Today we’d like to introduce you to Michaela D. Jordan.
Michaela, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I began playing music at 13 years old; gigging around the small town where I grew up in rural Connecticut. My father was a musician so there was always space to play music and he was down to bring me and my band to gigs. I just began writing songs constantly. Thinking back on it, it definitely kept me out of trouble. Nothing was more important than music to me, so I wasn’t going to do anything to put it at risk. Music was the most obvious thing in my life. It was a constant and there was never a question that it was what I was going to do with my life.
It became clear very early that a career in music was not possible in that area and I felt the need to get out of that town and move to a place with more life and opportunity. The option to move to Philadelphia fell into my lap so I took it.
I began teaching music lessons there and, eventually, managing a music school. I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do yet, I just knew I wanted it to be in music. I loved working with young musicians. Developing them into the artists they would grow up to be sparked something in me and planted the seed that would grow into Golden Poppy. I knew then that I wanted to work in the industry side of things. I was green and, save a semester or two of an art major at my local community college back home, had not been to college and could not afford to go back. Following a familiar pattern in my life, I would have to. carve my own path through this one. I heard about in internship, typically reserved for college students, at Ropeadope Records. I knew the chances were slim, but I applied for the internship and on Christmas Eve 2018 I received the email that, out of over 1000 applicants, I had gotten in.
While I was doing this, I began playing gigs around Philly. My birth name, Michaela DeBenedictis, didn’t exactly roll off the tongue or fit on a lot of posters so I began using a name my best friend and I had come up with in my living room in Connecticut as a play on the abbreviation for my home state: CT. The Sea Tease was initially just a name I used as a placeholder while I played in a trio to hone the songs I was writing. Playing in places like The Grape Room and The Barbary the line up was me on guitar and vocals, any bassist I could find and, always, holding it down and breathing life into the tunes on drums was MuzikalDunk.
My internship at Ropeadope and the gigs I played during it would become one of the most formative years of my life. The internship, which was only supposed to last through the spring extended until I moved to Los Angeles in July of 2019. I moved to LA wanting to work for an established label, not realizing that my path would lead me to starting a company that completely turned the structure of the music industry on its head.
I moved to LA on July 2nd, 2019, with a part time job at a record label and my cat who had been with me since CT. The Sea Tease, which was supposed to be a simple placeholder, ended up being a name that stuck. I had little choice in the matter when it was up on the marquee at the Whisky a Gogo for my first gig in Los Angeles. At that show I met Fernando Perdomo, who I had already seen play with some friends of mine, and he became not only my producer on my first album but my close friend and collaborator. He and I would release my debut album, Resilient, in May of 2020.
Back on the industry end of things, I quickly learned that the record label I worked for was everything I didn’t want to be in the industry. I began thinking to myself what, as an artist, I would want from a support team. I knew so many musicians at this point had become DIY. They were all so skilled in certain areas and, most of them, just had to fill in the gaps. I also knew they required fluidity and were on a budget. So, I came up with the idea of offering services and representation to musicians that are similar to a management company and a record label but, instead of the artist sacrificing royalties or ownership of their music, they would pay a flat hourly rate.
I started Golden Poppy and began working it full time in January 2020. Impeccable timing. Though the pandemic was a challenge, somehow my business thrived. Artists were sick of the label model and wanted autonomy. Before my eyes, Golden Poppy grew bigger and bigger as I began signing international artists and gaining respect in the industry from people I admired.
As of now, I am currently in the process of releasing my second album as The Sea Tease and gearing up for major developments with Golden Poppy.
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?
I do not believe in failure. To me, when something doesn’t work out the way I want it to, it means that I learned all I have to from it and that my path is continuing. I look at all obstacles and challenges as lessons. It makes them less intimidating that way.
My biggest lesson was knowing my worth.
I had the attitude for a long time that people were doing me a favor by letting me work for them. I felt as though I didn’t know enough or deserve to be where I was. I allowed people to walk all over me because of this and did not hold my boundaries. Once I began knowing my worth, the people taking advantage of me fell away and my career began to blossom.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Golden Poppy provides everything an artist needs including representation, career strategy/consultation, social media management, marketing, promotion, booking, distribution via Symphonic, sync licensing via our alliance with Missing Link Music Publishing and more. However, unlike a traditional 360 record label, management structure or anything else that provides similar services, the power and rights to all of the work remains with the artist.
Golden Poppy charges a flat hourly rate for our services; the amount of hours per week being set by the artist based on their needs.
This system was brought about by 15 years of experience in the music industry as an artist and working for various record labels. I created a way to provide artists with the vital services that they required without the dilemma of them sacrificing the rights to their music, their royalties or their performance fees.
Above all else: Golden Poppy is by artists, for artists and in the service of artists; empowering them to forge their own path in a rapidly changing industry.
Pricing:
- All Services $35.00 Per Hour
Contact Info:
- Website: goldenpoppymusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenpoppymusic/
