Buddy Hale's Musiclandria is Breaking Barriers to Musical Expression

What if everyone had the chance to unlock their musical potential, regardless of their background or financial situation? Meet Buddy Hale, the visionary behind Musiclandria, who turned his challenging foster system childhood into a driving force for change. Buddy's personal experience with music as a lifeline inspired him to create Musiclandria, a groundbreaking nonprofit that's now the largest free music instrument lending library in the U.S. Listen as we explore how Buddy's initiative is breaking down barriers and fostering a welcoming community for all aspiring musicians.

Discover the power of community and collaboration as Buddy shares his journey, from starting a humble instrument lending program to building a vibrant musicians makerspace. Musiclandria is not just a library; it's a lifeline for musicians facing noise restrictions at home and funding challenges. A recent $100,000 grant from Impact 100 marks a significant milestone, allowing Musiclandria to continue its mission of providing free access to musical resources while balancing the realities of sustaining a nonprofit.

Looking to the future, Buddy dreams big with ambitions to expand Musiclandria into cities nationwide, transforming vacant spaces into thriving music hubs. These all-ages venues will offer instrument access, makerspaces, and professional development, creating a support pipeline for musicians from their first note through to touring and industry networking. My admiration for Buddy’s tireless dedication and optimism for a future filled with harmony, creativity, and shared musical growth is a wonderful conclusion to the story. 

To learn more about Musiclandria, visit the website HERE.

Chapter Summaries:

(00:00) Musiclandria's Innovative Music Support Programs
Nature's transformative power of accessible music education for low-income families and at-risk youth through Musiclandria's lending library and community makerspace.

(13:39) Dreaming Big for Music Community
Word of mouth builds a vibrant musical community space, breaking down barriers and balancing funding challenges for accessibility.

(21:02) Building a Musical Community Pipeline
Musiclandria envisions safe, all-ages venues in every city with instrument programs, makerspaces, and professional development opportunities for musicians.

(31:30) Empowering Music Community Through Support
Nature's impact on at-risk communities is highlighted through a unique program, with hopes for collaboration and a stable space.

Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates. https://www.nonprofpod.com/ And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing.

Transcript

Buddy Hale: [00:00:00] I don't know how to connect with people and school isn't working. The only way I could address all that stuff I was going through was through like being alone in a room with, with an instrument, sitting down with it, processing all my feelings and my thoughts through this instrument, right? Because I didn't know how to communicate verbally, but I could communicate and navigate my feelings through music.

So I'm really hoping the space and all of our programs going forward do that for people that are falling through the cracks in a traditional school setting or. Can't find their their outlet.

Jeff Holden: Hi, I'm Jeff Holden. Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Our purpose and passion is to highlight a nonprofit organization in each weekly episode, giving that organization an opportunity to tell their story. In their words, to better inform [00:01:00] and educate the respective communities they serve, as well as provide one more tool for them to share their message to constituents and donors.

Our goal is to help build stronger communities through shared voices, and to both encourage and support the growth of local nonprofit organizations through podcasting, thanks to our founding partners for their foresight in helping us transform the way conversations start. CAPTRUST fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations.

Western Health Advantage, a full service healthcare plan for individuals, employer groups, and families. What might our community look like, or should I say, sound like if there were no barriers to instruments for children to play, or budding musicians to practice with, maybe something like a library for instruments and education on what to do with them, you might be surprised to learn it exists.

Buddy Hale with his own incredible story, which we'll touch on. Has orchestrated a program that takes discord and dissonance [00:02:00] in our community and brings harmony and rhythm to our youth through music As the maestro of music Landia, his vision has grown from a modest lending program to a vibrant hub that provides instruments to low income and at risk youth incorporating a successful grant from Impact 100.

We'll hear how the power of music has the ability to not only change lives, but change the celebration of community as well. Buddy Hale, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Buddy Hale: Thank you so much for having me stoked to be here. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, I'm, I'm so excited, especially after having the opportunity to tour the facility and see the stuff that you've got going on and get a better understanding of what Music Landry is.

