“Nowadays when we can all put out our own music it takes a lot of work to get noticed. You have to be really dedicated to survive. That might sound as a bad thing, but at the same time I think it is good. It gives everyone a fair chance, and in the end only the best get to the top anyway.” – @StineRingas

Listen to the interview
Episode # 298: A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/02/17/episode-298-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax

GETTING TO KNOW STINE RINGAS
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
(Pronounced Steena Ringus)

Music business…
The music business is tough. I guess it always has been. Nowadays when we can all put out our own music it takes a lot of work to get noticed. You have to be really dedicated to survive. That might sound as a bad thing, but at the same time I think it is good. It gives everyone a fair chance, and in the end only the best get to the top anyway.

Like I said, the music business is hard, but I never give up. If something doesn’t work out the way I wanted it too I try it a different way. I guess I’m a problem solver, and that’s how I survive in this business. If there is one thing you have to learn as a musician it is how to deal with rejection. It is our biggest fear, and at the same time the most common thing. And so I have to brush it off and come back stronger. You cant win every time. As long as I end up on top eventually.

Social media…
is a great way to get out there. You can get in touch with people all over the world, inspire and get inspired. At the same time it is very hard to get noticed. With so many artists fighting over the same bone I keep trying to find new ways to get someone to hear my music. And that is not always easy.

Singles vs an album…
It is very hard to choose between releasing singles and albums. With a single you get to focus on that one message, which I quite like. But with an album you can say so much. These days I think people listen more to singles than to albums. However, I don’t think I could choose. At the moment I am just starting out, so I am trying to get people’s attention. And for that a single is much better. I can market my sound and my message more clearly and then build to an album at a later time. Which is what I am planning on doing.

From when I was very little I…
spent most of my days at my grandparents house. Every day we would sing, dance and play different instruments. I must have learned how to read music before I knew the alphabet. My grandmother would take me out performing for the elderly and at events with her unisons, and so that is where it all started. I have never wanted to do anything else.

When I was 16 both my grandparents died after being sick for a long time, and it felt like I lost a part of me. After that, when ever it gets tough, I think of them and what they gave me and I decide to give back. And so I keep pushing in honor of their memory.

My personal definition of success is…
reaching your goals. However, I am not very good at seeing myself as successful. When I reach a goal I make a new one, and do not really take the time to look at what I have achieved so far. One thing I would say I am proud of is being able to study music. That had been my goal since I was a child. In Norway you have five universities that offer Music Performance. Most of them take in a very small amount of students each year. In my class we were 11 students who qualified and got in and finished our bachelor. I got to study along side with some great musicians, and i have learned a lot from them.

My over all goal for my life & career is…
to be able to live off my music. I am never happier than when I get to sing and play, rehearse, do gigs and just be a musician. Fame is not important to me. As long as I get to play. I guess you have to be a little famous to actually make money though.

3 Ways that I challenge myself and how each one moves me forward towards my goal.

1) Say yes to things that scare me like walking up to someone to promote myself and my music. Most of the time it’s fear it self that stands in the way, not the actual thing.

2) Take chances. You won’t win if you don’t play.

3) Be uncomfortable. If your strong enough to be uncomfortable it will eventually stop being uncomfortable. I believe that is the most certain way of evolving. Both as a human being and as a musician. I can only make me better!

Start Again…
is a song I wrote for my best friend a few years ago. We were both fresh out of college and didn’t know what we wanted to do with our lives. It felt like everything was changing, and the only thing I was certain of was that no matter what we would always be there for each other. And so that is what the song is about. Relying on someone to start over with you when things go south.

The first time I was performing this song live, my friend was coming to see me play. As I got up on stage I couldn’t see her in the audience, and honestly I got a little angry. After this I did not hear from her for hours, and I was getting really upset with her for not showing. Turns out that on her way to see me she had been in a car accident. Her whole car got totaled and she was at the hospital for check ups. Luckily she only sustained a minor injury. And I felt really bad for getting so mad.
To me the most important thing about music is that it speaks to you. I wanted my first single, Start Again, to create a comforting atmosphere, sort of like a lullaby. Every song has it’s own use. Some you listen to when you need energy, others when your feeling excited. Start Again is a song you can listen to anytime you need a little push, if you’re sad, or if you just feel like you need a little comfort. Buy Start Again at:
https://itunes.apple.com/no/album/start-again-single/id1080016033

I think I’m rather lucky because…
within my style of music the pressure on being current is not that big. Of course when you do pop you have to evolve all the time, but my interest in playing more jazzy pop gives me a lot more space to do my own thing. Which I love. I remember one of my fellow students once said that you have to sell out to being with. Be as straight and correct as possible, and then when people already like you you can start being weird. He might be right.

At the moment I live in Stavanger, Norway…
I have been commuting a little between Stavanger and London, but I spend most of my time here. The music scene here is good, but very small. Norway is a small country, and the cities even smaller. But that also means that you get to know a lot of people with the music business where you live which I think is a good thing. We have a lot of places you can play your music here, which is great!

I love going to concerts. See other people play their music and get inspired both from what they do on stage and how they play. Often there’s a jam after too, which is always a lot of fun.
Tell me about one fun thing you like to do that can be music or non-music related.

I would love to have 5 minutes alone with….
a Norwegian artist called Thomas Dybdahl. He is one of my biggest inspirations. He writes amazing music, which he performs with a nearness unlike any other. I would like to pick his brain on the music business and how he has created his sound and image. And he also happens to be from my city, so he has faced some of the same challenges I do.

I am most afraid of…
making a mistake I can’t fix. Sadly, I am a bit of a control freak, and when things go wrong I can freak out really bad. I have already done this more than once in my life, and that just makes it even worse when something does go wrong. It really keeps me up at night.

Social media links:
https://www.facebook.com/stineringas/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
https://soundcloud.com/stine-ring-s
https://twitter.com/StineRingas
https://www.instagram.com/stineringaas/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwfqvWzqd1LhNvB-krlva_Q
http://www.stineringaas.com/

Buy Start Again at:
https://itunes.apple.com/no/album/start-again-single/id1080016033