The Vanderveers & Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer & Ebony Rae Vanderveer shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
The & Bruce “Automatic” & Ebony Rae, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
We’d definitely hire us. One of the things we often hear from the artists we work with is that they know we care about them as people. We’re not here just to make a quick check. We want the people we work with to win and we want them to feel good about themselves all the way through the artist development process or process of recording and working with us.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
About The Vanderveers – Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer & Ebony Rae Vanderveer
The Vanderveers are co-owners of InRage Entertainment—a multi-genre, full-service entertainment and production company in Los Angeles, with a focus in artist development and music and content production. Automatic, InRage’s founder and Sony/ATV music producer, worked directly with Michael Jackson creating two acts Michael signed to his label, MJJ Records (Brownstone, Quo). He garnered a double production deal with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis’ label Perspective Records/A&M after which he provided music for TV and film (Jamie Foxx Show, Sister, Sister, Taste and Crush). Automatic has worked with artists such as P!nk, Pussycat Dolls, Raven Simone, Nicole Scherzinger, Christina Aguilera, Cher, and James Brown. He has also produced songs for Interscope, Polygram, RCA, A&M Records, Prospective, Morgan Creek, Fox Searchlight, American Airlines and the WB Television Network. In 2015, Automatic launched InRage Entertainment with partner and wife Ebony Rae Vanderveer, a magna cum laude alumna of USC’s Thornton School of Music. The Vanderveers’ approach to artist development garnered the attention from the newly created Music Industry program at UCLA where they now co-teach “Fostering Musical Creativity”. The pair has been working in K-Pop since 2012 starting with their first collaboration with XIA JUNSU, “Uncommitted”. Uncommitted debuted at #1 in Korea and China and held the #1 spot on charts worldwide. Their second collaboration with XIA, “Incredible”, debuted at #1 on Japan’s Tower Records Charts and iTunes charts and it debuted at #5 on Billboard’s World Album Charts. “Rock The World” and Twice’s “I’m Gonna Be A Star”, co-written by The Vanderveers and have both gone on to top charts and become fan favorites in Asia and abroad. Once Upon A Rainbow is Automatic’s and Bettina’s second music collaboration. Their first collaboration, songs “Cradle to the Grave” and “She is” reached No. 2 and No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Single Sales charts, respectively.
About InRage Entertainment
InRage Entertainment is more than a record label — it’s a movement. We are a multi-genre family of boundary-breaking artists united by one mission: to create authentic music and amplify voices that deserve to be heard. Founded as a home for the underdogs, InRage provides a supportive, positive, and empowering environment where artists are free to express themselves fully, no matter their background, story, or style.
Through hands-on artist development, mentorship, and collaboration, we cultivate originality and help artists turn their visions into reality. Our community thrives on diversity, innovation, and fearless creativity — redefining what it means to be independent in today’s music industry.
At InRage Entertainment, every voice matters, every story counts, and every artist has a place to belong.
Get to know us: www.InRage.com | https://www.instagram.com/inrageen
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Automatic: I’m still the same person. I’ve always had a creative path. I got on the path and I’ve stayed on the path. As soon as I picked up the guitar, I knew that was it for me. To this day, I’m still a creative, an artist, and an entrepreneur.
Ebony: I recently watch a video of myself as a little girl. I must’ve been around 4 or 5 years old and I was so giggly and goofy and I was telling a story, looking straight into the camera about farts! One thing I’m working on is bringing that level of carefree, happy living back into my life.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Automatic: I left home when I was 15 and was homeless for a while. I slept on park benches in Brooklyn. It was definitely a defining moment in my life that I’m still working on healing to this day, but it was also a launch pad to my hustle and creativity. I needed a place to live and I convinced the landlord of a building to let me live in his building in exchange for producing his daughter…and this was before I even knew how to produce! But, he agreed and I learned how to make a demo! That whole experience was also one of the catalysts of me being signed by a record label and moving to Los Angeles.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
Ebony: I’ve realized, only over the past few years, that traditional intelligence is not the only relevant intelligence. There are multiple intelligences and most often times, it’s not the “book smarts” that help the most successful entrepreneurs become successful. Think about the percentage of millionaires (and billionaires!) who never graduated from college or even high school (Jay Z, Bill Gates, Lucy Guo, Berry Gordy, Tyler Perry). Interpersonal intelligence (the ability to understand others) and intrapersonal intelligence (the ability to understand oneself) is indeed more important in my opinion, but combine those with the ability to think strategically and you have a winning combo!
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
We’re building our artist development company InRage Entertainment brick by brick. We’re figuring it out as we go. We have specific dreams and goals and we can’t say right now exactly when they will come to fruition, but we do know that we’re on the path and as long as we stay on the path and keep figuring out how to adapt and move forward that we’ll become a brand with recording artists that are known nationally and globally.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.inrage.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inrageent
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@InRageEntertainment
Image Credits
Nyah PC: @supay.vision
Autumn Cymone: L. Austin Lockhardt
Journey Skye: @_shotbykiwi
The Vanderveers (blue background): Mia Moran
Automatic at board in recording studio: Live Kim