But before we do that. I want you to explain your story that brought you to this point. I had the opportunity to hear it at an event, a function where you were actually presenting, and it's an amazing story. So if, if you wouldn't mind, 

Buddy Hale: absolutely. Yeah, my [00:03:00] pleasure. So when I was eight months old, my mom left me on my dad's doorstep.

He had dementia by the time I was six and I landed in the foster system at eight, I turned to drugs, and by 12 I got arrested. Everything changed. When my probation officer saw potential beyond punishment, she enrolled me in drum lessons and it really saved my life, like legit saved my life. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm.

Buddy Hale: Through music, I was able to build family-like bonds with other musicians, and I healed and that's why I started Music, Andrea, to support and inspire at-risk musicians. How long ago did you do that? In 2014, so about 10 years ago now. Okay. So in 2014 we launched Music Landro and our program's focused on a musician's hierarchy of needs.

I. Access education, community building and professional development. And yeah, we decided to serve low income families at risk youth. And now like about [00:04:00] 40% of our users are people of color and over like 70% make less than $25,000 a year. What started in a tiny apartment with only 25 instruments. Grew into the largest free music instrument lending program in the entire United States.

Jeff Holden: That is an amazing accomplishment. Just thank you. To think from some little guy just banging on the drums. Yep. In the foster system, I'm sure the foster homes and parents are going, whoa. Right. Can't have this drum thing going on. 

Buddy Hale: Yep. It was like I had two pens, Uhhuh banging on my desk. Uhhuh Right. And no access to instruments.

And when, when I got that access, it was a game changer. 

Jeff Holden: Tell me a little bit about the way that the music library works. I mean, I think you started out as. Like a library. It was lending with an expectation for the instruments to come back, and you've now morphed into a different process that feeds and provides content and, and in a [00:05:00] variety of different ways, right?

From instruments to technology, et cetera. So, so go ahead and walk us through how that works. 

Buddy Hale: Yeah. We have three programs that we're really leaning into right now, and it all started with our instrument program. So that's super unique, right? We put instruments into the hands of those who need the most, no cost and no barriers.

People can come in, find an instrument, take it home for free, and keep it right. Our mantra is take what you need and leave what you can. For some, that means donating instruments or funds. For others, it means volunteering time to grow the program. But for everyone, it means access and opportunity. We've provided over like 28,000 instruments since our launch, and that's valued at over $2.8 million.

And in the last eight months alone, we've received over $25,000 in instrument donations. 

Jeff Holden: Do you think that last eight months donations is because of, you know, recognition and people are starting to see that there's an [00:06:00] opportunity for me to give back to that music community? That's the average. Yeah.

That's amazing. It's amazing. 

Buddy Hale: It's really crazy how supportive the community is of this program, but it also shines a light on how many instruments are out there not being used anymore. Right. Like someone bought a guitar for their kid 15 years ago. Right. And they played it. They loved it. They moved away to college, left it, you know, in the closet, and now it's looking for a new home.

So we see that all the time. 

Jeff Holden: I want a guitar. I can come to music land In this situation, I, I can't afford to buy a guitar, but happens if there happens to be one there, at that point in time, I can take that instrument and begin to practice. It's a functioning instrument. Absolutely. Yeah. 

Buddy Hale: Yeah. For a minute, we were accepting kind of any instruments because we didn't have the capacity to like check every single one.

And people were like, oh, I have this thing, but it needs repair. And we were like, [00:07:00] okay, we could probably fix it. But then we were like, oh, it's getting really hard to fix all the instruments that need repair. So now we're like working instruments only please. Or if it's not functioning, could you help with the maintenance before you.

