The Ben Maynard Program

EP. 118 MARISA FULLENKAMP...A Young Songwriter, Live And Unfiltered

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Two chords in and you can already feel it: the tug of a small town, the pulse of a busy café, and the stubborn belief that songs should sound like people. We sit down with 24-year-old multi-instrumentalist Marissa Fullenkamp to talk through the craft and courage behind her self-titled debut EP, and she brings the proof—two intimate live performances that turn everyday scenes into something you can hold.

Marisa traces her path from humming at the dinner table to piano lessons, guitar-fueled songwriting, and a toolkit that now includes harmonica and a compact harp. Her influences aren’t just name-drops; they’re blueprints. The Eagles for harmony that melts, Patsy Cline for fearless phrasing, Blues Traveler for lyric swing that refuses cookie-cutter cadences. That mix shows up in “Passing Cars,” a high school-era story-song with unexpected structure, and “Caffeine Rush,” a folky closer that frames leaving a beloved place as both necessary and tender.

We dig into the tough stuff artists face right now. Why six songs? Because making a tight, true record teaches more than a sprawling, expensive one—and because she wants the EP to sound like her shows. Why physical CDs and merch? Because that’s how fans actually support the music they love. We unpack streaming economics, the single-at-a-time pressure of algorithms, and a clear, firm stance on the role of AI in songwriting: if a tool writes words or melodies, credit it. Real music still lives in the human residue—breath, sway, the way a voice flips when it chases a feeling.

If you’re craving songs that carry story and edge without hiding behind gloss, you’ll find a lot to love here: figurative lyrics, genre flexibility, and the energy of an artist who’s already played a hundred nights and is just getting started. Press play for a warm, unfiltered listen; stay for the harmonies, the grit, and the reminder that music becomes ours when we can feel it.

Enjoy the conversation, then support the artist: grab the CD at marissafullenkamp.com, stream the EP on release day, and share this with a friend who still reads liner notes. If you like what we’re making, subscribe, leave a five-star review, and tell us which live song grabbed you most.

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram 
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com

Housekeeping And Subscribe Requests

SPEAKER_00

Hey there. Welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. Greatly appreciate it. Before we get into what is going to be a lot of fun today, uh let's take care of some housekeeping first. All right. As you guys know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts. Just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. Go with it. Download it. Okay. Share it with all your people and give me a five-star rating because I deserve it. All right. If you can't resist a little bit of this, though, and you're watching on YouTube, then I greatly appreciate it. Again, subscribe to the channel though. Hit the notification bell. You'll get notified every time a new episode is published. All right. Then you got to give me a thumbs up and then you have to leave a comment. All right. Oh, and you have to tell a thousand of your family and friends, too. Okay. That's all. Just a thousand of your family and friends. Everyone knows a thousand people. Um, last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program, all one word, or where I'm a little more active, that's on the TikTok. Yeah. And that's at the Ben Maynard program. All right. So there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And I'm telling you, we're going to have a lot of fun this uh today. Um, it great brings me great pleasure to introduce to everyone the entire world to Marissa Fullen Camp. There she is. What's Jackson?

SPEAKER_02

Hi, Ben. How are you?

SPEAKER_00

I am doing really well. Thank you so much. Let me do this right. Oh no, actually, what I want to do is uh I'm gonna turn this on, right? Wait, where'd it go? There it is. Um boom. I want to do that. Okay, and then I'm gonna enlarge the screen a little bit. There we go. All right, now I can see. So uh so how's it going, Marissa? Thanks for taking the time to do this.

SPEAKER_03

It's been a world, it's going great though, right now. I'm so happy to be here. So thank you for inviting me on.

SPEAKER_00

I'm happy that you're here. I'm happy that anyone shows interest in this in this podcast. So for the audience, Marissa is a musician, she is a multi-instrumentalist, and we'll get into that in a little bit. She's uh she's getting to getting ready to release her debut CD. And I know that that you're calling it an EP, and that's great. That's fine because it has six tracks on it. Right. But but you know, back in my day, um, an artist could put out an album or a CD. Well, let's let's call it an album first, because one side could have four songs, the other side could have two. That's a total of six songs, but it would take up an entire album. So and uh anyway, so so I I don't want to show my age too much, but uh yeah, so you've got your debut CD coming out. That's on February 20th, right?

SPEAKER_02

You got it.

Debut EP Details And Intent

SPEAKER_00

All right, good. So it's it's self-titled, it's called Marissa. So why don't you why don't you tell us a little bit about it?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so the title being what it is is not a like oh look at me type of thing. It's because the songs have made up who I am today.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Um, and so it wouldn't matter if my name was Sally, it'd be called Sally, you know, because that's that's the person, right? And when I look back on these tracks, some were written when I was 13 years old, some when I was 24, or I am 24 now. Why do I say that as if that's past tense? But um feel older than I am sometimes. But um, it's a collection of songs I've written over the years, what as I was first getting into songwriting and pursuing it until now, and different trials, some happy, some sad life's ironies. You know, I I love writing in figuratives, so using a visual concept to display a sentiment that we all feel, and that's what makes music so unifying is we all feel these things, even though our stories are different, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. You know, for me, music is just something that I connected with very, very early on. I was probably um, I was probably about six or seven years old at the time, and it just it just is one of those things that grabbed a hold of me. And and when it grabs a hold of you, it just it just like it did and it never let go. And I feel my look, I I feel like I have a really special relationship with music, okay? Uh, I appreciate a lot of stuff, and I'm sure most artists such as yourself can appreciate a lot as well. Now, I have my certain lanes that I stay in, um, but but there's just something about music, it grabs a hold and it never lets go. And um, no matter what it is, what you're doing, um, you can listen to a song or a collection of songs, and it will take you right back to a certain place in time, a certain uh just so much. And it there's not a lot that does that in life, but music does.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so nothing besides photographs that I can think of.

