Clearances

By Wendy Day (www.HelpfulAngel.com)

You are an unknown struggling artist. Rick Ross is in town performing and you have the ability to offer him a few thousand dollars to come by the studio and drop a quick 16 bars. Your cousin knows Akon and said for $80k he’ll sing the hook on your song, you just have to send him the money and the ProTools session. Lil Boosie went to jail and his manager has some verses for sale to keep money flowing to him while he’s locked down. You’d like very much to have Rick Ross, Akon, or Boosie on a song with you. But it’s not as simple as just having the money to pay for that feature…

Anyone who is signed to a record label is technically OWNED by that label. This means that even if a rapper is my friend, and I want to feature him or her on a song, I MUST get the permission of the rapper AND his or her record label to use the song IN ANY WAY. Whether that song that the artist is featured upon is my single, album filler, on a mixed CD, or just featured on my MySpace page for free. Legally, JUST TO RECORD the song, I must have the permission of the artist and the label to which the artist is signed. If I plan to use it commercially (even for free promotion or on my demo to get a deal), I need the permission of the artist and their label. That permission is called a “clearance.”

I am giving you the legal, raw explanation here! But what’s legal and factual rarely happens in the underground music business where everyone is struggling to be heard or stand out. All of those songs that you hear floating around the internet by rappers you’ve never heard of, but that feature Gucci Mane or Lil Wayne, were probably never cleared. So this is where every signed artist is about to get really pissed off at me, because this is one of the ways rappers make money…without a clearance from the rapper and the rapper’s label (business affairs dept or lawyer) you legally can NOT use the feature…even if you paid for it. That little piece of paper (the clearance) means everything!!

It gets worse. In order to CLEAR the feature, you must submit the completed song. It doesn’t have to be mixed and mastered, but it does need to be relatively tight. So, you ask, how do I get a Lil Wayne verse on the record without paying him money to be on the song—a song I might not be able to use? You pay him half upfront to record, and half when it clears. Now, I can’t speak for Wayne, but I can speak for most artists. If you don’t pay them in full for the song upfront, they aren’t stepping into the studio to record with you because they know there is a good chance the song will never clear. This is a gray area that has plagued the music business forever. Most rappers will tell you that’s why they charge indie artists so little, because they might not be able to use it “commercially.” If a signed rapper charges another signed rapper $25,000 for 16 bars, but you’re getting him for $7,500, it’s not hard to figure out that there’s a catch.

How do I, personally, get around this with MY clients? I don’t feature artists on songs who might not clear through their labels. Because I’ve been doing this for a long time, I know who I can easily clear and who I can’t clear. I also have some label favors and artist favors stored up so I can flex a little power when asking for a clearance. For example, if I negotiated an artist’s deal at Universal and come back to them after they’ve made tens of millions of dollars on that artist, they might be more apt to clear a feature for me if I’m not putting their artist on some garbage. They also know that if I am behind a project, it has a better chance of succeeding. If I step to a label where I just broke the contract of their biggest artist, they are likely to tell me to fuck off when I want to clear a feature. Politics.

But what does a local label do that has NO connections to the industry or the major labels? The real answer: You don’t feature their artist. Now here’s where the line gets real murky, because often the more savvy street labels (like CTE, Grand Hustle, Slip N Slide, Big Gates, etc) want their artists performing along with the hottest local artists, but the major label does not. Let’s use Jeezy as an example because he does so few features anyway (now you know why). A new artist would want Jeezy on a song because he’s well known, has street credibility, and it’s instant name recognition for an unknown artist to say he has Jeezy on a song. It makes the newer artist look well-connected, and it might even make it easier to get radio spins. Jeezy may want to be on a song with whoever is the hottest up and coming artist from an area because it reaffirms his connection to the streets. But for Jeezy to appear on a song, you need a clearance from CTE (which is Jeezy’s label that he owns with his partner, Kinky B) and Def Jam. Most new indie labels don’t have access to a label like Def Jam to clear a song, so they pay the artist to get on the record and then they throw it out on the streets hoping that is blows up. Their mindset is that they will cross that clearance bridge when they come to it. They are hoping that the noise the uncleared song will make for their artist will outweigh the bullshit they are going to suffer. And let’s be real—if it’s a hit record, the major label won’t complain about Jeezy being on it. Protecting their investment in Jeezy only really matters to them when the songs don’t blow up, or are garbage because it makes their national artist look bad. Imagine if Jeezy had been on that hit Drake record. Def jam would have happily cleared that! That’s what I mean by murky…

Most smaller labels don’t have the budgets, or the proper connections, or even the experience to make a hit record blow up. The major labels know this, so they are reluctant to allow their artists to perform on a feature. On the flip side, some major labels look at clearances as a come up. Their attitude is ‘if you want to use our national artist that we’ve invested millions of dollars into building, pay us too. You can use our artist and we’ll clear the usage, but it’ll cost you $30,000.’ So, if you are paying $30,000 to the artist and $30,000 to the major label, you can see where this gets a little costly, right? Plus you need radio money, promotion money, DJ money, promo tour money, marketing money, etc….and you’re on your own to market and promote it.

My personal preference is to feature a hit producer rather than an artist because I don’t need a clearance to use a hot Drumma Boy track or a killer Zaytoven beat. But if I want to feature Boosie, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Plies, Drake, Nicki Minaj, or any other signed artist on a song, I have to jump through paperwork hoops that could possibly kill months and tens of thousands of dollars. There are better ways for me to break my artist on the streets. Having said that, if you absolutely need to feature Lil Boosie on your record, you will buy the feature, record the song, and then submit the song to both Trill Entertainment and Warner for clearance (unless Trill owns the masters, then just Trill—Warner’s legal department would inform you of that). Or, you will do what so many others in this industry have done before you, you will record the song and put it out and say “fuck it!” I don’t believe in doing business that way, but many can’t afford the money, or time, or possible “no you can’t use the song.” If you are buying a Boosie feature in hopes of using it as a radio single for your unknown artist, and you have no connection to Boosie, Trill, the industry, or powerful lawyers, you are an idiot trying to use someone else’s artist to benefit your own pocket. Why would any label in their right mind want to help you do that? Look at it from their point of view. This is a business. Now maybe, with someone with power in the industry on your side you could get it cleared, but it’s still a risk and you’re asking a lot.

Lack of knowledge is this industry is the #1 killer of artists’ dreams.

I asked a label head within the Universal system about clearing features and was told that “if the artist fights for the clearance and if the artist is in good standing with me, I’ll usually clear it to keep the artist happy.” Another label head looked at it from a financial point of view during a recession and said “so, you want to build up your artist by using a verse from my artist that I’ve spent millions of dollars to build? $30 grand off the rip, and more if it’s an A List artist. Plus, you can’t put your shit out 3 months before or 3 months after my artist drops!” Hmmmm, sounds like it’s a business.

