Navigating the Music Industry As An Independent Artist With sobe

Photography Karina Lopez.

A new queen of hyper-pop or alternative R&B is emerging under the name sobe, or by birth Jessalyn Renes. Fans of Charli xcx or Kali Uchis can embrace Renes’ calls to every-day life, tight electronic effects and dreamy vocals to dance the night away or motivate themselves through a workout.

Renes, who is from Las Vegas Nevada, builds somehow soft soundscapes with lots of shimmering details that can double as late night club bangers. When asked about her personal inspiration, many powerful female artists quickly came to mind.

“Ariana Grande for sure. I love her melodies and lush amount of harmonies in her music. Doja Cat too, I almost feel as if she normalized being authentic and playful in the music industry. Also love her melodies, I’m convinced she could put a melody onto any beat. Lastly Tori Kelly, her covers on YouTube were like vocal lessons for me! Her songwriting is incredibly vulnerable and honest,” explained Renes.

There is no question that singing along to expert vocalists is a great way to develop your voice at home and experiment with your own range. In the case of Renes, impressive harmonizing abilities and enchanting melodies were waiting to be heard. As a lifelong musician, with inspiration that started at home as well as the worldwide stars mentioned before, Renes sound developed over many years.

“My father is a songwriter and has always been obsessed with music, I think it’s a gift passed down to me for sure. When I was little we had a keyboard that I’d always gravitate to, and every song I loved I tried to play by ear,” reflected Renes. “In my teen years, I got a ukulele (because I thought my hands were too small for a guitar) and started songwriting there.”

Now Renes’ complex song writing is the force behind each intense and hyper-femme song. In addition to her vocals and songwriting abilities, Renes has a clear passion for art itself.

“Art is a form of expression, you don’t have to follow rules or standards. Make what feels good to you. Blend those genres and sounds. Tweak your mix a million times while playing with experimental plugins. Make your music as minimal or maximal as you’d like. Your people will find you,” said Renes.

At 24 years old, Renes is following her music dreams, with a solid fan base awaiting each release. Although, she does face some challenges as an independent artist trying to enter the established music world. After a negative experience with popular distribution site DistroKid, Renes took to Instagram to explain her experience and her concern for other small artists.

“Please always make sure that you have every safety precaution set in place. Copyright your music and do your research on music distribution companies,” advised Renes.

For those who don’t know the behind the scenes of online music well, a distributor is a third party company that artists pay in return for uploading their music to larger streaming platforms. Any small artist without a label or agent generally uses a distributor and relies on these companies’ help to get their music heard. Unfortunately for Renes, another DistroKid user continuously uploaded music using Renes’ vocals and images without her permission, all interacting with her professional artist profile.

“The world is constantly changing and finding ways to reinvent itself; to be better, more efficient and convenient. Which also ties into my experience as an independent artist. I feel incredibly exhausted having to stay on my toes. Having to be consistent week by week while actively thinking of new innovative ways to put myself out there, keeping it as quick and entertaining as possible before the watcher’s attention span wavers,” said Renes. “But regardless of those frustrations, I’m still incredibly happy to be independent. It’s all worth it when you have your own creative control and you’re not in debt. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

While Renes’ brave decision to share her experience did bring together other small artists with similar issues, it did not solve the larger problem. Hopefully, companies will take steps to take better care of their artists, regardless, this speed bump won’t stop Renes from putting her art out there.