By, Wendy Day
I had written an article for this month’s column about the proliferation of negativity in this industry—namely, HATERS! It has gotten so bad that some of my more powerful friends have been holding conference calls with each other to block and destroy the people who are attacking them with words (both publicly and privately). And while I am a more karma driven person than a pro-active blackballer, I have to admit that I understand it.
But I guess you’ll have to wait til next month to read about how to handle the haters in your life, because last night I heard that Shakir Stewart shot and killed himself. And while I understand why people want to stop the pain they are feeling, I have to admit that the news of his death shocked the shit out of me. It brought back the pain I felt when I heard Pac passed, and when I got that call from Vanessa Satten at XXL telling me there were rumors that Pimp C had died, and could I call his Mom to see if he was OK…I mean how do you ever make THAT call—“I hear your son may be dead, what are YOU hearing?” Nah, I’ll pass on that call. I immediately called Chad’s cell phone and was able to leave him a voicemail—that was an encouraging sign that his voicemail wasn’t full. I called Julia Beverly at Ozone and Grouchy Greg at AllHipHop, neither of whom had heard the rumor yet—more good signs. Both did call me back within the hour to verify his death, however, while my assistant called Greg Street who also verified it as truth, not fiction.
The thing about death is that it is both personal and public. So not only do you have to deal with your own feelings of loss, but you have to deal with others’ reactions as well. So, not only did Shakir leave my life, and the industry, but he left the lives of his family, friends, children, co-workers, artists, and fans. He also left the people he interacted with along the course of his daily life from the person who cut his hair to the guy who parks his car or sells him coffee in the morning.
So bear with me as I talk about death a bit, because it’s how I’m working out the loss of a guy who from the outside looking in seemed to have everything going for him, success, a dream job, a great life, money, connections, power, kids, etc-- but a ton of pain that he wasn’t able to handle any longer… Just goes to show ya…you never know what the next person is going through.
When Biggie passed away (I really wanted to say when Biggie was gunned down viciously but it sounded angry, and I’ve been too angry in this column in ‘08), it was a mess. He left a wife, a mother, children, and a label president, all of whom seemed to have some stake in ownership in him. Biggie left no will, no paperwork, no instructions for what HE wanted to happen after his death, so there was nothing to sort out the mess besides time and fighting. When Pimp C passed, it was also a mess. He had a wife who had legal say, but also a mother, artists, a label, and a partner, all of whom had emotional claim to what came next. Chad also died without leaving any instructions.
The outcome after your passing may be a scenario that you would never want to have happen. So handle it now. Here are the basics:
• A Will: A will is a legal document that enforces your wishes of what happens in the event of your death. It says who gets what, whether you’ll be buried or cremated, if you want to donate organs or body parts, and who gets to make decisions about your estate. When I die, I want to be cremated and sprinkled in the ocean, and this document specifies exactly that.
• Life Insurance: This is the insurance policy you take out if you have children or loved ones that you want supported financially, after you are no longer alive to do so. I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I pay a little under a thousand dollars a year, for a million dollars worth of coverage. If I die, my Mom will become a wealthy woman because it is my intention to take care of her as she gets older, and if I am not here to do so, someone has to—hence the life insurance policy.
• An Executor to run your estate or foundation: If you are someone who has wealth, this is an important aspect of your instructions. You need to choose a friend, a family member, or a professional (like an accountant, lawyer, or business manager) to handle your business when you are gone. Biggie’s Mom handles his estate. Tupac’s Mom handles his estate. A business manager named Artie Erk handles J Dilla‘s estate. My entertainment attorney will handle my estate—I trust him and he knows me well enough to know what I’d want and not want.
Here are some of the things an Executor will need to know:
• Vital Statistics and Data: Parent's address, Children’s names and addresses (and birthdates), and your correct date of birth. Gather this information in a notebook: Full Name, Address, Birthplace, Date of birth, Social Security number, Marital status, Husband or wife’s name, Children names and dates of birth, Father's name, birth date and birthplace (city and state) Mother's full maiden name, birth date and birthplace (city and state). To assure accurate vital statistics, keep copies of your official birth certificate and social security card with this personal information.
• Personal Data: Year moved to current address; Education: High school attended, year graduated, colleges attended, dates of graduation and degrees; Occupation: Employed by or retired from and any additional employment information you want known; Church Membership or Affiliation; Heritage/Ancestry; Veteran: Branch of Service, Date enlisted, Serial number, Date of discharge, Location of discharge papers, Last rank, Additional military information (It is helpful if a copy of the veteran's discharge and form DD214 are stored with this personal profile); Professional/Fraternal/Charitable/Social Organizations
• People to Notify: List Full name, address, phone number and your relationship to this person
• Personal Records: List all Bank Accounts-- Checking and Savings-- Name of bank, Type of account, Address, Phone number, Account number; Safe Deposit Box: Name of bank, Address, Telephone, The name on the box if not your own, Location of key; Insurance Policies List policies with name of Company, Policy number, Name of insured, Amount of benefit, Beneficiary, Location of policies; Pension Plan: Name of company, address; Real Estate Owned: Address, Location of Deeds and Titles, other documents related to the real estate
• Location of Important Papers: Automobile Registration; Birth Certificate; Income Tax Records for past 3 years; Marriage Certificate/Divorce certificate; Last Will and Testament; Original Last Will and Testament and the copies; Stocks and Bonds; Attorney's Name, Address, Phone number; Accountant's Name, Address, Phone number; Executor's Name, Address, Phone number; Real Estate Broker's name, Address, Phone number; Stockbroker's Name, Address, Phone Number; Authorized persons to arrange final details of funeral (chose two); Additional information: extra keys, car title, bills, loans information that needs to be paid off, etc.
• Funeral Service Choices: Choice of funeral home, name, address and phone number; Type of service, Catholic, protestant, new age etc.; Location of service, name address and phone Officiate, Clergy, other: Name, address and phone. Other speakers or readers at service: Name, address and phone numbers; Participating Organization: Fraternal or Military Pallbearers: Name, Address, phone numbers; Honorary Pallbearers: Name, Address, and phone numbers. Obituary: Yes or No, Photo attached?; Name of newspaper, address; Family Visitation: yes or no; Public Visitation: Yes or no; Casket: Open or closed; Casket type: Steel, Copper, Bronze, Wood, other; Casket Color, Interior Color; Flag: Yes or No, Folded or Draped; Clothing: From current wardrobe or new; Jewelry: Yes or No; Preference of Flowers; Memorials: Full name and mailing address; Favorite Poetry, scriptures or other readings; Music; Items to Display: Collection of Family Photographs, Favorite possessions, Family mementos, Awards received; Special Items to be placed in casket, etc.
• Cremation: Urn: Wood, Metal, Steel, Copper, Bronze, other Disposition of Remains-- Earth burial, Entombment, Kept by the family, Scattering, other Special instructions if kept by family: Special instructions for scattering. If Earth Burial: Outer Burial Container: Yes or No Concrete, Steel, Bronze, Other Exterior Color Inscription Name of Cemetery: Location: Lot in name of: Section: Lot: Block: Plot: Inscription for memorial marker: If Entombment: Name of Columbarium, Location, Inscription for memorial marker
There are professionals who handle this planning for you, before you die, to make sure everything will go smoothly when you do die. There are lawyers and accountants who specialize in estate planning. They have access to insurance people who can implement the necessary policies. But the bottom line is that you need to take care of it now because after you pass away, it’s difficult enough for those you leave behind. Don’t allow them to fight amongst each other because you were too lazy, or too scared, to plan for your future beyond your life—especially if you have kids.
I have watched too many friends die and the uncertainty that surrounds everything is cruel, at best. When Proof passed away, he had an entire record label but no instructions on who’d run it, how it would run, how it would be funded, what would happen to the staff and artists signed to the label. And it came to a screeching halt. I can’t imagine Proof would have wanted it to end like that. When Pimp C passed away, the careers of his artists came to a grinding halt. This forced his wife to wake up the next morning as a label owner, plus deal with her husband’s death, whether she wanted that responsibility or not.
Planning for your death doesn’t mean you are going to die anytime soon. It’s just the responsible thing to do. And if Biggie, Pac, Proof, Pimp C, and others made plans for what would happen when and if they passed away, it would have made the lives so much easier for those they left behind. Hell, folks will already be grieving over your loss….and to make them step up and handle business, make hard decisions, and fight over what remains (worst case scenario) is crueler than cruel.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Signing To A Label Owned By An Artist
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.Rap-Coalition.com and www.rapcointelpro.com)
In my experience, there are two ways to get signed to a deal that could possibly lead to a successful career in the music industry. One way is to put out your own CD and sell enough CDs regionally to create the leverage to entice a major label into signing you to a deal that will lead to success, and the second way is to sign to an already established platinum recording artist, and come through the deal he or she has worked out with a major label that wants to be in business with that artist.
There are both upsides and downsides to signing underneath an already signed artist or producer. There are more artist owned or controlled labels than at any other time in the history of the urban music business. Some of those current opportunities are:
Artist examples
• Young Jeezy’s CTE (formerly known as Corporate Thugz) through Def Jam
• 50 Cent’s G Unit through Interscope
• Eminem’s Shady through Interscope
• T.I.’s Grand Hustle through Capitol or Asylum
• Ludacris’ DTP through Def Jam
• Nelly’s Derty Entertainment, through Universal
Producer examples
• Mr Colipark’s label through Interscope
• Polow’s Zone 4 through Interscope
• Dr Dre’s Aftermath through Interscope
• Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music through Sony
• Pharrell’s label through Interscope
DJ examples
• DJ Drama’s Aphilliates label through Asylum
• DJ Khaled’s label through Koch
When a major label has an established artist with a strong sales track record of success (platinum or better), that label often offers a label deal to the artist to keep him or her happy. In some cases, it’s a real label (such as DTP, Shady, CTE, G-Unit, etc) with real offices, with their own dedicated staffs. And in some cases, it’s just a logo printed on the back of a CD to appear that the artist has his or her own label. There are a variety of reasons why these different types of deals exist, but that would be a topic for another article…
If one of the ways to get established in this industry is by coming up underneath an established, successful artist, you should consider the pluses and minuses.
Downside:
• The money, if and when it comes, passes through the hands of middlemen. If 50 decides to sign you to G-Unit, the money eventually goes from Interscope through G-Unit and then (hopefully) trickles down to the artist.
