Interview: Jully Black on How to Remain Authentic as an Artist-Entrepreneur in the Music Industry

Jully Black has been one of Canada's leading voices in music since the early 2000s, but it's been over a decade since she last embarked on a full national tour. That changed this February with her Songs and Stories tour, which is taking her across the country. Today (Feb. 28), she embarks on the second leg of the tour starting at Ottawa's National Arts Centre and taking her to Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg and more.

The tour is a major milestone for Canada's Queen of R&B. It's a culmination of everything she's done in her multifaceted career, which has taken her from music to theatre, journalism to philanthropy to TV broadcasting. The show combines it all into what she calls "one big jambalaya stew of Jully Black" – a combination she showed in her showstopping performance of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" at Billboard Canada Women in Music 2024 – but it's also a return to her roots.

"Everybody really got to know me basically through music," Black says. "No matter how, no matter what direction I take, it starts and ends with music."

But going on a full headlining tour for the first time in over a decade is a challenge, especially as an independent artist working on a DIY level. It's a challenge she embraces, and one that years as an artist-entrepreneur have trained her for.

Jully Black joined Billboard Canada and its sister non-profit music organization Waveland Canada for a mini-masterclass about how to retain your authenticity as an independent artist in the music industry. It was a wide-ranging conversation that touched on how to cross genres, lessons she takes from other artists and how to choose the right team.

At the heart of the conversation was one guiding principle: staying true to yourself. That goes beyond just music, but business, entrepreneurship, interpersonal relationships, mental and physical health.

Find a full list of tour dates for Jully Black's Songs and Stories tour here.

This is your first national tour in over a decade. What made you decide to get back on the road now?

Thank you for asking why decide. It is a decision, and it's what's on the other side of that decision where the magic lies. It's what's on the other side of fear where the magic lies.

I hadn't really been on the road since my mom passed away. It's been eight years since she hasn't been here in the land of the living, but she's been guiding my every step. I have the maturity, the wisdom, I have the resources. And when I say resources, I also mean the relationships to be able to say, 'hey, I need, I need some help.' If I need to get a grant or some monetary help, nothing is beneath me. The message I want to put out there is that the only person that's in the way of your dreams is usually yourself. So it's time.

Would you say you had to get to a place where you could do the tour the way you fully wanted to do it?

Well, it's not the way I fully want to do it. Because to be open, I wanted to do a tour bus, wrap the bus, all of this. But the bus was going to cost $130,000, and that just wasn’t in the budget for six weeks. So let's use wisdom here. How can we do this? Melafrique is opening for me. We're sharing the stage, so we decided to share bands. This is all part of being an artist-entrepreneur. How do you still get this thing to happen within our resources where the integrity of the music is there? We may not have the bells and whistles with the pyro and the lights, but there's other ways to get creative, to present a show that's visual and sounds sonically incredible. And then to take it coast to coast.

From a music industry perspective, you've been through it all. You've been on a major label, you've been indie, you've evolved to a place where your career has even gone beyond music. Do you feel that you're in a better position to do this kind of tour now at this stage in your journey?

I'm in a better position mentally, for sure. I'm team therapy all day, trust me. There were some areas of disappointment and heartbreak, and so I have had to heal from some of those heartbreaks, some of those let downs, some of those disappointments.

In the beginning, especially, it's all about the art, which is great. But it's called the music business for a reason. I'm not anti-label, I’m not anti-establishment. I think that being an artist-entrepreneur now, to partner with a record company makes so much sense. When I was signed to a major label, I didn't make a big advance. I said, let me own my masters. And now people are licensing my songs forever. They come to me for the clearance. So that's kind of my pension. I set up the pension plan in 2003 owning my masters.

When you're working with newer artists, do you have that kind of advice for them? Not 'here's what you should do, but here's what worked for me?

I think it's important to share through my own lived experiences and what's worked for me. Do you have a business manager? Do you have a bookkeeper? How's your accounting? Do you have a power of attorney? Do you have health insurance? People are talking about it more [in the music industry], livable wages. When people wonder 'how's Jully still going?' it's because financial literacy is very, very important. So is living within your means.

