Oliver Anthony Is Showing How Hard It Is To Stay Authentic

Oliver Anthony is actually making it look easy, but the industry is coming at him from all sides. He has struggling musicians and fans scratching their heads, wondering about some of the decisions he’s made.

He wrote “Rich Men North of Richmond” and then set up a camera to record himself performing it in his backyard. He uploaded it to his Oliver Anthony Music YouTube channel and the rest is history. That song blew up and now has over 70 million views on the RadioWV channel, plus there are other videos of the song across YouTube getting millions of views each.

He was offered an $8 million deal and turned it down. That’s a decision that many artists would kill for, but he flat-out rejected it and went on churning out more songs that also started to rise to the top of the charts. Recently, it appears that he was offered music equipment but also turned that down because he wanted to stick with the equipment that he uses. It’s a story I can’t verify, but I can imagine it happens to him every day.

He’s a phenomenon, and everyone wants to be a part of it. A company that sells music equipment would benefit from the exposure they would get just from giving him equipment. They would be able to say that he uses it, and that would definitely bump up their sales.

But being authentic means saying “No” sometimes. He doesn’t use their equipment, and he’s not going to promote it just because he’s being offered free stuff. That’s what it means to stay authentic.

Turning down $8 million is a tough decision. But it depends on the contract. Did they want to own him? Did they want to change him? Would they have tried to take over what he built himself and turn it into something else?

While struggling musicians would have jumped on the offer without asking questions, he had his brand and name to protect. He didn’t need them. His fame is all because of his own work and actions. It’s nothing someone can come along and claim simply because they signed him.

It’s a tough industry, and rumor has it that he has finally signed a deal. Deadline is claiming that he has signed with UTA, United Talent Agency. That’s one of the biggest musician talent agencies that exists, and that’s good for him because they know what they’re doing. I do believe they are all about protecting a musician’s brand.

While struggling artists are scratching their heads watching him rise and wondering what they’re going to have to do to turn their luck around, Oliver Anthony is making all the right moves. One thing you can count on is what he’s shown you so far and that is that he’s always going to stay his authentic self.