Isaiah Grass: Navigating Life's Changes, Standing Out as an Artist & Supporting Independent Music

In this episode, we sit down with singer-songwriter, American Idol alum, and TV/radio host Isaiah Grass. We take an honest look at what it takes to navigate life's unexpected pivots, grow your career as an indie artist, and how we are partnering to support independent musicians.

Our conversation delivers a mix of industry reality checks and practical encouragement for independent artists trying to gain fans and book more shows. We also discuss the current wave of AI-generated music, Isaiah’s personal experiences as an artist, what role persistence plays in growing your music career, and some harsh truths about the entertainment industry.

About Isaiah Grass:

Isaiah Grass is a singer-songwriter, model, TV host, syndicated radio personality, and former American Idol contestant. His musical journey began singing in his church choir in his childhood before graduating from a performing arts high school. Isaiah gained national exposure on American Idol, where his audition captivated judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan. His original music, including tracks like "Wherever You Are" and "I Need You," address emotional vulnerability, depression, and overcoming life's hardships.

Today, Isaiah uses his multimedia platform to champion independent music talent through The Isaiah Grass Show, broadcast across cable television and streaming platforms including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. Through his weekly New Music Discovery segment, he reviews submissions from around the globe to help independent artists break through the noise and get featured on television and radio.

Follow Isaiah: https://www.instagram.com/isaiahgmusic/

Submit Your Music to Isaiah Grass: IGMPTV.com

Create Your Artist Profile: bandgroupeez.com

Video Chapters:

00:00 - Introducing to Isaiah Grass

01:22 - NY Modeling, Performing Arts & Building Confidence

02:28 - Brad’s High School Shuffle Story & Acting Class Lessons

05:02 - Overcoming Rejection & Church Choir Roots

08:07 - Navigating Career Pivots at Any Age

12:00 - American Idol, The Voice & Reality Casting

14:44 - The "Doer" Mindset & Learning Life Lessons

17:34 - Facing Public Criticism, Trolls & Overcoming Fear of Failure

19:58 - Why You Should Never Read Your Comments

22:48 - Music & Mental Health: Writing "Wherever You Are" & "I Need You" 

28:17 - Launching The Isaiah Grass Show on TV, Roku & Apple TV

33:00 - Curation & New Music Discovery Segment

34:00 - The AI Music Takeover

36:29 - Restoring Human Connection in Music

46:43 - Independent Artist Blueprint: Studio Budgets, Photography & Websites

50:09 - Why Every Artist Needs a Live EPK

52:11 - Isaiah’s New Music Discovery: Heavy Metal, Country, Pop & Funk Curation

56:15 - Chasing Career Growth vs. Chasing Industry Fame

58:14 - From Zero to 104 Live Shows

1:00:19 - How to Stand Out Among 100,000 Daily Spotify Uploads

1:02:31 - Band Groupeez x The Isaiah Grass Show Partnership

#independentmusic #livemusic #independentartist

Transcript

Brad Banyas (00:08)
Alright, everybody, welcome back. We're live in the McBastard's Studio. You're listening to the SaltyMf Goat podcast. I have Isaiah Isaiah Grass with us today. I'm really excited to talk to him. We've become pretty pretty good friends through our conversations over the last couple months. And

I if you've never heard of Isaiah, I'm sure you have, but he's got a great story. So, Isaiah man, welcome to the show, brother.

Isaiah Grass (00:30)
Brad, thank you so much for having me here today. You are doing such an amazing job to help independent artists out there. Not to mention with your clothing line, it is a very catchy slogan that really makes people curious about it. And you have just really made an impactful message and story. So thank you so much for inviting me on here. I really appreciate it.

Brad Banyas (00:49)
I f I feel the same, man. I mean, I I you know, I you and I talk it's I spent a couple of months ago, but you know, your story of just, you know, growing up and, you know, being on American Idol and, you know, starting in the actor, you you've done I feel like such as such a young man, like like you've lived a couple of lifetimes. So I I think I think what you're doing to help people in the music discovery space now i is just awesome. I think

I think this conversation and this relationship and partnership was was meant to be, to be honest with you.

Isaiah Grass (01:22)
Absolutely. I I'm just like everybody else out there. You know, when I first started doing music, I graduated from a performing arts high school. I got scouted by modeling agencies in New York. And by me getting into the modeling world, it allowed me to be comfortable in my own skin on camera. And that is such a critical thing that is needed as an artist. For example, like right now we're on camera.

If I didn't have this training, you know, I'd be very nervous, but I'm but I'm used to this. And when you're an artist, you have to be able to have the confidence to be on stage, to be on camera, to be in front of people, to know how to be well spoken. And it it didn't just come to me naturally, you know, just like everybody else, we have to start from somewhere and grow. And I really appreciate that compliment of you saying that you feel like I've lived multiple lives. There's a lot of people out there that would say that about me. So

Thank you so much. And and I'm so grateful to all the opportunities that have been brought to me through throughout my career, even on American Idol too as of today. So thank you again.

Brad Banyas (02:28)
Yeah,

no, no worries, man. It you know, like I said, it's it's funny because I had to be on a commercial when I was in high school. They had done and you know, you you being in Chicago, right? at that time in nineteen eighty seven, I'm aging myself, but you know, that's just how how the the Bears had won the Super Bowl and they did the Super Bowl shuffle, if you remember that. Yeah. And so local here in Atlanta

They had gotten a lot of athletes from from schools around the Atlanta and North Metro and where we were from. And they said, Hey, we're gonna do a high school shuffle. And so they took us down to this studio, and then of course I'm there with all, you know, a bunch of other football type players. I've never been on camera. I don't know anything about it. And we're making a video, the high school shuffle. It was a copy of the Bear Shuffle, right? The Super Bowl shuffle.

