LINDSAY LUV, labeled the “DJ to the Stars”by MTV and a “Turntable Goddess” by Victoria’s Secret, is a celebrity DJ, Music Supervisor, Influencer and WSET Certified Sommelier with a devoted following. Luv made a name for herself by spinning the hottest nightclubs, private events and star-studded parties in NYC before relocating to Los Angeles and becoming one of the most sought-after names across the industry and around the world. Lindsay Luv is favored in fashion, beauty, lifestyle and celebrity circles: some of her top clients include Bentley, Chanel, Twitter, Equinox, Spice Girls, Guess, Valentino, Paramount, Rachel Zoe, Naked Cashmere, CBS, WhoWhatWear, Refinery29, Rodeo Drive, The Emmys, Victoria's Secret, Express, Maybelline, Kim Crawford Wines and Elle to name a few.
@lindsayluv (Instagram)Website: www.lindsayluv.com
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with DJ, music supervisor, influencer Soma Yei and digital media strategist Lindsay Luv key points addressed where Lindsay's career that has spanned over a decade in the music industry, serving as a DJ to some of the most elite venues around the world. We also looked at Lindsay's roles as a music supervisor, Influencer Somaiya and her most recent endeavor as a digital media strategist or for some of the most famous names in Hollywood. Stay tuned for my chat with Lindsay Luv.
[00:00:37] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status. For industry, we aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen .COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.
[00:01:35] Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia. And today I am sitting down with Lindsay Luv.
[00:01:41] She is a DJ, music supervisor, influencer, suddenly a and a digital media strategy. Sir, you can locate more about her and what she's doing at w w w dot. Lindsay Luv dot com. That is l i n d s a y l u v dot com. Welcome, Lindsay.
[00:02:01] Hi. Nice to. Nice to see you guys.
[00:02:04] Absolutely. I'm excited to have you one. And we were talking pre production and I was telling you that you're a first DJ.
[00:02:10] We've spoken to over 220 women, female identified non binary individuals for the series. And we finally have our first DJ on. So I cannot wait to pepper you with all the questions for everyone listening and who may be new to our series. I mean, first, I'm going to offer you a bio on Lindsay before I start peppering her with questions. But prior to that, a roadmap for today's podcast. You can follow along the trajectory in which we form our inquiry out of. We'll first look at Lindsay's academic and professional background that kind of brought her to her current endeavors of being a DJ, a music supervisor, influencer, and most recently, the digital media strategist, as well as a solmi, a demo unpack what being all of those things means to her and her life. And we'll get into some of the industry specifics, kind of based along what a lot of our audience members have asked in regards to Los Angeles and the New York scenes in music and how it pertains to DJs and kind of just some basic questions as a novice that I have, as well as maybe some music particulars that she read us in on. And then we'll look at goals and plans that Lindsay may have over the next one to three years. They did digital media strategizing and position that she's reaching recently embarked on. We'll wrap everything up with advice that she has for those of you who are looking to contact her, maybe emulate some of her success, things of that nature. So as promised, prior to peppering her with questions, a quick bio on Lindsay Lindsay Luv label the DJ to the stars by MTV and a turntable goddess by Victoria's Secret is a celebrity DJ, music supervisor, influencer and WECT certified Somaiya with a devout and a devout following Luv made a name for herself by spinning the hottest nightclubs, private events and star studded parties in New York City before relocating to Los Angeles and becoming one of the most sought after names across the industry and around the world. Lindsay Luv is favored in fashion, beauty, lifestyle and celebrity circles. Some of her top clients include Bentley, Chanel, Twitter, Equinox, Spice Girls, Gas, Valentino, Paramount, Rachael Zo Naked Cashmere, CBS Who What Where Refinery29, Rodeo Drive, the Emmys, Victoria's Secret Express, Maybelline, Kim Crawford Wines and Elle, to name a few. So that's a massive list. Lindsay, I Luv that. It's so exciting and I expect nothing less. I'm so am so excited to kind of climb into everything that you've done in your past with DJing and stuff. But before we get to that, can you drop everyone that's listening into kind of a brief overview of what your academic background and early professional life was prior to your current endeavors?
[00:04:50] Yes, I grew up in Boston, so I grew up on the East Coast and both my parents were educators. They both worked in the public Boston public schools and then the high schools, you know, suburban high schools and so forth. They actually worked on a Navajo reservation before that. So I spent a lot of time visiting there as well, which is. Yeah, which is really cool. But I grew up in Boston, suburbs of Boston. I went to school there. And then I went to first I went to Miami University of Ohio. I decided I wanted to get out of Boston, try something completely different. So I went for a year to Miami University of Ohio, and then I kind of missed home, which I wasn't expecting. And I ended up transferring to UMass Amherst and I graduated high honors from UMass Anvers. And then I went on to take I finished my last year of college with an internship at Comedy Central in New York City. So I finished I was at Comedy Central because I originally want to work in comedy and sketch comedy. Right. So big transition. But that was where I kind of started out everything.
[00:05:50] It's still a rowdy scene, though. They both feel very rowdy. Rae comedy writing and the ones that I know, the comedy writers that I know are based out of L.A. and stand up comedians alike. Still, it's very comparable to like the music scene as far as things are moving very quickly and nightly, even in the corporate like I was at comedy, such which is a very corporate company.
