Digital Social Hour
Why Authenticity Wins in Business & Social Media | James Maslow DSH #1334
Thu, 17 Apr 2025
Authenticity is your ultimate superpower in today’s business and social media world! 📈 Join Sean Kelly on this episode of the Digital Social Hour as he sits down with James Maslow for an unfiltered and inspiring conversation about why staying true to yourself wins—both online and offline. From navigating hard conversations to building a career rooted in values, this episode is packed with valuable insights you don’t want to miss. 💡 Discover how [Guest Name] balances an incredible career in music, acting, and business while staying authentic in a world that often rewards conformity. 🌟 Hear firsthand stories about overcoming challenges, the power of honest marketing, and why connecting with your audience matters more than ever. Plus, they dive into the evolving dynamics of social media, cancel culture, and creating meaningful content that truly resonates. 🎶 Whether you’re an artist, entrepreneur, or simply looking for inspiration, this episode will leave you feeling motivated to embrace your true self and take bold steps toward success. Don’t miss out—watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:27 - Catching up with James 04:58 - Airest 05:52 - Conversations with the Majority 07:31 - Billionaires' Insights on Conversations 11:22 - First Experience with Antisemitism 13:09 - Importance of Authenticity 16:52 - Staying Grounded in Early Fame 18:05 - Upcoming Projects 24:00 - Reasons for Stopping Partying 27:30 - Big Time Rush's Rock Bottom Moments 31:21 - Marketing's Role in Music Industry 32:35 - TikTok's Impact on Virality 33:54 - Solo Music Projects APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: James Maslow https://www.instagram.com/jamesmaslow/ SPONSORS: AIRES TECH: https://airestech.com/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ The views and opinions expressed by guests on Digital Social Hour are solely those of the individuals appearing on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the host, Sean Kelly, or the Digital Social Hour team. While we encourage open and honest conversations, Sean Kelly is not legally responsible for any statements, claims, or opinions made by guests during the show. Listeners are encouraged to form their own opinions and consult professionals for advice where appropriate. Content on this podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical, financial, or professional advice. #leadgeneration #smsmarketing #digitalmarketing #linkedinmarketing #marketingfunnel
Chapter 1: What insights does James Maslow share about authenticity?
Yeah, that's wild. And I have to take that information with a grain of salt. I do my best to try and see the other side of things. Or somebody pointed out, Fred, he was speaking with recently and they threw out there like, that is such a fraction of a fraction of the spend. So then I questioned, well, is this really doing enough? But you know what?
The fact that it is happening and it's starting, that's only in a few months time. I look at that and go, man, we've been wasting more than we were ever, you know, possibly told we could have ever understood. And if somebody is going after bureaucracy, I'm a fan of that. Yeah. And it looks like that's what's happening.
So I hope that more stuff gets uncovered and I hope that we get to save more and we start getting out of debt as a country. Absolutely. How could you not want that?
Absolutely. How long, how often are you on X? Cause there's a lot of wildness on that platform.
X is wild, man. I find that there's a lot more hate on X and TikTok, unfortunately, especially since I've been outspoken, you know, against terrorism. Again, something that I thought we all should be on board with this, right? Terrorists, terrorism, probably a bad thing.
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Chapter 2: How has fame affected James Maslow's perspective?
And apparently that's not the popular or common narrative, especially on TikTok and to some degree on X. So I look at it and go, hey, I value that you have the freedom to be an asshole on here, as do I. And I really do think that's important. But do I enjoy the experience as much? Not always. I didn't know TikTok was like, I knew X was like that because I see. Oh, I stopped.
I stopped posting content, even just regular content, community content, TikTok, because it completely squashes your engagement. They have hated on it so much. I mean, it's really a bummer. Like, it's sad for me to say that, that I don't post some of my most valuable and important and personal and meaningful content on such a large platform.
But I just don't bother anymore because they wouldn't show it to anybody. They actually canceled my account or whatever they call it.
um blacklisted my account for a little shadow band you know and it was absolute bullshit but it was directly tied to all of the content i was putting out on my experiences in israel and as a so that sucks i remember feeling shame growing up being asian like being people being racist towards me so i can relate a little bit but yeah towards the right now it's it's extreme for sure yeah there's been versions of it for the last what three or four thousand years i think but um
I try and come at this with a little bit of, of jest, you know, and try and, and it's, it's a very serious topic, but the reality is like, we have to find ways to look at it and not just be offended by everything and try and have an intelligent, passionate and respectful conversation.