Musical Influences And Harmonies

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there you go. Yeah, photo photographs certainly can do that. So who are who are some of your um your influences?

SPEAKER_03

Uh, there's so many. So I try not to go too deep. My brain will just get scattered. But um, my top three would be the Eagles, Patsy Klein, and Blues Trailer. So the Eagles, I loved how they had a Yes, oh my, they are so underrated. I can't express that enough. I got to see them live in indie, I think it was last year, and my mouth was just like this the whole time, just flabbergasted. They're so good, man. Oh my gosh. And then I got to see the Eagles when they were in indie for their final tour, and I was crying the whole time because I listened to them for so many years. Their songs have gotten me through so much, and they they have such a wide range, you know, there's some disco stuff in there, and they also have their ballads of country, but they got rock songs, it's just a well-mixed pot of good songs, and then Patsy Klein, just because she's Patsy Klein, she's the I mean, oh my gosh. I when I first got my Jeep, one of the first CDs I got was a Patsy Klein CD, and I knew that whole CD album track by track by heart. Number 16 was this, number 17, you know, like it just I I love her so much. So those are my top three. But again, I could go a little off the um road and say to Wayne Newton, I love him. He's also underrated. Um gosh. Yeah, uh I could keep going and going.

SPEAKER_00

No, that's okay. That's all right. Um, so so do you well let's let's go back to let's go back to the Eagles real quick as being an influence. You know, the Eagles obviously have been, you know, yeah, they're fantastic, you know, a band that's been around forever. Um and you know, they were first known as like country rock is what kind of a category that they were kind of put in. And they touch on both of those. Um they also touch on what I what I kind of call, I mean I didn't I didn't dub it, but but a lot of people call the like the California sound or the West Coast Sound. And and and the artists that fall into line with that would be like Jackson Brown or um certainly, you know, the Eagles, even even like James Taylor or even Crosby Stills and Nash, you know, kind of they all kind of fall into that category a little bit. Um but uh you know speaking of the Eagles, I mean, yeah, I could see how they could could be an influence, just tremendous singing and vocal deliveries, whether it was Don Henley or it's Glenn Fry, and great harmonies, too. Great harmonies.

SPEAKER_03

100%. That's one of the top things I think of, top features when I think of the Eagles. Their harmonies in things like Desperado, um Take It to the Limit. It just makes your heart melt. And gosh, if I could encapsulate that in a minor way, that would be I'd be over the moon.

Origins In Music And First Songs

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, no, take it to the limit. What a tremendous song, you know, and and Randy Meisner just does an absolutely fabulous, fabulous uh uh job with that. And he had such a such a great range and such a high voice, too, you know, it's so good, so good. And rest in peace to Randy Meisner as well. But um, so when did when did this um this relationship with music begin for you? And and and when did when did you decide that that being a musician was the path that you wanted to travel?

SPEAKER_03

Um well, I don't want to sound cliche when I say it, but I really mean it's always been there. I'm not saying that to sound like, but it always has been. When I was a little kid, before I knew anything about music theory and all that, I was just humming at the dinner table, annoying the heck out of everyone around me. I just I always was drawn towards it. And it was something that my parents they had dabbled in a little music and stuff, but they'd never taken it on as a more than a hobby. And so they threw me into theater and dance just to see where is her niche in that. And it just blossomed in fourth grade when I started learning piano. That's one of the best instruments to start with. It has a great visual layout to the keys, chord arrangements, things like that. And so fourth grade, starting that, it was like, okay, it's music, it's it's just good old music. And seventh grade, I started learning guitar, and that's when I really took off in songwriting. One of the songs on the EP is gonna be from that year when I first started too. And it's the teenager angsty song, like the lyrics I'm kind of cringe sometimes thinking about. But um, the song is called So Done, and I think that even though it's one of those like, ew, I'm done with love um stuff, we all get done with certain things in our life, we gotta let go and move on. And so the sentiment was still there, so I decided to keep it on the record.

SPEAKER_04

But um, that's great.

SPEAKER_03

Way back, it's just always been there, man. I I don't have a specific pinpoint as to, oh, this is the moment it started. It was just it's the one constant I've had in my life. Life has so many ups and downs, and that was the one thing that was always there besides God, was the one thing that was always there for me. And I find that more and more as I pursue it, um, I feel more encouraged by it and more like, okay, you're fulfilling part of your purpose. Life isn't about being happy, it's about your purpose and leaving something behind for others. And if I can do that with NEP record, and even if it only affects five people, that's five people, man. You know? So it's music's always been it's always been there.

Live Performance: Early Song Excerpt

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Time out for one second, Marissa. Okay. Okay, so that's that's great. So you brought up the first song that you this is the first song you wrote in seventh grade, right?

SPEAKER_03

It's one of the first lines, yes. It is the earliest song on the record.

Vocal Training And Style

SPEAKER_00

Okay, all right, good. Then it's not the first one. We'll talk about that one later on. But but I know you have a guitar with you. Can we hear a little bit of that song? Sure. Give me one second. Sure, you sure you want to see my. That is fabulous. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's not written by a seventh grader. There's just no way.

SPEAKER_03

With teenage angst, yes. Anything's possible with that.

SPEAKER_00

No, that was inspired, man. That was fabulous. I thank you. There's I just want to like ask so much, and I I want to uh I just want to get it, I want to like get it all in the right order. I don't want to have to keep going back and forth, but okay. Have you have you had um like professional uh vocal training or anything like that?