[00:06:09] But, you know, the disposition of the people coming through all day is definitely really kind of wild. So I was there during the first season of Chappelle's Show and some of the nine one one some of the big show was really a cool time to be calm.
[00:06:21] Yeah. I don't think there's a bad time, but that sounds like an epic time. Chappelle's Show really changed the industry. I'm wondering, so how did you do the transition? How what was the great switch into.
[00:06:34] Yeah. So when I was finishing up my internship at comedy, I kind of I've always been a big music nerd. I mean, growing up, I was. My parents are both super hippies. I went to Woodstock and all that. I grew up with, like, incredible records. My vinyl collection today is everything they've collected through their lives. So I have this, like, unbelievable collection of all the best. You know, the Grateful Dead and the Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young and all that. So I grew up in a music household. So for me, music had always been a threat in my life. And as I was finishing the comedy thing, I kind of did an internal look and was like, what do I really want to be doing? And I realized that music was calling to me. And there was a job posting for a music development director at what? A company that's still around called The Orchard. They do. They basically do all the digital music, you know, on Apple, Apple Music and all that. They do a lot of cataloging for all kinds of artists, independent all the way up. So I went in there and I was this super young girl and I kind of went in and I just said I went in for a secretary job and I kind of sold them on the idea that they really should hire me to be their kind of music development director, going dance festivals and conferences and so on, and connecting with new talent and kind of weeding out some amazing musicians and things to get involved in the catalog.
[00:07:46] And while I was there, the owners of the orchard at the time were also working with the band called The Raven Ettes, which were a huge rock band on Columbia Records. And I said, how can I get involved with you guys helping kind of grow that as well. So then I was kind of putting myself both on the corporate side of my day job and then kind of injecting myself into essentially their management team for this this big growing rock band. And that was kind of where it started. And I actually am still close friends with that band stay. They played at my wedding. And it was just kind of this amazing kind of introduction on both sides, the talent side and then the corporate side of the music industry right away.
[00:08:26] Do you find that you're. I mean, so did a lot of your techniques in which you started offering the industry start to change within, like the natural evolution of what you were doing?
[00:08:35] When I first started at the orchard, it was about seeds still. So that gives you any idea? It was really crazy because right at that time, they were trying to they were just starting to try and get all of the artists, because, remember, a lot of these people are independent artists. So it wasn't like the Lady Gaga of the world. It was like these very kind of artists. So they were trying to get them to get all of their music digital. So they were trying to get them to get their C.D. placed online. And it was right when Apple Music was opening up to letting like a full catalog of anybody get their music on Apple, because remember, originally it was just Apple was choosing which artists kind of could be on Apple. So this is when it was opening up to everybody. So our job went from essentially just getting artists and their C.D. or whatever it was to getting all these people to transition into the new era of digital music. So I really was kind of at the forefront of watching that entire thing unfold. It was it was really interesting trying to get people to understand it's not that you have to give up your C.D. or whatever it is that we have to get you on line two. And what a great world that can be and how it can reach so many more people. And then, you know, it's singles and a whole new world of how music runs kind of.
[00:09:41] Absolutely. And deals for the artists their whole lives change with the different record deals and things like that attached to it. So where did it when did you start becoming a DJ? Like, when did you start getting your feet wet with that?
[00:09:53] So I from that job, I moved into another job where I worked for a big music marketing agency. They had lots of major clients from like liquor brands to Kosofsky, Socky and all these different lifestyle brands. And they wanted to start a music based kind of marketing program. So essentially, I got hired. It was a company based in Chicago. I was in New York armed to kind of create music events throughout New York City, around up and coming artists, not people who have necessarily already completely exploded, but more of the people right under them that we're like right on the cusp of full kind of exclosure or what we thought at the time. Some of those people went on to be huge. Some of that you never heard of again. But I'll I'll take you through just a few quick ones. At the time, I was booking artists that now here are some of the ones, you know, Chromeo Justice Future Islands. You know, there was a bunch of these artists that were just kind of like starting out. So I was essentially reaching out, trying to find cool independent artists to create events around to tie in with these brands. So essentially brand marketing through music in New York City. So it was an epic job. I have to tell you, it was maybe my very favorite job of all time. It went on for a while. And what happened was I connected with some really great DJs while I was doing this, including the late D.J. AM, who was a massive club DJ. He's huge in the L.A. scene. He was he kind of got famous for being engaged to Nicole Richie, but he was like a very revered DJ. He ended up. Plane crash. I'm sure you heard about all the things that happened to him, but he became a friend of mine. And what was happening, and this is how I got started DJing, is I was sending him a lot of music that I was finding all these independent artists. I was. Collecting through my jobs, I would say here, check this band out, check this band out there from Toronto or whatever, and he'd say, this is great. And then one day he turned to me, said, you know, you know a lot about music. Have you ever considered DJ? I said, oh, my gosh, that sounds crazy. I'm such like a business girl. I can't even imagine trying to take on a talent job. And at one point, my company that I have been working for folded. So they ended some major funding situation. And I was looking for a new job in New York City. I was looking for that new corporate job. It was very neat. So it was very hard to find. And I'll never forget, I went into interview advice one day for a job with them doing music marketing. And I stood outside in the snow after the snow was coming down. I said, you know what? Screw it. I'm just going to try it. I'm just going to go get the equipment that my friend D.J. Am said. I'm going to call my friends who own a nightclub. I'm going to ask me if I can go practice during the day when the club is closed. And I'm just going to teach myself how to DJ. I'm going to get to use my Vinals and I'm going to learn the proper way and I'm going to do it. And there was like very few female teachers at this time. It was like this was over 10 years is like 12 years ago. So there was female DJs, but they were like few and far between. And I've always been somebody that likes to take on industries that are not necessarily known for being super female oriented. I'm just that person I like to take, I guess like I like to take a challenge. And so I say, you know, I'm just going to try it. And so I went everyday with my headphones at my stuff and I'd sit there trying to learn how to DJ. And in the middle of this club, with nobody in it, in the middle of the day, while waiting to hear if I got this corporate job, which I didn't end up getting at the time I was interviewing for all these corporate jobs. I started building up kind of momentum around my DJing. The club said, Would you like to take a night? You got to do everything. You've got a DJ. You got your people to come out. And it started to just parrello and poni and snowball from there into where I am today. So we kind of just kind of just took over. And eventually I just said, you know what, I'm paying my bills and I'm making more money doing this than I did in the corporate world. So let's just keep going. My parents said, hey, you'll figure it out, you're gonna be moving home. So I worked my butt off. Really.
