TheBeatStillJK
I love to see Amused Now Featured Artists receive the recognition they deserve. Jonathan Kelley aka TheBeatStillJK won Producer of the Year at this year’s 2014 Indie Music Awards. In the last year, he’s won 4 awards as a music producer. “I’m very thankful to Lipstick Radio for the Indie Music Awards and to Khymberlee Carlyle and you for hosting such a wonderful awards show. I also had a couple of artists that I produce for win song of the year. It’s been a great ride so far!”
Jonathan Kelley has been involved with Khymberlee Carlyle and Lipstick radio for the past year. Maleena Lawrence introduced the two. “I submitted some music. She started playing it, and we developed a really good relationship outside of music. We bounce ideas around; we really do work closely on a lot of different things.”
The 2014 Indie Music Award winners were selected by their fans. When I asked Jonathan Kelley how he got his fans engaged and voting, he told me: “It was strategic and also a little bit of bribery. I’m a pretty good cook, so some of my friends were like ‘hey, I’ll vote for your every day, but you gotta make us some ribs.’ For others, it was utilizing my social media networks, mainly Twitter and Facebook.”
Jonathan Kelley has some very dedicated fans. “I may not have thousands of followers, but the hundreds that I do have really do support me. I have to thank them for just following through and voting every day.”
Jonathan used several tactics to get his fans more engaged: “I say things to customize the message.” First, he screen-captured the part of the web page where fans needed to go and vote. He then told them they could vote once a day for 30 days. “I also went so far as tagging loyal fans that want to know everything that’s going on with what I’m doing.”
Jonathan Kelley started playing music at 8 years old, when he began playing violin and viola. “I played in orchestras throughout school. That’s where my foundation starts, along with giving credit to both of my parents for listening to a wide variety of music in the home. I used to do production in high school for local artists, so I’ve been in production since I was 15.”
After high school, Jonathan attended college, earned his degree and tried the corporate environment for several years. When Jonathan was offered the opportunity to move to Atlanta and intern in a studio there, he moved to Atlanta and worked there for about two and a half years. “I pretty much confirmed that this is what I want to do.”
Jonathan Kelley has been in indie music full-time for 5 years. What makes him a unique producer is that he does not specialize in any one genre of music. For this year’s Indie Music Awards, he produced songs in the R&B category, pop category and female rap category. “That shows the versatility that I have with my production. It is the one thing that really does set me apart. I can cross over into any genre.”
As for Jonathan’s musical influences: “My main musical influence is Mr. Quincy Jones. I don’t think there’s any other producer who’s impacted music more than Quincy Jones. Gospel music plays a big part as well, growing up in church. Then, there are the bands in high school. I was drawn to the horns and the drums. I was intrigued; it struck that light bulb inside of me. I always credit those bands with giving me a broader background on instrumentation.”
When he’s looking to collaborate with other artists, Jonathan Kelley looks for the determination in the artist, he looks at the content and he looks for those artists willing to step outside of the box. “I look for people who are comfortable with who they are and understand who they are as an artist. They understand what message they are trying to portray, and their message lines up with the overall goal of what I’m trying to accomplish with my music, which is to create positive music.”
Jonathan elaborates, “I have a certain level of social responsibility in my music as well. We influence people, whether we want to accept that responsibility or not. Our music does affect people; it either has a positive effect or a negative effect. I definitely want to work with people who want to promote positivity.”
What’s next for Jonathan Kelley? He recently produced 2 tracks on Ya Yah’s Temptation The 1st Bite EP. For those who don’t know, Ya Yah is an artist from Swindon, United Kingdom. The tracks are titled: My Life and Broken China. The EP, available for download on www.datpiff.com, reached Bronze status (Bronze = 25,000 Downloads) in the first 4 months since its release. The Broken China video also has lots of views. Jonathan plans to continue pushing that project in the near future.
Download Temptation The 1st Bite:
http://www.datpiff.com/Ya-Yah-Temptation-The-1st-Bite-mixtape.575698.html
Watch Broken China video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDhSbkW-WBM
Jonathan Kelley is also working on his own project, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech: “I originally wanted to sample a part of the speech for this new musical project. After listening to the speech in its entirety, I realized I couldn’t just sample one part. I decided to create music inspired by the speech and use it as the intro for my new 6-song EP titled I Have A Dream. I feel the message is still very relevant today. Racism and social injustice are still battles that we all must continue to fight. I want to provide music that all people can relate to, which is why I’m collaborating with artists from the United States as well as the United Kingdom. I’m looking to drop the EP sometime in 2014 or early 2015.”
I love your message and where you are going with your music!
Watch our complete video interview with TheBeatStillJK on the Amused Now YouTube channel:
http://youtu.be/uBszQPJIsz0
To learn more about TheBeatStillJK, read our Featured Artist post:
https://amusednow.com/blog/thebeatstilljk-outside-the-box/
Watch my Featured Artist interview last August with TheBeatStillJK on the Amused Now YouTube Channel:
http://youtu.be/fSmTIUNOQC4
2014 Indie Music Awards Winners Series
Jonathan Kelley aka TheBeatStillJK
@Prod_By_JK
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Cynthia Kahn, Founder of Amused Now
@Amused_Now
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If you missed the awards show, you can watch the 2014 Indie Music Awards Show anytime on the Amused Now YouTube Channel: http://youtu.be/bC1eXdqoaZA
Read about the 2014 Indie Music Awards Show on Amused Now:
https://amusednow.com/blog/2014-indie-music-awards/
Read the Khymberlee Carlyle’s back story behind the 2014 Indie Music Awards show:
https://amusednow.com/blog/khymberlee-carlyle-2014-indie-music-awards/