Will Dzombak - Building Taylor Gang & Growing Wiz Khalifa To One of The Biggest Artists In The Music Industry

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What'S going on everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. On today's episode we have Will Dzombak here with us. Will Dazzle back is one of the entertainment industry's most prominent names in music management, best known for his role in growing the career of Grammy nominated rapper Wiz Khalifa and his Taylor Gang Entertainment company. In 2014, Dazamback partnered with Khalifa to officially launch Taylor Gang Entertainment, inspired by the loyal and organic fan base Khalifa built over the years. In addition to running and overseeing the day to day operations of Taylor Gang Entertainment, Dzombak has built the company into a multi service entertainment conglomerate which serves as both a management company as well as an independent record label with major label distribution. This was one of the coolest interviews I've ever done. Personally, I've been a fan of Taylor Gang for years. I've been to multiple of their concerts and Wiz is actually one of my favorite rappers. So this interview is important to me. I'm glad that you're taking the time to listen. And before we get started, take a moment and share this episode with a hip hop fan because this conversation was amazing. We talked about the hip hop industry, how to come up as a rapper, how things have changed in 2020 when it comes to the industry itself, and much more. So that being said, enjoy the episode with Will D. Zombac.

All right, what is going on everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. Today we have Will de Zomback here with us, the co founder of Taylor Gang. Thanks so much for coming on Will.

Thanks for having me, man. I'm really excited for sure.

So I mean like I. Like we were talking about before, man, I love how you've navigated and built Taylor Gang, throughout your career, I've seen seeing what you and Wiz and the entire crew have built over the years of going to concerts, but now looking at it from the business side. But if people aren't familiar with Taylor Gang and their origin story, I'd love for you to take us back to how you and Wiz met and how Taylor Gang even formed.

For sure. So we met briefly after high school, that summer between senior year of high school and freshman year of college. And then a year later, I was promoting shows up at Penn State and I had a friend pass. And for the friend, we did a charity show, and he was a huge fan of Wiz, so we brought Wiz up. At the time, we had enough money to pay him for the show, but not enough to get him a place to stay. So I was like, you can just stay at my apartment. Lo and behold, him and his friends ended up staying for five days, and we had a great time and really talked about a lot of stuff and just got into where we wanted to go and kept in touch after that and continued to build. I started as his assistant, then his road manager, then tour manager, then co manager, and now manager. And along the way, we started Taylor Gang as well. And he definitely came up with the idea and he started it. And then once he started it, you know, we partnered up on it and just took it to the races and started running with it.

That's what's up, man. That's so dope. I want to ask too, you know, with everything that's happened in 2020, with touring getting canceled, how have you guys adjusted to this new environment? You know, especially being like the top dogs in the music business when it comes to touring every summer, you know, just.

Just trying to plan for the future.

And.

And we've been doing a couple online concerts where we partnered with Genius on something. We partnered with Weedmaps, we partnered with High Times. So, you know, we've always liked being, you know, on the cutting edge of what's happening and what's new. So it only made sense to, you know, try the different platforms and see what's happened with what's going on and what's happening and where we think it'll go in the future, as well as focusing on releasing music. We had a couple merch drops and, you know, just planning some more stuff out.

Totally. When. When you went to college, did you plan on, you know, being a music manager and getting into the music business or what was your goals early on?

Yeah, actually, funny enough, I did when I Was looking at schools. I had someone, I was looking at University of Dayton and someone told me they were there for music management. And I was like, that's super cool. Because I was in a band in high school and I was managing the band and I knew I loved the business side of live entertainment and music. And when she told me that, I really did a deep dive on like what the possibilities were. And to be totally honest, I really just hit a hit. A big chord of luck. In meeting Wiz. I knew I wanted to do something in the music space always, you know, right when I was starting college for sure.

That's what's up man. What's your advice to someone that wants to become a music manager? Because I have a couple buddies that are managers themselves and you know, it's, it's a hard industry, it seems like. Right. I'm not in the music business, but it sounds like, you know, you gotta do things right or you can get left behind. So if, you know, if there was a music manager listening today, what would be like the number one thing you'd want them to know before starting their career?

I live my management career by this. Is that your net worth? Your net worth is your network, right?

Yeah.

Make as much money, but people come around and it's all about who you know and what you can get done. Because being the best manager in LA does you no good when you're doing a concert in Finland and can't figure anything out. So it's all about knowing people and always wanting to learn and growing your network. And you know, it's. There's not one thing that's gonna attribute forever. Success. You got to keep re evolving and growing and constantly be willing to meet and learn from new people.

