By, Wendy Day (www.Rap-Coalition.com)
What is it about the rap music industry that makes people standing on the sidelines assume they understand how it works? Does it look easy from the outside looking in? Are folks so blinded by watching BET and reading a couple of rap magazines that they actually think they understand the ins and outs enough to pursue this shit as a career?
I agree that it’s easier to get into this industry than it is to play professional ball, or be a rocket scientist for NASA (all that pesky schooling), or to be a brain surgeon (again, more years of schooling and actual experience operating on brains). But it’s not so easy that someone can wake up tomorrow fresh off a job at Burger King, and say “I want to be a rap star,” or my personal favorite: “I am going to manage my boy Bo-Bo’s rap career.”
If it was as easy as going to Kinko’s and pressing up some business cards, don’t you think EVERYONE would be doing that? Oh wait! They are!!
One of the saddest days of my life was the day I realized that Hip Hop was no longer a culture, no longer a lifestyle choice, but a business. And a very big business it was. People from outside of the culture were co-opting it and making money from it. I knew that this also meant that the day it no longer was profitable, they’d move on like the fair weather friends they were (we’re almost there, by the way). Lyor Cohen wasn’t tagging subway cars, and his pants weren’t sagging, but his decisions controlled the movement of rap music far more than anyone whose pants did sag. There was a trade off though. For the first time in my lifetime, I was able to see young people of color get good paying jobs in the music business. Some even had perceived power. I was able to see artists make money for themselves and feed their families and create their own companies based on their level of fame. And this was a good thing. This was the 90s.
Then 2000 hit and reality shows were everywhere. Billionaire heiresses became famous for doing nothing but sleeping around and getting high or drunk. The behavior of an Old Dirty Bastard type of character was no longer seen as bizarre or pushing the envelope. Hell, Flavor Flav had his own TV show doing that shit in his sleep!
But somehow the mindset was born in all of this that getting into the music industry is easy. No training, no experience, no relationships….just POOF! I’m a manager! Or POOF! I own a record label. Artists seemingly believe it comes down to “getting discovered” by someone at a record label, but in the 16 years that I have been doing this, I can’t think of one scenario where that was the case. Who is telling these kids from OH and TX and Cali that they can just mail in a demo to a major record label in NYC and they will get offered a deal? That has NEVER, EVER, EVER happened!! The labels don’t even listen to unsolicited material. They send it back unopened. There’s even a question in my mind if most of the A and Rs have the time to listen to the stuff they request…
I get hundreds of emails from wanna-be artists each week asking me to get them a record deal. They have no idea what they are asking me, and they have no idea why they are asking me, but somehow I am a perceived gatekeeper stopping or allowing them to live their dreams. A dream they made no effort to research or learn about. I also get a ton of emails from people complaining that their city has more talent than Atlanta, or Miami, or Houston, or Dallas, or whatever city is the flavor of the minute in the music industry. The PERCEPTION is that the labels get together and decide which city or town will be next, and then they all go there. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Sorry to laugh, but that is so funny to me. These industry folks can’t even decide which artist on their own rosters to put out next and here are these kids in, say, Buffalo NY thinking they are getting passed over for their only shot at music success.
The reason certain cities develop their own industry is out of frustration. When enough talent in one place (artists, producers, DJs, etc)—Atlanta, for example, gets frustrated enough to say “Fuck the industry!” and start doing things on their own separate from the industry, and when they begin to make a little noise on their own, the industry comes running to see what’s going on. If the industry feels they can make money off of a new movement, they arrive in droves to co-opt that movement, signing anyone they can get their hands on at the price they are willing to spend. If they don’t think it will lead to massive national sales, they leave as quickly as they came (see the Hyphy Movement in the Bay Area for proof of this phenomenon).
Rap music is a business. It stopped being just an artform, very sadly, in the 90s. The view of the music industry "putting on forgotten cities" is very wrong. An artist, or a city, has to create its own movement to attract the industry. IF the established industry thinks it can pimp it and make some money, it’s a done deal.
Being a non-sports person, I am going to try to make a basketball analogy, so bear with me. I went to a Knick's game in NYC a few years ago. In watching the team play (not so well), I decided that I could do that better than anyone on that team could. I had always loved basketball, so I went home and practiced for years. Every waking moment, I practiced. But the Knicks never called me to come play with them. I live in Atlanta, where I think very few ball players are from (it doesn’t matter if there are a lot of ball players from here or not, no one I know is getting put on by the NBA). We have a ton of talented ball players here just in my neighborhood alone—yet, the Knicks never called me. I practiced every day and knew I was better than anyone on that whole team. I wrote letter after letter to the Knicks telling them to come to Atlanta and watch players play ball, especially me. I even offered to fly some team scouts in at my own expense. No one came. Looks like Atlanta is just a forgotten city in basketball because they didn’t come when I called.
Finally, out of annoyance, I went back to a Knicks game, and when the ball came out of bounds over near where I was sitting, I got out of my floor seats and threw the ball and scored a basket—all net! A very impressive shot. When folks came over to me, I explained that I was a great player and deserved to be on the Knicks. But they laughed at me and were angry that I interrupted the game.
What did I do wrong? Why didn't they sign me up on the spot? Was it because I didn't take the time to learn the BUSINESS of basketball? It was my favorite sport, but once it left the b-ball courts in my town, it became a business when the Knicks name was attached to it. I didn't follow protocol--learning the sport, playing through school, playing through college and standing out, and getting drafted to a team (one in a million shot). I just assumed it was about throwing the ball through the hoop because of my love of the sport. And I assumed if they saw me do it well, that was all that mattered.
Realizing this is a half-assed analogy, I hope you understand what I am trying to say. If you want to do this for a living, learn the rules and protocol. It's NOT just about grabbing a mic or about a scout from a label stumbling into any city outside of NYC to discover talent and putting your city on the map. That couldn't be farther from reality.... And how sad is it that we all understand how the business of basketball works, but we think we can mail a demo to someone at a record label and become the next major superstar!!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Business Basics
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.rap-coalition.com)
I never thought I’d ever have to devote a column to this topic, but apparently it needs addressing based upon how most folks seem to operate a business in this industry. Here are some basics:
1. Set up a phone for business calls, KEEP the phone in service, and return phone calls. Changing your phone number every few weeks may be the way you normally operate, but when people can’t reach you for business you lose money, opportunity, and momentum. No one could possibly imagine how many calls I get from retail stores, radio stations, and distributors asking me if I know how to find a certain label or artist because all the numbers they have are disconnected. My tolerance for this is very low. I’m not talking about artists and labels who expand from one office to another and transfer their calls to a new number, I’m talking about the hoards of folks who have even placed ads in magazines with numbers that have been disconnected before the magazine hits the streets. Spend the money for a number that stays on and available, even if you have to forward it to an answering service or check the voicemail everyday. Vonage is $25 a month people—there is NO excuse! They even email your damn messages to you and you can forward the calls to any phone number.
2. This is a small industry. Word spreads very quickly. Major labels know which small indie labels and artists are unprofessional and hard to work with, and rarely do the better major labels approach these unprofessional indies and artists for deals--it makes sense really, they just don’t need to. You’d be surprised what is said behind closed doors about indies and artists. In a perfect world, an indie would have many distribution opportunities from which to choose, but with some distributors not making offers because of an indie’s reputation the choices are severely reduced to mediocre distributors, especially with the amount of labels competing in today’s marketplace. I got a call last week from one of my favorite A&R Research guys (a major label’s frontline to find new artists to sign) who told me about a label that I’ve worked with on and off in the past few years. He explained how he left messages at the label, and never got a return call. He had pitched the president of the major label he works for, why he thought they should sign the indie label’s artist. Meanwhile, no one called him back. Go figure!
3. Pay your artists. It amazes me how someone who thinks they have a good business mind could be stupid enough to not pay the artists who have made them money, but somehow this happens enough that I have to mention it. If you are an indie label, pay your artists and producers. They signed contracts with your label, and in those contracts it stipulates when and how much. This ain’t rocket science. For every unit sold, your artist gets a cut. It isn’t much to begin with, and if you mismanage your money, or spend it elsewhere, you STILL owe them what you owe them. So set enough money aside EVERYTIME you receive payment from your distributor, retailer, or customer, etc. You owe them a percent of sales (usually around 12% AFTER they recoup what you spent making the record and on advances) and mechanical royalties (roughly seventy cents for every album sold). We’ve all heard the alleged rumors of No Limit and Cash Money not paying their artists and the artists leaving; don’t let this happen to you. Contracts keep your artists there; paying them keeps them happy and keeps their lawyers from breaking their contracts. If you’re selling units, it’s because of the music and the artist, NOT because of your logo. A logo brand may help, but a record without a logo still sells, a logo without a record does not. Pay your artists. Get the point?
4. If you don’t know what you are doing, seek help and information from those who do. The music industry can be a very expensive place for trial and error. I’ve seen labels waste $50,000 to $200,000 learning this business. It’s not worth the aggravation. Find someone who has done it before, preferably successfully, and ask questions. Or hire an experienced consultant. Or work with another label to learn the way it is done, or hire someone COMPETANT who has. This game is full of people skilled in the art of hype, however, so do extensive research before hiring anyone!!! I also believe the majority of folks in this business to be inept, so make certain you hire someone competent. Ask for references and check them--every single one. In the past, every label that has ever hired me (and I am expensive) lost a grip of money to some idiot who worked the project before me, unsuccessfully. It’s usually the same few people taking folks’ money, and then I am stuck cleaning up a mess. I no longer clean up messes (I don’t have to-- there are too many new people without drama to work with), and I don’t know anyone else who does either, so get it together on the first try.
This is a business, and although it would be nice to have your boys around you since you trust them, that’s not smart business. Hire the best person for the job. You will make more money and then you can hire your boy to do whatever he’s good at, which will hopefully make you even more money. The earliest lesson I learned was to not try to fit a square peg in a round hole: this means don’t put someone into a position they are not right for, just because they are available.
