Evan Michael Green (EMG) has a recipe for success that can be summed up with three simple words: Ten Sixty Seven.The entertainment mogul from Los Angeles uses this mantra as a model for his career and his personal life, and it has served him well over the years – from Berklee College as a student studying music business, to his time as a struggling artist living out of his car, to his success today as a bona fide recording artist and business owner.
“It’s a model I created for myself as a sense of grounding,” he said. “It means 10 hours a day, six days a week, and on the seventh day we rest. That’s the model for success. I wish I stuck to it more because the more successful I’ve been, the harder it is to maintain. More often than not, it’s more like 16 or 17 hours a day. But the idea of it is still very fulfilling and I try to stick by that motto as much as I can.”
The model is working. Earlier this year, EMG released his new EP “Growing Pains” to high praises and in the months since, it has garnered major attention from fans all over the U.S. It’s a loosely autobiographical personal journey of his efforts to evolve into a better musician, artist and person – a kind of “compilation of moments,” as he calls it. And one of the things he’s most proud of is that it was released under his record label which is named after his personal life model Ten Sixty Seven.
“What I’ve noticed in the music industry is that being an Indie artist, it is very challenging to get to the people,” EMG said. “There’s a bit of a vibe of ‘Who cares?’ when there are so many other artists on bigger labels who demand more attention. Our biggest struggle is finding people you can actually work with to get progress on that front. To get taken seriously, you have to be detailed and have checks and balances. It’s about proving your worth and fighting through those challenges. It’s easier than it was before, but it’s still a challenge – it’s a challenge I enjoy doing.”
EMG said he and the others on his label – friends and colleagues from his time at Berklee – have worked hard behind the scenes to make sure their sound is competitive. They don’t cut corners when it comes to production and don’t have a typical “Indie artist” sound. In fact, when other artists have heard his work, many of them have been surprised that he isn’t signed to a bigger label because of how polished and professional it sounds.
“Those are moments that we take in stride and which are very affirming,” he said. “I remember the first moment that happened when I was 23 and had my first label meeting. We had released a video online that went viral, and I was told in that meeting that I have a strong voice. That’s when I realized I have a reputation I have to uphold. I come from a storyteller background. I love telling stories and creating characters and getting into the shoes of other people’s stories through the narrative of music. It’s an incredible gift to have. When people listen to my music, I want them to enter into a world for a time where they’re feeling what the person is going through. A lot of those songs are extensions of what I’ve gone through. They’re bridging the gap between my story and other stories. Plus they’re getting a really good experience sonically and musically. I want my legacy to be that I hit on something that they’re really going through.”
EMG said “Growing Pains” was the tip of the iceberg this year in terms of his success and that there’s plenty more music to come. Over the past two years, he and his team have been slowly building a catalog of music, and the next few months are slated for more releases. The next thing he plans to release is a music video for the single “No Ceilings” which is one of the biggest hits from the EP. He calls it the “highest energy track” on the project and he’s excited for fans to get to experience it in a whole new way through the video.
