Michael Walker: All right. So I'm excited to be here today with my new friend, Jazmine Valencia. So, Jazmine has propelled global music icons like The Killers and Shawn Mendes with her artist-first, culture-driven marketing. She's the founder of JV Agency. She blends together tech and culture and bridges the global gaps so that she can help connect creators and fans to build relationships with each other.

And I'm excited to have her on the podcast today to talk a little bit about entrepreneurship, marketing for musicians, and in today’s day and age, where we're more connected than ever but also often feel disconnected—how can you as an artist be able to actually reach your fans who resonate with your songs and build a real business?

So, Jazmine, thank you for taking time to be here on the podcast today.

Jazmine Valencia: Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Michael: Awesome. So to kick things off, maybe for anyone that this is their first time connecting with you, you could share a little bit about how you started and got here, where you're, you know, being able to work with artists like The Killers and Shawn Mendes.

Jazmine: Yeah, definitely. I started in the music industry actually as an intern. I had a year left of school, figured, okay, internship is a good way to get my foot in the door. I applied for an internship at Universal Music Group. Then I started at Def Jam, and as soon as I finished school, they hired me. I moved to New York and started working in the digital marketing department.

So that was kind of like how I got started in the industry, and it was a great learning experience. Got to work with amazing artists. And then in 2015, that's kind of when I left and I started my company, JV Agency. So we're actually celebrating our ten-year [anniversary] this year at JV Agency.

Michael: Wow. Congratulations.

Jazmine: Thank you.

Michael: That's a big milestone.

Jazmine: Thank you. It's exciting. Yeah, that's how we got started and, yeah, it's been great. I've been fortunate to work with amazing artists throughout the years—all big A-listers to up-and-coming artists. You know, it's great seeing them from like having an idea in their notebook or phone and seeing that idea come to life, recording it, and marketing it, and then seeing fans singing it back to them when they play it live. So it's a really cool experience to be able to do this.

Michael: Mm-hmm. Awesome. So, yeah, I'm curious. You know, as someone who has a lot of experience working with artists—both established A-listers and new up-and-coming artists—what do you see as some of the biggest problems that artists are currently facing in the music industry, and maybe some of the biggest mistakes that you see them making when they first come to you?

Jazmine: Yeah, I think the biggest challenge that any artist—no matter their size, whether they're starting out or they're established—is the need to continue to always kind of like "feed the beast," if you will, with social media.

Every artist says, "I didn't sign up to be a content creator. I just want to be an artist. I want to perform. I want to write music. I want to sing." They don't necessarily want to take the time to make the content. And that's just the way the industry as a whole is, right? Even outside of music—you see it with film and you see it with beauty, and pretty much every other industry.

There's that need for social content to stay relevant and kind of fight the noise. So I think that's the biggest challenge. And I would say, mistakes—is not being ready with your socials. Like if you do happen to go viral, not knowing what to do when that moment comes. But also just not being ready in general.

A lot of artists will reach out and then you go to their Instagram or website, and there's broken links or they don't have an email. Or what if somebody was looking to contact them to give them a gig or something? There's no way to. So that's probably the biggest I see.

Michael: Hmm. Awesome. Yeah. So it sounds like the biggest challenge—

Jazmine: Whoa, that—

Michael: Alert?

Jazmine: Alert. It's actually earthquake detected, so—

Michael: Oh, really?

Jazmine: Yeah, LA.

Michael: But you're safe?

Jazmine: Feels fine.

Michael: Feels fine? Okay. I’m imagining like you continuing the podcast while the ceiling’s falling down around you.

Jazmine: Yeah, that's all right.

Michael: All good. If you need to take a moment or if we need to reschedule, totally okay.
 But what I'm hearing you say is that one of the biggest challenges is knowing how to stay relevant, how to share content without it feeling like a drain, without it feeling overwhelming.

As well as knowing what to do with it—if you have content and it happens to go viral but there's no way for people to actually connect with you or contact you, then you're kind of missing out. It's almost like it starts to rain or pour and you didn’t have anything to capture the rain—it’s just kind of falling through your hands into the ground.

