Matt:
Matt is the 33 year old founder of Common Edits. After graduating high school in 2001 Matt felt called by his country to serve in the military. He spent 6 years as a nuclear engineer in the United States Navy. After leaving the military Matt attended the University of Texas at Dallas and graduated with a degree in Emerging Media and Digital Communication. He worked in digital marketing for a while before pursuing his passion of music by launching Common Edits.
Matt is married to his wife Lyddy of 2 years. Matt has two core missions that drive him. The first is to emulate his grandfather who he describes as “the perfect southern gentlemen” and the second is to “incentivize people to collaborate with other musicians and create beautiful music”. Matt takes the discipline he learned from the military, the logic from being an engineer, and his passion for music into leading Common Edits.
Caleb:
Caleb Johnson is a 19 year old from Fort Worth, Texas who won the first ever Common Edits contest. Matt recognized the drive, passion, and hustle Caleb displayed during the contest and brought him on to the Common Edits team. Caleb serves as the resident artist and has a deep passion for hip-hop culture.
Mentorship is incredibly important to Caleb. When he was young, he had a mentor who encouraged him to take interest into entrepreneurship. Because of this, he wants to open a sneaker store in downtown Fort Worth as a place that he can pay it forward and mentor young people to encourage them to take an interest in entrepreneurship. Caleb brings youthful energy and a passion for the hip-hop culture to the Common Edits team.
CJ:
CJ Carr is a 28 year old from Boston, Massachusetts. CJ and Matt met at the South by SouthWest Hackathon and instantly bonded over their passion for music.
CJ began playing guitar at 4 years old and won a Jimi Hendrix sound-a-like contest at 11. At 13 he began learning how to program computer games. He went to Northeastern University for Computer Science. Since the he has competed in 37 hackathons around the world. He has an incredible passion for creating art and creating tools that enables others to tap in to their natural creativity.
He believes that “lack of inspiration is a public health crisis” and he is devoted to using his love of music, art, and programming to allow people to unlock their own potential. He channels all of this in his work with Common Edits to provide people with the tools necessary to create music easily.
Click here to the full watch the full podcast and learn more about how Matt, Caleb and CJ are reinventing the way independent artists create and license music.