Yep, that's man, totally true. I sort of want to take it back to like when you and Wiz first, you know, partnered up. What was the vision? Because looking back, you know, everyone that's maybe listening, they see will they see Wiz and just everything you built. But early on, like, what was the vision? What were the conversations like before all this unraveled? Like it has.

I mean, we had a vision of this is what we wanted to do. But we were so young at the time, we were still figuring it out. You know, we were 19 year old. 19 years old. 18 years old trying to figure it out. And you know, it's just evolved and it's tough and it's a different space because at that time we were selling physical compact discs. Streaming wasn't even a thing. Napster was like just in its heyday and just getting going and no one could figure that out. So it was a, it was definitely a different conversation. It was, it was much more difficult to plan, like, okay, how are we going to print 20,000 CDs? Not like we just gotta upload the songs to the Internet. So that and knowing. Yeah, and knowing, you know, where we had merch and how to build that and how to build artists and we knew the importance of touring and being in your fans face. So I think, you know, that was, that was at least where our minds were in the beginning for sure.

Looking, you know, into the future now, where do you see, you know, like artists missing the beat. Right. Maybe that's early on. They didn't attach to social media like wiz and you guys did early on MySpace and Instagram and how you guys were pioneers of that. How are you guys looking at 2020 and beyond where the opportunities are for artists to really build a brand?

It's tough right now. I'm not even gonna lie. It's. It's super tough. It's hard. I'm a firm believer in growing your fan base and touching your fans. And even if you gained three fans and a small group of friends, those fans are going to tell a friend and tell a friend and always being around. And I think that's a huge key that people got lazy with and doing real artist development with the Internet helping so much. But right now it makes it extra tough. There's so many people on the Internet now. It's hard to grab someone's attention as someone new without being able to go shake their hand in person, show them what you do and show them why you're cool, you know, So I wish I had a better answer, but it's tough now. Just gotta think now you focus on your, your, your career regionally and build your, you know, build a regional buzz and go from there.

That's what's up. I want to talk on just your day to day. Like what does your day to day look like nowadays with everything that's unraveled when it comes to habits and how you operate and you know, team building. I'm sure there's a lot of factors in that, but what's your day to day look like?

I wake up, work out, eat. I think it's super important to start your day. And then every day my schedule is a little different, but throughout the day I got different calls, answer emails and try and be in constant communication with the team. You know, we have about 15 employees. So just, you know, checking in with everyone and making sure everyone's good and covered and, you know, going through all the checklists of the different artists and management clients that we have. And, yeah, just, you know, and I'm on the east right now, but having the west coast, you know, you work till about 10, 11 at night, but just being available throughout the day and, you know, adjusting to whatever comes your way 100%.

So I wanted to bring up. I know that back in your Forbes article on 30 30, you said that you credit a lot of your success to passion, relationship, kindness, and patience. I wanted to talk about those four pillars and why you chose those four words that define success for you.

I think a lot of it just has to do with being human about it. Like, everyone in the music industry and it's always been funny to me, they think they're so fucking important. And it's like, dude, we're making music. We're not curing cancer. The doctors are the ones that should walk around, like, how music people do. Like, hey, I just literally saved someone's life and, like, grabbed their heart and fixed it. You know, while music is amazing and cool, you know, it's. It's just being human about it. And that's how you treat people. You never know. I've seen so many people come and go in the music industry, and you never know where they pop back up. So always treating people, you know, the best that you can. You never know where they're gonna pop up or when someone's gonna come back into your life. And if you treat them like shit, they're gonna be like, well, I don't want to be around you or help you.

Yeah.

And then loyalty, you know, Like, I feel like, especially today, people, the grass is always greener. They're like, oh, this artist is bigger, you know, and they're always changing size and changing teams and always looking and looking and looking for something better. And I think if you really just grow with your team, stick to the plan, and, you know, as long as people are carrying their weight, you know, you could support them and stay with them, and you can push each other and it's cool.

That's what's up. Just talking about, like, family. I know that, you know, you guys always talk about Taylor Gang as a family, and I want to touch on just team culture, right? I want to ask you just what has been your approach to building team culture within your company and within the fans? Because you guys have done so well at. And I want to hear from you like, what has been that strategy when it comes to just building that culture?