And everyone there is funny because, you know, we had to rap. So we had to rap like, you know, I'm Brad Banya, so I play linebacker, whatever it was, right? And, you know, I'm this a big goofy kid. And it was funny because all all the all the black kids, like, they were rapping and just like had style and groove and just sounded cool and good. And they were wearing sunglasses and everything. And and then you've got me, this dopey.

kid trying to rap and Isaiah they it took me like 30 minutes to get to get my words out and it was funny because one of one of the kids' mom was like she's like 74 you ain't got no rhythm come on it's taking too long come on and I was just I was horrified and they ran that on on all the local TV stations and we had had a high school party

And so I'm sitting there like with 300 people and I was like, I did not want that to come on, but all my buddies knew. And so I just I I was I kind of got exposed. So that that was that was my acting career. But I will tell you, I did go to Harvard Summer School and take acting class with my sister when I was 19. And the lady that was our kind of our director and our helper, she said, you know, Brad, I think it'd be wise for you.

to go into business or politics and skip acting. So that's my acting story.

Isaiah Grass (05:02)
I I have a very similar experience to that, you know, throughout my career, I have had a lot of wonderful opportunities and a lot of negative opportunities. I have had a lot of people promise me things and do absolutely nothing. And then I've had other people who have just the doors have closed and it was a good reason. And we go back to the idea of when people are in this industry, they really don't know.

what is expected of them. And so you brushed up on the idea of like when you were in high school and you got your debut as an actor. That that was set the stone for you now because now we're on camera and you're talking to people. And it's like you just never know where life is going to take you in the future and say like that one little thing that could have been something minute that meant absolutely nothing in the future could have really carved out your new

life and that's where I feel has happened to me. I had no idea I was gonna be where I am right now. You know, I I talked about earlier about perfor out of going to performing arts high school. And after performing arts high school, I I didn't really know what was gonna happen with that. You know, I was just like everybody else. We we learned about music, we learned about dancing, we learned about acting, but I also had normal curriculums as well. And when I got asked to do modeling, I

Wasn't really sure if that was the direction I wanted to go. I wanted to do music. And so there was a talent manager that discovered me online. He flew me to Chicago and he had me meet with an artist developer. And they told him, you know, this guy has a lot of potential. You need to work with him, figure out how to make it work. And so I got offered more modeling agencies that wanted to work with me. But I was still like, you know what, I think I need to do music.

Because when I was younger, I used to sing in the church choir. one of my favorite songs to sing was Josh Groben's song You Raise Me Up. And I was performing that in big events. And a lot of people would say, Wow, like that's not expected of, you know, when you look at you, like you wouldn't expect that. And so all of these little things that I had been trained on, I had no idea where it was going to take me into my future. And so I am grateful.

For every stepping stone along the way that has allowed me to, as you said before, live multiple lives. Because if I had never done any of that, I don't think I would be here today with you having, you know, a conversation and being comfortable on camera because not everybody can do this, Brad. Like this is a very hard thing for people to do. They'll stutter on their words, they'll start sweating while they're on camera, they'll they'll forget everything they're saying. So I'm very grateful.

That I have had life to teach me lessons to be able to get to where I am now.

Brad Banyas (08:07)
absolute. I mean, you know, it's so funny because you you and I talked a while back about that and you know, I've got kids and everything and they they they're always worried, you know, n some of them are not kids anymore, but they were always worried about like what they were gonna be or what they're gonna do because society tells you, you know, go to college, you know, get out, do this, go get a job. And you know, my approach to that is always like, you know, you're twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two.

Mid 20s, even late 20s, you you need to find like what you're good at. And, you know, you may go to law school or something, you may not be a good lawyer, or, you know, you may, you know, whatever it may be. And I think that that's sad in some cases because that learning and those different experiences and the different jobs you take on. I mean, when when I was younger, I did everything bartended, construction, you name it, I did it.

And, you know, it ended up not being what my career was later in life. And I'm just like you, I'm very grateful for those experiences, even though those were hard times, right? You know, you're

Isaiah Grass (09:17)
Absolutely.

Brad Banyas (09:18)
you're doing stuff to make money because you have to make money. But at the same time, I think I learned more about life from some of those things that, you know, I I wouldn't have had to experience if I'd

you know, didn't need the money or, you know, was was kinda urgent to find something to do. Sure.

Isaiah Grass (09:39)
And y you know, we talk about the idea that I'm gonna brush up on what you were just talking about from your your kids at their age and trying to find where they are in life. I think a lot of people are at that right now, Brad. Even people in their thirties, their forties, or their fifties, they're still trying to navigate like what's their life supposed to be. Because after you're in college, you don't know if that's really the direction you want to go. After you've been at a job for five years.

You're like, mm, was there something else that I should have done in my life? Or the people who are now parents? should I have pursued a different career path before having kids? Or the people who are now grandparents and they're retired and they're like, I really should have gone and done something. And for me, I am so humbly grateful for every opportunity that has been coming to me because.

I could have been like a lot of people I know from from school. They, you know, they have they have a normal job and they they go to school and they pursue what they think is best for them. I I went into that for a while and I just found that doing this is really my my comfortability. And I feel that this is what, you know, the universe has brought to me. For example, I don't know many people in my life.

Besides people in entertainment, okay, that are totally okay with getting on camera and divulging their feelings out, going on stage, performing for people, letting a photographer randomly tell them, like, go pose here next to the wall and go wear this crazy outfit and go do this, or, you know, make a song and not know who is who's going to like it or not like it. In this industry, I have learned that public.

Criticism is like almost so common. If you look at videos on social media, you will sometimes see more negative comments than positive comments from people. And all it takes is one negative comment for there to be a chain reaction from everybody else. And I live that. So when I was on American Idol, it was a very interesting experience. They reached out to me fast forward. I was really iffy about if I wanted to even do it.

But, you know, I have people say, you know, you should just do it at the time just because you never know. The voice had contacted me. and the show the four, the one that P. Diddy was creating, contacted me as well. And I just I didn't really want to be on reality TV. But people are like, no, you should just just try it. I'm like, all right, fine. That experience taught me that if you are not comfortable in your own skin.

It will eat you alive because there is so much element to it that's going to make you second guess yourself. Like Brad, I have talked to so many people who've been on reality TV and they're like, Isaiah, you have done a phenomenal job of being able to navigate that one moment into a brand. You have done such a great job of being able to take one experience.

