We had the pleasure of catching up with the talented Lily Amis, whose latest album "Legacy4Humanity" signs an important new chapter in her music career.
With a diverse range of genres and powerful messages woven into her music, enriched with the collaboration with talented artist Thir13een, Lily’s songs resonate deeply with listeners around the world. In addition to discussing her latest releases and the inspiration behind her music, Lily also sheds light on her advocacy for indie artists through her #RespectIndieArtistsWork petition.
Join us as we dive into Lily’s musical journey, her passion for creating meaningful art, and her mission to empower independent musicians everywhere.
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Hello Lily, and thank you for taking the time for this interview! I would like to start by saying congratulations on the release of your latest album, “Legacy4Humanity”! Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the album and what listeners can expect from it?
Thank you so much for having me and thank you, the release means a lot. It’s been a while since we had a chat. So much has happened since my last interview about my song release “The Stolen Years” back in summer 2022.
“Legacy4Humanity” is a collection of 13 songs written and sung from the heart. Never in a million years, did I think that I would one day have an entire album with my song lyrics. It all started with my heartbreaking song“80 Million People”. In spring 2022, I was raising awareness about the plight of refugees worldwide and using my voice for better rights regarding education and integration with my online petition #HumantiyB4Nationality.
In the recent two years, I used the power of lyrics and the miracle of music with the angelic voice of my feat. artist Thri13een aka Warren Young to spread awareness about delicate topics such as racism and discrimination with my rap track “Blood is always Red” or hunger and homelessness with the soulful track “Tasteless Breakfast” and for people living with disability with my “My Vision”.
People can expect 13 great tracks about social issues with meaningful and inspiring lyrics, beautiful melodies, uplifting beats, and an angelic voice.
Your album features a diverse range of genres, including Soul, R&B, Pop, and Rap. How did you approach blending these different styles together, and what message were you aiming to convey through your music?
Yes, it does. I am blessed and privileged to collaborate with an exceptionally, insanely talented producer, singer-songwriter, and vocalist who is not only able to produce but also to sing all kinds of genres. He is like an octopus and my angel of music. Together we are the voice for the voiceless and as you correctly say each track has a message.
“80 Million People” set the tone for our partnership, grounded in deep empathy and a desire to make a difference through music and lyrics. Now, two years later, I have an entire album which I’m very proud of. Every single track is precious like a baby. The album is a treasure filled with love, emotion, and devotion. As the album name says it is my legacy for humanity.
Your recent singles “Ping Pong & Puzzle,” “HomeTown,” and “Bowling” are three great tracks that show your artistic maturity and creativity. Can you share the story behind these songs and what they mean to you personally?
Honestly, I’m obsessed with “Ping Pong & Puzzle”. It has become my daily booster track. Whenever I feel down, depressed, upset, or angry I listen to this uplifting pop song and it reminds me that NO ONE and NOTHING is worth the pain and sorrow. We have to let go of toxic people and painful memories and appreciate the ones who have let us down and made us stronger.
As I say in the lyrics, “Those who are meant to be in your life stay in your life”. This song is primarily dedicated to my selfish and thoughtless father (and all the selfish, irresponsible, and heartless husbands and fathers out there). He left us when I was only five years old not to be seen ever again. It is also dedicated to family members, relatives, and “friends” to whom we are forgotten before we are even gone.
“HomeTown” is the most personal song next to “The Stolen Years”, “The Three of Us” and “SIMA”. Every line speaks for itself. For the first time, I also used the German language because I feel that many people, especially those living in the German part of Europe feel my deep desire for a HomeTown.
As I say in the lyrics “See myself living in a magical Hallmark movie, all year round in a magical town, a magical place, where neighbors don’t live past each other but together looking after one another, like in a heartwarming fairytale where traditions still matter!”
Only the foreigners who live in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland understand what I mean. When you visit these countries as a tourist they are gorgeous but living with narrow-minded people who belittle and discriminate against refugees and foreigners – like slaves were terribly treated in the past – is emotionally exhausting. I think Germany and Austria’s dark history and inhumanity speak for themselves. I don’t have to say more. It is heartbreaking to say, that not much has changed in almost eighty years. People are still suffering and struggling to survive the inhumanity and injustice in today’s society. As I always say, once a refugee, always a refugee. Once a foreigner, always a foreigner!
