Most of you should be familiar with the beautiful and talented Anna Yvette. As most of you know she is not only an amazing vocalist but a producer as well. A few days ago, she released her latest original, ‘Galaxy ON Galaxy’.’It’s yet another amazing tune from the talented artist. Stunning vocals over a killer beat is always a great combination for success. And of course it’s up for a free download!
Now, for those of you who don’t know Anna that well, we got to do a very eye opening interview with her. Below, you will get some great insight to the dance music scene from a vocalists point of view as well as getting to know the bubbly and lovely Anna better too. I urge everyone to read what she had to say and take it into consideration. You will definitely look at things differently. I gained even more respect for her after doing this.
TSS: First off, tell us who you are!
Anna: I am a *UNICORN* by the name of Anna Yvette. I make music for you to enjoy and I’ve also been fortunate enough to produce and feature with some really talented artists.
TSS: At what age did you get into music and when did you know this is what you wanted to do?
Anna: TWO YEARS OLD! I started playing songs off the radio by ear on my Mom’s piano in our apartment when I was two (true story, just ask my parents) and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’m a trained classical pianist and violinist, picked up cello along the way. I taught myself guitar when my boyf at the time said “keyboards aren’t cool” when I wanted to be in his hardcore band, and then I taught myself bass and drums. Music is my life. I have a condition called synesthesia, where I see colors when I hear sounds… I didn’t realize not everyone has this because my mother also has it, so I just thought it was normal for a song to be pink and red etc. but a few years ago when someone pointed out to me that was “weird” thats when I knew, I wasn’t weird, I have a special gift, and it would be a shame not to put it to good use!
TSS: Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
Anna: I’d love to collab with Kill Paris, The Flaming Lips, St. Lucia and Alex Metric
TSS: What do you listen to for fun on a daily basis?
Anna: I LOVE Cut Copy, Washed Out, Foster the People, Queen, Dillinger Escape Plan, Zero7, Minus the Bear, Pantera, 10cc and ANYTHING from the 80s, hair metal, pop all of it. Such incredible songwriting and production was in a really interesting place back then. My guilty pleasure though, is Britney Spears and Robyn… I can not resist!
TSS: What’s up with the Unicorns? Can you explain that for the readers?
Anna: I am a Unicorn…. My entire life I always knew I was a Unicorn trapped in a human body. Most people don’t believe in Unicorns, but we ARE real. We exist! We’re the ones making the magic behind the scenes… I’m responsible for a lot of really great music that’s out there today, like so many other producers and songwriters, if people took the time to really look closely, they’d see a Unicorn behind every beautiful song ever written <3 TSS: So, you’re a vocalist primarily and you can produce too, what’s it like being a vocalist in the dance music scene right now?
Anna: I started off as a musician/producer and I didn’t start singing until later out of necessity oddly enough! I think the fact that I produce and have major label placements just on my production skills alone really help to make me a better vocalist and I am lucky I am versatile enough to work in so many different genres it allows me to see not only music, but life from a lot of different perspectives.
Being a vocalist in the dance music scene right now is very sad to be honest. There are so many amazing producers that I’ve had the pleasure to work with on a vocal collab and i am SO GRATEFUL for those few (they know who they are)! Overall, We don’t get treated well. On top of being used and abused and then tossed away once they’ve gotten their vocal, If I wasn’t a producer and DJ/performer, I would never be able to survive financially on doing vocals alone in this genre.
Most EDM producers do not pay their vocalists any money up front to cover recording studio costs. If a producer doesn’t use your vocal, all those hours spent writing and recording was for nothing. Some Producers audition 3-4 different vocalists at a time for just one track and have you do countless rewrites and they still pay you nothing to cover the cost of your time. There is often a general lack of respect for the vocalist as even being apart of the release of the song ITSELF! Producers will put out a track without ever sending the final version to the vocalist for final approval or worse, put it out without their knowledge! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found out about a track being released by fans hitting me up and telling me they heard a new song I wasn’t even aware had been released!
I’m gonna get a little technical here for a moment, so bare with me! Producers (in the dance genre ONLY I have found) typically offer the vocalist 10-15% of the back end royalty (which is very little because most people download everything for free anyway). In every other genre, pop, hip hop, rock, its 50% for the production and 50% for the lyrics and melody when it comes to the back end royalty of a track.
When vocalists ask a producer for any sort of monetary compensation, or marketing in lieu of monetary compensation, most producers make the vocalist feel as though they should be happy with “exposure” alone in exchange for hours spent writing and recording and mixing a vocal. Meanwhile, I think we can all agree that a vocal really adds something special to a track that wouldn’t have been there if it had remained an instrumental, meanwhile its the Producer that gets the majority of the social media attention that enables them to tour, make money and grow their fan base, where the vocalist is often ignored and left with nothing.
TSS: What do you think can be done to help vocalist be more recognized?
Anna: If you enjoy a song with a vocalist on it, please take the extra two seconds to follow them on social media! and SPREAD THE WORD! If you enjoy something, don’t be shy! Tell your friends! Music is amazing! so please share it if it moves you <3 AND if you're a producer, please take it upon yourself to be respectful of your vocalists time and energy and make SURE that if you can not compensate them monetarily, that you're at least making sure you get them a "fb like for a download" or something tangible for the song they just did for you if it's going to be given away for free! TSS: Last question, it’s a TSS signature question. Would you rather fight 100 Duck sized Horses, or 1 Horse sized Duck?
Anna: I would rather “fight” 100 duck sized horses, because I would use my Unicorn magic to turn them into Baby Unicorns and then we wouldn’t have to fight because we would just turn it into a Unicorn Magic Dance Party with Pan Flutes, Faeries, Sparkles, Rainbows and CUPCAKESSSSSSSSSS
Is you mind blown yet? She’s a pretty amazing individual and gave some great insight on what goes on behind the scenes. Seriously, take what she said into consideration next time you’re listening to a song!
PS. Her answer to the horse sized duck question was priceless!
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