SPEAKER_03

Yes and no. So when I did piano lessons, I did things for the state. Um, they called them isma here, Indiana State Musician program. And um I had to do some what would you call it? Training for those little sessions where there would be a judge in a room and you could win gold, silver, bronze. And then they had a vocal sector of that as well. That my piano teacher was like, you should do that too, because she she already could see these signs before I could, right? She heard me probably humming and tapping my foot. So she would always tell me to keep my foot on the ground when I was learning to play because I'd want to keep tapping. She's like, put your foot on the ground, Missy. So I started doing vocal things there, and she gave me pointers, you know, how to use your diaphragm, use the air, and don't just let your chords rub against each other all the time. Use that to push the sound. And over the years, I was in choir at show, at show, oh my gosh, at school too. And they would teach you things like the orange in the back of your throat. So over the years I had training. I didn't have vocal training though under one specific person and all that, just a passion for it. And yeah, multiple mentors pouring into me over the years.

Multi-Instrumentalist Gear And Harp Talk

SPEAKER_00

I think it's fabulous. I think you have a just an absolutely wonderful voice, really, honestly. And I'm not just saying that because you're here, I'm just saying it because it's what I feel, it's because it's true. Um, but I hear in some of your stuff, because I've heard I've heard a little bit of your stuff in the past. Um I hear a little bit of like you have this yodeling capability, or you know, and I think it is so cool that it's so it's so interesting. Tell me I'm not wrong.

SPEAKER_03

I will take it as a compliment. Um, I love the sound of music, and there's a lot of yodeling in that. And so um, yeah, I think that's that's a talent within itself to Yodel. I wouldn't say professional yodeler, props to the people that do. So thank you. I'll I'll take that compliment, man. I I think it's more of a influctuation with the vocal, like you just jump, and um that's easier for some than others. And I I don't know, I can't really say there's a point in time when I just started being able to, just something I guess I tried once and kept trying it.

SPEAKER_00

I'm so uh I'm so envious of anyone who plays a musical instrument because as much as I love music and I have my whole you know my whole life, I don't play an instrument, and which is really tragic.

SPEAKER_01

Um that is true.

SPEAKER_00

It is never too late to learn. I also had an author tell me, you know, you the old the way you make time to read is just give yourself 10 minutes a day, too. And I don't do that. Yes, yeah. But um, yeah, I mean I I've got an acoustic guitar that hangs in my uh hangs in my attic, you know, and I've had guitars over the years as well because I love that that's my favorite instrument is the guitar. And um, but but I'm so envious of anyone who can play an instrument. Um, whether you're doing it well or not, you're still doing it, you can still do it. And it's just something I right now at this point at this stage of my life, I can't do it. So for and for you, you play multiple instruments. So I I know you play piano because you said that was the first instrument that you learned on, and I obviously you play guitar. What what else do you play?

SPEAKER_03

I like to say I dabble in these other things. So guitar and keys, I got a good understanding of. So I'll say I can play those. But other things is like the harpsicle, harmonica, um, ukulele. Yeah, I think that's where it stopped right now. Cajong, but like there's so much more to percussion than what I know. So I like to just say I dabble in those. I'll pick them up, I'll play them a little bit, but I'm not a pro and there's so many musicians that are pros at those things. So I feel unworthy of saying that on those instruments, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but you know, you did, you did a um, you, you put out a video during the holidays on your Facebook page. I'm trying to remember it was what it wasn't it wasn't holy night, was it?

SPEAKER_02

It was, but the harp.

SPEAKER_00

All right, I got it right.

SPEAKER_02

You got it.

Writing Process And Genre Flexibility

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm not sure and you were and you were sitting there in front of the Christmas tree and you were playing you you were playing the harp. No, and so don't say oh well I dabble in it. You did a great job.

SPEAKER_03

Oh thank you. Thank you. Um that's why I say the keys are so important is because that harpsicle translates with the keys almost identically besides the way in which you tune it in order to get flats and sharps and all that. I'm not going to go too deep into all that but um because of the keys it helped me pick up that harpsicle and play it. If that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00

So so you so that instrument is more closely related to the keys or the piano than it is guitar.

SPEAKER_03

100% okay which it's misleading right because you see the strings on the open so you're like yeah no I mean the way the guitar fret is is different than the keys too and just to make it even more um confusing because why not the banjo completely different than guitar too and that's not really oh yeah you can know the guitar and still have to learn the banjo. Oh wow so just it can be very misleading the way an instrument looks doesn't necessarily mean it plays the same.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_03

So the harple yeah that is more so because of my keys background than the guitar oh okay that's really interesting.

SPEAKER_02

I I want to see you wail away on the harmonica oh my gosh I don't have one with me darn shoot but that's that's why you like blues traveler.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah when I was there in Indy his son went up there too so they were battling on the harmonicas oh my gosh yeah and well the thing about John Popper and I look I don't I know blues traveler from the 90s and when they broke and all that kind of stuff and there's a few tunes that I really really dig but I don't go deep so I won't try to fake it or anything but I'll say this about John Popper. John Popper doesn't play the harmonica like it's a harmonica he plays the guitar or the harmonica like it's a guitar. That's how that's how he right does his harmonica solos almost like he's doing a guitar solo. He makes it sing in other words yeah it's not just a bunch of noise yeah really really really good stuff and so so different than what um most people were used to hearing out of that instrument back then whenever whenever Blues Traveler broke yeah really really good stuff um so what is um like what is your your your writing process do you do you lock yourself away in a room a couple hours a day or do you just let things come to you based on life experiences or do you keep your a notepad next to the bed or your phone next to the bed and you wake up in the middle of the night and you just got to put on a voice memo or write something down. How does that all work?