• There’s often a long wait--most artists already have their friends that they want to put on through their deal. Therefore, if you are an outsider in that camp, you’d have to wait your turn to come out.
• Compilation albums are usually the first release from a major artist who has just been given his own label deal. Often, this is because the artist has too many artists coming up under him or her, and compilations often allow one artist to stand out from the rest.
• If the major artist pisses off the major label, your project will suffer exponentially.
• If the major artist’s next release doesn’t do very well, the label deal will often suffer because the need to keep that established artist happy is no longer as strong.
• Many artists sign other artists who are not as talented so they will not be upstaged. Very few major artists are secure enough with themselves to sign artists who are better than they are or who can out rap them.
• Most artists do not have strong business sense and not many have the business acumen to hire professionals with a strong track record of success to run their companies for them. You could end up signed to a label run by (and therefore trusting your career to) the artist’s best friend who has no music business experience.
• Most releases under a major artist’s label are seen by consumers as just “friends” of the artist and are rarely taken as seriously as unknown artists. Murphy Lee will always be seen as Nelly’s boy, D-12 will always be Eminem’s buddies, P$C are T.I.’s friends, and Tony Yayo will always be seen as 50’s childhood friend. Whether they have this kind of history or not, that is the perception—admit it, you were thinking that when those albums dropped.
• You will never have a better deal than the deal your artist label-owner has with his label (unless you sell more CDs than him and can renegotiate). For example, if you are signed to an artist who received 18 points from Def Jam in his deal (that’s 18% of the retail selling price of each CD, after you paying back all of the expenses), you will likely get a lesser percentage than 18 points. He can’t give you more than he gets.
• You will most likely have to use newer, less established producers for your beats—or even the in-house producers, because there’s rarely a budget for you to record with the A-list hit makers like Mannie Fresh, Jim Jonsin, Dr Dre, etc. In a hit-driven, radio-focused industry, that could be somewhat challenging.
Upside:
• If the artist who signs you is a priority at the label (like Eminem, Ludacris, TI, 50 Cent, etc), there is a better chance that your project will be a priority at the label as well. The level of effort the major label makes on your project is in direct proportion to the level of financial value of the artist to whom you are signed.
• You gain immediate recognition in the marketplace when a major artist gets behind you and co-signs you.
• You are signed to a label that is run by an artist so the understanding of the music and artform is much stronger than if you are signed to a label run by a lawyer or an accountant.
• Your first release is almost guaranteed to feature the platinum recording artist because you are signed to him or her, and there is a financial stake in being promoted (and co-signed) by that artist.
• You are thrust into a career that starts out at a mid-level. You get to tour with an already established artist, you get to learn the industry through the eyes of a platinum recording artist, and you gain part of an already established fan base. The opportunities for exposure for you are immediately greater.
• You get to see the inside view of a superstar’s career. You can learn from the mistakes or successes of that artist who comes before you. It is next to impossible to get such an insider’s view without being right there to live it firsthand. This education is invaluable if you are smart enough to apply what works to your own career and not experience those same mistakes and pitfalls yourself.
While there are upsides and downsides to every deal, each artist must weigh these for themselves and their own situation. Signing to an established artist may not be good for everyone, and it may be the best route for others. The trick is to know all of the pluses and minuses of any opportunity and then to make an informed decision based on what is best for your own career and your own situation. After all, signing any record deal is usually a commitment of 5 to 7 years of your life. In most cases, this is the life span of a rap career, so choose very wisely.
In my experience, there are two ways to get signed to a deal that could possibly lead to a successful career in the music industry. One way is to put out your own CD and sell enough CDs regionally to create the leverage to entice a major label into signing you to a deal that will lead to success, and the second way is to sign to an already established platinum recording artist, and come through the deal he or she has worked out with a major label that wants to be in business with that artist.
There are both upsides and downsides to signing underneath an already signed artist or producer. There are more artist owned or controlled labels than at any other time in the history of the urban music business. Some of those current opportunities are:
Artist examples
• Young Jeezy’s CTE (formerly known as Corporate Thugz) through Def Jam
• 50 Cent’s G Unit through Interscope
• Eminem’s Shady through Interscope
• T.I.’s Grand Hustle through Capitol or Asylum
• Ludacris’ DTP through Def Jam
• Nelly’s Derty Entertainment, through Universal
Producer examples
• Mr Colipark’s label through Interscope
• Polow’s Zone 4 through Interscope
• Dr Dre’s Aftermath through Interscope
• Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music through Sony
• Pharrell’s label through Interscope
DJ examples
• DJ Drama’s Aphilliates label through Asylum
• DJ Khaled’s label through Koch
When a major label has an established artist with a strong sales track record of success (platinum or better), that label often offers a label deal to the artist to keep him or her happy. In some cases, it’s a real label (such as DTP, Shady, CTE, G-Unit, etc) with real offices, with their own dedicated staffs. And in some cases, it’s just a logo printed on the back of a CD to appear that the artist has his or her own label. There are a variety of reasons why these different types of deals exist, but that would be a topic for another article…
If one of the ways to get established in this industry is by coming up underneath an established, successful artist, you should consider the pluses and minuses.
Downside:
• The money, if and when it comes, passes through the hands of middlemen. If 50 decides to sign you to G-Unit, the money eventually goes from Interscope through G-Unit and then (hopefully) trickles down to the artist.
• There’s often a long wait--most artists already have their friends that they want to put on through their deal. Therefore, if you are an outsider in that camp, you’d have to wait your turn to come out.
• Compilation albums are usually the first release from a major artist who has just been given his own label deal. Often, this is because the artist has too many artists coming up under him or her, and compilations often allow one artist to stand out from the rest.
• If the major artist pisses off the major label, your project will suffer exponentially.
• If the major artist’s next release doesn’t do very well, the label deal will often suffer because the need to keep that established artist happy is no longer as strong.
• Many artists sign other artists who are not as talented so they will not be upstaged. Very few major artists are secure enough with themselves to sign artists who are better than they are or who can out rap them.
• Most artists do not have strong business sense and not many have the business acumen to hire professionals with a strong track record of success to run their companies for them. You could end up signed to a label run by (and therefore trusting your career to) the artist’s best friend who has no music business experience.
• Most releases under a major artist’s label are seen by consumers as just “friends” of the artist and are rarely taken as seriously as unknown artists. Murphy Lee will always be seen as Nelly’s boy, D-12 will always be Eminem’s buddies, P$C are T.I.’s friends, and Tony Yayo will always be seen as 50’s childhood friend. Whether they have this kind of history or not, that is the perception—admit it, you were thinking that when those albums dropped.
• You will never have a better deal than the deal your artist label-owner has with his label (unless you sell more CDs than him and can renegotiate). For example, if you are signed to an artist who received 18 points from Def Jam in his deal (that’s 18% of the retail selling price of each CD, after you paying back all of the expenses), you will likely get a lesser percentage than 18 points. He can’t give you more than he gets.
• You will most likely have to use newer, less established producers for your beats—or even the in-house producers, because there’s rarely a budget for you to record with the A-list hit makers like Mannie Fresh, Jim Jonsin, Dr Dre, etc. In a hit-driven, radio-focused industry, that could be somewhat challenging.
Upside:
• If the artist who signs you is a priority at the label (like Eminem, Ludacris, TI, 50 Cent, etc), there is a better chance that your project will be a priority at the label as well. The level of effort the major label makes on your project is in direct proportion to the level of financial value of the artist to whom you are signed.
• You gain immediate recognition in the marketplace when a major artist gets behind you and co-signs you.
• You are signed to a label that is run by an artist so the understanding of the music and artform is much stronger than if you are signed to a label run by a lawyer or an accountant.
• Your first release is almost guaranteed to feature the platinum recording artist because you are signed to him or her, and there is a financial stake in being promoted (and co-signed) by that artist.
• You are thrust into a career that starts out at a mid-level. You get to tour with an already established artist, you get to learn the industry through the eyes of a platinum recording artist, and you gain part of an already established fan base. The opportunities for exposure for you are immediately greater.
• You get to see the inside view of a superstar’s career. You can learn from the mistakes or successes of that artist who comes before you. It is next to impossible to get such an insider’s view without being right there to live it firsthand. This education is invaluable if you are smart enough to apply what works to your own career and not experience those same mistakes and pitfalls yourself.
While there are upsides and downsides to every deal, each artist must weigh these for themselves and their own situation. Signing to an established artist may not be good for everyone, and it may be the best route for others. The trick is to know all of the pluses and minuses of any opportunity and then to make an informed decision based on what is best for your own career and your own situation. After all, signing any record deal is usually a commitment of 5 to 7 years of your life. In most cases, this is the life span of a rap career, so choose very wisely.
Monday, July 7, 2008
The Basics
By Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)
This article is dedicated to Mannie Fresh, who was kind enough to give one of my indie clients a hit fucking record for a great price!! Mannie is in the process of putting out his first artist, The Show. I have chosen to devote this article to giving my friend some free advice, since he was kind enough to give me the ammunition that I need to win with my group. A smart reader would evesdrop and apply it to his or her own situation!!
Mannie is a super producer, and I have proven to be skilled over the years at putting out records (not to mention negotiating deals)—we all might learn something:
Dear Mannie;
Putting out an artist, either independently or through a major label, is a tremendous amount of work as I am sure you know. Even with your relationships and connections, knowing who to trust and who can really benefit your release if difficult—imagine if you didn’t have the access or name recognition that you have!! Most others in this industry don’t….so you are already a step ahead.
I understand what you mean when you talk about the talent and passion missing from this industry today. While I do agree with you completely, just talent alone isn’t enough to win. Much like you, I am a purist. I believe that the beats and rhymes are key and the folks who are doing this solely for the money are fucking it up for everyone. That’s really why the sales are down. So many folks treat the music industry like it’s the new (legal) drug game. Those without passion, however, won’t be able to withstand the licks that this wicked industry doles out. They won’t stand the test of time. You will, and have!
But in addition to the driving passion, I also realize the need for an artist to sell CDs. My favorite rapper is Ras Kass. He’s lyrical as hell, but has he been able to sell CDs? You’ve heard Jay Z, Common, and Talib Kweli talk about dumbing down the lyrics, and we’ve all watched Bun B go from dopest southern lyricist to rap star able to sell CDs (thank God! He deserves it!!). There’s nothing wrong with making a living from one’s artistic craft. That is not selling out! Those who believe that it is, need to go get real jobs and make CDs as a hobby and pass them out for free.