Drop it off. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. To make it work so when somebody does get it, they can use it. Exactly. Yeah. When I was there, you had an incredible instrument at the end aisle. Mm-hmm. What was that? That was a Ang, 

Buddy Hale: yeah. We recently purchased that for our musicians Makerspace program. So that's a great transition into an another program that we do in addition to the instrument one.

Mm-hmm. So we also started Sacramento's very first musicians makerspace, where it's like a gym for musicians where they can exercise their creativity. And when you walk into the makerspace, you'll see local musicians recording music for film or video games, young families learning things like pianos or drum machines together.

Through that program, we've recorded over 2000 songs, produced nearly [00:08:00] 600 music videos. And over 15,000 people have been hosted through our concerts, festivals, and meetups. Yeah, we currently have about 15 stations set up in the Makerspace, and we're hoping to consistently grow and expand that over time.

Jeff Holden: So not unlike any other makerspace, it's a group of varying musicians, varying interests from familiar instruments, all the way to fully digitized. Programming. Yep. It's amazing. I mean, I, I have not heard of anything that sounds, anything like that. Is there something else out there that you modeled it after or is it all original to Sacramento?

Buddy Hale: Yeah, so this is kind of based on a lot of the training that I got at, um, studying business at Sac State, right? Like how do you develop a business idea or a business model? And one of the ways is to take a preexisting business model and innovate on it. Right. So [00:09:00] me being a musician looked at the library model and was just like, this is very cool.

Let's do it for music instruments. Mm-hmm. Same thing kind of happened with the makerspace model. It was just like, whoa, there's these really cool makerspaces out there, but nothing like that for a musician. Right. And I did kind of the same thing there being like, what would a makerspace for musicians look like?

Jeff Holden: Is the makerspace, is it a fee? Do you pay to spend time in it? How does it work? 

Buddy Hale: We're using that as a way to try to generate revenue and support our instrument program, which is totally no fee. Mm-hmm. Right? It's all based on a sharing economy essentially. So we've gotten hourly rate for the makerspace, a monthly rate, a quarterly rate, and an annual rate.

Giving people options to choose how they want to engage or test it out, right? Like see if they. You know, they can try an hour and then see, oh my gosh, this was really cool. I wanna do a month or a year. 

Jeff Holden: Not to mention just the collaboration of the people that are in those other [00:10:00] 15 spaces, or 14 if you're in one, right?

You meet people, you learn things, and you get to engage in the community in a different way that you maybe hadn't before. I'm, I'm familiar with some musicians and they're shy, right? You know, going out and selling themselves is not what's easy for them to do, but here you're. Amongst your peers, right? And that tends to really breed some interesting relationships as a result.

I 

Buddy Hale: totally agree. Yeah. We see that a lot too. Before I launched the makerspace, we sent out an interest form to see like, Hey, if we started this, what kind of services would you like to see as part of this program? And the number one thing was access to a community event space. Because they're musicians are shy, but they really want community.

Mm-hmm. Right? They really want family-like bonds and they want to connect with people, share ideas, get inspired by other people. So I wasn't shocked to see a community event spaces like the number one requested service, but after that it was [00:11:00] like access to. An all ages music venue, so that was really big too.

Mm-hmm. Kind of nestled in with the community event space. The second biggest need was just a spot to meet other musicians. Right. So we put that really high up on our, our makerspace being like, okay, well we have these stations, but they're not isolated from the one right next to it. So we connected some of these musicians, makerspace stations.

So the person across from you can hear what you're doing and you can collaborate with them. Right. Record and just yeah, make music with them. 

Jeff Holden: And I know, so importantly is the acceptance in many cases. The traditional model, the traditional experience of whether it be career or school, whatever, for a musician is a little different.

Mm. You know, they tend to stand out. It's, it's a creative application that's so, so unique. You don't have the acceptance that you would as somebody who fits that mold a little bit more commonly. I, I [00:12:00] applaud that, especially for those kids in underserved communities. Where do they go? Right. And you're taking 'em out of the neighborhood and, and putting 'em into an engaging piece that might be exactly what they need.