So let's start with that first challenge that you come across a lot, which is just content creation and knowing how to create, what to create, and how to do it in a way that's sustainable. I'm curious what you find that's working best right now. And for an artist who’s kind of, maybe, listening to this or feels a bit overwhelmed—like, “I don’t even know what to post,” and then when they do post, they're like, “I don’t know if it’s working or not”—how would you recommend that they actually do this effectively?

Jazmine: Yeah, I think that's when they're like, “I don't know what to post.” That's, I think, the biggest question most artists have. I always tell them, don't follow the trends because that's not authentic to you. If you're not sure what to post, I say just document what you're already doing.

You're already going to the studio, you're already writing a song, you're already rehearsing for a gig, you're already doing all these things that showcase who you are as a musician, as an artist. So just document, and that's what you're gonna post.

That's when you're completely unsure—like, you don't wanna go and see like, “I don't wanna do a dance,” or whatever's trending. That's the best way because then it's effortless. You're already doing these things. You're already showcasing to your audience what it's like to be you as an artist.

And also in your everyday life, right? You might have a dog and you go on hikes with your dog or whatever you do that's not as a musician. So that's the easiest way where it's as effortless as possible. You obviously still have to edit, but you're at least not having to take time to sit down and write a script, or write a shot list, or write all these things.

So I would say, at the very minimum, you should just be documenting what you're already doing. That's your very basic line—bare minimum.

If you enjoy a little bit more content creation, then that's when you can get a little creative and be like, “Hey, I really like this trend. Maybe let me apply it to myself and to my music or to a song that I have.”

And that's when you can start getting a little bit more in-depth into what your content creation strategy looks like, where you're actually writing down ideas and writing out a script or a list or “I wanna shoot in this location or this location.”

I would say that’s kind of the two spectrums of content creation.

And then, if you're like, “I don’t know how many times a week to post or a day”—that's the other question that we get the most—I always say, do what's sustainable to you, just based on your schedule and your daily life.

Because if you have a nine-to-five job to be able to pay for your music, you're not gonna be able to post three times a day. That's just unreasonable. If you don’t have an exercise job and you get to stop the whole day and be in the studio, then that might be a little bit easier.

But like, “Hey, I'm gonna make an alarm on my phone. I'm gonna post at noon every day.” Right? So whatever is sustainable to you.

I kind of compare it to going to the gym. Like, a trainer can be like, “Hey, you have to work out every day.” But if your everyday schedule doesn't allow for you to stop, go to the gym, work out, then have to come take a shower, get ready for your day—you’re not gonna do it.

So, the same idea where it’s like—

Michael: Hmm. Awesome. Yeah, so it sounds like what you're saying is that the best way to start is by taking an assessment of: who are you right now? What are you doing right now? And rather than trying to be someone else, actually just documenting who you already are and what you're already doing—especially as it relates to your creativity when you're making music, when you're recording. Just capturing it.

And then, yeah, starting with where you're at too, in terms of your posting, your schedule, and what's actually reasonable based on the time that you have available to you.

Reminds me—I'm not sure if there's like a specific quote around this—but I love this concept of, rather than trying to be someone else or do something crazy, just like changing your life so that the stuff you want to have happen just—like you're doing cool stuff already. It's like, just live it. Just be it and do it. So that’s cool.

And then it’s like when you're documenting it, it’s something more entertaining.

So in terms of documenting themselves and getting that first part rolling, I'm curious—what do you recommend for someone that maybe they do have like a nine-to-five job and they really feel like, “I don’t even know where to start. I don't know what to post. I don't know what the videos should look like.”

Do you recommend they start by making a list of references? Or how do they actually create a plan and create a calendar or schedule that they can follow that works for them?

Jazmine: Yeah, I would say definitely look for artists or accounts that you like—that you're like, “Oh, this is cool. This resonates with me. This resonates with my aesthetic or my vision or what I’m trying to let my fans know about me.”