And be a mentor to people. I have people that will literally call me. A woman called me the other day and said, Can you help me get on America's Got Talent? This one girl asked me if I can help her to get on The Bachelor. And I'm like, I want nothing to do with that. I am not a casting director for reality television. But I also tell them you need to know what you're getting yourself into. Because going back to what you were saying with like your kids and like trying to find their way, I have been trying to find my way.

And I feel like now I know what my way is. And it there are ups and downs. Like my life is a roller coaster. I have built so many relationships with people, but it is a unpredictable life. A lot of people, Brad, want predictable lifestyles. They want guarantee. They want no stress. They want, you know, just they just want to know and certainty. And I have learned being in the entertainment business, that's not that at all.

It is basically putting a blindfold on and throwing a dart. And you're just like, my God, I hope I don't hit someone, but I'm really just trying to hit the target. And that's where, you know, life has become for me for entertainment. And by doing so, it has allowed me to adapt. It has allowed me to pivot. It has allowed me to take a step back and say, you know what? I don't think I want to do that, but I think I want to try this. You know.

I didn't know I had that skill set, but now yeah, I've learned that I have this. And I'm sure you can relate to that because we're we're both in the same element. Like life gave us an opportunity and we're just like, All right, let's just see where this goes.

Brad Banyas (14:44)
I it it's absolutely. I mean, I I don't know if I ever told you this. I've said it before on the show, but you know, my d my dad who who was awesome, you know, told me one time that, you know, you're not you're not employable. And he didn't mean that because I wasn't smart or I wasn't talented. He just meant like, you know, you you're very strong headed in like your beliefs of what you

Potentially want to do. Or I've always been that kind of person that instead of thinking a lot about it, if I believe in it, I just do it. I'm more of a doer, right? Not, not that I don't think about things, but I'm just more of a doer. But back back to your point, I think, you know, watching, you know, I've coached kids my whole life and done other stuff in sports and whatever. And I think that.

I think it's it's it's wrong for people to think life is so linear. Right. That now there are some people that, you know, from a little kid, they're like, I'm gonna be a vet I'm gonna be a veterinarian or I'm gonna be a doctor or I'm gonna be and and that's their life dream and goal and and they do it and it works out. But or a musician a musician, right? Right. I'm a I'm a I'm a kid, I'm a good guitar player. This is what I do. There are people that that do that and that works that way.

But the rest of us need to realize that life is not linear. And sometimes in the tragic seasons or the difficult seasons or the hard the hard knocks, like you're being prepared for something later. And you and I, you were talking about earlier. I I I I had I'm 57 years old. You look great for 57 No aspirations to be a a pot be on a podcast.

Get into the music space, do salty type stuff. I mean, I had I had no aspirations for that. It was just an event, a moment in time that changed trajectory for me that I said I believe in this. And so what I always tell people is they always come to me, you seem like you got it all together. Or you, you know, you're really, you know, you're doing all these things. And I'm like, look, I'm 57. I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up yet. So I think that.

quest to keep like you were talking about each event you've done, you've learned or you benefited from it. It may have been difficult. Those are the gems, man. Those are those are the nuggets that maybe propel you into something to where you find like, hey, this is this is where I need to be, all right. Or this is where I need to do this. It's my my feedback for all you people out there that, you know, are struggling or think you're stuck or you can't do something, you know, just give it a try. If it doesn't work out, it's okay, you know.

Isaiah Grass (17:34)
I appreciate you saying that because I feel like there's so much pressure to be something for someone after high school, after college, and you just really never know. And with us using our platforms to be able to help people, we don't know if they're if they have this like this hidden feeling inside of them that they want to be able to let the world know what they do.

Right. But they feel too embarrassed to try. Yep. And you have to really be vulnerable and to be willing to fail. Because if you don't try, you're not going to know if you fail. And if you don't fail, you're not going to try again. And for me, I re I appreciate you saying that at your age that you're still trying to find your way in life. Because I think a lot of times, and I'm saying this from the younger audience now, towards towards the older audience.

But I feel like sometimes as a younger audience, we feel that we have not accomplished enough. Or the older generation will look at it as, well, if it's not working for you now, you probably need to scrap that and, you know, do something that actually is going to be beneficial for your life. But I really feel like, Brad, in the entertainment business, you have to be able to

Have a concise feeling about what you want. And to say, I don't really care if that group doesn't like it or that audience doesn't like it. When you turn the camera on, when you turn the microphone on, when you go on stage, it's really supposed to be about what you feel. The money, the fans, the, you know, the popularity may come. Sometimes it won't come at all. You know, I've I've talked to many people's career paths who

They don't really go that far and you know, other people will say, Wow, Isaiah, you've done so much. I'm very humble for it, but I still have a lot of growing to do. And for me, because I'm taking a chance, I'm getting out of my comfort zone. And I really appreciate you you saying that. And and again, you look really good for fifty seven. When I turn fifty seven, I hope I look like you.

Brad Banyas (19:58)
Well, I just got back from the beach. So I gotta I said so in the city, they're like, Man, you look like really tan. I was like, I w I I never really go in the sun a lot, not because I'm not trying to, but I'm just n I'm always working. And I said, I think it reminded me of like college days where we just go to the beach and do nothing. I said for the for the week, all I did was really get sun, drink beer, and play cornhole with with the with a family. So that was it. But yeah, I think one of the things you said there that

that is I'm gonna do it whether you like it or not, regardless if he's giving me feedback. I'm grateful to God for that, you know, IDGF kind of attitude because I think that helps you. The struggle is, and you talked about that, you know, people leaving comments or people, what's the rage baiting, you know, a lot of that stuff, someone gave me some good advice. They said never read your comments. Never read

Never respond to them. And, you know, I'm not talking about if you had a customer that was, you know, disgruntled with you or something to deal with them, but just the general critics don't listen to them because they they maybe didn't have the courage to do it, the will to do it, or were never going to do it. So they're not in the same category as you. Not talking about you're better than them or on a higher ground. But and I I find that advice to people.