Buddy Hale: Uh, yeah, absolutely. And again, it's also like to expand on that just a little bit, it's like what happens to the kids that can't thrive musically in the school system? 'cause that was me. Mm-hmm. Right? It was just like. I am way, I'm going through some really tough stuff right now. I don't know how to communicate with anyone.

School is not working for me. It's like making me turn even more inwards. My social anxiety is just through the roof. Like I don't know how to connect with people and school isn't working. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Buddy Hale: So like the only way I would sort of address all that stuff, the only way I could address all that stuff I was going through was through like.

Being alone in a room with a, with somebody with an instrument. Mm-hmm. Right? Like sitting down with it, processing all my feelings and my thoughts [00:13:00] through this instrument, right? Because I didn't know how to communicate verbally, but I could communicate and navigate my feelings through music. So I'm really hoping the space and all of our programs going forward do that.

For people that are falling through the cracks in like a traditional school setting or can't find their, their outlet. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. What you just said, I think is so beautifully phrased for so many people who are in that space, and collectively, we would say surely it starts in this scholastic academic setting, but there's people who are 30, 40, 50, 60 years old who never got.

Out of it. Right. You know, they were never able to express themselves appropriately. And if I'm not mistaken, there isn't an age limit. On the makerspace or the use of the instruments. 

Buddy Hale: No way. Yeah. Not at all. Mm-hmm. And, and, and you do 

Jeff Holden: see some, some adults coming in and 35, 45, 50 plus 

Buddy Hale: Absolutely. Or people coming in with their families.

Right. We get a lot of [00:14:00] full families coming in. Mm-hmm. Right. Where it's like a mom, a dad, their kids maybe even like their grandparent coming in with a grandkid and they'll be like messing around with music together. And that's really fun too, because. It doesn't have to be one person at one station. I think the ultimate goal is just like.

People making music together and building whatever that is, you know, in real time. Connecting through music together or doing it solo if they need to. Mm-hmm. Right. So I love it when like someone 50 plus comes in with someone that's five. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, that's fantastic. Like a grandparent, grandchild or something.

Buddy Hale: Right. And they're playing, they're learning a synthesizer together and like the kid is making some sound on a crazy keyboard and the grandparent or whatever is just like. Smiling from me ear. Sure, 

Jeff Holden: sure. Yeah, those moments are pretty cool. I can only imagine. We'll return to this symphonic scoring of sound with Buddy Hale right after we hear from those who make the program possible.[00:15:00] 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST in our Sacramento office. I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations annually. We survey private and public nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment. In our more recent survey, we heard concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments.

If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, scottThomas@captrust.com. 

Jeff Holden: I'm thrilled to have Western Health Advantage partnering with us as they do so much to support so many nonprofit agencies in our community. As a truly local health plan, you'll find individual and family options, employer options from medical services to pharmacy health and wellness support, as well as behavioral health care.

Western Health Advantage has a plan that fits what you need as an employer for profit or nonprofit business, individual or family. You can find [00:16:00] more@westernhealth.com. Tell me a little bit about the collaborative effort, the people and the outreach that you've got into the community. Because the music community, I would imagine at some point, figures it out.

They know you're there, there's a lot of word of mouth, et cetera, but you mentioned. Yourself as a foster kid, and there are many organizations that deal with foster children and underserved communities. Do you work with them as well? Do you see them come through? Tell me a little bit about that. 

Buddy Hale: Everyone comes in.

Yeah, it's really, I don't know how else to say 

Jeff Holden: it. So you could have maybe a Big Brothers Big Sisters come through for something. Girl Scouts. Boy Scouts. 

Buddy Hale: Yep. Yeah, it really just like who finds out about it and who comes in. Right. And usually what we see happen is once someone does come in, they really spread the word.

