Ep. 13 - Niko Seizov: Leading With Passion and Creating Your Own Music Career

Niko Seizov is a London-based creative strategist, artist manager, and electronic music artist from Bulgaria. With a trajectory spawning almost 15 years, he has been involved in multiple projects inside the music industry and has had the chance to provide guidance and strategies on projects with artists like Thom Yorke, Modeselektor, Marc Houle and Timo Maas, with whom he received a GRAMMY nomination for the Best Remix category for his “1985” collaboration with Paul McCartney. 

Incredibly passionate about his work, Niko possesses a unique perspective in the industry that blends his understanding of artistic ambition and creative freedom alongside a managerial mindset. By working hard on his personal initiatives, he has been able to see his projects through while pivoting smoothly into new ventures. His current project Circle of Live is a “live acts only” event series that brings together the biggest names in electronic music for a more experimental and multidisciplinary experience. Circle of Live nowadays incorporates its own Record Label and is preparing to launch a revolutionary educational platform. 

Join us to learn more about how Niko Seizov manages Sebastian Mullaert, Laurence Guy, and Wayne Snow. How he has prepared new ways for the arts to prosper, how he connects work with nature, and how to bring the projects you envision into life. In this episode, Niko gives us an opportunity to dig deeper into his career and learn from his personal hustle experiences.

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I also take this opportunity to apologize if there is any problem with the audio quality since we have had to record this episode from home. Hope you enjoy it!

Show Notes

• Moving to a more suitable environment for personal development
• Co-Founder and managing director of Circle of Live
• Entering the Music Industry at an Agency in 2007
• Becoming a music artist
• Returning to the administrative sector
• How Record Labels are not the best model to make money
• Using social media to promote music right before it became popular
• Opening a Social Media Marketing Agency and how to transition from learning a craft, to running the craft.
• Transitioning and adapting a company to the clients’ needs and growth expectations
• Exceeding your work capacities
• How to deal with work becoming overwhelming, and how to return to being sharp
• Understanding your own limits 
• Developing your projects on the side
• Letting Passion drive your way in the music industry
• Growing a career from a marketing company to a management company, to a Record Label and event series
• How to keep innovating over time
• Implementing all the acquired skill into new jobs
• How to manage companies with defined internal departments
• How to identify the bigger and better deal for an artist
• Learning from the best specialists in their areas of expertise
• Do NOT overthink!
• Try new things and evolve along with the industry
• Collaborations with other creatives like visual artists to present live music in a different way
• Circle of Live
• • Event Series
  • Record Label
  • Educational platform
• How to live without the touring circuit?
• Not to focus on creating the artist of the future, but rather the industry of the future
• Live and create meaningful projects in your life
• “Work for your purpose and the business will find you, do not go out trying to follow and chase a box”
• What do you feel are you bringing value to the world?
• How to not fall on “boxes” and keep your north 
• Understanding the needs and creating the right formats for education
• Managing artists and building spaces for artistic growth
• Always bring the passion - people will fill it! 
• The “morning pages practice” and how to align your days with your goals, dreams, and thoughts
• Honoring your feelings
• Understanding why people follow certain “boxes” 

Resources

1. CIRCLE OF LIVE
2. Sebastian Mullaert 
3. Laurence Guy
4. Wayne Snow
5. Universal Music and Mercury Records
6. Forward Thinking Music
7. “1985” Paul McCartney & Timo Maas