“Bowling” is the follow-up track to “YoYo& Chess” and “Ping Pong & Puzzle”. By the way, I don’t play any of these games! LOL, but games are a good example of how people toy with people. The Bowling ball symbolizes the bombs in war that destroy countries and kill people. The ten pins standing and looking at the bowling ball rolling towards them symbolize our incapable world leaders who wait, watch, and don’t stop the bloody wars and madness because they are making a fortune!
The track is not only an anti-war but also an anti-mainstream media song. We are brainwashed with lies and nonsense, the so-called “Breaking News” daily. And we must protect our peace of mind now more than ever. I’m happy that I was able to include my grandfather’s wise words in the lyrics as I have quoted my grandmother’s great advice in “Ping Pong & Puzzle” to fight depression and heartbreak.
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I understand there’s a bonus track on the album called “Secret Angels,” which you plan to release as a single later this year on Bandcamp. What can you tell us about this track and why you chose to include it as a bonus?
Yes, there is. I wasn’t planning on releasing a bonus track. After a while, it was clear to me that if I was gone continue my collaboration with Thir13een aka Warren Young, I had to release an album with 13 tracks. Why 13? Not only because of my feat. artist’s name is Thir13een, but because 13 is my lucky number. In my country’s calendar, I was born on the 13th and the year of my birth starts with 13.
The bonus track “Secret Angels” is inspired simply by Kindness. Nine hardworking humans, working in a little grocery shop around the corner that we visit weekly for twenty years. The staff is always very friendly, polite, kind and welcoming.
This beautiful track is a reminder that we all have helpful angels around us daily, but they never get any recognition or acknowledgment for their hard and usually underpaid jobs. People working in retail, public working sectors &Co shouldn’t be taken for granted.
“Secret Angels” is dedicated to all the daily heroes near and far who take care of our well-being and daily needs, without us knowing them and them knowing us personally.
My mum and I will reward Secret Angels around us with a personalized Lily4Humanity Award & Certificate starting this summer with the nine Secret Angels/the grocery shop staff around the corner, who have inspired me to write the lyrics.
Alongside your music, you’ve also launched an online petition called #RespectIndieArtistsWork. Can you tell us more about it and the goals you hope to achieve with it?
Raising awareness and changing the corrupt distribution system is my main goal with this petition on gopetition.com. It’s kind of ironic, my journey as an indie-lyricist started with an online petition #HumanityB4Nationality for better rights for refugees.
Now, two years later I’m promoting my album Legacy4Humanity at the same time as a new online petition. Trust me, this wasn’t planned and I wish I didn’t have to go through this awful and unlawful experience.
The previous two months were a wake-up call and eye-opening. Everything in life happens for a reason though and I don’t want any other indie artist to have the same nasty experience.
Only three days before my 12th track “HomeTown” was released my former distributor amuse.io, a Swedish company based in Stockholm closed my artist account, denied access to my 13 tracks, and kept my royalties. Monthly payments for two years that I was collecting to donate to two charities: The Christoffel Blind Mission (in Switzerland) and Smile Train (in the UK) are gone!
They ignored my emails and left me in the dark for more than an entire month. I had no clue what happened and why. To this date, I still don’t know why they had the audacity to treat me like a criminal. I explain everything on the petition page.
I’m still speechless about the disrespectful treatment. So I went to the Swiss Police to report the Swedish distributor and fight for the charity’s donation. Unfortunately, they told me, that the process is not promising at all considering the high number of cyber crimes the Police have to fight daily. The best solution would be to travel to Stockholm and file a police report in the country at a Swedish police station.
And that’s when and why I decided to raise my voice and fight this corrupt system as it is right now. In my last petition, I used my voice for the voiceless refugees. This time my goal is to raise my voice for ALL the incredible hardworking indie artists who put their heart and soul, love, time, energy, money, and hope into their passion.
I chose the name “Respect Indie-Artists Work” and not “Respect Indie Artists Music”, because people forget how much work is behind every music release. Artists without a label, management, PR, and legal team, have to do everything along the media and social media promotion and gigs.
It is a full-time job with no payment in return! Even cleaners make more income an hour than artists do! I would go so far, and even say factory employees working in the most horrific and inhuman working conditions in India and Turkey make more money than indie artists do. This is the harsh reality!