Mm-hmm. Word of mouth is just just an inherent part of, I think what we do. 'cause a lot of [00:17:00] people like music and even if someone doesn't identify themself as a musician. Which we see a lot. There's a lot of, oh, I'm not a musician. We get that a lot. Mm-hmm. So I think that's, I would almost go as far to say as some of the trauma work that we do is just like, why?

What's, where does that come from and how do we sort of work through that? Because I think everyone is a musician, or can be, and how do we work past some of those barriers that people have in their, I don't know. Community really just figures it out, right? We create a space, and then I like to be a little bit hands off and see like, okay, now what's gonna happen?

Mm-hmm. Right? Like, who's gonna find this that really needs it? Who's gonna find it and who are they gonna tell about it that really needs it? So, to answer your question a little bit more specifically, yeah. I mean, we get all sorts of people, organizations, community advocates, lots of people coming in to just use the program however they see fit.

Jeff Holden: Right. And I would imagine the city [00:18:00] itself is pleased to have you around simply because you are a gathering space. 

Buddy Hale: Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: In a positive way, in a positive energy, in, in a good vibe where people really get something out of it. And to your point, it does continue to fuel itself as the experience is a positive one, right?

Buddy Hale: Yeah. I mean it's, it's fascinating seeing how the makerspace is already growing, being in this new location for just a short couple months already, we've got like 50 people that have signed up. Most of them are require a scholarship due to like a lack of funds. Mm-hmm. But I'm stoked on that. I'm like, great.

That's more impactful. We can provide that. If we have a space, then we absolutely can. And if we get funding then we can do more of that for sure. But what I'm seeing with a lot of the people that have signed up already are. They just show up. They show up, they hang out, they make some music. They see someone else come [00:19:00] in, they start conversations with these other people, and then they start practicing together.

So part of the makerspace is practice space. That was another huge request from our community. So we built out two practice spaces and those are starting to get used a lot. 

Jeff Holden: And then I can imagine, certainly as the word gets out mm-hmm. Because it's difficult. I mean, you're in somebody's garage, you're in a driveway, you're right, you're in somebody's basement and it can be loud.

Buddy Hale: Yep. Yeah, we're already hearing that too. You're just, you're getting all these Exactly. You know what's going on in the music community 'cause. A lot of the folks that, again, that have signed up, they have some gear at home maybe. Right. They've invested years into developing their own musical identity. They have stuff at home, but they can't play it.

Mm-hmm. Right. Because they're just like, oh, my neighbors are gonna complain. Mm-hmm. Even if I have an electronic drum kit, the apartment below, here's the bass drum going through the, the, the pad going through the floor. Mm-hmm. Right. And they. If they don't feel like they can make [00:20:00] music even when they're at home.

Jeff Holden: Tell me a little bit about funding. How is the organization funded? 

Buddy Hale: So we just got an amazing impact, 100 grant. We worked really hard to push through A lot of the trauma that I have in grant writing. I'm not a grant writer, but as someone who runs a nonprofit, you kind of have to, I struggle with that a lot.

Like really, really, really struggle with grant writing, but. One of the people that worked with Impact 100 supported me and really pushed me to apply for it. I didn't think we'd make it through, but we did, and then I had to do a five minute pitch in front of everybody at Impact 100. And I worked my tail off to do that as well.

Probably spent three months straight of just like really, really practicing and perfecting this pitch. And I'm [00:21:00] so stoked to say that we were awarded a $100,000 grant through Impact 100. 

Jeff Holden: I was there that night. I had the privilege of seeing all the presenters and I will tell you, you. Absolutely nailed it.

Thank 

Buddy Hale: you. 

Jeff Holden: You absolutely nailed 

Buddy Hale: it. Thank you so much for saying that. Yeah, that was hard, but I'm so, I'm so glad that I did, 

Jeff Holden: and now you have to do something with it, right? Yeah. And we we're gonna get to that in a second as outside of that particular grant and the day to day before that came through.

How do you keep the doors open? 