Then there are the REAL label politics that you have to worry about if you get signed with your song that has a feature. There is some animosity between major labels—for example, Universal and Atlantic, so clearing anything at one label to appear on a release from the other is a nightmare. So if I am doing a deal with Universal for an artist who is signed to Atlantic (remember, most smaller new labels don’t clear appearances ahead of time), I know that getting that clearance will be difficult. I remember hearing a song on the radio with Gorilla Zoe (Warner) featuring Lil Wayne (Universal). I was so surprised that Block was able to clear a Lil Wayne verse. Turns out it didn’t clear and the song was taken off the album after it had already hit radio and was climbing the charts. If Universal made Warner pull the song from radio, what would they do to Little Local Records, LLC? Welcome to the music business and have a nice day.

Changes In The Way We Do Business

By, Wendy Day (www.HelpfulAngel.com)

“The only thing constant is change.” --Heraclitus, Greek Philosopher (535 BC-475 BC)

“Wow! Our shit is fucked up!” --Wendy Day, circa 2009

1. The Absence of Retail From Our Economic Landscape: Whether you want to download music or not, that’s the way it’s going. CDs are going the way of vinyl, cassettes, and 8 tracks. Get used to it. Because downloads are seen by title on a screen instead of pre-packaged in a tangible format, the music business has switched from an album culture to a singles culture. Fans and consumers can pick and choose songs instead of being forced to buy 10 to 18 songs packaged altogether in a cohesive unit. If you want to sell more than singles to your fans, your shit is going to have to be an album of hot singles.

Upside: Consumers only shell out 99 cents for the songs that they want. Artists can see exactly which types of songs their fans want and can offer more music in that direction.

Downside: Some of my favorite songs are the ones in between the singles on albums that grew on me as I listened to them over and over. Now fans make compilations of songs they already like by their favorite artists—it’s like making their own albums by the artist. But it certainly isn’t how the artists intended us to be listening to their music. It’s no longer an art form to sequence albums perfectly because very few people will listen to their music in sequence.

2. Prices Are Plummeting… According to RIAA, CD sales have declined every year for the past 8 years, falling 26% in 2008 from 2007 (the most recent measurement for 2009 sales won’t be available until January 2010). Retail stores are going out of business very quickly. The remaining stores that do carry CDs are mostly big chain stores, so their focus is Top 40 (the mainstream CDs with the highest sales demand). Very few of the places where you buy music are meant to sell music. So you can pick up your CDs along with tampons and greeting cards, refrigerators or washer/dryers, or your weekly groceries at WalMart (if the music has no cursing), Target, or BestBuy. CDs sell for $9.99 to $12.99. In an effort to compete, FYE is trying a new program in 75 of their 600+ stores: they are selling all CDs for $9.99.

Upside: At least there is a place to go for those who still want to get their music on CD. When CDs first came into fashion, cassettes were phased out within five years. I can’t even buy a cassette today if I want one. Also, consumers want to pay less for music and instead of spending $17.99 on a CD that costs less than 30 cents to manufacture (not including marketing and promotion), they can now spend ten bucks. And lastly, the lower price point is forcing the major labels out of the music industry and leveling the playing field so smaller indie labels can compete. Whoever has the best music and can make it for $10 a CD, wins.

Downside: A $10 CD means a wholesale price of $5-- down from a high of almost $12 ten years ago. CDs now retail for a lower price than what the wholesale price was 10 years ago.


3. …And The Labels Will NOT Be Taking The Loss From That Plummet: Almost every label is offering only “360 Deals” to sign artists or for current artists who aren’t selling millions of CDs. A 360 Deal means the record label gets to share in the other income streams for artists besides just music sales. They get a percentage of publishing, a percentage of the touring and show money, a percent of the merchandising, sponsorships, and endorsements….shit, if the artist quits and goes to work in corporate America, I think the label gets a piece of that job paycheck too (just kidding, I hope!).

Upside: As leaner, meaner, more profitable companies, record labels can do what they do best. Additionally, artists who have no access to investors and no business acumen to put out music on their own, can actually still have a career (although, arguably, at a high cost). Lastly, if you absolutely refuse to sign a 360 Deal, you can build your leverage so strong by selling your own music that you can negotiate another type of deal, or you can just do it yourself--finding investors and a team of experienced people to help you is far easier than finding a record deal with a major label.

Downside: Artists no longer just make 12% of the retail price of their CDs after they pay back all of the recording costs, promotional and marketing expenses, etc. Now they get to lose 50% of their publishing, and 30% of their tour money, endorsement deals, and film/tv/book deal money. Where else can you go to pay back everything spent on you to build your career and then keep on paying out of every dollar you make?

4. Magazines Are Dying While Blogs Are Sprouting Up Daily: Bloggers are the new mixed tape DJs. Just as mixed tape DJs used to break new music back in the day, today it’s the bloggers. According to RapRadar.com, the Huffington Post of the rap bloggersphere, there are 100 Blogs or Websites worthy of being listed in their “Blog Roll” list. This means that anyone with a passing interest in rap and some writing skills (or not) can weigh in and have their opinions read by others.

Upside: We get our news and information instantaneously. Voicing opinions have come into the hands of the people and have been taken away from the traditional gatekeepers.

Downside: We sacrifice journalism, quality in-depth reporting, and sometimes accuracy for the sake of having instant information. Also, any idiot with a following can seem credible (Perez Hilton, stand up!) regardless of their training, their access, their ability to write or research, or their own agenda. Additionally, those who are reporting on the famous often want to be more famous than the famous they are reporting on. And lastly, an industry that was lacking in journalistic integrity to begin with has entrusted information into the hands of sycophants, plagerists, idiots, and whores (male and female). Oh, and a few very qualified people with integrity and fact checkers who do this because they love it. This is who and what we depend upon to get our “news” as it occurs.

5. Too Much Information: In an effort to get up close and personal with our stars, we have gotten, well, up close and personal with our stars. There was a time where there was some mystery and glamour to the façade of the entertainment industry. Now we have inner circle access to everyone with a reality TV show, videos to post on World Star Hip Hop, a twitter account, and YouTube uploads. I don’t care what brand of tampon that R&B songstress uses or her ghetto mama, I don’t need to know how much that rapper likes to fuck and in what positions, nor do I need to know what an asshole my favorite DJ can be when he’s drunk. We’ve gone too far… and we wonder why sales have dropped. Stars that we used to respect look like sellouts trying to get paid off of any and everything they can find to keep them in the limelight—Dancing With The Stars, America’s Biggest Losers, their own reality shows (the more bizarre, scandalous, or embarrassing, the higher the ratings). When did it become all about the check, fame whores?

Upside: One can see the reality of what it’s like to be famous so we can either avoid it at all cost or go racing towards fame. People we thought we wanted to get to know-- we can either get to know who they really are or avoid them. People with products to hawk and no shyness can go full out to sell their books, movies, music, clothing, etc. Also, people who got into this fame induced fantasy industry can fully realize their dream--to have all eyes on them.

Downside: Our image of the star is blown to smithereens. After all, familiarity breeds contempt (you may not know that though, as the 48 Laws Of Power hasn’t had its own reality show yet). Also, we get to see how truly ghetto our stars can be…instead of just suspecting it.

