Today we’d like to introduce you to Caden Jester
Hi Caden, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m a 26 year old artist, producer, and mixing and mastering engineer from San Diego, California, now living in Los Angeles. I’ve been making music since my father first introduced me to Garageband in 2008 when I was 10 years old. But even before that, I was messing around with keyboards, drums, guitars, and a bunch of other instruments. After only a few years of producing, I had already released my first album to iTunes (which is now removed) as well as many singles.
Fast forward to 2015, I released my first official single, “Sugar”, which reached over 500k plays and was featured by Keke Palmer in her Youtube series, That’s The Gag. Follow-up tracks like “Secret Lover” and “Dreamlove” nearly hit a million plays each (as of 2023, “Dreamlove” crossed the 1M mark on Spotify). My single “Let You Go” was featured in the summer finale of The Fosters and an episode of MTV’s Are You The One?, while “Secret Lover” was featured in an episode of MTV’s Undressed, where I was MTV’s featured artist of the night. My single “Vacant Love” featuring Blake Rose landed on top electronic playlists on Apple Music (430k streams and over 100k radio spins), charted in iTunes Electronic Top 20, and continues to play in stores worldwide. My 2018 single “Serpiente” garnered over 850k streams in Spotify and was supported by some of the biggest playlists on Spotify.
My perspective on doing music for a living truly shifted when I was 17 or 18. I had been producing for my own artist project and never really considered other ways to turn music into a paid career. That changed when a friend’s manager paid me $500 for a track we originally planned as a collaboration. Seeing $500 hit my account all at once made me realize I could actually make a living from music. I started actively looking for clients, and by 2019, I was doing both music and school full time. In 2020, I dropped out of college due to COVID and because I hated online classes. With more people at home, demand for production work grew, and artists found me through platforms like Spotify, Instagram, and SoundBetter. Going all-in on production, I quickly realized I didn’t need to return to school; I was making a sustainable living doing what I loved.
During this period, I worked on projects such as “Bad” with my friends Christopher Blake and Armani White (yes, the guy who did “Billie Eilish”). Another song I produced for Christopher Blake, “Thoughts” has garnered 980k streams and is on track to hit a million soon. In February that year I released “Never Be Enough” with Isabelle Simone, which is one of my favorite examples of my ability to blend pop and electronic music (and I did background vocals!). In July 2020, I produced, mixed, mastered, and sang a Spanish song called “Te Borre” with my friend Majo. This is the first and only song so far where I sing lead vocals. In December, I put out an EP titled “International Flame” with my friend WillX BOY, which is some of my favorite work to date (especially “Motherland” and “Pon Di Floor”).
Since then, I’ve worked on Carlos Carrera’s “La Arreglo Yo” (nearly 1M views on YouTube) and “Para El Mundo” with Tavo Betancourt (which had 10M views, but has since been removed). I also mastered Panski’s remix of “Si Mama” by international star Inna. I’ve also been collaborating frequently with Kendra Checketts. We’ve released several tracks together like“Blasé” and “Porch” and had a live radio interview on San Diego’s 91X. I’ve also been working a lot with my friend Layto on songs like “Less U Know” and “Backfired”. In 2023, I produced “444” and “Damn Those Eyes” by Ashley Sienna, with additional production from Inverness.
In 2023, I dropped “Higher” with Kendra, featured in the Netflix movie “Incoming” (which hit #1 on Netflix), as well as Law & Order and Station 19, a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff series by Shonda Rhimes. In 2024, I released my first instrumental track, “THE CITY (Hurt You),” and teamed up with Melanie Jo on “So What, I Called You.” I plan to keep releasing music under my own project, but my main focus remains production for other artists , sync, and enjoying life.
In July 2024, I moved to Los Angeles, California to continue pursuing music. Now, I’m doing artist sessions in my new studio, working with artists I love, continuing my client work, and releasing under my own artist project every once in awhile.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In 2018, I signed with an indie label for a year, and honestly, it completely derailed my artist project. They managed to get me a lot of streams, but the deal itself was terrible. They held me back from releasing new music, never paid me, and the only way out of the deal was to let them keep my masters without ever having to pay me a cent after I left. I should’ve had a lawyer, but I was young and broke, so I just decided to let those songs go and move on.
Not long after, I got an offer to be the face of what was supposed to be a huge DJ project, kind of like a Marshmello concept. It was led by some big label guys, and they planned to bring in top songwriters and producers to work with me. But when COVID hit, the project wasn’t just shelved, it got scrapped altogether.
These experiences really discouraged me from pursuing my artist project, but now, I almost see them as a blessing. If those things hadn’t happened, I might not have put so much effort into producing for other artists, building a solid client network, going deeper into sync, and finding ways to make a living in music beyond my artist project.
We’ve been impressed with Caden Jester, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’m a producer from San Diego, now living in Los Angeles, with 16+ years of experience and over 29M streams. I primarily work with artists in Pop, Dark Pop, and EDM, but I have experience making nearly every genre you can think of. I collaborate with musicians at all stages—from hobbyists recording their first song to seasoned artists with millions of streams on Spotify.
You can find talented producers all over, especially in LA, but what sets me apart is I’ve been running a steady business for the past six years and treat it as such. My workflow is highly streamlined, with a focus on efficient, transparent communication, so my artists are involved and informed throughout the entire process. Right from the start, I make sure we’re aligned on their vision before I even open Logic. I like to have an in-depth discussion with each artist about their music, inspirations, and vision for the song, ensuring the final track sounds exactly as they imagined. I offer unlimited revisions, giving artists complete freedom to refine their music to perfection. This dedication to quality and artist satisfaction is reflected in my 165 reviews on SoundBetter, all of which are 5 stars.
My artists come from all over the world—on SoundBetter alone, I’ve helped 82 musicians finish 191 projects across 47 cities in 11 countries. I handle everything from the initial demo to the final master, so my artists never need to outsource mixing or mastering. And for select artists, I also offer support with getting sync placements.
I take care of all the logistics, organization, and back-end details, allowing artists to fully focus on the creative side. With my years of experience in the industry, I also guide artists through complexities like distribution, publishing, promotion, Spotify playlisting, performance rights organizations, and sync placements.
I take pride in developing long-term relationships with artists. Many artists I work with today have been with me for years, often returning for multiple projects. I take a balanced approach that’s both professional and personable, which has allowed me to build genuine friendships with many of my artists.
Ultimately, my goal is to bring artists’ visions to life with songs they’re excited to share with the world. I’m grateful every day that I’ve been able to turn my passion into a full-time career.
If you’re curious about working with me, I have a more in-depth description of what the process looks like on my website linked below.
https://www.cadenjester.com/production
How do you think about luck?
Luck has definitely played a role in my life, but I think it’s just one side of the coin. On one hand, I was introduced to music at a really young age, which helped me discover my passion early on. I’ve also been fortunate to meet some incredibly talented artists and music execs along the way. But honestly, luck alone wouldn’t have gotten me where I am today. It’s all the hard work I’ve put in—the years and years of learning how to produce great music, figuring out how to network, collaborate, and run a business on my own—that’s made the real difference. Without that hard work, any luck I stumbled on wouldn’t mean much at all. So, for me, it’s all about finding the balance between the two.
Pricing:
- Production, Mixing, & Mastering: $1500-3000. Varies client to client and project to project.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cadenjester.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cadenjester
- Facebook: [email protected]
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ZAirqaFT5ZDoW4vM9tAtf?si=a904f152595b43a1
Image Credits
Josh Lerma (@iamfilmakerjosh) – Main Photo
Luke Duerr (@bylukeduerr) – 91X Interview Photo