And just kind of make a list, and you can see what they're doing that you like—but also look for accounts that you don’t like. You’re like, “Oh, that’s definitely not for me.”

And have kind of like, these are top five things of these artists or these other accounts that I really enjoy, and these are five that I don't. And in that way, you can be like, “Okay, I know I shouldn't shoot from this angle,” or “I would always do things in the studio versus outside.”

Whatever those things that resonate with you are, that’s a good way to start.

And then the calendar—you know, it’s great to have a calendar and we do it with our artists, but it’s not realistic for most artists, especially if you have a nine-to-five or something like that.

So if you can do a calendar, that's great. Start easy—start with like a Google spreadsheet or notes on your phone, something easy like that.

But if you can, just schedule it in the app directly, right? On Instagram, all those apps—you can schedule ahead of time. So kind of start doing that, like, “Hey, go up at noon,” or whatever time.

That's probably the easiest way to start. That way, you don't have to do it manually.

It reduces the entry barrier for just getting used to doing it. Set an alarm on your phone. That’s probably the easiest way to just get in the habit of posting.

And start slow. If you're not sure where to start, start slow. Say, “I’m just gonna post one time this week.” That’s it—one time.

All right. You got that one time. All right. And then slowly start increasing into two, and maybe three. And if you can sustain, maybe even more.

But you gotta start somewhere, and that's where I think a lot of artists get hung up.

If you're already showcasing what you're doing—documenting what you already do as an artist—then the content is already there. You don't have to wrack your brain like, “Oh, what do I make today?”

Michael: Hmm. Awesome. So what you're saying is that it's best, when you're just getting started, not to overwhelm yourself and try to go too far off the deep end with creating a massive content calendar, but really just start by one post at a time.

And to try to lean toward using the actual platform that's native to post it and scheduling it there, since that’s just one extra step that you can remove—versus if you put it somewhere else and then you still have to go to the app and schedule it.

Awesome.

So let's talk a little bit about—let’s say that someone’s lucky enough to post something, one of their songs or a clip, and it does go viral. And they start seeing a lot of traction.

And this reminds me of one of our clients, Apollo Fresh, who had one of his songs go viral on TikTok. He basically went from scratch to getting about 97 million streams on one of his songs, “Jojo Pose.”

And this was early on, before he really had his kind of rain catcher set up to maximize that virality.

So I'm curious what you would suggest for an artist who's here and wants to make sure they are prepared—so that if they do happen to have a post that really takes off, they can make the most out of it.

Jazmine: Yeah, definitely doing just an audit of all your online presence. I think that's number one. Every artist should do that. Put a reminder on your phone—do it once a month, right? Because links break, and you might not even know. Or you had a show and you were so busy with the show that you forgot to take the link down after the show happened.
 And then people think like, “Oh, you're playing The Troubadour,” and—“Oh wait, that already happened,” right?

So doing just a monthly check to make sure all your ducks are in a row: there’s a place where people can contact you, there's a place where people can easily buy your merch, find you on Spotify or any other DSP—all those things.

A lot of times people do a link-in-bio type system, and then a link gets broken or it’s got Spotify but not Apple Music. And you went viral on TikTok, and TikTok is linked to the person’s Apple Music, and they can’t find your song. Things like that, right?

So making sure you’re doing that at least once a month—just do a quick audit, make sure everything’s working. Make sure you definitely have a website. I think people miss that now because they're like, “Oh, I have a link in bio—that's good enough.”

You still want your website. You still want a place where you can drive traffic to, where you can always have that to rely on. Because you can’t rely on a third party—like all these linked companies that are like, “Oh, put everything here and forget about a website.”

You still want something that’s yours, that you can control. So I think that’s number one.

I think if you do start to see some traction in a video or a song or anything that you've posted, then it’s like: look at the analytics. Where are these people coming from? What’s bringing them there? What’s their demographic? What location are they from?

Look at all that information that you have available, and how do you maximize it? If all of a sudden you’re getting a spike in Chicago, hey—maybe you should figure out how to play a show there, right? So you can do it within a timely manner and not miss out on that.