5. Do what you say you are going to do. Do I really need to explain this one? If you tell someone you are going to do something, do it. If for some reason you can’t, call them immediately and explain the situation. Don’t just leave everyone hanging and wondering. This is a business. A BUSINESS! Act like it.
6. Write shit down. Keep track of important information! I was talking to the guy at Ozone who was booking all of the artists’ flights for their annual Ozone Awards. Of all of the managers and teams that he dealt with, only a handful didn’t lose their flight info or itineraries. Maybe this is why artists miss flights and don’t show up? They have teams that are clueless behind them. You are only as strong as your weakest team member. You are making 20% of your artists’ income. Do the work! It’s not free money. And artists: choose the right people to represent you. Maybe your career is short-lived because you chose idiots to propel you forward. And they couldn’t.
Thanks for reading this far, I know it was the basics but I see these mistakes being made everyday in this business. People come and go quickly in this business, and although to outsiders this looks like easy money and an easy game, that is so far from the truth. Labels that were at the top five short years ago, don’t even exist anymore--a true case of killing the golden goose.
I never thought I’d ever have to devote a column to this topic, but apparently it needs addressing based upon how most folks seem to operate a business in this industry. Here are some basics:
1. Set up a phone for business calls, KEEP the phone in service, and return phone calls. Changing your phone number every few weeks may be the way you normally operate, but when people can’t reach you for business you lose money, opportunity, and momentum. No one could possibly imagine how many calls I get from retail stores, radio stations, and distributors asking me if I know how to find a certain label or artist because all the numbers they have are disconnected. My tolerance for this is very low. I’m not talking about artists and labels who expand from one office to another and transfer their calls to a new number, I’m talking about the hoards of folks who have even placed ads in magazines with numbers that have been disconnected before the magazine hits the streets. Spend the money for a number that stays on and available, even if you have to forward it to an answering service or check the voicemail everyday. Vonage is $25 a month people—there is NO excuse! They even email your damn messages to you and you can forward the calls to any phone number.
2. This is a small industry. Word spreads very quickly. Major labels know which small indie labels and artists are unprofessional and hard to work with, and rarely do the better major labels approach these unprofessional indies and artists for deals--it makes sense really, they just don’t need to. You’d be surprised what is said behind closed doors about indies and artists. In a perfect world, an indie would have many distribution opportunities from which to choose, but with some distributors not making offers because of an indie’s reputation the choices are severely reduced to mediocre distributors, especially with the amount of labels competing in today’s marketplace. I got a call last week from one of my favorite A&R Research guys (a major label’s frontline to find new artists to sign) who told me about a label that I’ve worked with on and off in the past few years. He explained how he left messages at the label, and never got a return call. He had pitched the president of the major label he works for, why he thought they should sign the indie label’s artist. Meanwhile, no one called him back. Go figure!
3. Pay your artists. It amazes me how someone who thinks they have a good business mind could be stupid enough to not pay the artists who have made them money, but somehow this happens enough that I have to mention it. If you are an indie label, pay your artists and producers. They signed contracts with your label, and in those contracts it stipulates when and how much. This ain’t rocket science. For every unit sold, your artist gets a cut. It isn’t much to begin with, and if you mismanage your money, or spend it elsewhere, you STILL owe them what you owe them. So set enough money aside EVERYTIME you receive payment from your distributor, retailer, or customer, etc. You owe them a percent of sales (usually around 12% AFTER they recoup what you spent making the record and on advances) and mechanical royalties (roughly seventy cents for every album sold). We’ve all heard the alleged rumors of No Limit and Cash Money not paying their artists and the artists leaving; don’t let this happen to you. Contracts keep your artists there; paying them keeps them happy and keeps their lawyers from breaking their contracts. If you’re selling units, it’s because of the music and the artist, NOT because of your logo. A logo brand may help, but a record without a logo still sells, a logo without a record does not. Pay your artists. Get the point?
4. If you don’t know what you are doing, seek help and information from those who do. The music industry can be a very expensive place for trial and error. I’ve seen labels waste $50,000 to $200,000 learning this business. It’s not worth the aggravation. Find someone who has done it before, preferably successfully, and ask questions. Or hire an experienced consultant. Or work with another label to learn the way it is done, or hire someone COMPETANT who has. This game is full of people skilled in the art of hype, however, so do extensive research before hiring anyone!!! I also believe the majority of folks in this business to be inept, so make certain you hire someone competent. Ask for references and check them--every single one. In the past, every label that has ever hired me (and I am expensive) lost a grip of money to some idiot who worked the project before me, unsuccessfully. It’s usually the same few people taking folks’ money, and then I am stuck cleaning up a mess. I no longer clean up messes (I don’t have to-- there are too many new people without drama to work with), and I don’t know anyone else who does either, so get it together on the first try.
This is a business, and although it would be nice to have your boys around you since you trust them, that’s not smart business. Hire the best person for the job. You will make more money and then you can hire your boy to do whatever he’s good at, which will hopefully make you even more money. The earliest lesson I learned was to not try to fit a square peg in a round hole: this means don’t put someone into a position they are not right for, just because they are available.
5. Do what you say you are going to do. Do I really need to explain this one? If you tell someone you are going to do something, do it. If for some reason you can’t, call them immediately and explain the situation. Don’t just leave everyone hanging and wondering. This is a business. A BUSINESS! Act like it.
6. Write shit down. Keep track of important information! I was talking to the guy at Ozone who was booking all of the artists’ flights for their annual Ozone Awards. Of all of the managers and teams that he dealt with, only a handful didn’t lose their flight info or itineraries. Maybe this is why artists miss flights and don’t show up? They have teams that are clueless behind them. You are only as strong as your weakest team member. You are making 20% of your artists’ income. Do the work! It’s not free money. And artists: choose the right people to represent you. Maybe your career is short-lived because you chose idiots to propel you forward. And they couldn’t.
Thanks for reading this far, I know it was the basics but I see these mistakes being made everyday in this business. People come and go quickly in this business, and although to outsiders this looks like easy money and an easy game, that is so far from the truth. Labels that were at the top five short years ago, don’t even exist anymore--a true case of killing the golden goose.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Marketing
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)
The first record I was ever involved with putting out was Do Or Die’s “Po’ Pimp” in 1995. “Do you wanna ride…In the backseat of my Cadillac…” That was 13 years ago. It’s funny because the industry has changed so much, but the work ethic and grind has remained the same—for the smart artists anyway.
Whether your choice of distribution methods is on-line downloads or traditional sales of CDs, one thing has remained the same: The Importance of Marketing. [This month’s column is dedicated to Grand Prix out of Jacksonville, FL. He’s an artist whose grind caught my eye months ago, but his limited budget has forced him into the reality of proceeding slowly and cautiously. He’s very unique, in that he thinks everything I write is talking directly to him—not in a stalker sort of way, but in a mentor way. And he sends me emails telling me where he agrees and disagrees with me (he finds me negative and mean… LOL) and requests certain topics—Marketing being one on them! This one’s for you, baby!]
But that’s the point….agreeing and disagreeing, picking and choosing what will and won’t work for you. Just because something works for me, doesn’t mean it will work for you! I can only show you what I have done, and then you can tailor it to your region, your budget, and your abilities. And let’s be real here…not all rappers are entrepreneurs!! For every Jay Z, there is a Damon Dash. Or there should be! If you are not entrepreneurially gifted, find someone who is to partner with. Choose carefully and wisely as your career will be in their hands. For every Jay Z/Dame Dash success story, there are millions of failures that you never hear about.
If you live in a city where everybody, even the local pet store, has a wrapped vehicle, wrapping a van would not make sense for you because it won’t stand out (unless you plan to take it on the road). If you live in a major city where everyone who has come before you has posted posters on every wall and abandoned building, so that now all that happens is you get an expensive ticket for their removal, then posters are a bad investment for your project. For the projects that I consult, wrapped vehicles and posters make tremendous sense, so they are part of my promotional tool box.
Part of me wishes I had a column somewhere of “Million Dollar Mistakes,” because I have learned more from other people’s failures than I have from their successes. And how thankful am I that folks share their successes and failures with me—especially the failures because it’s so hard to admit where we’ve fucked up. And then of course, I spread the stories to anyone who will listen so they can learn from them too. Hence, this column at AllHipHop…
Well, I’m trying to be less negative and less mean (no, I’m not really), so I’ll focus on the positives today!
Marketing is the overall image and awareness that is put forth by your brand as you advertise, promote, do interviews and basically spread the word about your music (which is your product). One of the keys is to know exactly who will buy your music, and tailor your marketing campaign to them.
Taking it outside of music for a minute, can we all agree that the person who shops at K-Mart is different from the person who shops at Neiman Marcus? The person who drives a Hyundai, may have different interests from the person driving a Bentley? So back to music now—the person who is listening to or buying Souljah Boy’s music is different from the person who supports MJG and 8Ball. Souljah Boy is a younger audience, more pop music and radio and internet driven, while MJG and 8Ball still make music to ride and smoke to—meaning the fan is older and probably more likely to be male. They are also more likely to buy a CD at the local Swap Meet or the Car Wash, while a Souljah Boy fan may be more likely to download his music to an iPod or MP3 player, or buy the CD at the Best Buy next to the Mall for $9.99.
So, if I was marketing Souljah Boy, I might try to book him on Nickalodeon shows and set up a high school or Mall tour. With MJG and 8Ball, I’d probably do more of a college tour, and club dates reaching a 21 and older crowd. So, it’s important to know who is buying your music. My resource for this is a guy in Atlanta called Scorpio. He is a DJ, DJ Manager, has run one of the DJ crews, street promotes, and works marketing for Crunk Juice. He has a wonderful ability to figure out the demographic for a group or a song, and then this lets me know the direction my marketing needs to take. If you are able to determine who your fan base is yourself, even better. But you better be right. If you are making music that appeals to white skateboard kids and you market to young inner city teens, you are fucked in the gate!
When I was out on the road with BloodRaw in February, I kept dragging him to college campuses because he makes anthem type party raps, and he kept telling me, “Let’s go to the ‘Hood.“ It’s not that one is right and one is wrong, but that he knows who buys and listens to his music. In this case, we blitzed the ‘hoods first and then grew out to the college and party crowds. He had a perfect understanding of who his market is.
