Juna N Joey
Interview conducted April 20, 2021
By Dan Locke
Following their recent success coming in runners up on Nickelodeon’s America’s Most Musical Family, brother and sister singer/songwriter duo Juna N Joey are following up with a new single “Something Good To Miss.” The song will be the first release of Juna N Joey’s self-titled EP produced by Ken Royster of the Luke Combs “Hurricane” fame. This new single is a perfect example of the brother/sister’s songwriting style and country pop sensibilities. Having grown their fan base to over 7 million viewers on YouTube and 6.6 million viewers on Tik Tok, Juna N Joey are ready to release some new music and get fans excited for their upcoming self-titled EP set for release in Spring 2021.
You are brother and sister. What was your upbringing?
Juna–We are a family of four –just us, our parents and two dogs–We grew up in W Palm Beach Florida. We went to a St. Joe’s elementary school and then to Bok School of Music and then to Dreyfoos School of The Arts for high school, which is also a well-known art school, like a Fame or Julliard type.
Joey–We are Italian, so our family is very important. We had big holidays and family outings. Our parents own a fruit and vegetable farmer’s market-type business. So, food and music are very important to us. I was also into sports when I was younger. I also went to the schools Juna mentioned and I now attend Berklee School Of Music in Boston, MA for college.
How did you discover music?
Juna–I was watching the Little Rascals TV show and the little girl was singing L.O.V.E. that Frank Sinatra made famous and my parents heard me singing it and they gave me singing lessons.
Joey–I was singing in choir in elementary school and another parent heard me sing and said “Hey, Joey you can really sing”. Additionally, I went to Juna’s practice and I was humming along and the teacher asked me to join the lesson and the rest is history.
Your grandfather talks to you about Italian classical music. Did going to Italy help you understand the music of Italy better?
Juna–Yes, our grandfather took us to Italy and he was singing Opera for folks and it was so interesting to see him do that. I hope to go to Florence someday and learn more about the music scene there and visit all the classic places. Maybe I can do an abroad program and work that into an Italian tour who knows? Luckily, our manager and label head are Italian, I think she will go for that.
Joey–I would like to see a real Opera at La Scala and the historical music sites in all of Europe especially, Italy. We also have an Italian-made piano at home, so we have a little bit of Italy with us there at home. We would love to tour Italy, as musicians, and in the states, we would love to sing at the events put on by Italian Organizations and maybe even sing at the San Gennaro Feast in “Little Italy” in New York City we have one here in Hallandale, FL and we applied to play there.
How did you start to write music?
Juna–I first started to write with our vocal coach, Jill Palmer, here in Florida, then we attracted the attention of the local music community and then it grew from there.
Joey–For me, I just started doing the melodies on the acoustic, and then Juna and I started writing pretty good songs together. And now, we are getting to be more well-known in the songwriting community. We write with all kinds of people, actors, famous writers, producers so it’s pretty cool.
How did you get your group name? Why Juna’s name first?
Juna–Well, it is our name. So, it was pretty easy to name the act. I think it sounds better than the other way around. Joey and Juna are not as melodic as the other way around. People tease us in Nashville and call us Johnny and June.
Joey–When I was a baby, I had a hard time saying Juna’s proper name, Juliana, so it just came out as Juna and it stuck as her nickname. It works well for us –I could not have known of our future and how it would actually affect our career–We are easily Googled–the SEO is great since it is a unique name combo.
Describe your music.
Juna–Well, I would say it is heartfelt, country-pop with the productions being as country as they can be and still be appealing to our generation.
Joey–I feel it is catchy, upbeat, positive vibes kind of feel and maybe even sophisticated. It is interesting, our demo/psychographic data is slightly higher than you would expect due to our ages, funny enough— we realized that our data leans toward a little bit older audience than you would think like 18-34 so we are happy but would like younger people to discover us too.
What was your first performance like?
Juna-–I was so young, I was actually four and I performed for my family and I loved it. My Mom has a lot of footage of me when I was a kid–we recently watched it with our manager, I was such a little, tiny, tiny person. She couldn’t believe it –apparently, I was quite a character.
