A music producer is passing down the tricks to the trade for anyone who is interested in making it in the music industry.
New Jersey native Frank Demilt learned early on that he wanted to be in the music industry in some capacity. He was always listening to music and making music whenever he could, but at first he never saw it as a viable career option for him.
“It was always a passion of mine, it was always something I loved to do. Growing up, we only saw the big artists out there, so I knew how hard it was to make it in music. It didn’t help that I had crippling stage fright,” said Demilt. “I did some research and found that there is some back end, behind the scenes stuff that can be done and kind of just started working through differents friends and fell in love with recording and working with artists. When I found out I could go to school for it, I kind of went from there.”
Demilt graduated from Ithaca College’s Roy Park School of Communications as an audio engineer and quickly landed an internship in Atlanta, Georgia at Soul Asylum Studios, whose client base included Justin Bieber, T.I., and Waka Flocka. After bouncing around between Atlanta and New Jersey and building up an impressive clientele as the head audio engineer in multiple studios, Demilt ultimately landed at Water Music Publishing, where he serves as the head of A&R and Artist Development. Demilt is also helped create Sloppy Vinyl, an artist development company and full-service entertainment company that is a sister company to Water Music Publishing.
“I enjoy working with artists hands-on in their development, not necessarily the recording element but helping them create the music and develop them into what they see themselves as,” said Demilt. “That’s really what I love to do now, is sit and listen to all the new music that comes out and find that next person and try to develop them and mold them into the best versions of themselves that they want to be.”
In the beginning of 2020, Demilt and his team were trying to get some traction with Sloppy Vinyl. In order to help the artists, Demilt starting writing some articles to give these artists some information to help guide them through the industry.
However, when quarantine hit and artists being unable to go to the studio, Demilt decided to shift gears and turned the articles into a new book called “The Blueprint: The Bible For Becoming a Successful Performing Artist in the Digital Age.“
“Quarantine hit about a month after I finished these articles. We couldn’t go to the studio and couldn’t get in contact with the artists, so I decided to take all the articles I had and flesh it out into a book because knowing a lot of the artists are just sitting in their house trying to figure out what to do, especially the rising ones not really knowing what to do now, I wanted to give them a headstart or a leg up or insight into the industry that once we come out of quarantine and they get back to work,” said Demilt. “That way they have this blueprint or guide of okay, here’s what I have to do and here’s what to expect. It was kind of just a like a cumulation of what I was already doing but in a bigger way to help artists as we were all stuck in our houses and not doing anything.”
“The Blueprint,” according to Demilt, is an A-Z, front to back guide about how to navigate the music industry. If you are just getting started by recording in your home or already have your foot in the door with a record label or studio, the book has information about how to navigate the industry properly.
“It’s information for the beginner novice that has a dream of being an artist, and I’m going to tell you what recording equipment is, how to use it properly and what to buy if you want to start in your bedroom,” said Demilt. “It talks about understanding the nuances of how a song should sound all the way to distributing your music.”
For those who are a little further in their careers, “The Blueprint” dives into contract language, legal information, what team members you will actually need in the studio with you and how to keep your career going once you’ve made it.
“I go all the way to contractural language and we know that not a whole lot of people understand the legal side. Having a base knowledge of terms and clauses that can come at you and what to expect in contract talks,” said Demilt. “We finish [the book] with, ‘Okay you’ve done all this stuff, you’re signed, you’re here, how do you sustain your career?’ I give you information on all of it. Anyone at any point in their career can benefit from reading this.
Demilt hopes that those who pick up “The Blueprint” can get a thorough understanding of how the music industry works, regardless of what stage of your career you are in.
“The music industry and entertainment industry as a whole is a monster in itself that if you are unprepared for can beat you down and swallow you up because there’s so much that can come at you,” said Demilt. “I want the readers, no matter what stage of your career you’re at, to understand what is the next step, what to do next, and in those steps, understand information to look out for so you’re not blindsided when stuff comes at you.”
“The Blueprint: The Bible For Becoming a Successful Performing Artist in the Digital Age” is available on Amazon.
