Kameron Corvet talks ‘Early Riser’ and making hits by any means necessary

When you’re an indie artist, getting your music into the hands of fans can be a helluva feat. Case in point — Kameron Corvet: The Atlanta-based singer/musician has been releasing acclaimed pop- and rock-tinged soul music since 2006, but without the backing of a label, he’s been forced to wear a multitude of hats — artist, publicist, A&R, etc. — making the task of dropping albums extra tough.

Despite the obstacles, Corvet has steadily cranked out new sounds on a regular basis … as evidenced by his newest EP, “Early Riser,” which hit the streets Dec. 1, 2017. The album is a continuation of the guitar-driven brand of music he’s become known for, and once again, he brought the project to life via the hard work of his-own-damn-self and that of his team. We recently checked in with Corvet to get a look at the challenges of making of his latest project — from a creative and a business POV.

It seems like the road to releasing your latest album was a long and winding one. Walk me through the journey of putting it together.

“Early Riser” makes my fifth independent project, and after doing a couple of them, you kinda learn from your mistakes; you say, “OK, I’m gonna do better than I did last time.” And for me, “better” meant not only taking time with the creation of the music but making sure the hands that were involved creatively were skilled and knowledgeable, making sure the technical side was done well, making sure there was a storyline related to it and making sure that nothing was overlooked. So, in doing that, the distribution piece became another element; I wanted to do something more than self-distribute this time around. I felt that strongly about the music. Shopping around “Early Riser” was what I was doing for the past year or two. So, a lot of that time has been spent entertaining interested parties, which usually starts off on the right foot but, when we start getting down to the real business of everything, becomes an attempt to marginalize my contribution to the project as a whole — and reduce me to just being an artist and not an executive. [Although] I’m the one who steered the thing from start to finish, spent my coin on it, and the sweat equity is all mine. Don’t deprive me of the opportunity to benefit on the backside by being an executive and being rewarded as such.

What exactly were you pushing for deal-wise that garnered pushback?

I think it goes without saying that in any investment or any business, the person who is taking the most risk should get the most reward. And [when it came to “Early Riser”] I was taking the most risk. I felt like because the risk had already been taken to create the product … I’m coming in not as an artist but as a businessman. So, our conversations about the business of this EP should be on that level. When that conversation starts, I shouldn’t be marginalized to being just the artist because it’s more convenient to approach me as such. So, when it came to making decisions about the direction of the marketing and this and that, if I had an opinion, they would be like: “Uh, just stay over there. We know what we’re talking about.” And my thing is, I’m cool with using numbers and resumes to prove a point. So, if I’m saying this project features work by producers that have been nominated and won more than nine Grammys and earned 31 No. 1 records, trust their judgment. You don’t have to trust me. Trust the fact that I trust them to do their part to make sure that the music has been curated properly.

And this was the reaction from most of the label folks you were in talks with?

Yeah. I put a post on social media a while back saying, “Fact: I’ve had five deals that have fallen through over the last two years.” That’s true. Anywhere from investment deals to distribution deals. All it did was push back the release of this project. When you’re an independent artist, you have to be a manager and a booking agent and a publicist … it takes away from practicing, it takes away from curating the performance people want to see. I don’t get any brownie points for doing that. People don’t know I book may own shows when I’m on stage. They expect to see a quality performance. So, if I’m operating under a larger degree of difficulty, let me eat on the other side accordingly.

What made you finally decide to just release it independently again?

After the last deal I potentially had going for the album didn’t work out, I thought: “I believe in the power of the music.” And I believed that if I put this material out, and if it’s the best body of work I’ve put out thus far, it’s gonna shine like that. So I decided to put it out [on my own].

Well, what’s next for the rollout of the project and for you?

I’m currently putting together some dates, show-wise. I have some more music that I’m preparing. “Early Riser” was the prequel; people can only expect a more refined version. I’m always gonna up the ante when it comes to the music.

For more info, visit: www.kameroncorvet.com.