We made a plan where we could do this tour and hold our heads high and not lose our wages, but still we are putting in our own money. You've got to invest. It was great to have a label, but they were investing and I had to pay them back. So, in a way, it's the same difference. Do you have something you could put in, Jully? I've got something I could put in. Let's swing that back.

Do you find that empowers you to do things in a more personal way, because you have so much invested?

100%. I think it also shows proof of concept. If this goes faithfully the way we would like it to go, then we could show a Live Nation in the future, 'hey, we did this on our own. Would you like to partner with us next time?'

Without working with a major promoter, how does it work setting up the tour? Are you calling up venues?

Venues! We knock on venues' doors. 14 venues said yes. That's a huge win for us, especially when I haven’t toured in 17 years. But the Jully Black band is a known brand. Some of my fans are now parents and grandparents. Think about that. When people ask 'what's your fan base?' I say from 5 to 85. So in my mind, I'm on the road to the Rogers Centre, because I'm capturing the little kids right to the grandparents. That's how I see it in my mind's eye. That's how possible it is. It's because of all these years I've been doing this.

The way you've been talking so far in this interview, you've been very real about the fact that art isn't just art, it's also work. That seems to be an idea that the younger generation of artists is being a lot more open to, that artists are also workers. What got you to that point?

My eyes are so wide open. There's a quote that I often say. I start over as often as necessary because I'm not starting from scratch; I'm starting from experience. I'm able to look at the routing, to see what's going to cost what and how to shoot the gaps. I'm a speaker, too. It's Black History Month, and it’s also going to be Women's History Month. Let's do some speaking engagements. Let's weave in and out so that I'm not leaving this tour with nothing. Then I can actually invest even more from a different income stream.

It's really that entrepreneurial side. Also, it's mentorship. Do you have someone this business who can be really honest with you? I'm talking a financial mentor, which is different from mental, emotional, spiritual, even physical. I have a whole community, basically, that helps take care of Brand Jully. And I want to be a steward of that.

How would you advise people build that community for themselves?

You said the right word. It's built. It's one person at a time, one relationship at a time. I often say, if you're not making me sharp, you're making me dull. Who's really challenging you? Who's gonna be the 'no' people, not just the 'yes' people. 'Yes' people are so easy to come by. Think about what your needs are. Not just 'I want to be a star, I want to make money, I want a tour, I want, I want, I want.' What are your needs? Do you really need a manager right now? Do you have anything to manage? Or do you need songs? Be where your feet are. What do you need to operate, to execute?

In an industry that is tremendously hard on artists, what keeps you the most motivated?

My fiancé said this recently about how he sees careers and work. I've never heard it this way. He simply says that he doesn't work for anyone. He sells his services. Nobody's the boss of you. Don't even use the word boss. You have to realize your value. You have to say, I have something that is super valuable. If I don't see the value in it, no one else is going to. It's up to you to decide how you're going to define success. Is it that you moved your parents out the hood? Is it that you have a solid fan base that you know is coming to your shows, even if it's 50 people at 100 bucks a head? We really need to define success for ourselves. I think that takes off the pressure. I think that's what's contributed to my longevity. I know I'm special. I've always known I was special. Now the world's catching up.

What's the mistake you see young artists making again and again that holds them back?

Comparison-itis. It is an -itis. It is the thief of your identity, the thief of your uniqueness. It is the thief of your joy. Unfortunately, we live in a day where everything's visual and social media has created a space where everyone's putting up their prime time moments. We live life in the meantime. We don't live life in the prime time. I know my brand is vulnerability, is being truly myself. I try to encourage the emerging artists to see the best branding is actually being you. Everyone else is taken.

If there's one last piece of advice a new artist sort of starting their career and wanting to do so from a place of authenticity and being true to themselves. What would that piece of advice be?

Simply ask yourself why you want to do this. Establish your why, your intention. If you believe you could stand behind that intention 20, 30, 40 years from now, feel good about it with pride,. If you can really say it with your chest, then you're good.