Today we’d like to introduce you to Stella Prince.
Hi Stella, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was four years old when I knew for certain that this was exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I remember going up to my parents and telling them I wanted a manager, and an agent, and wanted to start auditioning and performing right away. I had my first resume printed out when I was six, and my first manager when I was ten. Growing up in Woodstock, NY, folk music was EVERYWHERE. Levon Helm was my first concert, and Pete Seeger and Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary were my second and third concerts. Natalie Merchant started a folk music club at my school that I was a part of in second grade. It was just a magical place to grow up. I studied music very seriously from four years old onwards– with voice lessons, guitar and piano lessons, choir practice, music theory lessons, and constant performances. When I was 14, I started booking my own performances. Not just on the East Coast, but around the US, and began touring with just me and my guitar. As of now, at 21, I have booked over 1000 shows from here to Europe. Building my career from the ground up over the past 7 years has been a pretty unbelievable experience. Literally starting with open mic nights all over New York and from there going to bars, clubs, restaurants, wineries, farmers markets, anywhere that would let me perform, pay or no pay. I just wanted to sing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think the biggest struggle for me was the pressure of doing every single aspect of everything on my own. From advancing shows to booking all the artists for bills in new markets, to booking all the travel plans and figuring out budgets, to making graphics and cover art, to updating my website and running my social media and booking over 100+ radio interviews to go with each performance, that was a lot to manage. Now, I am so grateful to finally have an incredible team of people surrounding me. But over the past seven years, I remember thinking that each show felt like such a fight to get. It was so difficult to get people to say yes, and to actually confirm something, that each performance I booked was beyond exhausting to actually make happen. The first time I booked an international tour, I was seventeen, and it took me six months of grueling work to book ten shows in Europe. It was some of the most difficult work I had ever done. Everything I book is through cold calls and cold emails, and in international markets it was nearly impossible to get anyone to respond. So it was a very, very difficult time back then.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My name is Stella Prince. I am a 21-year-old indie folk-pop artist from Woodstock, NY. I have booked over 1000 shows for myself across the US and Europe over the past seven years and am incredibly excited to be recording my debut album in Iceland at Floki Studios this March, which will be released on Anzie Blue Records distributed by United Masters. I have loved the opportunity of speaking on some college campuses this year, like Nashville’s Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities, NYU, University of Chicago, etc., about how you can build your career up yourself and do everything on your own, specifically for music business and songwriting students. I am a fierce champion of the next generation of female artists, and for my first headlining tour which I am about to embark on, I picked over 20 young female artists across the United States to open up for me on tour. Supporting the next generation of musicians is everything.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
My biggest risk has been moving to places where I hardly knew anyone. Moving to Nashville. Moving to LA. I remember when I moved to Nashville three years ago when I was eighteen, I knew probably like 5 people. (literally). Same with LA. But I just had this gut feeling I needed to move. And that’s what I did. And it was by far the right decision. But those couple of months beforehand, where I had no idea if this was the right choice or not, were very stressful. It was a real risk, and a real gamble, but I had to follow my heart. Sometimes all you can do is close your eyes, jump, and hope you land.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stellaprincemusic.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/stellaprincemusic
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/stellaprincemusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@stellaprincemusic
