Marcus Bell Podcast Transcript
Marcus Bell joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, Home of The Digital Executive Podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to The Digital Executive today’s guest is Marcus “bellringer” Bell. Born in Norfolk, Virginia. Marcus “bellringer” Bell draws inspiration from his roots. His journey began at Berkeley college of music, where he owned his craft and graduated in 1996.
Since then, Marcus has continuously pushed boundaries in music and entrepreneurship, embodying a legacy of innovation and empowerment in the entertainment industry. Today, Marcus “Bellringer” Bell is a multifaceted American music producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, singer, social media influencer, activist, and entrepreneur.
Renowned for his prolific career, Marcus has left an indelible mark on the global music landscape. As CEO of Bellringer Productions, he oversees a powerhouse in music sync licensing and production, boasting a catalog of over 10,000 songs. And nurturing more than 300 recording artists, Marcus is not only shaping the industry with his billion plus music streams, but also pioneering the next area of creativity with his photo realistic AI music artist character Ravyn Lyte.
His credits span industry giants, such as Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg and Timbaland and collaborations with major brands, including Sony music, HBO, Netflix, and Amazon.
Well, good afternoon, Marcus. Welcome to the show!
Marcus Bell: Thanks for having me on! It’s good to be here with you.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely. And I appreciate you making the time hailing out of LA.
I’m in Kansas City, just a couple hours ahead of you, but love doing these podcasts. I’ve traveled the world, 50 countries plus now. And Marcus, again, thank you for being on the show. We’re going to just jump right into your first question here. Marcus, how does AI change the music industry? Tell us about creating Ravyn Lyte, the virtual pop star.
Marcus Bell: Well, first off, I’ve been a recording artist, musician play multiple instruments, have been songwriting since I was eight years old and started playing piano when I was two years old. So, over the years, I’ve seen all kinds of changes in the music industry and use various kinds of recording techniques in order to get my ideas out and with the evolution of technology and AI.
What has happened over the past couple of years in terms of AI and generative music and, and the audio tools, it has created, what I would say is AI music revolution that is unlike anything that we’ve seen before, and Ravyn Lyte came out of that. Last year I was recording a hundred songs in a hundred days and midstream, I ended up losing my voice.
And although I’ve been using AI for about 15 years now, in that moment, it had me go searching for ways to clone my voice. Cause I have all these recordings of me singing and speaking to be able to continue. And when that occurred, the idea of being able to clone my voice, being able to use other voice clones, being able to use AI tools, all of a sudden, with generative art, with generative music, with the ability to story tell, I saw, wow, this is the future of music.
This is not just something that can change the music industry, but it unleashes a new era of creativity. And so just as Walt Disney envisioned Mickey Mouse or whoever envisioned Disney princesses, I envisioned an AI recording artist character that would be an interaction between humans and the AI technology now.
Brian Thomas: I love your story and every podcast here starts out with a unique story, but the fact that you would do record a hundred songs in a hundred days, I don’t even know how you’d pull that off, but I could see now where that could create some issues with your voice box. And I appreciate, you know, your creativity that has that come out of that, you know, the resiliency, the persistency that when a challenge was put in front of you.
So, thank you for sharing. I really do appreciate that. And Marcus, Bellringer productions has an impressive catalog of over 10, 000 songs and has nurtured more than 300 recording artists. What is your approach to identifying and developing talent and how do you maintain such a prolific output?
Marcus Bell: Well, first of all, I care deeply about artists, recording artists, the ability for us to use music in powerful ways for whether that’s for our healing, whether that’s for our creative self-expression.
Whether that’s music with a purpose, for example, at Bellringer Productions, part of our company supports artists getting their music placed on TV, films, commercials, games, as an opportunity to monetize their creativity. And one of the things that the team here I founded the company, but it’s, it’s run by others, but we’re always on the lookout for extraordinary talent.
No matter how old that talent may be. For example, my daughter who’s nine years old, she’s actually had music placed now on Disney plus and law and order songs that she wrote when she was seven and one song that she wrote when she was three years old. We have people in the catalog that are seniors. That are in their seventies that have created incredible music that we are very excited that we, as a company, Are able to support artists and not just getting their music placed and creating revenue, but also giving them the opportunity to learn and grow with whether that’s an AI music bootcamp which I have, which empowers other creatives to be able to learn how to use AI tools to make music.
Or whether that’s, how do you run a business as a creative? So, I have courses that support not just creators, but entrepreneurs and people from various disciplines and fields to be able to use and leverage the tools that AI provides for marketing and sales and, and all these other different opportunities that we have right now.