6. Fuckboys And Inept Teams : Bad economic times means layoffs and less money circulating in the world and in the music industry. That also means more people out of work who are looking to survive and make a quick buck. While this industry has always attracted a disproportionate amount of people who take money and don’t deliver (or possibly can’t deliver because they are inept), these tough economic times have them out here in droves looking for their next meal. There are more new artists than ever getting jerked (it’s hard to rip off those who know and have been around for awhile), and more than ever coming into the industry with their own trusted teams of inexperienced “managers” who are inadvertently fucking shit up. At least have one person around you with some industry knowledge before you burn yourself out doing all of those features with no-name rappers. In a minute, you’ll have no value, and that unsuccessful label you are signed to will give up on you and shift focus to someone with a better team who’s easier to work with.

Upside: Hey, fuck boys gotta eat too! Also, most people who get jerked out of a couple thousand dollars quickly move onto other industries. This “natural selection” process weeds out all of the extra people in this industry who don’t take the time to learn about it before jumping in with both feet. The last person standing is usually those who know better, or the fuck boys because they have all the money.

Downside: A fool and his or her money is soon parted. Fool! I’ve seen people lose millions of dollars in this business by having the wrong team around them.

Things in life change. Either we keep up with the changes and adapt or we become irrelevant. The upside is that new people coming into the business never knew any other time so there is no reminiscing over “better times” like my generation seems to like to do. None of the changes in the music business have occurred over night. We’ve all seen them coming and been given ample time to adapt and learn the new systems and approaches that work.

One thing that has never gone out of style is hard work. Work hard and educate yourself—no, work SMART, and educate yourself. You’ll find you’re ahead of the game no matter what the changes are.

Radio Spins

Radio Spins
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.IndieLabelBuilder.com)

Thanks to the advent of the Internet over a generation ago, the playing field has been leveled for artists. In today’s climate, an artist no longer HAS to sign to a major label (or any label at all for that matter) to succeed. One can make one’s own music and upload it to the internet to share it with the world. But if you are starting a business, meaning you plan to SELL your music, that’s a different story.

While the internet has made it easier for today’s artists to navigate the industry and sell their own music without a label, it still is a business and every artist needs some business sense and a blueprint to make it happen. Part of that blueprint involves having a budget to pay for the marketing and promotion of the music, for buying tracks or features from other artists, and for the necessary mixing and mastering to bring the music to commercial quality.

Yes, I know the story of Drake. I also know the story of every artist out there trying to replicate his success (and if Lil Wayne and Young Money put a budget behind your third mixed CD to buy radio play, you may have the same level of buzz too!). But while there is no one formula for success, nor one roadmap of how to achieve it, there are some things you can do the strengthen your chances of success. Let me say here and now though, that just getting a record deal should NEVER be the goal. Many, many, many artists who have come before you and that are way more talented than you have been signed to labels to just sit there for years and have no movement forward (on a happy side note, I’d like to point out that B.O.B. was finally given a release date by Atlantic of the Spring 2010! WOO HOO!). The goal is to succeed with a career in music, not be shelved and sit in a holding pattern once signed to a label.

Therefore, to increase your chances for success, you need to work your own project to show the labels that you are a good risk and that they should sign you to their label (if that’s your goal). I, personally, don’t see the need for a label, but not every artist is entrepreneurial enough to put out music, or to find an investor to fund their dream.

When putting out a CD, all aspects must come together to promote that release (and the timing must be on point. All aspects must hit at the same time to be truly effective).

It’s important that you plan succinctly, way ahead, and have budgets for marketing, street and club promotions, internet promotions, touring, publicity, advertising, attending and promoting at events (attendance at conventions and consumer events), video promotions (if you shoot a video), tools (posters, flyers, flats, postcards, t-shirts, etc), radio play, and of course pressing (of the singles, mixed CDs, and/or actual full length CD).

Anytime you start a business, there are costs involved. The music industry is no different. If you plan to put out your own music, you must be able to properly afford it or you are just wasting what little money you have. It’s also important to have someone reputable on your team if you aren’t going to hire a consultant to guide you. While I set up a free website years ago to help people put out their own CDs (www.rapcointelpro.com), no website can tell you whom to hire, which service companies are best, or who is genuinely good at what they do. Experience, connections, and being inside the inner circle in this shark-infested business are the only ways to know who’s who.

Truth is, even the folks who are at the top of their game today may slack off (or be too busy to help you properly), or be replaced by a newer, more hungry and aggressive person only to become the worst at what they do in a matter of months. In addition, there are a slew of folks in this business who make gobs of money from taking advantage of people who don’t know, aren’t experienced, and who can’t smell a con man a mile away. Most people lose money in this business.

Independent radio promotion is one of those treacherous areas where an artist or label can lose a lot of money. Hell, experienced people can lose a shitload of money here, too, not just new people.

It’s important to have a goal when going to secure radio spins. That goal must be more significant that just wanting to hear your song on the radio. Radio spins are not for artists trying to secure a record deal, nor are they for people without a healthy promotional budget. If radio spins led to a good deal that secured an artist’s career successfully, everyone with $50,000 to spend would have a successful career in the music business. And they do not.

If you look at the top selling artists with careers (NOT the one hit wonders), not one of them got a deal from having radio spins. There’s a good reason for that. Having radio spins does NOT guarantee CD sales, only selling your CD is a true test of CD sales. However, spins do often equal ringtone sales ($2.99 each) and single download sales for 99 cents each, which make the record labels salivate at the thought of quick one-off money, but it has yet to build the career of a serious recording artist. Would you rather be The Shop Boyz or Jay-Z? Would you rather have one hit song like “Laffy Taffy” or be putting out your 9th CD like Snoop with multi-million dollar touring opportunities, film and TV deals, endorsements, and other income producing opportunities?

So there is really only one reason to go after radio play: to sell CDs. Any other reason, and you are just taking away a potential slot from an artist who has his or her shit together and who came with a plan.

There are two kinds of radio promotion people:
1) The kind who promise you 300 spins a week (no one can promise you an exact number of spins because it depends on who else is at radio when you are, how hot your song is, and how well it researches at radio), take your money ($15,000 to $40,000), and then deliver whatever spins they can get you (usually 45 a week to 230 a week) at any radio station where they have a key relationship.
2) The kind who understand what your plan and goals entail, and deliver the stations within your marketing territory with which they have relationships, in a time frame that meets with when your other promotional efforts are hitting. These promo people are few and far between.

If you are releasing a CD independently, and the south is the market you are targeting, radio spins in the Bay Area, St Louis, Milwaukee, or Detroit are not helpful to your goal. No radio promoter should deliver spins solely where they have relationships unless you are a major label targeting the entire US. And even then, the majors work region by region so as to impact their limited budgets. So should you, on a smaller scale!