And that I guess is if I have any frustrations over it, it's well, of course, racism towards Asians, towards, towards, towards, that's weird to say, towards Jews. is going to exist. And that's shitty, but that's just the reality of the world we live.
But the fact that we can't have a conversation about it anymore, whether it's politics or racism or just about anything these days, that is what drives me the most crazy, right? Because that's the only way that you're going to pop.
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Chapter 3: What challenges has James Maslow faced in his career?
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possibly start to understand start to see change you know come to a table and figure out solutions moving forward but if it's either you know if i'm right and you're wrong and this is the only way or and fuck you and there's no other way like that that's just that's my biggest frustration with all of that yeah yeah when i watch shows like pierce morgan it's almost like entertainment it's not even an intellectual conversation anymore
But a lot of them are forced to create content that is more entertaining than simply factual and intellectual because that's what most people want to watch, right? So how do you bridge that gap?
That's what I've tried to do specifically on the Israeli content that I've created, bring some levity to it, even make some of it into a bit of a comedy sketch, though it's a very important topic, to try and get more people to listen because the reality is on any topic, 90% of people, let's say 80% of people are going to be in the middle, right?
10% of people are going to totally agree with you 100%, got your back, you're right all the time, love you. 10% of people, the opposite, hate you, never going to like you, never going to listen, so why even try and change their mind? 80% of people kind of don't really even know you're talking about it or care or have much information or just even have an opinion. And so when speaking to those 80%,
Creating content that is going to get them engaged in the first place, whether it's through a hook that's comedy or something outlandish, that is a way to get people listening. And then maybe they're going to pay attention to whatever your message is. And that's the world we live in.
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Chapter 4: How does marketing influence the music industry?
Sometimes it's frustrating, but instead of just being mad at it and doing what I think I should do and what's right and having nobody pay attention, I'm trying to find a way to... Do stuff that does hook in the 80% that may just not know what's going on. Then feed them with a little bit of information. Try and be as unbiased as possible.
Chapter 5: What role does TikTok play in today's music landscape?
And sometimes it's received well, and sometimes it is certainly not.
You asked some billionaires for advice on this issue, right? It hits deep with you.
I did, man. Yeah. I was actually sitting at a dinner not too long ago with David Meltzer, who you know, and he's one of my good friends, extremely intelligent, hardworking, compassionate. He's a good human being as well, which I think is important.
Just making money doesn't really mean much to me, but being consistently successful and making money for a purpose beyond yourself to help other people. I think is commendable, and I look up to those people. And beyond him, he has introduced me to so many amazing circles. I don't know as many singers and actors that get to sit down at these dinners with literal billionaires.
And a huge part of the reason I'm invited is because of David Meltzer and the conversations we've had. And long story short, This was a little while ago. This was after October 7th.
I'd gone to Israel in November of 23 and just seen a lot that wasn't being reported and a lot of which debunked a lot of the narrative that was being put out there that would, you know, is very much these days clearly propaganda, but at the time was just a confusing narrative. And so a lot of people think still is.
And I'm sitting down going, man, even me just explaining my experience of going into Janine and seeing my friends in the West Bank and watching that 47-minute video, which I'm sure you've heard about, that I had to sign away and go to an IDF-based even watch because it's one of the most grotesque, gruesome videos that's ever existed.
It's Hamas GoPro footage and phone footage they took on October 7th that they posted celebrating the atrocities they committed. So this is... literally then telling us what they did. And then since then, I've said, oh no, we didn't do that or it never happened. Oh, and then the next day I say, yes, we did do that. We're proud of it. We're going to do it again.
So I can understand why it's confusing for people, but they did it. They celebrated it. They posted it. And Even just talking about that, I'm sure there are people that are going to comment that, you know, I'm a terrible person or somehow I am a baby killer. Although the fact that they beheaded 40 babies in Israel and they just flip it, they just make it the opposite.
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Chapter 6: How do billionaires approach conversations about business?
My girlfriend and I actually were there in Israel, just visiting about three years ago now. And we were on Gizendoff, which is like Sunset Boulevard in Tel Aviv, which is an amazing city. People go and drink and party. It's like first world, the coolest, one of the coolest places in the world.
And we were a block away when a Palestinian kid, 18, 19, adult, but I'm gonna say kid, came across from the West Bank Found a gun illegally, however he got it, and went and shot and killed a bunch of kids, 18, 19, similar thing. At a bar we were at the night before, and we were about a block away when it happened.
