Feb 4, 2026 · 1 hr 26 min · 11 segments
In this episode of The Slow Hunch, I spoke with Clyde Lawrence, co-founder and co-band leader of Lawrence, about what it really means to build an independent career in music. Our conversation traces…
Clyde LawrenceGuest
Nick GrossmanHost
And so we'll go back and figure out how you got that, how I've got to hear from there.
So upfront, what does it mean to be 99% more independent than anybody else at your stage? What kind of stuff is.
So, I mean, um, one really obvious example is most artists on a record label yep um record deals i mean i know that i've probably you and your listener base will be like more able to digest me throwing numbers at them than like when i'm on a music podcast most record deals can be anywhere from the record label taking anywhere from like 30 to very frequently like 80 to 85 percent of the equity, not in the whole company of the band, but in the particular recording project that they're investing in.
We have a really awesome deal with This producer named John Bellion, who's an amazing guy that is a creative partner to us and has become almost like a extended family member and advisor and just an overall person who we've struck a deal with where he does in a way that's a little different than just a producer would.
We do, he does have some equity in the recording side, but vastly less than like a traditional label would.
And what he's providing for us in return is involvement in helping work on the music.
And, you know, he's a call away if we ever have business or strategic questions and he's a valued member of the team, but there's no proper label infrastructure at any time.
are the things increasingly no one knows what a record label does but um theoretically a record label is in charge of providing you first of all like all the money yep to make
time producers uh travel literally everything that goes into making and marketing an album they also would be in charge of managing all of the Delivery dates and the timelines and just project managing the entire thing from soup to nuts.
Figuring out the marketing strategy, coordinating music video shoots, content, all of the above.
And just kind of like being the company that... is handling all of those things.
We do all that ourselves, but then there's also a lot of other things that a lot of labels will often get involved in merch or have partnered merch companies that help you develop and manage and inventory your entire merch operation.
And so we'll go back and figure out how you got that, how I've got to hear from there.
So upfront, what does it mean to be 99% more independent than anybody else at your stage? What kind of stuff is.
So, I mean, um, one really obvious example is most artists on a record label yep um record deals i mean i know that i've probably you and your listener base will be like more able to digest me throwing numbers at them than like when i'm on a music podcast most record deals can be anywhere from the record label taking anywhere from like 30 to very frequently like 80 to 85 percent of the equity, not in the whole company of the band, but in the particular recording project that they're investing in.
We have a really awesome deal with This producer named John Bellion, who's an amazing guy that is a creative partner to us and has become almost like a extended family member and advisor and just an overall person who we've struck a deal with where he does in a way that's a little different than just a producer would.
We do, he does have some equity in the recording side, but vastly less than like a traditional label would.
And what he's providing for us in return is involvement in helping work on the music.
And, you know, he's a call away if we ever have business or strategic questions and he's a valued member of the team, but there's no proper label infrastructure at any time.
are the things increasingly no one knows what a record label does but um theoretically a record label is in charge of providing you first of all like all the money yep to make
time producers uh travel literally everything that goes into making and marketing an album they also would be in charge of managing all of the Delivery dates and the timelines and just project managing the entire thing from soup to nuts.
Figuring out the marketing strategy, coordinating music video shoots, content, all of the above.
And just kind of like being the company that... is handling all of those things.
We do all that ourselves, but then there's also a lot of other things that a lot of labels will often get involved in merch or have partnered merch companies that help you develop and manage and inventory your entire merch operation.
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