Why Six Tracks: Budget And Learning Curve

SPEAKER_03

So a mix of those things I don't necessarily lock myself away a lot of my inspiration is from the day to day or my surroundings and settings. So I might be out on a walk in the woods and I think of something and if I have that note and paper I'm more of a paper pen gal versus um typing electronics. That's I feel comfortable with that. Yeah I have a notepad I'm gonna write it down. If I don't I'll use my phone and write on the notes app which is a whole oh my gosh that's just like an abyss of random lines and lyric ideas. And so occasionally I might go through those and find a line and be like oh I could write that into this or I can write something based off of this. I'm feeling inspired for that one right now. Or there's that time when you're just kind of reflecting on things in a coffee shop or outside at a bench and then you just I'm feeling this way here's how I'm feeling and just kind of start writing a bunch of stuff down and you see a song within that. And so then you take pieces of that and write a song in a sitting so it's different. It's every song is a different case. And so um I think that's why it's so important too that as an artist I don't have to stick into one genre because I want my songs to all speak for themselves. Maybe this one song has a really bluesy vibe then I want it to sound that way. I don't want to feel like I gotta fit it into rock or fit it into country or fit it into folk, you know? So every song, even the process of it is different for me. I know there are some artists they have their like their little ritual they go through and that is great. Every artist is different. Everybody's process is different. Mine is a little all over the place because I'm all over the place. So oh yeah I I do have some late nights though where after a long day at work I will be at the keys and something might just come out then too.

SPEAKER_00

So it really changes do you does does writing does does it relax you like after a hard day of work or or do you or is it like I gotta get this done?

“Passing Cars” Story And Structure

SPEAKER_03

It's it's somewhere in between those things because it's not necessarily relaxing. It's a way of processing and processing isn't always relaxing, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03

It's just like when you're reflecting on a lesson that you learned it can be uncomfortable to think about how you learned that lesson right but then at the end of it you're like okay it's done. So I think there's relief at the end once I'm finished writing but in the middle of it you're like shuffling through memories and turmoil or witness accounts. So it's yeah I wouldn't say it's relaxing during it I I wish I could that would sound really nice to say but no it's it's more of a um it's very therapeutic in a way okay I'll say that yeah I can see that all right so um getting back to the C D uh it's got six tracks on it again I'm sure you have many more songs than just six um why why six I wanted to start out with something kind of bite-sized before delivering a feast first of all so I could learn because there's so much to recording I've done live shows for years and it's a completely different ball game. So I had to figure out what it's like to be in a studio what it's like to produce well have help producing that wasn't um all by myself I've had people behind me like my producer Brian de Buller mentors like Tim Voles people pouring into me to help me learn this process. So I wanted to take something manageable and tangible before jumping into a 10 track 15 20 track thing. Yeah because also monetary reasons I'm still working a nine to five I'm 24 years old I don't got a lot to my name yet so I wanted to do something that I could feasibly do myself I um and support myself. I didn't want to take a bunch of loans out for it or anything like that. So there's monetary reasons and learning curve reasons.

SPEAKER_00

Okay well I I'm sure that it can be you know it's it's it's probably pretty costly to get in a studio and you know a proper studio and and and record and all that kind of thing too.

SPEAKER_03

So 100% yeah and if you're you know funding it yourself then certainly you know you do it for the love of it you're you're yeah you have to take that into consideration so um so oh I lost my train of thought for a second there see what you're doing I'm sorry no no it's quite all right oh I know what I wanted to go with this okay so now the you you have you have one you have one song that is out on the streaming uh services um passing cars I think it is yes gosh I'm trying to get all this from memory you know um but now now you released that one in what 2023 I think uh so that was a live TV recording and they allowed me to use the audio I asked them hey can I put this on Spotify and stuff because I had nothing out yet and they're like sure go ahead so I did the album art and I used a distributor called DistroKid just to put it out there and have something out.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

Production Choices: Solo Sound Vs Band

SPEAKER_03

Was it produced in a studio? No do I want to redo the song someday absolutely because I hear a lot more I I think the quality could be better. I know I could sing it better too and so I want to redo it and that might be the next album thing where I put that song in um redone. Uh but that was written in high school and that was one night of cruising in the summertime I would cruise for therapy too just because well in Indiana sometimes there's not a lot to do besides that. And yeah I would cruise around at night and I thought that it was fitting that um there would be a song called that when driving around because I noticed that when we're driving by isolated in our own little car, we're passing so many people jobs other vehicles on the roadside and we feel so alone yet we're constantly surrounded by others. And so passing cars was that reflection of no matter how alone you feel you're still kind of at an impasse with other people.

Physical CDs, Preorders, And Release Plan

SPEAKER_00

Okay well I you know I saw the lyrics on that I actually I mean I've I've listened to it okay I've listened to it but but I mean I'm a lyric guy and I'm going through the lyrics on this as as it's playing I'm going okay how do you fit so many lyrics you know it's a it's not it it's so differently written. And for those of you who are watching or listening to this right now and and you may not be familiar with Marissa just go look her up Marissa Fullen Camp whatever streaming service that you use she's got the one track out there passing cars. And and I think I mean I I generally use Apple Music and so there's a function on there where you can you know view the lyrics as well you know you can view all the credits and that kind of thing. So I go through I scroll through the lyrics I'm going this isn't your typical um like pop song you know where everything ends in a rhyme and all that kind of stuff and there's no you know first verse and and a chorus and then a second verse and a pre-chorus it man it's just boom it allows straight sometimes yeah it's a completely different song structure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah well and there's good and bad to that you want people to be able to follow the story and so when first again part of the learning curve of this record was learning about song structure parts as well because I might have a full eight minute song but we need to cut down to four minutes for listening time right and so God bless my producer he was very thoughtful and very like okay you know this is great but let's let's tone it down a little bit let's get some structure there okay this is a chorus right okay let's make that your your verse in your chorus let's make it all kind of fit and passing cars was prior to that there's still a verse chorus verse but similar to um let me think of blues traveler with their lyrics how they kind of have a syncopation to it it's not all that like you said ending with that one word that perfectly rhymes sometimes it's the syncopation that makes it kind of slow. And um so again that's another inspiration I mean another reason I'm inspired by them is I like how they don't make it so cookie cutter.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_03

And I wanted my writing style to reflect that and it it has so far.