Joey–I remember being on a cruise ship and they had a talent show and the crowd went wild when I sang because I was so young. I knew then this is what I wanted to do. I had such a great interaction with the crowd– the energy is very, very good. Professionally our first paid gig was at local Starbucks as Juna N Joey.
Royalties never appear like magic. Royalties are only sent to you through work undertaken by a PRO to ensure that their members are getting paid. If you’re not yet signed up to a Performing Right Organization like ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, you may not be receiving all the royalties you deserve.
Do you belong to any songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?
Juna–We have our own publishing and split with U Tell Me Publishing to help us with all the legal and collections issues. We are with BMI and we have an amazing representation. U Tell Me Publishing is with BMI/SESAC and with NSAI and other organizations.
Joey–U Tell Me Publishing helps set our co-writes, appointments, all the songwriting festivals– since COVID we haven’t been able to do a lot of those–they are also with SESAC as well. We know what an ISRC and UPC code are–We have a specific lawyer for that who happened to write the law on the digital music business, so I think we are covered. It is unfortunate that writers and artists have to deal with piracy and those issues. It is a problem; however, it is changing and many big artists have addressed these issues at the governmental level.
What makes a good songwriter?
Juna-Someone with a vivid imagination and experience, that can put the pen to the paper and make it come alive, in my opinion. Writing from the heart is the key and having a large vocabulary for the rhymes is helpful. Writers are always grabbing the thesaurus to come up with a new twist on an old version. I haven’t exhausted all my thoughts yet; I am sure I will have that rhyming dictionary by my bedside someday.
Joey–I think sometimes it can just be that catchy, hooky lyric with a killer melody that makes it hard to ignore. They say the more a song is relatable the better it is received by the audience. I think the more experiences the person has, the more they have to draw on.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
Juna–” Stay Young” was our first professional release and we recorded it in Nashville with JeffPardo a well-known producer. It was a great experience.
Joey–I still like that song- it has a great attitude and at first, I wasn’t feeling it and now I am proud of that song too–It would be great to maybe recut and re-release now that we are older–we were so young when we wrote that one.
What is the process of writing your music?
Juna–Usually, when I am alone, I just start writing by myself, if I am with Joey then I bounce off his melody. If we are in a room with writers, then I usually bring an idea in my hook book and may or may not have started to write it and Joey and the other’s will start putting a melody to it—it is amazing how it just forms out of thin air it seems. The collaboration is what I enjoy putting our ideas with the proper song structure is the process I enjoy– we just know when you have something–I think everyone in the room gets it.
Joey–The process is very poetic–like the rhyming and the story of it all–it’s the part I like– we have a song called “7 Houses Later” that I wrote about us moving all the time. And Juna and I wrote an anti-bullying song called “Anchor” about a person from our school that was hurting themselves over being bullied. “Life imitates art or it is the other way around” they say.
How was it to be on Nickelodeon’s America’s Most Musical Family?
Juna-Going to LA was amazing. When our manager told us, the show was going to be happening I truly couldn’t believe it. I was so nervous and excited, yet so ready all at the same time.
Joey–The staff treated us like stars. We had our own assistant producer in the greenroom and a teacher to help tutor us if we needed to be in school. When we got on the stage, I could not believe the massive operation it was–the lighting and sound were amazing– we have never played a show like that before or after. TV is the way to go, it is the ultimate stage.
How was it to have Ciara, David Debrik, Debbie Gibson and Nick Lachey as the judges?
Juna–I was a huge fan of all of them–but I knew about David Dobrik the most–I follow him on YouTube–I could not believe it–then, I realized who the others were and I freaked out. Debbie Gibson still tags us sometimes on IG. And I see so much press about all of them–I see Ciara in every magazine– she was just beautiful and said we were “Crazy Beautiful”. I mean you could imagine how excited we were.
Joey-Meeting Ciara, David Dobrik, Debbie Gibson, and Nick Lacey it was crazy–we weren’t told who the judges would be until we walked on stage. Then they said we were amazing. It was unbelievable. I was nervous when I stepped on the stage and then it just kicked in–I was sweating. They actually know who we are now–celebrities are now becoming our friends–it’s weird.
Do you think a television talent show is something all performers should try?
