We had the good fortune of connecting with Tracy Hazelton and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Tracy, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
So Naturally as with most musicians that are passionate about what they do, we have taken the next step. We created AFTRLIFE Entertainment ahead of schedule due to the pandemic and the need to fill a void in live entertainment in the dance music culture. Yes there is Facebook, and twitch but those platforms were not entirely ready for the community and flagging, muting, disconnecting portions of their streams for copyright infringement. So we have decided whats a better way for viewers to get the club feeling while being at home. VR. Vitual Reality is our way of filling that gap. There are tons of ways to do it but we decided to make it as easy and cheap as possible for everyone to view our events without spending 300+ on new VR headsets and expensive computers. So we built it to run on any computer or mobile device and simply place your phone insode of a cheap $40 headset you can get from amazon. So the process was difficult to build but we were going to find a way to make complex technology easy to use.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
So Chris Haught and I have been creating music and djing together for the last 5 years and year after year see continuous growth. Our biggest moment that we were proud of was being selected to perform at Nocturnal Wonderland in California. Where we were taken care of the whole time as if we were world renown superstars. That was the moment we knew we were on the right path. This did not come without its challenges over the years from constant show rejections losing contests, the constant “do I want to continue doing music” feeling that every artists battle with throughout their musical journey. But throughout all of that we have learned some valuable lessons, such as never give up. If this is a passion and what makes you truly happy it is worth it. Even in the face of rejection. Do not let the politics of the music scene get to you. We will never take sides on a situation between others in this scene as more drama will continue to make it more difficult to succeed. Be humble. One of the biggest turn offs about any artists you may be working with is ego. Set that to the side and always remember everyone started somewhere. If there is one thing that anyone will be able to tell you about what EVRAFTR and/or AFTRLIFE Ent. stand for, is Unity. at the end of the day we as humanity need to be more united and that’s what we are about.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A huge shutout to our team that has helped put all this together, and the artists that have put faith in us and played our events since the beginning when we may have had 5 people watching us. Dark Bunny, Chef Julez for all their work in pushing us and keeping us on task. Jose Comacho (ABarefootPhotographer) for handling our media and being a real team player. As well as my business/DJ partner Chris Haught for being there and helping make the tough decisions with the best logic and reasoning
Website: www.aftrlifeent.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com.aftrlifeent
Twitter: www.twitter.com/aftrlifeent
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aftrlifeent
Other: Artist Socials can be found below www.facebook.com/evraftrofficial www.soundcloud.com/evraftrofficial www.instagram.com/evraftrofficial
Image Credits
@ABarefootPhotographer @Jason Rodriguez @Alex Martinez
