"I believe in the new age of music. You, as a songwriter and artist, can carve out your own path to success. Your perspective is something to be celebrated. 

With over 30 years of experience as an executive in the music industry, I'll equip you with the insight and tools to fully develop your career. As Senior Vice President of Creative at Warner Chappell Music for 20 years, I signed and worked closely with many of today's most acclaimed artists: Grammy-award winner Sheryl Crow, Katy Perry, Michelle Branch, Gavin DeGraw, Jewel and Joy Williams of The Civil Wars, among many others. My experience with developing producers and multi-platinum songwriters (John Shanks, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Scott Cutler, Anne Previn, Kevin Kadish, Franne Golde, Jamie Houston, Matthew Gerrard, Robie Nevil, Tim James and Ben Glover) helms across all areas of the industry."

it all starts with a song..

P.Tinham 8.22.2018

Judy Stakee is a music publisher, artist mentor, author and speaker based in Los Angeles, California, who has signed and developed artists like Sheryl Crow, Katy Perry and Gavin DeGraw. I was introduced to Judy through various ARTists via instagram. Judy is known is also well known for her life-changing songwriting retreats. https://judystakee.com/retreats/ 

The Judy Stakee Company is a full-service artist development and entertainment company that develops the minds, bodies and souls of artists and songwriters to achieve the career of their dreams.

By encouraging songwriters to develop a greater sense of self, The Judy Stakee Company inspires artists to create their best works while providing the proper tools for navigating the music industry. Through focused coaching in a supportive community, you will be challenged to evolve your experiences and communicate your story in the form of song.

I caught up by phone with Judy during at the end of a two week retreat  on the West Coast of Canada on the very Island I grew up and inspired me,, Bowen Island.

(Island off of Vancouver West) see ARTicle on another resort on the Island for writers >>>

Check out Judy's site for more of these great interviews : DOOR TO DOOR w/ Judy Stakee https://judystakee.com/media/

JUDY

STAKEE

SLM: First off, I know what a magical place Bowen Island is for ARTists of all kinds how did you choose this place though coming from California?

Judy:  Google. Just sitting in bed at night and having the computer and going, "retreat centers," all over the world and we checked out Xenia

(Xenia Centre - 'A Place To Be') on Bowen, and it fit.

I want no Wi-Fi, I really do. I want everyone to get lost in the woods in beautiful surrounding so that they don't have to look at buildings and cement and rush hour traffic.  Then there is the food, everything here is plant-based, they grow a lot of food in their garden, and made with a lot of love and intention.

My retreats are about taking care of you. If you don't take care of yourself, then how are you going to be good at anything that you do? So it's paying attention to your body and what you put into it, and your surroundings, and all of that is very important.

SLM:  Interesting. I was reading a lot about that. You had a book written The Songwriters' Survival Guide. What can you tell us about the idea behind it?

Judy: I started writing that book, four years ago now, and it was supposed to be 10 easy steps on how to get a publishing deal and I thought, "Oh, I'll give it away for a dollar. "

Through circumstances, it just became a longer book. I just kept writing and writing and writing, and I'm very, very proud of it because I don't think that there is a guidebook for songwriters out there. In my 30 year career in the traditional music business, I would have writers that would show up on the doorstep and it’s like, "Well, I play guitar and I wrote poetry in high school and I can sing, I'm an artist." It's like, "God bless you." And some of them, that was great. They made it on that, and some of them could've really used some really good tools.

I say to my classes that if you're baking a cake, well, you need an hour and a half and a kitchen, and you need a bowl, and you need chocolate, you need flour, you need an oven. You need all of that stuff to make your art. It's no different from song writing. You need tools. You need the time, you need the space, and you need the tools to be able to be the best songwriter, artist that you can be.

SLM: I think about Paul McCartney, how he says that for the creative process that there's no rules for song writing. What are your thoughts, do you think, for instance, that the lyrics come first and the music folds together in a way? What's your process?

Judy: I don't have a process, and what I've learned from all the 30 writers last week, and in my experience, with writers over and over again, the process is different every time. There are some that only write lyrics, so for them that's it. But for most people it depends on if you're writing for yourself, you get to decide. If you're writing with somebody else and they walk in with a lyric, then you may go, "Hey, love it. Let me write music to it." Or vice versa. If you want to be a great songwriter, then you're going to have to become a great story teller, bottom line. Some ARTists out there are not great story tellers, and that's why they won't succeed. Some do succeed and they're not great story tellers either, but as far as teaching, it's like I'm teaching people how to be great story tellers.  Even though you only get four minutes and 200 words, which is the approximate length of a song, you still have to tell a story. Once upon a time, something happened.

SLM: Many artists have told me that songs come to them in dreams. What do you make of that?

Judy:  Oh, absolutely. When your mind is calm, or when your mind is occupied, that's when there's space for it to come through. Lots of people tell me that they come up with stuff in the car also. When your mind is busy driving, it leaves space for creativity. You've got to get your mind to cut out the judgment.