Buddy Hale: Yeah. Same story as any other nonprofit in the area, right? Or probably globally, right? Mm-hmm. As a nonprofit, which I'm sure you've heard this all the time on other episodes, it's like you really try to diverse your revenue streams, right? And you really think about ways to sustain your programs, however you can, right?

If that's through grants, if you're lucky to have relationships with grants, maybe they can reoccur. Maybe you reapply and you have a relationship with [00:22:00] them. If not, then what do you do? Right? Mm-hmm. You hopefully have the ability to start thinking about how can you generate revenue through your programs?

For us, that's really, I don't like that, right? Because I'm so passionate about providing services to people who can't afford them. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Buddy Hale: Right? So that's a catch 22 for me. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. It can minimize the access to the very people that you wanna serve. Exactly. 

Buddy Hale: Right. And then you have to rely on grants. But what does that do?

Relying on grants, you know, at least for me, it makes it so I can't run my program. Mm-hmm. 'cause I'm writing grants. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. To your point, you have this huge staff that you're working with, right? Mm-hmm. They are How many one, that's what I thought you Exactly. So you, you are program director, you are operations manager, you're maintenance and your grant writer.

Buddy Hale: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And other stuff. Yeah. Amongst other things. Right? Amongst other things, right? 

Buddy Hale: Yeah. So I bet [00:23:00] you hear that all the time. Oh, I 

Jeff Holden: do. I do. And there's so many wonderful organizations with great causes and novel, unique ideas that serve a niche that you really wanna see succeed. Right? Because what they're providing and what they're doing, not unlike what you're doing, is so unique.

It's just so, so different. You kind of got a bit of the dream before the execution, and I wanted to ask you that question as part of the, the funding narrative that we go through with everybody. If money were no object, what does the organization look like? 

Buddy Hale: Yeah, so that's a really cool question and there's a lot of different ways to answer that.

Go big. Go big. Okay. So I'm gonna push back against that in a minute, but let's start there because I think dreaming big is really, really, really important. So this could be a long part of the podcast if we let it, but let me just try to be a [00:24:00] little bit succinct here. If money were no object, I would launch a music Landry in every city.

I would, but how would I do that, right? Mm-hmm. If it was just like we had the funds, then bam, I would find empty buildings that need to be activated in cities that have or need more music resources, and I think every city needs 

Jeff Holden: that. I was gonna say, I would imagine that could be X, Y, Z city in the country.

Buddy Hale: Yeah. What we would do with that then is every location would become a venue, an all ages music venue that was safe for youth and people of all ages to perform. It would have the instrument program in it so they could get gear, it would have the makerspace so they could use that gear and learn how to create songs with it and start bands.

Once they started the band, they would play the venue at Music Landry, and once they were confident in playing shows, then the professional development would come in and we would set up a network of tour destinations at every music land. Andrea, [00:25:00] so I hope you see how that is Absolutely a really.

Beautiful pipeline where it solves almost every issue that a band nowadays could potentially face. Yeah. I guess I didn't talk too much about like the community aspect of each location, but I imagine what would again happen there is people would meet. People to start bands with, but we could also start exploring what kind of other professional development services could we offer at these locations that a band would need?

And a huge gap that I see, that I'm hoping to lean into is. Booking assistants, management assistants, connecting musicians with like producers and just mentors. Mm-hmm. So I think that could be another beautiful part of this picture. 

Jeff Holden: And it's inevitable at some point somebody is going to pass through the organization.

Who is that talent that has all that it takes? 'cause it's not just the [00:26:00] skill of the music, it's just not the skill to be able to play it, but it takes. Everything coming together 

Buddy Hale: Right. 

Jeff Holden: To be that one in a million that makes it to whatever degree it is. 

Buddy Hale: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: To a recording contract, to a performance contract.

And if I'm not mistaken, when you're saying the performance at each of music Landry is, that would be a feed paid entry to hear these bans. Right. So now you've got another revenue source. 