Today a petition supporter who is a well-established music producer with a high number of followers and streaming throughout all platforms, wrote me these lines, which touched my heart. “I understand that I never will get back the time and money I spend on music, in return you have almost nothing, but I love to make music, you can compare it with bringing water to the open sea in other words who cares.”
This statement sums it all! Indie-Artists don’t do music for fame and fortune, but because they love what they do. So the least indie artists can expect from “partners” such as distributors and music stores is RESPECT and everything else that I demand in my online petition.
How do you believe the music industry can better support and uplift independent artists like yourself, especially in terms of transparency and fair treatment?
Honestly, the way the industry is treating indie artists right now; is everything but uplifting and supportive. It’s the exact opposite. It is disgraceful. I’m shocked, disgusted, and disappointed to witness how disrespectful, unfair, and unkind the distribution companies and music stores discriminate and communicate with indie artists.
In my personal opinion, the whole streaming concept is wrong. As an indie-Artist, you only get paid across all platforms, when a stream is played for at least 30 seconds and the royalty rate for streaming is about 6 cents per 100 streams. You make the calculation! This is ridiculous. People pay for fast food, cigarettes, and alcohol. Why shouldn’t music lovers pay for music, a product that is not poisoning but healing their mind, body, and soul?
Indie artists invest time and money in production and promotion; it takes decades until/if they ever see any profit at all! So the least we can expect from so-called “partners” is RESPECT! Be a team player and don’t insult, accuse, and discriminate indie-Artists, just because they don’t have a label or management. Indie artists should be treated as professional and respectful as signed artists.
The way I see it, the streaming system is as corrupt as the Post Office scandal in the United Kingdom. Only this is a national scandal. The corruption in the music industry and the awful treatment of indie artists is a global scandal! Nothing about it is fair and transparent.
The three major labels in today’s industry Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, 35+ distributors worldwide, and 8+ music stores such as Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Amazon, etc. are dominating the music/streaming industry. According to my research to this date, there is NO Organization to hold accountable when indie artists are treated like a criminal, while ANYONE out there can add music to playlists that might be AI-generated without the artist’s knowledge!
The moment when indie artists release a track through one of these many distributors, the artist/THE copyright holder trusts its baby blindly and in good faith into “fortune hunters” hands not having any control, say, and transparency at all!
So tell me in what world is it allowed to treat innocent indie-Artists like criminals? In what world is it OK to punish, insult, and humiliate indie artists with false accusations and get away with it? And above all, have the audacity to keep the artist’s royalties? In my case to steal money that was meant to be donated to the Christoffel Blind Mission and Smile Train for life-changing surgeries!
But as I say in my song lyrics in Bowling: “Mighty hungry fortune hunters, Breaking News: Surprise, surprise, No one lives forever, No money in this world is gone last forever, Filling your bank accounts with filthy money only creates misery for your soul destiny!”
The music industry is becoming every day a harder territory for independent artists. What advice would you give to those young artists making the first steps into this world?
This is a hard question to answer as the system is right now. If you are a fame and fortune hunter, stay away! Because you neither get the fame (that you deserve) nor the fortune (that you deserve)!
But if you are writing and producing music with other goals like me whose main goal is to raise and spread awareness about social issues, or you simply want to entertain music lovers, nothing is holding you back.
Be careful though with the platform you choose and don’t fall for celebrity names as references like I did with amuse.io. I only and mainly chose this company because of the American artist Will. I.Am who I respect and think is trustworthy. This was a huge mistake.
Today I would only choose a distributor to release my music on social media (Instagram, TikTok, etc.) and a site like Bandcamp or SoundCloud to upload my tracks and have full control over the price, takedowns, and any other changes as I wish when I wish, like cover change, new audio file, etc. I have full control and no one else! This way no one can insult me and hold my babies as hostage!
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Despite the challenges, what keeps you motivated and inspired to continue creating music as an independent artist?
My main goal as an indie lyricist from the start was never fame and fortune. I began my journey as an indie writer ten years ago and my journey as an indie-lyricist two years ago. If money was my main and only motivation, I should have stopped after my first book and song release.
