From The Stem · Author

Joshua Mollohan

Founder and Independent Recording Artist

Joshua Mollohan is the founder of From The Stem and of Mollohan Production Inc. (doing business as MPIArtist), and an independent recording artist working in country rock and Americana. He writes from the operator's seat: building and releasing a catalog through the major streaming platforms, and working through the royalty, publishing, and ownership decisions independent artists face in practice rather than in theory.

From The Stem exists because most of the advice aimed at independent artists is either oversimplified or written by people who have never had to run the numbers on a real release. Joshua's editorial approach is the opposite: grounded in primary sources, honest about what is unknown, and focused on durable frameworks that hold up after the trend cycle passes.

Areas of expertise

Independent music distribution, releasing into Spotify, Apple Music, and the wider streaming ecosystem without a label.
Spotify streaming strategy, including listener growth, save rate, source-of-stream mix, and editorial and algorithmic positioning.
Music royalties and publishing, how mechanical, performance, and streaming royalties flow and who collects them.
Record deal structures and recoupment, advances, recoupable costs, and the math an artist should run before signing.
Artist development, release cadence, catalog building, and audience retention over time.
Music catalog ownership, why owning masters and publishing matters for long-term independent careers.

Work and catalog

As an independent recording artist, Joshua has built a catalog of original country rock and Americana songs and released them through the major streaming and download platforms. His work as a writer, producer, and operator informs the analysis published on From The Stem, which draws on anonymized aggregate artist data, internal campaign observations, and publicly available industry documentation rather than secondhand summaries.

Editorial role

Joshua oversees the editorial direction of From The Stem and writes selected pieces where direct operator experience adds value, particularly on deal structure, royalties, and the practical mechanics of releasing and growing an independent catalog. Most reporting is published under the From The Stem Editorial voice; bylined pieces under his name are those where his firsthand work as an artist and operator is the point.

Find Joshua Mollohan

From The Stem is an editorial publication of Mollohan Production Inc. See also the full archive and our definitions.