If you want to be something or do something, you know, your biggest fans sometimes are people you don't know. And what you're doing as a vocation or an entertainer or a businessman or whatever, musician, whatever it may be, is you may be someone else's fulcrum or match that you're an example for them. Like if this guy can do it, I can do it. And those are things you will never see.

You will possibly never hear. But imagine at the end of your life if if there was a tally and you thought you were not doing really anything for anyone based on how many likes you had. And there were a list of thousands of people out there that you helped motivate or mentor or guide that ended up having the life, the time of their life, or the life they wanted to live. And it was all because you took the chance. So I think that's a responsibility.

For people to be confident in themselves, their careers, their, you know, trades, whatever it may be. Cause there are people watching and you may be having an enormous impact that you can never measure on a damn algorithm or you know, KPI or whatever, whatever it matters. So that that's my guidance or my advice to people out there. You you are an example of someone else and you may change their life.

Isaiah Grass (22:48)
I have a really I I have few stories to share about that because man I and I I hate keep using American Idol, but like after American Idol, it gave me so much national coverage and people were just, you know, reaching out to me everywhere and they still do. So one story was this gentleman saw me in American Idol and he messaged me and he heard a song of mine and he said, you know

I've been listening to your song Wherever You Are. And I wrote that song Wherever You Are after the pandemic had happened. And it just happened to get released right after American Idol. It's like perfect timing. But also a very awkward time because when I was on American Idol, it was when the pandemic happened. So like the show aired, and then it was like, breaking news, pandemic, and you know.

We're closing everything in the entire world for probably one to two to three years. And and I was like, All right, you know, universe, let's see where this goes. And so my song, Wherever You Are, is about going through hardships in life and knowing you are not alone. And this gentleman contacted me and said that by listening to this song, it was helping him to stop having to use medication because he was feeling like it was something that he could be be more comfortable to talk to people about.

Then my song I need you, I wrote my song called I Need You about depression and the things that none of us talk about, you know. Open up the curtain right here, you know, I get depressed, I get stressed out. Man, sometimes I'm like, this is overwhelming to me. And I'm like, you know, if I'm feeling this, I'm sure there's people out there in the world, going back to what you said, there's always someone watching you, even if they don't have the courage to text you, to drop a comment, to to do anything.

And so I wrote my song called I Need You. And I I was so fortunate to be invited to partner with the National Alliance of Mental Illness as one of their brand ambassadors to to be able to really let people know about that. And there was this actually happened just about a month about a month ago. I was at the gym and this woman approached me and she said, I just wanted to let you know.

someone in my family passed away and I've been listening to your song, I need you, for a very long time. And she said, because of me listening to your song, it gave me hope to get out of my depression. And I was like, Wow. And you just you you just don't know where at some point in your life, it could be at the grocery store, you could be at a baseball game.

You you could be a church and someone can come up to you and and you never know, like we are all walking billboards of ourselves. You know, how we talk, how we leave the first our first impression and our last impression. People will remember that. And that is something I've had to learn in this entertainment business. And you you never know what your story's going to do.

Maybe someone's not talking to you, but they're listening to you. I do it all the time. I'll be in a restaurant and I'll hear people talking and I'm like, that got my attention. And so, you know, w you we just all have to be cognizant of how we're portraying ourselves out in public. And we don't ever know if the story we're saying out loud is gonna impact somebody because you know, it's like the telephone game. I'm gonna whisper something in your ear and you're gonna whisper it to someone else and whisper to someone else.

You don't know if they're whispering a story that's impacting someone. Like I I just talked to someone yesterday that was just talking about something that was impactful in their life. And you know what I did? As soon as I got done, I called someone and I said, Hey. And they're like, Wow, thank you so much for sharing that. Because they were going through a struggle and this person was able to let me, you know, share that story with them. And so when I have found out that my songs have really in depth

help some people. I I have another person who she told me when her husband passed away, she played my song Wherever You Are at her husband's grave. Man, that's that's a heavy weight.

Brad Banyas (27:18)
So to you to your point, I mean, music is so like moving and that, you know, like moving that or where that person felt that it was such a great thing to honor her husband, you know, at his funeral. And I think that's why some of the musicians, as you know, being, you know, helping these musicians get discovered with what you're doing and playing on the radio is a is amazing. Is

There's a music musician out there that's gonna write a song. Maybe it's a one-hit song, maybe no one ever hears it, but someone's gonna hear it and they're gonna be moved enough that that helps them, you know, get through depression, get through a death. And so, you know, we haven't talked a lot about that yet, but I just love what you're doing on the Isaiah Grass show, your TV show, and how you have your 10 new artists discovery and then.

actually helped them get on the radio. So tell me tell me a little bit more about that. I think it's I think it's amazing.

Isaiah Grass (28:17)
man. I I I'm still like trying to even process how many amazing doors have opened for me. I'm gonna go back to the beginning of this conversation where you said you've lived so many multiple lives. After American Idol, I was just doing the media runs with people and they were just wanting to, you know, get to know me. And I was talking to people and I I guess there was a

a liking that people had about me and they're like, you know, you have a great cadence to your voice, or you know, you you seem to connect really well with people, or, you know, you have a good look. I I don't know what it was. But as far as me getting into radio, I was offered the opportunity and I was like, all right, I don't really have any experience of this, because usually the people are talking to me. I'm not talking to them. And I'm the artist. And so art as an artist,

People are usually playing my music. And so we're like flipping it. And so I have been given this amazing opportunity to have a cable TV show. I've been given this amazing opportunity to have a partnership with Roku Apple and Amazon Fire TV. I've been given this amazing opportunity to partner with venues and partner with

PR firms and partner with record labels and talent scouts and radio stations, something that I do not think would have ever really happened. Again, it goes back to we have to be able to give ourselves that opportunity to try. If you don't try, you won't fail. If you don't fail, you won't try again. And I have failed numerous times in my life in so many different aspects. And

I decided that by having a platform with a radio show, first off, the name the Isaiah Grass show was not my idea. I wanted it to make it a completely different name. But people are like, no, no, it goes with, you know, your name and your brand. I'm like, okay. So originally when it started, I was just doing just radio drops, just talking about certain topics. And then I got approached to start interviewing people. And I was like, okay.

