By Wendy Day (www.IndieLabelBuilder.com)
Why is it that no one has built a successful record label owned by an athlete? I want to build the first successful independent rap record label owned by a sports figure!!! Now, I don’t mean an athlete who raps….I mean an athlete who has business sense and wants to be in the music business. And it would be an added plus if he or she was looking to run the label after retiring from sports, but not mandatory.
When I first moved to Atlanta three years ago, I was interviewed for ESPN.com. I was asked why I thought no sports figure had ever succeeded in starting an urban record label even though so many had tried. I was shocked by the long list of athletes who’d tried and failed. Millions and millions of dollars had been wasted. Last month, that same journalist called me again. Although he has since moved on to Bloomberg TV from ESPN, three years had passed and he was following up to see if any athletes had come into the business and been successful. Not one has been successful. This bothered me immensely, and now I am on a mission to find an athlete with the right mindset to win big in this industry.
Still, to this day, there has not been a successful label owned by a sports figure. I’ve danced around a tiny bit over the past 18 years of my career with Dennis Scott, Nick Van Exel, Jamal Tinsley, Quentin Groves, and even Roy Jones, Jr. I spoke briefly with Winky Wright a few years ago, who eventually chose Damon Dash to help his start his label—neither of them have labels now. I’ve spoken with sports agents who had no interest in their athletes owning record labels, so they sabotaged them to fail either in the negotiations or the initial stages of them starting labels (I won’t work with those who have disinterested or bullshit agents—it’s impossible to win, so I am proud to say I’ve never been part of the failed process). But I’ve yet to find the perfect athlete with the right mindset, the proper funding, and great music. And of course, the will to win in this industry.
I’ve watched sports guys hire industry people who aren’t qualified to help them start labels, either because they’ve never done it or because they run competing labels themselves. Some fall into both categories, sadly. I have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on false starts for artists and on elaborate parties, neither of which have anything to do with selling records. Building hype is a wonderful thing, but isn’t it better to build hype from the grind and the great music than for throwing parties? This is a b-u-s-i-n-e-s-s! I’ve watched MLB baseball players waste millions of dollars because they had the wrong staff in place. I’ve seen NBA super stars lose millions on the wrong artist and waste hundreds of thousands of dollars trusting the wrong consultants (please sue them!!) especially regarding radio spins. I’ve seen NFL players spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on elaborate parties to never even put out an artist or recoup any of the spending.
To put out a rap record successfully, it takes great music, artists who work hard, an experienced plan put together by someone with experience and connections and a successful track record in putting out music. It also takes proper funding—to put out a rap act in today’s economy, an investment of about half a million dollars per release is necessary…on the low end. I’ve done it for non-athletes with $300,000 but every penny of the income gets recycled back into the business to keep it running.
To break an act, you need excellent music…not just good music, but great music. It needs to start breaking at the street and club level and be worked in a regional area until radio is ready to embrace it. It then needs to be worked at radio by an experienced independent radio promoter who can take it to the next level. The artists need to get out on the road and stay on the road as long as possible going from town to town and city to city, working their record. The indie label needs great, legitimate distribution that has a hard working sales staff to get the record into stores and onto the internet for legal downloads-- and successfully collect the money after the music sells from the stores and websites. I’m making it all sound easy and effortless but it’s not. It’s hard work, and takes experience, connections, favors, proper funding, relationships, and time.
As I analyze the sports labels that have come before, I have seen a large amount of mistakes. This advice applies to all labels, but especially to sports labels since the goal of MANY people in this industry is to separate wealthy people from their money. This attitude has always surprised me because it is just as much work to make money by selling music as it takes to scam somebody. So why jack someone out of money when you can just do the work and be successful?
Have GREAT Music and Talented, Hard-Working Artists
The biggest mistake I see is in the quality of music. This is also the #1 reason that I turn down consulting work with labels—not just athletes, but everyone. This is a business first and foremost! Treat it as such. When you are running a real business, you choose the best artists with the most commercially viable music you can find. You don’t fund your son, your cousins, your niece, or your neighbors, unless they are worthy of that investment. Artists must have talent, song writing skills, and a work ethic that won’t quit. Do NOT listen to the artist or the people surrounding you for advice when determining if an artist has the right stuff or not. Listen to professionals (DJs, retail store owners, fans, bloggers, etc). If your neighbor can sing circles around Whitney Houston, that might be a good funding choice. A regional rap group that has found a way to press up their own CD and is already selling independently on the web and in their local area might also be a good choice for funding. But your wack ass nephew who can’t rhyme or make songs as well as Jay Z is NOT a great choice for backing, unless your goal is to write off the money you will spend as a loss. Of course, you’ll make your family happy by working with your nephew-- until the project fails.
In terms of artist work ethic, that goes a very long way. Given a choice between a super lazy artist with supreme talent, and one with less talent but a get-up-and-go work ethic, I’ll take the one with work ethic any day. But they can’t be wack! They must have talent if you plan to sell music. On a scale of 1 to 10, the artists need to be a level 8, 9, or 10 in talent, as judged by others outside of your circle. On a work ethic scale, they need to be 9 or 10 as evidenced by their current work level. An artist sitting around waiting to be “discovered” is a bigger risk than an artist who is attending conventions and events, performing at the local talent shows, or even trying to get their music out there to the world via the internet or pressing CDs a few at a time and selling them.
Learn The Game Before Jumping In
The second biggest mistake I see in athletes coming into the music business is the lack of knowledge and research about the business. Just like you didn’t get into sports without learning the game and the other players, you shouldn’t come into the music world cold. Learn how the industry works and who the key players are. That doesn’t mean the key players won’t fuck you out of money, but it does mean that you’ll have an understanding of who is who. Once you know who’s who, you can start infiltrating and asking around about them. If many of the same people say the same things, it’s most likely accurate. If you want to build a successful company, seek guidance from those who’ve done it before. But if they already own their own labels, they may not be the best person to help you start yours. Do NOT be blinded by fame or hype—99% of what you see in this industry is not real.
When you hire someone to run your business for you, choose the best GM (General Manager) that you can find. Find someone who has run other labels successfully (preferably more than one) and who knows what they are doing. Google them, ask for references, and check their references. The best people can put you on the phone with their last 3 or 4 clients so you can ask questions.
This business isn’t a scientific business, meaning that we go on emotions and feelings a lot. If you aren’t a good judge of other people, DO have someone who is good at that help you out. Almost everyone who has complained about losing money was able to mention afterwards something about the person that made them wonder if he or she was shady. If you are thinking it, there’s probably a good reason for it. Do more research on them. And never, never, never hire your boy/cousin/friend/trusted sports advisor to run your label for you. This is a specialized business that requires connections, experience, knowledge that’s specific and hard to find, with favors from industry insiders in order to win.
Keep Your Fucking Mouth Shut
Because of those who’ve come before you and failed, it is NOT to your advantage to broadcast to the world that you are an athlete coming into the music business. The sharks and vultures who want to separate money from the wealthy will hone in on you like a sailor on shore leave looking for a scantily clad hooker. And the true professionals in the industry will immediately assume you’ll fail as all others have, and avoid working with you to avoid a failure on their resume. But here’s the kicker—no one will admit this to you, they will either just give you excuses of being too busy and bow out, or tell you what you want to hear while they take your money and not deliver (as history has shown time and time again). It is best to move around in silence until you’ve started to experience some success with your label and then announce to the world that it’s a label owned by an athlete. In this situation, silence is golden!
There is only one other way to do this where people already know you are a sports guy about to start a label….do it SUPER publicly. Secure a reality show and put a giant spotlight on you and your project. This will scare away the roaches and snakes (people who want to steal from you will want to do so cloaked in darkness, not with cameras rolling on national TV). The downside of this idea is that it will attract to you people who are more driven by fame rather than the true professionals who can help your label succeed. The trick is to find balance. You, as the owner of the label, need to step up in front of the camera and let those behind the scenes do their thing. No one wants to fail live in front of millions of viewers, which will scare away the scammers, but it may also scare away the key professionals you need, as well. Yep, balance is key!
My plan is to set up a label for a sports figure, but only to inform folks on a need to know basis. The distributor and artists will need to know where the funding is coming from, but the fans and consumers won’t need to know until the label is chugging along successfully. Let’s face facts, no one cared who owned Death Row, RocAFella, or Bad Boy until their artists were successful. If a reality show can help add positive benefit to the success of the artists, then we will figure out a way to do so effectively.
Do NOT Be The Artist
I can’t believe I even need to say this. If you are an athlete, do not try to sing or rap. Even if you have incredible talent, you will not be taken seriously. Rappers don’t try to professionally play ball (yeah, I saw Master P try), box, golf, or play tennis for the same credibility reasons. Rap is especially not an arena where gimmicks are accepted. We don’t embrace actors who rap (Drake may be the first to change this thinking), athletes who rap, or game show winners who rap—yes, I’m talking about “America Has Talent” and “American Idol.” These may all be fine for the mainstream masses, but it hasn’t translated into the rap marketplace yet. Thank God.
If You’re Going To Do This, Do It Right
This is a business, and like any business it takes proper funding to build your company. If you think this is an arena where you can come in with a small investment and win big, you are sadly mistaken. If you plan on investing less than $100,000 in a rap artist (the barre is even higher for a singer), save your money. You will absolutely end up dumping more money into your company later to save your initial investment, but you will do so after scaring away the true professionals who could have helped you if your budget was realistic in the beginning. Look at this logically, you will spend at least $50,000 to secure radio regionally (and this is a MINIMUM budget). Most singles take $50,000 to $100,000 to break regionally at radio. That’s just one single. A promo tour costs about $15,000 to $25,000 for a thirty day run. And thirty days on the road is not enough to support the release of an established artist, let alone break a new unknown artist. Add to these costs marketing, promotion, publicity, advertising, video costs, touring, internet promotions, street teams, etc.
If you are smart, you will end up paying a consultant or a great GM $50,000 to $150,000 to guide you in these treacherous shark infested waters, either monthly or in a single lump sum. A great consultant will end up saving you far more than you spend on him or her, but the point is that there is a cost associated with this. The bottom line is that if someone is offering you a great deal to start a label, or says they can do this with a minimal investment on your part, do more research. It is highly unlikely! It is as unlikely as you being able to purchase a brand new Bentley convertible, loaded, for $30,000. It just doesn’t happen….something isn’t right. If you want a Bentley, you will pay for a Bentley. But at least with a label, you’ll get a return on the investment. We hope.
Even if your goal is not to start a label, but to build an artist to the point where a major label will step in and offer you a deal, you still will need more than $100,000 in investment. As you do your research on this industry, you will find that putting out an artist regionally and selling CDs and downloads IS the best way to attract a larger deal from a major that will lead to success. Meanwhile, you still need to start with a realistic investment to properly fund your goals.
The bad business I have seen in this industry is heart breaking. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that there has never been a successful athlete owned label, but it does. I’ve seen athletes higher party promoters to help them start their labels, spend upwards of $100,000 on parties, only to end up doing joint ventures with their artists at a bigger label—do you realize you just paid $100k to give up half of your artist? I’ve seen NBA All-Stars lose millions in promoting family members or themselves as rappers, only to sell less than 5,000 CDs and downloads. Even with a $500,000 budget, that’s a cost per CD of $100 to make a $6 to $8 return. Was it worth it?
This industry isn’t difficult. Selling music is fun and rewarding when you know what you are doing or guided by the right, legitimate people. Not everyone who separates you from your money means to jerk you—some just promise more than they can deliver. But at the end of the day, this is a business and we all need to treat it as such. My goal is to find an athlete who wants to win in this business, and until I find the right one, I’m going to keep searching. I had a meeting last week that was VERY promising. I met with a sports figure who has the same vision and work ethic as me. We’re both driven by success instead of money, and the artists are tight. So we’ll see what happens…. Maybe we’ll even build the label publicly to show you how it’s done!!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
What I’ve Learned From The Music Business
By, Wendy Day (www.WendyDay.com)
I am maaaad late with my column this month. And I have no good excuse. I’ve been real busy with Young Buck, so I was going to blame it on him, but it wasn’t his fault at all. But it sounds good, and he loves me enough to take one for me, so I’ll just blame it on him anyway. My column is late this month because of Young Buck. LOL. And that kind of leads right in to my topic this month: what I’ve learned from being in the music business...(in no particular order, which is why they aren’t numbered):
IT’S NEVER THE ARTISTS’ FAULT I learned very early in my career that the artist can never be the bad guy. Fans are so fickle, and labels are so political, that if the artist even appears to be an asshole or the “bad guy,” that he or she can lose fans or support from the label. It’s important inside the label for the artist to always be loved and adored, no matter what. People naturally take sides and if they are against you, it can make your life difficult, especially if you depend on them to work your project or buy your record. My earliest example of this was KRS-1 and Tribe Called Quest. Kris managed himself and therefore had to argue with the label a lot to get things done. Tribe was managed by Chris Lighty and no matter how annoyed the label got with Lighty, they still loved the group. Sometimes managers have to get aggressive with labels to get them to do what’s necessary. But an artist never should. The artist should always be the good guy and always loved….even if he or she is the biggest asshole on the planet.
PEOPLE RARELY CAN DO WHAT THEY SAY THEY CAN DO This is one of those negative lessons I learned almost right away. Everyone says they can do what needs to be done, but the reality of that is that very few can deliver what they promise. This makes those precious few people who are good at what they do, stand out, but it’s none the less aggravating to be expecting a job to get done, only to find out that it has been horribly botched or not done at all. Most people who say they can get you radio spins really can’t! Many street teams that say they blitz the streets or own the streets, don’t. And can’t! Some labels that promise to make artists stars, often shelve them, or kill their careers (accidently or on purpose, I’m not sure which)! Most DJs who say they can and do break records, don’t, won’t, and/or can’t! In this industry, it is VERY important to check out everyone’s references. I think this is because we have no real barrier to entry—meaning anyone can come into the music business and say they are a professional and that they can get the job done! They can’t!
HATERS ARE EVERYWHERE I know as you are reading this you are co-signing it, so I won’t go into detail. But here’s a really happy, positive thought regarding haters. They don’t last long! Everyone who is building something positive or who is successful, has people wishing them ill and trying to hold them back. I’ve been disproportionately lucky (or possibly blind), because I’ve only had a handful of true haters in my career that have actually gotten to me (and by gotten to me, I mean made me stronger). Of those 4 or 5 haters, 3 are no longer in the industry and the others aren’t relevant. They are still bubbling around trying to eek out a living in this industry, but they aren’t accomplishing anything, and are having a terrible time making money in this economy. Poetic justice? Karma? You decide. Unless you’re a hater…
IT’S A BUSINESS, NOT A CULTURE Cultures aren’t for sale. So the very first day some enterprising young rapper decided to try to get paid for his or her artform, it became a business. The day some rapper decided to attach a price tag to his or her songs, it no longer was about skill on the mic, but about sales in the stores. What people are willing to buy has nothing to do with the level of talent an artist possesses. Every now and again we get lucky and the two meet: The Fugees, Whitney Houston, Drake, Mary J Blige, Jay Z (look at me giving Hova props! There is hope for me!!), and many others… Because it’s a business, money became more important in the equation than the talent, and therefore the talent waned. Labels began pushing what would sell, not what would advance the culture. We did this to ourselves (those of us who know better). When a producer made a beat and sold it to a label or artist in order to get paid, it became a business—and now it’s an over saturated business. Everyone seems to be a rapper or a producer now. The market went from having a talent that was exclusive to selling a gimmick that’s over saturated by any means necessary. Fans went from buying CDs to making their own!
LABELS DON’T BUILD ARTISTS’ CAREERS Record labels exist to sell music. Period. And most recently they exist to share in all revenue streams that exist for artists. They feel a sense of entitlement because they are investing the money in whatever project they deem worthy.
IF YOU DON’T LEARN HOW THE GAME WORKS, YOU WILL GET JERKED or, better put GREED IS KING The thing about the music industry is that when the money comes, it comes very fast and in large amounts (although the amounts aren’t as large as they once were), and most often it comes to those with the control and access to the marketplace. Anyone who puts up $750,000 to a Million dollars in funding to sell $1,000,000 to $10,000,000 of CDs or downloads, is a person who likes making money. And since the return on investment is so large in this industry—not to mention that most expenses are recoupable from the artists’ share of the income, this industry attracts a disproportionately large amount of greedy people, people who love money, and fuck boys (people who will purposely jerk you out of your money). So, it’s key that you learn how it all works, what’s fair and acceptable, and how to reduce your risk of becoming one of the many, many, many, many, many casualties of this industry. There are many books, loads of free websites, seminars, webinars, etc to educate artists and industry folks. I, long ago, stopped feeling sorry for those who got jerked because the resources exist today to educate yourself. The fact that you haven’t taken the time to do so makes you look greedy--in too big a hurry to make money or get famous, that taking time to learn was secondary, and/or ignorant (too stupid to know the importance of learning). Yeah, I know that was harsh, which means you probably needed to hear it.