I like the Mixed CD that you and DJ Wop made for The Show (“Victory Lap”). It highlights his lyrical abilities over some incredible Mannie Fresh beats, and gives the fans 27 examples of what’s to come. But in my opinion, the mixed CD lacks slam dunk, hit singles—radio records. You most likely chose not to put them on a mix CD, saving them for his release. In today’s environment, it will be difficult to go to market without a hit radio record or two. This is especially true if you have a major label behind you, like Def Jam, because they survive on that formula of radio records to drive sales and exposure. It’s not that it is right or wrong, it’s that it just “is.” If that’s what they have to do to blow up an artist, any artist, then so be it. It’s up to you to give them the ammunition that they need.
Hopefully, that was part of your thinking before doing a deal with a major, and that you chose one that needed what you could deliver (I only say that because some folks see all of the labels as interchangeable and only care about getting a check—truth is, the checks are small and the opportunities are shrinking everyday). If not, you will find that you have to build a ridiculous buzz on the streets to get them interested in working your release. The reality is that if you want someone who excels at chasing radio hits to get excited about your project, and you decide not to deliver radio hits to them, you will need to show them how to work your records, make it appear to be cheap and easy, and then let them take 100% of the credit when it happens.
I guess it’s like you driving that gorgeous new Bentley. If someone was only used to Hondas, there may be some apprehension and discomfort in driving such an artful machine. But once one is used to driving perfection and sees how easy it is, it becomes easy. We all become comfortable with what we know—you with good music, a major label with hit radio records.
Here’s the dichotomy though: hit radio records do not always equal sales. There have been plenty of hit records that the labels paid to drive up the charts, but the full length CDs tanked when they came out. My guess is that they only had one or two good records on the album. You are Mannie Fresh, therefore I’m not worried about that. You make great music. And The Show is lyrical and seems to be able to make great songs.
Here’s what I would do: since he’s based in New Orleans, I’d build a buzz in LA, TX, and southern AL. I’d make those my “Phase 1” market areas. I’d attend all of the events in the Summer and Fall where large amounts of potential fans gather (Summer Jams, park parties, college Home Comings, music festivals, etc). I’d also go from town to town promoting The Show.
I’d throw him in a wrapped van, and hit a different city every day. I’d make sure we went through radio, retail stores (chains and independents), clubs at night (performing if possible), strip clubs, and hip hop gear shops. If you really want to grind it out, I’d also hit the chicken wing spots, key barber shops and nail salons, high schools and colleges, and make sure you spend time in the ‘hoods. Your name will open a lot of doors for him. I’d be sure to pass out flyers, hang posters wherever I could, and sign as many autographs as humanly possible. I’d advertise ahead of time the cities we were hitting through his website and his MySpace page (and yours).
Also, I’d suggest explaining to The Show that artists don’t really make money from their record deals. It’s important that he knows he’s grinding this out for something bigger down the road, but it would suck for him to think it was one thing and it became another. Especially because of the way you, and other artists before you, got jerked out of money in this business. It’s important that he understand how the payments work and how the money comes from shows, endorsement deals, and other opportunities that the fame will bring. He’s very bright, he probably already knows this. But it’s important that he understand it fully. That alleviates problems down the road.
After building the buzz in that 3 state area, his buzz will organically grow. As college students return home for their Breaks and vacations, they will spread his music. People will naturally share great music with friends, and the internet speeds up this process. It spreads like fire…usually in an orderly fashion. So as it is spreading to MS, OK, AR, TN, GA, etc, you can be chasing that spread with Phase 2 of your promo tour. You can also start working a single at radio. The DJs will already be aware of The Show, now it’s time to spread that awareness to program directors around the region. Focus on the south—it’ll be cheaper to back up an area that’s somewhat contained. Also, in the south, fans will buy good music whether you are indie or major, so it’s a naturally good market to work.
And lastly, work the project for a minimum of 4 months before you drop the album--six months is preferred and 9 months is even better. If you aren’t coming through a Major label, make sure you choose a distributor with a strong track record of paying, and one that has great relationships with rap record buyers and stores. This is NOT the area to take risks—it’s your money!
A hit radio record will make the promoters start calling to book shows faster. A super hot record will make the show price increase quickly. When The Show is making good money, it will be easier for him to work even harder. It’ll be more hectic, but better. It will save you money too. As he travels to different cities on the promoters’ dime, you can hit radio and retail in those cities.
Lastly, make sure The Show is the shit at home. Be certain to give back to the local community, especially New Orleans because it needs the support more than any other place. Offer picnics in the park and Kids’ Days. Support the Moms and the schools that need help. Speak to the kids and keep them from going down the wrong path. That’s not mandatory, but it is the right thing to do.
Mannie, you are shit! You’ve been down a long, hard road. But you survived and survived well. No one can take that from you. You have legions of fans and soldiers, just waiting for you to do something for yourself. The Show is it! Go get it baby! And I am always here when you need me. Always. I love you Chubby Boy!
With Love and Respect,
Wendy
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Conferences And Seminars
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)
These days, it seems like everyone is doing a conference and/or awards show in hip hop. What is up with that? I guess people see one or two people do it, and they think they have the proper connections, knowledge, and opinions to do it their damn selves. The problem is, most fail. It’s also not a money maker and most people seem to think it’s a quick come up. It’s really not. Ask anyone who has done a conference or awards show.
I believe in knowledge, so in the past three years, I have attended every seminar, conference, and summit that seemed worthy, and that fit into my schedule. This kept me on the road for at least 10 days a month in the past few years. I now have enough frequent flyer flight miles to go to Hong Kong in the Fall. That’s a lot of conventions and seminars, and yet only a handful were worthwhile. I have attended so many bullshit events, that I am now officially burned out on seminars, award shows, and conferences.
Most of the events lacked the proper funding to advertise and promote the event properly, so numerous times I ended up speaking to rooms with less than 50 people. Almost all of the events were done in nightclubs, which confused the attendees when they were told to shut up and listen to the folks on stage speaking. As you can guess, most didn’t shut up, so we ended up speaking to ourselves and the first 10 feet of attendees with the dull hum of voices in the background to thoroughly distract and insult us.
And at almost every conference, I ended up speaking along side of people who were more interested in self-promoting their company or crew, or who gave wrong information to the attendees. My favorite was a local lawyer who told the crowd that artists didn’t need to copyright their music. Idiot!!
Somebody, somewhere, must be telling folks in our industry that they can put on a conference with no upfront money (wrong!), without advertising or promoting it, and without having panelists that people would be willing to pay $100 or more to hear speak. Seems more than a few of the conventions trick folks into coming by offering showcase spots (for $500 to $2,000 a spot), telling the artists that they will get to perform in front of industry folks (yeah, folks like me who wouldn’t stay for a showcase even with a gun to my head) who could sign them and make all of their dreams come true.
These suckers who pay for showcase spots are obviously the people who are talking through the panels in the back of the room because the majority of panelists actually tell artists exactly how to get signed to a record deal (if you were listening, you’d know too). Hell, I spoke over 40 times in the past 14 months, and at every event I talked about how to get a deal and how ineffective it is to hand out demos. At the end of every panel, I was bombarded with demos. I also skipped every showcase (while it’s important for artists to practice their craft and perform, doing so in front of the industry with the intention of getting signed to a major label is a waste—doing so in front of consumers who will buy a CD is a better move; more strategic, and the sales are more likely to attract a label to sign you).
The importance of a local seminar in smaller towns and cities that don’t have access to a music industry, is its ability to bring together like-minded people. In areas like Gainesville, Memphis, Augusta, San Antonio, or Jackson, a seminar brings together local radio people, DJs, retailers, artists, etc, into one place so they can network and interact with each other. It’s a great way for new people to get to know who is who, and an even better way to plan to work together on projects and build relationships. This is a who-you-know, relationship business. In a perfect world, these events may even bring in national or regional folks from the music industry who are proven successful and willing to share their secrets of success. At least share them with the folks who aren’t standing around rudely talking to each other in the back of the room.
I built my career at conferences and seminars that matter—that’s how I learned much of what I know about this business. I met folks, kept in touch, and learned from their experiences. I’m fortunate in that I came up in this industry when there were a handful of conventions each year that mattered, that everyone attended. Imagine 4 or 5 TJsDJs/Ozone weekends throughout the year. That would be awesome (but would kill me financially).
Instead, we now have hundreds of little seminars that no one attends, with panelists who don’t really matter, and with attendees who didn’t come to learn. When I am the most powerful person in a room, something is horribly, horribly wrong. This means the seminar organizers fucked up. Hell, folks can come to the SEAs (Southern Entertainment Awards weekend) every January and hear me speak—even spend time with me over the weekend. And the SEAs are free and have far more important and powerful folks than me in attendance.
So, if you are planning a conference or seminar in your area, please make sure you find the perfect venue (nightclubs are for showcases, not panel discussions), and sponsors who are willing to invest in your vision. Make sure your panelists are a nice mix of successful people who genuinely want to share useful information (as opposed to airing out others or pumping up their own businesses). Your panelists should consist of local successful people, regionally established industry people, and nationally significant people—all with proven track records of success. The panelists should be people willing to give back, not people coming into your marketplace to “rape” the local artists.
Plan out the panels so the panelists can speak to your market. If you have an abundance of indie labels in your area (like anywhere in FL, Birmingham, Atlanta, etc) make certain you have panelists who can share knowledge on putting out an indie record and maybe a LEGITIMATE distributor on the panel. If your market has no great producers but a ton of rappers, make sure you have some regional and national producers on the panel to help both the artists and the up and coming producers learn. Fill the void! Whatever your community is missing is what you should be offering access to. You will most likely need to fly key people in and put them up in a hotel. That is standard unless you have the connections and power to ask people to come at their own expense (for the SEAs, I ask the panelists to pay their own way so the conference can remain free and open to everyone).
Panel discussions should last longer than 45 minutes. You need at least an hour to get a real discussion going, and almost as long for the audience to ask their questions. Make sure you post a schedule on a website so people know where to go and what’s going on. It’s a good idea to print that schedule out and hand it to your attendees as they come to your event. Make sure the panelists receive it ahead of time so they can attend more than just their panel—I spoke on a panel this past weekend and missed a panelist dinner because no one told me there was one. I was sitting in my hotel room with nothing to do.