[00:13:44] There were times when I want to climb into it now because there's I think there's a lot of misconceptions. And you just alluded to one and I don't know the current climate, but I do know as of like five years ago.
[00:13:54] Well, I think that I do know of a couple in L.A. right now. They're still doing it. But when people hear a DJ, there's first of all that the position has transitioned a great deal just with tech. You know, and what people are employing there is completely different, you know, and a certain individual autonomous tracks, all sorts of things. But before we get into some of the specifics, the actual job, as you just kind of mentioned, of D.J. was supposed to it back in the day, like they did a lot of their own marketing for the club for the night that they were doing DJing on both coasts. Yeah. So you really had to train yourself up in advertising. Word of mouth. How did you start doing that for yourself back in the early days as opposed to how it's done? Now, it seems like social media and a lot of things like that will take place. But back before, social media was like the go to for which club to head, you know, how were you doing that?
[00:14:47] That's so true. So, I mean, social media was still existed. It was probably more like MySpace and Facebook and MySpace was very music oriented. So I actually had a really incredible profile. I probably I would say I was the most quote unquote, you know, MySpace famous in the sense that I had a lot of eyes on them. And I think a lot of that had to do with all my work and music and being such a music friendly profile. You went on it? I had a playlist playing, you know, so it was very conducive to that world. But so that was very helpful. But the big thing was I just injected myself into the scene. I live downtown. I lived in New York, downtown, and I just injected myself. And part of this is just being super young, super single and just kind of going out and talking to people and seeing what was out there. But I essentially just injected myself deep into the scene of getting the word out. I made my own fliers. I would call the clubs and say, I need you to do this, this. And the other thing I was doing everything from start to finish. I was calling all my friends, texting my friends with the fliers. It was like a no holds barred kind of self campaign. I mean, I was barely getting paid any money, but I just kind of kept my head straight. I didn't focus on money, which I think is important. I think when you start out, there's this conception today that you're supposed to go from zero to one hundred overnight and it's OK to just start at zero and kind of just, you know, work your way up. And I mean, I had to do a lot of work to make the money to pay the bills because, you know, it wasn't what it had to move home. But I was working overtime trying to get my little bits of money working, maybe sometimes three gigs in one night. I mean, I would go from one club, play like a two hour set, march over to another club, play a two hour set, because, you know, New York's open so late. So I was, you know, staying up, you know, and drinking Red Bull to stay awake because of. So tired and I never drink what I DJ really sorry. I was very focused and it's a lot of work. It was a lot of work.
[00:16:41] Did you develop a persona early on or is that something that came later? You know, persona is kind of blew up. I feel like in the arts, in the early author, it became like this Daft Punk, even though they're not DJs, this kind of like, you know, full on costume. But I grew into that. Did you have your own persona when you began?
[00:16:58] I feel like I did because I was of the era that there were DJ names. It wasn't just like your classic actual given name. Right. That's why I'm still Lindsay Luv. Sometimes I look at my go, God, this is kind of corny being ones you Luv still, but it's just who I am. You know, I mean, maybe not my personal home, but it's who I am as a as a brand at this point. Yeah. My DJ friend, DJ A.M. actually gave me that name. That was kind of how it worked. Is that another DJ? What kind of name? You know. So I just went with it and it's stock and it just it just made sense. I was just always really friendly and talking to people. And I guess that was kind of what it was. It kind of rhymed. Lindsey Luv. It was L.L.. A lot of people call me L.L. still, so I just went with it.
[00:17:40] Did it correspond at all with the style that you played in? And also, did your style change per venue?
[00:17:46] Did you kind of morph into the venue you were going into or did they expect you to bring the Lindsay Luv style that touch you so well on everything in my career?
