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.

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!

Conferences, Seminars, & Award Shows

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

These days, it seems like everyone is doing a conference and/or awards show in hip hop. What is up with that? I guess people see one or two people do it, and they think they have the proper connections, knowledge, and opinions to do it their damn selves. The problem is, most fail. It’s also not a money maker and most people seem to think it’s a quick come up. It’s really not. Ask anyone who has done a real conference or awards show.

I believe strongly in knowledge, so in the past three years, I have attended every seminar, conference, and summit that seemed worthy, and that fit into my schedule. This kept me on the road, speaking live, for at least 10 days a month in the past few years. I now have enough frequent flyer flight miles to go to Hong Kong in the Summer. That’s a lot of conventions and seminars, and yet only a handful were worthwhile. I have attended so many bullshit events, that I am now officially burned out on seminars, award shows, and conferences.

Most of the events lacked the proper funding to advertise and promote the event properly, so numerous times I ended up with other high profile panelists, speaking to rooms with less than 50 people. Almost all of the events were done in nightclubs, which confused the attendees when they were told to shut up and listen to the folks on stage speaking. As you can guess, most didn’t shut up, so we ended up speaking to ourselves and the first 10 feet of attendees with the dull hum of voices in the background to thoroughly distract and insult us.

And at almost every conference, I ended up speaking along side of people who were more interested in self-promoting their company or crew, or who gave wrong information to the attendees. My favorite was a local lawyer who told the crowd that artists didn’t need to copyright their music. Idiot!! I’ve sat next to “managers” and “label owners” with artists I’ve never heard of before or since, and who weren’t qualified to flip burgers at McDonalds, let alone speak to folks about creating success in this industry.

Somebody, somewhere, must be telling folks in our industry that they can put on a conference or award show with no upfront money (wrong!), without advertising or promoting it, and without having panelists that people would be willing to pay $100 or more to hear speak. Seems more than a few of the conventions trick folks into coming by offering showcase spots (for $500 to $2,000 a spot), telling the artists that they will get to perform in front of industry folks (yeah, folks like me who wouldn’t stay for a showcase even with a gun to my head) who could sign them and make all of their dreams come true. Very often the people advertised don’t even show up.

These suckers who pay for showcase spots are obviously the people who are talking through the panels in the back of the room because the majority of panelists actually tell artists exactly how to get signed to a record deal (if you were listening, you’d know too). Hell, I spoke over 60 times in the past 2 years, and at every event I talked about how to get a deal and how ineffective it is to hand out demos. At the end of every panel, I was bombarded with demos. I also skipped every showcase (while it’s important for artists to practice their craft and perform, doing so in front of the industry with the intention of getting signed to a major label is a waste—doing so in front of consumers who will buy a CD is a better move; more strategic, and the sales are more likely to attract a label to sign you).

The importance of a local seminar in smaller towns and cities that don’t have access to a music industry, is its ability to bring together like-minded people. A seminar brings together local radio people, DJs, retailers, artists, etc, into one place so they can network and interact with each other. It’s a great way for new people to get to know who is who, and an even better way to plan to work together on projects and build relationships. This is a who-you-know, relationship business. In a perfect world, these events may even bring in national or regional folks from the music industry who are proven successful and willing to share their secrets of success. At least share them with the folks who aren’t standing around rudely talking to each other in the back of the room.

I built my career at conferences and seminars that matter—that’s how I learned much of what I know about this business. I met folks, kept in touch, and learned from their experiences. I’m fortunate that I came up in this industry when there were a handful of conventions each year that mattered, that everyone attended. That no longer exists. We seem to have split into sub-regions, and the South seems to have taken the focus. Plus the major labels no longer spend money to sponsor or attend conventions—probably because they’d have to actually leave New York.

Instead, we now have hundreds of little seminars that no one attends, with panelists who don’t really matter, and with attendees who didn’t come to learn. When I am the most powerful person in a room, something is horribly, horribly wrong. This means the seminar organizers fucked up. Hell, folks can come to the SEAs (Southern Entertainment Awards weekend) every year (March 19-22) and hear me speak—even spend time with me over the weekend. And the SEAs are free and have far more important and powerful folks than me in attendance.

So, if you are planning a conference or seminar in your area, please make sure you find the perfect venue (nightclubs are for showcases, not panel discussions), and sponsors who are willing to invest in your vision. Make sure your panelists are a nice mix of successful people who genuinely want to share useful information (as opposed to airing out others or pumping up their own businesses). Your panelists should consist of local successful people, regionally established industry people, and nationally significant people—all with proven track records of success. The panelists should be people willing to give back, not people coming into your marketplace to “rape” the local artists.

Plan out the panels so the panelists can speak to your market. If you have an abundance of indie labels in your area, make certain you have panelists who can share knowledge on putting out an indie record and maybe a LEGITIMATE distributor on the panel. If your market has no great producers but a ton of rappers, make sure you have some regional and national producers on the panel to help both the artists and the up and coming producers learn. Fill the void! Whatever your community is missing is what you should be offering access to. You will most likely need to fly key people in and put them up in a hotel. That is standard unless you have the connections and power to ask people to come at their own expense (for the SEAs, I ask the panelists to pay their own way so the conference can remain free and open to everyone).

Panel discussions should last longer than 45 minutes. You need at least an hour to get a real discussion going, and almost as long for the audience to ask their questions. Make sure you post a schedule on a website so people know where to go and what’s going on. It’s a good idea to print that schedule and hand it to your attendees as they come to your event. Make sure the panelists receive it ahead of time so they can attend more than just their panel—I spoke on a panel recently and missed a panelist dinner because no one told me there was one. I was sitting in my hotel room with nothing to do.