I get calls from folks every week asking me to refer a radio promotion person. Hell, muthaphukking NO! I will give up EVERY aspect of how to put out a CD for free, but I will not give up my radio folks. First of all, they are too hard to come by and if you don’t pay them, I’d have to kill you. Secondly, there are only so many open slots in any playlist, and I don’t need anymore competition than I already have.

Lastly, although not guaranteed, radio often drives sales in our business when used in conjunction with other promotional opportunities, and if you don’t have your shit together, you are wasting their time and your own money. Just because my radio guys do great for me, doesn’t mean they’d do equally as well for you. My experience and the amount of records I bring to them every year sets me way apart from what any of you are doing individually. There is far more incentive for them to deliver on one of my records, than on yours.

Besides, all of my guys will take your money to get you radio play so you can try to get a deal, and if you read a few paragraphs above, you will see that no successful career has ever been created from getting a deal based solely on radio play. In fact, very few deals have even been inked from radio play alone. Yet, every single one of them will take your money to try to get you enough spins to attract label attention. They have families to feed. If you are stupid enough to try this route, they have every right to deliver to you what you are seeking: radio spins! When it doesn’t work, you will call me complaining that my radio guy took your money. It would now actually cost me less to hire him because he made more money from my referral, but I don’t want to hear you complain. It’s just not worth the aggravation!

Radio is expensive. There is no way around that. The way that I impact radio is to work the region on the streets and club level getting the record hot long before I ever go for radio. I build it from the ground up so that it has legs. Then, I take it to radio in smaller markets first. For example, I would hit the smaller markets surrounding Atlanta like Macon, Albany, Greenville, Columbia, SC long before I ever went into Atlanta. Atlanta is an expensive market to work on the streets and at radio, so I prefer to get my record bubbling in the smaller, more affordable places.

If the market favors club hits that people can dance to, that’s what I work. If the market favors more calm ride-to-it type songs, then that is what I work. I match my singles to the markets and bring what the market wants. I never try to force records on people because you’ll lose unless you have Def Jam or P Diddy sized budgets. Kanye’s Jesus Walks was a huge hit for Def Jam. It most likely would have been an expensive failure for an indie label.

Once I see that the record has legs, I take it to the bigger markets. This gives me a story to tell at radio in the bigger markets. It’s much easier to get the attention of a program director once I have spins in smaller outside markets, than it is to show up to a music day and say “Play my shit, it’s hot!” Very few records are really hot and there is no rhyme or reason to what catches on. So it’s important to test your record before you go full out on the budget. Better to lose $10,000 or $20,000 to find out you didn’t have anything than to spend $80,000 out the box to find the same thing out. Once your song begins to spin, it’s important to keep supporting it in the marketplace. I offer the artist for free to the station for a show, or back up the spins through promotional tours or by doing give-aways with the station (tenth caller receives a free give-away from my artist. This can be a t-shirt, a gift card from a store, a contest, etc, or even just a free CD before they become available in stores).

There are also times when you have to believe in your record even if it isn’t catching on quickly. Songs that took a long time to catch on were Webbie’s Girl, Gimmee That, and his Bad Bitch, Souljah Boy’s Crank That, Nelly’s Country Grammar, etc. The key is being experienced enough to know when it’s a good record and when to stop throwing good money after bad.

There’s a term in radio called RESEARCHING. Research is when a radio station does a telephone poll (market research) amongst listeners. They play a portion of numerous songs and ask people if they can identify the song or the artist. If the market research comes back that listeners don’t respond to your song, the station takes it out of rotation saying it isn’t researching well. If the research comes back positive, the program director will often bump up the spins because it means listeners like the song.

It’s important for radio stations to play what the mass of listeners want to hear. Radio is based on ad sales (commercials) and those prices are set quarterly by how many people in the market are listening. That’s called share. Share is all that matters to the radio station because that sets their pricing or income. If Gangsta Grillz Radio in Atlanta has a 10 share, and their biggest competitor in urban music has a 40 share at the station across town, the radio station that airs Gangsta Grillz will make moves to replace the show, no matter how much you or I enjoy listening to it. Everything in radio comes down to numbers and money. Everything!

Lastly, I want to remind you that as you go for radio spins, you MUST have a competitive song. The sound quality must be as good, or better, than everything else at radio. This means it must be made in a professional quality studio, not your basement. It needs to be professionally mixed and mastered. I use Tony Rey at Dirty South in Atlanta for mixing (I manage him) and Big Bass Brian and Bernie Grundman in L.A (I wish I managed him) for mastering. They are the best at what they do for me.

If everything currently at radio is at 92 BPMs, don’t bring in a song at 80 BPMs. It won’t mix with the other songs properly. On the flip side, if everything currently at radio is slow, don’t come in with a super crunk dance record trying to get it spun. Learn how radio works and you are that much more likely not to lose your entire life savings going after the all-important radio spins. And for heaven sakes, don’t ever offer anyone at radio money to play your damn record! That’s illegal!!

Social Media

By, Wendy Day at Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)

I have not written much about the digital or on-line marketplace. It’s not because I don’t think it has value, it’s that because it’s such a cheap means of promotion that I don’t want artists to think they can just promote on the internet and that’s it. Many people choose to promote themselves on-line because they can do it from the comfort of their own home, it’s easy, and it’s cheap (almost free).

Because of that, I am going to remind urban artists that the internet is only 15 to 25% of your sales base (less if your music is very gutter and street oriented), so if you are ONLY available digitally, or only promoting digitally, you are leaving money on the table, and missing a large part of your fan base that still buys CDs and still puts value in the traditional methods of finding out about an artist: street buzz.

Both traditional promotion and on-line promotion are important. You, the artist, are a brand. You need to spread the word about your brand into a movement. As your movement grows, you want more and more people involved in it and talking about it to others. This is the goal of any product, person, artist, or idea that is looking to be spread. It is important to reach people in their environment, on their time, whether they read publications, read blogs, surf the web, play video games, watch videos or tv/cable shows, hang out in clubs, go to the Mall—whatever they do, and wherever they go, your brand/logo/mention needs to be in their face. The more they see “you,” the more they will wonder who you are, and investigate if you are worthy of their time and money.

In a perfect world, you want them dancing to your song in the club, hearing your song on mix CDs, singing along to your song on the radio, noticing your song playing in other vehicles as they drive by, paying to see you perform in the club, buying your mix CDs and buying your music (and who gives a fuck if it’s a CD or the download of your album as long as they are paying for it and not bootlegging it!).

Social networking consists of exactly that—interacting with people in a social environment, in an arena where they come to interact with you. Some great resources are MySpace (they can hear your music and learn who you are), Facebook (they can see who you interact with and who you do business with, plus they see what others are saying about you), and Twitter (they can interact with you directly and read what you say and how you respond to others). One thing about social networking sites is that the genuine y-o-u usually comes out, and hopefully that’s a positive thing!