And definitely connect with them. Don’t just be like, “Oh, you watched my video,” and that’s it. Figure out how to connect with them.

If they’re leaving you comments, respond to all the comments, right? Because you want to start building that relationship so they not only follow you on the platform where you’ve gone viral, but they go to other platforms. They go to your YouTube, they subscribe to your YouTube, they go to your Spotify, etc.

So I think those are the two main things somebody can do once they start to see some traction.

Michael: Mm. Awesome. So to start with, make sure that your link in bio is properly set up on all your platforms. Make sure that you’re auditing it regularly to make sure that they work.

And ideally having a platform that you own as sort of a source of truth—as opposed to a link-in-bio platform where you can do some cool things, but you don’t actually own that audience. So you want to have something you have control over.

And then actually having a way to connect with those people—not just, they sign up for something, but you’re actually sending them a message, you’re having a conversation back and forth.

Cool. So I’m curious, specifically as it relates to that step after someone maybe clicks on the link in your bio and they go to your website, do you have any recommendations?

I know a big challenge for a lot of indie artists especially is monetization—and how do I make this sustainable when I’m not really getting paid a whole lot for my streams? What do you see that’s working well right now for artists to convert social media traffic into sustainable revenue?

Jazmine: I think that comes in a couple different ways.

One of them is giving your audience something special that they’re not finding on social. So whether it’s, you know, doing—you pay a subscription model and you get to have a once-a-month call with me, Zoom or whatnot. Or “I’m gonna write a song for you for that special occasion.”

Doing things that are unique to somebody where they can pay a little bit more than just the streaming of a song.

But again, what’s sustainable to you as an artist, right? If you’re working a nine-to-five, that might be hard—to be writing a song for people all the time. But something scalable—obviously outside of merch—doing, “Hey guys, I’m gonna Zoom you into my studio session so you can watch me, see how I work.”

You can have 200 people watching that. If they’re paying $5 each, right—that’s a little extra money.

Things like that, where it’s easy, again, things that you’re already doing, and it’s easy to have somebody come in and watch. Obviously you don’t wanna do that for every song, but every now and then it feels special.

It feels like, “Oh, that’s really cool.” Rihanna’s not letting people do that, right? So you gotta see: “Okay, that’s an artist I really like, and I can connect. I can see his process outside of what he’s posting on social media.”

This is more one-on—you know, feels like one-on-one, even though it’s not, there are people watching it.

Things like that.

And then just making sure that because you do have that connection, that when you do have shows, you’re maximizing that.

Whether it’s a VIP meet-and-greet or an exclusive merch item, or you’re signing things—just to continue that connection and hopefully get more revenue.

You know, outside of all the platforms that you can monetize—YouTube, etc.—you wanna give them something where they feel like they’re special. And that works really well because it’s unique to the—

Michael: Super helpful. Yeah, so it sounds like what you’re saying is that a great way to start—kind of similar to how you recommend starting with socials too—is just reflecting on what are you doing already as part of your creative process.

And how can you invite fans to be a part of that process? And how can you give them access to you as you’re being creative?

Whether that means having a livestream that happens as you’re recording one of your songs, or even giving people the ability to connect with you directly through a Zoom call once a month, or doing a custom song that’s written specifically for them.

These are ways to share your creative process with your people in a deeper way. And it’s a good place to start in terms of monetizing your existing community.

Cool, Jaz, you’re definitely speaking my language.

You might not know this—'cause we just launched this like a week ago—but we have a software as a service that we just launched called StreetTeam, and basically it’s built for that exact purpose in mind.

It’s sort of like if Patreon and Discord and Facebook Groups had a baby—but instead of Mark Zuckerberg owning your baby, the artist owns their fan data so they can send email campaigns, automated workflows, and basically have a CRM system to connect with their fans and monetize it.

So 100% in line with the platform. And also, the platform’s free to use, with a 10% commission on the revenue that’s generated on the platform.