Juna–I do, I wish we could do more–the magnitude of it is an experience just in itself and recommended. We actually just were asked to audition for a show today by a talent agent in NY -so we may have another show soon–we will see what it is about.
Joey–We love TV shows and the massive exposure you can receive so the answer is yes–but a lot of executives in the business do not recommend them and say they can be a career killer–so the jury is out on that for me. We were supposed to fly to LA and appear on AGT in March but COVID cancelled the show— I want to be on the CMA’s or ACM’s and all the others someday, or at least be in the audience lol.
How was it to see your music put to a film “Somebody Like You” for Netflix animated series “Spirit Riding Free”?
Juna–That was crazy dremaworksTV reaching out to us and then putting their animation to it–was pretty cool. Of course, I am a girl and girls love horses.
Joey–Filming that promo video–was actually a cover of a Keith Urban song–and it was so awesome being at a horse farm for the filming. It was a perfect day–that was one of my favorite videos.
Tell me about your new single “Something Good to Miss”?
Juna–“Something Good To Miss” is a song with feel-good positive energy. It is that “tingly” feeling when love is new and you are separated by distance or circumstance. It is the butterflies you feel when anticipating your next meet-up with the object of your desire. That is what we were thinking when we wrote this song.
Joey–You know when you just meet someone and you cannot stop thinking of them, the chorus goes “24/7 365” the person is always on your mind. You are missing them but it is “Something Good to Miss” –Many people right now are separated from each other because of the circumstances we all are in right now–so we picked this first to give them something to smile about knowing this won’t last forever and you can just miss someone knowing you will see them soon– trying to make people realize it is something good to miss and you will see them soon.
Tell me about your EP?
Juna–I think it represents the emotional aspect that any age can relate to –with a range of emotions–” Something Good To Miss” and “I’m So Over You” are opposite themes–so a range of emotions. “More Than A Maybe” is fun because it is up and rockin–Joey loves the guitar parts on this one. “Until Your Heart Breaks” has an amazing tempo and a cool little surprise in it–and an awesome keyboard part that I just love.
Joey–So we had written the first song, “Something Good To Miss” with co-writers in Nashville– a few trips back and forth and the write-in LA and it was enough to get started. Even though we wrote one in LA and with a few different co-writers in Nashville–I feel like the songs just fit. We are finding our style–SGTM was an upbeat positive song, and then there is “More Than A Maybe” again another upbeat song so the band loves to play these–all these songs are related to relationships some in a positive way and other’s about the heartbreak–like “I’m So Over You” is a little sassy on Juna’s part as you can guess by the title–I hope people enjoy what we have done.
What is your favorite track on your album?
Juna–I think” Until Your Heart Breaks”–I feel it is the best track–a power ballad–the musicians came out of their rooms at the studio and said–” Did y’all write that and we said “Yes” –then theysaid “that is your hit right there”. They couldn’t believe we are so young and co-wrote that–because obviously we have not experienced that yet.
Joey–I like them all–but probably “More Than A Maybe” it is very rockin and upbeat to play. It has a positive vibe and something a guy is hoping for when he asks a girl out–so that one is more relatable to me personally.
What are you feeling about streaming music?
Juna—I love it –not just for our own music but for listening to other music too. It is pretty exciting to watch the numbers go up in real-time and to see when people are actively listening. However, it is nerve-wracking when the numbers go down–it’s emotional.
Joey–I like streaming music–there are almost too many options though–it’s difficult to service them all and keep new content exciting everyday- all day. We are always racing against time to keep up. We only know streaming, of course, when you are around older musicians, they talk about the way it was before and I cannot imagine how that would be–it seems like it would have been a lot harder to be discovered. I wish we had more time to build our own playlists–there’s so much great music out there.
The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, pound sign and a sharp sign in music. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as “hashtags”, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag.
Are people forgetting that the # Is it a part of music?
Juna–Joey and I cannot forget that # sharp sign, key signature etc., lots of names and meanings since we go to a music school and we have studied music theory. We actually use it in our day-to-day life musically. Yet, I guess I never thought of it that way–so I think maybe they do forget that or maybe they don’t know that if they don’t play an instrument.
Joey– I just took another music theory class at Berklee and I had to write melodies and charts etc. so I use it in music daily–especially on the piano so we cannot forget it. Hashtags are great –but it’s almost its own language– you have to really understand to do it correctly.