SLM: What are you most proud of in terms of inspiring songwriters?

Judy: I think the thing for me is, I've actually developed a methodology through all of this so that I could actually speak to them. So I actually had a language because I've found that writers ... you go be a cook and it's like, "Well, we need half an ounce of this and three quarters of this and a pound of this." There's a language. And there's a language, to a certain extent, with musicians. So for with songwriters it was actually creating a language so that they could understand why their songs were not great. It was one thing for an A&R person to say, "It's not a hit, go do it again." That's what most songwriters and artists hear. “It's not a hit, I don't hear a hook, go do it again.”  That's like saying, "Well, I don't like the cake, go do it again." So really it’s like, "Well, what didn't you like? Was there too much flour, was there too much sugar? What was wrong with it?"

 So creating this language has been very inspiring for all, and inspiring for me because now I have a language that I can explain to them what's going on, and then the light bulb goes on and they're like, "Oh. Now I get it." That's the reward for me is that I've given them a piece of information that they can use.

SLM: You're like a musical therapist.

Judy:  Right, you just don't have to lay on the couch.

SLM:  You work with some amazing artists too, like Sheryl Crow, Katy Perry. How do you decide who to work with or who to bring on the retreats?

Judy:   I manage, and I put on the retreats, but at Warner Chappell, how I decided who to work with, was first of all, the music. First and foremost somebody would play me something, like Sheryl Crowe and it was like, " That's fantastic." and it was just bits and pieces of things that she had. I loved her voice and she was a great communicator. Sheryl is a personality and every song she wrote got better and better and better, so that I was, thinking, I can hardly imagine what she's going to be like in 10 years. Really it was the same thing with Katy Perry. Katy is a great, great songwriter. She just needed a little more guidance in how to navigate the business. She was one of those that got told, "It's not a hit, go do it again." Its like, "Well, what does that mean?"

  So really back to your earlier question, what inspires me is the music and then the person. That person, I'm developing these people to go out into the world and to influence others. That's a big responsibility and I don't take that lightly, so for me it's who's the person behind this music that's going to really represent it.

As far as the retreats are concerned, it's that everybody has to send in an application. So I judge them on the application and how they fill it out. I judge them on song directions and sending me links and not telling me to go to YouTube to find them. I judge them on the music, of course. And believe me, I've had 15 year olds and I've had 60 year olds, and everyone is talented. Some are a little maybe, younger in their education of it, some maybe a little more experienced, but they all had a level of talent that was like they're good, they know what they're doing, and they could learn from this.

SLM:  What helps to bring a songwriter out of their shell and flourish in the industry?

Judy: I think that one of the things that make them flourish is being around other songwriters. Being a songwriter's a very lonesome job, even if you're with one other person. It is a very solitary thing, you have to really dig deep, and you have to be constantly asking, "What do I believe? How did this affect me?" So it's a very personal thing. To know that you're not alone, to know that you have a community, to know that you have sisters and brothers that you can go to when you get stuck is very reassuring and gives confidence. I see that at my retreats. I saw 21 people show up here, this is in Canada, I can only have 21. My others I have 30. Some of them had never played with other musicians. They live in small towns or whatever it is, and all of a sudden it's like they're up 'til midnight just sharing and playing and singing and writing, and they're just so inspired making music.

SLM:  I know you still do the door-to-door interviews. They're inspiring to watch too, in both your demeanor and your candor with the artists. Surely you must stay in touch with some of these artists as they get flourish. What would you, if you were to look into the future and let's say you were to go back and maybe have a publishing company again, would that be something you would want to do?

Judy: I'm not sure. And the only reason is that when you're a publisher and you're taking care, one of the things that you do, is you song plug and you go out there and you get second cuts and do all that. I would have to hire somebody to do that because I did that for 30 years and I don't want to do it anymore. The thing that I love, and again, I manage a writer and I consider myself his manager but my perspective is from a publisher.  So I as I'm managing this young gentleman, one of the things that he's been managing from the very beginning is your song has to be great. I don't care if you're a producer, you're not producing that. You're not going in yet until that second verse; is changed. So from the very beginning,   he's been with me for five or six years now, he doesn't really have to do that anymore. He does every time just to make sure, but he's now at the point where those songs he's writing are unbelievable, so it's easy to do the production. It's easy to get a cut. It's so much easier, all the other steps, when the song is great. And that's why I love what I'm doing now with the retreats is that when I was a publisher,  so many people could get to me. But now, I get to influence and inspire so many different kinds of writers.

 I have one client that has taken up writing again and he's taken up guitar lessons again, he's older now, because he has kids. He has three girls and he wants to start a music night in his family so that his girls can sing and learn. That's why he's doing it.

And I have a client who wants to be Britney Spears, so everything in between. But the fact that I can give somebody a gift that they know how to communicate in song; it's what heals your soul.