Buddy Hale: Exactly. 

Jeff Holden: I love the idea. I love that. And you can proof of concept that here in Sacramento, once you do, right, then you have your affiliate markets and or franchise.

However you look at putting it together. And imagine the draw that you would have just to the website to hear. Genres of music. I wanna hear what he's got in rock or what alternative or classic or whatever people might be doing. 

Buddy Hale: Yeah, hundred percent. See I can go there with you. I get excited about it.

Yes. Yeah, me too. I get excited about it. 

Jeff Holden: How neat. Yeah. Now I am a little bit predisposed 'cause I know [00:27:00] how you're gonna answer this next question, but that is back to reality in our community today. It's part of the reason you got the grant from Impact 100. What's the greatest need? 

Buddy Hale: Yeah, I'm gonna answer this in two ways.

One, the greatest need for musicians that we serve is currently access to instruments. I. A place to meet other musicians and all ages. Music venue is a really big one. So there's so many people that just have filled out like a, a recent survey through the city of Sacramento. Identifying a big need and places to perform is a big one.

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Buddy Hale: Yeah. And then again, going back to our own internal survey, it's. It's community event space. It's a place to access instruments. Recording services are big and like creative prompts is another one that was kind of high up there. So people wanna have fun with music, right? Mm-hmm. But they also want to be able to not have to work to day jobs.

That's another big need [00:28:00] is just like, wow. How do you be a musician nowadays if you. Have to spend all of your time doing not music. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Buddy Hale: Right. And just to expand on that a little bit more, this is a really, really complicated issue, but the biggest, another really, really big need for the musicians that we serve is their, their output has been so devalued.

It is so hard to do anything and create any revenue through music unless you get super lucky. Mm-hmm. Right. It's like a 1% thing. There are a lot of musicians that are making a ton of money, but then 99% of them are lucky to make anything on a monthly 

Jeff Holden: basis. And then the starving artist syndrome of, I'll Do My Craft until.

I have to feed my family. 

Buddy Hale: Mm-hmm. So, yeah, I mean, I hate to give this answer, but I think there just needs to be a huge shift in the way that we as people living in 2025 value music. [00:29:00] 

Jeff Holden: Right. What's the arts in general? The arts in general, truly use the arts in general. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. 

Buddy Hale: So that's the, that's the real answer, but that's the real and the, the real complicated answer.

Jeff Holden: And today. You have this, you need a place for all these instruments. They have to be distributed and exposed and available as well as your makerspace. Right. That can be expensive. Yep. Because it becomes a least situation. You, you were in between by the time you were making the, the presentation for impact 100 of of.

Losing an existing space and having what? Everything in your garage. Exactly. Yeah. Which can only hold so much. Yep. 

Buddy Hale: That was 

Jeff Holden: brutal. Yeah. Certainly not two cars. Mm-hmm. 

Buddy Hale: No way. Yeah. So that's the second part of this answer is just like, what does Music Landry need to be able to like? Serve the musicians that we're hoping to serve.

And yeah, I mean, first things first, we, we need a space. I mean, how do you do programs that, how do you do our [00:30:00] kinds of programs without a space? Mm-hmm. Right? So I think about that a lot. We're really close to how, hopefully having a permanent location or a semi-permanent location, but it really starts there.

Mm-hmm. Right. We need a spot to host shows. To build out and improve our maker space and to at the very least run our instrument program. 

Jeff Holden: Right. Well, not to mention the performing studios is so big. Mm-hmm. Having that ability to have a performing space that we talked about earlier, people really need that.

Right? 

Buddy Hale: Yeah. And that takes 

Jeff Holden: room. 

Buddy Hale: It 

Jeff Holden: takes 

Buddy Hale: room. Yeah. That's been our constant challenge for the last 10 years is space. Mm-hmm. Right. We've probably had seven different, about eight now, eight different locations over the course of our history. 

