IN FOCUS: Sustainable Careers Topic – Having a business mindset
January 26, 2026 by team downtown
Downtown presents IN FOCUS, a new series exploring the ideas shaping the future of music and technology.
Each episode spotlights a key theme and features short, candid conversations between our team and our clients or partners – deep diving into the questions, trends, and insights driving change across the industry. We share key takeaways from each conversation to help shed light on different areas of the music business and spark new ways of thinking about its future.
You can find all episodes of IN FOCUS on Downtown’s YouTube channel here.
IN FOCUS is also available as a podcast, listen to all episodes released here.
Episode Eight: IN FOCUS: Sustainable Careers
Topic: Having a business mindset
Episode eight sees Downtown’s Director of A&R, Jeanette Porcello, in conversation with Nashville-based artist and songwriter Erin Kinsey, exploring how understanding your audience, embracing data, and approaching artistry with a business mindset can empower artists to build sustainable, global careers.
Key takeaways:
– Why treating your artistry like a business can unlock creative freedom
– How understanding your audience informs smarter touring, release, and collaboration decisions
– The role of analytics, DSP tools, and social platforms in identifying global fan growth
– Why community, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing are essential to artist development
– How balancing intuition with data helps artists make bold, sustainable career moves
