We had the good fortune of connecting with Dustin Ballard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dustin, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Creative freedom is key. In corporate America, there tend to be so many layers of approvals that unique ideas quickly become mundane. When I post something to my social media channels, it’s coming straight from my brain to the people. Their reactions (and my own gut) are all that guide me, which is refreshing.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In a moment of musical boredom during the pandemic, I had the random idea to take a music video but replace the audio with my own purposefully bad music, keeping the lyrics to match the picture, but changing the genre. I called the new channel “There I Ruined It.”

My first experiment with this went viral, and I’ve been making these ever since, always exploring new techniques to “ruin” music such as genre swaps, absurd mashups, pitch un-correction, and most recently AI. For someone who previously spent very little time on social media, I never would have imagined having 8 million followers.

Because I prefer making music on a stage versus a computer, I’ve turned the project into a live 8-piece band playing the channel’s most viral hits around DFW. It’s been way too much fun!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There’s great live music in Dallas, despite being overshadowed by our cool little brother to the south. Venues like the Kessler Theater, the Longhorn Ballroom, Deep Ellum Art Co and hidden gems like Reveler’s Hall and Lee Harvey’s regularly bring in great music – local and national.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I couldn’t do any of this without the patience of my wife, who allows me to disappear into my music room the moment the kids are tucked into bed.

Website: https://there-i-ruined-it.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/there_i_ruined_it/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thereiruinedit

Image Credits
Jessica Waffles

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