Empire State of Music (New York part 1)

If you know anything about me, you know that I'm kind of obsessed with music. Practically every one of my extra curricular activities in high school involved music somehow, and I even continued taking piano lessons when I got to college. I've taken lessons, taught it, assisted in it. You get the point. I like it. Even thought it has consumed every aspect of my life and I could talk about it for hours on end with anyone, I never really considered it as a career until recently. Don't get me wrong, I 100% spent most of my childhood thinking about what it'd be like to grow up to be the next Kelly Clarkson (I had questionable music taste as a child, but it has matured since, I promise). I just looked at the music industry as this big, scary place where only the really lucky/talented were able to take part. But after meeting someone in the music industry, I came to the stark realization that I could go into the music industry if I wanted to, and that in reality, anything is possible. So, after many many months of e-mailing, networking, and working my witty charm, I finally had the privilege of being offered an internship at Zync Music this summer. 

Zync is a music licensing firm. What is music licensing you ask? It's the aspect of music that allows third parties to use copywrited music for various reasons. Zync specifically does the placement of songs into ads, TV, commercials, promos, and movies. Pretty much, someone will call up our office and say he needs a song that sounds like "x, y, and z." The client and Zync would then decide on a song, negotiate prices, etc. until both parties were satisfied.

I don't know if I expected myself to find the next Coldplay or produce the next album for OneRepublic at my first-ever music internship, but I had little to no idea what music licensing was before this internship. To be honest, my expectations were not very high going into the summer, but I realized that I needed to start somewhere to get anywhere. Really, this summer was just my test run to see if I even liked working in music.

I went into my first day at Zync, and my boss sat me down to explain to me what was was expected. She was kind yet firm in explaining that this was a commitment, and that I needed to be serious about it or they would fire me (yes, you can get fired as a part-time intern). I really did appreciate that she laid out the ground rules, and it just made me want to work that much harder to prove that I deserved to be there.

I L-O-V-E-D it. In retrospect, I was doing pretty mundane work a lot of the time like office organization and mailings, but I absolutely loved being around other people who appreciated music as much as I do. I also loved working with the girls at Zync. They were all inspiring and encouraging, and I couldn't have imagined a better first internship in the music industry. 

My day-to-day was a lot of administrative work like mailing vinyl and CDs to our clients. I also did a lot of social media posts and updates about our artists and their cool new spots. They even let me tackle some of the licenses, which means that I got to create some of the agreements for our songs to be placed in TV shows. As the summer progressed, I ended up doing harder things like cross-checking our client database and coming up with blurbs describing the CDs, all by myself. Not only did I get to do super cool stuff in the office, but one of the perks in working in the music industry was that I got invited to concerts whenever Zync was invited to concerts. I even got to sometimes meet the artists, their managers, and other cool and important music people who do cool and important music stuff. I think this may have been one of the first times in my life where there was not one day that I didn't want to go to work or one time where I didn't want to do what they asked of me at work. I got to go to work and do something that I loved. I met some awesome people who get to work with musicians and artists that I look up to. My co-workers were by far some of the coolest people you'll ever meet, and I got to discover some unbelievably talented artists who I hope kill it in the near future because they have something to say that other people need to hear.

On the flip side of work, I got to spend a lot of my summer seeing talented artists and groups live (See below for a full list of people I saw). I saw everyone from The Fray, one of my all time favorite bands, to The Family Crest, one of Zync's smaller artists. I kicked off my NYC summer of music at Governor's Ball NYC with one of my high school best friends/all time favorite people. If you love music and have the opportunity to go to a festival, go. It was also such an amazing experience that I couldn't have dreamt to have been better. Not only did Gov Ball have killer headliners like Outkast and Skrillex, but they had smaller artists to be discovered like Banks and Tanlines. NYC is also a music lover's dream in that there are free concerts all the time especially in the summer, and they're not all unheard of bands. Summerstage and Celebrate Brooklyn! had established act like Gavin Degraw and CHVRCHES play free concerts in the city this past summer. If you're interested in seeing more music, you should download the app "Bandsintown." It'll show you a list of bands playing near you, and after a while it'll cater to your music taste and start showing you bands that you seem to like.

