FROM MY NOTEBOOK
"The record label didn't stop developing artists.
It simply handed the responsibility to the artist."
— Felisha
When my group “Cherish” debuted in 2006, the music industry operated on a completely different model.
Artists were signing record deals with six-figure advances. Producers were negotiating multi-million-dollar publishing deals. Labels invested heavily in artist development, media training, vocal coaching, image consulting, branding, and the long-term cultivation of an artist's career.
You weren't simply handed a microphone.
You were surrounded by an entire infrastructure designed to help you become an artist people believed in.
That infrastructure cost millions of dollars to build.
Today, much of it is gone.
Now we're asking artists to do what entire companies used to do.
Build your own brand.
Find your own producer.
Hire your own photographer.
Learn marketing.
Understand analytics.
Create content.
Build a community.
Develop an identity.
Assemble your own team of professionals.
All while writing music that's good enough to compete with the best in the world.
And somehow you're expected to know where to begin.
I don't think that's fair.
I don't think artists are failing because they aren't talented enough.
I think they're being asked to solve problems they were never taught how to solve.
Everyone says, "Just make content."
I've never liked that advice.
Not because content doesn't matter—but because it gives artists an action without giving them a direction.
Direction is what changes careers.
Here's what I've come to believe after more than twenty-five years in this industry:
The record label used to build the artist. Today, the artist has to build themselves.
And the greatest artist development tool ever created isn't a record label anymore.
Dare I say it... it's social media.
Trust me, I don't love that reality any more than you do.
But ignoring it doesn't change it.
The problem isn't social media.
The problem is that almost nobody teaches artists how to use it with intention.
Most people treat Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube like a scrapbook—a collection of disconnected moments.
I think that's a massive missed opportunity.
Your social media shouldn't be a scrapbook.
It should be the movie trailer for your career.
Every post should deepen curiosity.
Every video should reinforce your positioning.
Every story should make your identity unmistakable.
Because music and identity are no longer separate.
They're inseparable.
A great song earns attention.
A compelling identity earns belief.
That's the difference.
I'm not interested in helping artists make more content.
I'm interested in helping artists become impossible to confuse with anyone else.
To build a world that people don't just admire—
they want to belong to.
The industry evolved.
Artist development didn't disappear.
It migrated.
Today, it lives inside the platforms we use every day.
The cheat code isn't posting more.
The cheat code is knowing what you're building every time you post.
That's why I'm building Build an Artist.
Not another course.
Not another community.
A modern approach to artist development for the industry we're actually living in—not the one I entered in 2006.
Because I don't believe we're running out of talented artists.
I believe we're running out of direction.
If my videos have helped you think differently about your career, this is only the beginning.
Over the next few months, I'm building something I've wanted to create for a long time.
A place where artists stop guessing...
...and start building with intention.
The Build an Artist Priority List will open soon, and subscribers to Unstuck will be the first to know.
Thank you for trusting me enough to be here this early.
I don't take that lightly.
We'll build this together.
— Felisha
Stay Unstuck-
Attention is rented. Identity is owned.