I can list off a few interviews. Recently, I just interviewed Vita Leprano. He helped scout Celine Dion, and he just wrote her he just wrote a book. It's called It's All Coming Back to Me. I interviewed Marie P. Anderson. She discovered Cindy Crawford. I interviewed Sean McNamara. He's produced over 40 movies and TV shows. I interviewed this guy named Chef Rock. Chef Rock was actually the personal chef for Regis Philbin on TV.

And I also interviewed Tony Tox, the comedic influencer who everybody knows on TikTok for he wears all those crazy wigs and you know, he he's just very outgoing. And I'm like, wow, I would have never dreamed of this, Brad, that this was gonna happen to me. And and it did. And I just took life's opportunity. I was like, all right, I guess I'm gonna try it. I have no idea what I'm doing. but here we go.

And so the same way that I'm communicating with you, I was like, all right, you know, I I'm just gonna try it. If I fail, I'll try again. And and that's how this came about. And then I got approached by a radio station. They said, Would you like to have a segment where you could play music? And I was like, hmm, never thought about that. And so I'd created the Isaiah Grasho New Music Discovery. And New Music Discovery basically is.

I pick 10 songs every single week. And I decide, like, hey, I'm gonna pick one of these songs and I'm gonna feature them. And as a featured artist, I'm gonna talk about their life story. I'm gonna tell people where to follow them. The other artists, it's not that I don't think they're talented. It's just because I have listened to so many songs, I mean, Brad, I have listened to 2,000 songs. And

I gotta be really careful how I say this, but because I am an original artist, I am a singer-songwriter, I am a real human being that has performed on stage, and I am a real human that writes my songs, and I'm a real human being that knows what it takes. Right. The industry is being saturated with AI music and AI clones and AI resemblance. And

A lot of times, and I'm gonna be very honest with you, I receive ninety percent of music that is AI, and it's so crazy. So I can get sent songs from all different types of curators and playlist providers and you know, distributors or record labels or talent scouts, and they would say, Hey, can you listen to this? like

If if I gave you access to my email, I have like over 500 emails right now of people just waiting for me to just say, like, hey, will you listen to our music? Yeah. Now the thing is, is that what I look for is a genuine connection to what you're doing. I'm gonna go on your social media and I'm gonna see if you've taken the time to really build a story about yourself. I'm gonna go see if you have a website.

If if you have a website, I don't care if it's a a small template website or just something in general, just to let me know that you're serious. Then I'm gonna go see, do you have any videos? Because if you have videos, it might go on my TV segment. I might put it on Roku, Apple, Amazon, Fire TV. I might like it so much that I feature it and I put it on cable TV. But the thing is, is that there are so many people out there that send me.

AI music. I mean, I'm being really honest. There, there, don't get me wrong. Like, there's some incredibly wonderful AI songs. Incredibly well produced, incredibly well written. But how am I going to have a conversation with that person? I'm not. I'm going to be communicating to an AI prompt. And we're all using AI now. Like it is like life has become AI, like just how it is. But

For me to look at it from a perspective of if I'm gonna talk to a person, I wanna know there's a genuine connection that if I do promote them or if I do let someone know about them, that they can go see them live and perform, that they can go message them and say, my gosh, your song, you know, spicy teddy bears. I just made that up right now. That's a good name. A good name for a band, spicy teddy bears. So if you're hearing this spicy teddy bears, there you go.

so let's say Spicy Teddy Bears is their new single. Don't you think that they're gonna wanna be able to go promote that? A radio station is gonna wanna invite you to talk to you. A TV station might invite you on camera. a booking agent might say, Hey, I want you to perform Spicy Teddy Bear. Now, what are you gonna do if all you do is create AI automated music? If that's your whole ball game and and like, you know.

I've had people send me songs and they'd say, you know, I wrote this about an experience in my life. That's fine. That can go as a a memory. That can go as an opportunity to be able to you know, just digest your feelings, be able to share your story. And I'm not saying that there aren't very talented AI prompts and you know songs. I'm just saying for me, what I personally look for, Brad.

I look for songs that I know I can call that person and I know that we can really talk about what that song did for them and how someone can connect with them. And I play all genres.

Brad Banyas (36:29)
Absolutely. I mean, you you you know, I mean, you've heard our story, but it's the whole reason we created Band Groupeez was because, you know, that was, you know, we were interviewing real artists and having them play in studio. And I I got to just sit there and we got to obviously know them through interviewing them and talking to them before. That's what I love to talk before and hanging out, and they really get a feel for you. You get a feel for them. And I was blown away like

How talented, like every we've probably had 30, 40 bands or singers in or artists, whatever you call them. And I couldn't believe like each one, I genuinely thought I'm a music lover. I'm not a musician. I can't play an instrument. I'm not any of that, but I but I'm I I'm a connoisseur of music. I've had a lot of decades to listen to some of the greatest bands and I have a pretty good ear for it. And I was blown away that

Like to hear their story about how hard it was to get found and how difficult the music business was. And for someone not coming from the music business, I don't really give a shit about what's structured, how they do it, who the players are. Cause I I didn't know we didn't know it anyways. It's not just me or my partners, Paul Schonder and the team here. and why that's why we thought it was a good thing to do, but it was more like I don't like

You know, you know I own a tech business on a different in a different area, right? I understand AI. We implement AI for enterprises and all that stuff. I don't like the dehumanization of people and art. And, you know, just because you can make a cool beat or even a cool song, like to me, that kind of defeats I and I'm not some artsy, you know, guy, right? So if people look at me and they're like, well, what what do you care? Like, you you know, I can't draw a stick figure. So

But at the end of the day, you know, life is about people and it's about stories and it's about connections and it's about relationships. So all this bullshit around AI and everyone doing it, like these are people. These are people with highly skills that have worked on their trade or their art and or their songs or their lyrics.

