Interview with Cannabis/Music Industry Mover Scott Mckinley

BlazingWashington.com attended its first Hi-Tunes event in early 2018 in Tacoma at a joint release party. Since that time, BW has attended several epic Scott Mckinley produced events from Tacoma to Arlington, and one all the way to the recent legal medical cannabis state of Oklahoma.

Thanks for joining us Scott, tell us exactly who Scott Mckinley is and how you are connected to the cannabis industry:

I’m the former Owner of Caviar Gold Washington and founder of the Seattle company Hi-Tunes Distribution and Hi-Tunes Interactive not to be confused with the copycat company Hi-Tune Distribution in Oklahoma.  I also have founded the companies Seattle Music TV, Seattle Music Photography, and managing partner of Level 5 Interactive and the new show we are working on The Dab Roast.

When and how did your relationship with cannabis industry first develop?

I was a career Verizon Wireless employee. Smoked occasionally but when I hit that glass ceiling, I bought a professional camera and became a photographer. That led me to becoming a band manager. That led me to teaming up with Caviar Gold to create Cavigold Records. Music became too expensive so to continue I was told I would have to quit the day job and license Caviar Gold for Washington. I started Gold Services which held the Caviar Gold license through medical and recreation until we ultimately made the switch to Hi-Tunes.

Your music/cannabis crossover is incredibly strong. BlazingWashington.com dabbles in both spaces, but on the music side BW is still a total noob, any advice for the rookie music event promoter?

Do more than social media.  Advertise with TV.  Make radio ads.  If you want to have fun, don’t worry about all that. If you need to make money, you need to spend money.

 

I’m incredibly excited about my home state of Illinois becoming legal in 2020. How did it feel when your home state of Oklahoma made the move to become medically legal?

Almost all of my friends back home are now employed in some way in the industry.  They are still very much unregulated and in the wild West stages in that state but to change the mentality of the public and normalize cannabis I think that stage is needed and an important part of the process. I’m excited to see them take the next step in implementing seed to sale.  

You created an app with the legendary hip-hop artist Redman. What is the app all about?

Our new big push is with the interactive technology augmented reality.  With Redman’s app in specific it starts your camera on your phone and when it sees Redman’s logo in any form on anything like hats, shirts, album covers, pins, stickers,  just about anything, you will see holograms spin off and a video screen appear and start playing his latest music video.  A few new buttons have been added for some additional interactive features on the update.  Redman gets a YouTube hit every single time someone looks at his logo. 

I’ve attended so many amazing events connected to Hi-Tunes, including the OTD joint release, the Tacoma Sky Creative event, The Dab Roast launch, MJ Martin’s Strange Music Birthday and I’m completely pumped for the upcoming Michael Winslow guest appearance at your birthday bash. It feels like the stakes keep raising with your work, does it get rough topping what you do, or are you just getting started?

I have had events where I gave 3 cars away.  Really, I gave the gift of giving because when you won you had to get on stage and give the car away in front of everyone.  I’ve had Snoop out as a DJ and of course Redman out as a DJ as well.  It is hard to top some of those events.  But I will always try. I love hosting people. 

The Dab Roast event held at the Hi-Tunes warehouse launched your studio to the both the cannabis and music industries. Can you tell us about this space and what services you offer for creatives and businesses?

At the Level 5 Interactive warehouse we have built a space open to all creatives.  If you want to make something.  Hit me up.  Money isn’t important as creation. Let’s go.

 

You are a seasoned member of Hempfest and have seen it all. With all the obstacles and impediments Hempfest faces how can someone from the outside help this iconic?

I joined the core team in 2017.  Hempfest needs people and always money.  Hempfest is an expensive event.

I wish you the best of luck for the rest of 2019 and looking forward to working with both Hi-Tunes and yourself in the near future. A big thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge. The amount of questions I have about your amazing success and experiences are unlimited. Looking forward to a follow-up interview in a 2020 edition of The Blazing Times!

Thank you BW!