24kGoldn speaks at Ross about experience in the music industry

The University of Michigan’s Michigan Music Business Club hosted a speaker event and Q&A session with rapper 24kGoldn Thursday afternoon. About 100 students filled the Robertson Auditorium at the Ross School of Business to hear about the artist’s experience in the music industry, his creative process and advice for college students looking to enter the industry.

24kGoldn discussed his first viral song, “Valentino,” which gained popularity while he was a freshman at the University of Southern California in 2019. He said the campus environment helped him grow his initial fan base.

“Being in college, I think, was one of the best things for my music career,” 24kGoldn said. “I had instant access to people that were in the same community that I could actually build that fan base before the world heard it.”

24kGoldn also said being in college gives rising artists unique opportunities to share their music.

“I think going to a school like this is a cheat code,” 24kGoldn said. “I was like, ‘This is where my fan base is going to start — in college.’ … I don’t know if they do shows, but if they do, you should be at Rick’s doing your little 10-minute set, play a couple songs, find out who the DJ is, slip him a 20, get him to play your song. That’s going to go a lot further than anything you can do online at the earliest point in your career.”

LSA senior Jake Friedman, co-president of Michigan Music Business Club, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily that he hopes attendees were inspired by 24kGoldn’s experience.

“24kGoldn did a great job of explaining that school is super important, but you just make time to be an artist,” Friedman said. “I hope people are inspired to maybe make their first song, or stick to going into the music industry.”

Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Ian Kim told The Daily he and his friend, LSA sophomore Arjun Abhyankar, came to the event to gain insight about the music industry and apply it to their future careers.

“We’re here because we have a huge drive for music,” Kim said. “Arjun is an artist himself, and I’m also doing passion projects, so we’re just here today to gather first-hand insight from an artist who made it pretty big. I want the speaker today to really fill my drive up more to pursue music and keep doing what I’m doing.”

Abhyankar said in an interview with The Daily he came to the event to understand more about navigating the music industry.

“The biggest thing I can gain out of this event is to understand what an artist actually wants,” Abhyankar said. “And what are the mechanics of the music industry, because it’s a pretty predatory place if you don’t know what you’re doing, but by learning how to actually navigate it, I think we can make it a much more fair landscape.”

24kGoldn often talks about not limiting himself to the rap genre. During the event, the rapper commented on being able to switch between genres.

“I think people that work in music but aren’t necessarily creatives — they’re never going to understand what it’s like to be a creative,” 24kGoldn said. “They might understand business, they might understand marketing, but you’re an artist or you’re not. I think a lot of times they approach music from a one-minded business perspective, when it’s really not like that. There’s countless examples of people that made music that didn’t really make sense at the time, that stuck with that and saw their vision through, and now we admire and respect it.”

During the Q&A portion, 24kGoldn said his music career has been a learning curve, but he enjoys being able to constantly learn and grow. 

“The farther you progress, the more you realize you don’t know,” 24kGoldn said. “The challenges you’re going to face when you’re starting off fresh, zero monthly listeners, nobody knows who you are, are going to be completely different than the challenges you’re going to face when you have a million followers, but you’re trying to get on the radio. There’s always that next level. It’s about being open minded and constantly readjusting your course.”

Daily Staff Reporter Christina Zhang can be reached at zchristi@umich.edu. 

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