Digital vs. vinyl?
Juna–I just got my first vinyl turntable from my manager for my birthday and I love it. But I’d have to say digital–it is just more convenient. But I guess I would have to say both.Joey–Definitely digital for me–it’s weird I really like the old vinyl and we are making ours in vinyl form so –you may have to ask me when we get ours in our hand lol. I heard the Europeans really like vinyl.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
Juna–I love Elton John–”Tiny Dancer”–I love that song–
Joey–Stevie Wonder for me all the way–I love Motown style–” Superstition” it’s the best
For “Anchor” you wrote the song over Skype. How was that?
Juna–I find it easy to write over Skype or Zoom–we have written several songs that way.
Joey–I prefer to be in person, however, when we wrote “Anchor: at first I thought it would be difficult but after doing it —it was very simple and we do that often now. I don’t mind it at all.
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Juna–I wouldn’t say killed more like mamed–lol–it will need a resurrection I think—More like killed some venues and not others cannot tell you why though.
Joey–We are just beginning our career so it sucks for us–just when we are getting going and after the TV show it was a huge letdown and I found it very difficult at first–but I think you have to be patient. I can’t imagine it is “killed” –it’s weird some places are just business as usual. We live in Florida and it has been fairly opened up here for a while–we still are not going out much. We are young and time is on our side–I keep telling myself.
Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
Juna–First thing that comes to mind is– Will there be the same venues or will a lot of them be gone for good? I think the effect will be people will appreciate live shows more and at least at first, they will go out more than usual then it will probably go back to normal at some point. Not really sure, we will find out and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Joey– I think the effect will be the continuation of streaming of live shows from now on–so it will be both–The digital world had the boost it needed conversely, I think that people have gained more appreciation for live music in any form.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
Juna–We have been doing interviews, lots of livestreams every day –Tik Tok’s, recording covers on our home on our computer. We do lyrics videos. Clean the house–mess the house lol. We had to record a song for the nurses and doctors on the frontline for Gratitude’s and we decided to take that theme and make a little cover EP and we named it Covid Covers–songs about being alone and relating to what we are all feeling. We hoped to take songs that were well known and make it pertain to anyone who would hear the same theme of the song we were asked to do which was “Thank You “by Dido. We did that while we were waiting to go to Nashville and record our first EP. Lots of videos–lol–everyone knows all the rooms in our house. I also arranged my room 10 times. Lots of cooking. And moved to Nashville too, Ok I confess, I binged watched Outer Banks, Gossip Girls, and Outlander.
Joey–Lots of working out and eating healthy. Remodeling our house. Practicing the guitar. At first, I was wasting time and complaining a bit about not seeing my friends and I was bored playing video games etc. My Mom and manager literally threaten to take my Xbox. It was hard because Juna has school all day and I cannot sing by myself so I was waiting on her a lot so we had to work until late at night. Then I just had a growing up spurt lol and started going to school again too and taking care of business when I realized this wasn’t going to end soon. I mean we always worked really hard since we were really young at this, but we were able to go to venues. We had to learn a lot about time management and technology. We actually adapted quickly and we are so busy that time just flies by every day. Wrote songs with Juna. I woodshed on my guitar a lot these days and I am getting better.
How do you stay healthy during the lockdown?
Juna–I have been trying to stay mentally healthy by being positive and keeping myself busy and realizing this will end at some point. Pretty shocking how long this has been taking place though and some people are cancelling their tours so I think this will last into next year. Sometimes I work out with Joey in our home gym–need to do that more often. I eat relatively healthy so I do the nest I can.
Joey– I plan my meals very carefully and I work out a lot in my home gym. I post my routine on Tik Tok sometimes. I stay positive because our team are all together at our house daily and we work hard but we laugh a lot–I mean a lot. So, they make it fun for us.
How did you get the idea for your Halloween parody “Addicted to Love”?
