Corey Clark is a 2X R.I.A.A. Certified Gold recording artist, vocalist, & songwriter. Corey is a Billboard chart topping artist placing # 1 twice on multiple charts in Corey was voted by his fans & his musical peers alike as the best male R&B vocalist in Music City USA aka Nashville, Tennessee.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Corey Clark about the new music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Well, just like everybody else on this planet, I come from the stars. We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls and, nitrogen in our brains. We are 93% Stardust, with souls made of flames. We are all just stars that have people names. That is a quote by Nikita Gill. I think it’s something similar to what Carl Sagan once said, that the cosmos is within us, we are made of star stuff, we are a way for the universe to know itself. In order for that statement to be true, we would all have to have at some point, come from the stars or the heavens and, it seems grandiose to me when you think about it, so I like to say that now because it makes me believe that we have somewhere bigger to be after we throw off these mortal coils. But if you are asking me where I was born at once my spirit left the great halls of Heaven, I came into being in San Bernardino CA to my wonderful Earth Hosts Jan and Duane Clark. Some would identify them as my Loving parents who are still together to this day thank God. I grew up in Denver Co, Las Vegas, Utah and now, I am a resident of Mount Juliet Tennessee since 2002. I am thankful to do what I love for a living as it has taken me all over the world and back again. Music is what keeps me alive and happy, besides my loved ones. I create Soul Music. Not the Genre of Soul Music per se, but music that moves my soul at that moment. Could be Country, Folk, Rock, Reggae, Pop, R&B, Blues. I do not believe there should be any boundaries on the type of music a creative makes, because we defied boundaries in even existing. Why start conforming and holding back now? Music is such a pure outlet when you just listen to your soul and create what feels good, as opposed to what you think MIGHT sell.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Well, I would have to first say that The Creator led me down this path of music by first bestowing upon me and blessing me with the gift of song and being able to vocalize my passions and my pains and the desires and wants of my heart and expressing that through music is a wonderful therapeutic pre planned gift to have and share with others. Yes. Because it is not just therapeutic and helpful to myself, but also to those whom are able to or needed to make a connection with my music. If for nothing else to know that whatever they are going through, they obviously are not going through it alone If I have written a song about it that touches them in some way. And they think to themselves, “Wow okay, maybe it’s not as bad as I thought if he feels this way and is still putting one foot in front of the other”. People, especially today, just need to be encouraged to keep going and keep doing the right things, and music is a good medium to publish that message through. My Love for what I do and the People I do it for is what keeps me going. Day in and day out.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
I believe that this release is different than my previous releases because once again I am not constrained in so much as what it is I allow myself to be influenced to create. Every single I put out, every album I put out, is a new layer of growth in my life as a man, as a father, as a musician, as a friend, as a brother, as a son and family member, as a man of service to my communities and the youth I encounter. I just need to always be showing growth is really my only goal and I believe that by venturing out and creating different styles of music and different types of songs, it allows for that growth to occur organically and for me to always reinvent myself with ease as I see fit. I don’t have to follow some type of industry trend or sound like this artist or that artist, ’cause I’m always gonna be myself and I’m always going to be in my own Lane and therefore, I’ve created essentially my own environment where I can fully thrive and prosper by just being me and just doing me and showing love to everybody else along the way that I meet on my journey of music and life.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
If you are not being challenged than you are not growing or getting better. I am my biggest obstacle to overcome most of the time. I look at the things that I do to make what I do for a living viable as a mandatory means to that end. I wanted to have a distribution deal and not a record deal so that I could own me and be in charge of me. But that comes with responsibilities and beneficial challenges of growth and education. I do not have the big budgets anymore, but I do have a major Entertainment Company Distributing my music to every corner of the globe thanks wholly to SM1 Music Group and the team there, along with KMG Distribution and Roynet Music. And now, when I partner up with some of these corporate entities to finance the marketing and promotional campaigns of my projects, I will not have to sell Millions of records just to break even. I can sell 100,000 records and no one ever really hear my name in the mainstream again, and I am still taking home six figures a year after paying my musicians and producers what they are owed? It is a great challenge to have to be able to say I own myself and I control my destiny. I am my own boss. And there is an amazing peace of mind that comes along with that.
What was the last song you listened to?
I just got done listening to Part 1: Overture by Chick Correa R.I.P.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I love the warmth of vinyl, the analog room ambience that fills in the blanks missed by the digitizing of how music is created now with 1’s and 0’s. CDs were simple and easy to use, but hard to keep from getting scratched. Mp3’s are convenient to send around, but that about it. Our industry needs to get a hold of Piracy as you can see, the corporate music industry still makes their money, but now artists are literally being offered less than half a penny per stream, and that is IF you are on one of the bigger platforms and are not subject to people stealing your work. Spoiler alert, we’re all subjected to it unwillingly, so don’t feel bad, but MP3’s kind of made that reality worse for the creatives, the artists, the ones who normally do not have the lion’s share of the benefits anyway. Great for the people who just want unlimited free access to people’s intellectual property, not so great for those who make a living from that intellectual property.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I have got Apple, Spotify, Pandora, and Iheart Radio on my device. You tube is difficult to get any changes made with if someone else is on your page or using your name or a song was uploaded to the wrong place etc…same with Amazon. Unlike the other entities whom I can directly make the changes to My profiles as needed myself or my team can do it, with You Tube and Amazon they have an extremely difficult process if not impossible to get things fixed. Hopefully one day that will change.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
www.cdcmusicllc.com Follow my Spotify artist Page under Corey Clark and add me to your playlists, on Pandora and Iheart Radio and Apple Music and Amazon and Tidal as well. I am @TheCoreyClark and @itsCoreyClark on Instagram. I am thecoreyclark1 on Facebook. I am CDCMUSIC on twitter. TheCoreyClark on TIK TOK and I am also TheCoreyClark on the Filipino Social app that is blowing up right now KUMU. Please also follow my management firm honeybeeproductions8082 on Instagram as well.
Anything else before we sign off?
Yes, an excessively big thank you to my Management firm Honeybee Productions for arranging this interview and everything else you do for our team. Thank you, Samantha from Howard Rosen Productions, for booking this interview for us and all your company’s assistance with breaking our latest Record Naughty Boy which charted up to #50 recently on the Media base Top 40 Radio Charts, we could not have done that without you all. Thank you to my family and friends who continue to support me and my career you are all amazing human beings and I love each of you. Thank you to Thomas Hood and Mr. Clay at SM1 and Ross Robey at KMG Distribution for keeping me moving forward. And last but certainly not least, please allow me to say hello to my three children Yeshua, Gloreya and Lyam, Daddy Loves you and misses each of you and will be home soon. And thank you for the opportunity to interview with you as well. You ask great Questions. Salamat