Have a moderator who can control the crowd and keep the discussion moving along in a lively fashion. Have a strong moderator no matter what. Last Spring in Houston, at the Go DJs/OG Ron C event, Mannie Fresh and I did a one on one conversation for 90 minutes (in a nightclub). This event was historical because I shopped and negotiated the Cash Money deal 11 years ago, based on Mannie’s excellent hit-making production (as well as the outstanding rappers and the owners’ vision for the label). Mannie and I had not seen each other or spoken for those eleven years. Also, in that time, we both had done some amazing things in our careers. You’d think the 70 people in attendance would have wanted to learn from us (especially the producers, artists, and DJs in attendance) but the talking and murmuring from the audience was distracting us.

Finally, one of my friends (Rick Edwards, who used to run Suave House back in the day) decided to moderate the conversation, grabbed my mic, and told the audience to shut the fuck up. He pointed out that between Mannie and I, we had earned (not necessarily made, but earned) millions and millions of dollars in this industry. Mannie’s production has sold over 30 million CDs and singles, and my deals have sold over 100 million CDs worldwide, netting a larger share to the artists than ever in the history of rap music. The crowd let Mannie and I continue without any more distractions after Rick broke it down for them. I would have NEVER imagined that someone would want to talk through Mannie sharing secrets of his success, but that day proved me wrong, and proved the necessity of having a strong moderator.

Make sure you spread the word about your event. Just using free MySpace and FaceBook blasts are not enough. Radio ads, flyers and posters, and advertising to the urban music community at least two months ahead is key for a small event. Six months ahead if you are trying to attract attendance from a larger area like your entire region. The SEAs begin advertising the next year’s event the week after the SEAs end. You don’t have to be that thorough, but maybe that’s why the attendance there always breaks a couple thousand. If your event wasn’t worthy of people attending this year, there won’t be a next year. I know I won’t be back.

And lastly, if there’s already a successful event in your area or region, find another avenue. Why try to copy or compete with something that already works and works well? TJsDJs springs to mind. Every Quarter, his event attracts 3,000+ people to Tallahassee, mostly key artists and industry people. If you are in that region, why would you want to compete with that? You’d end up looking bad, unable to attract the volume and the key people that his events attract. Don’t follow, lead. Find what’s missing in your region and supply that. And then be sure to do it well.

And if you advertise that someone is coming to speak or judge your ineffective showcase, they damn well better be there. You can’t ever repair your damaged reputation.


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Events that I’ll be attending this year, if anyone cares:
• Southern Entertainment Awards Weekend (Tunica, MS March 19-22)
• The Core DJs Event (Atlanta, GA April 24-27)
• One Stop Shop Producer’s Conference (Phoenix May 9-10)
• Tampa Music Conference (first week of June)
• TJsDJs/Ozone Award Weekend (usually the second weekend in August)
• TJsDJs Record Pool (usually in late October)
• The Diamond Awards (Jacksonville, FL usually the second week of December)

And of course, I moderate the In The Know Seminars (dot com) that are on-line monthly (the third Saturday of the month on the internet), so I’m always there.

I do not attend any of the traveling “minstrel shows” that move from city to city charging exorbitant rates for artists to perform. If it smells like a scam, it probably is. Find the cities that any event has already been to, and ask artists on MySpace in that city if it was worth it. I find that when folks get burned out of money, they are more than happy to tell others about it. Don’t be fooled by recognizable logos—and if you attend an event that is bullshit, write to those “sponsoring” companies whose logos are plastered all over everything and tell them it was bullshit!!!

Indie VS Major

By, Wendy Day (www.WendyDay.com)

Independent Release

Anyone with proper financing, good music, and thorough music industry experience could choose to put out music independently. With the financial beating that most indie distributors are taking (the economy is in the toilet, in case you live under a rock), and ease with which one could upload and sell music digitally, it is easier now more than at any time in the history of music sales, to go independent.

With an indie release, the owner of the music has the ability and control. He or she controls where to market, promote, and advertise; what music to release and when to release it; what music to make; the image of the artist; the market, region, and territory; how much money to spend and where to spend it….basically all aspects of the project.

Since releasing the CD is most likely one’s sole occupation regarding music, the decision of when to release the music and how long to work the project becomes contingent upon the demand in the marketplace instead of a decision based on other releases within the indie label. The single can be worked for 12 weeks or for more than a year. The release of the album can occur after the first single or after three or four singles and numerous mixed CDs. The duration of the marketing plan can stretch from a few months after release to a year and a half after. The market climate and demand for the music will dictate the length of the project. The set up for the project can be two years prior to release or three months prior. The label decides based on the reaction of the potential consumers in the marketplace.

The team hired to work the project can be made from the available people most qualified to work the project. Outside consultants and promoters can be hired, and if they aren’t working out well, they can be replaced in a timely fashion without damaging the project. If the consumer isn’t reacting to a single or a style, an indie label can re-release a better suited single, or respond to the marketplace with a remix. An indie label is like a jet ski in the ocean able to turn easily, whereas a major label is like an ocean liner. It takes a long time and a wide space to turn an ocean liner off its programmed course, while a jet ski can turn on a dime.

Let’s look at the financials:
If a CD sells for $10 wholesale through an indie distributor, and there is an 80/20 split in place, the indie label receives $8 for each sold CD and the distributor keeps $2 per CD. For 100,000 CDs sold independently, the indie stands to make $800,000 in gross revenues. If the CD is being sold through chain stores, such as FYE or Best Buy, there will be an additional $2 in price and positioning that goes to the chain out of the label’s share.

The cost to press CDs fluctuates depending on the volume and where the CDs are pressed. Cost can range anywhere from 38 cents a CD to 75 cents a CD, or close to $1, if the distributor supplies the pressing (that is called a P&D deal for pressing and distribution).

