Please introduce yourself and share a bit about your background.

My name is Tony Cupolo. Professionally, I've worked as an electrical engineer for 35 years in electronic product design, manufacturing, and engineering management. I was born in West Virginia but lived in Florida from middle school through high school.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

After high school, I attended Georgia Tech, which led me to live in Atlanta until this year! My wife and I are now empty nesters, so we decided to finally pull up roots and make our home out west in Salt Lake City, where skiing is just part of the everyday landscape. As southerners, we originally got into skiing for vacations, which turned into a family tradition.

What's your musical origin story?

My mom made me and my sisters take classical piano lessons in grade school for 3 years. While I can't say that I enjoyed it, it definitely gave me my musical foundation. I also played trumpet in the elementary school band. Later in middle school, I picked up the guitar by my own choice, as classic rock music filled the air in Florida at that time. By high school, I had several friends who also played guitar, and we got together and jammed. This activity finally made music fun. I continued through college where I played in a fraternity band and later did some local gigging.

What were the driving forces or pivotal moments that inspired you to pursue music?

I had really given it up as my career and family life took center stage. But the pivotal moment was in the summer of 2023 when an old high school friend reached out and dragged me back into making music. He wouldn't take no for an answer! Just a year later, I had released my first record (R2024A as "Radio Tony") at 57 years old. If anyone would have told me this would happen, I would have told them they're crazy.

How would you describe your style of music?

I describe it primarily as "new music in the 80's rock and 90's pop" styles. But as an indie artist, I allow myself to indulge in whatever I find interesting for some spice, including genres like reggae and Vince Guaraldi.

How is your personality reflected in your work?

I write 80% or more of the lyrics, and I like the use of irony. Stylistically, the musical genres I work in are the genres I actually listen to. Even the sound and tone of each track reflects my personal preferences. In general, the music I choose to make represents my choices, which are a product of my personality.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

Most of the songs with lyrics are inspired by conversations I have with my wife. She'll say something to me in a certain way and I'll think, "I've gotta write a song about that". My selection rule here is "if I can't speak it, then I'll sing it". Instrumentals are often inspired by 20 to 30 second segments of a song that I really like, without liking the entire song. I'll think to myself, "I wonder how a whole song would sound just based on that 20 second part?" I'll take just that part and leave the rest to the original artist. At this point, all songwriters know there are only so many chord progressions and bass lines that really pop. We have to share them. They're puzzle pieces. That's true even for melodies, but the number of unique melodies is much greater.

What is the name of your latest releases?

It's called R2024B, and is going to be an EP with about 6 songs. However, I'm going to include multiple takes on most of the songs so the actual number of tracks will be greater.

What was the inspiration for that release?

My whole angle is the use of AI for producing music. It's what hooked me into getting back to making music. Generative AI is moving at a pace most people wouldn't believe. I want to keep up with that so I plan to put out new music every 6 months as a way of chronicling how the AI tech evolves. I already have 2 of the tracks done for R2024B and they have much better sound quality and are richer compositionally than any of the R2024A tracks. I want to showcase the tech to people as a way of helping them relate to it. It's nothing to be scared of, and in my opinion, it's going to enrich all of our lives.

What challenges or unexpected moments did you encounter during the writing/recording process?

Mastering is still required and it's something I had to learn about. Fortunately, I have a friend who's been making music the old school way since the 80s and he listened to my original masters and gave me a bunch of great advice for upgrading the tracks before I released them. AI does not "do it all" at the click of a button yet.

What strategies do you find most effective for promoting your music?

I'm still learning here but so far submitting to Spotify playlists has been the most successful approach I've tried. On the platform side, I think Bandcamp and SoundCloud have audiences hungry for new music. So just getting your music uploaded to those sites is a good thing to do.

How can folks contact you?

You can find me at:

• Bandcamp (my artist home page)
• YouTube
• TikTok: @Radio_Tony

What upcoming promotional activities or releases are you most excited about?

Being featured in GetMusic Artist Spotlight! I'm also excited about the R2024B release. I'm planning to release it only on Bandcamp and make all the songs free.

Is there anything else of interest that we should have asked about?

Clearly I'm an advocate for AI-generated music. I also understand there's a lot of hate towards it and people like me who are using it. I'm willing and able to advocate for AI-generated music. There's at least two sides to every story and people need to hear both before making up their own minds about it.