EVERYTHING CHANGES Just as you learn the rules and which ones you can and can’t break, everything changes. What was once an industry of vinyl, became an industry based on cassette and 8-track sales, then CD sales, and now downloads. What was once an industry where authenticity and realism mattered, has become an industry where a hit record solves all ills. An R&B artist allegedly pees on a minor on video and a hit record revives his career. A top selling rapper takes a drug kingpin’s name, is exposed as a Corrections Officer, lies about it, then admits it, and a hit record keeps him a top selling rapper. An environment where rappers couldn’t endorse a product without being seen as a sell out has changed into an environment where the standard artist kit automatically comes with a CD, a bad film performance, a reality TV show (the more embarrassing the better), a shoe deal, a liquor endorsement and one’s own clothing line. And if you’re publicly beefing with another artist, or fucking another artist, you get extra props. Rappers used to come together to fight the power, dis unfair police tactics, speak out on apartheid in South Africa, etc. Today, rappers fight each other over dumb shit. They can’t even come together to shut down stuff that’s bad for all of them, or outside forces attacking them. Nah, better for one has-been rapper to get press dissing or fighting another irrelevant rapper, or rappers who built careers on mixed tapes and mixed CDs to bitch about DJs making too much money with mixed CDs now that they are “stars!” We’ve become the WWE…
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS FROM WITHIN Because there is an element of luck that exists in this business, and because fame is fleeting, it’s important to measure success based on your own idea of success. If you compare yourself to others’ wealth, or others’ sales, or others’ features and tour schedules, you’ll always be unhappy. This is the one industry where people always seem to be in the next man’s pocket trying to figure out how much money he or she is making, or has earned. It’s crazy. There will always be people who are richer, smarter, happier, more famous, better connected, thinner, better looking, etc. So march to your own drummer, and figure out what success means to you personally. And then go achieve that! For the record, if your goal is to be “richer” than Puffy or Russell Simmons, and you don’t exactly know how rich they are, you’ve already failed because you’re chasing an intangible goal. And that room mate who was interning at M-TV the same time you were interning at the label, who now manages the #1 artist in the world? A lot of that was luck and right time, right place. Stop beating yourself up over it. Be the best at what YOU are doing, and follow YOUR goals.
GOLD DIGGERS COME IN BOTH SEXES Maybe I should have addressed this one when I talked about greed, but for some reason, this industry attracts people who want money. And it attracts an inordinate amount of people who want money but who don’t want to put in any time or effort for it. So there are a ton of women and men who are in play with the sole goal of separating you from some of your money. Being human beings who are susceptible to a kind word, a nice gesture, a fat ass, or the thrill of hot sex, we sometimes get sucked in to people and places that aren’t good for us. A person who really cares for you does NOT care about your money, how you look, where you live, or what you own. If you do not care whether or not a hot female, or a sexy male is only with you because of what you own, I’d like to point out that there are many others who have way more of whatever it is that you are offering. So if you lose him or her, you have no right to complain. You were shallow enough to buy a big chain or an expensive car to attract a date…don’t be pissed off when that no longer keeps the date by your side.
SEX. AND DRUGS, AND ROCK AND ROLL The music industry attracts a large amount of people who enjoy music, getting high, and fucking. Don’t know why. Just know that it exists. I have been able to escape it (somewhat LOL) in my 18 years in the industry, but it was not easy. Also, in rap, add VIOLENCE to that list. It happens. Don’t be caught up in some bullshit that isn’t yours.
IT’S HARD TO GET PAID EVENTHOUGH YOU ARE OWED THE MONEY If I had been numbering the lessons I’ve learned in the business, this would have to be #1. This industry is full of fuck boys. Many of which don’t want to pay you even when you have a contract. I learned very early in my career that a handshake in the music business means nothing. There is NO loyalty. Someone’s word in the music business means nothing. People will flip on you in a heartbeat—friends, family, major labels and corporations, new artists, famous artists, lawyers, rich people, broke people, everyone. Get it in writing. Get everything in writing and keep a paper trail in case you have to sue for your money. And if you have to sue for your money, get the best damn lawyer you can afford! My choice is Brian Caplan out of NY. He’s a pitbull.
BUILD A STRONG TEAM No one can do this alone. This is a who-you-know business, so it’s important to build strong and lasting connections and to not burn bridges. Using basketball as an example, if you put the best player in the NBA on the court against the worst team, the worst team would win. Why? Because it’s 5 against 1! Five terrible players, against the very best player in the world, would win. Team work. Build your team early and build it strong! For an artist, this means a lawyer, accountant or business manager, manager, booking agent, and publicist. For someone working in the music business in a behind the scenes capacity this means a mentor or two, a lawyer (for contracts), an accountant, and a publicist (you gotta tell the world what you are doing if you want others to know).
And lastly (I could go on forever with lessons I’ve learned, but you and I both have shit to do…), this is a lesson I’ve learned from life but brought into the music industry with me and I’m so thankful I did:
SET GOALS If you don’t know where you are trying to get to, you will never arrive there. Set realistic, achievable goals. Read them every day. Break them down into smaller bites and accomplish a little bit towards your goals each day. Put blinders on and focus on the goals, don’t let anything dissuade you from accomplishing what matters to you. Make sure your goals are well rounded (mine tend to focus on work, and I forget things like health, family, and Wendy time….but I’m getting better at it) and include professional goals, personal and hobby goals, family goals, love and relationship goals, and emotional goals (be a better person goals). Put them in writing and give yourself a deadline to accomplish each one, and for each step along the way. Read them every day. And then accomplish them one by one, so you can include new ones.
Anyway, it really isn’t Young Buck’s fault that my column is late this month. It’s my own damn fault. I was being lazy and procrastinating….plus is was my birthday….Thanks for taking the time each month to read my column. And thanks for all the feedback each month. You help me be better at what I do. I’m fortunate that I do what I do for love. Because of this, the ecomony can’t stop me, haters can’t stop me, and the industry can’t stop me. My wish for you is that you find something that you love this much. And then get super good at it! It’s worth everything you have to give up along the way to get there. Or so they tell me. I’m not there yet…
I am maaaad late with my column this month. And I have no good excuse. I’ve been real busy with Young Buck, so I was going to blame it on him, but it wasn’t his fault at all. But it sounds good, and he loves me enough to take one for me, so I’ll just blame it on him anyway. My column is late this month because of Young Buck. LOL. And that kind of leads right in to my topic this month: what I’ve learned from being in the music business...(in no particular order, which is why they aren’t numbered):
IT’S NEVER THE ARTISTS’ FAULT I learned very early in my career that the artist can never be the bad guy. Fans are so fickle, and labels are so political, that if the artist even appears to be an asshole or the “bad guy,” that he or she can lose fans or support from the label. It’s important inside the label for the artist to always be loved and adored, no matter what. People naturally take sides and if they are against you, it can make your life difficult, especially if you depend on them to work your project or buy your record. My earliest example of this was KRS-1 and Tribe Called Quest. Kris managed himself and therefore had to argue with the label a lot to get things done. Tribe was managed by Chris Lighty and no matter how annoyed the label got with Lighty, they still loved the group. Sometimes managers have to get aggressive with labels to get them to do what’s necessary. But an artist never should. The artist should always be the good guy and always loved….even if he or she is the biggest asshole on the planet.
PEOPLE RARELY CAN DO WHAT THEY SAY THEY CAN DO This is one of those negative lessons I learned almost right away. Everyone says they can do what needs to be done, but the reality of that is that very few can deliver what they promise. This makes those precious few people who are good at what they do, stand out, but it’s none the less aggravating to be expecting a job to get done, only to find out that it has been horribly botched or not done at all. Most people who say they can get you radio spins really can’t! Many street teams that say they blitz the streets or own the streets, don’t. And can’t! Some labels that promise to make artists stars, often shelve them, or kill their careers (accidently or on purpose, I’m not sure which)! Most DJs who say they can and do break records, don’t, won’t, and/or can’t! In this industry, it is VERY important to check out everyone’s references. I think this is because we have no real barrier to entry—meaning anyone can come into the music business and say they are a professional and that they can get the job done! They can’t!
HATERS ARE EVERYWHERE I know as you are reading this you are co-signing it, so I won’t go into detail. But here’s a really happy, positive thought regarding haters. They don’t last long! Everyone who is building something positive or who is successful, has people wishing them ill and trying to hold them back. I’ve been disproportionately lucky (or possibly blind), because I’ve only had a handful of true haters in my career that have actually gotten to me (and by gotten to me, I mean made me stronger). Of those 4 or 5 haters, 3 are no longer in the industry and the others aren’t relevant. They are still bubbling around trying to eek out a living in this industry, but they aren’t accomplishing anything, and are having a terrible time making money in this economy. Poetic justice? Karma? You decide. Unless you’re a hater…
IT’S A BUSINESS, NOT A CULTURE Cultures aren’t for sale. So the very first day some enterprising young rapper decided to try to get paid for his or her artform, it became a business. The day some rapper decided to attach a price tag to his or her songs, it no longer was about skill on the mic, but about sales in the stores. What people are willing to buy has nothing to do with the level of talent an artist possesses. Every now and again we get lucky and the two meet: The Fugees, Whitney Houston, Drake, Mary J Blige, Jay Z (look at me giving Hova props! There is hope for me!!), and many others… Because it’s a business, money became more important in the equation than the talent, and therefore the talent waned. Labels began pushing what would sell, not what would advance the culture. We did this to ourselves (those of us who know better). When a producer made a beat and sold it to a label or artist in order to get paid, it became a business—and now it’s an over saturated business. Everyone seems to be a rapper or a producer now. The market went from having a talent that was exclusive to selling a gimmick that’s over saturated by any means necessary. Fans went from buying CDs to making their own!
LABELS DON’T BUILD ARTISTS’ CAREERS Record labels exist to sell music. Period. And most recently they exist to share in all revenue streams that exist for artists. They feel a sense of entitlement because they are investing the money in whatever project they deem worthy.
IF YOU DON’T LEARN HOW THE GAME WORKS, YOU WILL GET JERKED or, better put GREED IS KING The thing about the music industry is that when the money comes, it comes very fast and in large amounts (although the amounts aren’t as large as they once were), and most often it comes to those with the control and access to the marketplace. Anyone who puts up $750,000 to a Million dollars in funding to sell $1,000,000 to $10,000,000 of CDs or downloads, is a person who likes making money. And since the return on investment is so large in this industry—not to mention that most expenses are recoupable from the artists’ share of the income, this industry attracts a disproportionately large amount of greedy people, people who love money, and fuck boys (people who will purposely jerk you out of your money). So, it’s key that you learn how it all works, what’s fair and acceptable, and how to reduce your risk of becoming one of the many, many, many, many, many casualties of this industry. There are many books, loads of free websites, seminars, webinars, etc to educate artists and industry folks. I, long ago, stopped feeling sorry for those who got jerked because the resources exist today to educate yourself. The fact that you haven’t taken the time to do so makes you look greedy--in too big a hurry to make money or get famous, that taking time to learn was secondary, and/or ignorant (too stupid to know the importance of learning). Yeah, I know that was harsh, which means you probably needed to hear it.
EVERYTHING CHANGES Just as you learn the rules and which ones you can and can’t break, everything changes. What was once an industry of vinyl, became an industry based on cassette and 8-track sales, then CD sales, and now downloads. What was once an industry where authenticity and realism mattered, has become an industry where a hit record solves all ills. An R&B artist allegedly pees on a minor on video and a hit record revives his career. A top selling rapper takes a drug kingpin’s name, is exposed as a Corrections Officer, lies about it, then admits it, and a hit record keeps him a top selling rapper. An environment where rappers couldn’t endorse a product without being seen as a sell out has changed into an environment where the standard artist kit automatically comes with a CD, a bad film performance, a reality TV show (the more embarrassing the better), a shoe deal, a liquor endorsement and one’s own clothing line. And if you’re publicly beefing with another artist, or fucking another artist, you get extra props. Rappers used to come together to fight the power, dis unfair police tactics, speak out on apartheid in South Africa, etc. Today, rappers fight each other over dumb shit. They can’t even come together to shut down stuff that’s bad for all of them, or outside forces attacking them. Nah, better for one has-been rapper to get press dissing or fighting another irrelevant rapper, or rappers who built careers on mixed tapes and mixed CDs to bitch about DJs making too much money with mixed CDs now that they are “stars!” We’ve become the WWE…
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS FROM WITHIN Because there is an element of luck that exists in this business, and because fame is fleeting, it’s important to measure success based on your own idea of success. If you compare yourself to others’ wealth, or others’ sales, or others’ features and tour schedules, you’ll always be unhappy. This is the one industry where people always seem to be in the next man’s pocket trying to figure out how much money he or she is making, or has earned. It’s crazy. There will always be people who are richer, smarter, happier, more famous, better connected, thinner, better looking, etc. So march to your own drummer, and figure out what success means to you personally. And then go achieve that! For the record, if your goal is to be “richer” than Puffy or Russell Simmons, and you don’t exactly know how rich they are, you’ve already failed because you’re chasing an intangible goal. And that room mate who was interning at M-TV the same time you were interning at the label, who now manages the #1 artist in the world? A lot of that was luck and right time, right place. Stop beating yourself up over it. Be the best at what YOU are doing, and follow YOUR goals.
GOLD DIGGERS COME IN BOTH SEXES Maybe I should have addressed this one when I talked about greed, but for some reason, this industry attracts people who want money. And it attracts an inordinate amount of people who want money but who don’t want to put in any time or effort for it. So there are a ton of women and men who are in play with the sole goal of separating you from some of your money. Being human beings who are susceptible to a kind word, a nice gesture, a fat ass, or the thrill of hot sex, we sometimes get sucked in to people and places that aren’t good for us. A person who really cares for you does NOT care about your money, how you look, where you live, or what you own. If you do not care whether or not a hot female, or a sexy male is only with you because of what you own, I’d like to point out that there are many others who have way more of whatever it is that you are offering. So if you lose him or her, you have no right to complain. You were shallow enough to buy a big chain or an expensive car to attract a date…don’t be pissed off when that no longer keeps the date by your side.
SEX. AND DRUGS, AND ROCK AND ROLL The music industry attracts a large amount of people who enjoy music, getting high, and fucking. Don’t know why. Just know that it exists. I have been able to escape it (somewhat LOL) in my 18 years in the industry, but it was not easy. Also, in rap, add VIOLENCE to that list. It happens. Don’t be caught up in some bullshit that isn’t yours.
IT’S HARD TO GET PAID EVENTHOUGH YOU ARE OWED THE MONEY If I had been numbering the lessons I’ve learned in the business, this would have to be #1. This industry is full of fuck boys. Many of which don’t want to pay you even when you have a contract. I learned very early in my career that a handshake in the music business means nothing. There is NO loyalty. Someone’s word in the music business means nothing. People will flip on you in a heartbeat—friends, family, major labels and corporations, new artists, famous artists, lawyers, rich people, broke people, everyone. Get it in writing. Get everything in writing and keep a paper trail in case you have to sue for your money. And if you have to sue for your money, get the best damn lawyer you can afford! My choice is Brian Caplan out of NY. He’s a pitbull.
BUILD A STRONG TEAM No one can do this alone. This is a who-you-know business, so it’s important to build strong and lasting connections and to not burn bridges. Using basketball as an example, if you put the best player in the NBA on the court against the worst team, the worst team would win. Why? Because it’s 5 against 1! Five terrible players, against the very best player in the world, would win. Team work. Build your team early and build it strong! For an artist, this means a lawyer, accountant or business manager, manager, booking agent, and publicist. For someone working in the music business in a behind the scenes capacity this means a mentor or two, a lawyer (for contracts), an accountant, and a publicist (you gotta tell the world what you are doing if you want others to know).
And lastly (I could go on forever with lessons I’ve learned, but you and I both have shit to do…), this is a lesson I’ve learned from life but brought into the music industry with me and I’m so thankful I did:
SET GOALS If you don’t know where you are trying to get to, you will never arrive there. Set realistic, achievable goals. Read them every day. Break them down into smaller bites and accomplish a little bit towards your goals each day. Put blinders on and focus on the goals, don’t let anything dissuade you from accomplishing what matters to you. Make sure your goals are well rounded (mine tend to focus on work, and I forget things like health, family, and Wendy time….but I’m getting better at it) and include professional goals, personal and hobby goals, family goals, love and relationship goals, and emotional goals (be a better person goals). Put them in writing and give yourself a deadline to accomplish each one, and for each step along the way. Read them every day. And then accomplish them one by one, so you can include new ones.
Anyway, it really isn’t Young Buck’s fault that my column is late this month. It’s my own damn fault. I was being lazy and procrastinating….plus is was my birthday….Thanks for taking the time each month to read my column. And thanks for all the feedback each month. You help me be better at what I do. I’m fortunate that I do what I do for love. Because of this, the ecomony can’t stop me, haters can’t stop me, and the industry can’t stop me. My wish for you is that you find something that you love this much. And then get super good at it! It’s worth everything you have to give up along the way to get there. Or so they tell me. I’m not there yet…
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Managers
By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)
A manager is the key component in any artist’s career! A manager is the person who helps the artist set goals and then puts the team in place to achieve those goals. The manager also sets up a system of checks and balances to be certain the team is on track to achieving those goals. He or she handles all of the artist’s business-- essentially becoming the face of business for that artist. And here’s the most important part: a manager can make or break an artist’s career!!
