Moe Shalizi

You know, we came up with this concept of creating something that was a faceless brand, something that you know, everybody could connect to in a way um and essentially essentially like in a movement. Um. And within the last you know, three years, we've you know, he's got he's in the number eight most streamed artists on Spotify in the world right now, number at the most streamed. Okay, that's that's what for twenty that's right this very second, or for right this second. Okay, So let's just to

get the ark. Have you been doing it for three years? What was he last year? The last two years, we we were feeding our core more so, Okay, I've interrupted you Okay, so you do you had this movement? Yeah, so we started this movement. UM fed the core dance fans for the last two years and then it wasn't until August so last year that we released our first

kind of commercial single. UM was a record called Silence with Khalid came out through our c a UM we're unsigned UM, so we did a single deal with them, and then we released the next single with Selina Gomez called Wolves on an interscope, and then we just released another single with Warner called Friends with Anne Marie. She's really well known person the UK. She's dope and that's how we've been kind of running it. So as we sit here, how old are you? Seven? This is the

younger generation and you're from southern California, right correct. I went to UC Riverside, grew up in a thinyland Empire and Corona UM and then moved to l about four and a half years ago when I joined Red Light. Okay, but before we get there, you grow up in East l A. And your parents do what for a living? So my mom worked in department store, she worked at Robinson's May growing up, and then my dad, my dad passed away when I was seventeen. But my dad was

like a general contractor. My family was like a low class We weren't rich at all. Of his poor Okay, your father dies when you're seventeen, that much really fuck you up? Yeah? Yeah, it was, to be honest, I mean at the time, like I look at it like it's a blessing in disguise in a way though, Like my dad was my best friend. But I wouldn't be sitting where I am today if if you know, he would have never let me go into music, like you know,

being middle Easter. And I think that the stereotype is you're either a doctor, lawyer, engineer, nothing, you know, so none of the none of the things that you know, lad to the path here would have happened if you know that didn't happen in a sense. But um it also you know, it was my biggest motivation. And I mean I didn't ever want to go to school. I was like, you know, I don't need to go to college.

But you know, before my dad passed away, I promised him, you know, I would go to college, you get a degree. Did that for him, and it's always been kind of like that motivation for me. And as you get older, you see the sacrifices your parents make for you as a kid, and none of it ever makes sense until you're older, and until you get to the age where

like wow, like now it all makes sense. I used to think my parents were stupid, and now I'm like, wow, they've you know, really done so much to get us to where we're at and really make sure that you know, we never had to deal with the things we have to deal with now. Now. Were your parents born in America? No, So my parents are from Afghanistan. They came here like forty years ago when the Russians invaded Afghanistan. They left Um and came here as well. Afghanistan that's a crazy country.

The Russians couldn't win, The Americans coodn't win. Did your family have a big identity of the Afghanistan aards soon as they moved to America, the yeah, they left that behind. And so you've never been to actually went uh? I

was thirteen. I went Um for a month. My dad was back out there, and then my mom started working with the military as a translator for a little bit, and then I went there to see my dad for like a month, when I was thirteen, Uh, and it was I mean it's a culture shock, you know, growing up in the Inlanta Empire, going to a country like that where it's a third world country. It's it's definitely different. But it was, you know, quite an eye opening experience. Well.

Tom Freshen used to run MTV after leaving Viacom, he invested in television stations and then we were at lunch about a year ago and he was saying, they killed everybody involved. I mean, it's really got more dangerous within the last year. Definitely, definitely. Yeah. I think they just don't They don't showed on the news as much anymore because they've moved on to different topics. But but yeah,

I mean it hasn't settled down right exactly. Like I watched five Vice News, which Tom has also involved in, and you see pictures of what's really going on in Syria and it's like you're horrified. It's crazy. It's crazy. Okay. So anyway, you're in the Inland Empire growing up, are you a music fan? Um? I was always intrigued by but my dad wouldn't let me listen to rap music

growing up. He wouldn't let me listen to it. No. No. I remember when I was like, I was like seven or eight and Coolio had this song where it was like one, two, three, four, get your women up off the floor, and I remember playing it in the car with my dad and from that moment he was like, you can never listen to this to this again, like because do you know what this means? And I'm like no, so then uh. And then I remember I took my

cousin had like dmx is album. I think it was like when I felt what it was called, but it was you know, I took it from my cousin. I used to hide it under all my clothes, and anytime my dad was at home, I would listen to d MX and be like, oh my god, like I love I love wrap, I love this. Uh. And then it wasn't until I was like fourteen or fifteen. I think

I was sixteen I got my first car. UM. I just kind of gradually started listening to it again and like not hiding it, and then he was cool with it. Um so he turned around, he turned around out. But I think at that point I was seven years old listening to a song talking about put your girl on the right right right, So there are how many kids in your family? I have one little sister, and what does she do now? She's in nursing school. Okay, So

you go through high school, there's you're just listening. You're a music fan. You're not in the business or dreaming about being in the business. Yeah, not not at all. Um. You know. So when I was in high school, um, you know, I my senior year, I was graduating and that's when my dad passed away. So you know, it took its toll on me where you know, my mom wasn't really working, so I was having to do everything

I could to kind of provide for the family. And then um, through that though, I fell in love with electronic music. Just it was one kind of vertical where I could escape through and listen to and it was something that like I loved, um And then I was like, you know this is this is cool? Okay, So this is like two thousand seven or so. How do you

find electronic music? At that point? I think that's when I had just a friend of mine was like, yo, you know there's this festival um called Nocturnal Wonderland in Santa Berardino, Like, let's let's go to this festival. Um, and I was just like okay, whatever, like I've never been to a festival, and I went and then just kind of saw the culture of of you know, this this dance music. In a sense, it was just like this is kind of cool. Um. And then just really

like the music. And then I connected with the music, and then you know, it was like okay, maybe uh, maybe I want to learn how to be more involved in a sense, and maybe I want to start deejaying. Um. So then I bought some turntables um, and then started with that, and then it was just like, you know, I need to I need to make my money back for these turntable. I spent a lot of money on these at the time, and I found a local dive bar. In the dive bar, you're still in high school, I

just I graduated now, so I was in college. Um, so I was I turned I think at this point I was twenty one, and I found like there was a dive bar down the street from my house. One side was a strip club and then once I was a sports bar and you could walk through each side. So I convinced the owner to allow me to start like a E d m night every Thursday night there and in Corona. Um and uh you know this, this dive bar was on the show Bar Rescue Like that's how much a piece of shade it was. It was

the worst thing ever, but it worked. At that time, electronic music was just like, you know, starting to build, and um, every Thursday night I was bringing you know, a couple of hundred kids from all over the Inland emp party to this bar to listen to like you know, dubstep and all this other stuff. Um. And then from there just kind of started building. And then uh you I was like, okay, I need to scale this up along. Okay, before you get there, you're in college, you see riverside.

Are you doing anything with music? Then? Before you hit twenty one, I was a finance major, okay, and that's what you graduated in. So you buy the turntables because you want to get further into the scene and a little bit slower. How do you decide, Okay, I'm gonna go approach this guy in the bar. Most people are not that motivated. Yeah, I mean for me, I was, you know, I was a kid that was you know, as a kids selling candy to all the neighborhood kids from Costco. And then I was as I got older,

I was, you know, selling everything I could. You know. I was coming to l A and getting like, you know, fake jeans from the alley and taking it to all the kids, telling you know, and selling it to the kids at school like you know, I've got true religions about these geans. Like I was always like you know, looking, always like hustling in that. And so you're a self starter. If it wasn't music, could be successful doing something else.

