“Lithuanian born: Austeya moved to London to continue her career in music. Her powerful vocals and emotional electronic melodies create her style. Influenced by Kate Bush, Depeche Mode and Land Del Rey.”
Corbin: First and foremost, I would like to take the time to thank you for allowing me to conduct this interview with you. It’s been really an honor to see you join us and flourish as well as you have with your music career. I see you just got done with a photo shoot, how many times a year do you update this part of your portfolio?
Austeya: I do not have certain dates and times in mind for photo shoots. I just do it when I get an inspiration, this was a shoot with a photographer who is my friend as well, so it was really fun.
I am working on pictures now so hopefully some of it should come out soon!
Corbin: It looks like your live band is really helping to get your “brand” out there. Are there any plans for adding additional members to your live band?
Austeya: I think at the moment I am looking for a solution to play electronica music live. I was looking for people to help me do that, and I found some really great artists already. I am hoping to join these musicians and artists into one bigger production eventually.
Corbin: Would you do a mix of the electronica with your traditional set, or just have the show do a complete turnaround to the electronic side of your portfolio?
Austeya: This would be a completely new program, as we are working on writing new material right now. I am also due to release the new single “If I could” , which represents the new sound I am working towards.
Corbin: We’ve been looking forward to your single! Are going to be releasing it through WEATNU records?
Austeya: Yes definitely!
Corbin: I think last we spoke, you were headed to Lithuania. How much traveling have you done to collaborate with others across the globe?
Austeya: Quite a lot! I have worked with people in Lithuania, and also in Dallas, Texas. We shot couple of videos together, one is due to come out still. I of course work with several people in UK (and also in U.S.) but just remotely. Would be great to meet all of my collabs face to face one day!
Corbin: That would be exciting indeed! Out of all your musical endeavors, which do you see as being the most promising to help you “break through” to the masses?
Austeya: I am excited about my newest project where I’m working with an electronica musician who is also an animation artist, we are working on a new song right now and I think this could be a very promising combination of our skills. I also think that the release of “If I could” should be very successful, and we are in the process of creating a music video for it.
Corbin: WEATNU is glad to have an artist who is dedicated to getting her music/brand out there by all outlets possible. I saw your interview on Beatsta.com, and figured I would go a step further. Besides another outlet for your “Teach Me” EP, is WEATNU helping to expand your career outside the realm of possibilities prior to you joining our movement? What else can we do to help you along your path?
Austeya: I believe being part of WEATNU has definitely helped me to put my name out there and I am proud to say that I am part of something as special as this community. I could not stress more how important is being part of a group of talented artists who support each other.
I only feel like we should help out each other more with promoting live shows. I do quite a lot of live shows in London venues, and getting people there is difficult.
We should have WEATNU in UK where we could do regular meet-ups at each others gigs – I could champion this!
Corbin: I knew that was a great question to ask! Really gets those gears turning on an uncharted level for WEATNU. I would strongly urge you once this interview is posted to leave your contact email in it and/or reach out to those members in the UK (of which we have A LOT!!!!)
I can only help as much as I can, but as Almark and I have determined, WEATNU is literally what each individual member makes of it. We merely provide the tools to gain exposure and help nurture our members, but it is up to them to figure out what works best for their goals, and with that being said, why do you think (as far as your own experience with the WEATNU movement) so many artist / members have left us lately? What do you think WEATNU can do to retain its growing number of artist / members?
Austeya: Maybe because there were quite a few members and only a few people to run the promotion, each member was not getting enough attention. I think we should join the forces and get more people championing WEATNU promotion at their own locales! I think we should also try and partner with other, bigger networks that would help us gain even more exposure. I also think we should go out to industry events and promote what we do, this network has so much great music and personality to offer, it should be more well known!
Corbin: These are all great ideas! The only trouble is that not many artists in (or out of) WEATNU have that mentality. It takes a lot of time out of our week, let alone daily, to provide any promotion to all members as they create something new or have news of their endeavors to share. This leaves little time for each individual to create their own music if a very small number of people are willing to take any time to promote what everyone else is doing.
We recently have implemented a policy change in WEATNU, we are no longer doing PR for individuals. The main focus is the movement itself, which is now focused directly on it’s net-radio and label. When the new WEATNU.com is up and running we will be focusing only on those that are willing to put their music on the label. How do you feel about this new policy?
Austeya: I am not sure… Personally, I wish you would keep the PR going (as it is much more important than just having your album sitting on-line). You can do it (PR) on many websites, but with no sense of community (and promotion), the concept might loose its value. Just a thought.
Corbin: The concept behind the change is that with so many members in WEATNU, literally only about 20-30 people understand the concept of artists promoting other artists. The rest are just sitting back and riding the band wagon, not even willing to share even one member’s endeavors.
The cancer from within has stopped… This is what it has finally boiled down to: Will you share what EVERYONE (who is left after this policy change cleans the old system out) has that is news and music from this point on? Do you think others are going to be willing to do the same?
Austeya: I think as long as we communicate the message clearly, show a good example, and stress how important community is, members will follow the culture!
Corbin: So before joining WEATNU, how effective was your promotion? What outlets do you still channel outside of the WEATNU movement?
Austeya: Social media pretty much, also networking with people when going out to events. I have had some people helping me to spread the word along the way too…
Corbin: I gave up on being a star in my 20’s. Green Day, The White Stripes, and Jay Z had their respective industries on lock down and so I created my own solo career as Roofy. The music industry was so different back then. What are your goals and aspirations? How have they changed over the years?
Austeya: I think being a star is just a consequence of great dedication, hard work, talent and strong character. Having good connections can also help you break through. I am putting in all my hard work and I am dedicated to what I do, but over the years I realized that good things are always worth the wait, so, today I am not bothered about fame. I am more interested in creating something extraordinary which will draw the attention to my work and personality without having to rely on gimmicks.
Corbin: Exactly!! That is why the movement is what we as artists make of it. No gimmicks, just lots and lots of hard work (which is something you are very used to). Is there anything in particular you would like to give back to you fans, supporters, and assistants who have helped so much along the way?
Austeya: I would like to give all fans lots of inspiration to do something cool in life, fingers crossed I am successful.
Along the way I met some amazing people (including you guys) , and I could not be more grateful for the support and your taking the time to notice my work. But just to sum up, and to address those who helped me to develop the sounds, helped with promotion, live gigs, also to all musicians, make up and photography artists… I will pay in big sums of cash after I release that number 1 hit … or maybe the whole album? Work in progress basically 🙂 And I know that I cannot pay back for believing in this music and me, so that’s why I am also adding lots of love!
Roofy – #WEATNU Digital Magazine
Intro by Almark
Follow Austeya on Twitter.