If you are totally missing the boat, you can use these social networking sites as opportunities to sell stuff and over hype and over promote yourself, but people will tune you out pretty quickly. Or you can be smart and use these sites as little inner glimpses of who you are and what you believe to allow your fans to understand and gravitate towards you (or push you away if you are a tremendous asshole). For example, on Twitter, Nicki Minaj (@NickiMinaj) uses her tweets to talk about “Barbies” and her upcoming shows. As I see her tweets, I realize she is a hard working artist who is always busy and performing. This tells me she has a fan base if she’s doing 5 shows a week, and therefore must be popular. It made me want to research her music and who she is, even though I’m sure I’m on some email list somewhere that has sent me her music. She defines her own words called “Nictionary Terms.” She has stood out from everyone else and gotten my attention. I am just one person….she has over one hundred thousand followers. In fact, on a Tuesday in July at 3pm, Nicki Minaj has been mentioned 54 times by name in the past 2 hours (not including her tweets, nor @nickiminaj, nor any label or publicist tweets). That’s great for a new artist who hasn’t dropped an album yet. And with all of those followers and tweets, she still manages to interact with her fans on Twitter. It’s amazing to me.

How Can You Build Your Brand and Fanbase Using Social Media Besides MySpace & Twitter?

In addition to interacting directly with your fans and the industry on Twitter, you can build a Blog. It’s another great was to humanize your brand and share opinions and thoughts with your fanbase. You can talk about your life, who you are, where you are from. You can discuss opinions on current events and places. You can offer a running commentary on how you spend your days, if it’s interesting enough. You can post photos and blogs along the way. Blogspot, Blogger, and WordPress are the free ones I know about without googling for more. You also have the option to build your own blog on your MySpace page.

For those who want to spread their image as well (which is important), photos, YouTube, or UStream can be tied into all of your social networking efforts. Remember if you go live, that having something to say is important. Not everyone is meant to have their own live reality show. I’ve seen many that are as exciting as watching paint dry. I do enjoy the ones in the studio sessions where I can watch artists and producers record. Drumma Boy and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League offer some exciting ones!! Also, TI’s studio, Echo, has a UStream feed that offers technical tips and do’s and don’ts from head engineer, Dirt! Your live feeds also give you something to talk about , on your Twitter page, blogs, etc, before, during, and after the broadcast.

When I was out on promo tour with BloodRaw we set up his own YouTube TV page and downloaded video footage at the end of every day so fans could tour along with us. We also had a blog page where we uploaded photos along the way so fans could see what we were doing and where we were. By the end of his 40 day promo tour, we had over 12,000 people riding along with us. And that was 18 months ago….before Twitter was popular. I think we’d have more than 4 times the following now since it’s far more popular today and since we could have been instantly interactive (like Twitter).

Podcasts are also a wonderful way to share your brand, and voice, with fans. It’s a quick way to record your voice and share a story or experience in your own words. The podcasts can then be downloaded from your sites or blog, attached to tweets, or uploaded to iTunes if your demand is big enough. Vocals and visuals can often times make a story more exciting than just text. I’ve heard some awesome podcasts by B Real discussing border crossings with weed in his pockets, back when he was touring with Cypress Hill. His amusing antidotes are funny, and are great experiences to hear.

Facebook is a great place to interact with fans as well. A savvy artist can also set it up so that tweets post there as well as on their website, so it gives people multiple ways to reach you directly (or a staff member working for you). Ron Artest’s fake Twitter page (who’s on payroll) is far more fun and interesting than his real page. I’m not even going tell you which is which.

Facebook allows you to post photos, join groups, interact with fans directly, blast information and posts, and keep up with other artists that you’ve befriended or who have similar fan bases as you. It’s a great way to increase your reach and seen as more professional than MySpace (which seems to now skew younger)! As an artist, you need pages at both sites. You can also offer contests, discounts for shows, schedules of events, etc.

Most newer artists haven’t navigated the world of iPhone and Blackberry Applications, but if you have a strong enough following, they are definitely a source of income and promotion. Also, FriendFeed is a newer network that could become a player in the social networking mix for artists soon. It is a social media content aggregator that offers a community of people who conversate around content. And after all, you want people talking about you.

Although it’s important to use traditional methods to spread your awareness and promote yourself, the internet is a great and inexpensive (but VERY time consuming) way to get your name and message out there. The trick is to find the right balance that works for you and best reaches your core fans and new potential fans.

Selling Music In A Changing Economy

By, Wendy Day (www.IndieLabelBuilder.com)

The most dangerous person in the music industry is the one who doesn’t understand how it actually works. They chase false goals and are doomed to follow wrong paths! --Wendy Day Twitterism

We’ve all heard the adages about how during a recession, music sales increase. But we’ve never been through a depression before (they won’t start calling it that until we come out of it for fear people will grip onto their spendable dollars even tighter). And prior to the shitty economy, music sales were taking a nose dive anyway…some say because of bad music choices, and some say due to downloading and free P2P music swapping. Others say it’s due to too many entertainment choices vying for our attention; we all only get 24 hours each day.

Chris Anderson wrote a great book called “The Long Tail,” and what I took away from it was that each artist now needs to reach his or her own niche directly--through building their own movement and interacting with fans, and potential fans, directly. I see it reinforced everyday on Twitter. Those who are skilled at interacting and inviting their fans into their circle will fare the best. Ludacris (@Ludajuice) and Tyrese (@Tyrese4Real) are exceptionally skilled at this. Gucci Mane and Yo Gotti are exceptional at working the streets and clubs. Drake and 50 Cent are great on the mixed tape circuit. But the real challenge is to be great at it all!

I’m fortunate in that the indie labels that I consult are doing very well. They still are able to sell CDs and downloads by spending promotional dollars in places where it matters, with people who are legitimate, and grind like their lives depend on it—which they do. But not everyone has this same experience. The key is to make great music, market and promote it well to people who would buy it, and work harder than every other artist out here.

Word of mouth and people hearing songs that they like are what sell music. Therefore, promotional efforts should be based around letting people hear your music, and sparking people to talk about you. Everything you do needs to revolve around working your single and getting your word of mouth buzzing. Spreading your music while showing your image is important. Some artists use mixed CDs, snippet CDs, YouTube videos and footage, and upload stuff to places like WorldStarrHipHop.com and VladTV.com. Most artists tour and do shows whenever and where ever possible. The more someone sees you is the more they recognize you!

Artists with bigger budgets use radio spins, promotional tours within a 3 to 5 state area, and songs featuring other artists in addition to the other promotional methods. Keeping in touch with fans via phone calls, email, newsletter e-blasts, twitter, websites, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. With the over saturation of music and rappers, it takes more work and more time to sell less music. It almost seems like giving away music for free and selling merchandise, shows, and endorsements makes more sense. It’s about good music and an interesting story to get people talking about you. A fucked up image can do more damage than bad music, however.

While most artists are still begging the major labels for record deals, the smarter artists have realized that working their own project to build a buzz and sell their own music is the ticket to success. The best start is to make good music that has a competitive sound. That does mean that it needs to sound like all the other crap out there, but it can’t be so completely different that no one wants to hear it. The quality needs to be relatively tight, at least professional enough to compete in the marketplace. Can your single be played on the radio between Young Jeezy and Kanye and still sound good?