Because the indie label is seen as “the underdog,” they often get reduced rates for advertising, promotion, pressing, production, recording fees, etc. And because the indie labels usually have less financing than a major label, their target market is usually a smaller area and the project is spread slowly as finances become available from sales of the project. Touring is more difficult because of the reduced funding, and it’s rare that a major publication or a major television or cable show covers an indie artist. If seeing your artist hand out an award at one of the award shows, such as the Grammy Awards, is important to you, it’s doubtful that will ever occur for an indie artist. Securing video play at M-TV and BET is also next to impossible these days.


Major Label Release

Major releases are an “advance” game. The key to financial freedom for an artist is to secure as much money upfront as possible, and then to deliver the album for as little as possible and keep the split. This advance game was far easier to play in the 90s when the labels were flush with cash and could easily be talked into cutting big checks upfront. Those days seem to be over as major labels are hurting financially. Artists have also learned to deliver one or two hit radio singles so they can secure as many shows as possible performing the hit single(s). The major labels responded with 360 Deals—a way of eating into more of the artists’ share of the income.

Once an artist is about to be signed to a major label, the accountants and financial folks do a spreadsheet analyzing the possible sales potential for that artist. Once that figure is attained, the labels never offer more to the artist (even though it’s almost all recoupable) than is feasible for their risk tolerance. In today’s economy, for a newer artist, that figure can be anywhere from $125,000 to $350,000. For a more established artist, that figure is often $1 a CD based on the sales of the previous CD. [Most contracts allow for an advance of 66% of whatever royalties were paid out for the previous release—but since few artists ever recoup, I have never found that formula applicable.]

Once the album is recorded, the label decides where in their multiple release schedule the artist fits. If the album has numerous hits and promise of strong sales, the label may put the artist into the release schedule sooner than if they feel the release is just mediocre. This is often the opinion of staff members who are far away from the streets and have little clue about what’s hot and what’s not. The consumers aren’t fickle and out of touch, the gatekeepers at the labels are. I have seen artists sit for many, many years at major labels just waiting to come out. The artist has no income while sitting still.

Once the artist is on the release schedule, it’s difficult to change that date. It’s costly for a major to make changes (see jet ski versus ocean liner analogy in the Indie Label section). Once the single is in the pipeline, it’s usually a done deal. The major label works the single usually 3 months ahead of the album’s release date with the intention of dropping a second single and the album at the same time. Because there are other releases in the major’s pipeline, this schedule must be adhered to tightly, and change from the plan is rarely possible. Major labels release hundreds of projects each year, and each release is just one of the cogs in the wheel that make it turn. Except for the superstar releases, no release is more important than any other. Everything is based on sales potential and possible income. Nothing is based on art form or community service or value to humanity. Since all of the major labels are publicly held corporations with stock pricing and trades as their focus, the bottom line is the focus.

If a project takes off and does better than anticipated, it’s difficult for the staff to focus on that project because there is another release coming through the pipeline that needs their attention. Staffs at major labels work what is easiest since they work multiple projects at a time, and numerous releases each quarter. They have quarterly forecasts and budgets to meet, and the focus is on the bottom line at all times. There are numerous departments at a major label, and whether they work well together or not is often based on the cheerleading skills of the A&R person overseeing the current project. First week sales numbers are crucial within a major label and if the release makes numbers less than expected, the project is immediately shelved and focus shifts to the next project in the pipeline.

The staff is in place at a major label and it is rare that they use outside consultants except for radio. If a label has a weak video department or a weak publicity department, the artist just deals with that. Until an employee is fired or hired away by another label, they are often at that label for the duration. Politics are rife inside of a major label, and often moves are made based on politics rather than what’s best for the project.

Because the releases are similar to an assembly line approach, if the major label drops the ball on a good project, that’s seen as collateral damage and focus shifts to the next project to make up for it. They see artists as suppliers of the product they promote, not as creative people with dreams, ambitions, and hopes.

If the singles react well at radio, and if the CD reacts well at retail the first week (good first week sales are 75,000 to 150,000 for a new artist, and 125,000 to 300,000 for a more established artist. Breakeven for a newer artist is usually around 300,000), the label will often dump more money and effort into the project before moving on to another project, in an attempt to build a superstar for the next release of that artist’s music.

At a major label, artists continually have to achieve expectations to secure the next level. This means, radio spins must achieve a pre-conceived level of BDS spins for the artist to get a video. The video must achieve a certain level of success in order for the label to offer tour support (money to help the artist tour). The first single must achieve a certain level of radio spins to get a second single, or sales must be at a certain SoundScan level to warrant spending money on a second single. The point is that these levels of achievement are based on research or actual sales rather than feedback or acceptance from the streets and consumers. This is why there is no longer artist development at the major labels.

The major labels are able to flex their power and get major placements for their artists: touring, retail, endorsements, radio spins, video play, appearances at BET, M-TV, talk shows, and major publications, etc. Indie labels are rarely able to do this. Also, major distribution takes precedent at retail stores over indie distribution, making it more thorough and easier to get CDs into stores through a major.

Let’s look at the financials:
If a CD sells for $12.41 wholesale, 80% goes to the major label and 20% goes to the major distributor owned by the major label. That $9.93 goes to the major label and the major label accountants begin to go to work recouping what was spent on the project.

The standard record deal is for 12 to 15 points. So when an advance is $250,000, that means it’s an advance against a royalty. A 12 point royalty actually means the artist is entitled to make 12% of the retail sales price of each full length CD, minus some “standard” deductions, AFTER recouping (recouping is paying back all of the expenses from the artist’s 12%). So, for example, if a CD sells for $14.99, a 12 point royalty would mean the artist was entitled to $1.80 a CD….now, most major label contracts have all sorts of reductions in their contracts (it’s a pennies game) to give them more income. So that $1.80 per CD gets whittled down to about $1.00 a CD. Then, the recouping begins. If an artist sells 250,000 CDs, then that $1 a CD royalty is used to recoup the monies spent on promotion, recording, the advance, etc. So the $250,000 goes to repaying the expenses. It costs between $250,000 and $1,000,0000 to properly market a CD in today’s economy, so you can see how rare it is for an artist to recoup. In fact, the artist’s account is almost always in the negative—meaning more money was spent on the project than the artist was able to pay back from his or her $1 per sold CD.