A good manager can enhance and help the career of an artist, a DJ, or a producer. But an ineffective manager can even more easily ruin an artist’s career. People don’t go out of their way to hire someone to destroy them, but they do inadvertently choose folks who are inexperienced, not properly connected, and who possess no experience in management. I see this everyday. If we had better managers in urban music, there would be no need for Rap Coalition, and we’d have rappers with longevity like Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, and Madonna.
When artists call me and ask me to refer managers, I cringe. I can think of only a few people that I would personally hire if I wanted to be a successful artist in this business, and they are too busy right now to be effective for anyone other than the artists they already manage. How can I refer artists to someone that I’d never hire in a million years (I don’t), or how can I refer a few folks worthy of referrals, but whom I know are too busy to even find the time to return phone calls (again, I wouldn’t). So I rarely refer managers. This is a problem.
A manager is supposed to be the liaison between the artist and the record label. They are the person responsible for relaying the artists’ concerns and fears to the label (therefore a label employee is rarely a good choice as a manager if they work at YOUR label). They are also responsible for offering constructive ways to fix problems. On the flip side, they are also the ones responsible for getting the artist to do what he or she needs to do, often a difficult task. Good communication skills, relationships, experience, and being organized are key for the person entrusted with this life-changing position. An artist who hires a friend is an idiot. An artist who hires a relative to manage his or her career is an idiot. While they may be trustworthy (we hope) and hungry (ambitious), they are not experienced or connected enough most of the time to do an even basic job of managing a career.
If you look at the bulk of artists with failed careers or declining careers, you can often see they are managed by inexperienced managers or people who work for the record label (either openly or covertly). While the artist only has one career, the managers are able to move onto other clients or other jobs within the industry to make money, so the decision of management affects the artist far more than the manager.
A manager is also responsible for obtaining opportunities for the artist to make money outside of the record deal (endorsements, touring, acting, merchandising, etc). So few managers in urban music are good at this, therefore we now have a spate of companies setting up solely to do deals between urban artists and corporate America (myself included). If we had better and more skilled managers out here, these cottage industries would not be popping up all over to accomplish what an experienced manager should be able to do on their own (by the way, the manager usually still gets a percentage of that income even if someone else brings it to the table).
When To Choose A Manager
Choosing a manager should occur when there is something to manage. At the beginning of an artist’s career, the focus should be on building a buzz and hype for yourself. The more well-known you become, the easier it will be to attract the right people to your career. It’s simple business basics really…managers get paid 20% of a new artist’s income, or 10% to 15% of an established artist’s income. Managers are in the music business to make money. An artist becomes attractive to a manager when that manager can apply their connections, experience, and contacts easily, and to where 20% really becomes something of value. The hotter an artist’s buzz, the better manager they will attract. The more they have going on with their career, the better manager they will attract. Having a manager on board before you sign to a major label would be a good decision because having them involved in the bidding war and negotiation process will help you--a great manager adds tremendous value in a label’s eyes.
How To Choose A Manager
You have one career, and most rappers only get one shot. So unless you want to languish at a mediocre label selling 25,000 CDs and downloads a year, you better get this right the first time around. The key, in my opinion, would be to know who the top managers in the business are, and attract one of them, or someone who trained under one of them.
For some unknown reason, in urban music, we have people who sprout up out of the blue and announce “I am a manager.” They don’t train under an efficient manager to gain experience and connections. But they are often on the streets enough to know who the hot artists are, and they get on by latching onto that artist’s coat tails. The problem is that these hot artists need someone who can take their career to the next level, not act as an anchor around their neck to make a quick buck.
First of all, you want a manager who is professional and runs their business like a business. They need to excel in basic business skills such as returning phone calls, attending meetings, planning schedules and calendars, knowledge of the music industry and how it works, and they need to know who’s who in the industry and have some access to those people. Sadly, there are plenty of mis-managers who sit back and answer the phone (sometimes) and choose opportunities to bring to the artist from what is offered, and then there are effective managers who not only choose from the offers that come in everyday, but are also visionary enough to figure out what the artist wants to be doing, and goes and gets it for them.
For many artists, they plan to hire a manager for the newer level their career is at, and then they plan to hire an experienced manager once they become a star. The problem with this plan is that it often creates a power struggle within the camp for control of the artist’s career during the transition phase. Additionally, there are multiple fees to pay, plus having an inexperienced manager early in a career is not a smart way to build a career to attract a more serious manager. It’s best to manage yourself until you get to a point where you need a professional to take you to the next level. This is a BUSINESS! A power struggle also forces away many of the good people within the camp who could have been helpful in the artist’s career.
I, personally, think managing artists sucks. It’s a thankless babysitting job for the most part, and unless you happen to get to work with a Platinum superstar, there is not enough money involved in management for most folks to eat well. So many managers who could have been great, leave to start their own labels (where the REAL money is) or leave the music industry to get better paying jobs elsewhere. Some who work under the big management companies like Violator, The Firm, etc, leave to start their own management companies long before they have the proper connections and experience in place to do so, because they grow weary of working hard for little pay under others. They don’t realize the financial realities of the music business, and often jump into a worse situation.
My biggest concern, and the reason I am even writing this, is that management consists of shaping, developing, and controlling artist’s careers--their LIVES. If a manager fucks that up, they are fucking up another human being’s life. Most don’t look at that, they look at their own thirst for money. A manager, by contract, is supposed to have the artists’ best interests at heart. How many do you suppose can forego a benefit for themselves to benefit their client? Precious few.
I once did a deal for an incredible artist at a major label. I kept telling him he needed a good manager to help shape his career. Six months into his first release, he STILL didn’t have one; he just had friends around trying to act like a manager. He was afraid of choosing the “wrong” one (he had been burned years ago by a real scumbag) so he had chosen none. By his third release, he finally got a real manager, but by that time so much damage had been done to his career that his star was fading, not rising. Every time he put out a release, it sold less. It’s hard to resurrect a career…far easier to do right the first time from the beginning.
The artist should NEVER be the bad guy at the label, it alienates the label staff--but the manager can be the bad guy. The label may hate the manager, but if they love the artist they will still work just as hard for him or her. If they hate the artist, his or her career is over. Politics reign supreme at record labels, and the staff works projects that are slam dunks, or projects they like…regardless of who the priority is at the label. Also, if the artist has burned bridges in the industry (like with radio, club DJs, etc), not only will their careers suffer, but so will the careers of artists coming up under them. A good manager ensures the artist is never on the firing line, because the manager is always. And with some experience and relationships, the manager is not out there burning bridges. If something does go wrong, it’s fixed immediately and not left to fester til it’s time to work the next release and ask for more favors.
A good experienced manager knows what to expect and how to work records. They work in conjunction with the label not in opposition to it, and certainly not without input and suggestions to the label. If you have no experience and things are going wrong, how will you fix them? How will you even know when things are going wrong if you haven’t worked a project before?
So how does an artist choose a good manager in this day and age where there are so many snakes, and so many inept managers with promising business cards? The best suggestion I can make is to look at the careers of other artists you admire--whose careers you admire, not music, and seek out that person. Is that artist getting opportunities that are usually afforded only to superstars, but isn’t selling as many units to do so? Is the artist getting a lot of awareness outside of what the label does for him or her? Do they seem to have a stream of income to fall back on besides being beholden to the label. Research, research, and then more research.
Make certain that if you meet with a manager that they really did everything they say they have. Look for a manager who has great relationships with booking agents, entertainment attorneys, corporate America (for sponsorship of tours and endorsement opportunities), access to label presidents and A&R staff but who does not have a deal at any given label (unless you don’t mind being put through their deal), and even film agents if you want to go that direction with your career. Follow up, ask questions, get references… after all, you only have one career, and a bad manager can end it prematurely for you.
Things to watch out for:
-a manager with a loyalty to any one label
-a manager who collects your money (they should NEVER touch your money, a business manager or accountant does that job)
-a manager who works at a label, especially if it is your label, or a manager who owns a label and wants to manage you AND sign you to his label (this is called double dipping and is a breach of fiduciary duty).
-artists he or she has managed before but no longer does (ask the former artists why they left)
-managers who promise to book you shows (that is NOT their job)
-managers who ask for more than 15% or 20% (max) of your entertainment income
-managers who want to sign you to 7+ year deals (watch out for those contract terms called “options” that extend the life of the contract automatically)
-a manager who wants to take or buy your publishing from you
For The Aspiring Managers Reading This
If you want to become a manager, or be a better manager, the best thing you can do is work under a fully experienced manager to learn as much as you can. This will also give you access to their connections and relationships so you can begin to cultivate your own. This is a “who you know” business. You probably won’t make much money at first, but the long term benefits are outstanding. On average, managers get between 15% and 20% of the artist’s entertainment income. How amazing would it be to sit back in ten years and contemplate not only the millions of dollars you made in the music industry, but also the careers you built and the lives you’ve impacted along the way. Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?
For My Southern Playas
Recently, I have been discussing with some of the power players in the industry why southern artists get little regard in NY inside of the music industry. Southern music sells very well and many of our biggest stars are from the south. Yet they don’t get much face time on BET, rarely get magazine covers by themselves, hardly ever get the bigger endorsement deals, etc. So I starting asking “why?” and people were happy to share the answers with me.
What I thought was a dislike for southern music, is really a dislike for the business practices. I heard story after story of bad experiences in trying to deal with management or teams for Gucci Mane, OJ, Young Jeezy, Plies, Shawty Lo, Soulja Boy, UGK, Young Buck, Yo Gotti, Rick Ross, etc. The biggest complaint was one of access…either no one knew whom to call or who was in charge. I heard the frustration of being sent from person to person within a camp just to set up a photo shoot for a major publication or not having phone calls or emails returned. Others complained of artists having inept teams who didn’t understand how the industry worked or basic understandings of who was who in the music business. Many of the teams had outrageous demands for their artists, or the artists just never showed up. Basically, all of the problems were ones that would have been eliminated by having an experienced team.
Many of the people I spoke with said they called some of the bigger DJs in the area where the artist was based to find out who represented the artist, and the DJs bad mouthed the artists telling of their own bad experiences which made the folks no longer want to work with the artists. People in this industry definitely talk. You know it’s a serious problem when I call a video booker and still hear negative stories about a group that hasn’t appeared on TV in years, or stories about an old management team from 5 years ago for a platinum rapper. You only get one chance to make a good impression, and people work with people they like and who are easy to work with. Don’t believe me? How many southern artists have been on the cover of XXL or Vibe (RIP), featured in clothing ads, or featured on BET in the past few years that the south has been running shit? It seems out of proportion to me.
So, until we in the south get our shit together on the business tip, we can expect for the better opportunities to go to the artists with proper representation, good teams in place, signed to respected record labels, and less buzz and sales. Fortunately, many of the artists whose names were shared with me regarding difficulty with their management teams, have changed management. This seems to be a blessing for all involved. But what happens when those old teams start to manage new artists? Can they undo the damage to their reputations, and have they learned enough to now be effective? We can only hope. Especially since these artists and teams are some of my favorite artists and people!!
A manager is the key component in any artist’s career! A manager is the person who helps the artist set goals and then puts the team in place to achieve those goals. The manager also sets up a system of checks and balances to be certain the team is on track to achieving those goals. He or she handles all of the artist’s business-- essentially becoming the face of business for that artist. And here’s the most important part: a manager can make or break an artist’s career!!
A good manager can enhance and help the career of an artist, a DJ, or a producer. But an ineffective manager can even more easily ruin an artist’s career. People don’t go out of their way to hire someone to destroy them, but they do inadvertently choose folks who are inexperienced, not properly connected, and who possess no experience in management. I see this everyday. If we had better managers in urban music, there would be no need for Rap Coalition, and we’d have rappers with longevity like Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, and Madonna.
When artists call me and ask me to refer managers, I cringe. I can think of only a few people that I would personally hire if I wanted to be a successful artist in this business, and they are too busy right now to be effective for anyone other than the artists they already manage. How can I refer artists to someone that I’d never hire in a million years (I don’t), or how can I refer a few folks worthy of referrals, but whom I know are too busy to even find the time to return phone calls (again, I wouldn’t). So I rarely refer managers. This is a problem.
A manager is supposed to be the liaison between the artist and the record label. They are the person responsible for relaying the artists’ concerns and fears to the label (therefore a label employee is rarely a good choice as a manager if they work at YOUR label). They are also responsible for offering constructive ways to fix problems. On the flip side, they are also the ones responsible for getting the artist to do what he or she needs to do, often a difficult task. Good communication skills, relationships, experience, and being organized are key for the person entrusted with this life-changing position. An artist who hires a friend is an idiot. An artist who hires a relative to manage his or her career is an idiot. While they may be trustworthy (we hope) and hungry (ambitious), they are not experienced or connected enough most of the time to do an even basic job of managing a career.
If you look at the bulk of artists with failed careers or declining careers, you can often see they are managed by inexperienced managers or people who work for the record label (either openly or covertly). While the artist only has one career, the managers are able to move onto other clients or other jobs within the industry to make money, so the decision of management affects the artist far more than the manager.
A manager is also responsible for obtaining opportunities for the artist to make money outside of the record deal (endorsements, touring, acting, merchandising, etc). So few managers in urban music are good at this, therefore we now have a spate of companies setting up solely to do deals between urban artists and corporate America (myself included). If we had better and more skilled managers out here, these cottage industries would not be popping up all over to accomplish what an experienced manager should be able to do on their own (by the way, the manager usually still gets a percentage of that income even if someone else brings it to the table).
When To Choose A Manager
Choosing a manager should occur when there is something to manage. At the beginning of an artist’s career, the focus should be on building a buzz and hype for yourself. The more well-known you become, the easier it will be to attract the right people to your career. It’s simple business basics really…managers get paid 20% of a new artist’s income, or 10% to 15% of an established artist’s income. Managers are in the music business to make money. An artist becomes attractive to a manager when that manager can apply their connections, experience, and contacts easily, and to where 20% really becomes something of value. The hotter an artist’s buzz, the better manager they will attract. The more they have going on with their career, the better manager they will attract. Having a manager on board before you sign to a major label would be a good decision because having them involved in the bidding war and negotiation process will help you--a great manager adds tremendous value in a label’s eyes.
How To Choose A Manager
You have one career, and most rappers only get one shot. So unless you want to languish at a mediocre label selling 25,000 CDs and downloads a year, you better get this right the first time around. The key, in my opinion, would be to know who the top managers in the business are, and attract one of them, or someone who trained under one of them.
For some unknown reason, in urban music, we have people who sprout up out of the blue and announce “I am a manager.” They don’t train under an efficient manager to gain experience and connections. But they are often on the streets enough to know who the hot artists are, and they get on by latching onto that artist’s coat tails. The problem is that these hot artists need someone who can take their career to the next level, not act as an anchor around their neck to make a quick buck.
First of all, you want a manager who is professional and runs their business like a business. They need to excel in basic business skills such as returning phone calls, attending meetings, planning schedules and calendars, knowledge of the music industry and how it works, and they need to know who’s who in the industry and have some access to those people. Sadly, there are plenty of mis-managers who sit back and answer the phone (sometimes) and choose opportunities to bring to the artist from what is offered, and then there are effective managers who not only choose from the offers that come in everyday, but are also visionary enough to figure out what the artist wants to be doing, and goes and gets it for them.
For many artists, they plan to hire a manager for the newer level their career is at, and then they plan to hire an experienced manager once they become a star. The problem with this plan is that it often creates a power struggle within the camp for control of the artist’s career during the transition phase. Additionally, there are multiple fees to pay, plus having an inexperienced manager early in a career is not a smart way to build a career to attract a more serious manager. It’s best to manage yourself until you get to a point where you need a professional to take you to the next level. This is a BUSINESS! A power struggle also forces away many of the good people within the camp who could have been helpful in the artist’s career.
I, personally, think managing artists sucks. It’s a thankless babysitting job for the most part, and unless you happen to get to work with a Platinum superstar, there is not enough money involved in management for most folks to eat well. So many managers who could have been great, leave to start their own labels (where the REAL money is) or leave the music industry to get better paying jobs elsewhere. Some who work under the big management companies like Violator, The Firm, etc, leave to start their own management companies long before they have the proper connections and experience in place to do so, because they grow weary of working hard for little pay under others. They don’t realize the financial realities of the music business, and often jump into a worse situation.
My biggest concern, and the reason I am even writing this, is that management consists of shaping, developing, and controlling artist’s careers--their LIVES. If a manager fucks that up, they are fucking up another human being’s life. Most don’t look at that, they look at their own thirst for money. A manager, by contract, is supposed to have the artists’ best interests at heart. How many do you suppose can forego a benefit for themselves to benefit their client? Precious few.
I once did a deal for an incredible artist at a major label. I kept telling him he needed a good manager to help shape his career. Six months into his first release, he STILL didn’t have one; he just had friends around trying to act like a manager. He was afraid of choosing the “wrong” one (he had been burned years ago by a real scumbag) so he had chosen none. By his third release, he finally got a real manager, but by that time so much damage had been done to his career that his star was fading, not rising. Every time he put out a release, it sold less. It’s hard to resurrect a career…far easier to do right the first time from the beginning.