When you’ve got good music, it’s best to get feedback from DJs and retail stores to see what they feel are the best songs (let them choose your singles). Then focus on the single to build awareness. Depending on the budget you have available (and like EVERY business, this one also takes some money to make money), you draw a circle around your city. For example, you draw a circle that’s a 3 hour driving radius around your city, or with a bigger budget, you draw a circle that’s a 5 or 6 hour driving radius around your city. That circle becomes your target market area.

You cover every inch of that market promoting at clubs, barber shops, malls, high schools, flea markets, clubs, hair salons, colleges, car washes, strip clubs, community centers—anyplace where your market hangs out. If your music is more street (like Gucci Mane, Maino, or Young Jeezy) you focus more on the ‘hoods and streets. If your music is more lyrical (like Kanye or Drake) then the focus is college and high school campuses. I believe every artist should hit everywhere, even if your stronger focus is more street or more college oriented. If your music is younger oriented (like Souljah Boy), make sure your focus is high schools, middle schools, community centers, arcades, teen clubs, and skating rinks. Make sure your music is clean if you’re promoting to younger people.

The best tools to utilize are posters, flyers, t-shirts, wrapped vehicles, snippet CDs, mixed CDs, postcards, so people can see your image and hear your music. E-blasts of your single, YouTube videos and footage help tell the story of who you are and what your music is about. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter let fans see personal aspects of you and your personality. Filming behind the scenes footage also involves your fans in your movement.

Gone is the day where fans want to see artists flaunt that they have more material goods than the fan will ever possess. Gone is the day of having one or two good singles and a bunch of filler to make a $20 CD sale. Today, fans pick and choose the songs they like and free music is all the rage. I read a post on Bob Lefsetz’ blog by the artist Moby, who said that his #1 sold download on iTunes was a song that he’d been giving away for free for two months. Free does help sales as we all suspected.

DJ Smallz told me that the Blogs today are what the mixtape DJs used to be to music. Bloggers are now the people who spread the word about which artists are hot and who’s who. They also now get the new music first. I’ve downloaded more mixed CDs from RapRadar.com lately than from any other source, including the e-blasts that used to spread the music. I find that I am more pro-active now, looking for the music rather than waiting for it to come to my in-box. I’m also burned out by all of the music delivery services that popped up when they saw Digiwaxx controlling the marketplace. We sure do burn shit out in this industry. If someone sees someone else doing something, rather than start a different business, they start the same one whether it’s profitable or not. In the past month, I’ve counted 30 e-blasts services that spread music for a price…most of which is free because none of them can make money with the over saturation. Some of them boast 100,000 email recipients…c’mon now. Are there THAT many DJs and tastemakers in the world? Doubtful. Save your money for the respected ones.

There are a few great services for spreading singles. I certainly don’t mean to say that none are legitimate. Just some folks jumped on a band wagon without the ability to really deliver. In this industry, there are so many bogus people—bullshit promoters, bullshit radio promoters, bullshit street team promotions, bullshit marketing companies, bullshit label consultants, bullshit event planners, bullshit publicists, etc. It’s really important to check the credentials and track record of anyone you give your hard earned money to. 99% of the people in the music industry are full of shit just trying to make a come up off of an uninformed person with money.

Once you market and promote within that 3 to 5 hour radius which is your market area, you build the buzz until there is a strong enough demand for your album (usually after fans have heard a couple of songs and a mix CD or two). You’ll be able to feel the buzz because you will most likely be getting paid to perform at shows now. Your demand will be increasing….more incoming phone calls, more web hits, more Twitter followers, more MySpace friends, more followers at shows, more invites to events, etc. Also, more local artists and producers will be hounding you to work with them. At this point you can upload your music to an aggregator like TuneCore.com for digital sales and an independent distributor (someone LEGITIMATE who can get CDs into stores for you—REALY, REALLY, REALLY check references here! More distributors are bullshit than legit). Once your music is for sale in the marketplace you have to work even harder to get people to support you and buy it. It’s truly a popularity contest, and fans vote with their dollars whether they like you or not!

In today’s declining and challenging marketplace, it’s no longer necessary to be backed by a major label or a sub-label (usually owned by another artist or producer). Provided you have the budget, or the ability to find an investor, the playing field is more level today than it ever has been in the history of the music business. Just make sure you know what you are doing and have found good guides along the way to help you. If not, this can be a very expensive hole into which you could waste a lot of money!

My Judgment Day

By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)

Today was the first really warm day in Atlanta—warm enough to drop the top on the Beamer. I was riding through an upscale, white suburb of a suburb of Hotlanta, about 40 miles north of the city, up by the lake. There was an old Impala chasing me…it was clean! Gorgeous rims, sound system to rival mine, and in great shape. I wasn’t nervous at all about being chased, as I was coming from the firing range and therefore perfectly safe. He pulled up beside me at a light. I had to turn Jeezy down to hear him. He saw my PacNBig license plate. He wanted to know if I liked rap—he was kinda half laughing at me, a middle aged white woman jamming unreleased Jeezy very loudly. I smiled.

He cranked his system back up…the 808 was pounding. The light was about to change. My smile was not because he didn’t think I fit the stereotype to give a fuck about rap; I was smiling because the shit he was listening to was one of my artist friends, and the track was made by my favorite producer. I was in the studio when that song was made, and as he drove away bobbing his head, all I could do was smile at the memory.

On the introspective tip, it reminded me of all of the times I looked at someone, or knew a small fact about someone and assumed I knew everything. I reflected on my relationship with the real Ricky Ross and how he is nothing like the street lure and the DVD re-enactments (he’s even better), or Demetrius who is all about being real and having balls, not just about the flash that surrounded him at one time. I’ve learned so much from both friends about them, life, loyalty, truth, and myself.

T.I. told us, on his last album, to appreciate what we have instead of focusing on what we don’t have. In a world where materialism is king, and fame and money are the alter at which we worship, it’s hard to remember to be thankful for what we have. I tend to focus on my losses instead of the successes. And in 2008, I got sucked in to giving attention to my haters and detractors instead of the thousands of people who love and support me in this industry—detractors that are barely in the industry one short year later. Look, I’m doing it again in making my point…grrrrr!

I’ve been soul searching a lot this past year as many of you know who follow my ramblings and writings. I’m bored with this declining industry. And then it hit me all at once this week: if I don’t like the way that it is, I’m going to have to change it. Or at least change my little section of it. I suck at keeping in touch with folks, which is pathetic because this is a who-you-know industry. I’ve decided to create a strong inner circle of people around me who are successful at what they do, those who really want to implement positive change, and anyone interested in moving together as part of a team. United we stand, divided we fall. We can bitch about the haters, the lack of creativity in the music, and the declining sales in the marketplace, but until we do something about it, this is what we will be stuck with.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the current environment, I just hate some of the things that are making it stagnant and ruining the business side of what we do. The plus side is that a depression in any economy forces out those who don’t have passion or staying power. It forces out the bad business folks. It forces out, naturally, the bullshit. This week marks the beginning of my 18th year in the urban music business. I’m still doing today what I started when I got into the industry—helping artists. Some of you haven’t even lived as long as I’ve been making a difference in urban music. There are years where I didn’t make a dime, and years where I made a grip of gwop. Neither slowed me down or stopped me. Money doesn’t drive me. There are years where my name came up often and years where folks barely heard from me. But I’m still here. I am tremendously thankful that I am still good at what I do, still successful, and that I am still relevant (at least in most circles).