[00:17:54] So I would say, like, you know, some DJs are just they're known for one thing, like when you think of TSA or you think of house music. Right. Or you think of like, you know, some people, they're like really known for their technical skills. They scratch like crazy. You know, you going to flash or somebody is like really famous scratchers, OK? For me, it was that would I would still say is my greatest asset as a DJ is my understanding of how to place the right to soundtrack, my set around the room and around an event and around the people there and around the mood and the moment and the time of day. And I still do that today. So it's really for me. I've never used a setlist. So I go into every gig and I just go with I feel it out as I go. So sometimes just to be super focused because I'm trying to think of the next song of what what makes sense, which to me makes it so that it's never stale. Said you never hear the same set over and over and over again. But yeah, I feel like that's been a huge part of my career, why I've gotten such traction with so many different types of clients and clubs.
[00:18:56] Yeah. And that kind of drops into one of the greats ask questions. And according to Google Analytics that I was we were my team was looking at to see kind of what the ethos of the entire Internet was asking DJs.
[00:19:08] And one of them was and if given a choice to play a song that, you know, we'll make the crowd go crazy or play a song that you like, that will get a lukewarm reaction, which would you play? And I'm guessing it's the crowd or would you at some point choose you?
[00:19:24] I feel like I do a little bit of both. I am I have to say that I have never fully. I don't want to say kowtow to just like the mainstream, because I feel like that would just make me feel bored, honestly. I love to interject music that people aren't expecting or I Luv to surprise people by, like, jumping from a song that they Love, like that, that, you know, that Justin Bieber track that's really hot right now would then do a crazy remix of it and mix it into maybe like an old school prince song and then move it back into like AC DC and then bring it back to something current, you know, like Chromeo or whatever. So that's kind of been my thing. So, like, I kind of feel like what I do well is touching on everybody's needs a little bit. And you can't be a complete people pleaser in any job. You know, you're always gonna make somebody want something else and whatnot. But for me, I like to just run the gamut and kind of surprise people and surprise himself. So, yeah, it's cool.
[00:20:25] I would say, well, I'm starting from you know, you mentioned your beginning story. I'm just going to your friends club and getting practice. But I'm curious. Do you have. Did did you have any mentors in the beginning?
[00:20:35] Aside from yourself and in a lonely club? And also, do you have inspirations still that you draw from?
[00:20:42] Yeah. So that was actually and still is one of the hardest parts. So teaching is such a solo career in so many ways. It's not like you have like a squad of I mean, other DJs are there to, like, mentor you. A lot of the time I feel like DJ A.M. was the first person who kind of took a chance on me in the sense of like, you know, really giving me that kind of boost to go after it. And more importantly, he gave me a bunch of like tips and tools, but he lived in California. I lived in New York. So it was kind of a remote mentorship in that way. There were few male DJs that helped me out in the very beginning. I would ask them for advice or things. But I have to tell you, I actually think one of the hardest things was I started getting a lot of gigs, especially ones that other people might have wanted. It's very competitive. And so what happened was, especially with the male DJs. A lot of them chalk it up to, oh, they're just hired her because it's a novelty. Right. Which now, 12 years later, not so novelty anymore. Right. I've been doing it for twelve years. So it was a bit of that feeling of like, you know, there was a lot of like competition. And so what happened was sometimes you feel like as a talent, you almost get stuck. It was like you got to this point where you're getting this work, but you're too scared to then go backwards and ask for help. Is any help that it looks like weakness, like I've got to this point, but I don't know how to do this. So was a lot of like self teaching, self navigating, sometimes even the very beginning, kind of fake it till you make it like just figure out as you go and get better. And it was like people were watching me kind of learn as I went. But if the music's good, that is the most important thing and you can't teach that. So I always had a great ear for great music and I feel like that's why I was able to thrive even when other skills weren't quite there. And even today, I would say there's things I could learn that I never really felt comfortable asking help for. I never went to a DJ school, which might have been helpful. The time it was very like. Novelty, it wasn't something that a lot of people did. So I kind of just got like, all right. I got to teach myself.
[00:22:43] So I just sit there with those listening over and over.
[00:22:46] It's crazy. Plus, those kinds of things change. I mean, that industry has changed so much, Cheena, that education. It seems like everyone, regardless of what's going you have or haven't had and have to educate regularly taken seriously, too.
[00:22:59] That was another really big thing. As a female, I wanted to make sure that I learned properly, properly. So that's why I was really big on using vinyl and then vinyl. What's with the computer programs and all that? I already had like one thing against me almost being like a female DJ that they were gonna say always this a gimmick or whatever. So I was like dead set on. Let me do this the proper way. I'm going to show up to the basketball court with a basketball instead of a tennis ball. I'm going to make sure that I am like, yeah, you know, showing them that I know what I'm doing.
[00:23:27] What's been your greatest whom and what or whom has been your greatest inspiration to date?
[00:23:33] Woo!
[00:23:37] You know, from a personal standpoint, I feel like obviously the artists that I worked with, the DJ and the raven that's watching people that I cared about that and they all really started from humble beginnings. And a lot of ways, you know, they all really put in the work and put in the time. So that was on a personal level, very inspiring on a kind of broader scale. I actually remotely was in the same scene as Lady Gaga. So she kind of ran circles in kind of the same circles as me in New York City. We were not like friends by any means, but I kind of saw her from inception almost all the way through to the point that we actually played together at the Victoria's Secret fashion show in Paris. And we talked and we you know, we connected. I was very friendly with her. She's godmother to a of trumpet players, kids. And we had a lot of like six degrees of separation. And she was also I'm a I'm Italian and she's Italian. She's from Italian American family. And she's just kind of always had this very all guard kind of New York scene, New York kid running around New York vibe to her. And I felt like I really connected on that level. I really understood that. Obviously, she went on to be much bigger than me, but I felt like watching her. She's been so honest about a lot of her struggles personally and professionally. She's been a great voice for the people. She's been such a strong and powerful woman. She keeps reinventing herself. So for me, professionally, I feel like watching Lady Gaga is great. And also she's a Luvly person. She's just a nice person. So I Luv seeing good people thrive.
