So even though I was coming from a big city,
going to Nashville was just mind blowing to see
the level of talent that was coming to the city
on a daily basis. People that are the best of
the best, and there are truckloads of them. So,
there was that, and also being a music major is
just not easy. This wasn’t a music school, it was
a regular college where I’m majoring in music.
So, I still had to take all of these other classes
as well, like psychology, math stuff, English
stuff. So to practice as much as you needed to
and still get everything done was a lot, it was a
challenge.
[WM] Did you have a theory background
before going to Belmont?
[Kevin] Yeah, I took piano lessons from when
I was like eight years old through junior high,
and I played trumpet in band. But those weren’t
things I was passionate about, it was more like
something I just did. It wasn’t until I started
playing guitar that I felt passionate about music.
But yes, I did have a theory background, this
wasn’t all new to me. I already knew how to
read music. I hadn’t ever read music for guitar,
but I had to learn to do that. It was a challenge.
I had a lot of amazing experiences and really [WM] Belmont is known as a record industry that’s something the record industry has used
got to see the Christian industry at that time university where they teach musicians the to their advantage.
which was exploding. business of music as well. What classes did you take there that helped you to really understand Artists tend to not have studied all these things,
During my last couple years in college was what’s going on as a musician that benefitted and there are a lot of people in the industry who
when Jesus Freak came out, and Jars of Clay, you? still don’t understand all of these rights. Learning
all of these records that were going platinum
about music publishing and really being able to
and having crossover success. During my [Kevin] The number one class as far as understand that there is a songwriter, who has
fourth year in college my roommate was friends learning I would say was Music Publishing. intellectual property rights, and the composition
with the guys from Smalltown Poets. They were Nashville is such a songwriter town anyway, so side has rights, the recording side has rights,
a different band with some different people at it’s very obvious to see the publishing side and and then the recording artist has rights. All of
that point. And they were looking for a guitar the song side. This is something I still deal with those are different hats you could wear, they
player. The timing wasn’t right, but I got to at CD Baby. We spend so much time educating could all be the same person or they could all
know them a little bit. Then after my fourth year artists about their publishing rights and be different people. In Nashville it’s a little more
in school, right after the semester was ending, songwriter rights because we collect publishing obvious, especially at that time. A lot of the
they called me and told me they were reforming royalties for them. Most artists, and I would say big Christian and Country records where you
a new band and they needed a guitar player this happened when I joined Smalltown Poets would have the artist and then the people that
and was I interested. I drove down to Atlanta that summer, we got signed to a major label wrote songs for the record, a lot of times they
and auditioned and they were like, “We’ve got under the EMI umbrella, and there was just so weren’t the same people.
a gig Friday, do you want to play?” (laughs). So much confusion among the guys in my band I said, “Okay”. And I’m still in that band twenty- about what revenue streams we’re talking A lot of artists just don’t understand. They
one years later… we’re still making music. about. What royalties were talking about. And come up and are writing and recording original
June 2019
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