And so, Bellringer Productions as an entity It’s really about being on the, the cutting edge as, as they say some may call it the bleeding edge and some may just call it in our own forest, if you will, in this world of where technology, AI and human creativity meet.
Brian Thomas: That’s amazing. You highlighted a few things.
And one thing that stood out was your daughter at such a young age takes after her father, obviously is so creative and has produced some songs and they’ve been out there. Like you said, one on law and order there. I think that’s amazing, but you’ve actually harnessed the power of AI and the technology to take your creative self to that next level.
And I really appreciate you sharing that with us today. And Marcus, you’ve worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, like Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, and Timbaland. Can you tell us about a memorable collaboration and what it taught you about the creative process?
Marcus Bell: One of the things that I set out to do when I was a up and coming music producer and songwriter, I noticed that a lot of my peers were really kind of chasing the American music charts and looking to get their songs placed with major recording artists and, and so forth.
And I had this idea that, well, wait a minute, this is a big world. And I realized. After traveling the world, touring with different recording artists and, and as a solo artist myself, and seeing that some of the charts in different countries were different, some of the celebrities and pop stars and different countries, you know, they may know who Beyonce is in the chart, but they will have their own unique.
So some of my most memorable experiences and exciting experiences were some of those recording sessions that I experienced in other countries, like when I was six months in India, working in the Bollywood film industry with merging pop and hip hop with frenetic music and Bhangra and, and music like that, and being able to interact with, you know, musicians that were specialists in things like sitar and tabla and all of that.
And I remember having some really kind of spiritual kinds of experiences with some of those musicians when I was there similar to how It would be when I was younger and, you know, being a church musician and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit would catch the crowd and the, and the band, and you will have this experience of elevation of upliftment and that’s what I really enjoy about traveling the world and working with artists of, in different countries.
Brian Thomas: That’s amazing. You highlighted a few things there, but a lot of times it’s that environment or there’s some sort of excitement. And like I said, the Holy Spirit, in some cases, you know, you might be at church and that whole mood just changes and you’re pulled by something more powerful. And that just, just goes to show some of the experiences that you’ve got to experience in different environments from around the world with small names and big names.
We really appreciate what you’ve shared with us today. And Marcus, should the last question of the day I have for you is your creation of the photorealistic AI music artist character Ravyn Lyte marks a pioneering moment in the industry. What inspired this innovation and how do you see AI transforming the future of music and entertainment?
Marcus Bell: Ravyn Lyte, and that’s R A V Y N, L Y T E she’s designed as a character to raise consciousness and uplift humanity. And we, as human beings really connect with characters and objects and books, and we are able to create meaning with those things that we have an affinity for. And I imagined that the opportunity that music has to positively impact people is really under explored, underdeveloped.
So, I wanted to create. A vehicle for being able to interject sounds that would actually heal people that when you listen to the song over and over and over again, it actually makes you feel better. And that’s what Ravyn Lyte is carrying as a character and in her music. So, she was born from that idea that what if the future of artistry isn’t just human, but a blend of human and ai?
So, she’s actually more than an AI generated character. She’s a vision of what is to come and a possibility for technology, for health, for mental wellness. So, Ravyn Lyte has actually empowered a whole ecosystem now as a character. So, we have had writers camps for her project and involved all kinds of different creatives to, you know, help create the world of Ravyn Lyte.
And it’s not what I had expected originally when I created Ravyn, but so many incredible artists, visual artists. Designers, storytellers, fashion people, people in TV and film have raised their hand and say, hey, you know, how can I be a part of this project? And so, we’re now looking at and exploring what would be some good brand partnerships that are in alignment with, with Ravyn’s mission.
And I’m just super excited for how she’s starting to go viral with. Over a quarter of a million followers on Instagram and over 35, 000 monthly listeners on Spotify and hundreds of thousands of streams across platforms, et cetera. And this is just the beginning.
Brian Thomas: I really like that. Again, foundationally, it’s that creativity that you have.
You have a vision and you take action and you see it through. You know, I’ve had Dr. David Hanson on this podcast as well. He’s the creator of Sophia, the robot, the most advanced humanoid in the planet. And that might be something you and him could collaborate on, on a project or something, I think between the both of you, you have so much creativity, you could take this to the next level, just as an idea.
I appreciate what you’ve shared with us today, Marcus. I really do. And it was certainly a pleasure having you on today. And I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Marcus Bell: Brian has been a pleasure. Thanks again for having me. And I enjoy what you’re doing with your podcast. Bite size is the right size.
Brian Thomas: Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Bye for now.
Marcus Bell Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s podcast page.