The artist should NEVER be the bad guy at the label, it alienates the label staff--but the manager can be the bad guy. The label may hate the manager, but if they love the artist they will still work just as hard for him or her. If they hate the artist, his or her career is over. Politics reign supreme at record labels, and the staff works projects that are slam dunks, or projects they like…regardless of who the priority is at the label. Also, if the artist has burned bridges in the industry (like with radio, club DJs, etc), not only will their careers suffer, but so will the careers of artists coming up under them. A good manager ensures the artist is never on the firing line, because the manager is always. And with some experience and relationships, the manager is not out there burning bridges. If something does go wrong, it’s fixed immediately and not left to fester til it’s time to work the next release and ask for more favors.
A good experienced manager knows what to expect and how to work records. They work in conjunction with the label not in opposition to it, and certainly not without input and suggestions to the label. If you have no experience and things are going wrong, how will you fix them? How will you even know when things are going wrong if you haven’t worked a project before?
So how does an artist choose a good manager in this day and age where there are so many snakes, and so many inept managers with promising business cards? The best suggestion I can make is to look at the careers of other artists you admire--whose careers you admire, not music, and seek out that person. Is that artist getting opportunities that are usually afforded only to superstars, but isn’t selling as many units to do so? Is the artist getting a lot of awareness outside of what the label does for him or her? Do they seem to have a stream of income to fall back on besides being beholden to the label. Research, research, and then more research.
Make certain that if you meet with a manager that they really did everything they say they have. Look for a manager who has great relationships with booking agents, entertainment attorneys, corporate America (for sponsorship of tours and endorsement opportunities), access to label presidents and A&R staff but who does not have a deal at any given label (unless you don’t mind being put through their deal), and even film agents if you want to go that direction with your career. Follow up, ask questions, get references… after all, you only have one career, and a bad manager can end it prematurely for you.
Things to watch out for:
-a manager with a loyalty to any one label
-a manager who collects your money (they should NEVER touch your money, a business manager or accountant does that job)
-a manager who works at a label, especially if it is your label, or a manager who owns a label and wants to manage you AND sign you to his label (this is called double dipping and is a breach of fiduciary duty).
-artists he or she has managed before but no longer does (ask the former artists why they left)
-managers who promise to book you shows (that is NOT their job)
-managers who ask for more than 15% or 20% (max) of your entertainment income
-managers who want to sign you to 7+ year deals (watch out for those contract terms called “options” that extend the life of the contract automatically)
-a manager who wants to take or buy your publishing from you
For The Aspiring Managers Reading This
If you want to become a manager, or be a better manager, the best thing you can do is work under a fully experienced manager to learn as much as you can. This will also give you access to their connections and relationships so you can begin to cultivate your own. This is a “who you know” business. You probably won’t make much money at first, but the long term benefits are outstanding. On average, managers get between 15% and 20% of the artist’s entertainment income. How amazing would it be to sit back in ten years and contemplate not only the millions of dollars you made in the music industry, but also the careers you built and the lives you’ve impacted along the way. Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?
For My Southern Playas
Recently, I have been discussing with some of the power players in the industry why southern artists get little regard in NY inside of the music industry. Southern music sells very well and many of our biggest stars are from the south. Yet they don’t get much face time on BET, rarely get magazine covers by themselves, hardly ever get the bigger endorsement deals, etc. So I starting asking “why?” and people were happy to share the answers with me.
What I thought was a dislike for southern music, is really a dislike for the business practices. I heard story after story of bad experiences in trying to deal with management or teams for Gucci Mane, OJ, Young Jeezy, Plies, Shawty Lo, Soulja Boy, UGK, Young Buck, Yo Gotti, Rick Ross, etc. The biggest complaint was one of access…either no one knew whom to call or who was in charge. I heard the frustration of being sent from person to person within a camp just to set up a photo shoot for a major publication or not having phone calls or emails returned. Others complained of artists having inept teams who didn’t understand how the industry worked or basic understandings of who was who in the music business. Many of the teams had outrageous demands for their artists, or the artists just never showed up. Basically, all of the problems were ones that would have been eliminated by having an experienced team.
Many of the people I spoke with said they called some of the bigger DJs in the area where the artist was based to find out who represented the artist, and the DJs bad mouthed the artists telling of their own bad experiences which made the folks no longer want to work with the artists. People in this industry definitely talk. You know it’s a serious problem when I call a video booker and still hear negative stories about a group that hasn’t appeared on TV in years, or stories about an old management team from 5 years ago for a platinum rapper. You only get one chance to make a good impression, and people work with people they like and who are easy to work with. Don’t believe me? How many southern artists have been on the cover of XXL or Vibe (RIP), featured in clothing ads, or featured on BET in the past few years that the south has been running shit? It seems out of proportion to me.
So, until we in the south get our shit together on the business tip, we can expect for the better opportunities to go to the artists with proper representation, good teams in place, signed to respected record labels, and less buzz and sales. Fortunately, many of the artists whose names were shared with me regarding difficulty with their management teams, have changed management. This seems to be a blessing for all involved. But what happens when those old teams start to manage new artists? Can they undo the damage to their reputations, and have they learned enough to now be effective? We can only hope. Especially since these artists and teams are some of my favorite artists and people!!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Taking Your Career To The Next Level
By, Wendy Day (www.IndieLabelBuilder.com)
I started another new company last week! It’s an incubator for indie labels and indie artists so they can make more money doing what they love to do! Getting paid for doing what you love to do is wonderful. How many people in life get to say that they love their job and make money living their dream? Most do not. But I am living proof that it is possible. Almost every rapper who makes money is living proof, and certainly every person working in this industry-- and getting paid for their work, is living proof. And thankfully, my clients are living proof of this, too!
That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to grind hard, or pay dues, or any of the other things that come with building success…it just means that it’s possible. And some people are even superstars at it! Early on in your career, you have to decide what you stand for, and what you are willing to do to succeed. For me, it was as simple as deciding that I was willing to work harder than everyone else, give up personal relationships, personal time, vacations, and large sums of money to achieve success with my companies (I own and run 5 businesses within the music industry right now). What I was NOT willing to give up was my integrity, my morals, and I was never willing to compromise an artist’s career or what was best for them in order to advance myself (which slowed me down considerably in this fuck boy industry).
It took me 6 years to get paid for my work in this industry (I started a not-for-profit organization first). It took me 10 years to make enough money to support myself, and another 5 years on top of that to actually have a comfortable income so that I could invest, start new businesses, get some life insurance, and help my family.
Learning a skill in the music business is important, but even more important is getting really good at it. OK, not just really good, but great at it. Malcolm Gladwell in his seminal book “Outliers” proved that it takes 10,000 hours of doing any one thing to get really proficient at it—to master it. Ten thousand hours of doing something repeatedly to master it!! If you do one thing for ten hours a day, that would be 1,000 days—3 years and 9 months (roughly) without a break. Are you willing to do that?
So, if you aren’t willing to master a skill, it’s important that you find someone who has mastered that skill and put them on your team. If you want a manager who is great at what they do, you’ll need to find someone who put the time into becoming a great manager. In most cases, that’s someone who studied under someone else who was great and got the benefit of their experience and connections. Now, bear in mind that the greater the manager is, the more likely he or she is to look for an artist who is the best! Very few people who are good at what they do want to spend time with mediocre folks around them.
DJ Greg Street sent out a tweet on Twitter last night that said it best, “Know your strengths and hire your weaknesses.” It’s important to know what your own weak spots are so you can compensate by hiring someone who’s is skilled in areas that you are not. [As an aside, I gotta point out the incredible access to free knowledge we have on Twitter! Just by following the OGs in the industry and reading their tweets every now and again, you can pick up incredibly valuable jewels about this industry! You can also learn a lot about people’s personalities, who is fame driven or money driven, and who is truly approachable! www.Twitter.com/RapCoalition]
So, I get inundated with artists asking me what they can do to move their careers forward with no money at all. And while I don’t truly feel it’s possible to do anything in life with no money at all (shit, even sitting home and watching TV costs rent, electricity, and cable), a good place to start a buzz is on the internet (costs: computer, internet connection, electricity) because there is a lower barrier to entry (that means any idiot can get on the web).
When promoting yourself or your artist, whether online or on the streets, there are two distinct categories of people you would want to reach: fans and the industry. The better your balance at reaching these two segments, the faster your star will rise. So as the fans get to hear your music and be excited by you (and if they’re not excited by your music, investigate that sitting home and watching TV thing some more), so should the folks who work in the music industry. The fastest way to reach them is by attending an event that brings them all out. The Ozone Awards, TJsDJs quarterly events in Tallahassee, the A&R event in New York City that happens a couple times a year, the Core DJ retreat twice a year, TUMS event in Dallas, the GO DJ event in Houston, the SEAs in Mississippi, Mary Datcher’s annual event in Chicago, The Hittmenn DJs Reunion in Jacksonville in early July, etc. To get a full understanding of which events attract the industry and are worth the expense, you have to have some access and some understanding of the urban music industry. Oh, and they all cost money (travel, food, hotels, entry badges, crap to hand out to promote yourself, etc).
Once you have CDs to sell in the marketplace, whether you are an indie label that is NOT looking for a record deal or if you are an artist already signed to a major label, promoting to the industry is a terrible waste of time and money. At that point, consumers and fans should be your focus. But the printing companies are happy when an established artist is stupid enough to blitz industry events with posters and flyers. At that point in your career, a performance will work wonders to spread the word about you throughout the industry—posters and flyers are wasted on the industry because they won’t buy your CD anyway. Again, only promote to the industry if you are looking to get signed to a label (and sales of your CD regionally is really the ONLY way to catch their attention if your goal is to have a successful career, but you won’t listen, so have fun with your hanging posters and passing out flyers and mixed CDs—I think you should do that, too. Bumping your head is a great way to learn).
The point is that everything costs money, and while you don’t have to spend millions to do this effectively, it will take SOME money on your part. If you have less than $50,000 to start promoting yourself, expect to lose it. If I had less, say $10,000, I’d press up mixed tapes and sell them and keep flipping the money until I had at least $50,000. Then, I’d make a list of everything I wanted to do in an area that consisted of a 3 to 5 hour driving radius from my house, and I get price quotes. Posters, flyers, snippet CDs, mixed CDs, t-shirts, travel money, industry event money, etc….a list of everything I would need and what it costs. And that would be the target I would need to raise before starting my promo blitz. There’s nothing worse than being $10,000 into your project and not being able to go any further because you ran out of money and hadn’t made a plan. Then and only then, once I had a budget (even a minimal one), I’d begin to apply it.
The cheapest place to start a promo campaign is the internet. MySpace is still effective for all the late adapters that are still there. It’s a place to see a quick and easy profile of you and your music (plus still a great place to go to get laid). At some point they might even figure out a way for you to get paid for putting your music there… Twitter is a great way to build your movement and invite people to follow you so they get to know you and like you. It can backfire too, you could alienate fans if they see what an asshole you really are in real life. There are quite a few artists and promoters that I am following who seem to get it. You could follow them for awhile and do what they do. But remember that the internet is only one part of a full campaign:
Tyrese is Tyrese4ReaL (brilliant use of Twitter)
Mistah FAB is MistahFAB
40 Glocc is 40Glocc
Rock City are RockCityVI and R_City
Plies is GoonAffiliated
Gangsta Boo is GangstaBoo901
Toure is ToureX
Universal Records is universal_music
Nipsey Hussle is Nipsey Hussle
Yung Joc is IAMYUNGJOC
K’naan is Iamknaan
Inertia is Inertia9
Kingpin is streetkingpin
DJ Khaled is TheRealDJKhaled
Drumma Boy is DrummaBoy_Live
Quest Love of the Roots is Questlove
Nicki Minaj is nickiminaj
Theda Sandiford is BondGyrl
Asher Roth is asherroth
Brandi Garcia is djbrandigarcia
Then there are quite a few industry people that if you follow them, they drop jewels and you can read and learn for free:
Ed Lover is MrEdLover
TJ from TJsDJs is TJsDJs
Julia Beverly is JuliaBeverly
Wendy Day is RapCoalition
Daymond John is DaymondJohnFUBU
Kim Osorio is kimosario1
Nancy Byron is rappublicist
Gary Archer is Legendgary
Classic from Da Grindaz is Classichiphop
Then there are the people who just purely entertain or share industry news:
Slim Thug is slimthugga
Lil Duval is lilduval
Ludacris is ludajuice
Paul Wall is paulwallbaby (he farts a lot)
Charlemagne is cthagod
Don Cannon is DonCannon (he’s cranky a lot which is funny as hell)
Rap Radar is ElliottWilson
Andreas Hale is andreashale
XXL Mag is XXLStaff
Harry Allen is harryallen
All Hip Hop is AquaAHH, allhiphopcom, steveraze, Grouchygreg
Tony Neal is TheCoreDJs
Music Registry is musicregistry
Bob Lefsetz is Lefsetz
Amanda Diva is amandadiva
DJ Scream is djscream
DJ Smallz is djsmallz
Hip Hip is HipHop1978
Swizz Beats is TheRealSwizz
Miss Info is missinfo
Plus, as you eavesdrop on conversations, you learn what’s important to people, how they feel about the music in general, what their philosophies are, and where they are speaking or attending events. When you see the same names come up over and over, you start to learn who the players are and who has power. If you Tweet to people who do not know you, and even some who do, don’t expect a reply. It’s more to read their thoughts, ideas, and promotions, than to have a real conversation. For me, it’s not the place to do business, just to keep in touch in 140 characters or less…
Since Twitter isn’t the place to really try and do business with folks who don’t already know you (and even some who do), it’s important to build your own email list and keep in touch with fans that way. I won’t go into detail with that because there are so many free articles and services out there that can educate you on e-newsletter building. Fan Bridge offers a free email service, and the more popular paid ones are: Mad Mimi, Constant Contact, My Newsletter Builder, Campaign Monitor, and I just got an e-newsletter this morning from ListMails.com swearing they are cheaper than everyone but I’ve never tried them. Expect only 10% to 15% of your emails to ever get opened, and even less to be read all the way through. My emails that offer something, like advice or articles, have a better rate of response than just the purely promotional ones I send out. I still send both because I want people to know what I am working on for the most part…
If you are promoting yourself or your music, make sure you have a point to it. Just sending around music for people to listen to, isn’t very productive. Personally, I rarely open up anyone’s emails with mp3s attached. If I haven’t already heard of you or you don’t already have a buzz, I don’t have the time to check out your music. There are thousands of folks out here who WILL listen to your music. But I get over 600 emails a day, and probably 100 of them matter to me. I just don’t have time to listen to everything. There are more artists and producers today than ever before, and everyone thinks they are the best and offering what’s missing from the industry. Personally, the only thing I think that is really missing from the industry is for the truly talented artists to put in some serious hard work. Just talent alone is not enough…
But even though the internet is as close to free as a promotional device will come, it’s not enough. It’s only one piece of your promotions and marketing pie! You need publicity, advertising, radio spins if you have a radio record, street awareness, club awareness, word of mouth, performances, a promotional tour--and here’s the kicker….it all needs to hit at the same time. So if you have a radio record that will take 12 to 16 weeks to get hot, and if you want the local magazines and rap magazines to write about you and they have a 2 to 3 month lag time, and you want the local bloggers and internet websites to cover you and they have a 2 to 7 day lag time, you have to make certain that you work your project to people when you want it to hit, not when it’s convenient for you. If I want the January issue of XXL Magazine to cover my artists, the publicist will be getting all the photos and press releases and stuff to them by September. Yet the Bloggers will receive the material in December.
It’s like cooking a meal…everything has to hit the dinner table at once or it isn’t a successful meal. This element of timing is where I see the majority of indie labels and indie artists mess up. And it’s a costly mistake because it is usually means the end of your project. Anyway, it’s enough of a problem and a challenge that I’ve been able to build an incubator to show folks how to do it right! Many of us out here are still making money in the music business, doing what we love and selling CDs (and selling downloads)! And it truly doesn’t get any better than that!!
I started another new company last week! It’s an incubator for indie labels and indie artists so they can make more money doing what they love to do! Getting paid for doing what you love to do is wonderful. How many people in life get to say that they love their job and make money living their dream? Most do not. But I am living proof that it is possible. Almost every rapper who makes money is living proof, and certainly every person working in this industry-- and getting paid for their work, is living proof. And thankfully, my clients are living proof of this, too!
That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to grind hard, or pay dues, or any of the other things that come with building success…it just means that it’s possible. And some people are even superstars at it! Early on in your career, you have to decide what you stand for, and what you are willing to do to succeed. For me, it was as simple as deciding that I was willing to work harder than everyone else, give up personal relationships, personal time, vacations, and large sums of money to achieve success with my companies (I own and run 5 businesses within the music industry right now). What I was NOT willing to give up was my integrity, my morals, and I was never willing to compromise an artist’s career or what was best for them in order to advance myself (which slowed me down considerably in this fuck boy industry).