This is why I called it an “advance” game. Rather than making money on the back end, the artist will most likely begin renegotiating for the next release. By now, he or she has caught on that there is no real money on the back end so they will try to get as much upfront as possible. The major label will try to advance as little as possible, but what they are really advancing is money coming in from the sales of the recent album, costing the label virtually nothing out of their own pockets. It’s an “advance” game. The artist keeps securing advances, going further into debt on the backend (thanks to recouping).

All labels, indie or major, have to pay artists, by law, mechanical royalties which are about 9 cents per song based on publishing ownership, up to 10 or 12 songs per CD. If an artist has more than 12 songs per release, that pennies-per-song total reduces based on a mathematical formula. This is why ownership of publishing is so key. Most major labels take (or buy) 50% of the publishing when an artist first signs his deal, so they are entitled to keep half of the mechanical royalties out the gate. If an artist is in financial straits (and most are) they may sell another portion of their ownership. It’s not uncommon for an artist who has been sitting on a major label waiting to come out for years to only own 25% of his or her publishing by the time the album drops.

Artists have no control over when their album comes out, what songs make it to the release, or their own image or sound. Contractually, the major labels own all aspects of an artist from their website, to their music, to their image and likeness. In rare extreme cases, the labels have even owned the artists’ names.

Epilogue:

There are pluses and negatives to being signed to a major label or with being independent. What’s ideal for one artist may be a career killer for another. One thing is for certain, to navigate through the murky waters of the music industry, one needs a strong team and guidance from trust worthy experienced people. Seek out the best folks you can to guide your career…. You only get one shot!! Talent alone is not enough to succeed. In fact, talent seems to be the least important skill to have as an artist these days…maybe that’s what’s wrong with the music business…

How To Jerk An Artist

By, Wendy Day (www.RapCoalition.org and www.Rap-Coalition.com)

I’ve seen so many people get jerked in the 17 years that I have been pulling artists out of bad deals. And I have been vocal (for free) about how artists can protect themselves from getting jerked by less than savory managers and production companies, greedy labels, and unscrupulous scammers. Yet, every week it seems I get a new request for help. I’m not quite sure how the “protect yourself” information can be out there, and artists are STILL signing bad deals that steal their dreams from them. It’s most frustrating.

So I thought I’d write a tongue-in-cheek article on how to JERK an artist, and then maybe folks will read it and their bullshit tactics will be exposed. I realize that I run the risk of helping the scumbags jerk more people, but that’s a risk I am willing to take. So here goes….based on the numerous ways I have seen artists get jerked…

First of all, you have to be certain you are working with an artist over 18 who knows very little about the music business. How else will you be able to teach him your version of how it’s supposed to work? He definitely needs to be over 18 so a Judge doesn’t get involved and nullify the contract on the basis of a minor not being able to legally enter into a binding contract.

Definitely sign a male rapper. Yes, you run the risk of him becoming violent when he finds out you’ve scammed him, but by then you should have enough money to either be untouchable or hire security. Also, male rappers statistically sell better on average than female rappers, and if you’re going to stick somebody for their loot, it may as well be as much loot as possible. Besides, an angry female will go to further extremes if you piss her off, remember that last shorty you did wrong? She came after your ass, didn’t she.

A solo artist is less risky than a group, as it’s only one angry person to watch out for, rather than many who may team up for revenge. A younger person is often more naïve, and you can sell him some bullshit about the industry only wanting young artists. If you get him to lie that he’s two years younger than he really is, he’ll feel like he shares a secret with you. The more secrets you have on him, the easier it will be to control him. And if he pisses you off, you can tell the world his secrets and he’ll always be the one who looks stupid. He’ll also be too busy dodging the press, to come after you. If you can secretly record conversations that make him look bad, you can especially damage his career so he has nothing left--just in case he manages to get away from you.

It’s good to remind the artist often that you’re family and you’d never do him wrong. If he thinks you’re all sacrificing now to build something for a down-the-road payoff, you can probably get a good 4 years of loyalty out of the dupe. If you are all persons of color, you could utilize the race card to your benefit reminding him that “Black folks have to stick together because the white man has been keeping us down for long enough.” Some people even mention slavery and other assorted history to further the bond. Some phrases you could use to convince him are:
• We are family.
• I got your back.
• We are (a) soldiers, (b) warriors, (c) a team, (d) fill in the blank.
• We are building an empire
• You’re going to be a star
• You’re going to be rich
• You are doper than (a) Jay Z, (b) Tupac was, (c) Biggie was, (d) Eminem.
• You can buy your Mamma a big house
• I’m gonna make your dreams come true.
• There will be plenty for everybody
• Don’t be (a) a hater, (b) crabs in the barrel, (c) selfish, (d) fill in the blank

Make sure your artist has a “manager.” It will make him feel bigger than he is. If the person he chooses is too savvy, make sure you poo-poo his choice and allude that you can’t do a deal if he has this person in his camp. Encourage family member choices, or childhood friend choices, especially if you feel you can control them later through (a) money, (b) manipulation, (c) drug habits, (d) blackmail. An artist manager who secretly works for you is a priceless gift worth his weight in Gold. The major labels were built on this. What manager doesn’t eventually want his own label? You could dangle that carrot in front of him forever.

When the artist is in a position where he’s feeling secure and he believes in you 100%, it’s time to put that contract in front of him with a pen. Have it open to the last page and show him exactly where he should sign it. Act like you’re in a hurry. A time where you’re about to give him money, or right before a show in the parking lot of the club, or when he’s really high in the studio and hearing his boys giving him tons of “you the man” praise, are all good times to offer the contracts. Don’t worry, he’ll sign. They all do.