Have a moderator who can control the crowd and keep the discussion moving along in a lively fashion. Have a strong moderator no matter what. Last month in Houston, at the Go DJs/OG Ron C event, Mannie Fresh and I did a one on one conversation for 90 minutes. This event was historical because I shopped and negotiated the Cash Money deal ten years ago, based on Mannie’s excellent hit-making production (as well as the outstanding rappers and the owners’ vision for the label). Mannie and I had not seen each other or spoken for those ten years. Also, in that time, we both had done some amazing things in our careers. You’d think the 70 people in attendance would have wanted to learn from us (especially the producers, artists, and DJs in attendance) but the talking and murmuring from the audience was distracting us.
Finally, one of my friends (Rick Edwards, who used to run Suave House back in the day) decided to moderate the conversation, grabbed my mic, and told the audience to shut the fuck up. He pointed out that between Mannie and I, we had earned (not necessarily made, but earned) millions and millions of dollars in this industry. Mannie’s production has sold over 30 million CDs and singles, and my deals have sold over 100 million CDs worldwide netting a larger share to the artists than ever in the history of rap music. The crowd let Mannie and I continue without any more distractions after Rick broke it down for them. I would have NEVER imagined that someone would want to talk through Mannie sharing secrets of his success, but that day proved me wrong, and proved the necessity of having a strong moderator.
Make sure you spread the word about your event. Just using free MySpace blasts are not enough. Radio ads, flyers and posters, and advertising to the urban music community at least two months ahead is key for a small event. Six months ahead if you are trying to attract attendance from a larger area like your entire region. The SEAs begin advertising the next year’s even the week after the SEAs end. You don’t have to be that thorough, but maybe that’s why the attendance there always breaks a couple thousand. If your event wasn’t worthy of people attending this year, there won’t be a next year. I know I won’t be back.
And lastly, if there’s already a successful event in your area or region, find another avenue. Why try to copy or compete with something that already works and works well? TJsDJs springs to mind. Every Quarter, his event attracts 3,000+ people, mostly key artists and industry people. If you are in that region, why would you want to compete with that? You’d end up looking bad, unable to attract the volume and the key people that his events attract. Don’t follow, lead. Find what’s missing in your region and supply that. And then be sure to do it well.
These days, it seems like everyone is doing a conference and/or awards show in hip hop. What is up with that? I guess people see one or two people do it, and they think they have the proper connections, knowledge, and opinions to do it their damn selves. The problem is, most fail. It’s also not a money maker and most people seem to think it’s a quick come up. It’s really not. Ask anyone who has done a conference or awards show.
I believe in knowledge, so in the past three years, I have attended every seminar, conference, and summit that seemed worthy, and that fit into my schedule. This kept me on the road for at least 10 days a month in the past few years. I now have enough frequent flyer flight miles to go to Hong Kong in the Fall. That’s a lot of conventions and seminars, and yet only a handful were worthwhile. I have attended so many bullshit events, that I am now officially burned out on seminars, award shows, and conferences.
Most of the events lacked the proper funding to advertise and promote the event properly, so numerous times I ended up speaking to rooms with less than 50 people. Almost all of the events were done in nightclubs, which confused the attendees when they were told to shut up and listen to the folks on stage speaking. As you can guess, most didn’t shut up, so we ended up speaking to ourselves and the first 10 feet of attendees with the dull hum of voices in the background to thoroughly distract and insult us.
And at almost every conference, I ended up speaking along side of people who were more interested in self-promoting their company or crew, or who gave wrong information to the attendees. My favorite was a local lawyer who told the crowd that artists didn’t need to copyright their music. Idiot!!
Somebody, somewhere, must be telling folks in our industry that they can put on a conference with no upfront money (wrong!), without advertising or promoting it, and without having panelists that people would be willing to pay $100 or more to hear speak. Seems more than a few of the conventions trick folks into coming by offering showcase spots (for $500 to $2,000 a spot), telling the artists that they will get to perform in front of industry folks (yeah, folks like me who wouldn’t stay for a showcase even with a gun to my head) who could sign them and make all of their dreams come true.
These suckers who pay for showcase spots are obviously the people who are talking through the panels in the back of the room because the majority of panelists actually tell artists exactly how to get signed to a record deal (if you were listening, you’d know too). Hell, I spoke over 40 times in the past 14 months, and at every event I talked about how to get a deal and how ineffective it is to hand out demos. At the end of every panel, I was bombarded with demos. I also skipped every showcase (while it’s important for artists to practice their craft and perform, doing so in front of the industry with the intention of getting signed to a major label is a waste—doing so in front of consumers who will buy a CD is a better move; more strategic, and the sales are more likely to attract a label to sign you).
The importance of a local seminar in smaller towns and cities that don’t have access to a music industry, is its ability to bring together like-minded people. In areas like Gainesville, Memphis, Augusta, San Antonio, or Jackson, a seminar brings together local radio people, DJs, retailers, artists, etc, into one place so they can network and interact with each other. It’s a great way for new people to get to know who is who, and an even better way to plan to work together on projects and build relationships. This is a who-you-know, relationship business. In a perfect world, these events may even bring in national or regional folks from the music industry who are proven successful and willing to share their secrets of success. At least share them with the folks who aren’t standing around rudely talking to each other in the back of the room.
I built my career at conferences and seminars that matter—that’s how I learned much of what I know about this business. I met folks, kept in touch, and learned from their experiences. I’m fortunate in that I came up in this industry when there were a handful of conventions each year that mattered, that everyone attended. Imagine 4 or 5 TJsDJs/Ozone weekends throughout the year. That would be awesome (but would kill me financially).
Instead, we now have hundreds of little seminars that no one attends, with panelists who don’t really matter, and with attendees who didn’t come to learn. When I am the most powerful person in a room, something is horribly, horribly wrong. This means the seminar organizers fucked up. Hell, folks can come to the SEAs (Southern Entertainment Awards weekend) every January and hear me speak—even spend time with me over the weekend. And the SEAs are free and have far more important and powerful folks than me in attendance.
So, if you are planning a conference or seminar in your area, please make sure you find the perfect venue (nightclubs are for showcases, not panel discussions), and sponsors who are willing to invest in your vision. Make sure your panelists are a nice mix of successful people who genuinely want to share useful information (as opposed to airing out others or pumping up their own businesses). Your panelists should consist of local successful people, regionally established industry people, and nationally significant people—all with proven track records of success. The panelists should be people willing to give back, not people coming into your marketplace to “rape” the local artists.
Plan out the panels so the panelists can speak to your market. If you have an abundance of indie labels in your area (like anywhere in FL, Birmingham, Atlanta, etc) make certain you have panelists who can share knowledge on putting out an indie record and maybe a LEGITIMATE distributor on the panel. If your market has no great producers but a ton of rappers, make sure you have some regional and national producers on the panel to help both the artists and the up and coming producers learn. Fill the void! Whatever your community is missing is what you should be offering access to. You will most likely need to fly key people in and put them up in a hotel. That is standard unless you have the connections and power to ask people to come at their own expense (for the SEAs, I ask the panelists to pay their own way so the conference can remain free and open to everyone).
Panel discussions should last longer than 45 minutes. You need at least an hour to get a real discussion going, and almost as long for the audience to ask their questions. Make sure you post a schedule on a website so people know where to go and what’s going on. It’s a good idea to print that schedule out and hand it to your attendees as they come to your event. Make sure the panelists receive it ahead of time so they can attend more than just their panel—I spoke on a panel this past weekend and missed a panelist dinner because no one told me there was one. I was sitting in my hotel room with nothing to do.
Have a moderator who can control the crowd and keep the discussion moving along in a lively fashion. Have a strong moderator no matter what. Last month in Houston, at the Go DJs/OG Ron C event, Mannie Fresh and I did a one on one conversation for 90 minutes. This event was historical because I shopped and negotiated the Cash Money deal ten years ago, based on Mannie’s excellent hit-making production (as well as the outstanding rappers and the owners’ vision for the label). Mannie and I had not seen each other or spoken for those ten years. Also, in that time, we both had done some amazing things in our careers. You’d think the 70 people in attendance would have wanted to learn from us (especially the producers, artists, and DJs in attendance) but the talking and murmuring from the audience was distracting us.
Finally, one of my friends (Rick Edwards, who used to run Suave House back in the day) decided to moderate the conversation, grabbed my mic, and told the audience to shut the fuck up. He pointed out that between Mannie and I, we had earned (not necessarily made, but earned) millions and millions of dollars in this industry. Mannie’s production has sold over 30 million CDs and singles, and my deals have sold over 100 million CDs worldwide netting a larger share to the artists than ever in the history of rap music. The crowd let Mannie and I continue without any more distractions after Rick broke it down for them. I would have NEVER imagined that someone would want to talk through Mannie sharing secrets of his success, but that day proved me wrong, and proved the necessity of having a strong moderator.
Make sure you spread the word about your event. Just using free MySpace blasts are not enough. Radio ads, flyers and posters, and advertising to the urban music community at least two months ahead is key for a small event. Six months ahead if you are trying to attract attendance from a larger area like your entire region. The SEAs begin advertising the next year’s even the week after the SEAs end. You don’t have to be that thorough, but maybe that’s why the attendance there always breaks a couple thousand. If your event wasn’t worthy of people attending this year, there won’t be a next year. I know I won’t be back.
And lastly, if there’s already a successful event in your area or region, find another avenue. Why try to copy or compete with something that already works and works well? TJsDJs springs to mind. Every Quarter, his event attracts 3,000+ people, mostly key artists and industry people. If you are in that region, why would you want to compete with that? You’d end up looking bad, unable to attract the volume and the key people that his events attract. Don’t follow, lead. Find what’s missing in your region and supply that. And then be sure to do it well.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Con-Artists, and Scams In The Music Industry
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)
As many of you know by now, this industry is a very difficult one in which to maneuver unless you are in the inner circle. There is a large circle of people who all do business together, and getting into that inner circle is never easy. It’s even gotten harder as the music industry is making less and less money these days.