Once you know who will buy your music, it becomes pretty clear what your image needs to be to reach your market. In Young Jeezy’s case, he’s that dope boy turned rapper who’s about making money, partying in the clubs, buying material items, and driving expensive cars. In Jay Z’s case, he’s that Billionaire Mogul running his own empire and living the life that this brings. Kanye is the intelligent around-the-way guy who dropped out of college to pursue a dream. Lil Kim and Foxy Brown are the ‘hood chicks that every guy knows and loves.
In terms of imaging, Jeezy could rock a suit, but you’d assume he was going to court. He’s much more at home in some Efizu or Red Monkey jeans and a white or black T shirt with some Gucci or Prada loafers. Jay Z is more likely to be recognized in a button down shirt with cuff links or an expensive Italian suit. Image is a big part of marketing. What is your image? What sentence would a fan use to describe you? Is that description unique or does it fit ten other rappers?
Now, as you promote your image to the masses to gain awareness, it’s important that your message is clear, concise, and easy to understand. A flyer with 20 things crowded on it, and no empty space for the eye to rest, is a waste. Having things mis-spelled or grammatically incorrect is terrible too. Photos that are too low resolution that they look grainy and out of focus make you look cheap and clueless. The look of your promotional materials says a lot about who you are as a person. It would be easier for Plies to get away with something grimy and street than Jay Z or Puffy. Image is everything, and yours should be consistent.
If you have no understanding of design or aesthetics, find someone who does. If you suck at writing copy, find someone who has that talent to write the words for your flyers, MySpace page, website, and CD booklets. Find people who are good at what they do and hire them to help you. Know your role and play it. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Teamwork is key here.
When you choose your own lane, try not to bite what has come before you. There is already a Jay Z, already a Lil Wayne, already a Plies. Try not to copy their style or image or sound. Usually the one who does it first, does it best, so be unique.
I suggest to labels all of the time that they use one image of the artist to have consistency in marketing. First of all, you don’t have the budget of a major label who can afford to market Busta Rhymes in a suit as well as street clothes. Pick one image and use that for your CD cover, vehicle wrap, website, flyers, posters, etc. It is very rare that a fan recalls a new artist’s name. There are just too many new artists. So very often they will go into the store asking for the kid who is rapping next to a Lamborghini on his posters, or that kid who is Pimp C’s protégé, etc. Make it easy for people to figure out who you are. Use one strong image that stands out to market yourself, and sets you apart from everyone else.
When I first started working with TMI Boyz, our t-shirts were so ugly that I would never wear them. We gave out like 10,000 of those ugly shirts. Finally, we had the logo and shirts redesigned. We had everybody asking for our shirts and wearing them (including me). We even had folks offering to buy them from us (truth is t-shirts are more expensive to print, so we should sell the t-shirts and give out the CDs for free. Ha ha ha ha).
Your marketing mix should consist of whatever you can afford from the following:
Promotions:
Street
Radio
Retail
Internet
Publicity
Advertising
Magazine ads
Billboards
Cable TV
Radio Ads
Internet
Videos
Don’t forget to incorporate the internet as part of your campaign. While we still aren’t 100% digital yet in this era, it is a crucial part of your marketing mix. To those of you with no budget who think free internet promotions is enough to build an artist, you are wrong. It is exactly what it is: free promotions, but just one part of your whole marketing pie.
I can’t stress enough the importance of your imaging and marketing. Make sure your messages are clear, well designed, spelled correctly and grammatically correct. And most of all, make sure you are reaching the people who will buy your music, with your imaging, your design, and your marketing mix.
The first record I was ever involved with putting out was Do Or Die’s “Po’ Pimp” in 1995. “Do you wanna ride…In the backseat of my Cadillac…” That was 13 years ago. It’s funny because the industry has changed so much, but the work ethic and grind has remained the same—for the smart artists anyway.
Whether your choice of distribution methods is on-line downloads or traditional sales of CDs, one thing has remained the same: The Importance of Marketing. [This month’s column is dedicated to Grand Prix out of Jacksonville, FL. He’s an artist whose grind caught my eye months ago, but his limited budget has forced him into the reality of proceeding slowly and cautiously. He’s very unique, in that he thinks everything I write is talking directly to him—not in a stalker sort of way, but in a mentor way. And he sends me emails telling me where he agrees and disagrees with me (he finds me negative and mean… LOL) and requests certain topics—Marketing being one on them! This one’s for you, baby!]
But that’s the point….agreeing and disagreeing, picking and choosing what will and won’t work for you. Just because something works for me, doesn’t mean it will work for you! I can only show you what I have done, and then you can tailor it to your region, your budget, and your abilities. And let’s be real here…not all rappers are entrepreneurs!! For every Jay Z, there is a Damon Dash. Or there should be! If you are not entrepreneurially gifted, find someone who is to partner with. Choose carefully and wisely as your career will be in their hands. For every Jay Z/Dame Dash success story, there are millions of failures that you never hear about.
If you live in a city where everybody, even the local pet store, has a wrapped vehicle, wrapping a van would not make sense for you because it won’t stand out (unless you plan to take it on the road). If you live in a major city where everyone who has come before you has posted posters on every wall and abandoned building, so that now all that happens is you get an expensive ticket for their removal, then posters are a bad investment for your project. For the projects that I consult, wrapped vehicles and posters make tremendous sense, so they are part of my promotional tool box.
Part of me wishes I had a column somewhere of “Million Dollar Mistakes,” because I have learned more from other people’s failures than I have from their successes. And how thankful am I that folks share their successes and failures with me—especially the failures because it’s so hard to admit where we’ve fucked up. And then of course, I spread the stories to anyone who will listen so they can learn from them too. Hence, this column at AllHipHop…
Well, I’m trying to be less negative and less mean (no, I’m not really), so I’ll focus on the positives today!
Marketing is the overall image and awareness that is put forth by your brand as you advertise, promote, do interviews and basically spread the word about your music (which is your product). One of the keys is to know exactly who will buy your music, and tailor your marketing campaign to them.
Taking it outside of music for a minute, can we all agree that the person who shops at K-Mart is different from the person who shops at Neiman Marcus? The person who drives a Hyundai, may have different interests from the person driving a Bentley? So back to music now—the person who is listening to or buying Souljah Boy’s music is different from the person who supports MJG and 8Ball. Souljah Boy is a younger audience, more pop music and radio and internet driven, while MJG and 8Ball still make music to ride and smoke to—meaning the fan is older and probably more likely to be male. They are also more likely to buy a CD at the local Swap Meet or the Car Wash, while a Souljah Boy fan may be more likely to download his music to an iPod or MP3 player, or buy the CD at the Best Buy next to the Mall for $9.99.
So, if I was marketing Souljah Boy, I might try to book him on Nickalodeon shows and set up a high school or Mall tour. With MJG and 8Ball, I’d probably do more of a college tour, and club dates reaching a 21 and older crowd. So, it’s important to know who is buying your music. My resource for this is a guy in Atlanta called Scorpio. He is a DJ, DJ Manager, has run one of the DJ crews, street promotes, and works marketing for Crunk Juice. He has a wonderful ability to figure out the demographic for a group or a song, and then this lets me know the direction my marketing needs to take. If you are able to determine who your fan base is yourself, even better. But you better be right. If you are making music that appeals to white skateboard kids and you market to young inner city teens, you are fucked in the gate!
When I was out on the road with BloodRaw in February, I kept dragging him to college campuses because he makes anthem type party raps, and he kept telling me, “Let’s go to the ‘Hood.“ It’s not that one is right and one is wrong, but that he knows who buys and listens to his music. In this case, we blitzed the ‘hoods first and then grew out to the college and party crowds. He had a perfect understanding of who his market is.
Once you know who will buy your music, it becomes pretty clear what your image needs to be to reach your market. In Young Jeezy’s case, he’s that dope boy turned rapper who’s about making money, partying in the clubs, buying material items, and driving expensive cars. In Jay Z’s case, he’s that Billionaire Mogul running his own empire and living the life that this brings. Kanye is the intelligent around-the-way guy who dropped out of college to pursue a dream. Lil Kim and Foxy Brown are the ‘hood chicks that every guy knows and loves.
In terms of imaging, Jeezy could rock a suit, but you’d assume he was going to court. He’s much more at home in some Efizu or Red Monkey jeans and a white or black T shirt with some Gucci or Prada loafers. Jay Z is more likely to be recognized in a button down shirt with cuff links or an expensive Italian suit. Image is a big part of marketing. What is your image? What sentence would a fan use to describe you? Is that description unique or does it fit ten other rappers?
Now, as you promote your image to the masses to gain awareness, it’s important that your message is clear, concise, and easy to understand. A flyer with 20 things crowded on it, and no empty space for the eye to rest, is a waste. Having things mis-spelled or grammatically incorrect is terrible too. Photos that are too low resolution that they look grainy and out of focus make you look cheap and clueless. The look of your promotional materials says a lot about who you are as a person. It would be easier for Plies to get away with something grimy and street than Jay Z or Puffy. Image is everything, and yours should be consistent.
If you have no understanding of design or aesthetics, find someone who does. If you suck at writing copy, find someone who has that talent to write the words for your flyers, MySpace page, website, and CD booklets. Find people who are good at what they do and hire them to help you. Know your role and play it. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Teamwork is key here.
When you choose your own lane, try not to bite what has come before you. There is already a Jay Z, already a Lil Wayne, already a Plies. Try not to copy their style or image or sound. Usually the one who does it first, does it best, so be unique.
I suggest to labels all of the time that they use one image of the artist to have consistency in marketing. First of all, you don’t have the budget of a major label who can afford to market Busta Rhymes in a suit as well as street clothes. Pick one image and use that for your CD cover, vehicle wrap, website, flyers, posters, etc. It is very rare that a fan recalls a new artist’s name. There are just too many new artists. So very often they will go into the store asking for the kid who is rapping next to a Lamborghini on his posters, or that kid who is Pimp C’s protégé, etc. Make it easy for people to figure out who you are. Use one strong image that stands out to market yourself, and sets you apart from everyone else.