They spent time on it, they spent effort on it. They're doing it to share with the world.

Isaiah Grass (38:48)
Why would money?

Brad Banyas (38:50)
Yeah, and the money. But but why would anyone like dehumanize art, not just music? I mean, you know, graphics, things like that. You know, I saw something the other day where a musician said if she wrote a song about, hey, if you're if you're graphics or AI, I'm not coming to your show, right? And it was just a great, I think it's a time for people, just like what we're doing.

Isaiah, like we met, we liked each other. You're doing things in the same genre we're at. We're like a team, we're coming together. Let's give everybody a big burger to eat because, like, you know, this is what life is. Music's life, sports life, connections, human hum people getting together, making friendships, helping each other. That's life. Don't dehumanize this. So when I saw what you were doing just in general.

Around, you know, helping, like, I don't know the whole process, but helping some of these artists that like like we are shining a light on them, right? You're shining a light on these artists, telling their story. I was like, this is awesome. Imagine if we could get thousands of people like us, right? Thousands of people just like us, and we all came together and we built a network about discovering really the new artists and helping them to get found.

How powerful would that be? And that's so that's what keeps me like excited about this whole this whole thing.

Isaiah Grass (40:19)
I couldn't say it better. In fact, I'm wearing a shirt that says music is life because music is my life. Because music really has become my life. Listening to as many songs that I have and interviewing people and working in radio and working in TV now and and still performing as an artist, I have really been able to emotionally connect to the story. I've been able to

physically connect on stage. I've been able to mentally connect when having to write. And I've been able to spiritually connect when releasing the music and needing to know where it goes. And you were a hundred percent on point of what you just said about all of these artists have had stories. And I'm I'm going to go back and say this again so I don't offend anybody. There are a lot of amazing people who write AI songs.

And they have really good ideas. And there's people out there that are making a lot of money off of their AI songs. Some people have the voice, some people have the songwriting skills, some people can play an instrument. Some people can do all three. Some people can't do any. And when I get sent music, I I just look for how can somebody else relate to them? And with my new music discovery, every single week.

Man, I have had so many different genres of music. And I've had a lot of people say, Isaiah, you should only play country. You should only play rock. You should only play pop. You should only play Christian. And I'm like, but there's already so many people that do that. So for me, I will listen to a song and I'll say, you know what? I want to put a rock song in here, a Christian song, a pop song, a folk song, an international song. It could be

you know, someone from Germany. It could be someone from, you know, I played a K pop song.

Brad Banyas (42:21)
I was just gonna say Yeah, throw some K pop in there.

Isaiah Grass (42:24)
Yeah, no, no. I've I've done all of that. The only thing that I try to do is is that eventually in the song they have to still speak English, just so that I I know like they can transcend it so that if someone's listening to it, they're like, what what is that? I can't understand that. But I have been playing so many different genres of music and the amount of so much talent there is around the world, not just in America, but in every single country, I found some really good gems.

There's a lot of talented people in UK. Like I have I've discovered a lot of really good bands, a lot of solo artists, a lot of DJs. I don't want to name drop certain people because I've I have so many people, but I would just say that if you're an artist, I would love to be able to hear your music. All you gotta do is go to IGMPTV.com, IGMPTV.com, and go under the listen and watch tab.

There's a new music discovery part. You just tap that there and submit your music. And just like everybody else, you know, we all need a platform. And I'm gonna go back to myself again. I'm still a singer. Even though I'm now a radio personality, and even though I'm now a T V host and I interview people, I'm still a singer. So I can a hundred percent appreciate the work, the money, the time, the sacrifice that people put into this stuff. Absolutely

That's why I really love what you guys do, because you are really you're making artists feel like they're not wasting their time. Because there are so many scammers out there. There's so many people that will take your money. There's so many people that will tell you, like, you're gonna become the next big star if you pay this much money. Or you're gonna become the next big star if you come into this room with me. You know, there's I've seen it. I I've

I know all of the stuff that goes on. And that comes with time. That comes with wisdom. And again, you know, we talked about the beginning, the life that I've lived of many lives, every step has allowed me to get to where I am. And I'm trying to use my platform to pay it for to every person I can.

Brad Banyas (44:38)
Yeah, and I I just to tell the audience is listening. So what we haven't really talked the details, but like what we're doing is through Isaiah's discovery process on his show, we're amplifying those artists as well through through our Band Groupeez approach. And so the artists not only getting what, you know, what Isaiah's doing from the radio play, from the from the T V side, you know, our art we're doing the we're we're gonna promote

those artists as well. And that's kind of what I say the power of collaboration where these people get to get promoted in other areas that they wouldn't be seeing. But you talked about the other country artists. One of the things that I always wanted to do is, you know, we built tech stacks before, but it wasn't really a consumer, is be able to reach the world. And be able to reach the world very easily, whether you're a fan or musician. And we love the fact like we

We have, I don't know how many countries now, but we touch pretty much every country with Band Groupeez and we're getting artists from, you know, the UK, Berlin, Sydney, Australia, Perth, wherever it may be, the West Indies. And it's really cool to see that, to be able to get that reach, not only for the artists to be on it, but for fans to find them and, you know.

Book an event, go to an event, get a ticket, whatever it may be, or discover, you know, new people in the genres, right? K-pop, country, Christian, whatever it is. It it really to me, like I think this is a a broader thing, like what we're doing. It's it's a universal thing that if people can come together, like we can, we can, we can uncover some artists that maybe would never be uncovered. And that that's

That's really cool what you're doing. I really appreciate that. And we were really excited to be a part of that and and promote these promote these amazing musicians. So we don't do AI on ours, no offense to the AI people, but but we're it it's about people. So

Isaiah Grass (46:43)
I'm so grateful for this partnership as well because me being an artist and now having all these platforms, I want to be able to really help people. Now, I do want to highlight something here so people do understand this, that there is investment that does come into people's career paths. Number one, if you're a singer and you're making music, no one's gonna give you free recording studio time. If they do, it's probably someone in your family or a best friend. But

No one's gonna do that. So you need to have a set budget for that. Number two, you need to have photos. Those photos need to be something that can be useful for a booking agent. They need to be useful for social media purposes, for your press kit. They need to be used for media. So let's say it's for a magazine and you have this amazing opportunity and they're like, we need three photos. I don't have three photos. Well

You you should have had, you know, so you're gonna have to prepare for that. Next thing is a website. A website is so critical. You can do you can make a website for so cheap. The thing that a website does is it allows people to navigate your life and be able to do it really quickly. So when I'm looking at people's submissions, like I said, one of the things that I go to the website, I need to know that where you are in your career path.