Juna–Definitely our manager–she wanted us to do it so much and we didn’t really want to do it. The concept was brilliant really. Especially because of Twilight and all the vampire shows kids like– It was so fun to do–it was so hard to keep a straight face. My hem was falling on my dress the whole time. Angelina played the other girl and I accidentally switched dresses with her. CMT was doing “best Halloween songs” in the past and she wanted us to be on that list. We had limited resources for a budget and with COVID we couldn’t go out–so we did it with a green screen. Sadly, it didn’t get the views we were hoping for.
Joey–She kept saying “Joey you have a widow’s peak–you would be a perfect Dracula. At first, I was not happy about doing it–and I didn’t put much effort into learning it and she wasn’t too happy about that–I did not sing it very well–afterward, I was upset with myself because it is actually a great idea. When we realized who Robert Palmer was and how amazing he was –we were disappointed we didn’t practice it more–he had so many fans. He was an amazing writer and singer.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
Juna–I learned how to engineer on pro-tools. And I like to paint–I did that a few times. I knitteda blanket for one of our giveaways for a fan.
Joey– How was Southern Social for Jimmy Van Zant?
Juna–It was such an honor to be asked to be a part of such a worthy cause–The Jimmy Van Zant Cancer Charity. The Van Zant Family took us on a tour of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s childhood home and we met many relatives and lifelong friends of theirs. We signed a guitar and they let us sign a special wall in their house. It was crazy. Nothing I could have ever dreamed I would be doing. It was one of those moments where you knew this was special and something you will be telling maybe your kids one day. We have been so busy with our launch we haven’t had a moment or opportunity to post all the footage and photos so if you want to see what we did you can follow us and I’ll post as soon as I can.
Joey–Our manager did not really let on that we would be doing all of what we did. We were wondering why we had to learn all these rock songs. Now, we get it–it was so exciting to meet all these accomplished musicians from many famous bands, Preacher Stone, The Wilson Brothers, Tobacco Road–members of .38 Special and so on. I had to look up on YouTube to understand what we were getting ready to do. And if we get to do another event, I will be ready with the kind of music the crowd will appreciate. I was surprised how well received we were–I think they really enjoyed our set. Two news channels came out to interview the charity and then told us it would also air in NYC. It was then I realized just how big a deal this was.
Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In October that is going to change at least on Facebook. Facebook is cracking down on livestreamed shows that include recorded music with new terms of service, preventing artists from using the platform for “commercial or non-personal” purposes, unless they have obtained the relevant licenses.
The updated music guidelines state that users “may not use videos on our products [which include Instagram] to create a music listening experience […] This will include [Facebook] Live,” and stipulates that such content should be posted for the enjoyment of friends and family only.
How do you think this will change the landscape of Facebook?
Juna–First of all, our manager is very proper and always gets a Harry Fox License if we recorded others’ music–always. We copyright our own music and they still say we cannot monetize our own music sometimes. We have personally been affected by these platforms and their “guidelines”. It is beyond stressful and it is very upsetting and they do not realize the negative effect it has on us. They keep not realizing we are the copyright owner and we are recording artists professionally. They took our page down on the launch of our first promoted single. It is so unfair–luckily, we got it back but not in time and it hurt the launch. They are so worried about policing these pages that they hurt legitimate people. Our Mom was distraught–she felt defeated. We are not into censorship. And if they knew our Mom and our Manager–trust me no comment will go unnoticed by these two. We police ourselves. And then there is the aspect about being afraid to say anything–I get bullied a lot for not joining certain political movements– I was 14 during the elections–I just want to make music and I don’t want to mix that with politics but we are expected to do that and it is difficult we love everyone and do not want to offend anyone.
Joey–They hit us with the COPA on YouTube also and still won’t give us our comments back even though I am an adult. Our growth has literally stopped over a year ago–just stopped. We send them my license and they just respond with the COPA information. We see stories about them taking pages down and it is scary. We are worried about our career and wondering if all of this hard work was for nothing and if we will even have a career it is frightening, they control our lives.
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merchandise to them at the show? I see you are selling Mugs, bags, T-shirt and hoodies?