It took me 6 years to get paid for my work in this industry (I started a not-for-profit organization first). It took me 10 years to make enough money to support myself, and another 5 years on top of that to actually have a comfortable income so that I could invest, start new businesses, get some life insurance, and help my family.
Learning a skill in the music business is important, but even more important is getting really good at it. OK, not just really good, but great at it. Malcolm Gladwell in his seminal book “Outliers” proved that it takes 10,000 hours of doing any one thing to get really proficient at it—to master it. Ten thousand hours of doing something repeatedly to master it!! If you do one thing for ten hours a day, that would be 1,000 days—3 years and 9 months (roughly) without a break. Are you willing to do that?
So, if you aren’t willing to master a skill, it’s important that you find someone who has mastered that skill and put them on your team. If you want a manager who is great at what they do, you’ll need to find someone who put the time into becoming a great manager. In most cases, that’s someone who studied under someone else who was great and got the benefit of their experience and connections. Now, bear in mind that the greater the manager is, the more likely he or she is to look for an artist who is the best! Very few people who are good at what they do want to spend time with mediocre folks around them.
DJ Greg Street sent out a tweet on Twitter last night that said it best, “Know your strengths and hire your weaknesses.” It’s important to know what your own weak spots are so you can compensate by hiring someone who’s is skilled in areas that you are not. [As an aside, I gotta point out the incredible access to free knowledge we have on Twitter! Just by following the OGs in the industry and reading their tweets every now and again, you can pick up incredibly valuable jewels about this industry! You can also learn a lot about people’s personalities, who is fame driven or money driven, and who is truly approachable! www.Twitter.com/RapCoalition]
So, I get inundated with artists asking me what they can do to move their careers forward with no money at all. And while I don’t truly feel it’s possible to do anything in life with no money at all (shit, even sitting home and watching TV costs rent, electricity, and cable), a good place to start a buzz is on the internet (costs: computer, internet connection, electricity) because there is a lower barrier to entry (that means any idiot can get on the web).
When promoting yourself or your artist, whether online or on the streets, there are two distinct categories of people you would want to reach: fans and the industry. The better your balance at reaching these two segments, the faster your star will rise. So as the fans get to hear your music and be excited by you (and if they’re not excited by your music, investigate that sitting home and watching TV thing some more), so should the folks who work in the music industry. The fastest way to reach them is by attending an event that brings them all out. The Ozone Awards, TJsDJs quarterly events in Tallahassee, the A&R event in New York City that happens a couple times a year, the Core DJ retreat twice a year, TUMS event in Dallas, the GO DJ event in Houston, the SEAs in Mississippi, Mary Datcher’s annual event in Chicago, The Hittmenn DJs Reunion in Jacksonville in early July, etc. To get a full understanding of which events attract the industry and are worth the expense, you have to have some access and some understanding of the urban music industry. Oh, and they all cost money (travel, food, hotels, entry badges, crap to hand out to promote yourself, etc).
Once you have CDs to sell in the marketplace, whether you are an indie label that is NOT looking for a record deal or if you are an artist already signed to a major label, promoting to the industry is a terrible waste of time and money. At that point, consumers and fans should be your focus. But the printing companies are happy when an established artist is stupid enough to blitz industry events with posters and flyers. At that point in your career, a performance will work wonders to spread the word about you throughout the industry—posters and flyers are wasted on the industry because they won’t buy your CD anyway. Again, only promote to the industry if you are looking to get signed to a label (and sales of your CD regionally is really the ONLY way to catch their attention if your goal is to have a successful career, but you won’t listen, so have fun with your hanging posters and passing out flyers and mixed CDs—I think you should do that, too. Bumping your head is a great way to learn).
The point is that everything costs money, and while you don’t have to spend millions to do this effectively, it will take SOME money on your part. If you have less than $50,000 to start promoting yourself, expect to lose it. If I had less, say $10,000, I’d press up mixed tapes and sell them and keep flipping the money until I had at least $50,000. Then, I’d make a list of everything I wanted to do in an area that consisted of a 3 to 5 hour driving radius from my house, and I get price quotes. Posters, flyers, snippet CDs, mixed CDs, t-shirts, travel money, industry event money, etc….a list of everything I would need and what it costs. And that would be the target I would need to raise before starting my promo blitz. There’s nothing worse than being $10,000 into your project and not being able to go any further because you ran out of money and hadn’t made a plan. Then and only then, once I had a budget (even a minimal one), I’d begin to apply it.
The cheapest place to start a promo campaign is the internet. MySpace is still effective for all the late adapters that are still there. It’s a place to see a quick and easy profile of you and your music (plus still a great place to go to get laid). At some point they might even figure out a way for you to get paid for putting your music there… Twitter is a great way to build your movement and invite people to follow you so they get to know you and like you. It can backfire too, you could alienate fans if they see what an asshole you really are in real life. There are quite a few artists and promoters that I am following who seem to get it. You could follow them for awhile and do what they do. But remember that the internet is only one part of a full campaign:
Tyrese is Tyrese4ReaL (brilliant use of Twitter)
Mistah FAB is MistahFAB
40 Glocc is 40Glocc
Rock City are RockCityVI and R_City
Plies is GoonAffiliated
Gangsta Boo is GangstaBoo901
Toure is ToureX
Universal Records is universal_music
Nipsey Hussle is Nipsey Hussle
Yung Joc is IAMYUNGJOC
K’naan is Iamknaan
Inertia is Inertia9
Kingpin is streetkingpin
DJ Khaled is TheRealDJKhaled
Drumma Boy is DrummaBoy_Live
Quest Love of the Roots is Questlove
Nicki Minaj is nickiminaj
Theda Sandiford is BondGyrl
Asher Roth is asherroth
Brandi Garcia is djbrandigarcia
Then there are quite a few industry people that if you follow them, they drop jewels and you can read and learn for free:
Ed Lover is MrEdLover
TJ from TJsDJs is TJsDJs
Julia Beverly is JuliaBeverly
Wendy Day is RapCoalition
Daymond John is DaymondJohnFUBU
Kim Osorio is kimosario1
Nancy Byron is rappublicist
Gary Archer is Legendgary
Classic from Da Grindaz is Classichiphop
Then there are the people who just purely entertain or share industry news:
Slim Thug is slimthugga
Lil Duval is lilduval
Ludacris is ludajuice
Paul Wall is paulwallbaby (he farts a lot)
Charlemagne is cthagod
Don Cannon is DonCannon (he’s cranky a lot which is funny as hell)
Rap Radar is ElliottWilson
Andreas Hale is andreashale
XXL Mag is XXLStaff
Harry Allen is harryallen
All Hip Hop is AquaAHH, allhiphopcom, steveraze, Grouchygreg
Tony Neal is TheCoreDJs
Music Registry is musicregistry
Bob Lefsetz is Lefsetz
Amanda Diva is amandadiva
DJ Scream is djscream
DJ Smallz is djsmallz
Hip Hip is HipHop1978
Swizz Beats is TheRealSwizz
Miss Info is missinfo
Plus, as you eavesdrop on conversations, you learn what’s important to people, how they feel about the music in general, what their philosophies are, and where they are speaking or attending events. When you see the same names come up over and over, you start to learn who the players are and who has power. If you Tweet to people who do not know you, and even some who do, don’t expect a reply. It’s more to read their thoughts, ideas, and promotions, than to have a real conversation. For me, it’s not the place to do business, just to keep in touch in 140 characters or less…
Since Twitter isn’t the place to really try and do business with folks who don’t already know you (and even some who do), it’s important to build your own email list and keep in touch with fans that way. I won’t go into detail with that because there are so many free articles and services out there that can educate you on e-newsletter building. Fan Bridge offers a free email service, and the more popular paid ones are: Mad Mimi, Constant Contact, My Newsletter Builder, Campaign Monitor, and I just got an e-newsletter this morning from ListMails.com swearing they are cheaper than everyone but I’ve never tried them. Expect only 10% to 15% of your emails to ever get opened, and even less to be read all the way through. My emails that offer something, like advice or articles, have a better rate of response than just the purely promotional ones I send out. I still send both because I want people to know what I am working on for the most part…
If you are promoting yourself or your music, make sure you have a point to it. Just sending around music for people to listen to, isn’t very productive. Personally, I rarely open up anyone’s emails with mp3s attached. If I haven’t already heard of you or you don’t already have a buzz, I don’t have the time to check out your music. There are thousands of folks out here who WILL listen to your music. But I get over 600 emails a day, and probably 100 of them matter to me. I just don’t have time to listen to everything. There are more artists and producers today than ever before, and everyone thinks they are the best and offering what’s missing from the industry. Personally, the only thing I think that is really missing from the industry is for the truly talented artists to put in some serious hard work. Just talent alone is not enough…
But even though the internet is as close to free as a promotional device will come, it’s not enough. It’s only one piece of your promotions and marketing pie! You need publicity, advertising, radio spins if you have a radio record, street awareness, club awareness, word of mouth, performances, a promotional tour--and here’s the kicker….it all needs to hit at the same time. So if you have a radio record that will take 12 to 16 weeks to get hot, and if you want the local magazines and rap magazines to write about you and they have a 2 to 3 month lag time, and you want the local bloggers and internet websites to cover you and they have a 2 to 7 day lag time, you have to make certain that you work your project to people when you want it to hit, not when it’s convenient for you. If I want the January issue of XXL Magazine to cover my artists, the publicist will be getting all the photos and press releases and stuff to them by September. Yet the Bloggers will receive the material in December.
It’s like cooking a meal…everything has to hit the dinner table at once or it isn’t a successful meal. This element of timing is where I see the majority of indie labels and indie artists mess up. And it’s a costly mistake because it is usually means the end of your project. Anyway, it’s enough of a problem and a challenge that I’ve been able to build an incubator to show folks how to do it right! Many of us out here are still making money in the music business, doing what we love and selling CDs (and selling downloads)! And it truly doesn’t get any better than that!!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Could, Shoulda, Woulda
By, Wendy Day (www.WendyDay.com)
I’m one of those people that lives life with no regrets—everything happens as it’s supposed to and when it should. Not that I give up control to “destiny,” I just make the best decisions I can with the research I have at hand, trust my own judgment, and move forward once I make a decision. No regrets…I just don’t have time or energy to play the coulda, shoulda, woulda game.
At the last Core DJ Retreat in Atlanta, I ran into an old friend. I met him the same day I met Eminem at a music conference in Detroit in 1995 (please notice I don’t ever use the word “discover” as no one ever discovers anyone, they just offer the help and support they are able along the way). He and I were playing catch up, and it allowed me the time and luxury of going back over the deals I’ve done—and the ones I walked away from doing, and on my way home I was reflective about the ones that got away!
As a deal maker, I never did deals that were mediocre (I’d rather NOT do a deal than do a deal where there’s no leverage, which always results in a one-sided bullshit deal for the artist), I never did favor deals (they never work in the artist’s favor, they are just a quick way for the negotiator to get a quick check), and happily walked away from doing the deal if the mind of the person I was negotiating for just wasn’t “right” for some reason. For example, someone looking for just the biggest check possible upfront was NOT someone I wanted to negotiate for (in doing deals, building your company plus having ownership and control far outweigh just money upfront because the money comes when you’re successful, regardless). Walking away from the deal is always the hardest part….especially if you have a lot of time invested in the project or the artist, and especially if you’re broke.
So as I made that drive home, I reflected on the deals that got away from me for one reason or another. I regret nothing, but I couldn’t help wonder what would have happened if Boosie and Webbie were signed to Universal or Def Jam, Snoop controlled all of his masters and did separate deals internationally, and if Nelly had built his own independent label to be the Cash Money or the No Limit of the Midwest, with control, ownership, and proper funding.
Down South Hustlers
In the summer of 2004 or 2005, I met the owners of Trill Entertainment through a friend. They had been selling 30,000 CDs on their own through a small independent distributor who wasn’t trying to get them to the next level as a label (in my opinion). They also had no radio spins on either of their artists, but the artists were the hottest things on the streets (especially Lil Boosie). Upon meeting them, I introduced them to a bigger indie distributor (to get their numbers up outside of their region), and a radio promoter to get them some spins for Webbie so I could shop them a Cash-Money-type-deal at a major label. I was more excited about Trill than I had been about Cash Money when I met them. The artists had a stronger buzz, and the sales were strong and consistent on two indie released CDs. They were poised for greatness.
Let me cut to the end of the story: the owners of the label fell in love with Asylum, and ended up happily doing the deal there. I walked away the month before they did the deal because I didn’t think it was the best deal or situation possible for Webbie or Boosie (again, in my opinion). The week after Trill signed their deal, I got a call from the President of Universal, who offered double the money for just one of the artists than what Asylum paid for both, with a 50-50 split on the backend. The thing about Universal back then, was they spent the necessary money on marketing and promotion to drive their artists platinum. On the flip side, Asylum was an “incubator” for artists that the WEA system didn’t think could ever sell above 250,000 CDs. This limited thinking then forced the artists to never sell high numbers. If you go into a project expecting it to fail or to sell low numbers, it almost always does. With the buzz that Boosie and Webbie had on the streets in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, I knew that with the right machine behind them, and if they were a priority at whatever label they chose, they could be platinum superstars. Again, this is just my opinion. The upside to Asylum is that as an “incubator,” they offered a larger backend split for their deals…often 65%. If I owned an indie label, however, I’d rather have 20% of five million, than 65% of one million dollars. Both the money and opportunities would be bigger.
The trick to negotiating a deal is to properly match the artist to the label. It’s also the ability to get what you need to succeed in writing, because in the negotiating phase the major is going to tell you whatever they think you want to hear to get the deal done. I’m certain Asylum promised Trill the world to get them in house, and there’s no doubt it sounded really good to everyone—these guys are smart guys. They were inexperienced in the music business and leery of trusting others. In fairness, it’s real easy for me to be a Monday morning quarterback…they’ve done a great job with the cards they’ve been dealt. A really great job! But with the buzz that Boosie and Webbie had throughout the south, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if they had a major machine behind them. I believe both artists would have been multi-platinum on their first major releases and that those releases would have dropped sooner and with more frequency.
West Coast Bad Boyz
I was referred to Snoop Dogg through a friend of his assistant. His book had just come out and his deal with Priority was almost up. He seemed to be building new heights in his career in 1999. He had a stellar attorney on his team, but the thing about attorneys is they do deals to make money, not to build super think-outside-of-the-box deals, and I had a never-been-done-before plan that I pitched to Snoop and his wife (she was his manager at the time). It must have seemed a little crazy because no one had done it before.
Snoop’s goal was to set up his own label and then later add himself as the anchor act—once his deal with Priority was up (just a few short months away). My idea was to carve out separate deals for separate regions of the world, and hire one person on staff to oversee all of the deals. The additional revenue and ownership Snoop would have made would have far exceeded or outweighed the cost of hiring someone to oversee it. I called up friends who ran distribution companies (WEA, Uni, EMI, BMG, and Sony) to see if it would be possible to even do a deal of this magnitude. Everyone came back with a resounding “yes it could happen” because it was for an artist at the level of sales of a Snoop (he had a book in the marketplace, a film coming, and seemed to be on a tremendous incline in his career).
I envisioned doing a deal in the US, a separate deal in Canada, a separate deal in Europe, a separate deal in Japan, one is South America, and a separate deal in Asia. This way, we could chose whatever were the best distributors in each international area and do deals with the best of the best. We could also feature international superstars from those separate regions on the respective releases. It would be challenging, but financially rewarding for him. And, it would change the way artists did business internationally. Asia would become like Chicago or New York for a superstar, instead of the artist collecting only 25% or 30% of the sales revenue from that area. I put it on paper and pitched it.
Due to a mis-communication on my part, I thought they were with it, and made a call to Elektra and WEA to pitch my plan to them a week later. Sylvia Rhone went ballistic and called Snoop’s attorney and tripped on him (it seemed she believed a new Snoop deal was already being steered towards her for the whole world). Perhaps she saw my involvement as invasive and intrusive, especially since Snoop at Elektra wouldn’t have been my first choice—it wouldn’t have been a perfect fit. Anyway, I got a call from Snoop’s wife who asked me respectfully but loudly to back off, and that was the end of my opportunity with Snoop. But I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Snoop had done his new deal with individual international major distributors instead of just Interscope. It may have failed miserably, who knows!? Or maybe he’d be the wealthiest rapper in hip hop…regardless, he’d have owned part or all of his own masters, so he’d have been in control.
Midwest Mackin’
I met with a guy who was supposedly setting up Derty Entertainment for Nelly in 2003. I was in St Louis working with another label. This guy grew up with Nelly and had no experience in the industry—I believe he was a teller at a bank, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I didn’t really want to take the meeting (the guy had screwed me over in the past by telling some lawyer that I dissed him when I didn’t—and you know me well enough to know that if I dis someone I’m gonna take responsibility for it) but as a favor to Nelly’s publicist, I sat down with him for a 4 hour meeting. He was looking for my help to set up their label.