The cool thing about Hip Hop is that we have never waited for an invitation, and we don’t care if you like us, we just bulldoze our way into situations and make the best of it. I call this ‘kicking in the door.” We don’t knock and wait for an answer, we kick that bitch in! Part of kicking in the door, is knowing how, when, and where—and what, to kick in. An even larger part of that is making moves utilizing relationships and connections. If you are missing a key aspect, you need to be able to pick up the phone and call someone legitimate who has that access or knows someone else that they can call to gain access. That access allows you entry (kicking in the door) to the industry, and achieving success will keep you there. Surrounding you, every step of the way, are bullshit people who claim to have access and connections, but don’t. At best, they can get a meeting or a call returned, but they can’t close the deal.
Let me be real frank here: if you are the type of person that people do not like, or if you have any asshole tendencies (including an over inflated ego), you should NOT be on the front lines. Find someone in your camp who is a people person and can kiss a little bit of ass to get what is needed. It’s not a problem if you are not that person, as long as you don’t try to be something you are not. People see right through the bullshit in this industry very quickly, and we all talk to each other (in fact, male or female, we are little gossiping bitches in this industry, so expect bad stuff to spread faster than a forest fire).
The hardest aspect for you to overcome, if you are NOT in that inner circle, is knowing who is legitimate, whom to trust, and to whom to turn when you need something accomplished. This industry is ripe with sharks, snakes, scam artists, and idiots. And all of them have one goal—to separate you from your money, especially if it appears as though you have a lot of it.
In the music industry, there are a LARGE handful of clueless people who suck at what they do, but will happily charge you money for that. You will lose money if you fuck with them. You will also lose credibility with the legitimate people if you fuck with them. Inevitably, I get a handful of people who come to me every week asking me to undo some stupid shit that another “consultant” did to fuck up their project. It is ten times harder to clean up someone else’s mess than it is to start a project from scratch, so expect to be turned down by the legit folks, if your project is already a shambles. I know I won’t touch it.
Oddly, the clueless people who suck at working other people’s projects, seem to be masters of their own self-promotion. Not only are they not too busy to send out a ridiculous number of email blasts talking about their “success” on a project (I especially LOVE the ones that come through talking about the meetings they’ve had that didn’t lead to anything, but they sure have pictures of themselves with famous artists and CEOs who would never take their calls again), but they think that doing a little bit of work is the same as finishing a project from A to Z, and they pump that up publicly. I guess it’s like a little kid learning the alphabet, where they feel that if they can recite the first four letters of the alphabet, it gives them the right to claim they know the entire alphabet. And then they go brag about it.
I have spent the past year undoing incredible damage that one of these “master self-promoters” has done to an artist’s career. And he or she is still out there claiming to have built success for this artist, when all that was accomplished was a big mess for 4 other industry professionals to have to sort out and clean up. Every time I receive an email blast from this idiot talking about what a great job he did building this artist, I cringe and roll my eyes in disbelief. It’s hard for me to decipher if he or she really feels that something positive was accomplished, or if the goal is just to claim success to get checks from other artists who don’t know any better.
Part of me wants to expose the fraud, and part of me wants to accept that this person’s intentions may have been good, just that ignorance is bliss. On a similar note, there’s an artist out there (many actually) who has built some limited success on taking others’ music and selling it as his own. Of course, in this industry, exposure comes very quickly—you get about a 2 or 3 year run before everyone finds out what a fraud you are. This artist recently got signed and then dropped from a major label when it was discovered that he has limited fans but bodacious self-promotion. Why is it that other industries have Better Business Bureaus, Consumer Report Agencies, and Ralph Nader type whistle blowers to expose the frauds, but in the music industry we shrug off the frauds who are jerking people out of millions of dollars every year? I hear folks compare the music industry to the streets and the drug game regularly, but if that were true, we’d have no scams because the price of ripping someone off would be very, very high.
There’s an artist in Indiana, whose parents were bilked out of a quarter million dollars that they invested into their son’s career (the Feds got involved in this one). A few guys out of Chicago with no traceable track record of success took these people for a financial ride, promising to help their son accomplish his dream of being a superstar producer. When I asked the parents what made them trust the guys (a Google search turned up NO information on them), they pointed out that these guys claiming to be music industry executives always showed up to their home in a limousine, so they assumed they were successful. Classic. That’s worthy of dumping a quarter million dollars into a slick talking charlatan. They pulled up in a limo. Jimmy Iovine, the head of Interscope Records (one of the most successful labels on the plant) wouldn’t even pull up in a limo.
I remember meeting with a charismatic “producer” when I lived in NY. He flew in from out of town. He constantly cited God for his success and even closed our meeting with “may God bless you!” He had a beat CD of incredible music. What I did not know at the time was that this beat CD contained beats of not his own work, but the production of 3 or 4 other producers from his hometown. Although I never did business with him, that “producer” went on to get a publishing deal for his production even though it was not his music. He never became a “super producer” because the real producers back home caught on to what he was doing. Two of those producers who got jerked by this bullshit artist have gone on to become platinum producers in this industry, and the bullshit producer has just recently been exposed for being the sham that he is. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!! I hope God “blesses” him properly.
All this to say, when you do other people dirty—intentionally, or through inexperience and ignorance, there is a price to pay. This industry is built on connections and relationships. Once you burn them out, there’s nowhere else for you to go, but down. And it happens very, very quickly. And I am happily spreading the word.
As many of you know by now, this industry is a very difficult one in which to maneuver unless you are in the inner circle. There is a large circle of people who all do business together, and getting into that inner circle is never easy. It’s even gotten harder as the music industry is making less and less money these days.
The cool thing about Hip Hop is that we have never waited for an invitation, and we don’t care if you like us, we just bulldoze our way into situations and make the best of it. I call this ‘kicking in the door.” We don’t knock and wait for an answer, we kick that bitch in! Part of kicking in the door, is knowing how, when, and where—and what, to kick in. An even larger part of that is making moves utilizing relationships and connections. If you are missing a key aspect, you need to be able to pick up the phone and call someone legitimate who has that access or knows someone else that they can call to gain access. That access allows you entry (kicking in the door) to the industry, and achieving success will keep you there. Surrounding you, every step of the way, are bullshit people who claim to have access and connections, but don’t. At best, they can get a meeting or a call returned, but they can’t close the deal.
Let me be real frank here: if you are the type of person that people do not like, or if you have any asshole tendencies (including an over inflated ego), you should NOT be on the front lines. Find someone in your camp who is a people person and can kiss a little bit of ass to get what is needed. It’s not a problem if you are not that person, as long as you don’t try to be something you are not. People see right through the bullshit in this industry very quickly, and we all talk to each other (in fact, male or female, we are little gossiping bitches in this industry, so expect bad stuff to spread faster than a forest fire).
The hardest aspect for you to overcome, if you are NOT in that inner circle, is knowing who is legitimate, whom to trust, and to whom to turn when you need something accomplished. This industry is ripe with sharks, snakes, scam artists, and idiots. And all of them have one goal—to separate you from your money, especially if it appears as though you have a lot of it.
In the music industry, there are a LARGE handful of clueless people who suck at what they do, but will happily charge you money for that. You will lose money if you fuck with them. You will also lose credibility with the legitimate people if you fuck with them. Inevitably, I get a handful of people who come to me every week asking me to undo some stupid shit that another “consultant” did to fuck up their project. It is ten times harder to clean up someone else’s mess than it is to start a project from scratch, so expect to be turned down by the legit folks, if your project is already a shambles. I know I won’t touch it.
Oddly, the clueless people who suck at working other people’s projects, seem to be masters of their own self-promotion. Not only are they not too busy to send out a ridiculous number of email blasts talking about their “success” on a project (I especially LOVE the ones that come through talking about the meetings they’ve had that didn’t lead to anything, but they sure have pictures of themselves with famous artists and CEOs who would never take their calls again), but they think that doing a little bit of work is the same as finishing a project from A to Z, and they pump that up publicly. I guess it’s like a little kid learning the alphabet, where they feel that if they can recite the first four letters of the alphabet, it gives them the right to claim they know the entire alphabet. And then they go brag about it.
I have spent the past year undoing incredible damage that one of these “master self-promoters” has done to an artist’s career. And he or she is still out there claiming to have built success for this artist, when all that was accomplished was a big mess for 4 other industry professionals to have to sort out and clean up. Every time I receive an email blast from this idiot talking about what a great job he did building this artist, I cringe and roll my eyes in disbelief. It’s hard for me to decipher if he or she really feels that something positive was accomplished, or if the goal is just to claim success to get checks from other artists who don’t know any better.
Part of me wants to expose the fraud, and part of me wants to accept that this person’s intentions may have been good, just that ignorance is bliss. On a similar note, there’s an artist out there (many actually) who has built some limited success on taking others’ music and selling it as his own. Of course, in this industry, exposure comes very quickly—you get about a 2 or 3 year run before everyone finds out what a fraud you are. This artist recently got signed and then dropped from a major label when it was discovered that he has limited fans but bodacious self-promotion. Why is it that other industries have Better Business Bureaus, Consumer Report Agencies, and Ralph Nader type whistle blowers to expose the frauds, but in the music industry we shrug off the frauds who are jerking people out of millions of dollars every year? I hear folks compare the music industry to the streets and the drug game regularly, but if that were true, we’d have no scams because the price of ripping someone off would be very, very high.
There’s an artist in Indiana, whose parents were bilked out of a quarter million dollars that they invested into their son’s career (the Feds got involved in this one). A few guys out of Chicago with no traceable track record of success took these people for a financial ride, promising to help their son accomplish his dream of being a superstar producer. When I asked the parents what made them trust the guys (a Google search turned up NO information on them), they pointed out that these guys claiming to be music industry executives always showed up to their home in a limousine, so they assumed they were successful. Classic. That’s worthy of dumping a quarter million dollars into a slick talking charlatan. They pulled up in a limo. Jimmy Iovine, the head of Interscope Records (one of the most successful labels on the plant) wouldn’t even pull up in a limo.
I remember meeting with a charismatic “producer” when I lived in NY. He flew in from out of town. He constantly cited God for his success and even closed our meeting with “may God bless you!” He had a beat CD of incredible music. What I did not know at the time was that this beat CD contained beats of not his own work, but the production of 3 or 4 other producers from his hometown. Although I never did business with him, that “producer” went on to get a publishing deal for his production even though it was not his music. He never became a “super producer” because the real producers back home caught on to what he was doing. Two of those producers who got jerked by this bullshit artist have gone on to become platinum producers in this industry, and the bullshit producer has just recently been exposed for being the sham that he is. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!! I hope God “blesses” him properly.