If he tries to look at the writing in the contract, or even tries to turn a page, snatch it back from him and act hurt. Remind him that you’re all family and if there’s no trust then maybe you should find someone else to sign. Tell him you could get him a lawyer if he really wants, but it’ll have to be in exchange for that (a) gear, (b) watch, (c) car, or (d) cash you were about to give him. If he really pushes the having his own attorney bit, and you can’t manipulate him out of the idea, make certain he has an attorney with no power. It’s important to let him use someone with some music business experience so they don’t run up the bill with your lawyer fighting for stupid stuff.

There are many new, wanna-be, and fringe (outside of the inner circle that exists in the music industry) lawyers who troll the industry for clients and will give love to whomever is paying their bill (you). They come in all colors and all prices. Just remember, a lawyer makes more money working for a label than for an artist, so most can very easily be swayed to do what you want in the deal, even for a reduced fee, with a promise of future work, even if it’s bullshit.

Lawyers get paid to do deals, not to break them, so they will usually finish the deal no matter how bad it is, rather than walk away from making their fee. They console themselves with the fact they got their client the best deal they could. It is important to find someone with reduced, or no, integrity.

Sign as many artists as you want, promising them whatever you have to, to get them to sign. Don’t worry about putting them out or doing anything at all with them. Once they are signed, you own them. Most artists really just want to be signed to a record label and that will pacify them longer than you think. Be hard to find so you won’t have to listen to their bitching. If they can’t find you, it’s not your fault you’re busy-- after all, you are running a business. If they do catch you, sympathize with them and tell them you’ll look into it, or that they are up next. Both of these excuses only work about 3 times, but if you are good at eluding the artists, that’s at least a year.

Make certain your lawyer worded the contract to sign your artists for no less than 7 albums (not years, as 7 albums is about 14 years really), give him little to no advance, take 100% of the publishing and merchandising, get 50% of everything else as his production company, and make the stat rate at 10X, 75%. Have a separate contract that assigns you as his official manager for life, for 25%. Tell him how big you are in the industry and how you can make shit happen at the drop of a hat, in fact, you left Akon or Diddy on hold just now to speak with your favorite artist (him) because he’s so important to you.

Placate him with the lie that you’re going to put him on tour with (a) Jay Z, (b) Lil Wayne, (c) R Kelly (if he also likes his females young) or (d) Plies, and that nobody else would do that for him. Remind him that with his cut of tour income like that, he won’t even notice your manager’s fee of 25%, besides you’re doing all the work: all he has to do is rap on stage for 20 minutes and get head in the limo on the way back to the hotel by the prettiest female. Tough life.

Speaking of shows, if you are lucky enough to stumble on an opportunity, make sure the artist thinks he’s only getting $1,000 to do the show, while the promoter is really paying you $5,000. Then, when the promoter sends you the first half of $2,500, tell the artist the $500 front end came in, and you keep the other $2,000. Or be a sport and tell him since you’re such a great manager you got the whole $1,000 upfront and keep the remaining $1,500 and then keep the whole backend of $2,500. You’ll be his hero. By the time the IRS sends the artist a tax notice (takes about 3 years) for the taxes he didn’t pay on all the $5,000 shows, you’ll be long gone.

A real easy way to make a lot of money is to book multiple shows for the same night and don’t show up to any except one. You can keep all the front end deposits and do nothing because it’ll be the artists’ reputation in the crapper, not yours. By the time the lawsuits come in, again, you’ll be long gone. Your lawyer can stall the suits for 3 years or better. And it’s free money. You could even book all the shows for the same night at $5,000 each and call back all the promoters the day before to tell them you’ll come to whoever is the highest bidder. You might get double the price, and if you were smart enough to ask everyone for open airplane tickets, you can cash in the ones you don’t use and make some extra cash. Again, it’s the artist reputation that suffers, not yours.
The new 360 deals are a great way for you to make even more money than you should (although it doesn’t much matter what you call the deal, you’re never going to pay him anyway). With a 360 deal you can explain to him that you are building his career so he can make a lot of show money, and then you can tap into a portion of that income. Your argument should be that you are taking all the risk financially, so you should be able to tap into all of the income sources from what your promotional dollars create. If he stalls, remember to dangle an advance in his face so he won’t be able to stall you out for long. Keep other unsigned artists around so he feels that if he doesn’t take the deal, someone else will.

It’s a good idea to keep the artist in the studio as much as possible at first, because once he realizes you’re making all the money, it’ll be hard to get him back in there. The studio is really where he wants to be anyway; he’s most comfortable there. Keep him as high and as drunk as possible. Aside from the fact that it will be easy to control him then, the addiction will also keep him coming back to you. He will want to be in the studio all the time anyway, as he will be gung-ho to make his album. Truth be told, rappers really only want fame and pussy, and when everyone thinks he has an album coming out, the women will surround him, and he will feel like a star (even if his record never comes out).

Try to get him to make as many albums as possible, but don’t tell him that’s what you’re doing. Tell him the songs he’s making don’t fit his image, or the production is inferior, or that he is so much better than what you’re hearing. If you tell him it isn’t commercial enough and needs to be more radio friendly, which is the oldest label trick in the book, you may get some static as artists may see this as “selling out,” which will hurt his core beliefs (core beliefs are hard to sway). You may need to lock him out of the studio or cut off the supply of money and drugs, to get him to come around. Once he does though, you can get a good 10 or 20 more songs with this one excuse.

If he has a lot of knuckleheads around him whispering in his ear, or savvy industry folks around him all of a sudden, send him to a studio more than a ten hour drive away. This will instantly put a stop to that crap, and being in a strange place will force him to go to the studio because he’ll have nothing else to do. You can easily control him with money (keeping him waiting a few days for money when he’s broke and hungry will take the fight out of anyone). Never give him too much at once. The stress of bills and starving are excellent incentive for him to act right, especially if he has a baby’s mama and a kid or two. Great incentive. By the time the paternity suits and child support cases roll in, you’ll be long gone.