I explained to him how Cash Money was structured. I explained how No Limit sold records. I outlined how Creator’s Way in Chicago (Do Or Die and Twista came out of that camp) became the biggest label in the region in the mid-90s and where they had gone wrong (I believe we learn more from mistakes than successes). I told him what I had learned from insiders about Ruff Ryders and Bad Boy. A week later, he came back to me with a proposal. They decided to sign a lot of artists (as I recall, the number was 19 acts) and put them all out at once. Whichever ones succeeded, were the ones they’d back up with promotion and marketing. There was nothing about that plan that was attractive to me. As I argued with him, I realized he wanted me to help start it. His fiancé was involved in the clothing company and he felt he needed to be part of Nelly’s team somewhere or somehow. Throwing a slew of artists against the wall to see what would stick was insane at best. Upon thinking about it later, I wondered if Nelly even knew dude’s plan. Nelly is a sharp guy and this plan didn’t make sense on any level—something didn’t feel right.
I spent the next few weeks trying to get Nelly’s manager on the phone. When we finally spoke, he set up a meeting, but then stood me up meeting after meeting until I finally took the hint. Finally, I just gave up because I realized there were internal problems in the camp that signaled impending disaster. It was an outstanding lesson for me in the importance of having a good, strong, professional team and qualified people around--a lesson I quickly applied to my own company. The thing about having staying power in this industry is that it’s an industry of new and exciting. The biggest challenge is to stay relevant for any length of time. It’s especially challenging in Hip Hop, but even more challenging once the artist crosses over into the pop world. Sometimes the key is just to invest the money wisely and diversify into other successful businesses (clothing, energy drinks, sports teams, a wonderful charity, etc).
Derty Entertainment finally went on to regroup, get some key worker bees involved in the company and put out records through Universal, I believe. But I always wonder what would have happened if they had become the powerhouse in the Midwest that they could have been. I imagine every artist would have had to go through them to get on in that region. That would have been a very profitable endeavor.
The problem with sitting back and playing Could, Shoulda, Woulda is that it doesn’t take into consideration that anything could happen and that I surely don’t know everything. All three of the above companies and empires have done fine doing things their way. Tremendously fine. It’s easy to wonder what could have been, but it’s even easier to get back to work and build the next empire! Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda is a dangerous game.
I’m one of those people that lives life with no regrets—everything happens as it’s supposed to and when it should. Not that I give up control to “destiny,” I just make the best decisions I can with the research I have at hand, trust my own judgment, and move forward once I make a decision. No regrets…I just don’t have time or energy to play the coulda, shoulda, woulda game.
At the last Core DJ Retreat in Atlanta, I ran into an old friend. I met him the same day I met Eminem at a music conference in Detroit in 1995 (please notice I don’t ever use the word “discover” as no one ever discovers anyone, they just offer the help and support they are able along the way). He and I were playing catch up, and it allowed me the time and luxury of going back over the deals I’ve done—and the ones I walked away from doing, and on my way home I was reflective about the ones that got away!
As a deal maker, I never did deals that were mediocre (I’d rather NOT do a deal than do a deal where there’s no leverage, which always results in a one-sided bullshit deal for the artist), I never did favor deals (they never work in the artist’s favor, they are just a quick way for the negotiator to get a quick check), and happily walked away from doing the deal if the mind of the person I was negotiating for just wasn’t “right” for some reason. For example, someone looking for just the biggest check possible upfront was NOT someone I wanted to negotiate for (in doing deals, building your company plus having ownership and control far outweigh just money upfront because the money comes when you’re successful, regardless). Walking away from the deal is always the hardest part….especially if you have a lot of time invested in the project or the artist, and especially if you’re broke.
So as I made that drive home, I reflected on the deals that got away from me for one reason or another. I regret nothing, but I couldn’t help wonder what would have happened if Boosie and Webbie were signed to Universal or Def Jam, Snoop controlled all of his masters and did separate deals internationally, and if Nelly had built his own independent label to be the Cash Money or the No Limit of the Midwest, with control, ownership, and proper funding.
Down South Hustlers
In the summer of 2004 or 2005, I met the owners of Trill Entertainment through a friend. They had been selling 30,000 CDs on their own through a small independent distributor who wasn’t trying to get them to the next level as a label (in my opinion). They also had no radio spins on either of their artists, but the artists were the hottest things on the streets (especially Lil Boosie). Upon meeting them, I introduced them to a bigger indie distributor (to get their numbers up outside of their region), and a radio promoter to get them some spins for Webbie so I could shop them a Cash-Money-type-deal at a major label. I was more excited about Trill than I had been about Cash Money when I met them. The artists had a stronger buzz, and the sales were strong and consistent on two indie released CDs. They were poised for greatness.
Let me cut to the end of the story: the owners of the label fell in love with Asylum, and ended up happily doing the deal there. I walked away the month before they did the deal because I didn’t think it was the best deal or situation possible for Webbie or Boosie (again, in my opinion). The week after Trill signed their deal, I got a call from the President of Universal, who offered double the money for just one of the artists than what Asylum paid for both, with a 50-50 split on the backend. The thing about Universal back then, was they spent the necessary money on marketing and promotion to drive their artists platinum. On the flip side, Asylum was an “incubator” for artists that the WEA system didn’t think could ever sell above 250,000 CDs. This limited thinking then forced the artists to never sell high numbers. If you go into a project expecting it to fail or to sell low numbers, it almost always does. With the buzz that Boosie and Webbie had on the streets in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, I knew that with the right machine behind them, and if they were a priority at whatever label they chose, they could be platinum superstars. Again, this is just my opinion. The upside to Asylum is that as an “incubator,” they offered a larger backend split for their deals…often 65%. If I owned an indie label, however, I’d rather have 20% of five million, than 65% of one million dollars. Both the money and opportunities would be bigger.
The trick to negotiating a deal is to properly match the artist to the label. It’s also the ability to get what you need to succeed in writing, because in the negotiating phase the major is going to tell you whatever they think you want to hear to get the deal done. I’m certain Asylum promised Trill the world to get them in house, and there’s no doubt it sounded really good to everyone—these guys are smart guys. They were inexperienced in the music business and leery of trusting others. In fairness, it’s real easy for me to be a Monday morning quarterback…they’ve done a great job with the cards they’ve been dealt. A really great job! But with the buzz that Boosie and Webbie had throughout the south, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if they had a major machine behind them. I believe both artists would have been multi-platinum on their first major releases and that those releases would have dropped sooner and with more frequency.
West Coast Bad Boyz
I was referred to Snoop Dogg through a friend of his assistant. His book had just come out and his deal with Priority was almost up. He seemed to be building new heights in his career in 1999. He had a stellar attorney on his team, but the thing about attorneys is they do deals to make money, not to build super think-outside-of-the-box deals, and I had a never-been-done-before plan that I pitched to Snoop and his wife (she was his manager at the time). It must have seemed a little crazy because no one had done it before.
Snoop’s goal was to set up his own label and then later add himself as the anchor act—once his deal with Priority was up (just a few short months away). My idea was to carve out separate deals for separate regions of the world, and hire one person on staff to oversee all of the deals. The additional revenue and ownership Snoop would have made would have far exceeded or outweighed the cost of hiring someone to oversee it. I called up friends who ran distribution companies (WEA, Uni, EMI, BMG, and Sony) to see if it would be possible to even do a deal of this magnitude. Everyone came back with a resounding “yes it could happen” because it was for an artist at the level of sales of a Snoop (he had a book in the marketplace, a film coming, and seemed to be on a tremendous incline in his career).
I envisioned doing a deal in the US, a separate deal in Canada, a separate deal in Europe, a separate deal in Japan, one is South America, and a separate deal in Asia. This way, we could chose whatever were the best distributors in each international area and do deals with the best of the best. We could also feature international superstars from those separate regions on the respective releases. It would be challenging, but financially rewarding for him. And, it would change the way artists did business internationally. Asia would become like Chicago or New York for a superstar, instead of the artist collecting only 25% or 30% of the sales revenue from that area. I put it on paper and pitched it.
Due to a mis-communication on my part, I thought they were with it, and made a call to Elektra and WEA to pitch my plan to them a week later. Sylvia Rhone went ballistic and called Snoop’s attorney and tripped on him (it seemed she believed a new Snoop deal was already being steered towards her for the whole world). Perhaps she saw my involvement as invasive and intrusive, especially since Snoop at Elektra wouldn’t have been my first choice—it wouldn’t have been a perfect fit. Anyway, I got a call from Snoop’s wife who asked me respectfully but loudly to back off, and that was the end of my opportunity with Snoop. But I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Snoop had done his new deal with individual international major distributors instead of just Interscope. It may have failed miserably, who knows!? Or maybe he’d be the wealthiest rapper in hip hop…regardless, he’d have owned part or all of his own masters, so he’d have been in control.
Midwest Mackin’
I met with a guy who was supposedly setting up Derty Entertainment for Nelly in 2003. I was in St Louis working with another label. This guy grew up with Nelly and had no experience in the industry—I believe he was a teller at a bank, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I didn’t really want to take the meeting (the guy had screwed me over in the past by telling some lawyer that I dissed him when I didn’t—and you know me well enough to know that if I dis someone I’m gonna take responsibility for it) but as a favor to Nelly’s publicist, I sat down with him for a 4 hour meeting. He was looking for my help to set up their label.
I explained to him how Cash Money was structured. I explained how No Limit sold records. I outlined how Creator’s Way in Chicago (Do Or Die and Twista came out of that camp) became the biggest label in the region in the mid-90s and where they had gone wrong (I believe we learn more from mistakes than successes). I told him what I had learned from insiders about Ruff Ryders and Bad Boy. A week later, he came back to me with a proposal. They decided to sign a lot of artists (as I recall, the number was 19 acts) and put them all out at once. Whichever ones succeeded, were the ones they’d back up with promotion and marketing. There was nothing about that plan that was attractive to me. As I argued with him, I realized he wanted me to help start it. His fiancé was involved in the clothing company and he felt he needed to be part of Nelly’s team somewhere or somehow. Throwing a slew of artists against the wall to see what would stick was insane at best. Upon thinking about it later, I wondered if Nelly even knew dude’s plan. Nelly is a sharp guy and this plan didn’t make sense on any level—something didn’t feel right.
I spent the next few weeks trying to get Nelly’s manager on the phone. When we finally spoke, he set up a meeting, but then stood me up meeting after meeting until I finally took the hint. Finally, I just gave up because I realized there were internal problems in the camp that signaled impending disaster. It was an outstanding lesson for me in the importance of having a good, strong, professional team and qualified people around--a lesson I quickly applied to my own company. The thing about having staying power in this industry is that it’s an industry of new and exciting. The biggest challenge is to stay relevant for any length of time. It’s especially challenging in Hip Hop, but even more challenging once the artist crosses over into the pop world. Sometimes the key is just to invest the money wisely and diversify into other successful businesses (clothing, energy drinks, sports teams, a wonderful charity, etc).
Derty Entertainment finally went on to regroup, get some key worker bees involved in the company and put out records through Universal, I believe. But I always wonder what would have happened if they had become the powerhouse in the Midwest that they could have been. I imagine every artist would have had to go through them to get on in that region. That would have been a very profitable endeavor.
The problem with sitting back and playing Could, Shoulda, Woulda is that it doesn’t take into consideration that anything could happen and that I surely don’t know everything. All three of the above companies and empires have done fine doing things their way. Tremendously fine. It’s easy to wonder what could have been, but it’s even easier to get back to work and build the next empire! Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda is a dangerous game.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
How To Stand Out (And Why You’d Want To Anyway)
By, Wendy Day (www.WendyDay.com)
You probably have a demo CD and have opened up for Gucci Mane, Mims, or Rick Ross when they came through your city. It’s not enough.
You probably have a list of every A&R person in the music industry to shop beats to, with their email addresses. It’s not enough.
You might even be smart enough to attend an industry event where the key players are in attendance and you have a polished CD with colorful artwork and it’s good. Really good. It’s not enough.
You might even have a hot single featuring Lil Wayne, or if you didn’t have Lil Wayne money, it features 8Ball or MJG or Jim Jones. They could be all over every song, it doesn’t matter—it’s not enough.
You might even have deeper pockets than others do, but you see where this is going—it’s definitely not enough. You can’t buy success. In fact, deep pockets make people treat you like a wallet and you just go broke after awhile.
Imagine if you will, that there are over 50,000 people who want to be rappers, 100,000 people who want to be producers, and another 25,000 who want to be singers. Half of them have enough talent to get past the first year. Of those remaining, 25% have the work ethic to continue past the second year struggling to get on. Of those remaining, 1% have the charisma to be a star, and half of those are willing to do whatever it takes to win—that’s called passion.
Let’s say you are in that Top Half of 1%...here’s what you are competing with:
Of the 4 major labels (Universal, WEA, Sony/BMG, Capitol—and is Virgin even doing anything in urban music anymore?) and the additional 4 or 5 “incubators and indies” that are really doing anything worthwhile, they can only distribute MAYBE 40 to 60 acts a year, and that includes artists who are already signed. Signed artists who’ve already sold a lot of CDs will always be the priority projects because they’re proven entities—the risk is reduced. This is a business, after all.
Of those 40 or 60 acts, if you are a new producer trying to get into the music business, that’s only 400 to 800 songs. I have over 5,000 producers in my data base. There’s just not that much work out here! You’re really gonna have to stand out.
My point isn’t to depress you or to try and stop you from wanting to live your dream. My point is the opposite! To win, you have to stand out from everyone else. You have to work harder, be smarter, have better knowledge, better connections, access to people who can and want to help you, have a better team, and maybe, just maybe, even have a little more talent than everyone else. And you damn well better have the charisma to be a star. And you better continue to work harder than everyone else because the day that you stop grinding, along comes someone else a little hungrier to take your place.
The problem with music is that it is so subjective. Everyone thinks they know what’s good and what’s not, but they fail to realize that there are all different kinds of music because there are all different tastes in music. No one person can say what’s good or bad. There are a select few people that can hit successfully more times than others, but no one hits 100% success rates all the time. No one. Even the greats have more failed projects than successful ones (Berry Gordy, Clive Davis, Dr Dre, Puffy, etc).
So how will you NOT stand out from your competition?
Hopefully you’ve already gotten past the basic conventions and websites that people like me find useless because they are so damn basic—the ones that tell you to:
• NEVER hand someone a demo without contact information printed on it,
• NEVER to scrawl your info with a sharpie marker on it when it’s so easy to print labels for the CD,
• NEVER change your phone number that’s on your demo because you don’t know who may call you down the road one day
• NEVER mail your demo to record labels because they’ll send them right back or throw them away (or jack your idea, music, hook, beat, etc)
• Get your grind on, but don’t tell you how or even what that really means,
• Find a lawyer or manager to shop your demo, when no lawyer or manager has the time or energy to shop even their OWN artists’ demos
• Even have a demo CD (when I’ve yet to see anyone get signed to a deal that has turned into a successful career from “a demo.” )
Yet, you gotta have a demo CD, because someone somewhere in this industry will eventually ask you for one either to see what you have, or to blow you off: you see, it’s easier to just take your CD and keep it moving than it is to explain to you how people REALLY get signed to record deals.
So how will you actually stand out from your competition and not fall prey to the industry bullshit?
If you are a producer, the best way to build a career if you don’t want to shop endless beat CDs, hawk endless tracks to artists in their own habitats (studios and backstage at shows), or give away more free beats than is humanly bearable, is to produce for the hottest artists in your region. Yes, many are lazy and won’t make it, but if you are smart, you will only lend them your beats—this is called licensing the beat. If the artist goes somewhere, great. If they don’t, you can reuse the beat after a certain amount of time or update it or tighten it up and re-license it to a more motivated artist. Being the producer of a new hit artist or crew is how Dr Dre, Mannie Fresh, Beats By The Pound, Swizz Beats, Hitmen, and many others established themselves. Other artists and industry folks flocked to buy that new producer’s sound once they saw the commercial viability of it.
If you are an artist (Rapper or Singer), to stand out you will need to be everywhere, perform as much as possible, flood the streets with product, and build your name and brand. You’ll start with your block, then grow to your ‘hood, then expand to your city, then grow to your state, then take-over your region, etc. It’s a growth process and it won’t happen overnight. Most artists who grind do so for anywhere from 1 year to 7 years before they break through. But they break through by standing out.
What The Fuck?!
I was inspired to write this article because I just recently embraced Twitter. Eventually, my assistant will take over when I get burned out, just like I did with MySpace and FaceBook. Sadly, for me, being accessible doesn’t mean I get to be more helpful, or even make more money doing what I do (be real, like 1% of you reading this even know what it is that I really do)…it means I waste more time explaining the basic shit to folks that they could have read on my websites for free. And I get a little attitude about it…
The most common Tweet I seem to get is “HI Wendy! Remember me?” There is no good answer to that question, because if I remembered you, you’d already know it and wouldn’t need to ask me that. Also, you probably met me once at a conference where there were thousands of other people, and you shook my hand and pressed a demo into my fingers even though I just got done saying on a panel how useless demos really are. I guess you probably thought you were different from the other 400 demos I got that day. Multiply that day by twice a week. Now multiply that by 52 weeks in a year. Now multiply that by 18 years. I’d remember you……because why?