I mean I don't know, but yeah, I would think I would think, so okay, So the concept of I have these turntables, how to get my money back and I got to find a place to dj? It's not a you step for you, not really, no, I mean it was just something of like, you know, I was how can I make money off this? Off this? You know, And at that time, DJs were starting to become cool and it was a new trend, and was like, okay, maybe I can learn this and and kind of go

with it. Were you any good in retrospect? No? I was terrible. I was, you know, I looked back at myself like like, dude, I suck. I don't know what I was doing so, um, but it worked. I mean it worked in a sense of like I was bringing you know, two hundred three hundred kids every Thursday night and created Okay, so how did you get the two three hundred kids there? Facebook? So Facebook had just kind

of Facebook was like you know and its things. So I was, you know, I was getting you know, these all these girls from school and stuff like that, getting their personal facebooks from them, inviting all of their friends and sending them messages acting like I was a girl being like, you know, hey, come meet me at this

show on Thursday. You know. So I was just guerrilla marketing and then hiring you know, other kids to go and put flyers all over you know, UC, Riverside and r CC and all these different colleges and just kind of just doing doing what a promoter would do in a sense. Um and uh, you know, spread the word and then the rest of the word of mouth because you know, um, we had a bunch of girls there all the time. So when girls are there, guys want to come. That's for sure. Okay, So you start doing

it and are you making any money? Yeah? So you know the first couple of nights, I was getting like three hundred dollars every Thursday, and I was like okay, and then finally I was like, you know what, like, I know I have something here at the bar never has this many people here. So I went to the owner and was like, you need to give me dollars every night cash when your bar exceeds in sales. And she's like, you're crazy. And I was like, fine, I'll

go to another bar. And then she's like okay, fine, like I'll give it to you. And then literally every Thursday for like six months, like her bar was doing like, you know, five grand a night, which for her was a lot. So you know, I was walking in with like hundred plus a bonus sometimes when I was like cool. You know. One you know on my side job was working at I was I was a sales for Hewlett Packard, so I was I was on the weekends working as a rep at Best By Selling. Okay, okay, wait wait

wait when did you start being a sales rep? So I started that when I was eighteen. Okay, so your father is now deceased, and are you doing it for the family or for your own money or for college? It was for more so just a family and kind of my own like spending money. Okay, so how do you become a sales rep for HP? One of my cousins was doing that and then it was like, hey, like you know and the So I started at sixteen,

I started working in the movie theaters. So I was cleaning theaters at okay, So your father is still alive, so money isn't you know, you're not up for class, but money you you want to you want to work or your family says you gotta work. They were like, you have to work, you have to start a start. So at sixteen, I started working at the movie theaters. And you said your job was cleaning up. Yes, I

was an husher. So I was cleaning movie theater, cleaning the popcorn and all that stuff, and occasionally would find something cool in the theater. Um like what it's like someone dropped something and it was but you wouldn't turn it into lost if I would turn if it was like a wall and or something like that would turn it in. But sometimes you find cool stuff. Now I'm like, what if watch I don't even know. I can't even say okay, you know, but you can't okay, and are

you enjoying doing that job? No, no, I mean it was. It wasn't cool at all because I would see all the kids you know from school at that time, my high school coming in watching and I'm the one cleaning the theater. But it was a job. I don't really care whatever, How wowing do you do that for? I did that for about a year and a half or two years, and then when I turned eighteen, um my cousin linked me up with Hewlett Packard and the job

was what So, it's basically just as sales repference. I would go to different Best Buy stores as a rep for Hewlett Packard and then uh just sit in the computer aisle and convinced people why they should buy Hewlett Packard over Okay, so your job was to be like the in house guy had Best Buy and say Elett Packard as opposed to the ass or any of a competitor. And did you get paid a flat salary or commission? I think I made like eighteen. That's bad, wasn't No,

That's how it wasn't bad? So I was like, all right, cool? And then how did you become such a big expert that you could do that job? Uh? I wasn't they just give you tons of training and you know, you take all these courses online like they have these uh like their online universities that you that they give you for HP through their platforms that you learn about new product,

product launches and stuff like that. And then, to be honest, it's not it's not hard to convince someone when it's like when you go to a storm like what should I buy or what should I eat here? And the person tells you something and you're like, okay, like I believe I'm gonna buy that. It's the same thing with the computer. Everyone's like I don't know what to get and you know, like, well you should get this because this, and then but you you got a three year customer.

But how hard was it to get that job? Was it too hard? I mean, okay, so you did that for how long? I did that for two years? Um? And then that's when I when I turned twenty one, and and on the side, I was doing like the DJing stuff. Okay, so you were working two days a week doing that on the weekend. Okay, so now the DJ thing is happening, you're still doing the HP thing. And then what happens and then I quit it once the bar started a kind of picking up. I quit

the HP thing and your mother says what. Um. She was just like what are you doing? Like why are you djaying? Like it was? But I was like, you know, I'm in college, Like let me just I'll figure it out. Um. So then I was doing the HP thing and then uh deejaying, and then from there, um, the DJ thing was going so well that I was like, okay, I need to scale this up. And there was a venue down the street from my house that was like a

House of Blues type venue. So I struck a deal with them of like, hey, I'm going to bring in real talent and create uh you know, in a night here every month. We'll do a show every month with real dj is, like well known DJs and stuff like that. Um. So they were cool with it. I did that, okay, but before you get there, you're in the bar. That's

a cash business. Ever have any dangerous situations. Yeah, So that ended because my my my six months at the bar ended because somebody, uh somebody pulled out a gun inside the bar at one of my nights and then

somebody got stabbed. Then the parking lot there's a big brawl and someone pulled out a gun inside and then people got stabbed outside, and then yeah, it ruined my business on that end, so then I had to Okay, but before you how did it end the cops actually interview you or no, No, it was people were just scared to come now because that that dive bar. Like I said, it was on bar, it's in the hood almost So then once that happened, everyone was like, well,

I don't know if I'm gonna go there anymore. Okay, So it wasn't It wasn't the bar owner, it was the customers and we're done. So how many dead nights did you have before you realize this is done? Well, I never lost money because I owned the equipment, you know, I just bring my equipment and play and that was it. So you know, if if the bar didn't do what it did, I still walked out with money, which at that time was cash and was good and helped help pay the bill. Okay, So now you go to this

new club. Do you have relationships with name talent at that point? So I was you're completely yeah, So I was just reaching out to agents and getting raped by like getting the note you know. I remember there was just one booking I did and it was a group of four DJ's and um, they ended up charging me the regular price of the group for the full group, but they sent me the one guy that was the ghost producer. So nobody even knew who the guy was. And he it was his first show ever djaying and

I had paid like five grand for this guy. And I get him and he's just like, yeah, I've never really DJ. And I'm like, well, what do you do? And he's like why produce all the music for the group? And I'm like damn, Like what am I gonna do with this guy? So I'm like sitting there nervous, like dude, this guy doesn't even know how to DJ, like you know whatever. Um, But yeah, you know, I I learned the hard way of this. Like, okay, so you have that situation, did you call the agent and say I

want my money back? I called the agent, was just like you know, and he's like no, I assure you he knows what he's doing, like he it's fine, like this this will be all good. Um, And you know, I still made money on the show and was just like whatever. So it wasn't like the worst, but you know scary, Okay, So you convince this guy to do it once a month the bar, the guy who owns the club, and you start, how long do you do

that for? Um only like it was it was like six months, six another six months or so, and it was always successful. Yeah, it was good until until I partnered with the guy saw what I was doing. The owner of the club, so he's like, hey, let's partner on the next event. Let's up the up the budget and get a bigger name. What was the capacity, like, yeah, so it wasn't small. And he's like, you know, I have a friend that's he books talent for all these

night clubs in Orange County. He's going to give us a deal on a DJ UM and let's book him. And I was like, okay, fine, So we went haves on this DJ and the guy got bent over backwards on the rate he got this guy for. The guy's rate is like six grand and we ended up paying twenty grand for this guy whoa Yeah, so we lost on that show and I was just like, you know what,

I don't want to do this anymore. But through all that, UM one of my one of my close friends, he was like an avid photographer and he had a he had a a blog. UM. It was called us dub Steps, so he did like, um, he was blogging about depths and blogs were powerful at that time, so he was helping me promote these shows UM. And I had told him like, hey, um, you know you're helping promote the show and it does well, I'll buy you the new camera that you want, UM, so you can go and

shoot photos. And I did that and then coincidentally, during this time, he had gotten an offer to go on the road as a full time photographer for a well known DJ named Borger UM. And then that's kind of how I got my chops and meeting. I met Borger him and I connected became really close um, and that was kind of all I needed to really like, you know, I got in with him and you know, we became close.

And then he was like, you know, he was with red Light at he's still with red Light, but his managers are red Light convinced him to start a management company. So he did that and he was like, you know, do you wanna start managing artists with me? And I was like okay, yeah. I was like, you know, I'm almost gonna graduate, and I'm like, prior to this, you're just hanging with him, going going to shows, being his butt exactly, So just being friends with him, and you know,

that was it. And then when uh, he kind of saw like my work ethic and everything I was doing and hustling, and he was just like, yo, you know if you want to manage artists with me, like you know, we should do that. Like he had a label, UM, and was just like, you know, there's a couple of guys, you know, independent young guys that are releasing, they're not really well known, and like, maybe you can just start managing some of these guys, UM, And we did, and I was like cool, So I agreed to it. UM

signed this kid named Sick Dope. It was my first artist with him, UM, and uh yeah that was kind of how we started started it And then was it immediately successful? No? No, no, no no, So so I signed him. UM. You know, I was making a couple hundred bucks a month off of commissions and I had to split it with Borgo every time. So you were living on what I was. I was losing money, but what were you living on? I was? I wasn't I had I had a bunch of money saved from the

bar and stuff like that. Um, and that was kind of what I was living on. And then I would get a couple hundred bucks here and there every month from the management stuff, but I didn't really care. Um, we were living at home. I was living at home. And then I was like I was buying cars on Craigslist and selling them, flipping them, like tending the windows and then reselling them and like just doing all kinds

of different stuff like that. UM. And uh yeah, So then you know, we did that for about a year together. We worked together, and then about a year and I realized that, like you know, it was kind of a conflict of interest for an artist off an artist management company because none of my guys could ever grow past past him. UM. So it was then that you know, I had to make the decisions either stay here or go on my own. UM. And that was kind of it.