If you do put out a record for the rapper, keep him on the road as much as possible. Aside from the show scam being a great source of income for you, it keeps him from begging you for money constantly at home. Be certain he has his boy as his “manager” (preferably with no business or music industry knowledge or connections), and has a tour manager that you assign, control, and pay, that will report back to you immediately if there are any suspicions that you aren’t doing what’s right. When you hear rumblings, fly to whatever city he’s in and spend time with him. Buy him little gifts and get high with him. Remind him he’s part of something bigger. Strip bars in any city are perfect locations for meetings. Hookers afterwards are appropriate gifts. You should be seen at all times to be taking care of his needs, especially publicly. This will attract hoards of other artists to scam.

Things won’t get rough for you until about 9 months after his record comes out and he realizes he’s still living with his Mom. If you have multiple albums done, it won’t matter as his “fame” will keep him promoting the subsequent albums. He won’t want to lose that. Without fame he’ll lose all the free stuff, all the gratuitous pussy, all the attention, all the free drinks and free blunts… Fear of losing all this will keep him in line for awhile. Rarely be kind to him. The harder you are on him, and the harder you are to please, the harder he’ll try to please you. Kindness will only be taken as weakness and he’ll control you.

Artists are not loyal. They jump to wherever the money is. If he’s more pimp than whore, he will eventually find other ways to make money: (a) appearing on other artists’ albums for $10,000 (b) shows behind your back for $5,000 which is more than you’re booking him for, (c) bootlegging his own album, or (d) selling T-shirts or drugs at his own shows. If you don’t have subsequent albums to release, it’s important that you keep him broke so you can get him back in the studio as soon as possible with the promise of money--his next advance. If he’s a man destined to be pimped, he will most likely jump ship to another camp with the same game, willing to give up a bit more upfront cash incentive to him. Have a super sharp litigator on board to sue the other company immediately, and either they’ll toss him out like a used condom or write you a fat check to let him go. It’s up to you, since you legally own him.

In general, only give your artist what you have to, in order to get him working. If you give him too much he’ll disappear til it runs out. For the second album, if you promise half now and half when he finishes the album, it’s all gravy. And if you’re slick enough to use the studio excuses again to get even more songs out of him, you’re a star! By now he knows the necessity of radio hits, so that “music needs to be more radio friendly” will go a long way. You can even entice him by getting tracks from his favorite producers, and getting artists he admires to work with him. Both of these options require an outlay of money, but you can trick multiple artists on your label with the same track or the same guest appearance opportunity. Also, you’ll sell more records in the long run, and make more money that way, so it’s worth it. If you have signed more than one artist, you can pit them against each other for maximum effect. They’ll even sabotage each other with little effort on your part. You can sit back and enjoy the show.

If you’re an artist and you’re reading this, don’t get pissed off because you got beat. For 17 years, I have offered numerous free resources that teach you how to NOT get jerked, but that would require time, investigation, and reading skills on your part, and that just always seemed like too much work didn’t it. With the plethora of info out there, and the availability of trustworthy professionals to choose for your team, if any of you do get jerked, shame on you. You have no one to blame but yourselves. You’ve been warned. Enjoy that blunt…

Haters Everywhere We Go

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

I started Rap Coalition with my own money in 1992 because I got tired of hearing about my favorite artists getting jerked by greedy labels, unsavory production companies, and unknowledgeable managers. I came to rap as a fan—started listening to rap in Philadelphia in 1980. Many of you weren’t even born yet.

I didn’t get into the industry to fuck rappers, or attend parties, or walk red carpets, or get free CDs, or to get interviewed on BET…and therefore, almost 17 years later, I still don’t do any of that shit. That industry glamour shit is fake to me. I care about the deals, the rappers, producers, and DJs getting paid, and enjoying the music (I am still a fan). And here’s the important part: MY ACTIONS MATCH MY WORDS!!

So those folks in this industry who are here to:
• solely get a check (especially those with the bullshit seminars, conferences, showcases, and award shows that are ripping folks off; or the labels and managers who are barely more than just a business card), and/or to
• rub elbows with rappers (I see the same muthaphukkas carrying a camera everywhere wishing they worked for a real magazine, but where do those photos end up besides on their bedroom wall or their Blog that no one reads?), and/or to
• dis folks actually building something and making things happen in this industry (yes, some folks are an angry bi-polar waste of space that no one listens to, and to explain that to them, one would actually have to see value in picking up a phone and calling them—which they are not deserving of…you see, they are so irrelevant that they don’t matter enough), and/or to
• fuck rappers (men and women)
won’t last very long. I’ve watched many folks come and go over the years and most are just a tiny blip on the radar screen of this industry. Some of these losers are even a joke for those in the industry with a real career and a track record of success (“let’s see what this idiot does next since she can’t get clients, and totally fucked up her bullshit award show destroying a bunch of brands along the way”). Yes, I’ve really heard people talk that way behind their backs, and some folks even have conference calls to discuss destroying and blackballing the real idiots in this industry.

While I have always taken the road of letting karma deal with the idiots who are useless in the industry, my powerful counterparts take aggressive action to throw blocks their way. For some people, the only noise they can attempt to make in this industry is by calling out someone who matters, or sending an angry email blast, or sneak dissing them in a blog or an e-newsletter. Fortunately, most of these wanna-bes would actually have to be enough of a force to be reckoned with for folks to read their angry rants, and they are not. Of course, they could always land a column at AllHipHop and take shots….but they’d have to have something tangible to offer, or some real track record of success, to actually do that.

These folks who dis, rant, and complain publicly about others are commonly referred to as HATERS. The one quality they seem to have in common is that they are irrelevant, trying to gain some relevance, not through success, but through attacking folks publicly who are good at what they do and who do have something to offer the industry. Personally, my haters have another quality in common--they are mentally unstable, and it very quickly shows itself when I try to confront them. Additionally, most of them are female.