Because that will kind of like let me know, all right, you've been making music this long, or I need to be able to find your bio. I need to be able to know what's about you because if not, I'm gonna make it up. I'm like, hey, this is Spicy Teddy Bears song. You know, they just came out yesterday. I s they were at the gas station and make sure to check them out. What? What if spicy teddy bears was like, no, Isaiah, that's not our bio. Well, you gotta make sure you have that. Another thing you need to have is a press kit.

Your press kit is, you know, a a story that's gonna be able to let potential brands, investors, booking agents, even new fans learn about you. Cause you don't know if maybe one of those fans, parents, knows someone in the music industry that can change your life. Brad, all of these things I'm saying is because I keep going back to the beginning of your conversation of like living the multiple lives. Yeah. I have been very fortunate to have people believe in me.

Through all of my ups and downs, like the roller coaster. And I've had I've been very fortunate to have people that have supported me through every every single new path that I guess I'm taking now. And if I did not have the marketing, if I didn't have the photography, if I didn't have the website, if I didn't have the social media, if I didn't have the press kit, I don't think I would be where I'm at. Yeah. Because Absolutely

E even for American Idol, when they contact me like, you have a great look, well, how would they have known I had a great look if I wasn't posting photos and I wasn't doing the modeling stuff, so I didn't have collaborations? you have a great following. Well, how would they know that if they if I didn't post social media content? And the thing that I see so often when people send me their music, they don't they're not really going at it at the level of the other nine artists are. Yeah. You see what I'm saying? So if I have ten artists that I have to pick.

Brad Banyas (50:09)
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that was one of the reasons, just so you I'm I'm not going back, it's not a Band Groupeez promo, but from an EPK perspective, right? Just all those things you said, right? Having a social presence, having a web page, having professional photography or pictures from your show or whatever. We wanted to make that easier. Like, so if you were booking events and putting it not booking events, but getting events and putting your events in band groupie and you had a prof you have a

Band photo and you have your bio and you have your social links already. The idea behind that was a live EPK, right? So after you've done a lot of that stuff you were just saying, you can literally share your Band Groupeez link to a venue or to a promoter to somebody, and it should give you a literally a live EPK, where you've played, what venues you've played at. If you had a Spotify tie-in, they can listen to your music. The whole idea was to try to

Helping easier, not just for the musician on that part you're talking about, but for a venue to find them, to to dis for a venue to discover new artists in the area and be able to kind of like get a good click on them, like, yeah, I'm really interested in these people, or these people make sense. Making that whole process easier was important because, like just like you said, you came from

You know, you that you had so many different things, so many different things in your life from being a model, understanding why photographs are important. Like every one of these kind of what I would call independent upcoming artists, you know what they said was the worst part? Like a marketing person doing

Isaiah Grass (51:47)
taking

Brad Banyas (51:50)
social media, do like they all like were like, I'm only saying that because it drove like us, it's like, how do you simplify this? How do you, how do you

maybe skip a few steps to help these people that you know that's gonna be painful for you know? So and you were talking about the discovery side and having on the show, I think, but

Isaiah Grass (52:11)
No, these these intertwine. So I I'm just trying to give like, you know, little free tidbits. So when people are like, Why didn't my song get selected? I'm telling you why. You know, I I listen to all types of music. And another thing that I look at is I'll give you a good example. One of my episodes, I played heavy metal, and then right under that, I played country. And when people are like, What? But it worked because like it was like,

Doing it. Like it like really, really heavy. And then right after that, the way that the music faded out, and I like listened to the next song, and the progression of it was picking up, and then it was kind of like a it went into like a a slow fade in. And I was like, Okay, the instruments meet really well like that. And both of these artists, the the first artist, his song was featured on MTV Heavy Metal Thrasher. So I'm like, okay, that really caught my attention. Then the second person, the country song.

They wrote the that's a beautiful song. I'm just not mentioning people's names because I I don't wanna people be like, why don't you mention me over there? So there was a there's a country song that was sent to me. it's about loving your partner. And it's this beautiful song that was sent to me. This man was basically talking about his wife and a very, very good song. And

Then the song after that, I believe, that I played was, you know, something very funky. And you'd be like, whoa, how did that go in there? But it was a band that I found out of London. And it it was like it it just I look at when I listen to music, I listen to the effort. I listen to how how can someone relate to the message? And it I feel like a lot of times that

It's so hard sometimes, Brad, to pick 10 songs. Sometimes I'm picking eleven and I'm like, my producer's like, nope, 10. I'm like, which one do I have to take out? But then I put it on for the next week. And you know, a lot of these artists, like I I even feature people who have one song to their name. If I if I connect to the song and I'm like, wow, that was that was a good song. I really like the message to it. I I'll feature people who are on world tours. But

My primary focus is is that I try to highlight independent artists. You could be a major label artist who now is independent. You could be an independent artist that might be getting signed, but you're still on the up and coming. That's what I'm trying to do. Because once you become a major label artist, you got all of those people there to help you to guide your career. But you know, I just want to like highlight this because I I know a lot of people in the business and they've really told me how this is.

And this is just to like let everybody know this. Just because you see people on tour, and just because you see people in commercials, and just because you see them selling a million records does not mean they are happy in their life, that they are not in debt, or that they know where their next paycheck is going to be. Because this is like a rat race, man. Like the amount of people that I talk to in the industry without, you know, disclosing certain things like,

It's competitive. It's who's going to do this more than the next person? Who's going to be at that spot to take over that person's stuff? And when I've heard that from a perspective of, like, you know, I'm an artist, how does that make me feel? Sometimes it is a little discouraging because you feel like, man, I I will never be able to compete with that. So that's why the Isaiah Grasho, new music discovery show, is out there. Because if another station out there won't give you a chance.

