Taz Taylor’s Guide to Building a Career in Music

Florida-born record producer Taz Taylor knows a thing or two about building an exciting roster. The 27-year-old is the co-founder of the Internet Money producer collective and label, alongside producer Nick Mira. The collective recently released their debut album, B4 The Storm, which features The Kid LAROI, Gunna, Future, Juice WRLD, and more of today’s hottest artists. B4 The Storm is a testament to Taylor’s hard work and marks a significant milestone for the producer who ventured into the music industry as a means to support his sick mother.

Taz Taylor’s Internet Money feels like the future. They must be because, collectively, the team has over 50 Platinum plaques to their name. To commemorate the new album and uplift upcoming executives and producers, Taylor shares with me his six keys for building out a career in music.

Forget trends. “The more you get caught up in trying to figure out what the next sound is, that’s how you end up falling behind. I end up making music I fuck with and am happy to say I worked on. I like finding new ways to stimulate the creative part of me. It’s about making the music you wanna hear. I don’t get caught up in trends. I just go off what I listen to when I chill, smoke, etc..”

Build a team. “With Internet Money, a lot of people think we just did this out of nowhere, but in reality, this is everyone I have been working with. I started developing Nick Mira when he was 15. At that point, it’s about assuming a leadership role and softening the learning curve for [Internet Money producers]. I got 40 producers and 10 artists who depend on me daily.”

Stay down with your team. “You gotta have a solid team. I’m a producer and I’m also a father. I gotta juggle all these things. There’s people I trust to put the ball in their hands. I know my team moves how I move. Even when I’m sleeping, [my team] takes it over-the-top. People have one little team, then they get on, get cocky, and find new people. But it’s important to stay connected to the people who were loyal and put their life on hold so you could achieve your dreams.”

Work hard. “I don’t take weekends or holidays off. This is my life. I was in the hospital earlier this year, and people were begging me to take a vacation. I just went to the studio. I would much rather work on the music I love with the people I love. For me, whenever I’m working with you, you’re gonna get tired of me! It’s what it takes to be the best, and I want everybody I work with to be the best. It’s dedication and passion.”

Artists—be catchy. “If I’m going down to my car and humming the melodies to the songs, that little catchy part of the song, that’s how I know I got something. When I signed iann [dior], people weren’t blown away by his lyrics, but his melodies were so catchy. That’s the hardest thing to do: make shit that sticks to people every day, all day. I don’t care how many followers you got, what you look like. It’s all about, can you make a hit record? I can give anybody a hit record, but it’s about the ones who can take it to a different place.”

Remember: you can be anything. “It’s a much different time. There [weren’t] producers out here going and putting out songs with their favorite artists. I’m trying to show people, anything you wanna do, you can do. It doesn’t matter what you look like, [or] if you got clout. You can put records together. You can be the producer, the label, the management company. You can be anything you wanna be.”

Photos by Joseph Morrison.