Songtradr Success Story

You’ll find it in Songtradr’s core values. “We relentlessly search for diamonds in the rough”. This may sound like a corporate cliché, but every once in a while you truly do find a diamond. 

When I first discovered Carter’s music, I was combing through a Songtradr Deal. For those who don’t know, curating a Songtradr deal consists of sifting through hundreds of tracks a day for weeks. I was on the tail end of a ‘tagging bender’ as we like to call it at HQ, my brain reduced to mush when I heard a song that stopped me in my tracks. The lovechild of Alt‑J, Gotye, and Portugal. The Man. Dark and brooding but impossibly intoxicating.

There was no picture or artist listed, which means it could have been easily scanned over as an unfinished track. If I didn’t have my Nespresso Intensio that morning would I have had the energy to chase down the mystery man behind this song? I don’t know. But this song was so special, I had to find out who made it.

 

The song

Before

 

After 

A couple emails later, we had a gorgeous track photo uploaded and a thoroughly tagged song which always makes our team very excited.

 

 

A couple months later

We had two major licenses for Carter, one massive placement in the gritty Netflix show, “On My Block” and a sync in Freeform’s popular drama, “Famous In Love”!

The Backstory

Carter, born Jamey Reso, was raised by a music-obsessed family in the tiny, 600,000 person South American country called Suriname. Most of the music stemming from here is aligned to very cultural, traditional sounds. You’ve probably never heard of a musician from Suriname because there simply aren’t many who have made it to the stage Carter has reached.

Despite his upbringing, Jamey wasn’t very interested in music until his Uncle Maarten, inspired him to play. He never turned back. 

Jamey’s father wasn’t around much, so Maarten became somewhat of a de facto father figure. He was the “shining star” of the family according to Jamey — a truly gifted guitarist whose dream was to make music with his nieces and nephews. Maarten always told Jamey that if he ever had a son he would name him “Carter” because “it sounds so cool”. Jamey practiced obsessively to impress him and fulfill Maarten’s dream. Unfortunately, they never had the opportunity.

As soon as Jamey progressed, Maarten tragically passed away. Jamey made it his mission to pursue music and live on as Maarten’s spiritual son. He adopted the name, Carter.

The Music

In 2013, Carter recorded his first solo track and released it anonymously, nervous that his tender age of 19 and nationality would affect what listeners thought of his songs. Also worrying him, Carter’s songs were recorded in English, rather than the native tongue, Dutch. To his surprise, the track quickly became a hit in Suriname, topping the charts on three local radio stations. 

Carter continued to work on his music until an awesome opportunity came to him in 2016. His friend, Kenzo, was working on a short film and asked him to soundtrack the movie. Carter sent over a demo. Kenzo was so blown away by what he heard that he scrapped the whole movie and decided to make a Music Video instead. It was around this time, Carter met his musical partner, Pierre. The trio put their heads together on storyboarding the music video. What they came up with inspired Carter’s EP, “Tranga”, which has been captivating the Songtradr offices and music supervisors alike!

Photo by Raies Wolfram

The Placements

I was lucky enough to be the one to break the news to him about the huge Netflix sync, one of the great perks of this job!

 

Circulating that quote through the office brought a smile to everyone’s faces.

 

Carter is the first Surinamese musician to have his music synced to mainstream American television. The future looks impossibly bright for this rising young artist and we are so excited to have played a key role.

Despite being booked to the gills with interviews and press events in Suriname, Carter did have the time to send us a quick message:

“This is freaking legendary.” 

 

Listen to Carter here >