Today we’d like to introduce you to Jarrett McGehee.
Hi Jarrett, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in Houston and moved to Austin in 1994 to attend The University of Texas. After graduation, I moved back to Houston for law school in 2001. My experience clerking for a music attorney while in school nourished my love of music and cultivated my interest in learning the business side of the industry.
After receiving my law degree, I moved with my girlfriend (now wife) Leigh Ann to Los Angeles and have been working directly within the music industry ever since. Specifically, I worked in the legal and licensing departments of EMI/Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises where I negotiated and structured licensing deals for artists in various areas such as Synchronization, Digital, Video, and Physical formats. During that time, I helped reissue and license the catalogs of many legendary artists including The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Glen Campbell, Frank Sinatra, and more.
After ten years in Los Angeles and the birth of our two sons, I had the opportunity to become the Director of Licensing for Mood Media back home in Austin, Texas. At Mood, I was able to use my relationships in the music industry with my legal and licensing expertise to secure and facilitate music licenses for premier retail brands throughout the world.
When my position at Mood ended due to COVID’s impact on the retail industry, like most of the country, I was given the opportunity to reflect and pivot. However, my pivot took two paths: 1. exploring the aspects of my existing career that I find meaningful, and 2. exploring a wholly new career that allows me to exercise creative muscles that may have atrophied over the years. I’m basically involved with two separate ventures now.
1. The Music Envoy is my first company. I advocate for creators by serving as consultants and liaisons to corporate brands through multiple revenue streams, including Copyright, Licensing, and Brand Partnership initiatives.
2. GIMMEDAT LLC (gimmedatspice.com) started as my side-hustle that I am hoping may someday turn into a hustle-hustle.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I guess all struggles are relative, but for me the main struggle has been filtering out all of the advice and outside opinions that come with starting a new business. Staying true to the brand I envision can be really hard sometimes, especially when those other ideas sound promising because they’ve worked for other people who you know and respect or when those outside opinions come from people you love. No matter their positive intent, you have to stay true to your concept and how you see the future unfolding for the brand.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
GimmeDat, my seasoning company started as a little tweak to an old family recipe that my family has been enjoying for many years.
I thought adding a little heat and just a bit of tang would add a little something to that old staple that sat right next to the salt and pepper on the dinner table. I was surprised by how quickly the new mixture took hold with the younger generation in my family. My older brother and his wife started requesting that I bring it along to family dinners and bbq’s, then asked if I could bottle some up so they could always have some on hand at home. Soon, word spread and close friends started wanting some too. And it’s just grown from there.
At some point, my brother asked what I was gonna call it and “J’s GimmeDat” just popped in my head. I then decided that like old “The Facebook” vs. “Facebook” argument, just having the simple name “GimmeDat” was a lot cooler.
So far, I’ve relied solely on organic word-of-mouth advertising and online sales through our website gimmedatspice.com because I know the product is good enough to sell itself. People really love it! That said, I am reaching the point where I want more people to hear about GimmeDat so we can explore some other offerings that are just as reliable and just as tasty. We’ll see what the future holds, but for now, it’s been a really fun side gig.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
In this day and age, there are so many resources available to research and prepare someone for any project they may want to tackle. Society as a whole is quickly running out of excuses for not knowing how to do something when there’s a bullet-list or Youtube video explaining how to do it.
It sounds cliche, but by simply being curious and following that curiosity wherever it leads, taking prepared risks becomes pretty simple steps you can count on. Then, no matter how things turn out, you should consider it a success.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@gimmedatspice.com
- Website: gimmedatspice.com
- Instagram: gimmedatspice_atx