When I first started working with TMI Boyz, our t-shirts were so ugly that I would never wear them. We gave out like 10,000 of those ugly shirts. Finally, we had the logo and shirts redesigned. We had everybody asking for our shirts and wearing them (including me). We even had folks offering to buy them from us (truth is t-shirts are more expensive to print, so we should sell the t-shirts and give out the CDs for free. Ha ha ha ha).
Your marketing mix should consist of whatever you can afford from the following:
Promotions:
Street
Radio
Retail
Internet
Publicity
Advertising
Magazine ads
Billboards
Cable TV
Radio Ads
Internet
Videos
Don’t forget to incorporate the internet as part of your campaign. While we still aren’t 100% digital yet in this era, it is a crucial part of your marketing mix. To those of you with no budget who think free internet promotions is enough to build an artist, you are wrong. It is exactly what it is: free promotions, but just one part of your whole marketing pie.
I can’t stress enough the importance of your imaging and marketing. Make sure your messages are clear, well designed, spelled correctly and grammatically correct. And most of all, make sure you are reaching the people who will buy your music, with your imaging, your design, and your marketing mix.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Distribution
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)
A very important aspect of selling your own record is getting it into the stores and onto the websites that do the bulk of the download sales. There's no shortcut here; hard work is the only way to do this unless you have an incredible buzz, a recent sales track record, or a fool proof guarantee of record sales to the retailer. The important aspect in this equation is leverage.
There are three things a distribution company looks at when deciding whether or not to distribute an independent record label: The quality of the product (music), the flow of the product into the pipeline (does the label have enough product to release something every few months), and the economics (does the label have enough financing to be a real record label and cause "push" and "pull" through the retail stores). They also want to know that there is someone on the team that knows what they are doing (experience is crucial).
"Push" is getting the retail stores and websites excited about carrying the record so they'll order it for their stores, and "pull" is getting the consumers into the store or onto the website to buy the record. Retailers are in business to sell records, be informed about artists and their releases, create store loyalty, provide a local service (sort of a music industry center in their local area), and make a nice profit. I find that if you treat them as such, and with respect, they are happy. Websites are in business to attract consumers and sell advertising because that traffic is significant.
The stores don't owe you anything as a new label-- bear in mind they've seen many, many labels come and go. It's your job to convince them you are serious as a label: understand their strengths and difficulties (competition in local markets, credit concerns, the internet, etc), and support them financially through price and positioning and through co-op advertising. This is not always financially easy to do as a small label--it's tough to get a better position in the store than Sony or UNI, unless there is some incentive for a local store to hook you up--liking you is good motivation, bringing the artist through on promotional tour to sign autographs is another good motivator.
In a perfect world, retailers want to carry product that will fly off the shelves at breakneck speed regardless of the price they are charging. Read that again, it's important-- retailers want to carry product that will fly off the shelves at breakneck speed regardless of the price they are charging! Just having a good album does not insure this. Proper set up, a strong buzz on the streets, strong awareness of the project, radio play, a healthy budget spent properly and efficiently, added to good music does insure this.
Bear in mind that when a record sells at a discounted price, the retailer is not absorbing this loss, the label is. The label reduces the wholesale price by a percentage often by offering more units for a fixed price to make up the percentage difference-- for example a 10% discount might be offset by offering one record free for every ten ordered instead of lowering the invoice by 10%. By the way, this free "11th" album is considered promotional ("free goods") and the label is NOT responsible for paying artist royalties on that unit (which is a very good rationale for artists to limit their "free goods" in their recording contracts). Sorry labels, gotta look out for the artists!
Because most new labels don't have a track record or the proper financing to have flow of product yet, getting distribution even locally through a legitimate distributor is difficult. The goal is to have enough leverage to negotiate from a position of strength instead of when you need something. And waiting until you no longer need distribution is hard as hell. That means you have to go to each retail store, convince them to carry your record (often on consignment, if they even offer that), and then convince them to pay you for it. Once the record is selling sufficiently, it's no longer a struggle, but it's still time consuming to go to each store to pick up your money and deliver more records. The internet is a bit easier to convince because there’s no storage issues as there are with traditional retail stores. For the clients I consult, we use TuneCore (www.TuneCore.com). It’s one place where you can upload your CD (music and artwork) and then they send it out to the major internet retail sites like CD Baby, iTunes, etc. Of course, it’s up to you to market and promote your music once it’s uploaded to the various sites.
Once the record starts selling, or has an incredible regional buzz, the distributors will become interested and you just need to ask what they can do for you that you can't do yourself. Is what you'll gain worth giving up 20 or 25% of the money? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A regional distributor (like Select O Hits) can expand your coverage area (provided you can afford to expand your area with promotions). But you must weigh the cost of that service.
When a distributor looks at your company, preferably through a business plan so they can see where you've been and where you're going, they are looking to see how feasible and realistic it is for you to last over the long haul. Do you have proper staff in key positions: retail sales, radio promotion, video promotion, marketing, publicity, street promotions, finance (very key position), etc. These positions can be outsourced as necessary, but the distributor needs to know the company has the potential to last in an industry where most have zero staying power.
Do the artists or owners of the label have experience and connections in the industry? Have they ever sold a record before in their lives? How have they done it? What is the likelihood they'll be able to do it again? Do they understand how the industry works? Will they still be in business down the road or will they fold if things don't go as planned? Are they properly financed or are they in over their heads? Properly financed means enough money to press, create and fill demand, and repeat this process for a few records in a row without depending on immediate income to sustain the company. These are all of the things a legitimate distributor is considering before doing business with you.
It takes anywhere from $200,000 to $1 Million per artist to properly promote a rap record (even regionally) and takes conceivably 90 to 120 days to get paid after the consumer buys the record, less reserves (the amount of money the distributor keeps to offset returns from the retail stores-- usually 25% is kept and then liquidated in 6 to 9 months, depending on who negotiates the deal and your level of power in the negotiation). Can this label sustain that kind of commitment or will they run out of money half way through the first project? What is their reputation in their local home base? Have they sold records before? Do they understand how the music business operates? How hard do they work? Will they continue to work hard or will having a distributor make them lazy? How serious are they about putting out records? What's their vision--where do they plan to be next year? In 5 years? In 10? These are the questions a distributor is asking themselves about you and your project.
If a distributor likes all the answers they ask about the record label (both to themselves and others), they then choose to distribute the records for a period of time (most likely 3 years) and set the percentage they are willing to split (80-20 is great, with 20% going to the distributor and 80% to the label), the length of time in which they are willing to liquidate reserves, and the amount of advance they are willing to part with, if they advance monies at all--most legitimate ones do not.
The more risk they take and the more they give you upfront, the less you will receive on the back end split. The skill in securing a banging distribution deal is how badly they want you and how much power you have when approaching them.
So what’s a label to do? First of all, let’s clear this up out the gate: not every person putting out a record is a record label. A real record label has a small staff, it has more than one release in the pipeline, and it is properly funded. Without the proper financing, someone releasing a record is just that--someone releasing a record. Without being a real record label, there is no “juice,” no clout, and no leverage to insure payment. Please understand the difference between being an independent record label and being an entrepreneur trying to control one’s own destiny (and marketing).
Someone who comes to a distributor with zero experience selling records, one album with no set plan to have others follow, and asks for an advance to market that record, is deluding himself (or herself) into thinking he (or she) will get paid. Without pipeline, it will be difficult to get paid. “Pipeline” is the release of subsequent albums that a distributor would be able to recoup any monies from, if there were returns on a prior release. Therefore it is another form of leverage to insure payment from a distributor.
Distributors have lost so much money on poorly planned record releases over the years that they tend to shy away from new projects now. It is harder than ever to get a real distribution deal from a legitimate distributor, and harder than ever to get paid. It used to piss me off when I saw the bullshit some distributors chose to release, but then I realized that the average distributor knows NOTHING about rap music or what’s hot on the streets, other than “is it selling or not,” so when someone arrives on their doorstep with the “hottest CD in the world,” they tend to take a chance on it. Guess what happens when they lose $50,000 on “the hottest CD” in the world, a few times in a row! It gets harder for everyone, and the distributor stops taking such a high risk on new records. Unfortunately, that’s where we are right now. The market is overcrowded with mediocre music that doesn’t stand out, and doesn’t sell well.
For someone who really wants to release a record, and I am STILL a huge proponent of going the independent route-- it’s not hard to just do it right! This is not rocket science. It’s easier than selling most stuff on the street--and legal. But just understand how it works, what a distributor is supposed to do and not supposed to do, and be able to look at things from the perspective of others: the distributor, the retail store, the promoter, and the radio station. Easy, right?
A very important aspect of selling your own record is getting it into the stores and onto the websites that do the bulk of the download sales. There's no shortcut here; hard work is the only way to do this unless you have an incredible buzz, a recent sales track record, or a fool proof guarantee of record sales to the retailer. The important aspect in this equation is leverage.
There are three things a distribution company looks at when deciding whether or not to distribute an independent record label: The quality of the product (music), the flow of the product into the pipeline (does the label have enough product to release something every few months), and the economics (does the label have enough financing to be a real record label and cause "push" and "pull" through the retail stores). They also want to know that there is someone on the team that knows what they are doing (experience is crucial).
"Push" is getting the retail stores and websites excited about carrying the record so they'll order it for their stores, and "pull" is getting the consumers into the store or onto the website to buy the record. Retailers are in business to sell records, be informed about artists and their releases, create store loyalty, provide a local service (sort of a music industry center in their local area), and make a nice profit. I find that if you treat them as such, and with respect, they are happy. Websites are in business to attract consumers and sell advertising because that traffic is significant.
The stores don't owe you anything as a new label-- bear in mind they've seen many, many labels come and go. It's your job to convince them you are serious as a label: understand their strengths and difficulties (competition in local markets, credit concerns, the internet, etc), and support them financially through price and positioning and through co-op advertising. This is not always financially easy to do as a small label--it's tough to get a better position in the store than Sony or UNI, unless there is some incentive for a local store to hook you up--liking you is good motivation, bringing the artist through on promotional tour to sign autographs is another good motivator.