For me, team and family, like, you know, one in the same, you know? But we've all been together and been working together for so long, and I think everyone bringing a part of their own little personalities to the team helps it make it more of a family. We've all traveled around the world together. We've been stuck on buses together. We've been in jail together. We've been through everything together. And, you know, I think everyone respects each other, and a big thing we. We all respect and a rule we follow is that we all are in it together. Like, you know, it's. It's like a star, you know, everyone needs everyone. Like, I can't do it without security. Security can't do without Wiz. I can't do it without Wiz. Wiz can't do it without us and security. We can't do without our people that help merch or drive the buses, and everyone's equal, and everyone makes the train go. So it's. I think that's, you know, just treating everyone like a family because who wants to be in some weirdly aggressive business environment while you're supposed to be on the road, you know?

Yeah.

And, you know, even pulling stuff in. And, like, when we first started, you know, like, Wiz, I jumped into Wiz's world. I wasn't even that much of a hip hop, and he quoted me on that. And I brought him to the college world and taught him all about flip cup and beer pong and different college games, you know, and it helped us grow and, you know, and, yeah, I think that's really where it circles up.

Yeah. Yeah. The organic side of it. What's been over the years, when it comes to touring, do you have, like, a favorite moment or a moment that just you felt like everything came together? Because, you know, starting from a college, having Wiz slip on the floor to see where you guys have came now, like, do you have a key moment or story that you want to bring up on today's podcast that sticks out to you as, like, a highlight in your career?

Some of the biggest highlights, you know, for me, I always. Every year, I get chills at the Pittsburgh show when it's packed, you know, all the way out. There's 25,000 people in there, and it's just like, wow. Like, I can't believe it. Like, I remember we've done shows in Pittsburgh for three people. You know, that. And even this. This past year was a big moment. It was the first time Wiz and I ever really had a bus all to ourselves, you know, and it was just like, wow. Like, we started out, like, not even with a car, like running an Altima, you know, and now like, we, you know, we have, you know, we've been blessed enough to be able to have our friends on buses and we have our own bus. And, you know, that was a huge moment where I was like, I can't even believe it.

Yeah, yeah. Talk to me about tour life. Because, I mean, I've always been curious, like, what. When you're about to go on tour, you guys are doing a tour around the country, around the world. Like, what. What's the mindset before going into that? Because you're just. I'm sure the days are crazy.

Yeah, the days are crazy. But it's all about having a team. Like, like I said, I can't do it without our tour manager, our lighting guy, our VIP guys, our merch guys, the security guys. Everyone helps, you know, and it's basically like one big summer camp. And again, we've been blessed enough to be doing it long enough where, you know, that's, that's how we treat it. Like everyone needs to respect each other's space, be neat, don't be a slob, and like, have fun, you know, and, and yeah, I think, you know, we. Not to pound our chest, but to pound our chest a little bit. I think we set the tone for touring for a lot of people. You know, if you think about all the way back to the beginning, you know, Kendrick was an opener on Wiz's tour years ago. You know, like to see, you know, all the different people that have been on our tours, I think they've all taken something from a tour and applied it to how touring is today. You know, I think so many hip hop guys didn't know how to tour and have fun. And it's. Sometimes it can be just so serious when it doesn't need to be. It's like we're all blessed out here together, being able to live out our dreams, you know, like, let's have fun and let's be relaxed with each other while still being professional.

That's what's up. You guys definitely got that down to a science. It seems like that's what's up. If you had to tell like the young 20 year old will a piece of advice before starting your career, what advice would you tell yourself?

Chill the fuck out. But just, you know, just continue to just build your network and just know that you Know the end of the world isn't happening and your friends got your back, and, you know, read and educate yourself. As much as you don't want to learn everything about the business and don't just be amused by the glitz and glamour and know what's under the hood.

I guess I'm glad that you brought that up. I was about to ask, like, you know, to artists out there that may be listening to this. There's the music, right. And then there's the music business. And I think sometimes artists don't see both sides, and they don't, you know, they don't understand the business side or the marketing or the advertising or what goes into that. And I'd love for you to, you know, highlight the importance of that to maybe a young artist that's listening where it's like, okay, back to the point, though. My question is, how would you define music versus the music business? And what do you recommend an artist do to make sure he's very locked in on both?