All this to say, when you do other people dirty—intentionally, or through inexperience and ignorance, there is a price to pay. This industry is built on connections and relationships. Once you burn them out, there’s nowhere else for you to go, but down. And it happens very, very quickly. And I am happily spreading the word.
Developing Relationships
This is the UNEDITED version...
Developing Relationships
By, Wendy Day (www.WendyDay.com)
You have heard me stress the importance of team, over and over again. Just as Lebron James, who is inarguably one of the best basketball players in the world, could not take on and win against the worst team in the league by himself—even as talented as he is, no artist can succeed without a team of people propelling them forward.
Team + Grind = Success.
David Banner said it best, so I will quote him here: “One of the mistakes I made was not continuing the same grind I had earlier in my career once I got on.” It is important to put in the work and to keep putting in the work, on a regular basis. Building a rap career is similar to politics in that it’s about shaking hands, kissing babies, and meeting fans (and making an impact on fans) one by one.
Team + Grind = Success.
I just got back from spending 28 days on the road with BloodRaw, where we went to 26 different cities. He has an album dropping this Spring, and we felt it was best to get him back in front of his fans, and potential new fans, to connect with the new music and to reconfirm all the work and grind that Raw has put in over the years that he was unsigned. It was time to take Mr Florida regional, and then national.
By “we,” I mean BloodRaw’s team: the staff at CTE (he’s signed to Young Jeezy’s label, which has a deal with Def Jam for their releases), his management team of Czar Management helmed by Jimmy Henchmen with Snake doing the day to day, me, and his publicist, Kim Ellis—plus, of course, BloodRaw himself.
Since there is no money involved in the early stages of an artist’s career, it’s important for the team to be devoted and work harder than if there was actual payment involved. Getting people to do work on speculation (the promise of something in the future that may or may not actually happen) is extremely difficult. That dedication is based on the relationships that the artist has. It’s pretty obvious that the average person would not put in hard work randomly for just any artist, but someone who believes in the artist as a person and their ability to succeed, will put in hard work, dedication, and time.
There were seven of us who went out on the road with Raw, again, with no money involved. We had Raw’s artist and hype man Gator, the security team of Scrappy and King to keep us safe, Nokey who filmed the tour and uploaded footage daily to Raw’s YouTube TV station, Raw’s DJ Mike Fresh, and me (I routed and planned the promotional tour on a shoestring budget that made sense to both BloodRaw and CTE). Our individual relationships with Raw is what got us out on the road with him, and kept us there when times got tough. Not one of us was paid to be there. Not even Raw.
We woke up everyday in a different city, visited retail stores, radio stations, DJs, clubs, high schools, the ‘hood in every city, and malls. In some cities we even spent time on campuses at the Black colleges. The key was to figure out who would buy a BloodRaw CD and reach them in the areas where they’d be hanging out. Performing at the clubs every night was also important to let folks see and hear the single, “Louie,” featuring Young Jeezy. Working a single is what spreads the word about an artist and the impending CD release.
We focused heavily on the streets and the DJs because we needed a certain amount of spins at radio to get Def Jam excited about BloodRaw as an artist. The staff at Def Jam is based in New York City—they have no idea what’s hot on the streets of Dothan, Macon, or Gainesville. It’s the artist’s job to show them. Truth is they care about Jeezy, and Raw is Jeezy’s artist. We needed to get them as excited about Raw as Jeezy is—in fact, moreso.
Relationships are what enabled us to find key people in each market to take us around and share their market with us. While an artist can infiltrate a market without someone from that market involved, it’s always easier when there is someone there who can roll with the team from point to point. It also gives the artist a local contact person so that if something is going on in that market, they can educate the artist, or easily reach out to the artist to bring him or her back for a show or an important event.
So in a market like Mobile AL, where a key industry person like Dirty Dan was there to take us to all of the ‘hoods, the strip clubs, the radio clubs, the Malls, high schools that mattered, and even to show us the best chicken wing shack and a local studio where the artists in Mobile record, it was invaluable to have that relationship that allowed Dan to do all that work as a favor to us. He was even able to get us into the radio station to appear on Nick At Night’s show—BloodRaw’s relationship with Nick kept us there most of the night.
Relationships go further than money in the music business. While many people try to buy their way into the industry, the smart ones learn to leverage their relationships and trade favors. But the important aspect of trading favors is to actually remember what people have done for you in the past and repay their kindness when you can.
Sometimes it’s relatively easy, such as us staying in contact with DJ Neko in Augusta, and DJ Hotrod in Savannah, and offering them exclusive material on all of the artists our team has access to (which are quite a few artists from The Game to AlphaMega, to Gorilla Zoe to Young Jeezy, etc). Sometimes it’s a bit more difficult when you have a DJ in Charlotte helping out, like DJ Chuck T, who already has access to everyone from whom he would ever need something exclusive. The key is to figure out how you can be helpful to those who’ve been helpful to you, and fulfill it.
As we visited with DJs along our promo tour, one resounding theme kept recurring. The DJs, both club and radio, could recount endless stories about artists they’ve helped in the past by showing love on a record, only to have gotten nothing in return but broken promises. One of the DJs in SC shared a story about helping an artist years ago who had no budget but had a hit record, and while this artist promised the moon to DJs throughout the south, once he became a star he changed all of his phone numbers and did nothing for any of the DJs. One thing DJs do is talk to each other, and that artist’s name came up over and over again on our promo tour. He hadn’t just burned one bridge, he’s burned many. This is especially sad because this artist still puts out records, and is nowhere near the level of an Eminem or a Nelly, and perhaps this is why. Many, many DJs really feel burned by him, and won’t spin his records.
This is a “who you know” business. Knowing the wrong people is just as detrimental to a career as knowing the right people and fucking them over. And it may not even be the artist’s intention to fuck them over, it may just happen because it’s the circumstance the artist is in. Regardless, a burned bridge is a burned bridge. They are almost impossible to repair.
There was a radio DJ of some importance who told me a story about an artist who always called him every few days when he had a record that was about to come out. He would stress to the DJ how much he needed him on the record because his label wasn’t fully behind him. He’d even pop into the market semi-regularly and stay at the DJs house, eat his food, and drink his booze. The artist would do free show after free show as he attempted to build his career—for everybody but the DJ who was helping him. Then, once the artist had some success, not only could the DJ no longer get in touch with the artist, but the artist stopped coming through his market to promote, bypassing this market for bigger markets where he could make more money. To add insult to injury, the label, not knowing there was once a relationship between the artist and the DJ, hired the competing DJ across town to do street team work for the project (the artist never stepped in to right this wrong).
Do you imagine this key DJ will ever support anything this artist does? If this artist has artists coming up under him, do you suppose this DJ will ever support any of them? Probably not. After staying at this man’s house, and getting countless spins on a record that could have gone to another artist with a bigger budget, the least this artist could have done was arrange to come back once he was successful, and do a free show for the DJ. Most DJs have a night during the week where they have club access, and doing a show and letting the DJ have the door is a nice way to let everyone eat and repay a favor. Some artists are too short sighted to see this.
Sadly, the artists who’ve come before and done people wrong, are making it difficult for the new artists coming through now and need help. Many of the DJs, promoters, and street team guys have been burned so many times that they are reluctant to work with anyone new. It hurts everyone, especially the industry.
Relationships are key to success in this business. It’s important to guard your relationships and connections as tightly as you guard your money—in fact, when the money is gone, all you’ll have left are your relationships. At the very least, call everyone that has helped you get to whatever level you are at right now, and tell them thank you! Maybe even ask them if there’s anything you can do for them…
Developing Relationships
By, Wendy Day (www.WendyDay.com)
You have heard me stress the importance of team, over and over again. Just as Lebron James, who is inarguably one of the best basketball players in the world, could not take on and win against the worst team in the league by himself—even as talented as he is, no artist can succeed without a team of people propelling them forward.
Team + Grind = Success.
David Banner said it best, so I will quote him here: “One of the mistakes I made was not continuing the same grind I had earlier in my career once I got on.” It is important to put in the work and to keep putting in the work, on a regular basis. Building a rap career is similar to politics in that it’s about shaking hands, kissing babies, and meeting fans (and making an impact on fans) one by one.
Team + Grind = Success.
I just got back from spending 28 days on the road with BloodRaw, where we went to 26 different cities. He has an album dropping this Spring, and we felt it was best to get him back in front of his fans, and potential new fans, to connect with the new music and to reconfirm all the work and grind that Raw has put in over the years that he was unsigned. It was time to take Mr Florida regional, and then national.
By “we,” I mean BloodRaw’s team: the staff at CTE (he’s signed to Young Jeezy’s label, which has a deal with Def Jam for their releases), his management team of Czar Management helmed by Jimmy Henchmen with Snake doing the day to day, me, and his publicist, Kim Ellis—plus, of course, BloodRaw himself.
Since there is no money involved in the early stages of an artist’s career, it’s important for the team to be devoted and work harder than if there was actual payment involved. Getting people to do work on speculation (the promise of something in the future that may or may not actually happen) is extremely difficult. That dedication is based on the relationships that the artist has. It’s pretty obvious that the average person would not put in hard work randomly for just any artist, but someone who believes in the artist as a person and their ability to succeed, will put in hard work, dedication, and time.
There were seven of us who went out on the road with Raw, again, with no money involved. We had Raw’s artist and hype man Gator, the security team of Scrappy and King to keep us safe, Nokey who filmed the tour and uploaded footage daily to Raw’s YouTube TV station, Raw’s DJ Mike Fresh, and me (I routed and planned the promotional tour on a shoestring budget that made sense to both BloodRaw and CTE). Our individual relationships with Raw is what got us out on the road with him, and kept us there when times got tough. Not one of us was paid to be there. Not even Raw.
We woke up everyday in a different city, visited retail stores, radio stations, DJs, clubs, high schools, the ‘hood in every city, and malls. In some cities we even spent time on campuses at the Black colleges. The key was to figure out who would buy a BloodRaw CD and reach them in the areas where they’d be hanging out. Performing at the clubs every night was also important to let folks see and hear the single, “Louie,” featuring Young Jeezy. Working a single is what spreads the word about an artist and the impending CD release.