So it’s the first time I can actually say that and it’s available—and people who are watching this or listening to this, they can actually go get it. Which is kind of exciting.

Cool. So, Jaz, with Modern Musician, one thing that we like to come back to is the word “modern”—sort of like, where are things right now? What’s cutting edge? What’s the upcoming wave that, if we swim along with, we can catch and get that momentum for the next wave.

So I’m curious, with your perspective, having worked with a lot of different artists and kind of seeing the waves come and go—each of those waves is kind of like a trend, and they come and go, but the actual process of catching the waves kind of stays the same.

What do you see as some of the biggest waves that are approaching right now? If someone happens to be watching and swimming along with it, they might be able to catch that momentum and get a head start.

Jazmine: I think the main thing right now is with the uncertainty, of course, of TikTok. It's like, what do we do if you have been an artist that’s gotten success on TikTok, right? You have this massive audience there. When it went away for a day, people didn’t know what to do. They were freaking out, and it was kind of like panic mode.

So I think the wave—and what I mentioned earlier—is being able to control what you are doing online. Obviously, we have these tools: Instagram and TikTok. But you can't control them. Your fate is up to their hands. So trying to pivot into something that you can control—whether it’s emails, text messages, things like that, your website—no matter what happens to these platforms, you’re still going to be okay.

I think that’s the main focus now. They're great tools. And if you go viral on them, it’s such a huge thing that we didn’t have before, right? To be able to put up a video and then it goes viral.

I’m not saying stop using them—but use them as tools to help you build something you can control, that is in your hands, rather than just relying on an algorithm or a company that, if something goes wrong and you contact them, you can’t get a hold of anybody.

I get that from a lot of artists, like, “Hey, something happened to my account,” or, “I got hacked,” or, “I can’t get ahold of anybody.” You spend all this time and money building out this platform, and then when you have an issue, you can't get ahold of anybody.

So having something that you can control—I think that’s the next wave of what should be the focus. And also, if everybody is doing it, it gives a message to the industry as a whole. “Hey, we appreciate the tools—Instagram, TikTok—all these platforms. We get it. They’re important. But we also want something we can control.”

Imagine if everybody at the same time focused on that. It's like, “We’re still going to use your tools, don’t worry. But we want to make sure we’re building our own community so we have control of it, versus you guys having control of it.”

Imagine if everybody did that at the same time—what would happen?

Michael: Mm, 100%. Yeah. I mean, it reminds me of MySpace, right? MySpace was so powerful as a platform, but basically the platform died, and people who had millions of followers and fans lost access to connect with those people.

So I mean, that’s—yeah, I don’t want to make this overly self-promotional, but StreetTeam—that’s part of the core reason we built it. Because we feel the same way: it's important for artists to have a direct link to their fans.

Even if StreetTeam dies or people don’t like me and they want to go do their own thing, they own that fan data in a way that they don’t on these other platforms.

But having an email list, a text message list, knowing who your people are so you can actually see them and send them a message—I think it’s extremely, extremely important. So I 100% agree with what you’re saying.

Okay, curious as well—in terms of the future of music—I’d probably be remiss if I didn’t bring up AI, as it relates to being a musician and using these tools to potentially supplement our own creativity.

Curious to hear your takes on AI, in particular generative AI, as a creative tool. I think there’s a lot of controversy right now due to the nature of these tools to be able to replace certain functions that we used to rely on musicians for directly.

Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

Jazmine: Yeah, I think a lot of people are concerned about it. I see it as another tool. If you use it to your advantage—if you figure out how to make it work for you—I think it saves a lot of time.

That time you’re saving, you can use to be creative—something that AI can’t necessarily do the same way you can.

So that’s first and foremost—use it as a tool to help you do whatever you're doing.

And then the whole duplicating artist voices and likeness—that’s not going to stop. It’s not going to go away. People are going to continue to build those AI tools and make them better and better every day. They've been doing that for the past, I don’t know how many years. It just keeps getting better each day.

So instead of fighting it, figure out how to make this work for you.