Because you don't have enough Spotify listeners, you don't have you're not on tour with the biggest act, you you aren't, you know, you don't have a hundred thousand followers or something. I'm still gonna listen to your stuff. I'm still gonna give you a chance.

Brad Banyas (56:15)
well that's that's that that's that's the reason we all got into it, right? I mean Absolutely. We we I mean we we didn't get into the space to like, you know, help someone that was already made it. We got into the space to find and uncover the hidden gems and the and the you know, the the diamond and the rough, right? And, you know, to shine a light on And so I I think it's great. I mean, I caution people to chase fame.

And I that's not just in music or entertainment. That's in business or whatever. P some people think, if you you haven't made a billion dollars, you know, you're I mean, hey, look, you can make a good living. You could be a make a good living being a gig artist if you do enough of it and have the fa you know, have kind of the tenacity to do it. You know, we had one we've got one guy that came on our service about maybe a year ago. The guy's done like a hundred and four events.

And what's cool about that story is he had never played live before he came into our studio to play his songs. Now he was a hell of a musician, right? Don't, you know, playing and recording songs and had cut some some songs and even a record, but he'd never played live. And the feedback we got from him was: hey man, you guys.

Gave me the confidence, not because it was us, but to play in front of people and recognize I need to get out. And I would say, out of this, the that's probably the the most rewarding story for us, because here you have a very talented musician, very talented person that maybe didn't have the confidence, maybe just didn't believe in themselves. And then the guy goes out to roll out.

you know, a hundred and four live things in twelve, fourteen months. That's insane.

Isaiah Grass (58:14)
Is really it's not

Brad Banyas (58:16)
A cured professional artist that's been on the road. Someone went from zero live events to 104. So kudos to him. He knows who he is. I'm not going to call him out. He knows who he is. And kudos to him because he's amazing. And so what you're doing, Isaiah, and is awesome. It gives those people that might be the next Michael Jordan in basketball, right?

That no one's seen or whatever it may be, you're shining that light. And I think that's important for also the fans to understand. If you're a music lover, which I am, I mean, I like rock, you know, blues, rap, alternative, punk. I mean, I have a genre just like you. I love all kinds of

Isaiah Grass (59:05)
I've got all of those show.

Brad Banyas (59:06)
Whatever.

Isaiah Grass (59:07)
Yeah.

Brad Banyas (59:08)
But you know, it's tr it gives these people a shot to find them. Nobody knows where they're at. And that's part of the problem. Not everyone has a million dollar marketing budget. Not everyone has, you know, all the resources to do it. But if you can get out and get playing in front of people, you'll build your fan base. And, you know, there may be I've seen musicians. I I honestly didn't think they were great musicians.

But their lyrics, their their presence, their likability, I love Like they don't they don't have they don't have to be the best musician, but the you gotta be you gotta be likable and I think people have an affinity to you. So that's my input.

Isaiah Grass (59:54)
I think music is such a universal thing that it allows people to really get lost in whatever how their day is going. Like you could be really stressed out at work and then you hear this song that you probably wouldn't like tomorrow. But today at this moment, you're like, Man, like I just discovered this artist. she she's a horse. Like she she literally I think her name is Horse Girl.

She's a DJ or something, giving her free promotion right now. But she she is so eclectic. And I was like, that that would not be something that I would really gravitate to, but because of the fact that it was so unique, it caught my attention. And when when we picked the opportunity to to listen to music, we just don't know what it's gonna do for us at that time.

I feel like so much music that is sent to me. Brad, I don't even think you know this, but over a hundred thousand songs are being uploaded every single day on Spotify. And it's so it's overwhelming to imagine that as an artist, you're competing with every single person's upload. And that's why with my show, the Isaiah Grass Show New Music Discovery, I am trying to give ten people every single week with your guys' help, because I know you guys are gonna feature it on social media.

And you'll also pick maybe one artist a week who signs up at bandgroupeez.com for a free profile, putting their their music, their photos, their links, and even their events. And you're gonna give them the opportunity to spotlight themselves because you'll be giving an artist an opportunity that maybe they didn't even know about. So I'm so happy that we've gotten this opportunity to partner together. Now I do wanna be able to let artists know this that if you're at a certain part in your career,

Whether you're overwhelmed or you need help because you feel like you've grown at a certain point, all you have to do is go to igmptv.com, go under the services tab, and we'll be able to help you with everything, whether you need a publicist, someone to promote your song on the radio, build you a website, build you a press kit, create graphics for you, manage your social media or anything that is related to help you to be seen, heard, and found. Because with my platform and everything that I've been able to do in my career,

I wanna be able to help everyone out there because I had to start somewhere and I'm sure you do too. And that is why I wanna be able to help others. And I'm so glad, Brad, for this opportunity for the Isaiah Grass Show, New Music Discovery, and Band Groupeez to partner together. So thank you for this opportunity.

Brad Banyas (1:02:31)
well, Isaiah, I I think you're awesome. I I I I think we've we've got a future of doing a lot of good things together and I'm really excited about it. And so, you know, Salty Nation out there, you've heard it Isaiah. Go check out what he's doing. We'll be right there running beside him with what we're doing in Band Groupeez around the musician promotion and getting them and helping them be able to to get those events out there, load in Band Groupeez, have fans all over the world find them.

And and hopefully we'll be a a small kernel that sparks somebody that makes it big and lives the lifestyle they want to do. But Isaiah, we're we've got a lot more work to do together and I'm excited to work with you and we're we're really as you mentioned, grateful. We're grateful to work with you as well. And we're very happy that we we found we found each other in this universe and we all have some some same goals. So thank you. Well, folks, that's it.

Check out for more more exciting things coming on the Salty MF GOAT But today this was sponsored by Band Groupeez and the Isaiah Grass show. So check out both of those. But we're really excited. Let's go.