I think the main difference is if an artist wants to make money on their music, then they have to accept the fact that they're entering the music business when they're like, oh, the creative and blah, blah, blah. Yes, because you're in a business, so, yes, it does. And that's the hard part. You know, like, my goal is to support my friends and their dreams, but at the same time, we are running a business together, and that conversation has to be had. You know, I think people, managers and artists, you know, I use this example all the time. A grocer wouldn't just be like, okay, the doors are open. I hope people pay me. You know what I mean? They know how they're making their money. They know what this cost to buy and what it costs to sell. So artists that don't know about their publishing, about their sound exchange, how they get paid on their royalties, that. How to take tax breaks, how to set up a company. It's like you're just. You're being a dummy. You're selling groceries in the hopes of getting paid, you know, hoping people pay you when they could just walk right out the door.

Yeah.

And I think that's the biggest thing. And, you know, if you. If you make music just to love making music and hope people hear it and you have a day job and you're not worried about this paying the bills, then great, and do whatever. But if you want to make money, then, you know, educate yourself and like you would any other business. And don't just be like, oh, you know, excited by the small things. Like, know. Exactly. There's plenty of artists who are underground that can make $100,000 a year. There's a great article about all you need is a thousand fans and, you know, and you pay a hundred bucks a year, and that's $100,000 in a year. You know, tons of artists I know don't read that article. And it's like, why? You know, like, if you're in it for money, know how you're getting to the money? Don't just be like, oh, I'm making money.

Yeah, I love that answer. That was. That was right on the money for sure. Just talking about social media and building that thousand core group of people you guys said earlier were pioneers of social media and building brand. How are you guys looking at the social media landscape now with platforms like TikTok and all these different, you know, strategies that new artists are doing today? And how are you guys approaching that?

I think there's tons of new. Just got to try it, see what sticks and not. Don't be afraid to try. If you're afraid to try, like, what's the point? Yeah, but there is lots of new stuff. I'm sure you're aware just by. I know your background is. TikTok is a scary thing right now, you know, like a political thing. It could go away. And so, so many artists are hedging their careers solely on TikTok. It's like, what the fuck you can do if it goes away?

Yeah.

Like you actually have fans or do you just have people that like, watching you on Tick Tock on the Internet, you know, So I think it's about, you know, learning what the platforms are and learning how to use it to build a fan base and not just to, you know, make yourself feel good. Does that make sense?

Yeah, 100%. Outside of, like, Taylor Gain, do you have any passions or things that you spend time on that you want to cover today?

I have a couple side hustles, but just side hustles. Okay. The thing on the side is I love being in Pittsburgh. I want to grow this city. I'm trying to do as much as I can for the city of Pittsburgh, bring new opportunities here, help kids, you know, educate themselves on the music business like we were just talking about, and bring new opportunities. So, you know, that's my main thing on the side that I love is Pittsburgh.

What does Pittsburgh mean to you?

It's home. It's the place that I'm from. It's the place that Gave me my opportunity. It's where I was raised and the place that I want to give back to because I feel like we're in such a unique position, and there really aren't that many people that have been as lucky as I am in Pittsburgh and be able to give back, and especially to the youth here and help the kids that are looking for a way out and are really committed. Like, that's what it. You know, that's what it gave me, and that's what I want to give it back.

That's what's up. I know. I wanted to bring up, too. I wanted to shout out Ludy Boy, because I know I had Ludy Boy on the show recently. It's been super dope. Me and him have just been connected for the past couple of years on Instagram. You know, I'll watch his live, he'll watch mine. He supported the podcast a lot. But just talking about, like, why you decided to come on these shows and why you take time out of your day to go on podcasts and the brand you're building, I'd love for you to touch on that from a personal side of what building a brand means to you and how you navigate that, because obviously, you took time to do this today, and I'm super grateful for it, and I'd love to talk on it.

Totally. To me, building your brand has to be authentic. Like, I've never had my own publicist, which lots of people do, you know, and they're like, oh, I got in this magazine and this for. This is what I'm doing. It's like, no, you paid your publicist to get you in there and make a type story. So I like doing stuff like this that's more genuine and give back to people who actually care and not someone who's just trying to put up clickbait, you know, someone. And obviously, you know, light's been putting me on your shit for years. So it's like, watch from afar. And it's like, I like doing podcasts like these that are, you know, from real people that are just doing it for the love and growing their own thing and giving back to that community, as opposed to just paying a publicist for some clickbait stuff.

And I feel that it comes across so transparent. I appreciate that a lot. That's what's up. Yeah, I mean, I have a couple more questions. And, you know, just college, right? What did college teach you, and how did you maximize that experience? Because, you know, things going on to zoom nowadays and college is being Shut down. And I know that you rep Penn State super hard. I'd love for you to touch on your college experience and just how that was so important to you. Because right now I'm sure there's a lot of college students listening to this. They may not have that same opportunity to be on campus with everything happening. So, yeah, let's talk college.

