Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Joiner.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m Steven Joiner, a U.S. military veteran from Tunica, Mississippi. I record as Maybach James, and I own my own label, Retromuzik Records — I hold 100% of my masters. Music has always been the way I tell my story. I could produce the records, write the lyrics, build the melodies, and hear every detail before it existed — the only problem was my own voice never felt like it fit the songs I was creating. I could hear the artist they were meant for, but that artist didn’t exist. So I created him. Maybach James is the voice my music had been waiting for: I write, compose, and produce every track, and the vocal is AI-generated through Suno — something I disclose on every submission.
I founded Retromuzik Records as a Mississippi LLC in December 2020 and built everything independently — no advances, no gatekeepers. In 2026 I released two full albums, DatPiff (12 tracks) and Live At The Copa Cabana (13 tracks), plus five singles, and crossed 500,000 streams as a fully independent artist. This fall I also published my first book, $0 and Receipts — How to Promote Your Music for Free, live now on Amazon, because I had to learn promotion with a $0 budget and I wanted other independent artists to have the playbook I never had.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road. Before I created Maybach James, I reached out to artist after artist hoping someone would hear what I heard in these songs. Most never replied. Some weren’t interested. After enough closed doors, I had two choices: let the songs disappear, or create the artist who could bring them to life.
The other struggle is doing the whole label job alone, with no publicist and a $0 promotion budget — radio outreach, blogs, playlists, and sync licensing, one pitch at a time. And because my vocals are AI-generated, I lead with honesty about that, even when it closes doors with outlets that only want traditional recordings. I’d rather be upfront and build something real than hide how the music is made.
What got me through was systems: free tools, a story I lead with every time, and treating every campaign like a startup run. That’s literally what $0 and Receipts documents.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a songwriter, composer, and producer recording as Maybach James, and the founder of Retromuzik Records in Tunica, Mississippi. I’m known for Southern, story-first hip-hop/R&B records I build end to end myself — writing, composing, and producing — with an AI-generated vocal (Suno) carrying the songs, disclosed openly everywhere.
My catalog includes the 2026 albums DatPiff and Live At The Copa Cabana and singles including “The Supa Freak,” “Lemon Peppa Steppa,” and “Back Of The Maybach.” “The Supa Freak” and “Lemon Peppa Steppa” earned my first confirmed FM spins, on KZSM 104.1 FM in San Marcos, Texas. “Lemon Peppa Steppa” and “MoonWalker” were shortlisted at the 2026 SIQA AI Music Awards — “Lemon Peppa Steppa” for Best AI Hip-Hop Song and Best AI-Assisted Song, and “MoonWalker” for Best AI Collab. “Back Of The Maybach” was just added to two Spotify playlists (“New Artists – Indie R&B” and “New Artists – Soul, R&B & Funk”) in October 2026.
What I’m most proud of is ownership: I own my label and 100% of my masters, and I reached 500,000 streams without paying for promotion. What sets me apart is that I do everything the label system does — promotion, radio, playlist pitching, sync — for free, and then I publish the exact playbook, most recently in $0 and Receipts, so other independent artists can copy it.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
DistroKid is the backbone of my releases — distribution, my Hyperfollow pages, and the stream data I plan every campaign around. Suno is the vocal tool that lets Maybach James exist. Spotify for Artists is where I watch what’s actually connecting with listeners. Beyond the tools, the biggest resource has been the process itself — I ended up writing it down as a book, $0 and Receipts — How to Promote Your Music for Free, so the lessons from every campaign stay in one place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/maybachjames/datpiff-dlc-edition
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/maybach_james
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/share/1DqjtHFYc6
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFHjDAzKsz36hsX1kN09aRA
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Cdnhsy22dnG9UMFkkuIXR