We focused heavily on the streets and the DJs because we needed a certain amount of spins at radio to get Def Jam excited about BloodRaw as an artist. The staff at Def Jam is based in New York City—they have no idea what’s hot on the streets of Dothan, Macon, or Gainesville. It’s the artist’s job to show them. Truth is they care about Jeezy, and Raw is Jeezy’s artist. We needed to get them as excited about Raw as Jeezy is—in fact, moreso.
Relationships are what enabled us to find key people in each market to take us around and share their market with us. While an artist can infiltrate a market without someone from that market involved, it’s always easier when there is someone there who can roll with the team from point to point. It also gives the artist a local contact person so that if something is going on in that market, they can educate the artist, or easily reach out to the artist to bring him or her back for a show or an important event.
So in a market like Mobile AL, where a key industry person like Dirty Dan was there to take us to all of the ‘hoods, the strip clubs, the radio clubs, the Malls, high schools that mattered, and even to show us the best chicken wing shack and a local studio where the artists in Mobile record, it was invaluable to have that relationship that allowed Dan to do all that work as a favor to us. He was even able to get us into the radio station to appear on Nick At Night’s show—BloodRaw’s relationship with Nick kept us there most of the night.
Relationships go further than money in the music business. While many people try to buy their way into the industry, the smart ones learn to leverage their relationships and trade favors. But the important aspect of trading favors is to actually remember what people have done for you in the past and repay their kindness when you can.
Sometimes it’s relatively easy, such as us staying in contact with DJ Neko in Augusta, and DJ Hotrod in Savannah, and offering them exclusive material on all of the artists our team has access to (which are quite a few artists from The Game to AlphaMega, to Gorilla Zoe to Young Jeezy, etc). Sometimes it’s a bit more difficult when you have a DJ in Charlotte helping out, like DJ Chuck T, who already has access to everyone from whom he would ever need something exclusive. The key is to figure out how you can be helpful to those who’ve been helpful to you, and fulfill it.
As we visited with DJs along our promo tour, one resounding theme kept recurring. The DJs, both club and radio, could recount endless stories about artists they’ve helped in the past by showing love on a record, only to have gotten nothing in return but broken promises. One of the DJs in SC shared a story about helping an artist years ago who had no budget but had a hit record, and while this artist promised the moon to DJs throughout the south, once he became a star he changed all of his phone numbers and did nothing for any of the DJs. One thing DJs do is talk to each other, and that artist’s name came up over and over again on our promo tour. He hadn’t just burned one bridge, he’s burned many. This is especially sad because this artist still puts out records, and is nowhere near the level of an Eminem or a Nelly, and perhaps this is why. Many, many DJs really feel burned by him, and won’t spin his records.
This is a “who you know” business. Knowing the wrong people is just as detrimental to a career as knowing the right people and fucking them over. And it may not even be the artist’s intention to fuck them over, it may just happen because it’s the circumstance the artist is in. Regardless, a burned bridge is a burned bridge. They are almost impossible to repair.
There was a radio DJ of some importance who told me a story about an artist who always called him every few days when he had a record that was about to come out. He would stress to the DJ how much he needed him on the record because his label wasn’t fully behind him. He’d even pop into the market semi-regularly and stay at the DJs house, eat his food, and drink his booze. The artist would do free show after free show as he attempted to build his career—for everybody but the DJ who was helping him. Then, once the artist had some success, not only could the DJ no longer get in touch with the artist, but the artist stopped coming through his market to promote, bypassing this market for bigger markets where he could make more money. To add insult to injury, the label, not knowing there was once a relationship between the artist and the DJ, hired the competing DJ across town to do street team work for the project (the artist never stepped in to right this wrong).
Do you imagine this key DJ will ever support anything this artist does? If this artist has artists coming up under him, do you suppose this DJ will ever support any of them? Probably not. After staying at this man’s house, and getting countless spins on a record that could have gone to another artist with a bigger budget, the least this artist could have done was arrange to come back once he was successful, and do a free show for the DJ. Most DJs have a night during the week where they have club access, and doing a show and letting the DJ have the door is a nice way to let everyone eat and repay a favor. Some artists are too short sighted to see this.
Sadly, the artists who’ve come before and done people wrong, are making it difficult for the new artists coming through now and need help. Many of the DJs, promoters, and street team guys have been burned so many times that they are reluctant to work with anyone new. It hurts everyone, especially the industry.
Relationships are key to success in this business. It’s important to guard your relationships and connections as tightly as you guard your money—in fact, when the money is gone, all you’ll have left are your relationships. At the very least, call everyone that has helped you get to whatever level you are at right now, and tell them thank you! Maybe even ask them if there’s anything you can do for them…
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
January Issue 2008
Business Plans
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition
My office is red. It’s not a Blood or a Crip thing, hell, my car is blue. It’s just that it was planned around a red chair that I liked in a store, and the next thing I knew, most of the chairs, accessories, and stuff were red to match that first chair.
I don’t mind it at all. It wasn’t planned to be red, but it worked out nicely since my office is so comfortable and pretty. Rarely does not planning something out ahead of time, work out so nicely.
My office set-up did take some planning. Once I decided on the location for it (Buckhead), I then had to make sure I could afford it every month. Office expense is more than just rent—it’s heat, electric, cable, high speed internet, security, furnishings, and payroll for staff. What seems like it’ll be a quick two stacks a month, turns into a monthly nut of about six stacks. Without careful planning, one could go out of business as quickly as one goes into business.
Spending money on one’s company is the ultimate form of sacrifice. It’s not like having kids where they hug you and tell you they love you repeatedly. It’s like having a husband or a wife that doesn’t love you back. Yes, I’d rather buy a new pair of shoes or a new purse than pay to have my website redesigned, but that’s just not realistic, is it?! The website will bring money into the company while the shoes will only make me feel good for a few wears.
The hard thing about furnishing my office was that the actual chairs and such didn’t directly put money back into my pocket. For example, flyers and web sites are expenditures that bring clients and money into my company. A hot conference room table doesn’t bring in business, but not having one could actually cost me business. See what I mean? So when I planned it out, I had to consider my expenditures carefully. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money.
I tell the labels I consult that if it doesn’t directly impact you selling CDs, skip it. That means a $10,000 set of rims on the wrapped vehicle is unnecessary, but spending $10,000 to press the CDs is very necessary. The artists who tell me they want to buy rims because “image is everything,” need to learn to keep their wrapped truck washed and neat while they build their image as one who grinds hard, instead of flossing wildly. Substance matters. The most beautiful scandalous hooker in the world is still a scandalous hooker. She’ll just be pleasing to your eye as she makes you cry.
Just waking up one day and deciding to get out there and grind isn’t enough. You need to have a plan. While hiring a music industry accountant to put together a business plan for you will cost thousands of dollars, you can put together a plan that will at least cover the basics so you know what you need. There is NOTHING worse than having a hit record with no money to back it up with promotions and marketing. That’s even worse than not being able to make a hit at all!
The best way to foment a plan, is to make a list of everything you want to do in order to market and promote your music. Then call around to see what costs are involved for each. The costs may determine which direction you decide to go. For example, an artist who wants to blitz the entire southeast US will quickly discover that the costs involved in that will make him or her plan smaller and slower. Rather than blitz seven southern states, it may make financial sense to start with one or two and expand slowly as the money comes back into the company from sales or performances.
You may decide that spending $10,000 to give away 2,000 T-shirts isn’t as great of an idea as spending $10,000 on 10,000 snippet CDs that you paid an established DJ to mix for you. A t-shirt is a great way for people to learn your name, but a snippet CD is a great way for people to learn your music. Do people buy CDs because of the name or because of the music? That’s a no-brainer…
Getting into your wrapped van and traveling within a few hour radius of your hometown will expand your buzz beyond just your home turf, and will quickly give you an idea if people outside of your area will embrace your music. For the more serious artists that I consult, I always pull SoundScan for the region where we are targeting to see what type of music the fans in each area embrace. For example, in Washington, DC one can sell more copies of BloodRaw, David Banner, Young Jeezy, and MJG & 8Ball than Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, or RhymeFest. In Philadelphia or New York, the opposite is true.
As you make the list of what tactics you want to utilize, whether it’s local BET cable ads during 106th & Park, or posters and stickers sniped everywhere in the ‘hood, it is important to consider what is legal and available in different areas. For TMI Boyz, we were unable to buy local BET ads in our best market, McAllen, TX, because BET isn’t available in that market. In Atlanta, GA, BloodRaw doesn’t spend a lot of time and money hanging posters or putting up stickers because they are illegal and will come right back down as soon as they are put up, with an expensive ticket to the City of Atlanta to pay as the cost of sniping.
Once you have assembled the list, and priced everything out, you will now know how realistic it is for you to begin your promotional campaign. You may want to start your campaign around the time of year that brings large events to your area so you can reach the maximum amount of people at one time. In New Orleans, it would make sense to hit the NBA All-Star Game at the same time as Mardi Gras, followed by the Core DJ event in March. In early first Quarter in north Florida, it makes sense to hit Demp Week, the Gainesville Music Summit, and TJsDJs—all of which occur within about 30 days of each other. August is probably the busiest month in rap music with the Ozone Awards, Core DJ event, TJsDJs, and numerous other conventions and events. Of course, everyone is thinking that, so you run the risk of not standing out among the other hundred or so artists in grind mode. Regardless, getting out on the road is the key to success. Plan wisely.
This industry is over saturated. There are so many rappers and producers per square inch these days that it’s hard to stand out. What will you do to be different? How will you stand out? And most importantly how will you plan to pay for it all? Without a proper plan in place on paper, you don’t stand of chance of doing anything but wasting money.
Here’s an idea of what a plan looks like (roughly):
1,000 t-shirts $4,500
5,000 posters $2,000
10,000 flyers $400
Wrapped vehicle $3,000 (plus the vehicle)
Art work $1,000
Website $250
MySpace page $100
Travel expense $5,000 (gas & hotels)
Mix CD (to sell) $3,000 (DJ)
$5,000 (pressing 5,000 mix CDs)
Club entry $1,000
Buying drinks for DJs $2,000
Snippet CDs $5,000
So, now I know before I even get in my van to leave my house, I need a MINIMUM of $32,250 PLUS whatever I’ve mistakenly left out (like food). Not to mention, I need to have my music mixed and mastered professionally so it sounds good enough for someone to buy, spin at a club, or play on the radio next to Kanye and Jeezy! And if I am going out on the road, I need to make sure that my bills at home are taken care of so I don’t come home to an eviction notice or no lights.