Some folks try to stand out by doing stupid disrespectful shit. My favorite is always the idiots who knock on my door at 4am at a convention to hand me a CD. As I’m standing at the door rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, trying to explain to my boyfriend why he shouldn’t kick you down the hallway, you think it’s your BIG opportunity and you take it. Nope, that’s called burning a bridge. I remember each and every one of you and I can’t do shit for you, ever. By the way, not one of you has ever gotten a deal in this industry—not because of me, but because you’re an idiot.
Handing me a CD at a convention when I am eating a meal, standing in line at a panel at the microphone to ask a question, or in a meeting with someone else, is also a very bad idea. I won’t even listen to your CD. Maybe the maid will pull it out of the trashcan in my room and listen to it, I dunno. No one owes you anything. People choose to help you in this industry either because they can make money off of you, or because it’s easy for them to do so (or enjoyable, but that’s really rare).
The artists whom I befriend and who are in my inner circle—and there are a lot of them, are the ones who stood out. Either I kept bumping into them getting their grind on out on the streets, or I heard so many people in the industry mention them that I had to seek them out, or they were referred by someone I respect (but even one referral won’t do it). For example, BloodRaw, PapaDuck, GrandPrix, Primo Starr, Boosie and Webbie, Yo Gotti, Birmingham J, Lil Weavah, Roccett, Boo, J Harden, Drumma Boy (producer) and G Mack were all artists whom I bumped into repeatedly on the streets getting their grind on. Anyone of them can testify that if they call me up, I answer their calls immediately. They didn’t have to come to me, I went and found them.
A recent example of a referral is a rapper out of Dallas by way of Shreveport called S Fresh. A DJ from Memphis whom I respect sent a mass text message to anyone who’d listen saying this kid was in his club the night before and he is a star. I called around to others in Memphis and no one heard of S Fresh, so I assumed it was some bullshit. I hit Hydro back assuming someone had compromised his phone to send a blast. He assured me it was real and that the kid is a star. He was so passionate that I began the process of finding S Fresh. My first stop was MySpace. On his page, he had Drumma Boy in his top friends and two Drumma Boy beats on songs on his page. I called Drumma on a Wednesday and was sitting in a meeting with S Fresh in Atlanta by Friday. I have no idea how I can help this artist, but you better believe he could call me anytime for anything and if I could help him, I will. Because he stood out.
So how do you really stand out?
You work harder than everyone else. You have talent, strong work ethic, good music, and knowledge of how the music industry works. You have a good team (90% of the artists I do not work with is because they have a shitty team), you have charisma, you have some business sense in addition to your artistry, you’re humble and polite, and patient. But most importantly, you put yourself into a position where I can step in and help you, easily, get to the next level. No one can do this for you. But if you are close enough to your objective, anyone can apply their power and connections to help you make it down the last stretch. The easier you make it for someone to help you, the more likely you are to receive the help.
And maybe, just maybe, that help will come from someone who is genuine and honest, and they won’t rape the shit out of you financially…. That’s how you stand out in this industry.
You probably have a demo CD and have opened up for Gucci Mane, Mims, or Rick Ross when they came through your city. It’s not enough.
You probably have a list of every A&R person in the music industry to shop beats to, with their email addresses. It’s not enough.
You might even be smart enough to attend an industry event where the key players are in attendance and you have a polished CD with colorful artwork and it’s good. Really good. It’s not enough.
You might even have a hot single featuring Lil Wayne, or if you didn’t have Lil Wayne money, it features 8Ball or MJG or Jim Jones. They could be all over every song, it doesn’t matter—it’s not enough.
You might even have deeper pockets than others do, but you see where this is going—it’s definitely not enough. You can’t buy success. In fact, deep pockets make people treat you like a wallet and you just go broke after awhile.
Imagine if you will, that there are over 50,000 people who want to be rappers, 100,000 people who want to be producers, and another 25,000 who want to be singers. Half of them have enough talent to get past the first year. Of those remaining, 25% have the work ethic to continue past the second year struggling to get on. Of those remaining, 1% have the charisma to be a star, and half of those are willing to do whatever it takes to win—that’s called passion.
Let’s say you are in that Top Half of 1%...here’s what you are competing with:
Of the 4 major labels (Universal, WEA, Sony/BMG, Capitol—and is Virgin even doing anything in urban music anymore?) and the additional 4 or 5 “incubators and indies” that are really doing anything worthwhile, they can only distribute MAYBE 40 to 60 acts a year, and that includes artists who are already signed. Signed artists who’ve already sold a lot of CDs will always be the priority projects because they’re proven entities—the risk is reduced. This is a business, after all.
Of those 40 or 60 acts, if you are a new producer trying to get into the music business, that’s only 400 to 800 songs. I have over 5,000 producers in my data base. There’s just not that much work out here! You’re really gonna have to stand out.
My point isn’t to depress you or to try and stop you from wanting to live your dream. My point is the opposite! To win, you have to stand out from everyone else. You have to work harder, be smarter, have better knowledge, better connections, access to people who can and want to help you, have a better team, and maybe, just maybe, even have a little more talent than everyone else. And you damn well better have the charisma to be a star. And you better continue to work harder than everyone else because the day that you stop grinding, along comes someone else a little hungrier to take your place.
The problem with music is that it is so subjective. Everyone thinks they know what’s good and what’s not, but they fail to realize that there are all different kinds of music because there are all different tastes in music. No one person can say what’s good or bad. There are a select few people that can hit successfully more times than others, but no one hits 100% success rates all the time. No one. Even the greats have more failed projects than successful ones (Berry Gordy, Clive Davis, Dr Dre, Puffy, etc).
So how will you NOT stand out from your competition?
Hopefully you’ve already gotten past the basic conventions and websites that people like me find useless because they are so damn basic—the ones that tell you to:
• NEVER hand someone a demo without contact information printed on it,
• NEVER to scrawl your info with a sharpie marker on it when it’s so easy to print labels for the CD,
• NEVER change your phone number that’s on your demo because you don’t know who may call you down the road one day
• NEVER mail your demo to record labels because they’ll send them right back or throw them away (or jack your idea, music, hook, beat, etc)
• Get your grind on, but don’t tell you how or even what that really means,
• Find a lawyer or manager to shop your demo, when no lawyer or manager has the time or energy to shop even their OWN artists’ demos
• Even have a demo CD (when I’ve yet to see anyone get signed to a deal that has turned into a successful career from “a demo.” )
Yet, you gotta have a demo CD, because someone somewhere in this industry will eventually ask you for one either to see what you have, or to blow you off: you see, it’s easier to just take your CD and keep it moving than it is to explain to you how people REALLY get signed to record deals.
So how will you actually stand out from your competition and not fall prey to the industry bullshit?
If you are a producer, the best way to build a career if you don’t want to shop endless beat CDs, hawk endless tracks to artists in their own habitats (studios and backstage at shows), or give away more free beats than is humanly bearable, is to produce for the hottest artists in your region. Yes, many are lazy and won’t make it, but if you are smart, you will only lend them your beats—this is called licensing the beat. If the artist goes somewhere, great. If they don’t, you can reuse the beat after a certain amount of time or update it or tighten it up and re-license it to a more motivated artist. Being the producer of a new hit artist or crew is how Dr Dre, Mannie Fresh, Beats By The Pound, Swizz Beats, Hitmen, and many others established themselves. Other artists and industry folks flocked to buy that new producer’s sound once they saw the commercial viability of it.
If you are an artist (Rapper or Singer), to stand out you will need to be everywhere, perform as much as possible, flood the streets with product, and build your name and brand. You’ll start with your block, then grow to your ‘hood, then expand to your city, then grow to your state, then take-over your region, etc. It’s a growth process and it won’t happen overnight. Most artists who grind do so for anywhere from 1 year to 7 years before they break through. But they break through by standing out.
What The Fuck?!
I was inspired to write this article because I just recently embraced Twitter. Eventually, my assistant will take over when I get burned out, just like I did with MySpace and FaceBook. Sadly, for me, being accessible doesn’t mean I get to be more helpful, or even make more money doing what I do (be real, like 1% of you reading this even know what it is that I really do)…it means I waste more time explaining the basic shit to folks that they could have read on my websites for free. And I get a little attitude about it…
The most common Tweet I seem to get is “HI Wendy! Remember me?” There is no good answer to that question, because if I remembered you, you’d already know it and wouldn’t need to ask me that. Also, you probably met me once at a conference where there were thousands of other people, and you shook my hand and pressed a demo into my fingers even though I just got done saying on a panel how useless demos really are. I guess you probably thought you were different from the other 400 demos I got that day. Multiply that day by twice a week. Now multiply that by 52 weeks in a year. Now multiply that by 18 years. I’d remember you……because why?
Some folks try to stand out by doing stupid disrespectful shit. My favorite is always the idiots who knock on my door at 4am at a convention to hand me a CD. As I’m standing at the door rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, trying to explain to my boyfriend why he shouldn’t kick you down the hallway, you think it’s your BIG opportunity and you take it. Nope, that’s called burning a bridge. I remember each and every one of you and I can’t do shit for you, ever. By the way, not one of you has ever gotten a deal in this industry—not because of me, but because you’re an idiot.
Handing me a CD at a convention when I am eating a meal, standing in line at a panel at the microphone to ask a question, or in a meeting with someone else, is also a very bad idea. I won’t even listen to your CD. Maybe the maid will pull it out of the trashcan in my room and listen to it, I dunno. No one owes you anything. People choose to help you in this industry either because they can make money off of you, or because it’s easy for them to do so (or enjoyable, but that’s really rare).
The artists whom I befriend and who are in my inner circle—and there are a lot of them, are the ones who stood out. Either I kept bumping into them getting their grind on out on the streets, or I heard so many people in the industry mention them that I had to seek them out, or they were referred by someone I respect (but even one referral won’t do it). For example, BloodRaw, PapaDuck, GrandPrix, Primo Starr, Boosie and Webbie, Yo Gotti, Birmingham J, Lil Weavah, Roccett, Boo, J Harden, Drumma Boy (producer) and G Mack were all artists whom I bumped into repeatedly on the streets getting their grind on. Anyone of them can testify that if they call me up, I answer their calls immediately. They didn’t have to come to me, I went and found them.
A recent example of a referral is a rapper out of Dallas by way of Shreveport called S Fresh. A DJ from Memphis whom I respect sent a mass text message to anyone who’d listen saying this kid was in his club the night before and he is a star. I called around to others in Memphis and no one heard of S Fresh, so I assumed it was some bullshit. I hit Hydro back assuming someone had compromised his phone to send a blast. He assured me it was real and that the kid is a star. He was so passionate that I began the process of finding S Fresh. My first stop was MySpace. On his page, he had Drumma Boy in his top friends and two Drumma Boy beats on songs on his page. I called Drumma on a Wednesday and was sitting in a meeting with S Fresh in Atlanta by Friday. I have no idea how I can help this artist, but you better believe he could call me anytime for anything and if I could help him, I will. Because he stood out.
So how do you really stand out?
You work harder than everyone else. You have talent, strong work ethic, good music, and knowledge of how the music industry works. You have a good team (90% of the artists I do not work with is because they have a shitty team), you have charisma, you have some business sense in addition to your artistry, you’re humble and polite, and patient. But most importantly, you put yourself into a position where I can step in and help you, easily, get to the next level. No one can do this for you. But if you are close enough to your objective, anyone can apply their power and connections to help you make it down the last stretch. The easier you make it for someone to help you, the more likely you are to receive the help.
And maybe, just maybe, that help will come from someone who is genuine and honest, and they won’t rape the shit out of you financially…. That’s how you stand out in this industry.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Record Deals In 2009
By Wendy Day from Rap Coalition (www.rapcointelpro.com)
I’ve been getting your emails asking me to cover record deals in this new bad economy. I’m hesitant to cover this topic because the truth is that I don’t see the value in an artist doing a deal with a major label or a sub-label anymore. The deals that do exist are not great, the mentality of having to be signed to a label to be successful is faulty thinking, and unless you are dead broke and have zero entrepreneurial skills, giving up the bulk of your money and control to someone else who is still going to expect you to do all the work, is just plain nuts.
But all that being said, this is still the Number One question I get asked from artists. Go figure! You asked for it, here it is….
With the reduction in price to record that has occurred over the past 10 years, and with the increase in bandwidth and internet savvy that has increased at the same time as recording prices decreased, any artist can make and sell his or her own music quite easily. The area where artists seem to need help is in the marketing and promotion of that product. To market and promote properly, one needs money and understanding of how-to. Since many free sites exist to explain how-to (including my own at www.rapcointelpro.com which is being revamped as I write this—but still free), I won’t waste time here discussing that. But you still need some funding.
No one can start an effective business without money, so if you have no money at all to invest into your own career, you will need to either secure an investor or sign to a label whose goal is to profit heavily from you. Labels have become banks (and many are run just as poorly as the screwed up banks that exist today). And although I don’t necessarily see the need for an artist to sign to a major label, that will be the focus of this article.
There are a multitude of different deals out there for any recording artist. It depends solely on what you agree to contractually. There is no such thing as a standard contract-- a contract is just an agreement between two people that says who will do what by when, what happens if neither side do what they are supposed to do, and how everyone gets paid. You don’t get what you deserve in this business, you get what you negotiate. What you negotiate is based on your leverage.
Leverage can consist of many things. It can be a team of people behind you with an incredible track record (but chances are good that you are giving up a large share of your potential success to them, which major labels frown upon since they are in business to make the lion’s share of the income). Leverage can be a strong regional street buzz or a track record of sales like PapaDuck, Roccett, TMI Boyz, and Mistah FAB have. Leverage can even be having an insider at a label who believes in you 100%, and is willing to fight to get you signed to the label—although this is the weakest leverage you can possess because it’s impossible to translate that belief into sales most of the time.
Let me say this for the thousandth time: if you think you can send your demo to a record label and get a record deal, you are wrong! If you think you can hand your demo to someone with power in the industry and get a decent deal, you are wrong!! If you think this industry will see your talent and protect and nurture you and your talent, you are absolutely insane!!! If you think you can buy your way into this industry, or buy a record deal, you are wrong (and will be poor very quickly because someone WILL take your money and then not deliver). If you decide to put a few years into building up your buzz and awareness in your own region to attract the labels, you are getting a little warmer…
It is important to have an entertainment attorney finalize your deal (or negotiate it if you are not skilled in this area--I have done numerous deals in the past and still always had a lawyer by my side in a deal) because it isn’t always what’s written in a contract that can hurt you, but often what is missing. EVERY contract is different because every situation is different! Recording contracts are set up to benefit the label and not the artist, so many changes are needed. In fact, I once heard that the average contract goes back and forth seven times.
Here is an idea of the different types of deals out there, and these deals are attainable based on the leverage of the artist, how badly the label wants to sign the artist, who is on their team that the label sees as added value, if other labels are bidding for the artist as well, and the recent track record of success of the artist or producers:
Distribution Deal (sometimes called a P&D deal): This is the hardest deal to get. Many labels now call the deals they offer “distribution deals,” but most are not. A true distribution deal is usually an 80-20 split, with the label making 20% and the artist making 80%. There is rarely money advanced (in a few cases I have seen pressing/manufacturing costs advanced). This deal is usually reserved for the most successful artists where the label perceives little risk and sees value in allowing the artist to do the bulk of the marketing, promotion, radio, and video work. Cash Money has this type of deal, as did No Limit back in the mid-90s at Priority. The only thing the distributing label is responsible for is getting the CDs into stores and collecting the money. The artist does everything else. The length of the deal usually runs 3 years and rarely, if ever, goes to an artist without the proper funding already in place. The artist always owns the masters.
Joint Venture Deal: This is also a deal that is not easily forthcoming without a strong, recent track record of success. It is usually a 50-50 split, and the term can run from 3 to 7 years. Most labels split the work with the artist but offer the sole funding for the deal. There can be an advance, which is always recoupable before the splits, and it is up to negotiation whether the label owns the masters or splits them with the artist. In a joint venture deal, it’s important to keep control over where and how the money is spent on your project, because 50% of nothing is still nothing.
Artist Deal: Until the advent of 360 Deals, this was the most popular and common record deal. The label does everything, except record the album (although they pay for it), and they have complete control and ownership. The term is usually for 5 to 7 years, and the average percentage for the artist is 12% to 16% (again, depending on leverage). Out of that percentage the artist pays back everything the label spends that is recoupable, rarely leaving the artist any money unless the sales are exceptional (meaning in the millions).
The 360 Deal: This is by far the most common deal out there today. Because labels make less money than they did before internet savvy folks began to file share (download music for free), and because they were slow to offer fans music in the way they wanted to buy it (digital downloads), labels have changed the deals they offer to include an income split on all aspects of the way artists make money: touring, merchandising, publishing, endorsements and sponsorships, tv, film, etc. If the labels did the bulk of the work and really did build artists’ careers to be superstars, I’d have no problem with this. But they do nothing different but take a bigger cut of the financial pie. How much you have to give up depends on your leverage, what you bring to the table, your buzz, and your negotiation skills. It also depends on how willing you are to walk away if the deal isn’t good for you. Most labels know that no artist will walk away from a deal offer. The ones who are willing to walk away rather than take a bad deal, often succeed. They know their self-worth.
