Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsey Coy.
Hi Chelsey, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in Southern California in a very musical family, I was constantly singing, dancing, and acting and knew that I wanted to be in music and the arts someday. I was in the Young Americans, show choir, dance choreography, and did musical theatre, as well. I attended the University of Southern California and graduated with a bachelor of science in the music business program – something that definitely comes in handy on a daily basis now that I work in sync licensing. In 2008, my husband and I began to write songs together and put an Americana outfit together called Single Girl, Married Girl (after the Carter Family song of the same title.) We eventually moved to NYC and put together a new lineup and released two albums with the NY band – the last of which, Three Generations of Leaving, received critical acclaim in No Depression, The Bluegrass Situation, The New York Times, and American Songwriter.
In 2017, we moved back to LA and I started writing music for sync licensing. I met some amazing collaborators in an online class and we decided to form a collective and pitch our songs as a catalog. Eventually, this turned into twoOHsix Music – which we founded in 2019. These days, I am writing for multiple projects, playing shows around southern California with Single Girl, Married Girl and working on growing my licensing agency. I have multiple placements under my belt including All Rise on CBS, MTV’s Teen Moms, and a PC Richard & Sons commercial in the Northeast. I am currently a member of the Recording Academy, Songwriters of North America, Folk Alliance, and Alliance for Women Film Composers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with anything creative, it can be hard and taxing. I suffer from bouts of depression and had many a “mid-life crisis” wondering what the hell I would do next. In 2018, I stumbled upon sync licensing – even though I had taken a class on it in college. It can be extremely disheartening to play shows for zero people in the audience or have a release that didn’t do as well as I hoped it would. The money and time spent on making art that people may not like…It all adds up. I try to focus on what I am doing and stop comparing myself to other people and how far they were in their careers. Jealousy has also been a big hurdle for me in my younger years. Like with comparison, other people may have gotten more opportunities or had more success, but I realized that it was pointless to worry about this and it’s better to lift up other amazing artists than to tear them down with jealousy.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am both an artist/creative and I co-own my own sync licensing agency! I am so proud of how far me and my co-owners in twoOHsix have gotten in the last two years. Our biggest placement was for Adidas last year for their sports bra campaign and it was 24 spots!
How do you define success?
Success to me would be financial freedom. I also have to remind myself to look back on all the accomplishments I’ve made over the years. I have done so much that I forget about, but it’s always good to take stock and remember that even the small successes are successes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.twoohsixmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notsocoy
- Other: www.singlegirlmarriedgirl.com
Image Credits
All photos by Anna Azarov
