Paqx Interview: Meet the New Orleans Artist and SonicCritic Founder Building Fairer Sonic Ground from the Back Room –

Paqx comes to A&R Factory as an artist shaped by New Orleans in all its legacy, pressure, resilience and brutal economics. Across this interview, the independent artist, producer and SonicCritic founder opened up about spending six years performing and recording in one of America’s most musically loaded cities, the early loss of credits that changed how he thought about trust, and why going solo gave him space to rebuild on his own terms. He also reflects on his biomedical engineering background, the thin veil between science and songwriting, and the deeper purpose behind SonicCritic, a direct-to-fan platform created to help artists keep more of what they earn.

Before the founder, though, there is Paqx, the music lover: someone happiest in the background, still trying to give something honest back to the scene that built him.

Welcome to A&R Factory, Paqx. It’s brilliant to have you with us to talk about New Orleans, your music, the hard lessons behind SonicCritic and what it means to build something fairer from inside the scene.

You have spent six years performing and recording in New Orleans, which is one of the richest music cities in the world, but also a very hard place to survive as a working artist. What did the city teach you that no classroom or online tutorial ever could?

New Orleans has not only taught me but also built who I am. Everything I bring to the musical world was learned through teachers, resilience, joy, pain and love. Creativity is shown every day in this beautiful city.

Before music became your full-time focus, you trained as a biomedical engineer at Louisiana Tech. Do you think that scientific background affects the way you build songs, produce records or solve creative problems?

Yeah, you’re right. Science and art are blended in this field. It took me a while to see it, but solving creative and technical problems in any field requires both sides of the brain. But when writing or recording songs, my mind is a world away from science!

You have described losing credits early in your career after contributing creatively to songs without split sheets in place. How did that experience change the way you think about ownership, trust and protecting your work?

The trust is how the music business really is. It instilled in me a desire to change it. I’m not too much fond of owning a piece of music, but more creating something I can give the world. It’s not mine once it’s released, and I believe we as artists should be compensated fairly for our contributions, which is why I built SonicCritic to protect our work.

When your work disappeared from the record, did it make you more guarded as a collaborator, or did it sharpen your sense of what a healthier creative relationship should look like?

I think so. I never got the chance to collaborate on another big-name project since that night, so I decided to release solo. I knew I’d have more creative control, and it would buy me time to figure the whole thing out.

New Orleans is built on community, performance and musical inheritance, but artists everywhere are still battling brutal economics. What have you seen firsthand about how musicians actually get paid, or pushed out, in a city with such deep cultural value?

New Orleans is known as a very hospitable city. We don’t push people out. It is very competitive, and you have to hustle. The brutal economics that artists face is real. I’ve lived it. I built SonicCritic for the next artist that shouldn’t have to go through what I went through.

Before people meet you as the founder of SonicCritic, what do you want them to understand about Paqx as an artist, producer and person inside the music?

I just want them to enjoy the music. The greatest gift I can bring the music world is my appreciation. I work best in the background. I’m just a person who really enjoys music.

You built SonicCritic solo after teaching yourself software, and the platform pays artists 88% of net subscription revenue. What was the moment where you realised you were not only frustrated with streaming economics, but ready to build an alternative yourself?

Three months ago I said to myself, “Isn’t it time for a new music streaming service that actually pays artists?” I had built the base feature of the platform; a music critic that analyzes any song in 8 dimensions, live at soniccritic.ai. When it gained some attention, I realized I could take it further.

Now that you are both a working artist releasing music and someone creating a direct-to-fan platform, has SonicCritic changed how you think about your own catalogue, your listeners and the kind of music you want to make next?

Absolutely, it’s changed how I approach my entire identity as Paqx. I’ll have a more direct connection to my fans and better music will flow.

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Connect with Paqx via Instagram.

Interview by Amelia Vandergast