Artists seem to have this notion (yes, I am talking about almost all of you) that to be successful, you have to get signed to a record label. The label might never put out your music, but you don’t seem to care about that because after all, you are signed to a label. I’ve seen artists give up 100% of everything to be “signed,” and I’ve seen them do that with local “labels” that no one has ever heard of or that don’t even really exist. Any idiot can press up a business card that says they own a record label, but does that make them a real business that can move your career forward? Doubtful.
All labels are not created equal. Just getting signed to a label is not enough. In fact, if you are happy solely to get a deal with a label, any label, you are doing yourself a huge disservice--you are setting yourself up to fail, unless you are just super lucky (in which case, play the lottery and stay out of the music business).
Some labels are great at radio, some are great at working the streets, some excel at making connections into film and TV or have great relationships with BET and M-TV, and some have great connections with the top producers and mixed tape DJs. If you make outstanding radio songs and you do a deal with a label that has a weak radio department and no budget to pursue radio play, you are screwed and your career will falter.
Each label is different, and it is important to know those differences as you are building a career in the music business. Just getting a deal, is not enough to guarantee success (not that anything in this fickle business can be guaranteed, but you want as much of a fighting chance as possible). And the labels change, as the people who work for them come and go.
Although I no longer do deals for artists, I have played a role in helping to build MANY millionaires in this business (Cash Money, David Banner, Twista, etc). I feel my key to success has been in studying the labels, knowing the abilities of their employees and various departments (which constantly change), and really seeing who is able to do what, well. Then, when I was shopping a deal, I would link up the artists with the labels that made a good fit. I made sure that the artist was always covered by outside consultants in the areas where the label was weak.
For example, if a major label was strong at radio but weaker on the streets, I made certain it was in the artist’s contract to hire their own street promotions team along with the budget to do so. If you plan to do business with the major labels, or their sub-labels, you should do so, too--it’s even more important to do so today. Plus, with the number of artists who seem to be just tax write-offs, I would suggest you get a commitment from the label as to a release date for your project, or you get to leave with your music. If they do not ever put your music out (and MOST signed artists NEVER come out), they should be penalized while you get your freedom.
With some labels, it is impossible to do this, so I always made certain that I never did deals with those labels—they were not, and still are not, the successful labels anyway, so nothing was lost. Some labels are in business only to make a certain percentage back above the investment they outlay to keep their investors or stock holders happy, so they are not interested in driving their artists platinum. Perhaps their business model is to spend no more than $500,000 on the creation, marketing, and promotion of any rap record, and then their goal may be to make back $750,000. It would follow that they would never spend more than half a million dollars and as soon as they achieve their sales goal, they would stop working the project and move on to another project.
This situation is great for the older or less mainstream artists who might not have a chance of selling a lot of CDs, but it frustrates most artists who feel they can sell more than 100,000 CDs (after all, for a label to make $750,000 they have to sell less than 100,000 CDs). If your label does not think you will ever sell more than 100,000 CDs, guess what!? You will never sell more than 100,000 CDs. They don’t care if they are wrong because there is a clause in the contract to “upstream” you to the major label (at a fire sale price) on the off-chance that you actually do sell better.
A couple labels over-spend millions of dollars to promote their artists without knowing what is effective, so their motto is spend, spend, spend. For an artist who desires fame and doesn’t care about making money, this would not necessarily be problematic. I imagine this is why we see so many broke artists on VH-1 “Behind The Scenes” specials, because they weren’t aware of ways to turn that fame into income for themselves. I also imagine this to be the reason so many artists have not made money, or recouped, from their record deals.
Then, there are labels that change their staffing, or change their ownership, or change the original teams that had made the labels successful in the past. This is why labels such as No Limit, Ruthless, Death Row, etc could be on top one day, and struggling to compete the next day. One thing is for certain in this business: success is created by hit records and hard work. There is no other route to take. It is impossible to have one without the other to succeed.
The industry is driven by radio right now, and the bulk of consumers are female. This means that the days of selling millions of rap CDs without any radio play are over. Today, a run-away radio hit is almost a necessity to succeed. But in addition to a hot single, it is important to have a realistic budget and a connected team to follow up with strong radio promotion. Radio is just one piece of the pie in creating a successful project. Even though radio is key these days, it is not enough, by itself, to succeed. You also need more than one hit song if you want to have staying power in this industry.
Here are some of the things I look at when analyzing a label:
• Who is running the label? Have they had success before? In the past year? With what kind of artists? With what kind of music? What and when was their last hit? Do they appear to know what they are doing? Have artists left that label to blow up elsewhere?
• Who runs the radio department? What records do they currently have at radio? Who are the priorities at radio? Which stations do they seem to have great relationships with? Which indie promoters do they hire? Are the bulk of their releases one-hit-wonders?
• What other artists are signed to the label? What is their release schedule? Who are the priorities and will my artist be a main priority?
• Is the label good at the type of music my artist makes? Do they offer good artist development? Do they get a lot of press for their artists? Is the marketing staff strong? Does the staff have a good reputation? Does the staff turn over quickly or is it a good working environment?
• Is the bulk of the label’s staff an A-List staff or is it comprised of folks who are new to the business or the folks who could not get jobs anyplace else (a sign that the label is overly cheap and has no clue how to succeed)?
• Do they sign the majority of hot acts around the country or do all of their acts seem to come out of nowhere?
• Are their deals fair or are there a lot of disgruntled artists slamming them publicly?
I am not any smarter than you. My connections are not that great. I just study this industry under a microscope and have placed artists with the labels that appear to make sense for that type of artist. And, if I can do it, you can do it. So before you take a deal, just any deal, make sure you understand exactly what you are getting into. Do the research and make certain the company to which you are giving the next five to ten years of your life, is worthy. Most are not. The real work begins once you get a deal, so make sure you have as much stacked in your favor as you can!
I’ve been getting your emails asking me to cover record deals in this new bad economy. I’m hesitant to cover this topic because the truth is that I don’t see the value in an artist doing a deal with a major label or a sub-label anymore. The deals that do exist are not great, the mentality of having to be signed to a label to be successful is faulty thinking, and unless you are dead broke and have zero entrepreneurial skills, giving up the bulk of your money and control to someone else who is still going to expect you to do all the work, is just plain nuts.
But all that being said, this is still the Number One question I get asked from artists. Go figure! You asked for it, here it is….
With the reduction in price to record that has occurred over the past 10 years, and with the increase in bandwidth and internet savvy that has increased at the same time as recording prices decreased, any artist can make and sell his or her own music quite easily. The area where artists seem to need help is in the marketing and promotion of that product. To market and promote properly, one needs money and understanding of how-to. Since many free sites exist to explain how-to (including my own at www.rapcointelpro.com which is being revamped as I write this—but still free), I won’t waste time here discussing that. But you still need some funding.
No one can start an effective business without money, so if you have no money at all to invest into your own career, you will need to either secure an investor or sign to a label whose goal is to profit heavily from you. Labels have become banks (and many are run just as poorly as the screwed up banks that exist today). And although I don’t necessarily see the need for an artist to sign to a major label, that will be the focus of this article.
There are a multitude of different deals out there for any recording artist. It depends solely on what you agree to contractually. There is no such thing as a standard contract-- a contract is just an agreement between two people that says who will do what by when, what happens if neither side do what they are supposed to do, and how everyone gets paid. You don’t get what you deserve in this business, you get what you negotiate. What you negotiate is based on your leverage.
Leverage can consist of many things. It can be a team of people behind you with an incredible track record (but chances are good that you are giving up a large share of your potential success to them, which major labels frown upon since they are in business to make the lion’s share of the income). Leverage can be a strong regional street buzz or a track record of sales like PapaDuck, Roccett, TMI Boyz, and Mistah FAB have. Leverage can even be having an insider at a label who believes in you 100%, and is willing to fight to get you signed to the label—although this is the weakest leverage you can possess because it’s impossible to translate that belief into sales most of the time.
Let me say this for the thousandth time: if you think you can send your demo to a record label and get a record deal, you are wrong! If you think you can hand your demo to someone with power in the industry and get a decent deal, you are wrong!! If you think this industry will see your talent and protect and nurture you and your talent, you are absolutely insane!!! If you think you can buy your way into this industry, or buy a record deal, you are wrong (and will be poor very quickly because someone WILL take your money and then not deliver). If you decide to put a few years into building up your buzz and awareness in your own region to attract the labels, you are getting a little warmer…
It is important to have an entertainment attorney finalize your deal (or negotiate it if you are not skilled in this area--I have done numerous deals in the past and still always had a lawyer by my side in a deal) because it isn’t always what’s written in a contract that can hurt you, but often what is missing. EVERY contract is different because every situation is different! Recording contracts are set up to benefit the label and not the artist, so many changes are needed. In fact, I once heard that the average contract goes back and forth seven times.
Here is an idea of the different types of deals out there, and these deals are attainable based on the leverage of the artist, how badly the label wants to sign the artist, who is on their team that the label sees as added value, if other labels are bidding for the artist as well, and the recent track record of success of the artist or producers:
Distribution Deal (sometimes called a P&D deal): This is the hardest deal to get. Many labels now call the deals they offer “distribution deals,” but most are not. A true distribution deal is usually an 80-20 split, with the label making 20% and the artist making 80%. There is rarely money advanced (in a few cases I have seen pressing/manufacturing costs advanced). This deal is usually reserved for the most successful artists where the label perceives little risk and sees value in allowing the artist to do the bulk of the marketing, promotion, radio, and video work. Cash Money has this type of deal, as did No Limit back in the mid-90s at Priority. The only thing the distributing label is responsible for is getting the CDs into stores and collecting the money. The artist does everything else. The length of the deal usually runs 3 years and rarely, if ever, goes to an artist without the proper funding already in place. The artist always owns the masters.
Joint Venture Deal: This is also a deal that is not easily forthcoming without a strong, recent track record of success. It is usually a 50-50 split, and the term can run from 3 to 7 years. Most labels split the work with the artist but offer the sole funding for the deal. There can be an advance, which is always recoupable before the splits, and it is up to negotiation whether the label owns the masters or splits them with the artist. In a joint venture deal, it’s important to keep control over where and how the money is spent on your project, because 50% of nothing is still nothing.
Artist Deal: Until the advent of 360 Deals, this was the most popular and common record deal. The label does everything, except record the album (although they pay for it), and they have complete control and ownership. The term is usually for 5 to 7 years, and the average percentage for the artist is 12% to 16% (again, depending on leverage). Out of that percentage the artist pays back everything the label spends that is recoupable, rarely leaving the artist any money unless the sales are exceptional (meaning in the millions).
The 360 Deal: This is by far the most common deal out there today. Because labels make less money than they did before internet savvy folks began to file share (download music for free), and because they were slow to offer fans music in the way they wanted to buy it (digital downloads), labels have changed the deals they offer to include an income split on all aspects of the way artists make money: touring, merchandising, publishing, endorsements and sponsorships, tv, film, etc. If the labels did the bulk of the work and really did build artists’ careers to be superstars, I’d have no problem with this. But they do nothing different but take a bigger cut of the financial pie. How much you have to give up depends on your leverage, what you bring to the table, your buzz, and your negotiation skills. It also depends on how willing you are to walk away if the deal isn’t good for you. Most labels know that no artist will walk away from a deal offer. The ones who are willing to walk away rather than take a bad deal, often succeed. They know their self-worth.
Artists seem to have this notion (yes, I am talking about almost all of you) that to be successful, you have to get signed to a record label. The label might never put out your music, but you don’t seem to care about that because after all, you are signed to a label. I’ve seen artists give up 100% of everything to be “signed,” and I’ve seen them do that with local “labels” that no one has ever heard of or that don’t even really exist. Any idiot can press up a business card that says they own a record label, but does that make them a real business that can move your career forward? Doubtful.
All labels are not created equal. Just getting signed to a label is not enough. In fact, if you are happy solely to get a deal with a label, any label, you are doing yourself a huge disservice--you are setting yourself up to fail, unless you are just super lucky (in which case, play the lottery and stay out of the music business).
Some labels are great at radio, some are great at working the streets, some excel at making connections into film and TV or have great relationships with BET and M-TV, and some have great connections with the top producers and mixed tape DJs. If you make outstanding radio songs and you do a deal with a label that has a weak radio department and no budget to pursue radio play, you are screwed and your career will falter.
Each label is different, and it is important to know those differences as you are building a career in the music business. Just getting a deal, is not enough to guarantee success (not that anything in this fickle business can be guaranteed, but you want as much of a fighting chance as possible). And the labels change, as the people who work for them come and go.
Although I no longer do deals for artists, I have played a role in helping to build MANY millionaires in this business (Cash Money, David Banner, Twista, etc). I feel my key to success has been in studying the labels, knowing the abilities of their employees and various departments (which constantly change), and really seeing who is able to do what, well. Then, when I was shopping a deal, I would link up the artists with the labels that made a good fit. I made sure that the artist was always covered by outside consultants in the areas where the label was weak.
For example, if a major label was strong at radio but weaker on the streets, I made certain it was in the artist’s contract to hire their own street promotions team along with the budget to do so. If you plan to do business with the major labels, or their sub-labels, you should do so, too--it’s even more important to do so today. Plus, with the number of artists who seem to be just tax write-offs, I would suggest you get a commitment from the label as to a release date for your project, or you get to leave with your music. If they do not ever put your music out (and MOST signed artists NEVER come out), they should be penalized while you get your freedom.
With some labels, it is impossible to do this, so I always made certain that I never did deals with those labels—they were not, and still are not, the successful labels anyway, so nothing was lost. Some labels are in business only to make a certain percentage back above the investment they outlay to keep their investors or stock holders happy, so they are not interested in driving their artists platinum. Perhaps their business model is to spend no more than $500,000 on the creation, marketing, and promotion of any rap record, and then their goal may be to make back $750,000. It would follow that they would never spend more than half a million dollars and as soon as they achieve their sales goal, they would stop working the project and move on to another project.
This situation is great for the older or less mainstream artists who might not have a chance of selling a lot of CDs, but it frustrates most artists who feel they can sell more than 100,000 CDs (after all, for a label to make $750,000 they have to sell less than 100,000 CDs). If your label does not think you will ever sell more than 100,000 CDs, guess what!? You will never sell more than 100,000 CDs. They don’t care if they are wrong because there is a clause in the contract to “upstream” you to the major label (at a fire sale price) on the off-chance that you actually do sell better.
A couple labels over-spend millions of dollars to promote their artists without knowing what is effective, so their motto is spend, spend, spend. For an artist who desires fame and doesn’t care about making money, this would not necessarily be problematic. I imagine this is why we see so many broke artists on VH-1 “Behind The Scenes” specials, because they weren’t aware of ways to turn that fame into income for themselves. I also imagine this to be the reason so many artists have not made money, or recouped, from their record deals.
Then, there are labels that change their staffing, or change their ownership, or change the original teams that had made the labels successful in the past. This is why labels such as No Limit, Ruthless, Death Row, etc could be on top one day, and struggling to compete the next day. One thing is for certain in this business: success is created by hit records and hard work. There is no other route to take. It is impossible to have one without the other to succeed.
The industry is driven by radio right now, and the bulk of consumers are female. This means that the days of selling millions of rap CDs without any radio play are over. Today, a run-away radio hit is almost a necessity to succeed. But in addition to a hot single, it is important to have a realistic budget and a connected team to follow up with strong radio promotion. Radio is just one piece of the pie in creating a successful project. Even though radio is key these days, it is not enough, by itself, to succeed. You also need more than one hit song if you want to have staying power in this industry.
Here are some of the things I look at when analyzing a label:
• Who is running the label? Have they had success before? In the past year? With what kind of artists? With what kind of music? What and when was their last hit? Do they appear to know what they are doing? Have artists left that label to blow up elsewhere?
• Who runs the radio department? What records do they currently have at radio? Who are the priorities at radio? Which stations do they seem to have great relationships with? Which indie promoters do they hire? Are the bulk of their releases one-hit-wonders?
• What other artists are signed to the label? What is their release schedule? Who are the priorities and will my artist be a main priority?
• Is the label good at the type of music my artist makes? Do they offer good artist development? Do they get a lot of press for their artists? Is the marketing staff strong? Does the staff have a good reputation? Does the staff turn over quickly or is it a good working environment?
• Is the bulk of the label’s staff an A-List staff or is it comprised of folks who are new to the business or the folks who could not get jobs anyplace else (a sign that the label is overly cheap and has no clue how to succeed)?
• Do they sign the majority of hot acts around the country or do all of their acts seem to come out of nowhere?
• Are their deals fair or are there a lot of disgruntled artists slamming them publicly?
I am not any smarter than you. My connections are not that great. I just study this industry under a microscope and have placed artists with the labels that appear to make sense for that type of artist. And, if I can do it, you can do it. So before you take a deal, just any deal, make sure you understand exactly what you are getting into. Do the research and make certain the company to which you are giving the next five to ten years of your life, is worthy. Most are not. The real work begins once you get a deal, so make sure you have as much stacked in your favor as you can!
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