Hello hivians,

hello musiclovers!

we have been quiet here for a while but have been busy building up our team and creating content in the background. There will be some nice updates soon.
But first, welcome @tibfox to our team! 💛 We are very happy to have him on board, supporting us with video editing and filming.

This post here will be the start of a new series of posts:

There are a tremendous amount of very talented musicians on our HIVE Blockchain. Too many of them are going unnoticed. We at HMVF and Blocktunes are here to change that. Our new interview series will let you get a look behind the curtain of some of these artists. Their music, their process, and their goals. Let us come together to support the music of HIVE.

To get the ball rolling let us start with one of the biggest rock stars of HIVE, Raven. She is a big part of many communities and ties it all together with her unique style and presence. Also, our first music video production will be for one of her songs.

She opened up for us and shares some background, some tips, and a peek into the future potential of her brand and our beloved blockchain.

🎤 Enjoy the interview here!

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First off, how did the artist name RAVEN come about?

This is a very personal question and reveals a lot of what I am.
RAVEN has more than one meaning for me and I think I never spoke about this in public.
First, I love the animals, because they are very smart, and they have a dark and mysterious aura attached to them. I feel, if I have a spirit-animal, then this is mine.
Further for some people, Ravens are harbingers of misery or disaster. Sadly, I also feel connected to this in some ways. For my family I have always been the black sheep. Cause I am so different and they mostly don´t understand me.
Luckily I was able to learn that something that is different and “dark” can still be beautiful and I can and should still love it.

Another reason why I have this name are the “X-Men”. The real name of the shapeshifter Mystique is Raven. I always felt that Raven should have been my real name. It feels right and exactly like being myself. Further, I felt like a shapeshifter most times of my life, as I always played a role, and have barely been myself. Raven finally gave me the opportunity to become my real self, how I always was on the inside but never allowed myself to be on the outside. It feels so good to be able to finally let the Raven out of its cage.

Often people tell me I should change my name, cause there are so many Ravens out there already. But I never could. It belongs to me.

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How would you describe your sound?

My sound is very unique and non-mainstream in most parts. I love high energy and good mood music, so you will barely find me making a ballad.
I am definitely influenced by a lot of german music of the 90s. Like Trance and Hardcore. You can hear this in my synth sound.
I also love RnB, Black Rap and Reggaeton a lot. I used to go dancing every weekend in my 20s to black music. So this influenced me a lot. But I have too much reverence for this music, so I barely had the courage to do something like this myself. But this will hopefully change soon. ;)

I began my music career as a drummer, so I love complicated beats, I think this is also defining my sound pretty much.

I can't put a genre name on my sound. It never worked. So when people ask me, I always say I do Raventronic or Ravenstyle, cause there is no word for me to describe it. I am still waiting for someone who is able to do so.

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Which artists have had the greatest influence on you?

This is not an easy question. I was always listening to a lot of different styles. So there are a lot of great artists who influenced me.

The biggest ones are Robyn (synth sound, energy of the songs), Ludacris, Shawnna (rap and energy), Sean Paul (good vibes and mood), Melanie C (personal and intense lyrics).

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What is your songwriting process? How does a song come together for RAVEN?

The beginning is always different.
Sometimes I have a beat in mind and start with the beat. Then add bass or synths or melodies.
Sometimes the first thing I have is a word or a sentence, so I record this and start building around it.
Sometimes I have a song that I love so much and I want to create something similar. So I sit down and start “rebuilding” the song I love. But after a few minutes it already becomes something totally different with my own style, and the original song is not even recognizable anymore.
Sometimes I don´t have anything at all before I sit down on the computer and I just start.

A song always creates itself. It's like I am only the tool to bring it to life. I often feel as if I don´t have any control over it. As if I am externally controlled. Sometimes I “wake up” after producing, listen to what I did and think: Did I do this? How can I do this? I can´t believe this is mine.
Often it feels as if something wants to get out and just brings itself to life and I can´t and I don´t want to control it, as if it was sent from above. It is a surprise for me in the end what comes out most of the time.

