Salt Lick Incubator: Helping Emerging Artists Thrive

For many new artists, making music is the easy part. They have grown up mastering their instrum

ent, perhaps honing their craft at a well-regarded bluegrass or roots music program at a college or university. The hard part is getting noticed and navigating the complicated and ever-changing entertainment landscape. How does one turn musical talent and ability into a successful career?

Salt Lick Incubator may be the answer. It's a non-profit artist development organization that supports artists in the early stages of their careers.

"I think our idea was, 'How do we help launch emerging artists?'" says Roger Brown, the founder and chair of Salt Lick Incubator. After retiring as president of Berklee College of Music several years ago, Brown realized there was a need for an organization that could help artists starting their careers. "We were trying to think what is the right idea for it, and I tested 'incubator' with a bunch of the artists we were talking to, and they loved it. It's a term not used in music so much, but our name, Salt Lick, harkens back to farms and early incubators that were on farms, so we went with it."

"Salt Lick is a safe space to continue to develop your craft and continue to learn marketing tactics and identify your audience," says Liza Levy, the incubator's president. "And it's a community of other artists as well

that you can lean on, whether it's for songwriting or production help or recommendations on where to make your merchandise or if you need places to crash on tour. We've got 42 artists in the incubator right now that all support each other."

Salt Lick works with artists in many genres, and bluegrass is well represented.

"We don't want to try to work with a pop artist or a hiphop artist or a pop country artist because those are such well lubricated commercial spaces," Brown explains. "We're trying to work with artists who can have more of an organic career. People who can play their music, people who write great songs. So bluegrass is right in our sweet spot. We've had Sierra Hull, Old Crow Medicine Show, the Ruta Beggars, AJ Lee, Arkansauce, Molly Tuttle, Bloody Beggars, Twisted Pines, Sister Sadie, Farayi Malek, and The Arcadian Wild, Brown says. "We love the Americana roots bluegrass space."

Support from the Salt Lick Incubator takes many forms, extending beyond networking among the artists. The musicians are featured on Salt Lick Sessions, a YouTube channel that has garnered nearly 17 million views.

"And, programmatically, it's grants of up to $15,000 to do an EP or a tour or whatever," Brown explains. "It's songwriting camps and retreats. It's the YouTube channel, as well as Instagram and TikTok, that utilize some of the same content to promote artists. It's a weekly radio show that we do here in Boston that promotes emerging artists. And ultimately, the goal is to help very talented, aspiring artists have sustainable careers."

Now in its third year, donors fund Salt Lick. There are two full-time employees assisted by six or seven interns from various colleges. The advisory board includes T Bone Burnett, Jon Batiste, Alison Brown, and Susan Tedeschi.

"They all have empathy for what it's like when you're in those early days," Brown says of the board members. "And I think most of them are people who believe in the kind of artistry we want to support. That's less the latest TikTok sensation and more a real deep artist with something to say. They've all been incredibly enthusiastic, and some have offered mentoring to some of our specific artists."

Levy explains that the grant process has been streamlined, and any artist can apply as long as they are not actively signed to a record label.

"Basically, everything an artist fills out on the application is things that they would need to know about themselves if they were looking to book themselves for a gig or looking to pitch themselves to a manager or an agent," she explains. "It's all about your unique artistic identity and voice and quality of songwriting and sort of fire in the belly. Are you really trying to make a career out of this? Then a selection committee, including the artist advisory board, makes the final selections."

Before joining Salt Lick, Levy worked as a tour manager, did marketing for Rounder Records, worked for Universal Music Group in Los Angeles, and served as talent relations liaison at Berklee College of Music. Although she collaborates with a wide range of musicians at the incubator, she says bluegrass artists can particularly benefit from their unique environment.

"I think the power in bluegrass is the artist-to-artist community. I think the way that they all raise each other up. You can see it in so many careers. You know, Sierra Hull on stage with Alison Krauss when she was like nine years old. You even see it in the hallways at the International Bluegrass Music Association conference. There are artists of a certain stature jamming with kiddos. And I think that the most important thing you can do is have open ears, open hearts, and ingratiate yourself with that community and be a part of it. Be in the scene, embrace that scene, because they will embrace you."