I had a long discussion with a wise friend last week. He told me about when he was locked down and sitting in the hole for the sixth consecutive week. He shared with me that it wasn’t the memories of the material shit that kept him sane or brought him joy. He couldn’t recall how the new Bentley smelled, or how it felt to move into the 15,000 square foot house, or even how it felt to fuck three women at once. But he distinctly recalled his baby’s touch. Those irreplaceable moments are what saw him through.

I remembered back to a time when I didn’t care what I drove (a 1995 Isuzu Rodeo), or what I wore (pajama bottoms from Target run $11), or what purse I carried (a $20 back pack holds more than a thousand dollar Gucci purse any day). I looked around my cluttered house that’s so overcrowded with stuff I don’t need that I bought on shopping trips that I thought were making me happy at the time. Truth is, if my house caught fire in the middle of the night, I’d grab my little dog, photos of my Mom and my boyfriend that I can’t replace, and probably my baby blanket that has sentimental value to me. Everything else can go.

After I did the Cash Money $30 million deal, they didn’t pay me (please don’t email me about this: I sued them and long story short, three years after I did their deal, they paid me right before we went to court). Because I had been cash advancing my credit cards to survive while I worked their deal, not getting paid had resounding affects. I got evicted, my credit went into the toilet (which lasted until just a couple years ago), and I lost everything I owned in the eviction. A humbling experience. But it sure made moving easy, and rebuilding fun. Some of the stuff I can’t ever get back like baby pictures, photos of my father who passed away, old out of print books, demo tapes from now-famous rappers, etc. But it’s all just stuff!! I really didn’t lose anything—I got to keep me. It’s like my friend said about sitting in solitary confinement…what he missed most was his daughter’s touch. The stuff that matters…

Materialism: Worshipping At The Alter of a False God

We’ve always had excessive materialism in urban music. In the early 80s, I heard Slick Rick say in a rhyme that he had his Ballys on. Once I learned that they were shoes, I couldn’t go buy a pair of Ballys fast enough. When you grow up poor with nothing, you want to be able to obtain whatever you feel you’ve missed out on, it’s just natural human desire. The Hip Hop Nation is no different.

I wanted to own all of the things that I grew up around, but could never afford. Having been raised with morals, ethics, and a conscience slowed me down a bit, but I found industries where there was a fast track to money. For a minute I rebelled against my love affair with money, and studied African American studies with the intention of helping young Black folks start businesses—the only true way that I saw to empower oneself. Often distracted from that path by the glitz of the music industry, and by the smoke and mirrors of fame, I found my journey to be more cyclical than an even growth upwards.

And the music seemed to follow my own evolution. The positive lyrics of Public Enemy in the late 80s clashed with Jay Z and Biggie’s early love of popping bottles in the early 90s, just as today Lupe Fiasco and Talib Kweli try to overtake Young Jeezy and T.I. in my CD changer. But here’s what I have learned over the years, and if sharing my insight helps one person reading this, then today is a great day: Balance and moderation, in life, are key! Materialism and the love of money is not necessarily evil—it’s letting them control and consume your life that is. Just as we all need toys and trinkets to play with, so do we need things in our life that give us hope and something to believe in!

Making money for the sake of buying shit and collecting cash is empty. Doing something you believe in and are passionate about is fulfilling. Collecting trinkets and souvenirs along the way makes perfect sense, provided it is done with intelligence and wisdom. Buying a $125,000 car to drive doesn’t make good financial sense if you can’t afford it or if you have other more important things to do with your money. Then your trinket becomes another source of stress….just ask most of the rappers out here who didn’t figure that their careers wouldn’t always be on an upswing and got in over their heads.

This is probably a great place to interject that making music or songs for the sake of collecting a check is also empty. If your music isn’t based on truth and your own passion, you may sell a few CDs and downloads at first, but your follow up release will tank heavily when the fans catch on that you’re just a gimmick. The masses will have moved on to the next gimmick, and the 100,000 or so hard core fans that do believe in your movement won’t keep you afloat unless you are indie—and you aren’t, because you chased that big advance check (which is long gone). The music industry is not the new dope game. There are no quick licks to hit here, I promise you!

I’ve been reading a lot of goal setting and motivational books over the past year. They helped to an extent…but I had to do the inner work myself. I had to figure out what makes me happy and what I really want to do next with my life (sometimes it’s as much pressure to reach your goals and have to figure out what’s next, then it is to never reach a goal to begin with LOL). I had to fix the problems in my life and celebrate the positives. This was challenging because I tend to focus on what I don’t have and what went wrong, rather than to focus on the blessings I have and what went right.

I’ve decided to get more organized, be more active in the positive segments of my community, and to make changes to the aspects of this industry that I don’t like (but have the ability to impact). I’m becoming less judgmental, less know-it-all prone, and more generous and sharing than ever (which is a challenge because I was already pretty open with that). I’m expanding my inner circle to include like-minded successful folks, and I’m devoting more time to helping those less fortunate (my personal focus is on non-violent offenders who are incarcerated). The negative folks around me and those looking to tear others down rather than build themselves up can all eat a fat baby’s dick. They no longer exist in my vision and I refuse to give any credence or energy to them. They’ll fade away in a minute anyway, as they always do.

"Your values are in disarray, prioritized horribly
Unhappy with your riches 'cause you're piss poor morally"
--T.I. "Live Your Life"

“Dancing With The Devil”

By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition

Mark Curry is my new poster child for Rap Coalition, but he doesn’t know it yet. Not because he has written a tell-all book slamming Puffy’s business practices, not because he takes responsibility for his own bad decisions, but because he tells his firsthand experience about the shadier practices in the entertainment industry that prevail in almost every company. And he tells it loudly, with examples, and from his experiences in the music industry being signed to Bad Boy for more than a decade.

This is a similar story that I have heard over and over and over in my 17 years in this industry. The story hasn’t changed much in 40 years since artists were given fancy new Cadillacs in exchange for their music, nor does my reaction to this and similar stories change (it always depresses me; I am not desensitized to it). When I sit down with most artists, it’s more of “to what degree did you get jerked?” than “did you get jerked?” Obviously they got jerked. Most do. Sadly, it’s the price many creative people are willing to pay for their chance at “getting on” or some primal need for money and fame. Every time I hear this similar story, my first question is always “why did you stay so long?” The answer always floors me: I believed him. We were family. I knew he needed me so he’d have to do right eventually. He said if I would just wait a little longer, all of my dreams would come true. It’s a building process. My turn would come. All I wanted to do was buy my Mom a house, and he was on his fourth Bentley so I knew he’d break bread eventually. Blah, blah, blah.

