Meet Koday Jackson | Independent Music Artist, Composer & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Koday Jackson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Koday, how do you define success?
This is an interesting question that doesn’t get asked a lot in interviews if you think about it, so I’m glad it’s being asked. Depending on who you ask success can be defined in so many ways because everyone’s view on it is different every time, most people would describe “success” as being rich, famous and just making it to the very top but this is simply not true in the slightest. While yes everyone would love to be on top of the world and to be well known, to me I would describe it as achieving desired goals, personal growth, or a sense of fulfillment rather than just wealth, as that’s typically what some people will focus on the most when being asked this question. All I could ever want out of my music career is for people to enjoy my music and to perform in front of others regardless of whether or not I ever get famous from it, because that wasn’t the original intention of my musical path. The reason I do what I do in music is because I love creating from the heart and sharing it with my fans and hopefully soon the whole world as well, I said it once before in a previous interview and I’ll say it again, if you’re doing music only to make massive profit or the fame side of it, then you’re clearly doing it for the wrong reasons and you’re better off choosing another career over music because if you’re trying to make money quickly then why choose music for that specific purpose in the first place? You have to be all in and want it really bad if you want to make music your career, being successful means doing what I truly love as a living, living in comfort, having a roof over my head, and being able to enjoy my life to the fullest with family and friends, tranquality is also key to me and all those things I mentioned is all we could ever want in our jounery of life. There’s a quote that I always go back to when it comes to talking about the whole concept of success and it goes as follows, “To live a life of power, you must have faith that what you believe is right, even if others tell you you’re wrong. The first thing you must do to live a life of power is to find courage. You must be ready to reach beyond the boundaries of time itself. And to do that, all you need is the will to take that first step….” and if you know where that’s from then you’re a legend haha, you could apply it to any aspect of life or any career path, plain and simple.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a music composer, producer and independent music artist and I’m also currently a music major at College of the Canyons this year! I’ve been doing music professionally for about 6 years now with keeping count of it, although I didn’t truly release my first proper single until the beginning of 2023 (for those who have read my previous interview you guys know all the lore by now). I’d say what sets me apart from others in the music industry is doing multiple styles of music to show my versatility, wether it be exploring the past and making 80s and 90s music, or spicing things up with some ambient music or jazz music, as you can tell I’m all about the nostalgia vibes when it comes to my specific sounds in music and I plan to keep it that way haha. I’m excited for everyone to see my newer works this time around and ideas I’ve been having in store for a while now. I plan on dropping a few smooth jazz and jazz fusion albums/ep’s this year that are inspired by the band Macabre Plaza, and infamous jazz artists like George Benson and Paul Hardcastle. I’ll also be possibly venturing into the realm of making “digital hardcore” music soon due to the heavy inspiration of the band Machine Girl and a few others within that genre of music, I recently saw them live with a few friends on March 20th and it was a life changing experince to say the least. After seeing them live for the first time, I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration to try to make my own take on “digital hardcore” music with a similar style to theirs, we shall see what the fans have to say about it whenever that specific material is made. The road to get where I’m at currently wasn’t an easy one but through all the trials and errors of learning they were definitely worth it to me, taking the time to practice my craft and instruments have pushed me to become better each day as some people don’t put in the time for it and they always wonder why they never improve. I’m always constantly trying to work at something to go past my limits in music and that’s every musician should be doing anyway, never be satisfied with where you’re at trust me you will start to see a change in certain things I promise. I want the world to know that my music is a safe place for people to get lost in whenever it gets a little too noisy and to hopefully tour the world one day and play music to my fans in person and to maybe collab some day with some of my music heros, it still amazes me the amount of support I continue to get even to this day from people all of the country and that’s something truly special to me that I’ll never let go of ever and it’s truly so appericated you have no idea. If you want to follow me on my music journey or just stay updated with new releases, be sure to check out my Instagram page @koday.jackson.official as I interact with fans and I’m more active on there compared to other platforms at least. Something my music mentor would always say, don’t stop spreading the love of music, no matter what!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
From where I’m at there isn’t that much to do out here apart from looking at poppies or going to a friend’s place to hangout, you’ll probably get more interesting stuff going into LA or etc. The only thing out here that’s actually fun is going to the boulevard as I love going and supporting our local record store “Voodoo Vinyl” there and shopping for some vinyls (do check them out their store is amazing!) and there’s bunch of other places within that one area to explore and its a great way of spending the day with friends or loved ones. I’m a sucker for some good fish and chips or clam chowder as those are both my favorite foods ever and I couldn’t recommend it enough to go to “York Shore House” in my opinion they have the best seafood my town has to offer or maybe I’m a little baised but oh well that’s just me, another really great food place to check out is “Gonzalez Meat Market” I always love eating tortas there!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would love to give big shoutouts to my mentors Mel Booker and Mr.Jeff as I wouldn’t have any of the musical abilities I have now if it weren’t for them pushing and believe in me that I could learn the music, I have so much to learn from both of them and I’m excited to see where my music learning goes from here espcially with jazz music. I’d also like to give another huge shoutout to my mom and dad for always being supportive in what I wanted to do in life and with my music career, as they always strived for me to become the very best I can be in my craft and as a person and for being one of my biggest supporters. I wanna shoutout my amazing lovely girlfriend as well for continuing to believe in what I create and just being the biggest sweetheart ever, I couldn’t be any more thankful to have her by my side cheering me on and also being another one of my biggest supports apart from my parents, I’ve never been with someone THAT supportive of my career choice ever in my life and it makes me love her all the more than I already do <3 My last shoutout goes to family and friends, more specifically my best pals olivia, jayla, julian, ryan, minvera, and franco, I couldn't ask for better yet super supportive friends like you guys backing me up and I'm extremely grateful for our friendships over the years and y'all mean the world to me and I mean it!!

Website: https://winland-records.printful.me/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koday.jackson.official/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-381325348-766641456

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kodayjackson

Other: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Koday_Jackson?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnkjOfXUfmscixLE4eXaFb4tDqKJvnJB4E2mc5AO4j6xc3OnAt73KRznwcpuY_aem_fTbdMBc2C2D9taipCALyyA

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0mD6iOyKzWmklAJDc1GOVF?si=0GKvnHcFTiya9oBtBGt6NA

Image Credits
Some images were professionally done by Brenna Morse, while other photos are personal photos by yours truly