But one thing all songs have in common: At a certain point during the songwriting process I am so dissatisfied, I feel bad, as if what I did is shit and I wanna throw it away. I get very discouraged. But I learned to get over this point and just keep going instead of throwing the song away…

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What do you hope that the listener takes away from your music?

I hope that my music helps to cheer up the listener, to make him dance and feel good. I hope I can be a part of making him feel better if he has sorrows. I hope I can also show him: You can do it, like I was able to. You should keep going, whatever your dream is.

I further hope that people listen to my music closely. Many of the messages I wanna tell are subtle and can´t be recognized right away. Sometimes it's only little details in songs that have a deep meaning. I just hope people listen to the art as it is meant to be: As a way to tell my story, to therapize myself.

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How do you think being a part of the Hive blockchain will help your music career?

It already helped me a lot and I am working on a way to get more creatives into Hive, because I think it is a huge chance.
I was able to spread my music through this blockchain a lot already, I gained real fans and friends, and for the first time it feels that what I do really does make a change and people are interested in it. This is totally new for me.

Now I cannot only earn with my final product, by selling it, but I can earn during my creative process. By posting about it, letting people have insights about how my art comes to life. This is just great.

But for me it's not about money. The most important thing is that I feel Hive gave me the chance to really be ME. Something which I was always too shy to be. I held back behind a mask most of my life. And it felt terrible. I think it is the biggest gift you can get: A chance to be yourself. Without people judging you, but instead loving you for who you are. And this is what Hive is for me. Therefore it changed my life forever.

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Share a tip for other hard-working artists out there searching for success in the new music industry?

This is not easy, but I think adopting new technologies as early as you can is important. Because you can still find your Niche and do exactly what feels right for you.
I also think, if you are yourself and don't try to pretend anything or want to be like someone else, this will help you in your success. In the “normal” world, there is so much fake, people are just trying to be like a picture they see on the media. I think people in Hive e.g. are fed up with this fake shit, and they really love if someone is authentic and themselves. And this is what artists should use. We all have a story to tell, so go tell it! Don´t be afraid or ashamed of your story. People want to see the real you, not a mask. Use your art even more as a form of self-therapy and give the people insights about yourself.

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What does the future hold for RAVEN?

I don't have a clear picture of this actually. Because of Hive, so many chances opened up and it’s impossible to take them all or to bring all my ideas to life. It´s like this world totally brought my creativity into a huge flow and some new inspiration opened up that I didn´t have before.

What I can say is though, all I am working on are big challenges and mean a huge overcoming for me right now, in a good way. I just have to do these things, to help me grow on the inside, to help me conquer my fears. But this is never easy.

I am working on a creative way to tell my life story right now. This is very disturbing in some way, but feels so good on the other hand. It's like therapy.
I am also a little bit afraid to show my real face to the world, but at the same time I feel I need to do it, to finally become myself without being ashamed.

I also plan to make a music video in Hungary with the HMVF. This is a huge step for me too. I never made a professional video shoot because I was always too shy. I am still influenced by all the bullying I got about my looks in my earlier life. So it is a big step to make videos and show myself like this. It will not be easy. But I feel I just have to do this. It is one more step to becoming me and to conquer my fears of which I have so many.

Apart from that, there are many smaller projects I work on. Lot´s of songs and also NFTs. I am just trying to slowly build my reign without limiting myself to certain projects. I do what is fun and what feels good. I didn't do too much of this during most parts of my life. So it's time for this right now!

If you want to know more about RAVEN, follow her and keep up with the process here on Hive or Twitter.

The first music video HFMV we produce will be for one of Raven´s songs. She will also document the whole song writing process and we will make a post series about that as well. So stay tuned! Lot´s to come! 😊

We will go back to work now!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Yours,

The HMVF Team

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PS. We are searching for more artists to interview and promote through our channels. If you create original music (or know someone that does) get in touch and let’s set up an interview and learn more about you. We love music and want to see it grow on HIVE. Be a part of it! 🎵