Even if you look at actors—there are a couple of A-list actors that have gotten sick, but they’ve used AI to help them continue their work and their legacy. They continue to build on what they’ve done themselves. And now it's like, “Hey, I can’t be on set because I’m sick, but you can do this,” right?

So using it that way—thinking about it that way—as a tool to help you.

Yes, possibly along the way, people might lose jobs over it, but that comes with every single technology that’s been invented since humans started inventing things.

Before, people used to ride horses, then the train took over. Then the car took over. People lost their jobs along the way. That’s with every technology.

You just have to figure out how to make it work for you and what you’re trying to accomplish. And every musician is different.

Some musicians just want to write songs. AI might be able to write a song, but it might not be able to write a song the way you can.

You can use it to help you write a better song.

So I think it’s just a matter of what you're trying to accomplish as a musician, as an artist, and how you can use it to help you be better at that and make you more creative.

So you’re freeing up your time with mundane tasks and using that time for creativity.

Michael: Hmm. Got it. Yeah, I totally agree.

So what you’re saying is that with these tools—if you look at the history of different tools, especially as it relates to music—there’s been a lot of resistance and fear around drum machines and other technologies. People thought they would replace analog or replace the creative and the artist.

Ultimately, what’s happened is it has shifted some roles, and some things we don’t need anymore. But it's really been used as a tool to augment our creativity—to take that creative expression and do it faster, easier, or in a more unique way.

So these tools—we should approach them in a similar way. We shouldn’t shy away from using them because the cat’s out of the bag.

Instead, we should use them to express ourselves and share our voice in a way that’s unique.

Jazmine: Yeah. If you look at something like Napster—it’s a good example. Every major label and big player in the music industry was so hesitant about it. They were like, “Oh, back to our way.”

But they didn’t embrace it. It could have been so different had they embraced it and worked with them to make something that works for everybody, where everybody was making money and doing great.

But instead, it shifted the industry completely because they were resisting this new technology.

People who invent new things are not going to stop because someone doesn’t like something. They're just going to continue.

So instead of fighting it, why don’t we work together to figure out what works for all of us, versus just one person?

And I think that’s what happened with Napster—they didn’t work with them. Napster said, “Well, we’re going to keep going. It’s working for us.”

And then, you know, we know what happened.

But if you're more open to collaboration—and a lot of people are just so against it because they don’t necessarily want to change—change can be a good thing.

Michael: So interesting. I mean, I think about this a lot just in terms of the different technologies that have come out and companies and revolutions, and how often it is that there’s like a David and Goliath situation—where these giant companies have every reason to think that they would win as this new emerging technology comes out because they have so many resources to use it.

But then somehow there’s a new up-and-coming, lean platform that is able to David-and-Goliath topple a giant—like Kodak.

I’m curious, as it relates to AI versus other technologies—I wonder. I mean, this type of technology—I totally agree with the sentiment of using these tools as an extension of our creativity. That, to me, feels like an obvious “yes.” Every tool that’s come along can be used as a tool to shorten the gap between idea and reality.

I also wonder about AI as it relates to things like AGI and superintelligence. Obviously, these are maybe further-out topics, but a lot of estimates for these are AGI in the next couple of years and superintelligence by 2044. So these are not far away in the grand scheme of things.

So I’m curious—as it relates to things like AGI, which is almost like a fundamentally different type of tool in the sense that it could theoretically actually do things as well as humans—when we have access to that kind of intelligence and resource, what do you think happens to artists?

I’m curious to hear your perspective on this. I think there’s actually a unique space or value that artists—and art in particular—can bring to the economy when most of our other economics break down.

So I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. Maybe this is more philosophical or abstract, but just—what’s the value of art, especially in a post-AI world where we maybe have an abundance of goods and services?

Jazmine: I think this goes outside of art and music, right? Just look at a painting or any form of art. Throughout history, we’ve seen new technology help, but the value is still how much someone is willing to pay for that piece of art.