Jeff Holden: So ideally this impact 100. $100,000 will help get you into a more secure space to where maybe [00:31:00] you can lock it up for three, four, or five years.

Yep. And at that point in time, that's one headache off your shoulders. You don't have to worry about, we can focus on other things. 

Buddy Hale: Yep. Focus on sustainability. Correct. Exactly. Yeah. That's the big goal for this impact 100 grant is to provide security, find a space for two years. Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: Right. If not more.

Correct. So if we have any landlords out there who are listening, who have a warehouse space that they'd like to contribute and help with some tenant improvements. We have a tenant looking for the right opportunity, 

Buddy Hale: right? Or if you have a empty building. And whatever city you're in, and you think Music Landry would be an, an incredible resource in your community, hit me up.

If you are an amazing musician that has, you know, made millions over the course of your career and you, you know, you wouldn't have been able to get started in music if you didn't get your first access to whatever the instrument was. Mm-hmm. If your story, you know, has [00:32:00] any ties with what we're doing, hit us up.

Right. So that would be, that would be the miracle that I think we're kind of hoping for and waiting for. 

Jeff Holden: Right. Well, I know the intent is to have access. You have to be able to get access to, whether it be to the music community mm-hmm. To the community of the real estate community to do your thing.

Ideally the access to the, the musicians where somebody does say, I get it right. I was there, that was me. Right? And I wanna see this thing play out to where it benefits so many others. And I, I've made mine, I've had my success and I wanna give it back. Right? And hopefully just this story and the work that you're doing and the continuous work that you're doing gets you out there more and more and more.

The best way to get a hold of you is. What 

Buddy Hale: website is really good. We have contact forms on there. All the information about our programs, there's even a support link if you wanna volunteer or contribute to our [00:33:00] programs. Pretty active on Instagram as well. If you're not into going on websites, you can follow us there.

Just Music Landry. Um, and I will 

Jeff Holden: put the handles for those on the show notes as well as the website, which is musical andrea.com. For those who are watching on the YouTube channel, you can see it right behind Buddy. Here. There it is on the screen. You buddy. What you're doing is so cool for the community.

It's so unique. I was really anxious once I had heard about you and, and saw your presentation at the Impact 100 event. I said, I gotta, I have to talk to this guy. This is such a neat program and what you do that overlaps and envelops. So many of the other social organizations that we've got children in crisis in any way, shape or form, families in crisis, right?

You know, the foster youth and people who are not unlike yourself that probably struggled to get through not only high school, but you got yourself through Sac State. So kudos to both of [00:34:00] you, SAC State for getting you through and for you getting through it with a a business degree. Those are the things that.

Really make the program novel because it's appealing to a, a different niche of people in the community that can very often be overlooked, and then they're dismissed. And what do they do? They go down the wrong path because there's nobody there to accept them. So for what you're doing and the way that you're getting it done is Herculean.

I mean, you're one guy for saying that. Thank you for saying that. Yeah. We, we have to get you some support and I'm excited because. I will share with a variety of other people that I know might have an interest in working with, participating in some way, shape, or form, just as a result of our platform. But for yourself, it's so unique and so beneficial that I, I just wish you the best of success in getting that space so that we can say and do an update on our newsletter.

Yeah. Hey, music Landry has scored, they've got a place for three years. They're stable. That's great. Mm-hmm. [00:35:00] And everybody knows where to find you, and I'm sure when you do, it'll be up on the website as well. Absolutely. Yeah. Well buddy, continued success. Thank you. And thank you for what you're doing. 

Buddy Hale: My pleasure.

Yeah, it's gonna be an awesome year. Absolutely. Let's see what we 

Jeff Holden: can do. Absolutely, it is. Give us a little, little rift here. 

Buddy Hale: All right, y'all play along. Here comes a beat

Jeff Holden: and you used everything in front of you. Yes, buddy. Thank you so much. You bet. Thank you.

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