Juna–That is a good question–we are lucky to live in Florida where we have a lot of outdoor events–so it is a little easier–we livestream and hope fans will support us. We try to make merch that fans may want –all we can do is try to keep growing and hope that a percentage of our fans support us. I design the merch
Joey–We sell merch–but the platforms have made it hard for us to engage with our fans after they took our comments away–we’re wondering what is really going on–is it financially, political–we’re not sure. It is a lot to worry about.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means things like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
Juna–Our manager absolutely refuses to do that–she says your talent is what we are selling here. And if you have the talent, you will get there without –it will just take us a little longer–So far, she is right–we released our first song and worked for two years to build up our fan base and brand our platforms on an indie budget while she made a thousand phones calls and let people know about us. And so far, we are on all the playlists we wanted and more on our first release–maybe she is right?
Joey–In Europe we are told you can pay for radio play–I am on the fence about this and need to understand this aspect a little more before I can answer this intelligently. Good point Juna, we also have a few offers to open for some big acts also–we will find out. What do you think?
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
Juna–I would love to do that–we have to learn how to do that.
Joey–That could be very cool–we will get back to you on that–maybe we can premier it here lol.
Governments around the world are hearing the call of thousands of music creators and included protections for the music community in the omnibus bill. In addition to extended and improved unemployment benefits and small business loans for freelance creators, the package includes several bills which the Recording Academy, its members, and the larger music community advocated for. From the Save Our Stages Act, provided a lifeline to performance venues and promoters, to the CASE Act, which creates an avenue for smaller creators to defend their copyrighted works, Congress has ensured that both music creators and those who act behind the scenes to bring music to life are given the support they need during this difficult time.” Do you think this will save music venues?
Juna–I do not know specifically but, I think that some venues will not recover and will be gone for good. I think that if this COVID situation continues for any significant length of time it could be really bad for venues. I think those companies that either have a large endowment or have sponsorship etc. like so local theaters like we have er–our friends Mom owns they will be able to survive and these government bailouts and assistance programs 100 percent helped businesses to survive–we are from Florida so it has affected us less because a lot of our venues are outside–I want to see what happens with the Live Nation new streaming situation. They are the ones to watch I guess–we aren’t really sure we just hear what people are saying or what we read or hear from our team. I am wondering if venues are staying open then why would they Live Nation Live Stream now? All I know is that there are a lot of rumors and this has never happened in our lifetime and we will find out this summer what actually happens.
Joey–Our parents have a food related business that depends on the public to visit and I know that the government helped us to survive and our friends’ families that have businesses–so I think that should relate to music as well. Like Juna said where we are I don’t think that many closed here–so that is good. However, if there is a resurgence, I am not sure some of these small venues can survive. I am just blown away by how many people have survived this whole ordeal in general–it is like business as usual. It is a mystery.
Did you know that the Grammys MusicCares can help artists? The MusiCares COVID-19 Relief has helped thousands of music industry artists and professionals during these difficult days. This is the most recipients helped, for any single event, in MusiCares’ history. The need remains great, and these unique times remain critical for music people. It has taken a community uplifting one another to get through this pandemic, and MusiCares has pulled together a list of additional organizations and resources to further support you. RELIEF RESOURCES. Have you applied for it yet?
Juna–Yes, we do know that–our Mom is a nurse and waiting for COVID to be over before we go to hospitals etc.–Feeding America is an organization we have done a food drive for with our local iHeart–our manager said “Hey, you parents own a food market” so she called Feeding America and asked them if we could do a local food drive and then pitched it to our local station WIRK and they collaborated with us and we did the drive together–it is on our website www.junanjoey.com and we have a donation button on family business website for people to buy bushels of food to donate and we will match that. We would like to do more charity–it is hard we have so little time–but we have a list of charities we are interested in and we plan to add them to our campaigns tab on our website soon.
Joey–We are very excited about hopefully being chosen for Music Cares and we were waiting to release more music so people know who we are and the organization will want us. Also, we have a lot of causes we are interested in and we have this one on the list.
In the past, if a musician stops doing music, they find a new career. For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants. If you can’t do music, what would you like to be doing?
Juna–Oh that is easy, I love to cook, I am working on a cooking show and I would love to own a Bakery.
Joey–I would probably teach music or work at our family business. Maybe do a food business with Juna–we have ideas.
What is your happy place?
Juna–The kitchen, the studio and shopping of course.
Joey–Definitely, for me it is the gym and I like to play poker with my dad.