Mark Curry was signed to Bad Boy Records through a production company that was bought out almost immediately. It is a way for people behind the scenes in the industry to get a quick pay check. Someone finds an artist and brings the artist to the record label (in this case, a well known street dude). The label recognizes the value of that artist and wants that artist in their camp. The label “tests out” the artist’s talent by giving him, or her, an assignment. The assignment is usually to write a song or make a track for another already signed artist who is struggling for a hit record to “help” the family, or company, or team. In Mark Curry’s case, it was P Diddy himself looking to make a hit single for a soundtrack to a Godzilla movie. Mark delivered.

Once the label is convinced the artist has value, it comes time to pull out the paperwork. In Mark’s case, he says Puff gave him a contract to sign with the middleman. When Mark asked why he couldn’t sign directly to Bad Boy instead, he was told because the middleman was Puff’s friend (as an ironic twist, this same friend is the person Puff testified in front of the Grand Jury that he didn’t know his real name—the same crime that sent Lil Kim to prison in a different case) and actually found Mark and brought him to Puff. After Mark balked at the language in the contract that he was unable to understand, he says Puff was kind enough to send him to an attorney (after Puff allegedly asked that famous question, “Don’t you trust me? I thought we were cool?!”). That attorney, Kenny Meiselas, turned out to be one of Puff’s entertainment attorneys at a strong and credible law firm. Conflict of interest? Not exactly, Mark wasn’t exactly signing to Bad Boy. Mark was advised to sign the deal by counsel, so he did. Puffy then bought the contract from the middleman, thereby putting a wad of money--recoupable money from the artist, in the middleman’s pocket and landing Mark Curry on Bad Boy.

That contract, entitled Mark to a $75,000 advance: $25k was a signing bonus (recoupable), $25k was for the rights to half of his publishing (recoupable), and the remaining $25k would be given to him upon release of his debut album (also recoupable)--an album that never came. Since the middleman had taken half of Mark’s publishing off the top, he received that $25k, so all Mark received for signing to Bad Boy was $25,000. He knew it didn’t feel right, but he focused on the future and what other ways there were to make money in this business—touring, endorsement deals, etc. I wonder why we didn’t see this scenario on any episode of The Making Of The Band. It’s all too commonplace in this industry.

As Mark was consistently promised the opportunity to work on his own album, he was side tracked with tours, writing songs for Puff, and teaching Puff how to deliver his rhymes. Basically, he was put on hold to build the artistic career of his boss. Mark went along with that because he saw everyone else in the camp doing so, and figured it was the way things worked. He watched Puff enact sales pitches on the “Bad Boy family” of other artists and producers to get them to do whatever he needed done. He watched Puff get into numerous legal scrapes to emerge victorious. He watched Puff use Biggie’s death to increase his own popularity, fame, income, and fan base. Mark watched one disgruntled artist after another leave Bad Boy. He babysat other artists under the guise of “developing” them at the label. And Mark watched promise after promise fade into dust, even when he was most desperate.

When Mark Curry reflected on why he spent ten years at Bad Boy without ever releasing his own record, he surmised that he had more value to Puff building Puff’s career. He also felt that it was because he was trusting enough to believe his mentor and label president when he spun him by telling him the timing wasn’t right, or that he was busy with the planning of his next party or his clothing company or his world tour…or the most common excuse: we’re waiting for your budget to be approved (a lie that a label accountant finally exposed upon telling Mark that Puff never had submitted a budget for Mark’s project).

In “Dancing With The Devil,” Mark pointed out numerous ways that Bad Boy and Puff, directly, was able to profit from artists. In most Bad Boy contracts there is a clause stating that the artist has to pay Puff for appearances on a record. Since Puff is creating the album, he controls those appearances on all singles and album cuts. At $40,000 per appearance (even if just whispering “Bad Boy! Bad Boy!” in the background), he can make a fortune on appearances on his own artists’ records. Bad Boy artists often record at Daddy’s House, a studio owned by the mogul. If an artist receives a recording budget of $250,000, that fund can easily be spent with Hitmen producers (you guessed it, producers who are signed to the mogul with a stake in the publishing rights) at Daddy’s House studio (rumored to be the current going rate of studio time at $125 an hour in the late 90s). Not only does the production and recording fund go to Bad Boy owned entities, but it is all recoupable from the artists’ budgets—a double win for any company willing to do business this way.

Mark also pointed out that when Mary J Blige was recording at Daddy’s House, for example, she would be billed for 8 hours in the studio, but may have only used 6 hours. Those additional 2 hours would be paid from her MCA recording budget, but would be used by Bad Boy Recording artists to record-- artists with no ties to MCA. Mark also set the record straight about Kirk Burrowes, a former Bad Boy President, who was allegedly threatened into signing away his 25% ownership in Bad Boy, but was strung along long enough (apparently with the promise of money) to miss the statute of limitations deadline to sue for what he claimed was rightfully his. Once he filed suit, he was falsely painted in the media as a disloyal, money-grubbing liar out to gold dig a mogul (for the record, Puff spent more on jewelry for his women than he paid in annual salary for Kirk Burrowes to run the label during the early years of Bad Boy--his argument being that Kirk was a 25% owner of the label and would make money in the long term). The “relationship” that Puff had with his artists and staff seems to have been a powerful hold which kept them around long enough that they couldn’t do anything about it, and close enough that they didn’t want to….until they caught on and it was too late. In which case, either violence allegedly ensued, or images and careers were destroyed.

There are two things I didn’t like about “Dancing With The Devil,” although it’s an amazingly honest, insightful, and brave book. The way Mark listed names of street dudes who were in Puffy’s circle was a bit excessive. Now, I’m not saying he did not tell the truth, but I don’t feel he needed to discuss by name who allegedly shot Tupac in Quad, or who allegedly killed Puff’s bodyguard Wolf, or who allegedly shot Jake that fateful night that is credited with kicking off the East Coast/West Coast beef. Secondly, while there are more artists than not who’ve signed to Bad Boy and eventually cried foul, shady industry tactics are not the sole dominion of Bad Boy. Shady and fraudulent practices exist at many other companies throughout the music business. It doesn’t seem to be a Black or white problem specifically, but a green (money) problem. I realize Mark is speaking from his personal experience, and it is his autobiography, so he is only speaking about what he knows. Bad Boy is NOT the only company, by any means, in this industry that has been accused by its artists of shady business practices. Although it IS one of the most successful, and has been accepted without due diligence by journalists, the media, fans, executives, the industry, star fuckers, hoes, and party goers alike.

All in all, “Dancing With The Devil” was a riveting read, and a must for anyone who takes a career in the music business seriously. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down til I was finished the book. It is available at www.MarkCurryBooks.com.

“I told you that we won’t stop…” –Sean “Puffy" Combs