SPEAKER_00

So hope to keep that going so um everything that I've heard from you is basically just you and the guitar um do when on on the um on the new C Donna is it just you and whatever instrumentation you're using whether you bring in the keyboards the guitar the the harp the harmonica whatever or or do you have a full band in there?

SPEAKER_03

It's not a full band. Okay and another reason is because I'm currently still traveling as a solo um I'll occasionally bring somebody on to help with hand percussion. I think that's just something that had so much life to it and I wanted it to still sound like me if that makes sense. I want it to still sound like what you hear when you go out to hear me play live and not be so different that they're like that that didn't sound like what I heard that night you know I wanted it to still be true to where I'm at right now. Right right the whole essence of the record right it's that Marissa from seventh grade or whatever to present day. So I wanted the whole EP to even sound like this is still where she's at you know this is where we're where we are and the um the thinking behind and I love it.

SPEAKER_00

So uh yeah no behind putting out the physical product and not going the streaming the streaming route you know a lot of artists will go will go both ways um but what's the what's the thought process behind that?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah so I am still going both ways the whole thing with the physical product is I'll just take the pre-order for an example is with pre-orders people buy the product right prior to production so I know how many to produce that way financially it's not all coming out of my own pocket right away I know how many people are interested so on and so forth.

The Case For Physical Media And Fan Support

SPEAKER_00

So the physical product has come into play for that also at shows want to have something there that people can take with them kind of like a um I'm trying to think of a word sentimental uh what is it when you go traveling around you get a memento or something souvenir souvenir thank you yes a souvenir and so having that available is fun and then it will be available for streaming so people okay okay that listen on Spotify Apple it'll be there for their listening pleasure too now um as as you stated before it's uh it's dropping on the 20th so of February 20th of February so it will it be on the streaming platforms at that point also or are you going to get through some of this physical stuff through uh first like your pre-orders and that type of thing and then afterwards then put it out on streaming so the February 20th is when it will be available on streaming platform okay period like full releases yes everything leading up to that is the physical copies where people can kind of get it before it drops and I'll still have again you especially with it being online I'm gonna still have stock for people to buy off of line if they want that shared if they want that signed CD.

SPEAKER_03

So I'll still have both at that point but right now it's just physical copies until the full release.

Streaming Economics And Algorithms

SPEAKER_00

Right okay and and for those that are viewer that are watching uh you can see at the bottom of the screen that it's available at marissafulencamp.com for those of you who are only listening it is at marissafullencamp.com okay that's where you can pick up the uh the CD uh I know she's got some other merch some uh t-shirts and um I think you even have a package I love I love it I love it okay I I'll be honest with you though I didn't I didn't pre-order the the the the autograph song lyrics okay I didn't do that that's okay that's okay but I'm still uh but I am still waiting for my t-shirt and my CD to show up okay thank you for the support I mean of course listen I'll tell you what you know um I believe in supporting musicians uh that's why I like physical product I enjoy physical product um one because you know that that you are when you buy it there's some of that money is going into the artist's pocket some of them they you know and most of the time the artist is just taking that money and reinvesting it right back into what it is that they're doing too exactly yeah you know whether it's a whether it's a t-shirt or whether it's a a hat or you know in this case a CD as well you know it's all it's not like oh I'm making oodles of money off of this no it's going right back into my business right back into music. So I but I love physical product. I am a physical it was funny when you you came into the studio I was I I know I wasn't looking but I heard you pop in and I I've got my vinyl records right here okay I've got I've got a bunch of them right here on the shelf next to me. And so while I was waiting for you I was just kind of oh what's this one here and I pulled it out and I'm looking oh yeah okay so I I like my physical stuff and because that's just how I grew up listening to music. You get to go to buy go to the record store and buy the album uh you take it home and put it on your turntable and sit down and look at this album cover. See this is so cool. I just pulled this out by random this is from a band called Uriah Heap and the album's called Look at Yourself. So see Oh my gosh yeah I like that a lot and and and when you're really looking at it you can you actually can see yourself.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah so you know so that's what we would do you know you sit on the floor look at the record cover um you know pull out the inner sleeve if it had anything on it something Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. Um, turn turn the album cover over, read the credits, the liner notes, that type of stuff. And that's how, like when I was a kid, that's how we used to take in music. And you wanted to know anything and everything you could about your favorite artist anyway.

SPEAKER_02

100%.

SPEAKER_00

I am so in support of physical product. I love physical product. And and I although the only CD player I have is my stereo. I don't, you know, unfortunately, they don't put CD players in cars anymore. And that sucks because I that's where I used to get most of my listening was while I'm driving. And uh so I I so I miss that, but it doesn't matter. I don't even have a turntable and I still buy I still buy albums, you know, because I I want to.

SPEAKER_03

Um yeah, and well, and what's actually fascinating is I've seen it in the younger generation. I have two little sisters. There's a little bit of an age gap between us, um, close to 10 years. And so there are times I don't understand what they're saying anymore. It's just like, okay, cool, cool little fad, whatever. But they will still buy CDs of their favorite artists just to have that thing. I saw my little sister Amaya, she got a player for CDs just so she could pop those into. And if they get them signed, it's amazing, you know. And that's encouraging to me because it's like, okay, they still want to have that memento from their artist. And so if even one person's interested in that for me, like, that's so cool, you know? That's so cool. I grew up with the CDs and I had like Michael Jackson Thriller. I looked through those lyric pamphlets. Oh my gosh, how many times? And yeah, I think that's very encouraging to see because the reality is streaming doesn't get you much of anything monetarily wise. You just get a couple cents. It's it's really not the way that you're gonna be supporting that artist. It's buying the shirts, it's going to the shows. That's how you're actually putting money in their pocket. Um, you can have a big number of listeners on your Spotify and maybe make a couple hundred, but that's not gonna get you anywhere.

