Meet Jukebox Productions

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jukebox Productions a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jukebox, so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?

Anwar: Well for me I find the more stressed I am, the harder it is to be creative. So I try to do things that reduce stress. I go for long walks to clear my head and that helps me with inspiration as well. From the surroundings to the people I see, I find inspiration all around.

Jon: When I feel pressure to be creative, it often blocks my creativity. In those moments, I focus on simple, non-creative tasks like editing work or organizing sessions—color-coding tracks, marking arrangements, things like that. Once I get lost in that process, inspiration tends to flow naturally, and creativity follows.

Luke: Exactly, me too. The issue is always sitting down and getting started. And if your first thing of the day is your most exciting and important creative project, that pressure can make it scary to start. So you just gotta fill the top of your to-do list with an email to respond to or something else that makes it easy to sit down. It gives you a couple of easy checks on the list to start the day. A couple accomplishments to make you feel more confident going into the “real” work.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Jon: Jukebox is a music production team that helps artists bring their vision to life, guiding them from the songwriting process all the way to a release-ready track. What makes us special is the chemistry between the three of us—it’s infectious and creates a great energy for the artists we work with. We also have a streamlined process that emphasizes clear communication and accessibility, making collaboration smooth and effective.

Luke: We are everyone you usually work with to make a song joined together into a single unit. We had so many bad experiences with just how disconnected everyone usually is in the process. A songwriter never getting to speak to the people who make the song they wrote. A mixer being sent a folder full of files made by a producer who is done and moved on. And if it was that difficult for us how hard must it be for the independent artists having to manage all these separate freelancers they hired?

So we thought…let’s not just be frequent collaborators, what if we promise this well-oiled machine to every artist? From the first voice note in your phone to a finished song on Spotify we will support and guide you, and support each other too, so we’re all able to focus on being creative and making the best music we can.

Anwar: I think what makes it special is that you have someone at each stage of creating a song who gets it on such a level that makes it less about the task, and more about the song. We work in harmony. Not to mention, these guys are rare talents in my opinion. Jon is a gifted multi-instrumentalist with a passion for producing and composing, while Luke is a musician and sound engineer with an exceptional ear and keen attention to detail and quality. Add that to the fact that they are both such great people as well, it’s a great place to be as a songwriter.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Anwar: One important skill is identifying your strengths as a creative. Be very honest with yourself. Even when it hurts your ego a little bit. Not only do you become even better at it, you would have also identified what you’re not as strong at.
If you’re naturally good at something it’s easy to get comfortable. So you have to push and challenge yourself.

Luke: A skill I’ve noticed is huge in creative work…I’d call it maybe inspiration management. As creatives we’re hit with inspiration from all over, new ideas all the time, we want to do so many things. When you don’t have a lot of projects on the go I’ve seen a tendency to want to use all that inspiration and fit all those new ideas into the one thing you’re making right now. That one song has all this pressure to creatively fulfill you completely and fully represent your artistry at that time and one song can’t really do that. It results in projects constantly changing directions, never getting finished.

This gets easier to deal with when you have a lot of different projects on the go but the skill you can develop to get you through the harder times is being able to recognize what inspiration is relevant for the current project and what isn’t. And then being able to store the irrelevant ideas in the back of your mind waiting for a future project when you can finally use them.

Jon: The most important skill is communication, especially in a collaborative setting. I’ve found the most success when I can let go of ego and stay open to all ideas. For me, it’s an ongoing process—I constantly check myself to ensure ego doesn’t get in the way. Beyond that, refining your technical skills and mastering your craft is crucial. It’s all about consistent growth and acquiring a reverence for your craft.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Luke: Our entire business is about looking for collaborators. It’s how we find work, it’s how we found each other! So we’re always looking for people who are just as passionate as we are and we’re never narrow minded about what a relationship can be. An artist that hires us to make their music could also write with us on someone else’s song AND we could hire them to sing on one of ours. That person is a client, a colleague and a hire all in one so really it’s just a mutual artistic relationship. That’s what we’re always looking for.

Anwar: Yeah of course. Jukebox itself is a fairly new endeavour; but we are not new at this. In the short time we’ve been at it we’ve worked with some amazing emerging artists in the city, plus some things we can’t discuss just yet. So we are excited to collaborate with others as we continue to build our name and spread our sound.

Jon: We’re always looking for like-minded, creative artists who share our vision of making unique and emotionally impactful music. Collaboration helps us grow, especially when we work with artists who have strong, clear visions for their art.

The best way for people to connect with us is through our Instagram @play.the.jukebox or our website playthejukebox.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.playthejukebox.com
• Instagram: @play.the.jukebox
• Other: Artist name Jukebox on all music streaming platforms.