In a perfect world, retailers want to carry product that will fly off the shelves at breakneck speed regardless of the price they are charging. Read that again, it's important-- retailers want to carry product that will fly off the shelves at breakneck speed regardless of the price they are charging! Just having a good album does not insure this. Proper set up, a strong buzz on the streets, strong awareness of the project, radio play, a healthy budget spent properly and efficiently, added to good music does insure this.
Bear in mind that when a record sells at a discounted price, the retailer is not absorbing this loss, the label is. The label reduces the wholesale price by a percentage often by offering more units for a fixed price to make up the percentage difference-- for example a 10% discount might be offset by offering one record free for every ten ordered instead of lowering the invoice by 10%. By the way, this free "11th" album is considered promotional ("free goods") and the label is NOT responsible for paying artist royalties on that unit (which is a very good rationale for artists to limit their "free goods" in their recording contracts). Sorry labels, gotta look out for the artists!
Because most new labels don't have a track record or the proper financing to have flow of product yet, getting distribution even locally through a legitimate distributor is difficult. The goal is to have enough leverage to negotiate from a position of strength instead of when you need something. And waiting until you no longer need distribution is hard as hell. That means you have to go to each retail store, convince them to carry your record (often on consignment, if they even offer that), and then convince them to pay you for it. Once the record is selling sufficiently, it's no longer a struggle, but it's still time consuming to go to each store to pick up your money and deliver more records. The internet is a bit easier to convince because there’s no storage issues as there are with traditional retail stores. For the clients I consult, we use TuneCore (www.TuneCore.com). It’s one place where you can upload your CD (music and artwork) and then they send it out to the major internet retail sites like CD Baby, iTunes, etc. Of course, it’s up to you to market and promote your music once it’s uploaded to the various sites.
Once the record starts selling, or has an incredible regional buzz, the distributors will become interested and you just need to ask what they can do for you that you can't do yourself. Is what you'll gain worth giving up 20 or 25% of the money? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A regional distributor (like Select O Hits) can expand your coverage area (provided you can afford to expand your area with promotions). But you must weigh the cost of that service.
When a distributor looks at your company, preferably through a business plan so they can see where you've been and where you're going, they are looking to see how feasible and realistic it is for you to last over the long haul. Do you have proper staff in key positions: retail sales, radio promotion, video promotion, marketing, publicity, street promotions, finance (very key position), etc. These positions can be outsourced as necessary, but the distributor needs to know the company has the potential to last in an industry where most have zero staying power.
Do the artists or owners of the label have experience and connections in the industry? Have they ever sold a record before in their lives? How have they done it? What is the likelihood they'll be able to do it again? Do they understand how the industry works? Will they still be in business down the road or will they fold if things don't go as planned? Are they properly financed or are they in over their heads? Properly financed means enough money to press, create and fill demand, and repeat this process for a few records in a row without depending on immediate income to sustain the company. These are all of the things a legitimate distributor is considering before doing business with you.
It takes anywhere from $200,000 to $1 Million per artist to properly promote a rap record (even regionally) and takes conceivably 90 to 120 days to get paid after the consumer buys the record, less reserves (the amount of money the distributor keeps to offset returns from the retail stores-- usually 25% is kept and then liquidated in 6 to 9 months, depending on who negotiates the deal and your level of power in the negotiation). Can this label sustain that kind of commitment or will they run out of money half way through the first project? What is their reputation in their local home base? Have they sold records before? Do they understand how the music business operates? How hard do they work? Will they continue to work hard or will having a distributor make them lazy? How serious are they about putting out records? What's their vision--where do they plan to be next year? In 5 years? In 10? These are the questions a distributor is asking themselves about you and your project.
If a distributor likes all the answers they ask about the record label (both to themselves and others), they then choose to distribute the records for a period of time (most likely 3 years) and set the percentage they are willing to split (80-20 is great, with 20% going to the distributor and 80% to the label), the length of time in which they are willing to liquidate reserves, and the amount of advance they are willing to part with, if they advance monies at all--most legitimate ones do not.
The more risk they take and the more they give you upfront, the less you will receive on the back end split. The skill in securing a banging distribution deal is how badly they want you and how much power you have when approaching them.
So what’s a label to do? First of all, let’s clear this up out the gate: not every person putting out a record is a record label. A real record label has a small staff, it has more than one release in the pipeline, and it is properly funded. Without the proper financing, someone releasing a record is just that--someone releasing a record. Without being a real record label, there is no “juice,” no clout, and no leverage to insure payment. Please understand the difference between being an independent record label and being an entrepreneur trying to control one’s own destiny (and marketing).
Someone who comes to a distributor with zero experience selling records, one album with no set plan to have others follow, and asks for an advance to market that record, is deluding himself (or herself) into thinking he (or she) will get paid. Without pipeline, it will be difficult to get paid. “Pipeline” is the release of subsequent albums that a distributor would be able to recoup any monies from, if there were returns on a prior release. Therefore it is another form of leverage to insure payment from a distributor.
Distributors have lost so much money on poorly planned record releases over the years that they tend to shy away from new projects now. It is harder than ever to get a real distribution deal from a legitimate distributor, and harder than ever to get paid. It used to piss me off when I saw the bullshit some distributors chose to release, but then I realized that the average distributor knows NOTHING about rap music or what’s hot on the streets, other than “is it selling or not,” so when someone arrives on their doorstep with the “hottest CD in the world,” they tend to take a chance on it. Guess what happens when they lose $50,000 on “the hottest CD” in the world, a few times in a row! It gets harder for everyone, and the distributor stops taking such a high risk on new records. Unfortunately, that’s where we are right now. The market is overcrowded with mediocre music that doesn’t stand out, and doesn’t sell well.
For someone who really wants to release a record, and I am STILL a huge proponent of going the independent route-- it’s not hard to just do it right! This is not rocket science. It’s easier than selling most stuff on the street--and legal. But just understand how it works, what a distributor is supposed to do and not supposed to do, and be able to look at things from the perspective of others: the distributor, the retail store, the promoter, and the radio station. Easy, right?
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Radio Spins
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)
I have been consulting independent urban record labels and artists for many years now, and the most misunderstood aspect of this industry is radio. So few understand how radio really works, and an even smaller amount of indie labels and artists understand how to get their records played at radio. Because of the lack of information and knowledge, radio promotion remains an area where one can lose a large amount of money very quickly. And most do.
I have a friend in Detroit who paid $25,000 to a radio promoter on the recommendation of popular radio host at a local station there. My friend did not receive one spin anywhere in the country. He was eventually told the single did not research well and that it was not a radio single. It was too late in the project to hire anyone else. Could he have been told that prior to spending the $25,000? Provided it was true, yes. My guess is that he was taken for a ride and that the radio promoter (whose name I never even heard before), and the guy who had referred the scam “promoter,” made a quick come up on $25,000 for no work. There are two other folks I know who hired a radio promoter in Atlanta who is known for jerking people, and one lost $25,000 and the other lost $15,000. That promoter now works for a major label, so he’s fine financially, but these two labels are out a large portion of their budget for no spins whatsoever. Now they are looking to break bones.
Just last month, I got a call from a guy in the South who has invested in a project, but is totally clueless about the music industry. He name dropped some people in the industry who are excellent at what they do at radio, but not for people like him. When I tried to explain how it all worked, my answer did not fit his vision of how he wanted it to work and he disappeared quickly off the phone. I imagine he will soon be parted from even more of his money by folks who pick up on what he wants to hear, and tell it to him. What is it about this industry that makes folks act like idiots? As I pull up the BDS to see what spins his artist is getting, I see he still hasn’t figured it out. Sadly, the artist has placed his career in this guy’s hands. Who really loses? The artist.
There are quite a few legitimate radio promotion people and companies out there in urban music. I do not understand how the other bullshit names keep coming up over and over again, attached to horrific stories of fools and their money soon parted. Don’t people check references? Are they so new to the industry that they lack any resources to call and ask for opinions? Perhaps there are just that many con-artists out there to make a quick buck, I don’t know.
Radio is a format that reaches hundreds of thousands of people, all day and night. Most markets have at least one urban radio station, and some key markets even have two or three competing stations for listeners and ad dollars. Please understand that radio exists to sell commercials. It doesn't exist to contribute positively to the culture, it doesn't exist to inform the community, and it doesn't exist to break new and innovative music. In fact, it’s anything but. A grip of research has been done by all of these huge wealthy radio conglomerates, and the research shows that when a listener hears a song where they can’t happily sing along, they change the station to hear a song where they CAN sing along. When the listeners change the channel, they miss commercials, and the station's ad price drops because the amount of listeners drops. Simple economics.
Think about it logically for a minute. Lil Wayne’s Lollipop. No one has enough money to have paid for this song to play as much as it is currently playing. The song is a hit record. Radio plays it because kids request it, it researches well, and ad sales will go up. Downloads and ring tones are occurring by the millions.
So how do you get your song played on the radio?
This isn't an easy answer, because the truth is just that many will never get radio play. If an artist does not make music that fits the format of the radio station or if the song is not of competitive commercial quality, their music won't get played on most radio stations. Without a real budget, they won't get radio play. Without a "hit record" today, they won't get radio play. There are just too many other folks with bigger budgets, deeper pockets, and better connections to fill the few slots available at radio today. It's more competitive than ever. The main thing is stop looking at radio for what you WANT it to be, and see it for what it really is--learn the game before stepping on the playing field!
Back in the day, rap music wasn't accepted on commercial radio formats, so no one worried about getting on the radio. Word of mouth was key for spreading rap music, and for a few hours a week, college radio played some. It was easier to get onto college radio back then, than commercial radio today. Somehow, artists felt they were missing something if they could not get added to radio. This increased need for radio play has gotten out of hand today. Now a radio station might have only 4 or 5 available slots to fill with new songs, but there are 50 new records vying for those few spots--with budgets, with well-connected radio promoters pushing them, and with established artists and well-known producers. How will you compete?
