The Freelance Economy’s Biggest Problem as a Musician Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Ep. 611

Is the gig economy really built to support musicians and freelancers, or is it setting them up to fail? In this episode of Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle Podcast, Bobby talks with Ben Ikwaugwu, CEO of SoundCheck Live, about why the freelance economy is growing faster than the tools designed to support it. Drawing from his background as a professional vocalist and supply chain professional, Ben explains why fragmented communication, lack of systems, and one time execution pressure make it harder than ever for musicians and gig operators to run a sustainable business. Ben also shares how SoundCheck Live is being built as an operating system for the gig economy, and why understanding people, workflows, and relationships matters more than technology alone. KEY TAKEAWAYS • “Companies are operating more and more with freelancers, but they want to act like they’re enterprises.” • “The number one pain that we’re eliminating right now is the fragmentation of managing gigs and freelancers.” • “You don’t get a performance review in the gig economy. You have one time maybe to just screw it up.” • “Musicians turned business owners are some of the best negotiators, but some of the worst at building systems.” • “We’re building an operating system for on demand teams.” • “You have to be really good at your job to keep getting jobs.” • “More than half of the US economy will be freelance.” • “We don’t have infrastructure built for people who don’t operate nine to five.” • “The world is built on relationships and how you treat people.” Chapters: 00:00:00 - Coming up... 00:01:14 - Meet Ben Ikwaugwu and the gig economy problem 00:03:21 - Learning systems through supply chain 00:05:08 - The idea behind SoundCheck Live 00:07:37 - Fragmentation in gig management 00:11:50 - Why the gig economy gives you one shot 00:16:10 - Education, AI, and building your own tools 00:21:14 - Leadership lessons from supply chain 00:26:19 - Building teams and company culture 00:29:00 - Advice on balance and staying grounded Ad link: Explore The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook (6th Edition) , the go-to guide for modern mixing. Thank you for tuning in to Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle, the podcast that takes you deep inside the music industry. Each week, Bobby shares insights, news, analysis, and conversations with the movers and shakers shaping today’s music world. 📌 Explore Bobby’s best-selling books 🎙️ Nail that pro vocal sound: clear, upfront, and mix-ready. Learn how in Bobby’s Vocal Mixing Mini-Course 🎧 Discover more mixing and production courses 📲 Follow Bobby for more tips, insights, and updates: Facebook LinkedIn Instagram Bluesky 🎙️ New episodes release every Tuesday at 9AM Pacific on YouTube and your favorite podcast app. Music. Business. Creativity. Straight from the Inner Circle. Produced by APodcastGeek

You can listen to The Freelance Economy’s Biggest Problem as a Musician Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Ep. 611 online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Freelance Economy’s Biggest Problem as a Musician Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Ep. 611 is an episode from Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast by Bobby Owsinski.

This episode is 31:55 long.

This episode was published on Feb 10, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.