College. I mean, look, right now I don't even know what the fuck to say. I heard today that California announced their kids aren't going back to school in the fall. And it's like, if it's this far out, like, shit, you know, But. But for me, college was amazing experience. Like, with, I learned again, that's where I started building my network. And, you know, I have so many friends that I still touch base with. I talked to one of my closest friends, DJ Richter, who's still up there, but he lives, he goes between there and Atlanta just because he knows how to work his markets.

And yeah.

It was awesome. It was a place that for me at the time had no rules and gave me a place to, like, grow my wings and figure out exactly what I wanted to do. There were always kids there that were supportive, and it also presented challenges. Like, I thought I'd be a shoo in for the committees I wanted to be on, which were like, booking shows and stuff. And they were like, no, like, blah, blah, blah. So, you know, that drove my hunger even more to like, do my own thing, stand on my own two feet and be my own boss.

That's what's up. What is like, what does your family think about everything that you've built throughout your career?

They're very supportive. They're a lot. They're all very different than me, but they all are very, very supportive. So it's cool. Like, my dad's a scientist. My mom's a pharmacist. My dad's a scientist and a college professor. And my mom, pharmacist. My sister's a PhD college professor, and my brother, you know, works in the stock market and drastically different than my world, but supportive, you know, just like. Like any job in the beginning, everyone was like, are you sure? And then, you know. But they met the guys and everyone, they saw how everyone supported everyone and it was, you know. Yeah, they were 100% supportive all the way.

Yeah, that's super cool, man. I think that's so important especially for, you know, for young people starting their businesses today, having that support system that, you know, wants to see you in, in a sense. But I know you're touching on relationships and the importance of that. And that's been something for me, you know, through this podcast, having over 200 conversations like this with different high level people like yourself. Like, relationships to me are everything. And then like I said, you're bringing this up about the importance of it and building a network. What's your, I would say, piece of advice for someone that's listening today that has no network, that hasn't got out there and met the people. Just what do you tell someone that's looking to build a network to do it in an authentic way? Because I know you come across very authentic and I'm sure you have your entire career, but how would you start all over if you had to?

I would say be authentic and don't be afraid to do stuff like this. Like, I'll say one of my right hand guys I met on MySpace in 2008 and now he's been working for me for a few years and we're close as ever. We booked shows together 10 years ago. Some of my closest friends I met on MySpace, you know, so you just have to find a way to just not be a complete whore and try and meet everyone at once. One connection is one further than you were and there's, there's no one connection that's going to make your network complete. It's always about constantly learning, constantly building. Like, if anyone's like, I know everyone, like, get the fuck out of here. Yeah, seven billion people. Let me see your phone. You have seven billion there.

No.

All right. You know what I mean? There's always more people to do and I think that's important. And look, we are in different times, but this is the time to make friends on the Internet and talk to people about what you're doing and share ideas and don't be afraid to be open, you know?

Yep, 100%. I got two more quick questions before we wrap up. One is just moving forward, what should people, you know, be excited about when it comes to Taylor Gang and everything you have going on this year?

We've done a whole revamp over the last year and we're gonna be dropping a ton of projects. We just dropped Chevy woods album next. We dropped in Fed the Gods project. Then we got some stuff from Chris Hollis, we got some stuff from Young Deji, we got some stuff From Ricky P. TM88 has a new album coming. Ty Dolla Sign has a new album coming. So we got a lot of stuff cooking up.

That's what's up. Well, I just want to say again, brother, thank you so much for coming on the show. And last thing, where is the best place for everyone to stay in touch with what you have going on and.

Just Taylor Gang Overall, TaylorGang.com is always a resource. And then my Instagram is wgd6788 and my Twitter is real Taylor Gang. I'm on both all day. So hit me. Follow Taylor Gang on Twitter and Instagram and you know the next big thing that we're doing is we're working on our Twitch or YouTube Gaming, our Facebook gaming. So you know I'm on there and I'm on Discord heavy. So for sure all the places I'm around.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters An Apple original Series.

The world is on fire. I decided decided to do something about.

It on November 17th.

This place, it's not ours. Believe me.

The most massive event of the year arrives.

If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh my God. Go, go, go.

Monarch Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV. Plus.