We saw it with NFTs—it was similar. How much is someone willing to pay for the ape, right? People were paying millions of dollars. So if someone is willing to pay for it, it is valuable. I think that will be the same case in 2044 or whenever this happens.

The artists we know and love—and even new artists starting out today—by 2044 will have an audience. If someone is willing to listen to that artist and pay attention to what they’re doing, I don’t think it has to be one or the other. They can coexist.

NFTs are a good case study—suddenly you could mass produce these pieces of art, but people were buying them left and right. One artist did an exhibit here—he had smiley faces, like your typical two-dot smiley face, but he generated over a thousand different variations of it. He sold out all of them. And it was a smiley face. There wasn’t much, but it had small variations.

People bought it. He’s still being an artist. Other people have done smiley faces in different variations, but it still worked because people were willing to pay for his. He turned it into merch—now there are hoodies with different smiley faces, etc.

So I think it's a good case study for how technology can affect the future of musicians. As long as people are willing to listen—and even if a song is similar—it’s still different at the end of the day. The voice might be different, it might be in a different key, they might have used different drums, slowed it down, sped it up—whatever the case. But the songs are still different.

If people are relating to the song, I think there’s room for both to coexist. I don’t think it has to be one or the other. And I think that’s what people are scared of with AI—they think, “It’s going to replace me. I’m going to become obsolete.” I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.

If you look at any other industry that’s been disrupted—like Uber or Airbnb—people said, “Ubers are going to destroy taxis.” But both are still in existence. There are pros and cons to both. As a consumer, you may use both. Yes, there are fewer taxis, but they’re not gone.

So I think there are ways to coexist—where you're taking the benefits.

Things we might not think about—if you're a disabled person, you can't really catch a taxi, but you can get an Uber on your phone. That technology made it possible. So it’s ways of looking at technology—how can you use it to benefit you, and not just you, but the bigger picture—the world in general?

So being scared of AI is not a good way of looking at it. You kind of have to be open to how it can help not only yourself, but the people around you.

With art specifically, again, it's to help us be more creative. It's taking away the mundane things we have to do as humans to have a career, be professional, etc.

Now you don’t have to do something that normally takes two hours. Take those two hours and be creative—or go have fun, take a walk—do something that fills your soul.

Those are important differentiators. You have to look at it as a tool and a way to help you, rather than being scared of it.

Michael: Good stuff. It’s so interesting—the point you made about art being valued in the eye of the beholder. We decide, as a community or culture, what the value of art is.

What it reminds me of is how some artists—their art gained value after they died, right?

Jazmine: Right, yeah.

Michael: And that’s wild, because most things on the market don’t work that way. It's based on supply and demand, or need. But art is in this different territory—it’s about human expression, soul, culture, community. Maybe even arbitrary—because we decide what has value and what we’re willing to pay for it.

So I agree. I think there’s an opportunity in this next era of the world—with an abundance of goods and services—that art is one of the few things that will have real value and scarcity. People will want to own it, and because of the limited nature of it, it’ll have value.

This is fun.

Well, Jazz, I feel like we’ve covered the full spectrum—from social media strategy and boots-on-the-ground content creation, to the future of superintelligence and AGI.

So this has been a lot of fun. Thank you for coming on here to share a little bit about your experience and wisdom.

And for anyone who’s listening or watching this right now who’s interested in connecting more with you and your company—could you share a bit more about the best way to get in touch? And specifically, who is the ideal artist or candidate that would get the most value from what you offer?

Jazmine: Yeah, they can find us at JVAgency.co. That’s our website. All our handles are @JVAgency.

We check them. We listen to music—so please send us your music if you’re an artist listening.

I think you’d benefit if—you know—we work with artists who want to succeed. That’s the easiest way to put it. We want to make sure you accomplish your goals and get out there, whatever those goals are. If you’re willing to put in the work, we’re willing to help you get to where you want to go. So that’s who we work with.

Michael: Awesome. Like always, we’ll put the links in the show notes for easy access.

And Jazz, thank you again for being on the podcast today.

Jazmine: Thank you for having me. This was fun.

Michael: Yeah.