[00:25:11] Absolutely. Me too. And I feel like the documentary kind of got to some of that that you just never saw even she had. She does have a very authentic air.
[00:25:20] But I do think that that centric. But that's kind of what makes her you know, it makes every artist that right.
[00:25:28] Yeah. And do you have any preparatory mash ups or remakes? Is that you use or do you kind of just function in a realm of other.
[00:25:35] OK. So there was I feel like I kind of drew a line in the sand at one point in my career. I feel like there's different types of DJs. And this is where it got interesting because at the time it seemed like it was just club DJs, right. Club DJs or like people like. Yes. Who produced music. And then they play it like a DJ live. OK. So there's like two types of DJ. DJ A.M. was essentially a club DJ. It's not that he never did any personal productions, but he was famous for playing other people's music, mashed up, mixed up, remixed live in clubs. I was the most interested in that. And at the time, it made sense for me to be in the club scene. And at the time I started trying to do some production of remixes. But to me, production, being a music producer or even just for remixes is a very different world than like live club DJ. Afghan remixes for a few clients, including the Raven Ettes on which was with Colombia, which was a great opportunity. I said to myself, you know, where do I see myself? Down the road. I always knew I wanted a family and I didn't want to be like, you know, doing the festivals when I was older and being on the road all the time, never being with my kids. I kind of drew a line in the sand at some point. I said, you know, there's this great world of corporate DJ gigs, meaning like with brands, fashion brands. And that was kind of who was gravitating to me. And I was gravitating towards. They Luvd that I could dress up. I Luvd what they were balut together. It was kind of interesting marketing for me, bringing back my marketing roots. So at some point I said, where am I? Where am I going? Where do I want to be? And I kind of started to transition out of the club scene, which I felt like was essential to get me kind of the notability as a DJ or what. But I started moving into, you know, more of the corporate DJ world, which became bigger money quality over quantity. I'll put it like that. It was like less gigs throughout. The mother wasn't working every night at a nightclub. I wasn't working till 4:00 in the morning. I'd be working from seven to 10, you know, for like a Chanel or whoever it is. And that kind of became I knew my new normal and that led into music, supervision and all these other kind of behind the scenes work. So I moved away from production.
[00:27:38] OK, where do you get your songs? Where do you get the exposure? Where do you where do you go? What do you listen to?
[00:27:45] I spend hours online reading blogs, music blogs. I'll do the general Apple Music and just see what's like what's hot. And then I'll do the all the intricate music blogs. I will spend a lot of time just downloading like a million remixes of each song I like. And then I literally listen through them and delete all the ones I don't like, so I could raid the best of the best. I know if there's a song like Yummy by Justin Bieber, which sometimes I'm like, oh God, you know, I'll sit there and I'll download all the remixes of that and then I will delete all the ones I don't like until I find these like, perfect remixes to me that make the song that much better. And so that's kind of how I do it. I just kind of sit there and try and find all the best, best new music. And then I obviously have a crazy catalog of all the old stuff. I've been DJ for 12 years, so I don't even want to know. I've had to get like terabytes.
[00:28:34] Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:28:38] For sure. Do you? I'm wondering throughout the past.
[00:28:41] I can't decide which one I think would be more applicable towards having an agent. Have you ever had an agent who has ever been prescribed for you to have an agent? And if so, in which endeavor the club scene or more now the corporate?
[00:28:52] Actually, interesting. So I had a lot of meetings early on with D.J. specific agents in New York City. And sometimes it was like I wasn't enough of whatever they wanted. And sometimes it was like I felt like they were trying to put me in the wrong zone, like I was trying to tell them this is where I want to head. And they were like, well, this is what we do. And the two weren't working. So I was the first to say, like, I'm not interested. The hardest part for me is that I started on the business side and the corporate side. So I really understood the prescription of being kind of a talent management agency, marketing, all of that. So I made it very hard for me to work with certain people and let them kind of push me to the side and run the ship. It was like nobody knows my business better than I do. So one year of my career, I went with an influencer specific agency. They wanted somebody that and their a major agency. They rep huge people. They didn't have anybody that was music oriented. They really wanted a music person. So when I went with them, I was looking to get more things like headphone endorsem*nt deals. I was trying to branch out to this whole new zone and I didn't really need help with the DJ. That was kind of like, I'm doing that. Now help me kind of get in music supervisor jobs and play listing for Spotify. And that's what I wanted to be doing. Being a hotel music supervisor, they didn't quite they didn't quite know how to wrap their head around it. And additionally, they were kind of, I don't say screwing up my DJ flow, but they didn't understand the DJ world. So together, the two were not symbiotic. And I eventually parted ways respectfully. Since then, I've talked to people and each time I feel like, you know what?
[00:30:32] I just at this point, 12 years and I feel like I get what I'm doing, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't. I always think if you don't know how to run your own business really effectively, there's nothing wrong in knowing when to ask for help and to know who's great at that. So I would be the first to say, if you feel like you can't manage it, absolutely reach out to somebody that seems like the right fit the cab.