So you know, we had the convone. You know, he wished me the best, and you know I started managing on my own. UM. And then at that time, then everyone started approaching me. Um. You know, red light three zero teamwork, Okay, but you're coming with no acts. I had so at that time in the year that we were doing it together, I had three acts and he

let you walk with those. And those three acts were as a kid name sicked Dope and this kid named Jaws and other kid named dot Com and what was the status of their careers when you Jaws had just so coincidentally, Jaws had just released a song that was starting to get a lot of support in the DJ world. And a close friend of mine is a talent buyer forer Insomniac. He was a burning Man and I had

set him the song. So he was driving around in his golf car at burning Man playing this song and Diplo stopped him and Dipplo was like, yo, man, like I keep hearing the song. Where who is this? And he's like, this is a new kid, Jaws. So then the next day he my buddy called me. He's like, yo, you won't believe it. But Dipplo asked for the Jaws record. I was like okay, And then I get an email the next day from Diplo like, yo, man, that song is huge. I want to sign it to Matt Decent.

So then from there, you know, okay, let's go back. How do think I end up playing it in his golf cart. He had a golf car and he he was just playing music in the golf car. Okay, how hard did you work that guy? Not at I didn't work him at all. He's just a friend of mine. Send it was Honestly, it was the most random thing ever. So Diplo wants to sign the act to Matt Decent.

So Dipplo wants to sign uh Jaws, and we do it um, and then Diplo puts a lot of like, uh, he gives Jaws a big co sign and starts talking and Jaws is like one of the most talented producers kids, is a beast, and uh, Diplo like starts putting them on and just kind of talking about him in interviews and you know, we're working together with him on different tracks, and you know he helped a lot in the in the beginning of my career of just like with Jaws.

And then once Jaws kind of blew up in the dance world, Um, they opened the door for me and um, you know, having that leverage and starting to build my career. Stand By, we'll take a short break and get right back to this conversation with Motional Easy, manager of Marshmallow. You're listening to the Bob Left Sets podcast. Each week I interview a new guest and we dive into their backgrounds, current events, and everything in between. If you like the podcast, subscribe,

rate and review the show. Check out our earlier episodes. You can hear them all on tune in, Apple Podcast or your podcast player of choice. Let's continue the conversation with Motional Easy, manager of marsh Mama. Okay, so you had these three acts and suddenly all these management companies were interested in making a deal with you. So how did you decide to go to red Light. I looked at I looked at who was there? Um, And you know at the time, I was twenty three, and there

was no other young managers I read Light. Everyone else was old older. UM. So for me, it was just like I was unsure what was going to happen with my career and as a whole. And I was like, you know what, like I see all these other guys, and all these other guys are worried about just the bottom line of like what like before anything, They're like, what's your commissions? What are you making? What is this?

What is this? And like red Light was the only place where and borg Or is managed by Red Light, so his manager see souther White and Richard Bishop. At the time, we're kind of like, hey, you know, we want you to come in with us, um. And you know, I had worked with them for about a year and was just like, you know what, Like I feel like here I have the most job security in a sense, being you know, twenty three and being in the trenches all the time. These guys are not in the clubs

the same way I am all the time. So I was just like, you know, fuck it, like I'm gonna take the chance to go here. Um. Okay, so Jaws is blowing up with diplow and continue the narrative. Yes, So at that point, um, I I had just started this idea called Marshmallow UM and I just joined Red Light. And when I had played this music to borg Or, this Marshmallow project, and I told him about before, I spip, okay,

we have but a little bit. There was a DJ involved, but no one knew who it was, uh correct, Yeah, So to to go with a little bit slower, how you come up with the idea of marshmallow um without going into too much detail because it's still secret. Okay, go up to the line and with secret, although a lot of information has now come out, its identity is

come out definitely. Um No, it was just someone I was working with started making a different style of music and we knew it would never work with like the dance kids are so close minded and sense of like if they like you for making one style of music, the second makes something else, they're like, you sold out, Like we don't want to listen to anymore. You sold out. So for us it was like, you know, we knew that this style, Um, there had to be somebody new

with it. It couldn't be attached to any other identity besides something new and fresh. Um. So we came up with the idea of how successful was this DJ before you came up with a marshmallow concept? Um, not very successful. It was just it was just a you know, a normal two to three thousand dollars the show kind of so nothing crazy. Um. And then so you want to have another identity so you're not rejected by his choral

audience and whose ideas that yours are his? It was it was mine to come up with somebody new and then and who came up with the name Marshmallow. We both did collectively. We we kind of he was pitching me like he was sending me a song a day and it was this new style that was super mellow and the music was mellow melodic, and you know, I was just like, yo, how are you making all this? And he's just I don't know, it's just coming to me like it's easy. And you know, in one week

he sent me like six different songs. So I was like, okay, we have to come up with a new name. Um. So we thought about it and I was like, okay, what about marshmallow. The music super mellow um. And you know, I remember he was at dinner with his family and he told us his family like you know, Moe wants to call it marshmallow, and they're like, d J Marshmallow, Like that's so stupid way and I was like, dude, like we have nothing to lose, like let's let's come

up with the logo and see. So I sat there and to what we was inspired by dead Mouse zero? Yeah, to be honest, there was no Dead Mouse was not an inspiration at all. I think people put the helmet correlation as like, you know, but there's been daft punk. There's been people before Dead Mouse that had helmets that still have helmets, Like, I think it's just a costome

at the end of the day. Um, but the reasons why we did that was just you know, I guess I'll get into that later, but um, you know, from there, we came up with the logo. I sent him the logo. He liked it and gave me his blessing and was like, okay, cool, let's just do it. So we started okay, wait, wait he sent you all these mixes. Do you immediately see dollar signs? No? No, not at all. You are you just saying this is a client and I'm just gonna

do something different. Or do you say, wow, this, I'm gonna work this hard because I know this is the new thing. No, I mean I just was like, Yo, this is different, Like this is something that's not I think in dance music, especially like when you're able to create a sound and you get you get kind of titled with that sound. So when you when people are like, oh, that sounds like this person because that's his style, you know what I mean? If like that's when you're the

most successful, you know what I mean? In this style nobody had really pioneered this sound that he was doing. So we were like, okay, like, let's just you know, I didn't see dollar signs at all. I was like, Yo, I'm just gonna put this out and let's just see what it does. So and you put it out how so through SoundCloud. So we put out a song a day on SoundCloud every day for free download. UM. And you know, in one you could put song five songs out and what people were just the first song dropped,

people are like, Okay, this is cool. And at the time I was, you know, reposting it through my network of artists that I had UM. And then we put out another song, another song, and that people kind of were catching on, like yo, what is this? Like who is this marshmallow guy? You know, the there was no photo, there was nothing, It was just a logo. UM. So

people were just kind of wondering what it was. And then from there, um about two months in two or three months in, I get a call from Scrillics UM and Scrillics is like, yo, man, you know I had no Scrillics through Jaws like he was. He started messing with Jaws too, And UM, we'd built a relationship and he's like, yo, I need to know who Marshmallow is. He's like, I can't stop listening to this music and

I'm like, I can't tell you. It was like it's a secret, and he's like no, like you know, you gotta tell me, Like I'm going through some stuff right now, and all I'm listening to you like I really need to connect with with him. So I told them, um, and then you know I connected Mellow and Scrillics and Mellow. At the time, it never met Scrillics, like Scrills was an idol to him, and you know, he was just

a small town DJ. So then um, from there, Um, one day he could come to l A and I was like, yo, you need to hit up Scrillics now, like you need to connect with them. And he's like, no way, I'm not calling Scrillics. Like there's no way. So I was like, okay, I stopped a car in the middle of the road and I said, yo, I'm not moving until you call Scrillic. So um, He's like fine, whatever, like wall, she's not gonna answer. He calls Scrillics and

a woman picks up. A woman picks up and it's like, you know, Hello, Hey, Marshmallow, Like, good to talk to you. You know, Scrillic says so much about you, and he

like whispers to me. He's like, dude, it's Katie Kirk and I'm like, what, I didn't know who Katie Kirk was that, you know, I was like okay, Like um okay, and then uh so he goes into convo with her and she's like, you know, maybe one day I'm gonna be interviewing you, and you know, Scrilics was like Sonny was like, you know, Marshmallow, he's a really talented kid. He's the next generation all this stuff, like, you know,

really you speaking highly about him. And he gets off the phone and he's like, dude, he was an interview and he told me he's gonna call me later. I was like, okay, Cozy, do you think that's gonna get posted? And I was like no, no way, Like there's no

way they're gonna put that in an interview. A week later, we wake up to the front page of Yahoo News and Katie Kirk's interview with Scrillics is in there, and it's a video interview and in the video interview, um scrillis his phone rings in the interview and it said and it says, uh, Chris Marshmallow on the phone. And at this time we had created this buzz through you know, the Reddit, reddit sphere and online where nobody knew who Marshmallow was and everyone was trying to figure it out.