AI In The Arts And Authenticity

SPEAKER_00

No, no, that's not no, you can't support yourself that way. And and that's, you know, um, and the music business is so it's so different now than it used to be. I wasn't even planning on going this way. We know we now we're talking the business side of it. Yeah, yeah, no, I wasn't planning on going this direction, but I mean, I I talk about it a lot. I've talked about it with artists in the past that I've had on on the program as well. And it's so it's so tough, it's so different than what it used to be. I mean, um, you know, let's start with the the the uh the fan, the the the you know, the music fan. The way we as music fans now consume music is so different than it used to be. And for an artist like you to put out a CD of six six tracks as opposed to putting out 10, obviously we discussed a couple of the reasons why, but then again, too, I've also heard other artists say that, well, I want to, I'm only gonna put out one or two singles at a time because I want my fans to take in these and get used to listening to these. Because if I put out all 10 of them on the streaming service, well, they're only gonna listen to two or three of them anyway. They click past all the all the rest of them. Yeah, so we don't even listen to music, we don't consume it the same way we used to. Like I was talking about the albums right here that I used to listen to. We drop the needle on it, you listen to all five or six tracks on side one, turn it over, listen to the next five or six tracks, and boom, there it is. You listen to it start to finish. Yes, and it's not like that anymore. You know, it is for old people like me, because I I don't click around on stuff. I just if I'm listening to a certain album from an artist, and and yes, for convenience purposes only, like if I'm outside in the yard or I'm doing whatever, then yes, I've got all my stuff on my phone and I can click on it and listen to it as I go. But I it's not like, oh, well, this is track three. No, I I'm not this one's not one of my favorites, so I skip past it. No, I just listen to it from start to finish.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I I respect you for that seriously. It's well, and not to get into a rabbit hole with um algorithms and things like that, but you hear all sorts of things from artists out there about you have to only put a song out at a time at first, build up that momentum through the algorithm to then possibly be seen on Spotify and things like that. And you know, you you can go into big rabbit holes, and so that's like the lottery, though. When you really think about it, algorithms that you can maybe have some strategy, but a lot of it's a lottery. So just focus on what you're doing and then see what comes out of it because you can't control what all that brings to the table. Um, but yeah, I I think that it's so rapidly changing and evolving that uh five years from now it's gonna be different too. You know, it's just gonna keep changing.

Feeling Music Live Over Perfect Lyrics

SPEAKER_00

I would like to see it go back a little bit to where more people are buying more physical stuff because because let's be honest too. Um the way an artist makes money now, whether it's a lot or a little, the way an artist makes money is by performing. Yeah, you know, where it you know, yeah. I mean, way back when an artist would put out an album and they would go on tour just to support the album, just to keep the album sales going, you know. Oh, they're out there playing and they're you know, they play three or four or five songs off of their new album, and it helps to support the the idea of that album, and people are going out and they're buying it. Now, artists put out, you know, they put out a new album for those that actually still do. And I'm I'm I'm more speaking of like classic artists from my era, you know, and if they still do write and record anything, they put it out, but when they perform live, they don't do anything off of it, they don't they don't play anything off of their new their new album because people want to only hear the stuff that they grew up listening to, which is just kind of bizarre to me. If you like this artist, you'll you know, you want to listen to all of their stuff.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but the testance fans have gotten smaller, and not only are artists. Here's the thing, I don't want to ever think of the music industry as a competition. I'm not about that game. We should all be supporting each other as artists, especially in times where we're not only competing with all sorts of ranks in the music industry, but now we're competing with robots, with AI, and that's a whole other thing. I will passionately say this that we should not have AI in the arts, period. And if so, there better be a label there. There better be a label because it's it hurts the audio art already, but it's been hurting um physical, like visual art now for a couple years. Go on Instagram. Somebody could draw this, and now they're losing those sales to a robot, and it's just it makes me so mad inside because there is something so raw and profound in humans creating something like that, you know, kind of being potters to the clay, like creating something out of nothing. That's amazing. But a robot instead is taking different aspects of other people's art and other images, so other photographers thing too, to create something their own when it's not their own, it never was their own, and there's no recognition, it's just oh AI. It makes me so mad because I I don't want to see our world start relying on a robot for art.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. No, I hear you. Well, and and and sorry, bringing it back. No, no, no, no, no, this is all good stuff. This is all good stuff because look, this is this is the reality of the music business, okay? And and for a lot of other uh for a lot of other businesses as well, you know when it comes to the artist, it it all comes down to being genuine and organic. And a computer can't be either of those.

SPEAKER_03

Where is it getting it from?

unknown

Right?

Live Performance: “Caffeine Rush”

SPEAKER_03

It's getting it from somewhere, from somebody else. And then that's a whole other thing. I'm not gonna um put anybody else down, but we shouldn't start writing with it either. And I'm already seeing that start to happen in the music industry where writing is starting to be used with that, and that's just a big no-no for me. And if hey, if you're gonna do that, then you better put AI in for your um credits, okay? Yeah, because then you didn't write that. You didn't write that if you used the computer to create your verse. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm not gonna go.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03

It's a good oh no, I love it. If you're gonna use it, it's a tool, right? Tools can be used for good and bad. A hammer can be used to help build a house and also to help tear it down.

SPEAKER_00

Tear it down, yes.

SPEAKER_03

If you're gonna rely on it, or don't use that tool. Just use your mind, use the things around you right from you, from yourself, from your soul, from your heart. Don't rely on a robot to do that for you because it has no heart, it has no soul, it's only gonna replicate other people's work.

SPEAKER_00

It has no feelings, it has no feelings at all. It doesn't emote. No, so yeah, it's just acting like it does.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

No, this is no, I no, this is great. No, see, here's here's the thing. Here's the thing, Marissa. I I don't like I I don't want guests to come on this this podcast and and there be a formula to our conversation. I because I call them conversation. I'll call I don't call them interviews, okay? It's a conversation, and I there's no formula to it. So so to go down this rabbit hole to discuss these topics, this is all to to bring another to bring back a term that I used earlier. This is genuine, okay? This wasn't in my notes.