Therefore this corrupt streaming system as it is right now won’t stop me from continuing my journey. It also won’t take away my joy in writing, illustrating, and publishing books and my love for songwriting and releasing songs. Music is healing and the best medicine for the soul. I’m now more motivated than ever to use my voice/lyrics! The voice is Thir13een! I leave it to the pro! LOL.
Your album “Legacy4Humanity” is now available on Bandcamp. What significance does this platform hold for you as an artist, and how do you feel it empowers independent musicians?
When I had no access to my tracks for over a month and no say in taking them down from all the music stores, I realized how naïve, clueless, and helpless we are as indie-Artists and it wasn’t a good feeling. It’s like giving away your baby to a babysitter and they treat your precious child as they wish and keep your baby hostage! This is criminal and should have consequences!
Thankfully a music journalist who was writing an article about “HomeTown” advised me to upload my tracks on Bancamp.com until the mess caused by Amuse.io was solved, which I immediately did. And to be honest, I’m seriously considering taking down all my tracks from streaming platforms and only making them available on Bandcamp. This is also a reason, why I’m not releasing “Secret Angels” yet!
The best thing about Bandcamp is having FULL CONTROL and SAY over my work!
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Can you share any memorable moments or experiences you’ve had while working on the album, whether in the studio or during the creative process?
Awww, every song production is like giving birth to a new baby and is a memorable moment, especially when I hear the finished song for the first time. It is exciting and magical. Warren Young never fails to impress me with his God-given gift. Like a magician, he turns my lyrics into a masterpiece, every time!
The writing process for every song was different. Some of the tracks took me longer than others. I still remember how I cried tears of joy when I heard “The Stolen Years” with my voice on it. A childhood dream came true.
“HomeTown” was written in one morning and recorded within days. Warren sang my lyrics completely differently than all other songs. You feel my pain and deep desire in his voice which brought me to tears as well.
But he also made me emotional and teary when he sang my grandmother and grandfather’s quotes in “Ping Pong & Puzzle” and “Bowling”. I wish they would be still with us and could listen to Warren’s angelic performance and dance with us.
Other songs make me dance in my living room and kitchen with my mum Sima. We dance to SIMA, the Miracle of Music, YoYo & Chess, Ping Pong & Puzzle, and Bowling. These are my favorite memorable moments. The joy that the songs bring into our home is precious and priceless. The little girl in me who cherishes music from a young age is beyond thrilled, excited, and grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with a shining star like Thir13een.
As an artist who values authenticity and creativity, do you think the advent of AI in music will damage creatives and traditional musicians?
Definitely! AI is destroying many creative fields not only the music industry. Also, people have started using AI as an excuse for everything that goes wrong like they now do with fake streaming generated by AI (BOTS).
When you can’t have a real person supporting your needs, answering and solving your problems on different platforms you know that you are in big trouble. This new technology is the beginning of a nightmare and is the end of humanity!
What are your plans for the future?
Right now, I’m working on a new book project. The life story of the founder of the Christoffel.
Blind Mission has inspired me to write a book about living a legacy like he has. Mister Ernst Christoffel faced many difficulties and obstacles in his life, but he always knew and felt that he had a mission and continued his journey during World War II and became the father of the Blind, Deaf-Mute, and Orphans after more than 50 years of missionary work.
Today the charity in his name is located in several countries and they are doing life-changing surgeries. This shows that we all can make a difference in people’s lives and that fame and fortune should never be the motivation but humanity!
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Lily, it was such a pleasure having you with us today. Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers and your fans?
It was a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you for giving me the chance to promote my music and use my voice for the indie-artist community with my online petition!
I would like to thank everyone who is listening to my tracks. If you enjoy meaningful lyrics, professional production, and an angelic voice, please download the “Legacy4Humanity album” and help me collect donations for the Lily4Humanity charities that I support. Thank you so much.
Fellow artists and indie music lovers fight for your rights. Demanding Respect for your hard work is the least we can expect from distributors and music stores.
Please sign and share the petition #RespectIndieArtistsWork at gopetiton.com Let’s support each other. Together we are stronger than this corrupt system! Your voice matters now more than ever!
Check the links below And discover more about Lily Amis and her music!
Official Website: www.lilyamis.com
Bandcamp: Lily Amis
Petition: #RespectIndieArtistsWork
Blog: LilyAmis.blogspot.com
Twitter – X: nassimadesign
Instagram: LilyAmisMusic