So when this post said this was the first clue anybody ever got to his identity, They're like, oh, his name is Chris. And then you know, everything just started going from there. But you know, it was probably it caught so much attention from everybody with the whole Katie Kirk thing, and then from there, um, the music just started connecting. Uh. We did a couple of big remixes and then um, you know, then we hadn't we hadn't done a show for the first year. How did you

get the remixes? It's like we did a remixes of the Scirlington Justin Bieber song where are You Now? Um, that was a really big remix for us. Justin weep started playing in his tour um and then from there we did like a big remix Adele's Hello's unofficial remix. But the remix got almost like four fifty thousand downloads um and it was just it was just hosted on our We had a there's a platform called Hive, so

we're hosting it through our Hive channel. Um, and then from there just kind of connected and then, um, you know I wasn't letting him tour, so that for the first week, I didn't want it to come into the market at a low price, you know, so I didn't want to build from a two thousand dollar active ten thousand to fifteen thousand, so um, you know, we we turned down every single offer. And he's living on what he's living off of what he had from his prior career.

But he didn't he doesn't live a lavish He didn't live a lavish life. So I was just a normal kid. So he was fine without going on the road for a year. Yeah, he was cool with it. He was cool with it because he had his other project to offset his expenses. And you know, for for us too,

was like, you know, let's do this right. So it wasn't until we we waited a year and then we got a big festival offer, um, like a thirty dollar offer to play our first show, and we're like, okay, cool, we got the billing we needed on the festival, so we could come into the marketing which festival was it? It was a hard, hard day of the dead. So we were able to bypass, you know, a lot of DJs by being built over them. You know, in in the DJ world it means a lot. Billing. Billing is

a huge thing. So we were able to come in with like you know, top tier billing, a big set time. And then from there, you know, we launched our first tour and it was a hard ticket tour. We did like you know, six to sid cap venues and we sold that out immediately. What are the dates worth to you? What do you mean? Well, how much did you get paid on? Oh so I got not you as a manager,

but the marchal so we got. We So what I did was I wanted the lower ticket prices on all the shows, which so they were what so there of fees were like between like five and seven thousand for those shows based off the ticket scale and there are how many dates in those markets? There was? There was I think the tour was like twelve shows. Okay, so small, it was small, It was small, but it was all the major markets. Um, so we hid in everything blew

out right away. So there was this huge buzz of like, Yo, Marshmalla was just sold out his whole tour immediately right on on sale. So through that, um, you know, in the music and everything, we kept going and you know, we got we caught a lot of breaks just with publicity and all kinds of stuff like that. And then you give us an example or people just trying to figure out who Marshmallow was. So every day there was an article being posted of like Martin Garrick's marshmallow, TSO's marshmallow,

this person's marshmallow this, and it's like every day. It was just a new a new theory. Um that kept us in the in the bloggestphere every single day. UM. And with that, we were just releasing music consistently. UM. And then it wasn't until about two or two years in that I found tune Corps. And we didn't at this time all of our music was on SoundCloud. We didn't have any music, so you were unaware of tune Corps. Yeah,

I was unaware of it. And then someone was like, yo, you should check out tune core because we you know, we didn't want to sign. For those who don't know, tone core is a service where for a very small annual fee they place your music on all the streaming and download services. Yeah, it's like sixty dollars for five years. So I found this and was like, okay, let's rebundle all this music that we put out a year and a half ago or two years ago and put it out as a new album and get it up on

Apple and Spotify on all these only other DSPs. And we did that. Um, what kind of reaction did? Your album went number one and the songs were all still available as a free down on our on our SoundCloud. So we were like, what the heck? And then we just kept putting out new music, new music, and then um, you know, then I go, so, at this point in time, are the major labels knocking on your door? Not really, No,

it wasn't. They were. We got interests of like doing remixes and stuff like that for majors, but nobody was really knocking on the door. Um. It wasn't until about uh last year that we got the majors interested. Okay, so you're on all these digital services, You're making any money on that? Um? Initially no, but it was you know, but once I you know, was able to build a relationship with the you know, the DSPs, you know, personally

with the guys that were important to us in a sense. Um, you know, we got the same placements as you know, major artists were getting in. You know it really I think for for them, like we we brought everybody to the table from the beginning. You know, so all the guys at Apple, at Spotify, everybody knew about Marshmallow as it was being growing. Okay, but you know at that point in time, while it's growing, your leverage is limited. How do you establish those relationships with Spotify and Apple?

I think everyone was just seeing that how much attention was on Marshmallow from the big names. So the door was open. Yeah, So the door opened, and from there it was just like I think for them, you know, we got them connected so early that they felt vested in this project and they got behind it. Um. So then you know, then once the label started coming in, and I was getting the pitch of like, you've done a great job so far, but now watch what we

can do and we'll elevate the brand. And I'm like, yoh man, like I get the same placements that you do, you know, And and he's not a radio artist. We're not looking for radio at this time, like, you know, we're building our course still, you know, we're building a founding. So labels come to you, you're not going to the labels, and and you say no to all of them. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't until you know, we we got a big offer, a multimillion dollar offer, where we're like, man,

like this this could be cool. Um. But then you know, sitting down with the labels and hearing what their thoughts were about Marshmallow, and it was just like, Okay, these people don't really even know what this is. It's just like one of those things where they're just trying to offer us money in case it blows up and they have it on their rosters. So I was like, you know what, like forget like this, like let's pass. And we passed on all the deals and um, that usually

makes him hungrier, though it does. And now, I mean the deal we got offer, you know two weeks ago, had of offer that's I would think like ten x of what the deal was, you know, nine months ago, ten months ago. Because we had to really prove ourselves. Everyone thought it was a gimmick. Everyone's like, oh, it's a dead dead mouse knockoff. He doesn't make music, it's a but you know he's one of them. Okay, so

let's go back. First year, you're off the road. Then you do twelve dates and you go with tune courts who are on all the DSPs. What's the step after that? And then festivals going into the festival world and all the festivals are eager to have them. Yeah, everyone was eager to have How many uh festivals did he play that next year? A lot? We did. We did a lot of big festivals. How much production did you bring? None? None?

So the helmet and that was it. Yeah, the helmet and in the artists and the USB stick and that's it. So um, that was it. But then we used we use those festivals as kind of our entry point into doing bigger, hard ticket shows. So we come into the market, do a big festival, get a big look, and then we we launched our first kind of big hard tickets tour. So then the agent is who the agent is Steve Gordon at Circle Talent. So he's got a him and

his partner, Kevin Gimble. They have a smaller boutique agency, but they have a lot of dance acts um. So you know, we had had like a couple of clients with him prior to that, so we had kind of built this whole thing together. Um. So then it was then that we we're like, you know, let's use the momentum and go into a bigger rooms. Okay, so how

big were the rooms now? So then we in November of two thousands sixteen, we did h three nights at the shrine, so we sold fifteen thousand tickets and about we did fifteen thousand and about an hour and a half. Just to be clear, since that's so many tickets, how does the word get out? How do you sell those fifteen thousands? Um? Or well, how long did it take you to sell? How many dates did you put up?

At first? So we put out so we rolled out everything. Um, we rolled out everything, and then the on sale for l A was on its own dates. So the first the first shrine blew out immediately, then we went up with the second one that blew out after like thirty minutes, and then the third one went up and then that blew out after like an hour. So really there was no promotion involved the audience, know the audience you we posted on our social media like, hey, tickets are going up.

