the cultural reset - an interview with nick lee & shannon ervin
The Cultural Reset (TCR)' is an organization that seeks to uplift the voices, artistic expression, and industry experiences of POC and LGBTQ+ artists navigating the music industry. Through conducting intimate, informational interviews with talent and publishing written reviews of album releases, TCR hopes to embolden underrepresented creatives and industry professionals to make a space for themselves in the music industry. Mxogyny sat down with the founder and Editor-In-Chief, Nick Lee and Director, Shannon Ervin to discover more about TCR and what they hope will be the platform’s impact on the music industry in the near future.
1. For our readers who haven’t heard about TCR before, can you tell us a bit about what your vision is?
Nick Lee: The platform is designed to uplift POC, the LGBTQ community and other marginalised artists. Our goal is to find a way to connect marginalised artists to the music business and promote their art. The main problem in the music industry is that there is a lot of talent that doesn’t get recognised and usually this disproportionately affects POC and LGBTQ artists. So, we wanted to find a way to show the rest of the world that they exist, that they are worthy of being invested in, and marketed to large and diverse audiences. Often, LGBTQ artists are marketed to the LGBTQ audiences when everyone should be able to enjoy their artistry. So, we really want to find a way to make sure that this work can be accessed and enjoyed by everyone.
Shannon Ervin: So, what we are trying to do is to form a sense of community and support for these creatives in the industry. We have artists, producers, visual content creators, so a lot of the conversations we have as TCR is the experience of these creatives in the music industry, how the industry is changing and what needs to change. We try to capture this in our interviews with artist a lot.
One of the biggest things we want to do is to create an award show because as we know a lot of award shows like the Grammys (considered the biggest night in music) are problematic. The award show aims for equal representation that doesn’t focus on the competition since art is a very individual thing that shouldn’t necessarily be about competing with other artists. So, we are looking forward to putting on an award show this 2021!
2. What inspired you to found TCR – what experience or knowledge of the music industry inspired your mission?
Nick: I founded TCR in 2020 and as you know, this was in the midst of social discontent. People were tired of violence, a lack of justice and overall foolishness. So, this was a way for me to give back to an industry that I knew was not really the centre of these conversations. We talk about the music industry because TV and Film had their start with the #MeToo movement which was revolutionary. I just wanted to take the tools I’ve learnt from studying the music industry to have these conversations and make a difference. I founded TCR in July 2020 and Shay and I run it now with a team of 52 volunteers. We all work together to make sure that our platform is as refined as possible.
Shannon: Music has always been a safe haven for me. I started in music festivals. I was doing sustainability for music festivals because it was a safe environment for me to learn about myself. So, when I had this understanding and support from the industry, I kept thinking that the entire industry is not like this experience that I am having and so when it came to the injustice of last summer, I wondered where I could continue my activism and apply my skills. This is the one place where I feel I can apply my skills here and have an impact. TCR has given me an opportunity to continue my activism.
3. Based on your work with underrepresented artists, can you tell us a little bit about representation and erasure in the music industry?
Nick: Oh, how long do you have? It’s a big question but we’ve talked to a lot of artists about and heard so many stories of. I think the one that stood out was an interview we did with Victoria Canal, an amazing song writer who has written for artists like Justin Bieber and she also performs on her own. She talked about a time when she was invited to an event for an organisation that was supposed to celebrate disabled artists but once she performed, they just didn’t treat her the same. She mentioned the treatment was very distant and something had obviously switched. She felt like a prop that was shoved to the back once the event was over.
Shannon: when the cameras were on, that’s when she mattered and once they were off, it was almost like she was a token.
Nick: And that’s the issue. Marginalised artists are used as tokens and it’s all surface level and cosmetic. It’s very transparent—very surface level activism.
Shannon: like Pride Month really exposed a lot of corporations that just come out and say oh here’s our pride merch when they aren’t in actual support of the community.
A lot of large labels for example are run by hetero white males that do not represent the creatives. The people behind the scenes are a product of the label and not necessarily the artist. Although it should be mentioned that there are some labels who are changing their ways and looking to utilise the right representation. We’ve had conversations with creatives who are like, I’ve had to skip around to find the right representation but we’ve also spoken to other artists who have had the opposite experience.
4. Can you take us through your day-to-day process of reaching out to artists, creating playlists, and writing reviews?
Shannon: The volunteers are the most important. We have a pretty large team from around the world and they really make it happen.
For the day-to-day aspects, we have content that rolls out every week on a schedule, so it is like a daily task. We have different departments that run on their own accord. We try to be flexible to the needs of our team to be able to make deadlines and connect with the right people. We have a marketing team, a research team, graphics, writers and editor teams and we are also trying to launch an events team for the award show we are trying to roll out. So, we want to help develop people to develop a particular skill set which they can put on a resume and go out to work in the music industry whilst carrying on this mission.