To me, music isn't just something you do or listen to. It's this powerful thing that has the ability to describe how you feel when you don't even know how you feel. It has the ability to say something about our culture and where we are as a human race. It can channel love, hurt, anger, happiness, activism, and so much more. It can lift you up when you are down. It can motivate you when you have nothing left. There's something beautiful to be said about an industry that has always existed and never died out. 

This summer,  I got to experience music in a capacity other than just playing it. I appreciated this entire way of life with a fresh perspective, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I got a taste of what it feels like when you take part in creating a little bit of culture and a little bit of something that describes where we are now in 2014. This summer, I fell in love with music all over again.

All the people I had the privilege to see live this summer (Parenthesis indicated that they opened and there were sometimes more than one opener. A star means that I saw them at a festival): 

Ingrid Michaelson (Storyman, Sugar Hi & Lows)

Haerts*

The 1975*

Bastille*

La Roux* 

Phoenix*

Outkast*

Lucius*

Chance the Rapper*

Fitz and the Tantrums*

Disclosure*

The Naked and Famous*

Childish Gambino*

Sleigh Bells*

Skrillex*

Banks*

Tyler the Creator*

J Cole* 

The Head and the Heart*

Foster the People*

Empire of the Sun*

Axwell and Ingrosso (also affectionately known as Departures)*

The Family Crest

Jagwar Ma

Youngblood Hawke 

Caught a Ghost

CHVRCHES

The Fray (Oh Honey, Barcelona)
Zedd

Big Gigantic*

Diplo*

Dillon Francis*

Dougie F and DJ Fire*

DJ Snake*

Vic Mensa*

Flosstradamus*

Grand Theft*

Walshy Fire*

Young Kyle 187*

But What If You Fly?

"There is freedom waiting for you.

On the breezes of the sky.

And you ask, 'What if I fall?'

Oh but my darling,

What if you fly?"

-Erin Hanson

Humans choose not to do a lot of things for fear of repercussions. It's basic "Human Nature 101." We are often irrationally driven to not make decisions because we fear what might happen - socially, emotionally, physically, economically. But what if that decision you didn't make was the best decision you could've made. Life is about taking chances and stepping out of your comfort zone to try something you've never done before. Whether that be talking to a random stranger, volunteering at a homeless shelter, taking a class in a subject you know nothing about, or moving halfway across the world, you never know what you'll miss out on if you don't take those chances. That random stranger might turn into your best friend. Your volunteering opportunity might inspire you to start your own homeless ministry. The class you choose to take might pique your interest into a completely new career, and that move might bring you the best friends and experiences you could ever dream of.

It's never easy to do something that is out of your comfort zone. Me starting this blog is way. WAY. out of my comfort zone. I'm equal parts excited and terrified to be doing this. I'm excited to be sharing my life adventures and thoughts with you, but I'm terrified of the criticism and scrutiny that I will likely receive. Yet, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I would be doing myself a disservice if I were to stop right now because I was scared.

Recently, I've had quite a few experiences that were initially out of my comfort zone. For instance, I spent the last 3 months interning at a music licensing firm in New York City, 4 hours away from where I grew up, where my parents live, and where most all of my friends are. If I were to say that I wasn't nervous going into this experience, I'd be lying to all of you. But this turned out to be the most amazing summer that I've ever had. I met some of the most inspiring people who nurtured my already existing love for music. I also came to the realization that this is something I could do for the rest of my life (more to come on my summer later).

On the same note, I am getting ready to go to Scotland in a few weeks for school. This is also something that I am intimidated yet thrilled about. I don't really know what to expect. I don't really know what exactly is going to happen. But, I know that this is going to be something that I'll talk about for the rest of my life. I know that this new chapter is going to shape me as a person and leave me with more life maturity and wisdom than I could hope for.

I just want to end my first post by saying this: life is a scary place, but it's also full of all these opportunities that can fulfill you in ways that you can't even imagine. I've never considered myself an eloquent person, but I'm excited to take you on my adventure of a life. So:

My name is Stephanie Gaber.

And this is my life.

PS: You all should go listen to Zella Day. She (her music) helped me write this post. She's hip