It blew out. Then we did the Bill Graham in San Francisco. We did eight thousand tickets and um, I think it was less than like thirty seconds that blew out immediately Red Rocks blew out in a couple of hours. Um. So we did ten thousand there, um and then we did two nights at Echo Stage and d C we did in Montreal, we did three New city gases, which was twelve thousand tickets, which was their venue record for

an artist doing that many. Um. So right off the bat, you know we did you know, tend to or eight to twelve thousand tickets in every major market. How much production bringing so we so at that time, yeah, we brought in um like one semi truck. We had just created a rig um that you know, it was just a big led wall with some stuff here and there. Um a lot of like special effects like you know,

fireworks and stuff like that, but nothing nothing crazy. Because you know, our mentality was like, this is our first kind of big tour. If we go also the walls,

now what do we do the next tour? So we were like, let's you know, scale it back because we know the kids want to come and watch us, So like, let's keep this more about Marshmallow than production and stuff like that, because you know, there's a lot of acts now that their entire career revolves around their production where it's like, you know, they have to bring you know, a million two million dollar rig to to make up for their cheesiness. So it's like, you know, we don't

need to do that. Okay, So it's November of that you start this big tour and that plays for how long? Um, Like our tour, like the traditional dance tours aren't like a traditional artist tour, they're more like flying in dates. We fly in, we do the major markets throughout a time span. So like that tour was within two months.

But it was like, you know there's festivals mixed in, there's you know, so we had our days for these hard ticket shows, um, but they were we would just fly into them, the production would be there, We've set it up with the promoter, and then it will be done. Okay, so we go into what's the next event? Was this? So this last last year was all it was global. It was like, how do we make sure that this

momentum and imprint carries onto a global level. So we spent almost two months in Europe, a lot of time and ages. These are festival festivals and a couple bigger heart ticket shows, but mainly festivals, um. You know, so it was it was big on Europe doing a run there. Um we did, like we sold out the Brixton Academy in London on the UK um, and then just doing a bunch of festivals um. And then that was kind

of it. And then this year is when we launched. Well, well before you get to this year, suddenly he's involved with literally top tier talent. How does that come together? People just started talking about him people. Everyone was kind of like, you know, we were getting him into the studio with people, um, and people were just meeting him, you know. We like through just the hype, people were intrigued by his brain. You're not working at your phone is ringing? Are you working? I mean I was working

it for sure. I was working trying to get him in the studio with people. But it wasn't until you know, we just had a lot of big like Coachella was a big moment for us. We did Coachell last year. UM, we headlined the Saharitan closed it out and you know, the tent was rammed from front to back, and you know, we brought throughout the process of the project. We've always brought special guests with us everywhere, So what's the thinking there. So it was always about, like, you know, connecting, It

was it was two fold. It was, you know, for us, getting Marshmallow connected with these other artists and exposing him to their fan base. Because again, for Marshmallow, it's like, you know, we need people to see him one time and they'll never forget who he is. You know, it's not a traditional DJ where you know, it could be you know, Calvin Harris could walk in here and nobody might recognize him. But with him, it's like, you know, it's a brand, it's a it's a character that we

need people to see one time. So for us, it was like, you know, let's bring in people that matter in these different you know, if we went to Atlanta, we brought Germaine Dupriat. We brought Little Yaddi out in Atlanta, we brought walk a flock out in Atlanta. Um, you go to Detroit, we brought out D twelve in Detroit, you know, and their them, you know, Detroit in Detroit D twelve is like you know when they were with

eminem like that was those are the hometown heroes. Okay, how do you literally make that happen just by hitting them up? You know, I would we would go on Twitter, d m them or I would you know, find a way to get intro to the manager and be like, hey, look like Marshmall has got I would explain to them like this, like Marshall's gotta sold out show. There's five

thousand kids that are dance fans. It's not a traditional show, like we don't we're not offering money, like, but if you want to come for you know, a one song, come, you know, and it's a whole new demographic. You're exposing the artists too. And it would be one of their songs. It would be one of their songs. And people were always like, you know, if they if they realized kind of what it was, and um, you know, people had heard about Marshmallow, they were like, okay, cool, let's do it.

So then we would get these people to come out, and you know, it created a moment for us to you know what I mean. It was a cool moment um and at that time we had racked up like three million followers on Instagram and Facebook. It was at a couple of millions, So we had a social reach that over. You know, I saw that, like, Okay, you know that's cool. Okay, So let's go back to how you end up working with Selena Gomez at all? Yeah? So what so during Coachella, Um, you know, Marshmallo become

friends with who was the special guest of Coachella. So the first weekend we brought out I forget what weekend we we brought out asap for we brought out Yogatti, we brought out Travis Barker, um O Cirius, um, we brought out Andrew Watt, and then I'm sorry, I think who else we brought up? I think I think that

was it. I think we brought Okay at this point in time, since Marshmallow has his own sound, which is not as aggressive as other people's or his previous sound, and even though it's three years many people might say it's overnight. Is there any backlash against him in the scene, tons of backlash. Every DJ is like, yo, this is a gimmick, this is stupid, Like this guy puts a buck on his head, and all of a sudden, this it's it's it's not good music. The music sucks all

this ship. So we we've heard it from every angle. Well, how do you cope with that? To be honest, you do. I mean, it doesn't bother us, you know what I mean, Like you know, for for us, it's turned all of our lives around, you know. And and and none of the guests special guests said no, I'm not gonna play with you because of the backlash. No, not at all. I mean, because the backlash is all whispers. You know, nobody, nobody, nobody says it to us in person. Nobody says it,

you know, no one's like vocal about it. But you know, as we hear it from like, you know, other people in the industry. Oh, this DJ was talking it saying like marshmallows cheesy, or this person is this or like you know, we'd walk into a you know, a festival and walk by the trailer of another DJ, and you know they wouldn't acknowledge us or like you know, so it's I mean, it's just it's it's like any other industry. Okay. But since he's keeping his identity secret when he goes

to the coach. He's got to wear the damn helmet of all time. Yeah, so its it sucks for him. And you know he always was like, you know, I can never connect with like it was. It was what sucks was when he met artists outside of the dance world. So he met like a rapper or somebody, and he would have to talk to him in costume, and then he would, you know, when he would not be in costume and to go up to that person and the person like, yo, who then are you. We're gonna pause

for a moment. We'll be right back with my conversation with Motional Easy, manager of Marshmallow. Thanks for listening to the Bob Left That's podcast. If you want to see videos and photos of Motional Easy, Tony Hawk or any of my guests here in the tune In studios in Venice, go to at tune In on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and now more with Motional Easy, manager of Marshmallow. So

you played Coachella, you say this is a turning point. Yeah, Coachello was a big moment for us because you know, we were going up against Kendrick. Uh, you know, we didn't know what it was, what was gonna happen. We're like, oh man, we're gonna get killed. It's Kendrick Um. But you know, the tent was rammed um and uh it was. It was a big moment for us because so many people had were watching that that set, and people had come and heard about it, and uh one one of them.

We wanted to create a moment at the things, so we had a drum off between Marshmallow challenge Travis Barker to a drum off. Is Marshall of a drummer. He knows how to drum, but he's not Travis Barker, it means. But we did this thing where and it was on the live stream where we brought Travis out and out of nowhere. Travis rises on a riser and then Marshmallow rises and then they challenge each other to a drum off, and it was like a moment that you know, Billboard

and everybody's writing about. You know, one of the biggest moments of Coach Hell was a drum off. Um. We tried bringing Nickel back out, you know, that was the moment I wanted, was bringing Nickel back out, but they they were recording their album the otherwise they would have done it. Yeah. We offered to get him a jet to come, and they're like, we already have our own jet, but we can't come because we're busy with the album. Um. I thought that would have been a dope moment to

absolutely their mistake. Okay, So Coachella ends and then all of a sudden there's a buzz and people are making offers. Yeah. So the people are making offers. Um. And we had gotten the studio with a couple of big writers Andrew his crew. We had a couple of records that we had done together. Um, and we were just shopping for top lines or for upstar features and Demi Lovato was like, how you know she hopped on one song and then

how did she how did she find it? So I had sent it to because Monty, so every every label that comes to the table. I was like, look like if we're gonna talk, like show me what you're gonna do, you know what I mean? Like, you know, we've we don't need your help developing the artist because at this point the artist is big. Just like, show me what you're gonna do that you're saying you know? So, Um, we sent the music out to some people and you know, I sent it to Monty and you know that's mining

