Meet Sergio Salamanca | Music Producer & Sound Engineer

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

Hi Sergio, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
Everyone thinks that music is made by only one artist or producer, but they don’t know that most of the greatest songs produced in the industry are a group effort of different collaborators, including songwriters, arrangers, producers, engineers, musicians, promoters, and managers. Music is a teamwork industry, and it is impossible for artists to handle everything by themselves, musicians need to collaborate with others to facilitate music production and distribution. The global pandemic demonstrated that there is no business, artist or enterprise, no matter how big and successful, that is immune to a global crisis and extremely challenging situations. On the other hand, the pandemic also showed how valuable and important music can become in times of uncertainty, and I personally believe that music is not valued accordingly.

From record labels to distribution services and streaming platforms, music must be respected and valued, and it all starts from musicians, artists and producers demanding what is correct in such an unfair business. PRO’s such as ASCAP and BMI could have a much larger community and involvement. With the correct investment, marketing, promotion, and strategic development these companies could reach a much larger audience of musicians and artists that are not aware of what PRO’s are or how they work. From the whole population of artists around the world, only a small percentage are using PRO companies such as ASCAP, BMI, or the respective companies in such country, and this is due to a lack of information, a lack of advertising, a lack of development and a lack of communication between collection organizations and the creative community around the globe.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a music producer, sound engineer and DJ focused on electronic music production and promotion. In the past 8 months in LA, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with songwriters, singers, and producers to complete my first artist E.P which will be released on streaming platforms soon. Working on this E.P has been a long process of creation, composition, production, and development of the songs. I had started these productions since my time at the undergraduate in Berklee College of Music and now I’ve been blessed to complete them with amazing talented friends in LA. Besides the hard work on the production and mixing of the record, this project has been a learning opportunity to learn about music business, promotion, and distribution, I am learning different techniques and ways of organic and non-organic promotion to make sure the promotion and distribution of the E.P is as professional as it can possibly be.

I am very interested in the music business as well, and I am looking forward to learning more and develop in this area, I personally believe that we need better communication and development systems between PRO, CMO and MRO’s, publishers, record labels, artists, music distributors and publishers in the global industry. We need unity, community, and global support to value music and develop the industry into more growth and fair payment for all. I am personally committed and enthusiastic about all these challenges. At times it may seem difficult or disheartening, but I am confident that with the correct tools and my inherent passion for the business, I will be able to contribute to have a fair system. I am not only interested in the economics of the topic, or in making money; I am also interested in changing the landscape for future musicians.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
LA is an exciting city full of activities, museums, parks, and entertainment always going on. My favorite part of the city is Venice beach and Santa Monica, there are plenty of restaurants, bars, and tours to do around, it is also an extremely vibrant, energetic, and happy environment which I enjoy every time. LA’s underground electronic scene is also extremely powerful and exciting, it has grown a lot recently with multiple clubs, promoters, festivals, and events always going on, therefore there are a lot of international and local DJ’s, live acts and producers that come to LA to perform and to collaborate with other artists, making it a very exciting and attractive city for musicians and producers.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to specially thank my family for supporting me over the past years with my dreams and goals. Without their ongoing support I would not have been able to live the past year in LA and learn so much from producers, artists, and engineers from the industry. I have been extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work at 2 different studios, a podcast, a musical production and assist a producer with engineering, and with these projects and work I have done in LA I have learned and developed as a professional musician and as a human being, for that I will be forever grateful.

Website: https://sssdjproducer.wixsite.com/sssmusic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sssdjproducer/

Image Credits
Miguel Angel Ortega