I'm doing things that I've only dreamed of up till now.

So my gratitude is immense and I really appreciate it. 

Michael Walker: I can feel that, man. Thank you. You're hitting me in the heart right now. And it's amazing. It's, yeah, I come back to this analogy a lot of, that building your music career, sort of like planting a seed and kind of letting it like start to blossom and in some cases, if you're Joe Eddie, it's like you plant the seed and then, there's this immense growth, that's happening through it.

But yeah it's been an honor so far being a part of your journey. And I'm really excited to see how this continues to grow for you as well and have a conversation with you a year from now, three years from now, five years from now, cause it's going to be amazing. So Joe, thank you again so much for taking the time to be here.

And like always I'll put all the links in the show notes for easy access and good luck with your next show. Looking forward to connecting again soon.

Joe Eddie: Thanks, Michael. 

Michael Walker: Yeah! 

Joe Eddie: Yeah! Yeah!

Michael Walker: Hey, it’s Michael here. I hope that you got a ton of value out of this episode. Make sure to check out the show notes to learn more about our guest today, and if you want to support the podcast then there’s a few ways to help us grow.

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