A Lot of musicians such as Stevie Nicks, Bob Dylan, Taylor Swift, Journey, Def Leppard, and Shakira have sold their catalog rights within the last year. Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog for a reported $300 million. Once you get to the age of about 70. Publishing is far more lucrative than the mechanical royalties paid to artists based on sales, airplay and streams. A good example of this is Michael Jackson brought the rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985. And in the late 80’s the Beatles Revolution appeared in a Nike commercial. The lump sums being offered by publishing firms are more tax friendly concerning estate planning.
Do you think you would be willing to sell your back catalog if someone like Universal is willing to buy everything, such as all the rights to all your songs? Another factor is mortality.
Juna–Yes, U Tell Me Publishing, handles all that for us and we are pitching our songs to other artists and Music Directors in the film industry also.
Joey–Any songs we don’t record we will put out to the industry and get our sync lic etc we are learning our label head is teaching us as we get stronger. It is a lot on our plate right now. Trying to write the hits and hopefully write with Dan and Shay and Hardy someday for example.
Spotify’s ‘Stream On’ event on Monday (February 22), the company confirmed that more than 60,000 new tracks are now being ingested by its platform every single day. This means people are added new tracks uploaded to its platform every 1.4 seconds.
The figure, announced by Spotify’s Co-Head of Music, Jeremy Erlich, means that across the course of this year, approximately 22 million tracks will be added to Spotify’s catalog. Spotify confirmed in November last year that its platform now played host to around 70 million tracks. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that, by the end of 2021, SPOT will be home to over 90 million tracks. And that in the early part of next year, it will surpass a catalog of 100 million for the first time. But still back at the beginning of the year Spotify deleted 750,00 songs, mostly from independent artists.
What do you think that could mean to an independent artist?
Juna–The odds will always be stacked against us and our manager knows we are ultimately working our way to a deal or at least a hybrid deal.Joey–We will have to form an alliance we have a few in mind and are working with a few options now. –They actually have been reaching out to us, so eventually, we will have to make an agreement–we would like to establish ourselves and really understand the business before we go bigger–we have a few years on our side for now.
Sony Music in November and Warner Music Group in December, The ByteDance-owned video app revealed on (February 8) that it has struck an “expanded” global licensing agreement with Universal Music Group.
Now that TikTok is now fully licensed by all three major record companies, will you start using TikTok more?
Juna–Yes, our manager was getting on us because we didn’t do many Tik Tok’s at first–then she said hold off and wait to see what happens with the controversy about the data breach so she was waiting to see what the security of the site would be– knowing we would be a little late to the game. But we still managed to get a viral video by accident. And now we love it.
Joey–We had a viral Tik Tok video and we had 6.7 million hits –we watched it go viral and we were laughing so hard at the comments all night long–unfortunately, we didn’t have enough followers to get a ton of money–yet. We wish we had more time to film a lot more–keep checking out Tik Tok we are posting more and more–.
How do you balance your music and school?
Juna–COVID has changed that for us–it used to be super hard and the school was not letting us out when we had to do gigs–that can be difficult. But we manage to work around it. I have very good grades almost straight A’s so I find I actually study more–travel time alone allows me to spend more time doing my homework. Also, I will follow in Joey’s footsteps and go to Berklee if they will have me. Our Mom and manager put our school as a priority so that makes it easier to navigate.
Joey–It is easier for me than Juna, since I go to college now if I miss my class, I don’t fail the course like in high school. We could only miss three days in high school, so when we had the TV show, they gave me the option of the show or not graduating it was very stressful. I am able to make my own schedule now since everything is online it is very convenient–I prefer it this way. We can literally attend class at the airport. Our manager insists that I must spend one semester in Boston so I can experience real college life and try to work it into our schedule–so I don’t miss out on that experience and regret it someday.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Juna–We are so grateful to you for the interview and so excited to be on this amazing site. We hope to keep you updated. Especially because we love all genres and we are glad you like our music–we really appreciate it–I never thought I could be on this type of blog putting our music to fans other than our specific genre which is nice to know.
Joey–I see you have Post Malone as your Facebook profile pic–We love him he is so talented–he recently covered a country song–it was awesome—that would be a dream co-write–Can you hook us up lol?