I’m hated by many of the folks who are bad at their jobs because I actually talk about it and name names—usually in private, one on one. I am very vocal about the wack contracts I break for artists for free, and have no trouble shielding others from going down the same painful road. But every now and again I will use a column to grind an ax about someone’s ineptitude, or stupidity-- usually when I hear many people complaining about the same detractors. I am very careful to be honest and back up everything with fact, lest I be a hater myself.

I may clown someone on stage at their own event when I get the mic…but everything I say will be true-- whether they want to hear it or not is something totally different. If you suck at what you do, be prepared to be told instead of making that come up that you figured you would. Those who are looking to hit a quick lick in this industry instead of putting in time and hard work are treated as such.

With all the backstabbing, the hating, the bad deals, the ripping folks off, the black versus white bullshit (I love you Nutt!), and the unqualified idiots trying to get a quick check (UPS is hiring!)…it comes down to one thing: Most of us who are making a REAL difference in this industry are here because we love the music. What really matters most isn’t what anyone thinks or says, but the rappers, the producers, and the DJs, who ARE truly the backbone of this industry. Sadly, they are usually the last ones to get paid, but the ones who are most deserving of payment.

Maybe those in the spotlight get tired of the same “hater” bullshit that the rest of us do. And they must get it 100 times harder, because they ARE in the spotlight. I am just a tiny blip in their worlds, standing way behind them. I can’t imagine how much it must suck to be in the spotlight and constantly in the line of fire, just because they want to rhyme. B.O.B. sure was right, there are haters everywhere, while T.I. and Maino are embracing theirs and using that power to move forward and excel….”Hi Hater!” But how sad that haterism (don’t hate because I made up a word) is so pervasive that they actually had to devote songs to the subject.

I wanted to write an article about “How To Deal With The Haters,” because it seems like there is so much of it going on these days. Part of me didn’t want to give any attention to the haters, because none of them really have any success, and as I made a list and spoke to the folks in this industry who matter, I realized NONE of the main Haters were even a viable asset to this industry. So rather than give them anymore light (lest they keep it up to get attention), I will write about something really helpful to rappers (who actually matter in this industry). Let me wrap up my hater rant, however, by saying that if someone hates on you, punch them in the mother fucking mouth. Then maybe haters will think twice about saying some bullshit to get attention (since they obviously can’t get it by being good at what they do)…

Rapping is a job, if you want to actually make music for a living. I know that’s kind of obvious, but some artists really need to understand this concept. If you want to quit your day job, and make enough money as a rapper to survive (and maybe take care of a family), your music will need to have value to a consumer who is willing to buy your songs or CDs.

The way you get them to buy your music is to build awareness through promotions (on the streets, at shows, and on the internet). The goal is to build a word of mouth buzz about you, and either you can do this yourself or sign to a record label who will do it along with you. But the key here is that no one will do it FOR you. They may finance it (but more often they do not), but they won’t work harder than you do.

So, here is your job description as a rapper:

You must make music that you believe in, that others will purchase. You must build a movement around yourself. You need to give fans a reason to attract to you (your image, your subject matter, your “swag,” whatever). And it must be believable and relevant. You must believe in yourself and have some degree of talent. If your lyrical skills are lacking, you need to make up for that in other ways.

You need to find the best beats and music to rap over. If you suck at picking beats, get someone on your team that excels at that. Tupac used to openly admit that he wasn’t the best at picking beats, but towards the end of his career he had folks on deck to help him choose some real bangers! You need to talk about subjects that your fans (your niche market) will find interesting and topical. If your fans are intelligent college students, talking only about street shit will limit your market and sales severely. And vice versa. Fans of the real gutter street shit don’t want to hear raps about the Pythagorean Theorem.

You have to find a way to support yourself until the royalty checks and show money start to come in (if you don’t sell 350,000 or more CDs and you are signed to a Major label, forget about the royalty checks—they ain’t coming). If you are signed to an indie label, there is NOT enough money to support you and promote you, so get a job and opt for the budget to be spent on promotions. If you are entrepreneurial at all (and be real with yourself when you decide this one), find an investor rather than signing to a label. Control and ownership is a wonderful thing when it impacts YOUR career.

Work really hard. We all hear that word “grind” as frequently as we hear “haters” these days. Grind means to work harder than anyone else, and then when you feel you can’t possibly do one more thing, do one more thing. Work the streets: hang posters, blitz flyers in places where no one else is, work industry events networking, befriend DJs and radio personalities in markets working outwards from your hometown, go to every event and be visible, meet and talk to everyone, and get up the next day and do it all over again. Work the internet by appearing in chat rooms and on the social networking sites (there are MANY of them now, and they all matter when you are building a career).

As a rapper, it is your job to make the music and make your career happen, whether you can afford to or not. No one will ever work as hard for your career as you will. But as you start getting that all important buzz, others will flock to you. And then it becomes your job to choose the right people to be part of your team. You are only as strong as the weakest person on your team. The bottom feeders come first (because they are the ones with the spare time to look for new talent to rape) so be very careful. Find legitimate, well connected, respected, experienced people to add to your team. If not, your career will be over before it starts. And keep building your fan base, one potential consumer at a time.

And when the haters come, and they will, just know that for some reason it’s part of the territory in urban music. As long as people are insecure and weak minded (haters), they will always try to pull down the next person instead of building up themselves. Sometimes, it’s all they CAN do because they suck at what they are trying to accomplish. If you focus on them, or the anger or the hate, it will bring more of the same into your world due to the laws of attraction. If you ignore them and keep it moving, you will frustrate the haters by not giving them what they want (which is for you to be as unhappy as they are, and to call public attention to them so they can use your fame to try and get a voice). Just know that the more successful you get, the less you will have to deal with the haters—fortunately, they can’t reach very high up the ladder...