SPEAKER_03

This is genuine anger right here, man.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, I love it. I love it. And I I love it because see you because you put in your heart, your soul, your time, and you want you want the audience to feel what it is that you're putting into your work. And you know, listening to a CD, okay, great, you get that. You get the better feeling of that when you see that artist play live.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

There isn't a computer out there that's gonna be able to do any of that stuff.

SPEAKER_03

They're trying, but no.

SPEAKER_00

They're not gonna be able to bring out that those feelings, you know. So I love it. And and that's why I love I love going to see uh, you know, my favorite bands. I like going to see them live because I want you know, even if they have an off-night or whatever, look, you know that it's real. Right.

Gigging Pace And Regional Touring

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, and that's the thing. I've noticed people um talk about one of the reels I put out, there was a comment about not understanding all the lyrics. And that's that's okay. My whole thing is could you feel it? Could you feel what was behind the song? Because if you felt it, then that's enough. At least personally. I there's so many songs I listen to that I don't know every single word. But if I get the feeling, I I feel what they're putting in and what they're putting down, then it did its job. Blues Traveler, for example, not to keep bringing them up, but when they go into that um that bridge and hook, do you know all those words? No, but you get what they're putting down, right? Um, so it's the feeling behind it in live. You really get that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. What what's what's the the you you brought up the song The Hook and what does it say? How how's the line go?

SPEAKER_03

Um, suck it in, suck it in the tin tin tint.

SPEAKER_00

Well, yeah, there yeah, there is that. Yeah, there's that. No, but there's but there's the wait, no, I'm trying to think of the line because I haven't heard the song in so long. It it's the hook that brings you back. That's the one. Yes, that's the one. Yeah, but but it's okay if as a lover of music, if we don't understand all the lyrics, because they shouldn't it shouldn't be formulaic, or it doesn't have to be so literal. Like you know, there's a lot of figurative stuff, and and if there's something you don't understand, well, you can some in some cases you can put your own understanding or definition to it, or because because it it's all how it relates to you.

Small-Town Roots And Family Snapshot

SPEAKER_03

It's the interpretation, it's uh you're supposed to take away something from the song different than me. Even like, okay, song that comes to mind from the record, caffeine rush, it's the last song on the record. There are lines in there that are Easter eggs to my experience. I know the place I'm inspired by, I know the people I'm inspired by. I'm not telling you exactly who that is or what that is or what they said or what they did, but you will relate to it in some way based off of your own experience with other people and that own your other coffee shop you've been to, right? So um, what we're inspired by as artists, we don't disclose everything because we want you to have your own, your own um takeaway from the song. If I okay, it I'm if I tell you my whole story and every single line of that song, it's not gonna mean as much to you because that's not you, right?

SPEAKER_00

It's not your the song the song will probably be 30 minutes long, too. So you know more than that?

SPEAKER_02

How come on, have you met me? More than that. I'll be like 120.

SPEAKER_00

Speaking of caffeine, speaking of caffeine rush, yeah. Can we hear can we hear a little bit?

SPEAKER_03

Sure. I got enough caffeine in me as it is. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

All right.

SPEAKER_03

But um, this is kind of my folky song of the album.

SPEAKER_00

Give us uh give us a little bit of um give us a little bit of background on it before you get into it.

SPEAKER_03

So I was a barista for five years. And when I'm live, I always start out by saying there's plenty of inspiration in a coffee shop from the people you meet, the jobs sort of chaos. And um I I think too, there's a thing we come, I wanna let me see how there's a pinpoint in life that we all reach where we might love a place and still have to leave it. Where we stumble upon a certain scene and we see the good and beauty in it while also being like, I can't stay here forever. And in the song, it's um it's in the perspective of a gypsy, but really that could be you, me, anybody. And the gypsy is the free-spiritedness of the person. They love the spot, it feels like home, but it's not a perfect fit, but they still gotta go elsewhere, but they can blame blame it on the caffeine for why they're feeling that way, right? We all do. We all blame it on the caffeine. I'm feeling tired, I need caffeine, or I'm feeling jittery. It's the caffeine, right? So in the song, she literally blames it on the caffeine rush and um the figurative ironies. I love to write with those. So my mind's been soaked in a bag and my heart's been ground up, poured into their glass.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

It's visual for getting used or getting broken down by by the scenes. So I'm not gonna go too much more to that. I want your no, no, no, no, that's that's good.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you didn't need to hold dissertation, just a little background. Yeah, let's hear it.

Live Performance: “Sippin’ On A Soda”

SPEAKER_01

Crossing over George Street, you'll see steam, stripping the down the glass, and painting with warm heat, walking in eyes, see the morphology. Someone in line, some took a seat, staring in their mugs for a dark screen. Waited my turn. I guess that should learn for ease for her who can say Hello, help come to this five hours on over there, but I get smoking hot cold enough. I express enough my use to travel around with my temperature enough. Just take a little drink, but I gotta leave. Cause you see my mind's been soaked in a bag, and my heart's been ground up in Sagas Locked into the Wizam Thrill or a chill. Oh, it's got some cafe in rice. Stop there.

SPEAKER_00

Love it, love it, love it, love it. That that was so good. That's just so good. And again, I I love your voice. It's just it's so it's just so good.

SPEAKER_02

Um let me ask you this.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I'm I'm actually I'm flipping back and forth. Uh I want you to see all that too. There we go. So um how many um how many shows are you doing, you know, on average a year?

SPEAKER_03

Oh my gosh. Um I'm gonna say around a hundred. Um, this year is different because I'm so focused on the EP and everything. And this last year is when I started the EP. So I was really devoting time into that as well. So um I've been slacking on my booking more than I should be. So I'm gonna pick.