[00:30:51] Nice. So I'm wondering and with getting into with a music supervisor, I'm hoping you can clarify a little bit of that role. You did just a little bit. You know, Spotify playlists tell music and curation management, things like that.
[00:31:04] But you can you can define that term even more.
[00:31:07] Yeah. So I originally I called a brand music supervision and it kind of morphed into a bunch of different name sounds, styling, sound design, music supervisor. What was happening is beyond just the playing live. There were so many moments. I call it like sound tracking moments. You know, even when my daughter was born, I had a playlist playing when she was born. So when I think of her birth, I think of her coming out to Rumble by Link Wray and then, like, Born to be wild. Like, that's how I see almost the birth. Right. And I feel like life is full of these moments or these these experiences and music the same way smell kind of set the stage in your memory and your sensory memory of what's going on. So what was happening is a lot of brands started reaching out and saying, like, can you help us soundtrack this moment or what?
[00:31:52] What not? I did it for a lot of hotel groups so I would help them with Spotify stations. You know, maybe people were going in their rooms and they wanted a chillout playlist or they're on a work trip. And so there would be in the room there, we would talk about, you know, I did it for the W hotels. Ian Schrager, public hotels. I was doing a bunch of different kind of play listing of different types of like chill out, you know, at the W or whatever for people to listen to when they were in the rooms or whatnot or working out. Then Equinox hired me in 2018, as there are Spotify music director. So I was essentially putting together all types of fitness playlists for them. So if somebody went on a machine, the goal? I don't know if they ever reach this goal because a lot obviously has happened. But was for you could take your phone and you could put it over like a fruit with a barcode and it would pull up the playlist and then there'd be playlists for running or for lifting or what not that I was curating for them in. And I've had a lot of these one off projects. I did it for major trade show in Vegas, all the music that was running through the trade show. So for all these fashion projects in Vegas, I was doing all their music that was running through the trade show and then some of their online marketing and then celebrity clients. I've actually had some celebrity clients where I literally curate music for them, for their fitness workouts. And so when I worked a lot with a Spice Girl, Mel be doing her fitness playlists in the past and other clients like that.
[00:33:18] So nice. Yeah. How did people find you or how do you feel? How do you connect with them without an agent. Is it. I mean, you've been in it so long. I feel like your art of mouth now, like a good, you know, source just happens.
[00:33:29] But in the beginning, did you just kind of search out certain industries or certain areas? Unity.
[00:33:36] I think that it's definitely I have to be honest. I'm like a crazy I would say I'm like a hustler, really. I really hustle my game. You know, I don't come from some of the people you see, like a lot of these celebrity DJs. And it's no fault to them. But they come from these, you know, their kids of famous parents or whatnot. So maybe they're already in the mix. And I come from two teachers from Boston. So there was nobody in my family who was remotely connected to this world. And from a young age, if you look at what it said in my high school yearbook, it's like everybody knew that I was going to go off and try and do something kind of wild. Right. That was always a given with with me. And it was I've always been just a crazy hustler in that way. I've always put myself out there and and tried to go after things. My biggest thing that I've given, and I'm sure this will go in the end advice is that you don't know until you ask. Now, there's a level of asking, but you you have to put ideas into the universe. And I know it's a secret, but you really do have to put stuff out there because a lot of times people just aren't thinking about it. I've literally pitch myself for most of the biggest things I've ever got in my entire career. I've told people you don't have you thought about having me for this? That the other thing and then they like somebody, they just sit with it and it percolates in their brain and they come back to you and they're like, huh? I never thought you'd be like, that's perfect. Yeah, we could be great. You know, that's when, like I would say, 80 percent of my success has been me just putting stuff out there to people because they're just not. People just aren't really thinking about you right now.
[00:35:04] I think that that's true for at least 90 percent of the people I've spoken with that have really not just broken in, but made tracks in their industry. So I think that that's absolutely true. I'm wondering how becoming an influencer and Assoli has kind of played into the influence. Are things kind of organic?
[00:35:21] I feel like, you know, once you become enough of that figure, that's influence that you're at. You're at these massive attended events. It seems natural that people would want you to kind of serve as their ambassador.
[00:35:32] Yeah. Can you speak more to that?
[00:35:35] It's that's been an interesting development because each each media, each platform is so different. So when you have huge success, like I had really big success on MySpace because it was so music oriented. It was actually harder for me to transition it to Instagram. You know, Instagram with this whole new world. And it was about these Flatley photos. And it was a totally different kind of world. So, you know, that took me some time to kind of figure out what how do I connect the dots here? This is now like I'm DJing with then, you know, OK, it's about me taking a photo of. I immediately realized I wanted to capture what I was doing versus making content just for Instagram. Now I do a little of both just to keep up with it, especially during obviously we're in a quarantine.
[00:36:18] So I'm really spending a lot of time creating content. But, you know, a lot of influencers are creating content for Instagram. I was kind of creating content around what I was already doing and trying to make it beautiful to look at and all the things. So, yeah, that that's been it's unfortunately the only part that's hard about it is that there's so much pressure to have your social media kind of be so grand and grandiose and amazing. People are getting gigs on some levels based off that. And, you know, that can be can be challenging. You have to keep up with it even when you're exhausted with it. You're just like, listen, I'm a great DJ, just hired me for my skills or whatever it is. You know, there's such a tie in now and the two are not separate. You have to, like, put so much work into all of the elements. I find that tough.