The best way to attract radio attention, is NOT to head up to the station to drop off a CD of your newest song. You need to blow it up in the clubs and at the street level first. Back the record up with other promotion and marketing efforts. Let the radio DJs come looking for you because your song gets so hot on the streets and in the clubs. If you have a truly hot record, it will end up at radio. That is the definition of a hit record. David Banner's Like a Pimp, Webbie's Girl Gimme That, Webbie's Bad Chick, Magic's I Drank, I Smoke, Shawty Lo’s Hello, Rocko’s Ima Do Me, BloodRaw’s Louie, Gorilla Zoe’s Hood Figga, Shop Boyz’ Party Like A Rockstar, Young Jeezy and Usher’s Love In The Club, etc, all started out as songs that hit the clubs and streets hard (mostly because there were no budgets available for radio play initially). But the songs started to grow legs on their own, and radio embraced them. You can't buy that kind of authenticity (and many have tried). But there is no way around the fact that if the radio powers-that-be do not think your song fits their format, sound, or necessary quality, you will NOT be getting any radio play. Period.
So, when you hear the more commercial artists getting spins, and you want the same push for your music, you may have to go back and rethink your sound, your production, and/or your style so you fit the format. Also, it’s important to have a good reason why you are going after radio play. Many stations are interested in knowing that you have a complete plan for your project rather than just wanting to hear your song on the radio. Learn the correct language and use it to communicate your intentions. Are you planning on dropping a CD with legitimate independent distribution? If so, what is your release date? When are you going for adds at radio? Are you backing up your promotional efforts with a complete campaign? Or are you trying to secure radio spins to capture the attention of bigger record labels? [In my opinion, this is a half-assed way to try to get a deal. If it was this easy, anyone with money could secure a deal for a $50,000 radio budget. In my sixteen years of experience, I have yet to see someone become successful from getting a deal solely from radio spins--in fact, I have seen many, many, many fail. Because of this, I do not normally shop deals based on radio play. If you look at the SoundScan chart for any given year, not one of the top thirty or forty rap artists got their deal from getting radio play, yet most did get good deals from selling CDs regionally.]
Is it possible for a regional artist or indie label to gain acceptance at radio? Yes. But it all depends on the song, the timing, and the reasons behind it. And most importantly, it depends on your connections and whether or not you have done the proper research on radio. Every city or town with an urban radio station has people who understand how it works. Find the LEGITIMATE people who can inform you. Do research on the internet. Ask people who have done this SUCCESSFULLY before you. It is my hope that this article serves as a good starting point.
I have been consulting independent urban record labels and artists for many years now, and the most misunderstood aspect of this industry is radio. So few understand how radio really works, and an even smaller amount of indie labels and artists understand how to get their records played at radio. Because of the lack of information and knowledge, radio promotion remains an area where one can lose a large amount of money very quickly. And most do.
I have a friend in Detroit who paid $25,000 to a radio promoter on the recommendation of popular radio host at a local station there. My friend did not receive one spin anywhere in the country. He was eventually told the single did not research well and that it was not a radio single. It was too late in the project to hire anyone else. Could he have been told that prior to spending the $25,000? Provided it was true, yes. My guess is that he was taken for a ride and that the radio promoter (whose name I never even heard before), and the guy who had referred the scam “promoter,” made a quick come up on $25,000 for no work. There are two other folks I know who hired a radio promoter in Atlanta who is known for jerking people, and one lost $25,000 and the other lost $15,000. That promoter now works for a major label, so he’s fine financially, but these two labels are out a large portion of their budget for no spins whatsoever. Now they are looking to break bones.
Just last month, I got a call from a guy in the South who has invested in a project, but is totally clueless about the music industry. He name dropped some people in the industry who are excellent at what they do at radio, but not for people like him. When I tried to explain how it all worked, my answer did not fit his vision of how he wanted it to work and he disappeared quickly off the phone. I imagine he will soon be parted from even more of his money by folks who pick up on what he wants to hear, and tell it to him. What is it about this industry that makes folks act like idiots? As I pull up the BDS to see what spins his artist is getting, I see he still hasn’t figured it out. Sadly, the artist has placed his career in this guy’s hands. Who really loses? The artist.
There are quite a few legitimate radio promotion people and companies out there in urban music. I do not understand how the other bullshit names keep coming up over and over again, attached to horrific stories of fools and their money soon parted. Don’t people check references? Are they so new to the industry that they lack any resources to call and ask for opinions? Perhaps there are just that many con-artists out there to make a quick buck, I don’t know.
Radio is a format that reaches hundreds of thousands of people, all day and night. Most markets have at least one urban radio station, and some key markets even have two or three competing stations for listeners and ad dollars. Please understand that radio exists to sell commercials. It doesn't exist to contribute positively to the culture, it doesn't exist to inform the community, and it doesn't exist to break new and innovative music. In fact, it’s anything but. A grip of research has been done by all of these huge wealthy radio conglomerates, and the research shows that when a listener hears a song where they can’t happily sing along, they change the station to hear a song where they CAN sing along. When the listeners change the channel, they miss commercials, and the station's ad price drops because the amount of listeners drops. Simple economics.
Think about it logically for a minute. Lil Wayne’s Lollipop. No one has enough money to have paid for this song to play as much as it is currently playing. The song is a hit record. Radio plays it because kids request it, it researches well, and ad sales will go up. Downloads and ring tones are occurring by the millions.
So how do you get your song played on the radio?
This isn't an easy answer, because the truth is just that many will never get radio play. If an artist does not make music that fits the format of the radio station or if the song is not of competitive commercial quality, their music won't get played on most radio stations. Without a real budget, they won't get radio play. Without a "hit record" today, they won't get radio play. There are just too many other folks with bigger budgets, deeper pockets, and better connections to fill the few slots available at radio today. It's more competitive than ever. The main thing is stop looking at radio for what you WANT it to be, and see it for what it really is--learn the game before stepping on the playing field!
Back in the day, rap music wasn't accepted on commercial radio formats, so no one worried about getting on the radio. Word of mouth was key for spreading rap music, and for a few hours a week, college radio played some. It was easier to get onto college radio back then, than commercial radio today. Somehow, artists felt they were missing something if they could not get added to radio. This increased need for radio play has gotten out of hand today. Now a radio station might have only 4 or 5 available slots to fill with new songs, but there are 50 new records vying for those few spots--with budgets, with well-connected radio promoters pushing them, and with established artists and well-known producers. How will you compete?
The best way to attract radio attention, is NOT to head up to the station to drop off a CD of your newest song. You need to blow it up in the clubs and at the street level first. Back the record up with other promotion and marketing efforts. Let the radio DJs come looking for you because your song gets so hot on the streets and in the clubs. If you have a truly hot record, it will end up at radio. That is the definition of a hit record. David Banner's Like a Pimp, Webbie's Girl Gimme That, Webbie's Bad Chick, Magic's I Drank, I Smoke, Shawty Lo’s Hello, Rocko’s Ima Do Me, BloodRaw’s Louie, Gorilla Zoe’s Hood Figga, Shop Boyz’ Party Like A Rockstar, Young Jeezy and Usher’s Love In The Club, etc, all started out as songs that hit the clubs and streets hard (mostly because there were no budgets available for radio play initially). But the songs started to grow legs on their own, and radio embraced them. You can't buy that kind of authenticity (and many have tried). But there is no way around the fact that if the radio powers-that-be do not think your song fits their format, sound, or necessary quality, you will NOT be getting any radio play. Period.
So, when you hear the more commercial artists getting spins, and you want the same push for your music, you may have to go back and rethink your sound, your production, and/or your style so you fit the format. Also, it’s important to have a good reason why you are going after radio play. Many stations are interested in knowing that you have a complete plan for your project rather than just wanting to hear your song on the radio. Learn the correct language and use it to communicate your intentions. Are you planning on dropping a CD with legitimate independent distribution? If so, what is your release date? When are you going for adds at radio? Are you backing up your promotional efforts with a complete campaign? Or are you trying to secure radio spins to capture the attention of bigger record labels? [In my opinion, this is a half-assed way to try to get a deal. If it was this easy, anyone with money could secure a deal for a $50,000 radio budget. In my sixteen years of experience, I have yet to see someone become successful from getting a deal solely from radio spins--in fact, I have seen many, many, many fail. Because of this, I do not normally shop deals based on radio play. If you look at the SoundScan chart for any given year, not one of the top thirty or forty rap artists got their deal from getting radio play, yet most did get good deals from selling CDs regionally.]
Is it possible for a regional artist or indie label to gain acceptance at radio? Yes. But it all depends on the song, the timing, and the reasons behind it. And most importantly, it depends on your connections and whether or not you have done the proper research on radio. Every city or town with an urban radio station has people who understand how it works. Find the LEGITIMATE people who can inform you. Do research on the internet. Ask people who have done this SUCCESSFULLY before you. It is my hope that this article serves as a good starting point.
Building A Buzz
By Wendy Day (www.WendyDay.com)
In the early 1980s, when rap started, there were few rappers and producers, so they had no difficulty standing out. Today, it seems everyone wants to be a rapper or a producer.
As more people want to get into the rap music business, it gets cheaper and easier to do so. The price of production equipment, recording equipment, and microphones has dropped substantially, making rapping and producing open to more people. And it has become easier than ever to get music to the masses by uploading finished songs to the internet to share them with the world on free MySpace pages, or inexpensive websites. Marketing has become cheaper and easier as one can sit at home and use the internet to market, promote, and drive traffic to one’s website or MySpace page. Because of this, it seems that everyone wants to be a rapper.
The days of needing a record label are over. So why do so many people still want to be signed to a record label?
Regardless, there are less labels, less money in the industry, less people buying CDs, and less positions for artists to get signed to record labels. So if you really want to be an artist, and have your heart set on being part of the traditional music business, you will need to STAND OUT!
You stand apart from all of the others by building a buzz.
As I travel around the country, I meet tens of thousands of people who say they want a career as a rapper (and even more who say they want to be a producer) yet very few stand out. Handing a demo CD to anyone is a waste of time, energy, and has never been very effective at catching someone’s attention. What I do see, are the artists who stand out because they are putting in the work and building a buzz.
