Artist Development in 2026: What Every Independent Artist Gets Wrong ft. Amber Grimes (LVRN) #274

Amber Grimes is only the fourth guest to ever return to this show, and she came back to argue something uncomfortable: the music by itself is not enough. She is an executive at LVRN and a Billboard Power Player who has built rollouts for 6lack, Summer Walker, and Belly Gang Kushington, and her case is that artist development matters MORE when you are independent, not less. A hit record can make you known. Artist development is what makes you matter.

In this episode, Amber breaks down what artist development actually is, why "artist development is dead" is something people say when they are tired of doing it, how to find your story and stage it instead of dumping it all at once, the two houses every artist has to build, the full Belly Gang Kushington rollout, why you need people to like you more than they like your music, Instagram broadcast channels, Trial Reels for free discovery and free data, CoBrand, EVEN, how to name and reward your fans, and the gatekept YouTube Shorts play that turned an artist's press run into his own blog.

Amber Grimes:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ambergrimes
Podcast (If You Knew Better): https://www.youtube.com/@IYKBetter
Her Substack article that inspired the episode: https://withambergrimes.substack.com/p/artist-development-matters-more-when
Her first appearance on the podcast: https://youtu.be/SyG3cq_VwqA

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