This is why it is sooooo key to make a Plan. It’s also important to not leave anything out—to try and anticipate all of your needs ahead of time. It would really suck to only have $15,000 in your pocket and start down a road that might cost you $40,000. You’d be certain to accomplish nothing more than losing your hard earned fifteen stacks. And quickly, too.
If you are hiring someone to consult your label, make sure they give you a realistic budget (call printers and pressing plants to check prices to make certain your budget is realistic before you start spending money). Your consultant should also tell you when the expenditures will come up, way ahead of time. Nothing is worse than realizing on a Tuesday that you have to press up CDs in the next week or so, and having to come up with $15,000 overnight to make your deadline with the distributor or for a key event.
Make sure you know what that person’s total consulting fee will be, especially if they are charging you monthly—that’s the oldest swindle in this game. Five thousand dollars for the year it takes to put out your CD is actually $60,000. You can get someone with a great track record for $60K; you don’t have to settle for the local industry wanna-be who probably can’t make it happen for you (for the record, I was a local industry wanna-be in the early 90s and both Do Or Die and Twista took a chance on me and both won. Of course, I worked for both projects for free because I had no track record yet). Someone who tells you it will take just a few months is either lying to you or has no clue--either way, the wrong answer. By the way, you should NEVER give up a piece (%) of your company for someone to advise you. There is no need to do so and you will be stuck with them forever, even if they don’t succeed with your project.
I was speaking on a panel in Jacksonville, FL at Bigga Rankin’s Ghetto Grammy/Hood Conference, and a very frustrated man in the audience asked who can be held accountable when he hires someone (he seemed to be a man spending a lot of money without getting any real return on his investment, and little movement forward). The answer is: anyone to whom you hand money is accountable to you. But the real answer is that YOU are accountable to yourself. If you hire someone to help you that has a limited track record and no real success that you can verify, it’s not rocket science to figure out that you will lose money. Most people do. Very few people in this game win. Very, very few. And it is not a quick process. Putting out a CD takes 6 to 8 months on the short side, and a year to a year and a half on the long side. Make sure you can go the distance. Plan it out on paper and then follow the plan!
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition
My office is red. It’s not a Blood or a Crip thing, hell, my car is blue. It’s just that it was planned around a red chair that I liked in a store, and the next thing I knew, most of the chairs, accessories, and stuff were red to match that first chair.
I don’t mind it at all. It wasn’t planned to be red, but it worked out nicely since my office is so comfortable and pretty. Rarely does not planning something out ahead of time, work out so nicely.
My office set-up did take some planning. Once I decided on the location for it (Buckhead), I then had to make sure I could afford it every month. Office expense is more than just rent—it’s heat, electric, cable, high speed internet, security, furnishings, and payroll for staff. What seems like it’ll be a quick two stacks a month, turns into a monthly nut of about six stacks. Without careful planning, one could go out of business as quickly as one goes into business.
Spending money on one’s company is the ultimate form of sacrifice. It’s not like having kids where they hug you and tell you they love you repeatedly. It’s like having a husband or a wife that doesn’t love you back. Yes, I’d rather buy a new pair of shoes or a new purse than pay to have my website redesigned, but that’s just not realistic, is it?! The website will bring money into the company while the shoes will only make me feel good for a few wears.
The hard thing about furnishing my office was that the actual chairs and such didn’t directly put money back into my pocket. For example, flyers and web sites are expenditures that bring clients and money into my company. A hot conference room table doesn’t bring in business, but not having one could actually cost me business. See what I mean? So when I planned it out, I had to consider my expenditures carefully. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money.
I tell the labels I consult that if it doesn’t directly impact you selling CDs, skip it. That means a $10,000 set of rims on the wrapped vehicle is unnecessary, but spending $10,000 to press the CDs is very necessary. The artists who tell me they want to buy rims because “image is everything,” need to learn to keep their wrapped truck washed and neat while they build their image as one who grinds hard, instead of flossing wildly. Substance matters. The most beautiful scandalous hooker in the world is still a scandalous hooker. She’ll just be pleasing to your eye as she makes you cry.
Just waking up one day and deciding to get out there and grind isn’t enough. You need to have a plan. While hiring a music industry accountant to put together a business plan for you will cost thousands of dollars, you can put together a plan that will at least cover the basics so you know what you need. There is NOTHING worse than having a hit record with no money to back it up with promotions and marketing. That’s even worse than not being able to make a hit at all!
The best way to foment a plan, is to make a list of everything you want to do in order to market and promote your music. Then call around to see what costs are involved for each. The costs may determine which direction you decide to go. For example, an artist who wants to blitz the entire southeast US will quickly discover that the costs involved in that will make him or her plan smaller and slower. Rather than blitz seven southern states, it may make financial sense to start with one or two and expand slowly as the money comes back into the company from sales or performances.
You may decide that spending $10,000 to give away 2,000 T-shirts isn’t as great of an idea as spending $10,000 on 10,000 snippet CDs that you paid an established DJ to mix for you. A t-shirt is a great way for people to learn your name, but a snippet CD is a great way for people to learn your music. Do people buy CDs because of the name or because of the music? That’s a no-brainer…
Getting into your wrapped van and traveling within a few hour radius of your hometown will expand your buzz beyond just your home turf, and will quickly give you an idea if people outside of your area will embrace your music. For the more serious artists that I consult, I always pull SoundScan for the region where we are targeting to see what type of music the fans in each area embrace. For example, in Washington, DC one can sell more copies of BloodRaw, David Banner, Young Jeezy, and MJG & 8Ball than Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, or RhymeFest. In Philadelphia or New York, the opposite is true.
As you make the list of what tactics you want to utilize, whether it’s local BET cable ads during 106th & Park, or posters and stickers sniped everywhere in the ‘hood, it is important to consider what is legal and available in different areas. For TMI Boyz, we were unable to buy local BET ads in our best market, McAllen, TX, because BET isn’t available in that market. In Atlanta, GA, BloodRaw doesn’t spend a lot of time and money hanging posters or putting up stickers because they are illegal and will come right back down as soon as they are put up, with an expensive ticket to the City of Atlanta to pay as the cost of sniping.
Once you have assembled the list, and priced everything out, you will now know how realistic it is for you to begin your promotional campaign. You may want to start your campaign around the time of year that brings large events to your area so you can reach the maximum amount of people at one time. In New Orleans, it would make sense to hit the NBA All-Star Game at the same time as Mardi Gras, followed by the Core DJ event in March. In early first Quarter in north Florida, it makes sense to hit Demp Week, the Gainesville Music Summit, and TJsDJs—all of which occur within about 30 days of each other. August is probably the busiest month in rap music with the Ozone Awards, Core DJ event, TJsDJs, and numerous other conventions and events. Of course, everyone is thinking that, so you run the risk of not standing out among the other hundred or so artists in grind mode. Regardless, getting out on the road is the key to success. Plan wisely.
This industry is over saturated. There are so many rappers and producers per square inch these days that it’s hard to stand out. What will you do to be different? How will you stand out? And most importantly how will you plan to pay for it all? Without a proper plan in place on paper, you don’t stand of chance of doing anything but wasting money.
Here’s an idea of what a plan looks like (roughly):
1,000 t-shirts $4,500
5,000 posters $2,000
10,000 flyers $400
Wrapped vehicle $3,000 (plus the vehicle)
Art work $1,000
Website $250
MySpace page $100
Travel expense $5,000 (gas & hotels)
Mix CD (to sell) $3,000 (DJ)
$5,000 (pressing 5,000 mix CDs)
Club entry $1,000
Buying drinks for DJs $2,000
Snippet CDs $5,000
So, now I know before I even get in my van to leave my house, I need a MINIMUM of $32,250 PLUS whatever I’ve mistakenly left out (like food). Not to mention, I need to have my music mixed and mastered professionally so it sounds good enough for someone to buy, spin at a club, or play on the radio next to Kanye and Jeezy! And if I am going out on the road, I need to make sure that my bills at home are taken care of so I don’t come home to an eviction notice or no lights.
This is why it is sooooo key to make a Plan. It’s also important to not leave anything out—to try and anticipate all of your needs ahead of time. It would really suck to only have $15,000 in your pocket and start down a road that might cost you $40,000. You’d be certain to accomplish nothing more than losing your hard earned fifteen stacks. And quickly, too.
If you are hiring someone to consult your label, make sure they give you a realistic budget (call printers and pressing plants to check prices to make certain your budget is realistic before you start spending money). Your consultant should also tell you when the expenditures will come up, way ahead of time. Nothing is worse than realizing on a Tuesday that you have to press up CDs in the next week or so, and having to come up with $15,000 overnight to make your deadline with the distributor or for a key event.
Make sure you know what that person’s total consulting fee will be, especially if they are charging you monthly—that’s the oldest swindle in this game. Five thousand dollars for the year it takes to put out your CD is actually $60,000. You can get someone with a great track record for $60K; you don’t have to settle for the local industry wanna-be who probably can’t make it happen for you (for the record, I was a local industry wanna-be in the early 90s and both Do Or Die and Twista took a chance on me and both won. Of course, I worked for both projects for free because I had no track record yet). Someone who tells you it will take just a few months is either lying to you or has no clue--either way, the wrong answer. By the way, you should NEVER give up a piece (%) of your company for someone to advise you. There is no need to do so and you will be stuck with them forever, even if they don’t succeed with your project.
I was speaking on a panel in Jacksonville, FL at Bigga Rankin’s Ghetto Grammy/Hood Conference, and a very frustrated man in the audience asked who can be held accountable when he hires someone (he seemed to be a man spending a lot of money without getting any real return on his investment, and little movement forward). The answer is: anyone to whom you hand money is accountable to you. But the real answer is that YOU are accountable to yourself. If you hire someone to help you that has a limited track record and no real success that you can verify, it’s not rocket science to figure out that you will lose money. Most people do. Very few people in this game win. Very, very few. And it is not a quick process. Putting out a CD takes 6 to 8 months on the short side, and a year to a year and a half on the long side. Make sure you can go the distance. Plan it out on paper and then follow the plan!
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