[00:37:05] It is. I mean, in the advent of the micro influencer being at the nexus of those crossroads, I will say that the word around the kids in Silicon Valley and know and Gen Y and Gen I following up on their heels, is that the kind of polished Cardassian instant moment that was so exhausting for everybody to keep up with is like out.
[00:37:26] It's all about the reality non filter photo, like the real real, which should lessen up on some of it. And also, I don't like what it did for public perception of those generations coming up. It was just as bad as the fashion magazines that had, you know, an anorexic little white girls my whole life. So I don't 100 percent agree there.
[00:37:46] You know, I had an intern that was a lot younger than me. And, you know, you would hear not just from Harvard, just there was this expectation that they had to go from zero to a hundred, that they should be Kylie and Gucci shoes. They should be wearing Gucci shoes when it was complete. They're living at home. It's completely unaffordable or whatever the situation is. You know, there was there was this expectation and not at a fault of theirs. There was this expectation that I have to get these things to match up to what's happening on online. And I felt like that pressure, like I never even was thinking about hoochie shoes, you know, when I was 19, you know, but there was this pressure to kind of like go from zero to a hundred. Career wise, fame wise, appearance wise, everything that pressure, especially as a mom of a daughter, you know, is is just is disturbing. And I try to keep my feet as authentic as. But, you know, it's even for me, it's challenging at times, you know?
[00:38:39] Yeah. I'd like to see a fall of it. It's also just transparency. It's not bringing us closer as humanity. To have a whole bunch of you know, I have plenty of beLuvd friends and colleagues and family members that put up hyper edited photos of reality that I'm like, girl, that's not you.
[00:38:54] I know. It's so it's fine.
[00:38:58] It's it's neither here nor there. I think it's just part of Americana iconography that's now headed in our rear view.
[00:39:03] Thank goodness. I want to turn towards your new digital media strategizing moment. You kind of dropped on me right before we started this, that that came into your life recently. And I'm like, oh, hot tip scoop. So let's climb into whatever you can tell us about that.
[00:39:17] So I I've done some consulting in the back end with clients on their social media. What's happened is because I'm running my own business and I haven't been with an agency, I've had to get up with the program all the time, understanding social media, understanding how to properly, like, manage my feed, went to post social calendars, getting verified on all the different elements of making your social media really fabulous. I've had to kind of understand for myself and what's happened between that and then all the jobs I've done over 12 years with all these major brands, I realized I have relationships so I could write to somebody at Twitter. And you're back in half an hour because of my relationship with them or somebody at Victoria's Secret or Chanel or Maybelline or whatnot. And so I said to myself, wow, you know, this massive Rolodex, I've all these personal relationships that have grown and built. And I said, you know, it's great for me at all, but that might be useful for one gig here and there, whatever I said. What if I took those relationships and found a way to monetize that for myself and also help other people connect and be the connector? And so so a friend of mine who is a big Hollywood publicist, Casey Kitchen, she reps a lot of she actually reps one of our good friends and actor Peter Falcinelli, who was in Twilight. Nurse Jackie and all these great greats, content and great movies and film. He kind of connected us. And then me and her just grew mutual respect. Long before this pandemic hit, we were talking about me helping her clients that she does traditional publicity for. She's doing all the, you know, Daily Mail or People magazine or, you know, the all the red carpet, all that stuff and all the big high end editorials. It was one of those things where she said, you know, why don't we kind of collaborate and help these people with their digital media strategy? A lot of her clients, as you know, as fitting and so and more of a freelance fashion. I have come on board officially her PR agency, she went solo was called Mark PR. It's based out of here in Hollywood. And I've come on board and more of a freelance aspect, but come on board as her digital media strategy director. And I am already I don't know if I can name the clients yet, but I'm working with some very, very top, high and verified clients helping them. I call it like the Ray Donovan of their social media. I'm like a fixer. I kind of come in and I help them. I feel all the things that maybe they're doing right.
[00:41:36] Somebody these people, they have amazing talent, amazing concept, but they don't necessarily know how to apply it to the platform that is Instagram, where that is Pinterest or that is Twitter. And I could put them in there and fix it up for them and help them understand how to better themselves. So it's a very good company.
[00:41:51] I mean, it sounds like there's you know, the clientele is similar to who it's been before. Just more specifics, the Ray Donovan social. So I like epic. I Luv it. That's fantastic. Well, Lindsey, we're running out of time.
[00:42:06] And I want to turn towards quickly a conversation that I've been having with everyone given, as you've mentioned earlier, the current climate of that covered 19 pandemic. And it's kind of allowed everyone to reassess. Even people who have like this virtual enterprise, you have a huge, prolific career based, a large part in this kind of performance oriented things. I know it must have had an impact on you, but I'm wondering if you've had a conversation with time for a conversation with yourself and moving forward as to how you might alter or start to edit what your life's work will be in the future based on what we're doing. Or are you kind of waiting until there's a return to normal and a vaccine and then going back out?
