The Future Of Spotify And How It Will Affect Your Business - With Trevor Hinesley

Chris Graham (0:00)

The 6 Figure Home Studio Episode 71, wait a minute. Hey guys, it's Chris Graham. Brian Hood's supposed to do the intro, but he's not here. I miss him so much.

He's on his honeymoon with his wife, Megan. They bought a one-way ticket to Europe. They're having fun. They're posting pictures on Instagram to make the rest of the world jealous of all these fancy restaurants they're eating at.

And so today, we have a special episode with Mr. Trevor Hinesley. Trevor was the best man at Brian's wedding.

He is one of the co-founders of a company called Soundstripe. And Trevor had a lot of really amazing things to say as I got to know him at Brian's bachelor party at Yosemite National Park and at Brian's wedding. One of the things we talked about a lot was Spotify. What's going on with the whole streaming thing? And how does this affect our business as audio engineers moving forward? So Trevor's perspective is really interesting because Soundstripe has an interest, a vested interest in thousands and thousands of songs, many of which are already on Spotify. So they are really tuned in to what's going on with Spotify, what's coming next around the corner and how our industry will change as Spotify really dictates the way that records are being purchased slash stream slash listened to, all that freaking stuff. So Trevor is just brilliant. And I think you guys are gonna really dig this interview.

As I was listening back through and editing it, I was just blown away with all the wisdom and knowledge that Trevor was dropping on us. So stick around, guys. Without further ado, here is my interview with Mr. Trevor Hinesley.

Trevor Hinesley (1:40)

You're listening to the Six Figure Home Studio Podcast.

Chris Graham (1:52)

Trevor, welcome to the show, man.

Trevor Hinesley (1:54)

Hey, man, thanks for having me, Chris.

Chris Graham (1:56)

Absolutely, dude. Well, I'll tell you what, my favorite thing in the entire world is hearing people's stories. So, man, why don't you just sort of dive in, just sort of tell us your story.

Trevor Hinesley (2:04)

Yeah, so, oh gosh, let's see. I was born in Alabama. Probably you can hear some of that little twang still in my voice.

Born in Alabama, moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2008

And originally, I was going to school for audio engineering.

And at the time, I had to take a math class, actually, and realized that there was a programming one course I could take that would take my math credit. And I was like, sold, love computers, let's do it. So got into programming that eventually led to just like a huge passion for software and software development. But while I was in college, I was playing around in bands. I had toured a little bit. And then towards the end of my college career, I got in a band that was signing a record deal and doing like a development thing. And so actually I got the call that I got in the band while I was in cap and gown doing graduation rehearsal. So I went straight from college into that.

So I got this degree and then was like, cool, I don't get to put it to use, let's go. But I did actually, since we had like a year development deal, I knew I needed a job in the meantime. So interviewed around a couple startups. I had some offers on the table from some really cool companies in town. But as soon as I brought up like, hey, in a year or so, I'm probably gonna be on the road and need to work remotely, they all resented their offers. So yeah, that happened. But I also knew that I obviously wasn't gonna give up on that, but I needed a job. So I like went around applying to restaurants and just trying to do the, I was willing to pretty much do whatever I could just to get on the road. So no joke though, it was like days after three of my job offers had rescinded after the touring conversation, I got an email. It was an intro email from a guy that I had worked under at an internship in college at a startup. And he introduced me to the CEO of a, it was like a sports focused startup in Nashville and just recommended me. And so I went and met with that guy. His name's Rob Humphrey, he's an incredible individual. When I met with him, and shout out to Dennis Monsawick, who got me that connection cause it was life changing. I went and ate with Rob.

And when we sat down, or it was coffee actually, when we sat down, I kind of told him my predicament. I was like, look, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not trying to screw an employer over, but I want to be, you know, I've got these two passions I want to pursue and I want to be upfront about it. And he was like, tell you what, I need a developer. And he was like, I like you. And I think I would like to help you pursue both of those dreams. So he gave me, yeah, it was awesome. He gave me a-