Nick: On the day-to-day we have different aspects like the Cultural Resetters series where we have artists who reset the industry and the culture somehow in the past. As well as interviews, album reviews which are written by the writers’ team who are impeccable writers. The artists whose albums we review repost our content and they are always grateful that we are covering them and uplifting them.
Also, we are always looking for volunteers because we want to make sure that our team grows as much as possible so people can take what they learn and bring it into the industry to make real change so open call to whoever wants to volunteer.
5. Is there a particular stand out piece of work or project that you are really proud of?
Nick Lee: Mental health awareness in the music industry that has been my favourite event so far. We partnered with an organisation called Sweet Sounds Collective during Mental Health Awareness month. We wanted to have conversations about the mental health for artists because we don’t really have those talks in the industry. A lot of artists feel they don’t have enough support or they feel pressure especially when it comes to touring and producing content. Some artists end up self-harming or committing suicide because of it. So that’s a conversation we wanted to have vulnerably with a mental health professional who could talk these artists through their struggles and experiences. I’d say that was my favourite event for sure.
Shannon: We had about 9 artists in the room, and everyone had a chance to talk and that was hugely impactful, and I think those artists who came to the event were in this vulnerable space together and it was helpful to have support of their peers. So not only was it beneficial to have these artists talking to a mental health professional, they also had the support of their peers.
Nick lee: you could also check this out on our YouTube channel.
Shannon: I really also enjoyed an interview with an artist who caters specially to the deaf community from beginning to end. I think that is constantly overlooked that the deaf community thoroughly enjoys music because who doesn’t? and their experience may be difference but it’s just as impactful as it feels to the hearing community’s experiences. So that was really impactful. People were able to take that knowledge and know how to apply it practically into the music industry. Not just what you should do but how you should do it.
6. What has navigating the music industry been like for TCR, in trying to carve out space for underrepresented artists? What have been the most rewarding and challenging aspects of TCR?
Nick Lee: What has been most rewarding have been the interviews that go into more depth rather than the surface level. And the most challenging has perhaps been the work because we are still in our early stages. But what’s been nice has been having a solid system that runs on its own and we have a great team.
Shannon: Also, this is a difficult conversation to have because it’s sensitive and it needs to be taken seriously and with integrity. There are a lot of situations we’ve found ourselves in where we can’t allow some artists to be on our platform because they don’t necessarily fit into the categories we try to uplift but then that’s also a grey line.
But as far as the rewarding side of things, it’s when we have an artist reaches out and tells us that the work we are doing is impactful for them or when we have one of our volunteers get hired onto a team after they’ve built up their skills with us.
7. Through your work at TCR and your dialogue with underrepresented artists, what changes would you hope to see in the music industry going forward? What do you hope for TCR going forward?
Shannon: TCR has the potential to be something very big.
Nick: I think TCR—it can be a big thing and we want to be impactful and to have a tangible impact on the industry. I think in the future, it can really make a difference and we have so much coming on the horizon like the award show because there is no award show that is doing what we are doing. That is just going to allow more people to come in and to understand the message we are trying to spread.
Shannon: Another thing is shifting the motive of the music industry. A lot of this is driven by money and whilst money is necessary, creators should not be at the whim of labels. From beginning to end, music should be about the music. This is what the cultural reset is doing. And things are changing so it’s just about spreading that message and getting people on board.
Nick: I really do want the marketing aspect to be changed because even though music is a business, and we know people have to make a living, the problem is that there are so many limiting factors for artists. For example, there is no reason Sam Smith should be marketed to the LGBTQ community alone when they were marketed to everyone before they came out. Same for Normani, who is now only being marketed to the black community because she released an R’n’B song. I think people should be able to have access to every community.
Shannon: You can’t put artists into boxes. We should be allowed to explore.
Nick Lee is an "International Business" and "Business Entertainment" alum of The American University. Having worked and interned for prestigious broadcasts such as 'CBS News', 'The Tamron Hall Show' and 'The Daily Show with Trevor Noah'—and as a singer and performer himself—Nick is a passionate advocate for cultural and ethnic diversity in all facets of the entertainment industry. He hopes to use 'The Cultural Reset' to bridge the diversity gap in music through creating a platform where innovative creatives of color and LGBTQ+ identities are uplifted.
Shannon (Shay) is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a degree in sustainability. In the position of Assistant Director she hopes to use her voice to make space for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people in the music industry. Shay stands for inclusivity and love. She believes that music has the power to bring people together for change, whether its for equality, justice, or to combat climate change. She believes that music opens people's ears, heart and minds. Now that the music industry is having to adjust there is no better place or time for TCR to reset the industry and put the power in the artist's hands.
You can find TCR on their website, instagram and donate via PayPal.