[00:42:45] So this has been such an amazingly interesting experience for me. Very challenging. Being a parent to a toddler during this quarantine is really hard because me and my husband, he has a job and I've kind of taken on this new job, plus all my other stuff that's still kind of existing. So we're bouncing back child care all day long and making sure that she gets the best of the best because we want her to still thrive during, you know, being a little bit more confined. So that's created a massive challenge that and the house and the cooking and all of it. However, like I said, I'm like always five steps ahead and I'm such a Hossler. So of course, I decide to take it on myself to really move forward. These were things, though, that I talked about doing for a while. And this kind of like gave me the push to take that rip the band. Off. And actually, it's I've been, I would say, kind of thriving in that way that I rip the Band-Aid off and I drove straight headfirst into all these new ventures that I've wanted to take on this digital media strategy. I've been studying more about why, and I just Luv wine. And I think there's something interesting there. Wine and music. They go well together. So, you know, there could be some interesting work there. And I'm I've always been the kind of person who I talk about stuff. But I also my husband says you need to pat yourself on the back because there's a lot of people say they want to be a star my age. But you actually signed up for the class and showed up and you took the test and you did it. And for me, it's kind of like that. I try and do that with the things on the most serious about. I get a lot of ideas, but what I'm actually really series on something I put in the work. And during this time I've taken every five minutes I've had to myself when my baby's napping or late at night after she goes to sleep and I sit there trying to, you know, get work done for my clients, for digital media strategy, because D.J. right now in the way we know it is on hold and it's like it's like a bike.
[00:44:37] You know, I can DJ.
[00:44:39] I can DJ any day till I'm 90 if people want me to. You never stop learning how to do a musical instrument or talent or not. Obviously, you have to refresh yourself. But, you know, so why not spend this time where I'm not being requested to DJ to really get the other stuff going and eventually kind of open up to everything again?
[00:44:59] That's awesome. And I want to wrap up with asking you when I ask all of my guests for this series, and it's me, mainly if someone walked up to you tomorrow maintaining a safe social distance and said it's a woman or female identified, non binary individual, pretty much anyone other than a straight man and said, listen, I'm getting ready to get into you.
[00:45:21] I think I'm just gonna take the plunge. I want to get into DJing. I've been in the music industry for a long time. I've kind of come at it from the business background. I think I just want to do this. I'm going to take the leap. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that person, knowing what you know now?
[00:45:35] OK, number one, I would say don't overthink it. Just do. I think the big thing that holds a lot of people back is I mean, everybody knows this, but somebody you really have to say a lot. I think fear holds people back from trying things. They say when you look at like bloggers, for example, the biggest tendency for bloggers to start a blog and never finish. You have to keep going. You can't just start it and then just fall off because you're not seeing, like, you know, the overnight success. If you really care about it and you really Luv it, even if it's not your full time job, even if it's just something you do for your friends at a barbecue in the beginning, don't give up. Like, if that's something you really want, then just keep going and understand that each of those little things is a success in themselves. You did it. You bought the equipment you're teaching yourself or you're going to was class or whatever it is you played for a bunch of your friends. They liked it. That's enough. That's OK. And and, you know, even if that's as far as you ever take it or as far as it ever goes for you, it's still good to know that you gave it a shot. So that's first and foremost, you got to give it a shot. Secondly, I'd say I am a strong believer if you're gonna do something, do it properly. So whatever that means to you, it may not be the same way I saw DJing with learning with, you know, vinyl and this and that. But if you're gonna do something, give it give it its its purest form. Let yourself really learn what it means to be a DJ.
[00:46:57] Research DJs, watch DJs, listen to music, get get yourself immersed in it and whatever that means to you. It may not be the same to me, but immerse yourself in it and do a proper give it its full go. And then third, I would say don't be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for things you want. There is a proper level to do that. Obviously, if you're not getting the response you want, you have to have some kind of social know how when to pull back and to redirect or to go after something a little bit different or somebody a little different. But don't be scared to put yourself out there. Pete, you're only as good as the ideas that you have. Right. You have to put those ideas out to people and say, hey, I thought about myself in this way. How are you? Do you see it back and let them think about it and sell yourself because you're your own best cheerleader. Nobody's ever going to cheerlead for you the way you are going to, surely for yourself. So do it with a respectful understanding that it won't always get accepted. That's OK. You know, no one to pull back and no one to push.
[00:47:55] Nice. All right. I've got. Don't overthink it and just do it and give it a shot. Number two, if you're going to do it, do it properly, whatever that means to you. But make sure you research it and get it done properly.
[00:48:06] Number three, don't be afraid to ask for what you want. Got to put it out there and make sure you listen to the cues and love those as you're perfect. Very, very. New York. I have to say, it sounds very Pskov. Yeah, I love it.
[00:48:20] Well, Lindsay, thank you so much for giving us your time today. I know you're extremely busy and I appreciate all of your stupendous candor about the music industry and everything that you're doing.
[00:48:28] Thank you so much. And you're such a great leader, too. We love watching your podcast. Thank you for having me. It's a true honor to be on here. Thank you for that.
[00:48:36] Thank you. And for everyone listening, we've been talking with Lindsay Luv. You can find out more about her and all of her services on w w w dot. Lindsay Luv dot com.
[00:48:47] You can find my Instagram. It's just at Lindsay. Luv at Elyon dsa y o u v. And there I am.
[00:48:53] And until we speak again next time. Remember to stay in Luv with the world and always bet on yourself. Slaínte.