Passion

By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition
(You can now subscribe to RSS feed to this column at www.TheDayReport.com. Thanks to James Doe for educating me on the technology and making it easy for me to implement!!)

“Success is getting what you want, and happiness is wanting what you get.” -Warren Buffett, Billionaire

Passion is the undeniable love for something that keeps you getting back up every time you get knocked down. Passion is the driving force that keeps you focused and on track when the odds seem insurmountable. Passion is what keeps you going day after day even though it’s hard, and regardless of whether the money comes or not. And if you don’t have passion for what you are doing, it’s hard to compete for any duration, because those who do have passion, will be able to work longer, harder, and smarter than you.

You can’t force passion, either you have it for something or you don’t. It’s better to find something that makes you passionate and to pursue it, because it’s impossible to pick something randomly and then find the passion for it. We’ve all heard the old adage: do what you love and the money will follow. It’s also hard to be passionate about money in itself, although I know many, many people who love money.

The Love of Hip Hop

There are two major underlying reasons people get into the music business: either for the love of music, or for the money and fame. If you are getting into this for the love of the music, your road may be longer to success, but will most likely be fruitful if you can stick it out. The love and passion for the art form will keep you going when everything seems against you. The creation of the music comes more easily when it’s based in love and passion. The artist makes music that comes from inside of him or her, not based on what will sell. Decisions are then based on passion and your career, rather than money and short term goals.

In art, since the beginning of time, all artists have dealt with the issue of art versus commerce. Do you make art that is inside of you, or do you make art that you know will sell? If an artist creates from what is inside of him or her, the creation is pure-- based in emotion, passion, and feeling. But then how does the artist eat and survive? If an artist creates what he knows will sell, the creation is commercial, made with the intention to sell and to reach a wide audience. It’s the difference between “art for art’s sake,” or art for sale. Is music an art form or a business? Very few people have succeeded at both…the Fugees spring to mind from the late 90s. They made music that was classic, artistic, and that sold millions and millions of CDs. Was “Laffy Taffy” art? It’s not about one choice being right or wrong, although some people are very passionate about Hip Hop remaining an art form instead of a business. They are about 20 years too late.

I have a close friend in Detroit who owns a record label. He makes music that he feels good about. When his artists make a song, he’s trying to create a classic. He’s not just trying to make a hit record that will be hot in the club for the next 6 months, or that will get into regular rotation at radio. I have another friend who is a rapper in Atlanta, and he is specifically trying to make a song that will blow up at radio the way Biggie’s “Hypnotize” did. He wants fame and money. His hope is to have a huge song and then capitalize on it by doing endorsement deals for products and commercials. He’s thinking that maybe he can even get into TV and film through the fame his song creates. To him, hip hop is a business, not an art form. He’s not trying to positively impact the culture, he’s trying to feed his kids. Neither of my friends are wrong, they just have different visions.

The Love of Money

Many folks jumped into the music business because they saw it as if it was the new drug game: a legal hustle that brought a high rate of return for a relatively small investment. The risk of failure was kind of high, but if and when you hit big, you hit REALLY big. The urban music industry, in its infancy, used to be run by people who were passionate about the music, cared about the sound of their records, and felt that if the artist wasn’t saying something important that it had no value. Then the industry changed in the mid-90s, and the drug trade encroached into the business bringing deep pockets and lyrics that they wanted to hear: more superficial, entertaining lines (about partying, sex, expensive toys, spending loot, etc). The problem with the industry becoming fueled by money is that the passion began to wane.

Why is passion so important?

Money is a good thing. The love of money is even OK. But being a slave to money is never good. If you can be controlled by money, you are a whore in the rawest sense. People who are controlled by money will do ridiculous things just to get some—things they may even swear that they’d never, ever do…until confronted with the opportunity. Would YOU sell your soul for money?

I used to work a corporate 9 to 5 job, and I was miserable. I made a lot of money but I was not happy. In March of 1992, I started Rap Coalition. It was a tremendous risk and I had to put up half a million dollars of my own money to get started, knowing that I could very easily lose it all. I didn’t care and went for it! I have been happy almost every day since, regardless of the kind of day I’m having, regardless of whether I get paid or not, and regardless of how many hours I work each day (and I work mostly 16 hour days, 7 days a week). But I love what I do, so it doesn’t matter. I remember those unhappier days in corporate America, and I am thankful I am doing something that makes me happy. And I am even more thankful that I can pay my bills from doing this--it took me 6 years to be able to make money in the music industry, and 10 years to get to a level of being able to support myself properly. I am thankful I get paid to do something I am passionate about, and ecstatic that I don’t have to compromise my principles in order to make money.

In the 1980s, when rap first became commercial, no one was thinking about the money. It was exciting because it was a new art form and there were very few rules. The main rule was “don’t sell out.” Others, who were willing to “sell out,” stepped in and made all of the money. Today, the main rule seems to be capitalize and maximize all opportunities while retaining as much control and ownership as possible. Is that so wrong? The flip side to that is to allow someone else to pimp the culture and get rich off of something they don’t give a fuck about (hence the 1980s and 90s in rap music).

And where does passion figure into all of this. Can someone truly be happy making music that is disposable, just so they can earn enough money to buy a summer home in the Hamptons? Can they hold their heads high when their little children are singing along to some mindless dribble that won’t matter to anyone a year from now? Or is the goal to put those kids through private school, by any means necessary, and selling music is really just a job afterall?

I don’t have the answer to this one. But I do know one thing: without being happy, there is no point. Money buys a lot of shit, but it can’t buy happiness. But for many it sure does buy a lot of distractions to keep you from realizing that. Without passion, we can’t go as hard as we need to in order to succeed. Passion is the driving force that leads to happiness. Without it, I may as well just be selling shoes or Carpet Fresh. I, for one, am thankful to have found my passion. It makes getting up in the morning VERY easy. And I remember all too well those days when it was not.