Grinding. An artist’s grind is far more important than their talent. Talent is easy to find—people who will work hard are less easy to find. You may think you are the most talented rapper around, but the truth is that talented rappers and producers are a dime a dozen. There are more than 300 million people in the United States.
Not only are you competing with other artists from your area, but you are competing with artists from all over the country. The odds of winning a lottery are probably greater. So how will you stand out?
The best way to do so is to choose an area that’s workable. I suggest taking a map and drawing a circle around your city that extends about a 5 hour driving time away from where you are based. That will become your territory—your marketing area. Your first step is to own the city or town that you are from, and then expand out slowly in that territory (the 5 hour circle around your home).
After you’ve made your songs, you will choose the best one to focus on as a single. It’s best to ask for feedback from strangers (malls, gas stations, and high schools are good places to get feedback) as to which song is your best one. Strangers will be far more honest than people who know you. To build a buzz in your own area, you will work that single locally. That means you will attend all of the open mics, perform as much as you can (if a major artist comes to town, you should be the opening act and you accomplish this by building relationships with the key clubs and promoters in your area), hang posters, distribute flyers—basically get your image and song in front of as many people as possible. Make sure all of the local DJs know who you are (club DJs, mixtape DJs, and even eventually the radio DJs). All of the employees at the local record stores and clubs should also know who you are.
It’s important to promote your song in as many places as potential consumers who’d buy your music will be. So, marketing yourself to retirement homes and nursery schools would not make sense, but college campuses and ‘hood malls make perfect sense. Anyplace where large amounts of your potential fans gather is ideal. As your song and name catch on in your own area, you can begin to expand your buzz within that 5 hour circle. You can also begin to attend the regional conventions and record pools. You should already have some sort of buzz before traveling, unless you are attending to learn more about the business (there are many free websites these days where you can go to learn how the music industry works, however).
On the record label side (I’m talking about the real record labels—the ones that have a track record of success in putting out rap records, not Lil Rey Rey from down the block who printed up business cards saying he’s a record label), the people who sign artists to their rosters are called “A and Rs.” Their job is to help the artists who are already signed to the label make their records, and to find new talent. Since there are tens of thousands of rappers and producers, it’s hard to catch their attention if you do not stand out. Some of the major labels have A and R Research staffs, whose sole job it is to find the artists making noise in their own areas getting radio spins and selling CDs on their own.
I have gone to 12 music industry conventions/gatherings/record pools since the start of this year. I have received over 1,000 demo CDs thus far, and I can’t even sign anyone to a record deal. So someone that CAN sign an artist, how many CDs and MP3s do you imagine they get in a week? The ONLY way you are going to stand out is if you put in the work and effort to build a buzz for yourself. Instead of going to them, you want them to come to you.
The chance of you sending a CD to a record label and getting their interest is so slim that the odds of you getting struck by lightening or winning a lottery are greater. Even with someone very connected in the music business (like me) can’t help you if you don’t stand out among all of the other rappers and producers out there. Great music is no longer enough. You have to have a strong buzz, and you have to be willing to work harder than everyone else—not just in your own area, but in your own region. Without a buzz, you may as well just go get a job and make music to be happy as a hobby. By the way, there is nothing wrong with doing it for the love!!
In the early 1980s, when rap started, there were few rappers and producers, so they had no difficulty standing out. Today, it seems everyone wants to be a rapper or a producer.
As more people want to get into the rap music business, it gets cheaper and easier to do so. The price of production equipment, recording equipment, and microphones has dropped substantially, making rapping and producing open to more people. And it has become easier than ever to get music to the masses by uploading finished songs to the internet to share them with the world on free MySpace pages, or inexpensive websites. Marketing has become cheaper and easier as one can sit at home and use the internet to market, promote, and drive traffic to one’s website or MySpace page. Because of this, it seems that everyone wants to be a rapper.
The days of needing a record label are over. So why do so many people still want to be signed to a record label?
Regardless, there are less labels, less money in the industry, less people buying CDs, and less positions for artists to get signed to record labels. So if you really want to be an artist, and have your heart set on being part of the traditional music business, you will need to STAND OUT!
You stand apart from all of the others by building a buzz.
As I travel around the country, I meet tens of thousands of people who say they want a career as a rapper (and even more who say they want to be a producer) yet very few stand out. Handing a demo CD to anyone is a waste of time, energy, and has never been very effective at catching someone’s attention. What I do see, are the artists who stand out because they are putting in the work and building a buzz.
Grinding. An artist’s grind is far more important than their talent. Talent is easy to find—people who will work hard are less easy to find. You may think you are the most talented rapper around, but the truth is that talented rappers and producers are a dime a dozen. There are more than 300 million people in the United States.
Not only are you competing with other artists from your area, but you are competing with artists from all over the country. The odds of winning a lottery are probably greater. So how will you stand out?
The best way to do so is to choose an area that’s workable. I suggest taking a map and drawing a circle around your city that extends about a 5 hour driving time away from where you are based. That will become your territory—your marketing area. Your first step is to own the city or town that you are from, and then expand out slowly in that territory (the 5 hour circle around your home).
After you’ve made your songs, you will choose the best one to focus on as a single. It’s best to ask for feedback from strangers (malls, gas stations, and high schools are good places to get feedback) as to which song is your best one. Strangers will be far more honest than people who know you. To build a buzz in your own area, you will work that single locally. That means you will attend all of the open mics, perform as much as you can (if a major artist comes to town, you should be the opening act and you accomplish this by building relationships with the key clubs and promoters in your area), hang posters, distribute flyers—basically get your image and song in front of as many people as possible. Make sure all of the local DJs know who you are (club DJs, mixtape DJs, and even eventually the radio DJs). All of the employees at the local record stores and clubs should also know who you are.
It’s important to promote your song in as many places as potential consumers who’d buy your music will be. So, marketing yourself to retirement homes and nursery schools would not make sense, but college campuses and ‘hood malls make perfect sense. Anyplace where large amounts of your potential fans gather is ideal. As your song and name catch on in your own area, you can begin to expand your buzz within that 5 hour circle. You can also begin to attend the regional conventions and record pools. You should already have some sort of buzz before traveling, unless you are attending to learn more about the business (there are many free websites these days where you can go to learn how the music industry works, however).
On the record label side (I’m talking about the real record labels—the ones that have a track record of success in putting out rap records, not Lil Rey Rey from down the block who printed up business cards saying he’s a record label), the people who sign artists to their rosters are called “A and Rs.” Their job is to help the artists who are already signed to the label make their records, and to find new talent. Since there are tens of thousands of rappers and producers, it’s hard to catch their attention if you do not stand out. Some of the major labels have A and R Research staffs, whose sole job it is to find the artists making noise in their own areas getting radio spins and selling CDs on their own.
I have gone to 12 music industry conventions/gatherings/record pools since the start of this year. I have received over 1,000 demo CDs thus far, and I can’t even sign anyone to a record deal. So someone that CAN sign an artist, how many CDs and MP3s do you imagine they get in a week? The ONLY way you are going to stand out is if you put in the work and effort to build a buzz for yourself. Instead of going to them, you want them to come to you.
The chance of you sending a CD to a record label and getting their interest is so slim that the odds of you getting struck by lightening or winning a lottery are greater. Even with someone very connected in the music business (like me) can’t help you if you don’t stand out among all of the other rappers and producers out there. Great music is no longer enough. You have to have a strong buzz, and you have to be willing to work harder than everyone else—not just in your own area, but in your own region. Without a buzz, you may as well just go get a job and make music to be happy as a hobby. By the way, there is nothing wrong with doing it for the love!!
Monday, March 10, 2008
HOW TO PUT OUT YOUR OWN MUSIC
By Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.rapcointelpro.com)
For most of the 16 years of Rap Coalition's existence, we have assisted artists and indie labels with putting out their own records and negotiating major distribution deals for those who’ve done so successfully. In that time we've seen many artists come, and we've seen even more artists go. We've watched artists sell 60,000 units in a few months (at $6 a CD--do the math), and we've seen artists piss away $75,000 in a month to no avail.
One of our goals is to share insights, successes, and failures for those who are inclined to put out their own record. The entrepreneurs; the hustlers; those not afraid to grind. This article is for you...stay strong, stay focused, and keep up the grind. Success is yours, go get it.
Although it started as an alternative for artists who couldn't get a deal, there are two main reasons why someone puts out their own record: 1) to own their own destiny and control their art form by owning their own label, or 2) to get picked up by a larger label or distributor by proving that your music is marketable. You either want to be a Def Jam or distributed by a Def Jam.
Regardless of the reasons, controlling your own project and proving to the world that your music is marketable, while making money, is very attractive. There are many successful examples of self-released artists and labels who have come before: Too Short, No Limit, Cash Money Records, Esham, Slip-N-Slide, E-40, Luke Records, 3-6 Mafia, Big Oomp, Swisha House, Lil Boosie, Webbie, Young Jeezy, and many, many others.
There is a lot of money and prestige in owning your own shit in this industry, provided you have the financing and staff to do it correctly. It isn't rocket science, so provided you have the proper tools and determination, you can make it happen for yourself. That's our focus: doing it correctly-- meaning profitably.
The basis of any successful project is the music. The music must be banging and must have appeal outside your inner circle. That means you don't just play it for your boys, you play it for people you don't know who are most likely to be honest with you about whether or not it's on point. When putting out Do Or Die's first single in Chicago, “Po' Pimp,” we gathered together all the local mix show DJs, club DJs, and some of the local retailers and played a few songs for them. They unanimously picked Po' Pimp as their favorite song, so Do Or Die had reconfirmed exactly which single to press up (and the DJs felt like they played a part in choosing the single). Why spend tens of thousands of dollars on pressing and promotions if you aren't certain you'll have the support of the local DJs and stores?
Once you decide on the first single and press up your record, you market it within a small geographic area that you can affordably control. Unless you are backed by millions of dollars and a flawless major distributor, you don't want to start nationally because you can't be everywhere in the country at once. The larger labels have staffs and budgets to accommodate a national release, but since you don't, start with just your city or town and no more than a few nearby. I usually draw a circle around the city where the artist is based. I make the circle about a three to five hour driving radius, and that becomes the target area.