And that was actually my first experience with anti-Semitism, where when we got, we literally were jumping on bird scooters to go down to Jaffa, which is like 20 minutes away. Remember something strange happening with cop cars going by us, the police horses. I've never seen those things gallop, and they have them on the beach and such. Yeah, yeah. galloping by us.
And I remember thinking that's weird. And we finally get to where we're going to dinner, my girlfriend and I, and get ushered in, understand the situation that there was a terrorist attack. Hasn't happened in 10 years. It's like something happening in LA in Sunset Boulevard, you know, or right here on Broadway in Nashville. It was a huge deal. That's not commonplace in Tel Aviv for all places.
Chapter 7: What lessons has James Maslow learned from hard conversations?
And it had been so safe for so long. And I remember posting about that on Twitter at the time. I think it was pre-X. Or was it X? I think it was still Twitter three years ago.
Three years ago it was, yeah. Yeah.
And just going like, man, it's wild that the rest of the world hasn't spoken about this. It's like the next day and had been, you know, 24 hours or whatever. And I was like, dude, why isn't nobody talking about this? This is an ally of the United States. It's a first world country. There's tons of Americans here at the time. There's tons of people from all over the world.
Why are people not talking about it? And immediately the responses are, you should die. Go to hell. Because I'm saying anything at all. Yeah. So I digress. It's a long story to say I respect these billionaires. Their whole point was you stand up for what you believe in. you will piss some people off. You're never gonna make everybody happy anyways. That's impossible and you should stop trying.
But all the people that decide to unfollow you, to no longer like you, respect you, maybe hate you, the value of the people who come to the board and go, I'm actually aligned with you. I respect you. I love you. I'm gonna become a new fan. The value of that is 10X. And I've actually seen that happen. It was very scary at the beginning. I lost hundreds of thousands of followers across platform.
Oh yeah. But I've gained hundreds of thousands back. Now, we're still probably net down several hundred thousand, frankly. But that's okay. They were never really real fans anyways if they don't like me because of the way I was born. Fuck off. Truly.
Now, if you don't like me because of the things I'm saying, I'm far more okay with that so long as, again, you have a different opinion that's based on history or fact or experience and you want to talk about it. But if you just want to yell and scream at me, I also don't respect that and... I love the fucking fans that come to me now going to James.
My favorite ones are, Hey man, I don't fully agree with that, but I appreciate your perspective. This is mine. Still a fan. I love that even more than the ones that go like, thank you so much. I love, you know, because that to me is like such an intelligent, respectful way of saying, I respect you for, taking a stance for your position while I have a slightly different one, man, still a fan.
And I think that's a beautiful way to look at the world. Like let's still be fans of actors and musicians. We like the music. We just don't like the politics. Like that's totally fine.
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Chapter 8: How can authenticity lead to success in social media?
It's absurd, you know? And so it just, I got so many other good, good Huffsey quotes for you, but he really instilled a lot of discipline and a lot of reality into my life. He wasn't always nice about it, but I'm grateful, man. It's the hardest experiences in my life, much like the hardest conversation I have today that shaped who I am.
Yeah, he helped keep your ego in check, right? Oh, yeah. Because at that age, you know, 17, 18, and you're getting millions of views or whatever, all this.
It was before views, my friend. Getting old. Seeing some grays come out here.
Television shows. I guess. Well, that's when TV was at its peak, I feel like. Yeah. You know? Uh-huh. Yeah, it was there. I remember watching TV back in the day, but now I don't.
Yeah. I guess you're right. Views. Our views were not on social media. Our views were literally the network every Friday. We'd get the rating every Monday, whatever it was. How did the episode do when it aired? And it's like, man, you know, if you got, I remember something like if you got over 10 million people to watch an episode and maybe that's still the same today.
It's been a while since I've been in a Q rating meeting. But it was just phenomenal. And then you think about YouTubers these days, and it's like hundreds of millions, billions of views. MrBeast is out doing the Super Bowl now. Yeah. Wild. Insane. Good on him. One of the hardest working people, I think. I've yet to- Did you watch Beast Games? I've seen bits of it. I've seen bits of it.
That was a hell of a show, man. I mean, I saw the first episode or two, and I was just like, this is wild. I'd love to finish that up.
Yeah. I won't spoil it for you, but that was a good show. You got any shows coming up? television shows or movies?
Yeah. So, man, between, you know, because of how lucky we've been, how busy we've been on the road, it has made it a little difficult to be on set so much, but I'm good with that because I have plenty of time. I was able to work on Blue Ridge last year. Nice. Which is a series. The first season just came out. I'm on the second season, so that'll be a lot of fun.
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