Talya Elitzer of Godmode: Inside the Unorthodox Label Architecture Behind Uncompromising Independent Artists

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Talya Elitzer.

Talya is the co-founder of Godmode, a GRAMMY-nominated artist development company whose label and management clients include genre-breaking artists like Channel Tres, JPEGMAFIA, and Yaeji.

Before Godmode, Talya was a Senior A&R at Capitol, where she shepherded Billboard-topping releases for artists such as Katy Perry, Sam Smith, and Beck. Prior to Capitol, Talya worked at WME, booking acts like Britney Spears and Grace Jones, as well as at Mick Management (John Mayer, Sarah McLachlan).

At Godmode, Talya takes an unorthodox approach to artist development and marketing, with an unusually high track record for breaking artists who don’t quite fit into pre-existing formats. She focuses on building sustainable operations for her artists, so they can maintain an uncompromising approach to their work. Artists such as JPEGMAFIA, Channel Tres, and LoveLeo have multi-million dollar touring, brand, and merchandise operations, with joint ventures at Universal, Warner, and Sony.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Before Godmode, I was an A&R at Capitol. What I learned quickly is that most labels operate like venture capital companies. They take a lot of bets on a lot of artists that have what are supposedly the right data points, then hope one of them connects and washes away the losses of the ones that didn’t. We’re talking about 17- and 18-year-olds sometimes, who often aren’t even close to ready to handle the stress and workload of being an artist for a living. There’s also very little collaboration on the music itself, and I found that frustrating, especially at the beginning of an artist’s career, when it’s so important to get everything to line up properly: from the look to the sound to the messaging. Godmode is an artist development company, which means we function as label, management, close creative collaborators, and studio hub for our crew of artists, such as JPEGMAFIA or Channel Tres.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Creative decisions are business decisions; if you make a certain kind of music, that affects the kind of audience you are reaching. Likewise, business decisions are creative decisions too. In the most Warholish way possible, how you do business and market your art is part of the experience of that art. A lot of artists aren’t able to handle that reality, which is why we are very careful with who we work with.

We all need a little help along the journey — who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

My first job out of school was in the WME mailroom, and then I assisted Sam Kirby at WME. It’s hard to pick any one story — it took me a minute to be a good assistant so most of the stories are just her yelling at me anyway — but she taught me how to handle the daily onslaught of communication you’re up against when you are an artist manager. She also taught me the importance of the hang — knowing how to behave around artists and make them feel comfortable and safe and seen.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

One unfortunate headspace artists find themselves in is that, unless they are doing everything entirely by themselves, they are somehow a fraud. You’re not a fraud! A lot of my work is getting our artists to focus their vision so they feel comfortable asking others for help and getting good work out of collaborators.

Don’t take on clients whose work you don’t like, even if you like the client. If you’re not passionate about the project, you can’t expect others to be.

If you work in the music industry, make sure you have friends who aren’t in the music industry.

How are you going to shake things up next?

We aren’t ever deliberately trying to shake things up. That’s more of a tech world thing; I’m sure in six months we’ll be hearing all about “wearable NFTs”, also known as “t-shirts”.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

The Listening Book by W.A. Mathieu. It’s a collection of short exercises that open your ears to all the things happening around us at any given moment that are a kind of accidental music.

Thank you so much for your insights. This was very insightful and meaningful.