Lit Minute Republic. So Monty was like, you know, let's let's see who we can get on this. And he had sent it to David Massey and then they sent it to Demi and then I connected with Phil, Demi's manager, and was like, here's this record, and Demi loved it and she hopped on it, and then um, you know the Selena thing kind of the same thing. Uh. Andrew Watt, one of the writers on the Selena record, had a

close ration with Selena Um. John j and I had met a bunch of times and he was like, you know, I want to do something with Marshmallow, and you know, he had heard the record and was like, let's let's put Selena on this. I'm like, a cool, let's do that. And then kalid Um Marshmallow had brought Kalide to our Coachella house, so he's crashed on our couch for like four days during Coachella. He was coming out to perform with another artist, but he stayed with us and they

were supposed to get in the studio. They never did, and they had just met through Twitter. So he came with us, UM, and nothing ever came up, but they just became friends and I was it. And then two months later, UM, Khalid was here in town and you know, Marshmall hit him up and I was like, hey man, let's you want to go in the studio. I'm in the studio. Kalid's like, all right, I'll stop by. Stops by,

and within four hours they make the song Silence. It's just them two in the room and you know, they make the song Silence and UM. When when all of us heard that, we were like, this song is gonna be huge. UM. So we reached out to our c A like, you know, we want to put this out as soon as we can UM, and that was right as Khalid was blowing up to UM. We put the song out. The song now has I think almost like

eight hundred million streams collectively through all the platforms. UM. It was like, you know, top ten on Spotify for a couple of months. Big song. UM. And uh you know, from there and then we went to Selena and then now we just dropped a record, uh, the Friends record with Anne Marie. And then tomorrow we have a single with with with Chris with Logic. So Chris and I've been working together on the logic correct. So Chris Ruin,

we're doing this logic and Marshmallow single. It's Logics next single. Um really dope song. Um okay, so it's twenty eighteen. What's next? What's the next step? So for us is you know after I left that the dinner that you and I had at Jake's house with uh, that's how I met MO. We had a couple of months back. Yeah, we had dinner with Jake Oudell and it was us and manager Jeff who manages Logan Paul. And that was

before the crisis. Yeah. Yeah, So but you know I sat there listening to Jeff talk and it it was just like I was, you know, I was fascinated in a sense of like, you know, it's crazy this the impact that Logan's had on this is this is Logan Ball the YouTube star. Yeah. So you know, listening to their concepts and listening to you know, some of the stuff he said. You know, one thing resonated when he was like, if they're not watching you, they're watching somebody else. And

I was like, okay, this makes sense. So um, you know, when I got back home that night, I emailed my entire team and was like, hey, guys, first thing in the morning, how many people are on your team? Um? I have five five people that work with me, and what are the other five do? So three of them our day to days, and I have one guy who's a social media guy. He kind of runs some of the other artists social media. And then uh, the other one's my assistant. Okay, so you get home and email

your team. I'm like, hey, you know, in the morning, we have to have a talk about content strategy creating content because at the time we had Marshall had like, you know, four million YouTube followers, four or five million, and it was coming from the music videos, and we were uploading a music video maybe once every month or two months, and there was not a consistent feed of of content. So I was just like, after listening to Jeff, I was like, okay, maybe like you know what blows

my mind is like their numbers. You know, it's like this logan is making probably million dollars a year creating content in his house or wherever, and it's like, you look, think about the biggest musicians to make that kind of money, and they're touring the world in a studio every single night, and you know, then Logan drops a song on on Spotify and it's you know, thirty million plays on Spotify and he's in New Music Friday and all this ship.

I'm like, damn, Like it's just it's crazy. Um but it really kind of like opened my eyes sit where I was like, you know what, maybe we should focus more on content. And with Marshmallow, we have a character, so it's like, how do we create content around this character? Um So it's from there that we started just coming out with different creative ideas to basically kind of have

a piece of content that goes out every day. Um So, within the last like we've been in the last like six months, we've been averaging nine hundred thousand news subscribers a month. How so you're putting out content every day, what how many views does that content end up having? So the channel is doing a hundred and seventy million views a month. Yeah, so the channel right now is averaging a hundred seventy million views of the cross all the video. What was it before before he employed this

new strategy? It was, I mean, it was it was growing. It was probably that I think we were at like a hundred million. We had one music video for a song he did two years ago called Alone. The video is like a video about it was kind of like him getting bullied as Marshmallow and he grows up and becomes his DJ and everybody starts to like him. All the kids that bullied him started being like trying to be cool with him. And we put this video out and the video has almost one point three billion views

in two years. And it's an independent record, no no radio support, nothing to the degree you can mention it to remember it. What is one point three billion views worth financially? Um, it's I don't even know it's it's probably a couple of million. But that okay, So he had he had this success previously. But now you're putting account content every day, right, So we started putting out content and we wanted to We wanted to create a deeper connection with our fans. So one of the first

concept that we created was cooking with Marshmallow. So we were like, okay, let's let's look at it this way. How can we create something that's going to reach a different audience, but how can we tie it into our fans? And then you know, also, let's we need something that

we can upload every week, you know. So we created this series Cooking with Marshmallow, where we look at we take our biggest demographic, right, so Indonesia's our biggest fan base, so we go and create Why is Indonesia your base? I have no clue. I have no clue. Indonesia is our biggest and we have like I think our second Indonesia Singapore, um, and then the US and then Canada and then Brazil is like our top five. And have you been to Indonesian Singapore? Yeah, we've done festivals in

both of them. Um. But I think it's because of the character. You know, the character really resonates with that side of the world. Um. But we you know, we did cultural dishes of you know, like we did Nazi gerrang, which is like a Indonesian rice. It's like a fried rice that you know. So we did this and then we did you know, for India, we did another dish. We did like chicken Tikam masala, and then for Brazil

we did another dish. And for so for every market that you know, or for every demographic that we had a you know, a big fan base, and we did a dish that would resonate with them culturally. And how long were the clips a minute and a half. So it's just he really doesn't know how to cook, does he know? So it's just like it's but it's like those those viral videos where it just shows the ingredients, how you put it in, make it boom, walk out with the dish, you know, very quick, short form, one

minute videos. But every time we were posting these, we were going to number one on all the cooking playlists. So for us, it was just like a new thing of Like, so if you type in right now on YouTube how to make Mongolian beef? Right, the biggest video on YouTube right now has like maybe three hund thousand views. Our video has a couple of millions. So right now we're at the top of how to make Mongolian beef?

And it's like, okay, cool. Every time someone searches like these dishes, our videos are popping up because our fan base is fueling the views. I get it, I get it. So that's one day a week. What are the other six? Yeah, So we tested this concept. Then we tested some animation as well into the like music videos are doing animated music videos, and now we're introducing three more concepts. So we're doing uh gaming with Marshmallow. So we're doing We're

getting like a bunch of the big gamers. You know, the gaming world is massive right now. So we're doing uh concepts with him, gaming with these guys and challenging them and stuff like that. We're doing life hacks with Marshmallow, um, which which is it's a series on how to live your life with a bucket on your head and the

hacks that you take to you know, do stuff. And then um, the other one that we're creating is, uh, we're doing one called Unboxing with Marshmallow because unboxing is like, so what's Marshmallow going to unbox different stuff that relates to his family, so like DJ equipment and gear and stuff like that. Um. But that one that that's one

that we're like really trying to figure out. But that's one of the concepts because we've been kind of looking at what are the biggest trends on YouTube and how to bring our brand into that in a in a way that's organic and doesn't seem to right to what degree are the people already subscribers and then finding this and what degree are you working at Um, what do you mean socials? Are you saying today's video on Instagram

and all this other stuff. Yeah, so every time we upload, um, one of these videos to the YouTube, we're posting it on the other socials and stuff like that and posting clips. But we're driving all the traffic back to the YouTube, right And so to degree you're knowledgeable, to degree you care, is any other DJ doing this? No, not on this level because right now we've racked up we're at almost eleven million subscribers, um, and it's average you know that nobody,

I don't. YouTube is like nobody's growth is as big as ours right now on DJ. And so YouTube notices this, and what will they do for you? They YouTube is now helping, you know, fund some of the content. What kind of budgets do you using? Is it most of this zero budget anyway? No? I mean because we're bringing in you know, um, a full on staff to our crew to film this and create the editing and all

that stuff. And if you watch the videos, you see there's like they're fun videos, sound effects and they're fun to watch. Where um, you know, there's some money that goes into that. So but YouTube will help fund it yeah, they Yeah, they put some money in. You know, is it what degree where they helped promote it? Um, that's like that's to be determined on their end, Like they'll

they'll they'll give us playlistening and stuff like that. Um. But you know, I also they have to stay within their lines of right right, I know that you know, they they'll give you the money, but they don't want to promote it. They say it's you know, contradiction in their ethos. But okay, so all this is happening, which is a mind blowing great, but what are the next

couple of steps? I think for us, it's just you know, we've, uh, we've kind of solidified ourselves in the music space as far as music with releases, and we've got a couple of big singles coming out still till the end of the year, we'll have a couple of big records. Um. But to be honest, it's just about really solidifying the brand as a whole. You know. We just we launched our tour a couple of months ago. So we're doing the l A Convention Center in March. Um tickets there.