Make certain you've done the research in all of the areas you choose where the record will sell. Choose areas where the artists can travel cheaply and easily, since they may need to travel often into those areas to support the record. For example, it would not be a wise decision to choose New York, Houston, and the Bay Area for simultaneous release because the airfare alone would kill you financially every time your artist needed to travel to support the record at radio or retail or with a show.
Once the record hits, however, it will spread naturally and you can't control this. When Twista released his first single, Emotions, even though we tried to contain it to Chicago, Milwaukee, and St Louis (all within a few hours driving distance from Chicago where he lived) the record spread naturally to Louisiana, Atlanta, and Cleveland. By the time that happened, we had enough income from record sales to send Twista into those markets.
Cash Money Records focused on Louisiana and Texas for all of their releases until they decided they wanted major distribution and then we expanded slowly throughout the South and up into the Mid-West. At this point they had enough money from their record sales to be taken very seriously by a regional distributor. The success they experienced with this expansion gave me enough ammunition to get them a banging distribution deal with a major, allowing them complete ownership of their masters and their company.
Master P focused on Oakland and the surrounding areas prior to signing to his distribution deal, even though he was getting sales in his hometown of New Orleans. He was not distracted by that and kept his focus on his target area (everything beyond the Bay Area and Northern California was gravy).
Timing is a key element for the project. Once you choose a release date, everything works backwards from that date. All aspects of the project's set-up is worked simultaneously so that everything happens at once on that all important release date. In other words, if a local newspaper writes about your artist or publishes a review of the record, it's important that it comes out at the same time the record is released. It does no good to have an article published four months before the record drops, or four months after. No one will remember it. The street team needs to blitz the streets before the project drops to build anticipation for its release but in a timely fashion. How many times have you gone to a store to buy a record you've been hearing about for months only to find out it's not out yet?
Make certain when choosing your release date that it's a realistic time frame to accomplish the art work, the printing, the pressing, the street blitz, and local press. Don't worry about national press, you'll need that later. Why would you want someone in Oakland to read about a record that can only be bought in Houston or Pittsburgh? As you grow, the national press will come. It won't help you to have a write-up in the Source or XXL in October when your project is local, because when you go back to them in May with a national story to tell, they've already written about your artist and won't do it again. So go for what you need, when it does you the most good.
Don't focus on getting a distributor right away. You'll get a better deal once you can prove your record is selling. You can put your product in stores on consignment, meaning you give it to them and when it sells they pay you. Once your product has a demand and they start to sell units regularly, it will be easier to get paid. If your record becomes a hit and sells quickly, it will be very easy to get paid in advance, and you'll have the distributors coming to you to do a deal. Remember this is a business. As long as someone thinks they can make money from you, they will. If they know they can, the terms will be more favorable for you. The less risk involved for a store or distributor, the better the deal is for you.
Once the distributors start making offers, the best way to find out if a distributor is right for you is to look at the type of music they distribute to see if it's similar. Then ask the other labels they distribute for their experiences regarding the distributor and if they get paid on time. Local retail stores who buy from that distributor can give you great insight as well. If they don’t sell a lot of successful rap CDs, and your record is a rap record, avoid them. They won’t have enough leverage with the retailers to make it worthwhile for your release.
It is important to create a plan and stick to it. Focus and determination are the only things that are going to get you through the chaos of putting out your own record. Many offers will come, most of which are from people who can't do much more for you than you can do for yourself. It's important to weigh everyone's reputation, check on their accomplishments and successes to be certain they are legitimate and true, and be patient and wait for the opportunity that will bring you exactly what you want.
You will not get what you deserve, you will get what you negotiate. The music business is not fair, and seems that one who holds out for what one really wants, usually gets it! Do the research and study the industry so you can figure out what it is exactly that you want. The best part is that you control your own destiny.
For most of the 16 years of Rap Coalition's existence, we have assisted artists and indie labels with putting out their own records and negotiating major distribution deals for those who’ve done so successfully. In that time we've seen many artists come, and we've seen even more artists go. We've watched artists sell 60,000 units in a few months (at $6 a CD--do the math), and we've seen artists piss away $75,000 in a month to no avail.
One of our goals is to share insights, successes, and failures for those who are inclined to put out their own record. The entrepreneurs; the hustlers; those not afraid to grind. This article is for you...stay strong, stay focused, and keep up the grind. Success is yours, go get it.
Although it started as an alternative for artists who couldn't get a deal, there are two main reasons why someone puts out their own record: 1) to own their own destiny and control their art form by owning their own label, or 2) to get picked up by a larger label or distributor by proving that your music is marketable. You either want to be a Def Jam or distributed by a Def Jam.
Regardless of the reasons, controlling your own project and proving to the world that your music is marketable, while making money, is very attractive. There are many successful examples of self-released artists and labels who have come before: Too Short, No Limit, Cash Money Records, Esham, Slip-N-Slide, E-40, Luke Records, 3-6 Mafia, Big Oomp, Swisha House, Lil Boosie, Webbie, Young Jeezy, and many, many others.
There is a lot of money and prestige in owning your own shit in this industry, provided you have the financing and staff to do it correctly. It isn't rocket science, so provided you have the proper tools and determination, you can make it happen for yourself. That's our focus: doing it correctly-- meaning profitably.
The basis of any successful project is the music. The music must be banging and must have appeal outside your inner circle. That means you don't just play it for your boys, you play it for people you don't know who are most likely to be honest with you about whether or not it's on point. When putting out Do Or Die's first single in Chicago, “Po' Pimp,” we gathered together all the local mix show DJs, club DJs, and some of the local retailers and played a few songs for them. They unanimously picked Po' Pimp as their favorite song, so Do Or Die had reconfirmed exactly which single to press up (and the DJs felt like they played a part in choosing the single). Why spend tens of thousands of dollars on pressing and promotions if you aren't certain you'll have the support of the local DJs and stores?
Once you decide on the first single and press up your record, you market it within a small geographic area that you can affordably control. Unless you are backed by millions of dollars and a flawless major distributor, you don't want to start nationally because you can't be everywhere in the country at once. The larger labels have staffs and budgets to accommodate a national release, but since you don't, start with just your city or town and no more than a few nearby. I usually draw a circle around the city where the artist is based. I make the circle about a three to five hour driving radius, and that becomes the target area.
Make certain you've done the research in all of the areas you choose where the record will sell. Choose areas where the artists can travel cheaply and easily, since they may need to travel often into those areas to support the record. For example, it would not be a wise decision to choose New York, Houston, and the Bay Area for simultaneous release because the airfare alone would kill you financially every time your artist needed to travel to support the record at radio or retail or with a show.
Once the record hits, however, it will spread naturally and you can't control this. When Twista released his first single, Emotions, even though we tried to contain it to Chicago, Milwaukee, and St Louis (all within a few hours driving distance from Chicago where he lived) the record spread naturally to Louisiana, Atlanta, and Cleveland. By the time that happened, we had enough income from record sales to send Twista into those markets.
Cash Money Records focused on Louisiana and Texas for all of their releases until they decided they wanted major distribution and then we expanded slowly throughout the South and up into the Mid-West. At this point they had enough money from their record sales to be taken very seriously by a regional distributor. The success they experienced with this expansion gave me enough ammunition to get them a banging distribution deal with a major, allowing them complete ownership of their masters and their company.
Master P focused on Oakland and the surrounding areas prior to signing to his distribution deal, even though he was getting sales in his hometown of New Orleans. He was not distracted by that and kept his focus on his target area (everything beyond the Bay Area and Northern California was gravy).
Timing is a key element for the project. Once you choose a release date, everything works backwards from that date. All aspects of the project's set-up is worked simultaneously so that everything happens at once on that all important release date. In other words, if a local newspaper writes about your artist or publishes a review of the record, it's important that it comes out at the same time the record is released. It does no good to have an article published four months before the record drops, or four months after. No one will remember it. The street team needs to blitz the streets before the project drops to build anticipation for its release but in a timely fashion. How many times have you gone to a store to buy a record you've been hearing about for months only to find out it's not out yet?
Make certain when choosing your release date that it's a realistic time frame to accomplish the art work, the printing, the pressing, the street blitz, and local press. Don't worry about national press, you'll need that later. Why would you want someone in Oakland to read about a record that can only be bought in Houston or Pittsburgh? As you grow, the national press will come. It won't help you to have a write-up in the Source or XXL in October when your project is local, because when you go back to them in May with a national story to tell, they've already written about your artist and won't do it again. So go for what you need, when it does you the most good.
Don't focus on getting a distributor right away. You'll get a better deal once you can prove your record is selling. You can put your product in stores on consignment, meaning you give it to them and when it sells they pay you. Once your product has a demand and they start to sell units regularly, it will be easier to get paid. If your record becomes a hit and sells quickly, it will be very easy to get paid in advance, and you'll have the distributors coming to you to do a deal. Remember this is a business. As long as someone thinks they can make money from you, they will. If they know they can, the terms will be more favorable for you. The less risk involved for a store or distributor, the better the deal is for you.
Once the distributors start making offers, the best way to find out if a distributor is right for you is to look at the type of music they distribute to see if it's similar. Then ask the other labels they distribute for their experiences regarding the distributor and if they get paid on time. Local retail stores who buy from that distributor can give you great insight as well. If they don’t sell a lot of successful rap CDs, and your record is a rap record, avoid them. They won’t have enough leverage with the retailers to make it worthwhile for your release.
It is important to create a plan and stick to it. Focus and determination are the only things that are going to get you through the chaos of putting out your own record. Many offers will come, most of which are from people who can't do much more for you than you can do for yourself. It's important to weigh everyone's reputation, check on their accomplishments and successes to be certain they are legitimate and true, and be patient and wait for the opportunity that will bring you exactly what you want.
You will not get what you deserve, you will get what you negotiate. The music business is not fair, and seems that one who holds out for what one really wants, usually gets it! Do the research and study the industry so you can figure out what it is exactly that you want. The best part is that you control your own destiny.
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