SPEAKER_00

that up okay are are you do you manage yourself are you self-managed yeah yeah okay so that means that means everything's in house and you do it all yourself yeah try to okay no no that's great um um what i i know that you're from baitsville indiana i love it i love it we have a we have a mutual friend of ours yeah um but um and you were you're born and raised in baitsville right yeah yeah yeah okay so are you are you are you stretching out at all where what kind of what what what area are you covering when you get out there and you play yeah so it's regional right now yeah um throughout Indy Ohio Kentucky area um and that's I'm gonna keep spreading out in the throughout that before I jump further but my goal is to keep expanding just touring more going out seeing the country all that well let's get you out to the west coast so that uh you can you get you to the get you the house of blues here in Anaheim you know oh heck yeah that'd be awesome I know it would be awesome uh because I for for me I would I like I told you I love to see live music and I love to see performers get out there and and and and really just um show you everything that they're they're they're feeling and especially when they are just on and they are on fire that night there's just there's nothing better than that I I mean you know a lot of times you can feel it through the whole room sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that feels it but you know whatever it is um I just I love live music and um so yeah I I don't know I gotta get you out here somehow to to the west coast that'd be amazing absolutely yeah so tell me tell me about growing up in Batesville tell me about life in Batesville well so how Batesville has a name if you ever have heard of it is the casket company Batesville caskets oh wow and so we made the casket of Michael Jackson and other big people yeah and so there's a song that I'm hoping to put out on the next album that talks about growing up here.

SPEAKER_03

And so I kind of want to save some of it for that song but um yeah I have a little line about that so oh I can't I don't I I gotta hold it but yeah we don't have to we don't have to spoil anything that's okay that's all right um it it is it um is it kind of like slow and easy life uh look I I mean it's it's a bubble because there's the city both of the cities are pretty close by um compared to other places so it's kind of weird to have a small town like setting around two cities and baseball's technically a city so it yeah it's got a certain pace to it that I really don't know how to describe it's small town yet not tell me about your family family so we get to know a little more about Marissa okay yeah so my parents um they they're workaholics they are very loving my dad and my mom are both hard workers though um dad's retired from the railroad he was a railroad man he worked on there yeah he was one of two guys that had got this job opportunity right when he was in college and so he's like I'm gonna take this job see you and mom she is um she's one of the hardest workers I know and she has her own small business she's into health and wellness that's her bread and butter okay my sisters are I I love them they they're the reason I live sometimes and we're all so different though it's so funny. Um Amaya she is so smart and she's now 18. She's wise beyond her years and my Lena she's very creative too I I could see her doing photography or something like that. She's got such an eye for fashion and for a lot of visual displays so my grandparents on my mom's side I grew up with as well my grandpa's the tough farmer type and my grandma is the sweet little waitress. So that's kind of a that's kind of a glimpse as to my family I love it.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. Yeah I'll bet your sisters they probably draw a lot of inspiration from what it is that you're doing they probably see you as kind of a role model for them too you know I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_03

Don't sell yourself short but um but yeah I think there are times though that they are they got their own things going on. So I love to encourage them but there are many times they're encouraging me.

SPEAKER_01

They're my little sisters but yeah I'm gonna let you know too just in case my phone is low percentage so I just want to let you know in case I drop out of the picture shocker you're 24 years old shocker that your phone isn't charged not a shocker at all oh well if it if we cut we cut this short we cut it short so you know we'll have to do another one I I actually I do want to hear another one can I make a request sure I want to hear sipping on a soda oh boy okay this yeah it's a little little taste yeah sure no pun intended yeah yeah this one was inspired by retail so any retail worker is gonna get it yeah another day of retail I've slowly going up here won't go into detail feel for thrills greens all those who walk in taken waters answer questions clean up the premises and do all this while still smile that's the story every week early morning evening with every now and then I get a thirty minute vacation I'm in the breaker room sipping I wanna do that well outside the shop blows ever knows what's really going on in this world asking people pleasing with gentlemen folks found some reason but that's all out of season if you wear pearls look I just got another bad reaction ho ho from a girl with a decline card transaction I wish that it worked on day we could close early it's another day for another dollar because there's a bill to pay a day in the life of a retail worker I love it thank thank you so much for doing that that was great no problem at all no that was wonderful um all right so before your phone dies that's so bad that's so bad we're just gonna do it again that's all this means listen people if you have enjoyed what you heard here okay that's just a small sampling of what Marissa is delivering on her debut EP entitled Marissa Marissa my love tell everyone where they can where they can find it yeah marissafulincamp.com marissa with one s my mom wanted to make it difficult so I'm available there Spotify Facebook Instagram all the things yeah okay and if they want to buy the uh if they want to buy the CD or a t-shirt they want to support you somehow where can they get all that stuff?

SPEAKER_00

All on the website yep at marissafulincamp.com right you got it okay and then you've got you know you'll have uh uh uh show dates and that kind of stuff as they become available right it'll all be on there yes okay you're the best you really really are just I got you man well stick with me for a minute okay while I while I close out okay all right look folks thanks for being here greatly appreciate it as you know this program is available wherever you get your podcast just search the Ben Maynard program boom it's right there subscribe to it download it share it with all your people and give me a five star rating but if you've enjoyed a little bit of this right or this right here next to me in Marissa yeah she's she's a lot to look at so listen then please subscribe to the channel give me a thumbs up and leave a comment all right let me know what you think of Marissa okay let me know what you think all right and then uh last but not least oh no I'm sorry uh tell a thousand of your family and friends first okay and then last but not least follow me on Instagram simply Ben Maynard program all one word or on TikTok that is at the Ben Maynard program. So thank you very much for being here thanks to Marissa for being here sharing some of her music with us um you guys be good I will see you next time this is the Ben Maynard program tell a friend