We already did two nights at Bill Graham again. We're doing two nights at Red Rocks. Um, so we're going into another round of hard ticket stuff. Um. And then um, it's it's a lot of music this year. Okay, you're playing festivals. Yeah, we're playing a couple of big festivals. Um, he's you know, he's in Israel this weekend. He's in Israel and doing some you know, more global stuff. But um, this year we've kind of slowed down and we're more so focusing on music and just creating content and all

kinds of stuff. Okay, you know the rule of thumb as a manager, you never want to you never want to be a manager who wants it more than the act. So in this particular case, you have an act and everything's on his shoulders. To what degree does he wanted?

To what degree is he coping with this success? I mean, I think we've we've found a way to balance out what's on his shoulders, you know, his his he loves making music, and that's what we We try to alleviate as much stuff outside of you know, what we can on our end. So like we can't obviously I can't tour for him. He has to go on the road, but he loves going on the road. For him, I think, you know, it's been such an eye and opening experience,

you know, meeting all these people. Like for him, that's what he gets off to the most, is just like I don't think any of us sought the cultural impact and the global impact that Marshmalla would have has happened. You know, we never thought in a million years would be this big and have this kind of a footprint. UM. So for him, you know, he loves when he's home, he's in the studio or he's making music at home, and then um, if he's on the road, he's touring,

and he loves that. Um. And then everything else outside of that we try to do ourselves and alleviate that pressure on him. So how many other acts are managing at this point? I've got about seven other acts? And since Marshmallow blows up? What opportunities come to you and your management company forgetting Marshmallow? A lot? You know, from the clients that are now coming to the table to potentially sign and um, there's a lot of big acts that you know I've been fortunate to to turn down.

UM and then uh, just a lot of opportunities for all my artists. As a whole um. And then you know just the relationships we've been able to build with other you know, companies and managers and brands and stuff like that. So and are you if a big act came to you, would you make that deal? It depends, I mean for me again, like it's it's about none of my clients. I don't ever wake up to one of my clients and be like, oh God, like he's calling me, you know what I mean? Like I love

all my guys. We've come up together, so it's like almost like it's become a family. Um. And that's and that's the vibe I want to maintain, you know, I mean, none of my guys are hard to work with. Everyone is just like everyone's appreciative of where they're they're at and there's no ego. We're all very grounded. Um. So then when you throw in somebody that's not like that into the mix, it throws off that dynamic. And that's what I would never do too, because all my guys

work together like that. If they're not making music together and not playing a festival together, they're hanging out, going bowling together or doing stuff like that. Now, since you're so successful, does it pay to be with an organization with red Light, or does it pay to be independent? Because it used to be all managers were independent, and now so many managers are either with Live Nation or

with their Maverick or red Light. Certainly, even I don't know whether in terms of acts they have even have more acts. I think I think it depends on the person, you know. I mean, I think, um, you know, for me starting out, it was definitely helpful because you know, it gave me the like the infrastructure was something I didn't have to worry about. I had that back end if I need, you know, I knew I was getting my my paycheck, you know every two weeks. I could

live my life and focus on work, you know. I mean, and I think moving forward, you know, there's a lot of managers there that have you know, kids in a family, and they they're not trying to chase the dream in a sense, you know. I mean, They're they're intent with working and paying a cut to to the bigger man,

and you know, and that's it. Um. You know. So it works for some people, and then some people want to go to Live Nation and get a big check up front and live their life and invest in what they need to do to secure their future, and that's the way they look at it um, you know. But then there's other guys that you know, being an entrepreneurs what you know, what what drives them? And you know too, you can never at the enda you're working for other

people's companies, you know. So if you're one of those entrepreneurs, you're always going to be waiving somebody else's flag. Um And if you know, if that that's cool with you, then that's cool. And if it's not, then you know, you've gotta figure out what the right move is. This is Bob left Sets. I'm a writer and you can

read me at left sets dot com. If you're like listening to the innovators of the music gidustry, like today's guest Motional Easy, I'd like to invite you to attend my Music Media Summit in Santa Barbara the last weekend in April. I'd love for you to come and learn from the best of the business, like Troy Carter Spotify. If interested, go to Music Media Summit dot com for tickets and more information. I hope you'll join me. Let's

continue the conversation with Motional Easy, manager of marshmallow. Okay, so what's the status of electronic music you're deep in the world. Conventional wisdom is that it peaked five or six years ago. What do you think. I don't think it's peak. I think it's in a correctional phase. I think the consumption of music is so different now. I think with streaming, how people consume music is it is so it's the attention span is so short now, so

you know, you gotta as a whole. You know, on the electronic side, there's so much saturation with kids that want to be an artist, a deep producer, DJ, whatever. Then you have an excess of festivals. You know, there's a festival popping up every other week now, where uh, you know, kids would rather go pay a hundred bucks for a festival ticket and watch twenty acts versus coming to your hard ticket show and paying sixty seventy bucks and just watching you unless they're you know, a die

hard fan. And but the way people are, you know, finding music now is through you know, Apple Music and Spotify and these playlists. You know, And this is my opinion, I think we're here. Your opinion, they're they're not building a real connection with the fan with the artist, um, you know, because you're you know, you're you're connecting with the playlist now and you're listening to that playlist over and over and over. But how many times are you

discovering that artist on your own? Like you know, I found every one of my artists too SoundCloud. I was would go through SoundCloud to find an artist. I would follow their their career in a sense, and their releases and be like, wow, like I found this guy. I felt vested in this guy that I found and I've started following before anybody else did. And I would tell my friends like, yo, I found this guy named so and so you should listen to him or you know,

And that was how it worked. Now it's like I think everyone kind of listens to a playlist and it's like, you know, I'm guilty of you. I listened to you know, rap Caviare Cavier all the time because I'm like, Yo, this is the newest hip hop, it's the coolest hip hop, it's you know, and it's it's probably the best song of that artist right now, you know. So why don't

need to listen to anything else? Because year I can listen to twenty of the best songs right now that are in the in you know, in the hip hop world. Why am I gonna go elsewhere? You know? I mean, I'm not gonna go find the artists and be like okay, um, you know, unless unless that artists really stands out to me, you know. Um. And that's why I think, like, you know, there's artists that have billions of streams on Spotify and you know, on Apple, and they can't sell a single ticket,

you know, because people aren't really becoming real fans. They're they're only with you as as much as you know, the music is there in a sense. And then one, so let's assume you manage one of those acts. How do you make it so that they can sell tickets? You I think you have to do a good job of building a core audience first a brand. You have to build a brand that people connect to on the core level. So you have these fans that are gonna follow you through every footstep of the career. Um. And

I think that's the hard part today. Does that come before or after your first hit single? I think that comes way before, you know, I think because once you get to the commercial level, you know, we see it with I see with all my acts, the second they do anything that's remote commercial all of the day, one core kids are like you sold out. I don't want to listen to you anymore. I'm gonna go to the next kid that's coming up on the underground, you know.

And it's like, you look at these SoundCloud rappers, you know, you look at these guys that are amassing massive followings from from that level. You know, it's that SoundCloud level there creating you know, huge fan bases, and then you know then they're jumping up into the bigger level, and then you know it is kind of what it is. Yeah, but you say you want to establish going through the

threads here? How do you manage that as a manager where you know as soon as you have a hit, there's gonna be a backlash, You're gonna lose some coreal audience or do you have enough people still left to

make it work. I think it's making a hit that still resonates with your core, like you have to find Like, you know, if if you went and you're a rapper and then all of a sudden you went into a song with clenic comez, I think you're gonna piss off a lot of people, you know, But if you do a song that you know is a really good song and you know your core can't really complain about it in a sense, it's not something that's completely off of your ethos of your brand in a sense, like I think,

then you're okay, okay. But if we went on Spotify right now, look at the Spotify US Top fifty, the vast majority of those acts would be urban hip hop. So where does this leave electronic music? Uh, it's in a weird say. I mean, it's definitely a weird say. It's it's become electronic music become pop music today, you know.

I like, you look at the you know, the playlists for dance music and the streams are you know, streams a day for the biggest songs on the plat on the playlists where you look at the pop side and the urban side, it's millions of streams today. People aren't and I think I think dance is losing more fans and it's regenerating right now. So that's because the sound

has changed or the listening platforms has made that. So I think it's I think it's just it's been you know, I think urban music has just come back so strong finally, And I think, you know the culture that comes with urban I think I was reading your you know, your letter you wrote and so true about just there's culture with urban dance doesn't have a culture really, you know, pop pop is what it is. But um, but dance originally came from rave culture. They grew up hand in hand.

There was a live experience which still exists with it. Again. You got Electric Daisy Carnival. If you're not there, you have no idea what's going on, it's not might go to the pop show. It's Staples Center. But you think it's just long in the tooth that people are just so entranced by hip hop. I think so, I think I think people are just it's something new finally, you

know what I mean. Like hip hop for a while was just so stale and like there was nothing, and now you have this new wave of like you know, the little Oozies and the loads and all these you know, these guys that you know are creating a buzz and you know through social media and everything that people are attaching themselves to that, you know what I mean. So, you know, historically, prior to the Internet, every three years it was a new sound. I'm like Seattle killed the

air band sound and after that came pop, etcetera. Whereas one can say, in this century hip hop up has been wax in Wayne but been pretty dominant. So is that going to continue? I mean, I'm just asking your opinion because we don't have a crystal ball in terms of hip hop is so dominant now because I think about it, because all the other genres have bitched about new distribution platforms, not electronic. Electronic has at this moment

where it's merged with pop anyway. But the non pop, non urban sounds, they've bitched so much about SoundCloud and Spotify whatever, and they've been left out. So the question becomes when they, when their fans finally get on these platforms, do these new genres have a comeback or is it just forget it. I don't know the answer to that. I don't even know. I think, uh, I don't think urban's going anywhere, you know, I mean, I think it's it's really there's a movement going on with her right now,

you know what I mean. But in your particular case, Marshmallow was built outside the traditional thing. I mean, if you if you were to sign with a major label. What they would tell you is a couple of things. Besides the relationship with streaming services. They would say, we have related ship a terrestrial radio, and we have a relationship with television in your a particular case. Both of those are essentially prior to the recent working with Name

talent have been completely irrelevant to March Battle success. Okay, and I would assume there hasn't been that much. But mainstream press irrelevant too, Yeah, I mean, I think because the amount of organic press that's happened, like there's no kind of outlet that really we need, you know, I mean like it's always been like, you know, he doesn't do interviews to this day, he doesn't do interviews because we don't need it. So is this one of a

kind or is this the new paradigm? No, I mean I think, you know, I think there's a lot of anomally like it's it's an anomaly in a sense of how quickly and what it's done. But you know, I think there's you know, there's potential for other artists that pop up in the same well forgetting the fact that he's unique in terms of the sound and the look etcetera. With the target audience, which is basically under thirty five, if not younger than that, do the old media really

not matter to that audience? Um, that's a good question. I don't know. Okay, let's go to one other question. To what degree and electronic music dates to what degree are drugs an integral element of the show. I mean, I think that's like a common misconception because I think you go to Coachella, you see people doing drugs. You go to any any festival, people do drugs, you know, And I think it's just like anything else, you know.

I think, like trying music gets you know, the ship and the sick of if one thing happens, it's, you know, all hell breaks loose, you know, in in in the eyes of the public. Um. But I think it's just like anything else. You know, kids are experimenting, and kids are doing what they want to do. They're being kids, and they're gonna do ship, you know what I mean, Like in for them, that's that's the way that they

experience that cut. Well, let's say if one went to an act in the classic rock heyday, it would be very much about the act on stage and bonding with that act, Whereas when many shows you to today, never mind the festivals, which are really like that, the audience is the star and the audience is you know, shooting

selfies to be going on Instagram, etcetera. So when we're at a Marshmallows show, if we took out the drugs and we and I say, I'm not saying they're more drugs in there on any other show, But to what degree is it a scene that the people want to be at and Marshmallow is just the juice? And to what degree is oh I gotta go here in Marshmallow? I think it's it's probably half and a half. You know.

I think there's there's always gonna be kids that want to just be in that environment to do what they want to do in a sense, you know what I mean. And if that's doing drugs or you know whatever, then you know they're gonna do it. Um. But then you know, there's a good amount of core fans that just want to be in that presidence and want to watch the music and watch their performance and watch their favorite DJ, you know, play his his music. Okay, so you're twenty seven,

what's the dream marching forward? You personally? Um, I think it's know, I'm living it right now. You know, I couldn't. I couldn't be happier with everything that's going on. And you know, I never in a million years thought i'd be, you know, in in the position I'm in, and you know, it's all it's all been an amazing experience just learning and growing and surrounding myself from people that I get to learn from, and you know, just watching everything that's

going on in the landscape of music. Um, you know, so to be honest, it just keep going. Okay, Marshmallow, you conceived of with the act and it's you know, it's almost back to Iron Maiden where they have Eddie, which is bigger than you know, the Faceless Act. And is this a replicable thing or no, we didn't once move on to something else. I think, Uh, I think it's harder to breaking artists now than ever, you know

what I mean. And I think the tools and kind of the you know, the things we had three years ago or not are not as It's not as easy as it was then, I mean. And like again, like I think SoundCloud was a huge pardon in marshall success and a lot of my artist success and like SoundCloud now is has become you know, kind of not irrelevant, but it's become like moribund, right, So it's like things like that where um, then you have to play the

politics of the DSPs, you know what I mean. If you do something with Spotify, then you know someone you know, you're upsetting another partner and then vice versa, and it's just like there's a lot more politics that you have to play with, and you know, artists have to go through the hoops in a sense. Sometimes, since we're talking about DSPs, to what degree with Marshmallow, is Amazon important? To be honest, we haven't really done anything with Amazon,

because it's interesting. I mean it's like Garth Brooks is only on Amazon, and you know, you talk to the manager and say why on all these other services? Then they start talking about what Amazon did for them and the number of streams they got an Amazon go, hey, it might be working for that, right And when you sit with the people from Amazon, who were anything but pompous,

you know, they talk about opportunities. It's it's an interesting thing. So, Okay, if you were to view yourself ten years out, you view yourself as a me the juror I mean, because you've had a lot of history with a lot of things. You've been a hustler with DJ's promoter, you've been a rep for HP, I mean a lot of people. David Geffen started out as a manager. Although he certainly manages people,

at this point in time, that would not be his job. Okay, do you have any vision of where you would like to be or you just saying I'm here now, I'm seeing what's coming over the transom. I mean, I think it's I love, you know, I love my job as a manager, you know, I mean, I love I love doing what I do. I love waking up every morning wondering how I could, you know, make an artist footprint even bigger? Um? And how do you keep this going?

You know what I mean? I think that's the challenge, and you know, unfortunately it's also kind of like a curse, like I can't you never stop working, you know what I mean? Okay, So that's so there's seven days in a week. You ever take time off? Never have a girlfriend? Uh? Yeah, okay, So how does she cope with this? Uh? She comes second to my other boyfriends. And so if if you were listening to this right now, she would say, yeah, that's it, and I own that. Yeah she knows. Okay,

I mean it's a curse. But it's also like I love what I do, you know, and you're riding the wave right now. Yeah, And it's like every missed opportunity, I feel like if I'm not on it, I'm missing an opportunity, you know what I mean. If I'm not you know, out there networking or doing what I need to do, I feel like I'm not doing, you know, my job as a manager. And and to degree, you have an office. Are you in the red light office? Okay? So how often are you in that office? Um? Maybe

like once a week okay? And where are you the rest of the time. The rest of the time, I'm you know, I have a home office too, Um, so I have my staff come there sometimes. But I also I am always just on the meeting after meeting after meeting, so more so in my car just driving around. Okay, you've been listening to Motional Easy. If your head is not spinning, you didn't pay attention. This is the New World with a young guy, incredible success. The whole bit

about the daily YouTube I'm thinking about. You know, I was there when that happened. We batted around ideas, but I'm sitting here right now, go God, what am I doing wrong? So thanks for helping me. Until next time, It's Motional Easy. I'm a Bob Left Sets podcast. That wraps up this week's episode of the Bob Left Sets Podcast with both chel eis my head is spinning, I feel inadequate and I'm decades older than bo. I Gotta

go home and contemplate my future. As always, you can give me feedback on the conversation reached me at Bob at left sets dot com. I hope you enjoyed this podcast as much as I do.