In this monologue, Wendy Day first stresses that independent musicians must broaden their content beyond music‑centric posts, using behind‑the‑scenes footage, personal mini‑documentaries, and authentic storytelling to build a compelling brand that engages fans and potential backers. She illustrates the power of narrative with anecdotes about filming a friend’s life story and her own experiences with Tupac and the East‑Coast/West‑Coast rivalry. Transitioning to the core topic, she explains that the music business requires significant cash for marketing, video production, studio time, touring, and everyday expenses, making investors a practical alternative to traditional record deals. Day outlines the diverse origins of potential investors—childhood friends, retirees, professionals, athletes—and advises artists to seek them through community organizations (Chamber of Commerce, Rotary), professional networks, and personal connections. She emphasizes the necessity of a solid business plan or pitch deck that details required capital, revenue streams (streaming, merch, touring, sync, sponsorships), and the terms an artist is willing to offer (equity split, loan with interest, profit share). Negotiation is framed as “you get what you negotiate,” so artists should be clear on what they’ll give up. Networking, transparent communication, and treating investors with respect are key. Finally, she warns that legal counsel is essential before finalizing any deal, and notes that more artists now have investors than record contracts, suggesting that pursuing investment is a viable path for career growth. The overall message is encouraging: with the right content, preparation, and persistence, artists can attract and secure investors to fund their next level.
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Hi guys, today I want to talk about finding an investor, but before I touch on that subject, um, I just want to spend a minute or two to reiterate the importance of content because I've noticed a lot of you that are reaching out to me, when I go look at your Instagram pages, you really don't have a lot of content, or at least interesting content, and you really, really, really, really need to have content aside from stuff that has to do directly with your music. You— and, and by that I mean lyric videos, music videos, um, behind the scenes footage inside of a studio showing you record, showing you your process of what you do before you record, like how you choose beats, how you write songs, um, how you actually record songs, what you do after you record. Um, aside from fans wanting to see all of that there's other content that you need to, um, be recording and posting, and a lot of you just aren't. Um, you know, record, um, videos from your shows. Like, what do you do? What do you— how do you practice? Like, how do you get ready to go do a show? What, what's your— what do you go through on the day when you're performing? If you're performing on a Saturday night in front of 2,000 people What's your process? If you're out there marketing and promoting your music on a college campus, you should have somebody along with you filming all that. Like, take people along for the ride. But in addition to that music-oriented content, you should also have content like almost like a little mini documentary where you're telling people where you're from and how you came up and what your life is like. And, you know, do you have kids? Do you have a wife? Like, what, what is your life? What do you just do besides make music? Who are you? You know, are you somebody that plays video games? Are you an athlete? Do you just smoke a lot of weed? If you smoke a lot of weed, you know, what different types of weed do you smoke? Why do you smoke weed? Are you into food? Are you somebody that likes to eat different types of food? What kind of food do you like? Can you cook? Do you not cook? You know, let's, let's show people more about who you are authentically and get them, you know, to, to buy into your franchise and to want to be part of your movement. And hopefully they'll see things about you that will endear them to you, either things that you have in common with them, or maybe you're funny and you tell a great story, or maybe You know, maybe you just tell a great story. Like, that alone is enough. You know, I, I went out today, um, with, with Donald, and, um, he was filming some behind-the-scenes footage, and he was talking about like what it was like when his mom passed away and what it was like when he was growing up. And he, you know, he took me to his high school, and he took me to his grandmother's house where he spent, you know, his formative years. And we talked about like his brother in prison, and we had a camera guy with us, and it was just really interesting. And that's what you need to do. You need to tell stories that your fans will find interesting, you know. And as we had lunch after we did the shoot, you know, I was sharing with him like some of my stories, you know, what it was like to spend time with Tupac, what it was like during the East Coast-West Coast beef where, you know, because I was close with Tupac, I couldn't befriend Biggie. And that was kind of tough because one of my closest friends was the president of Bad Boy, and it made it really difficult for me to spend time with him because I felt like I had to choose sides. So, you know, all of these behind-the-scenes stories that give somebody, um, an idea of where you come from and what you went through to get to where you are and what you like to do— like, that shit is all interesting. And as an artist, I don't have to do that because I'm not trying to sell myself to you. In fact, the truth is I don't give a fuck whether you watch these videos or not. I make these videos because I know there's enough people watching them that they're really helpful, but my goal isn't to corner the market on educational how-to videos. In fact, most of you that are watching this know that I'm telling you to go find other resources and go find other people that are doing this and make sure that what I'm telling you to do is accurate, because the last thing I want is you out there doing something that's not going to work for you. So All that to say, step up your content game because it's really, really, really, really important. So today I want to talk about how to find an investor because as you've been watching my most recent videos, you're learning that this is not a free industry. And not only is it not a free industry, but it takes quite a bit of money to do what we do and succeed in the music business. You've got to buy Um, you've got to pay for marketing, you've got to pay for videos, you've got to pay producers for beats, you've got to record. At the very least, you have to get in a vehicle and drive around from place to place, so there's at least gas expense. You know, if you're, if you're hanging posters and giving out postcards that have all of your links and download information, there's that. Even if you're just somebody who is promoting themselves on social media, which we all know is not enough, but even if that's what you're doing, you need to have some sort of a Wi-Fi connection, and you still want to, um, you still want to be able to film content, and you're still paying for stuff. Like, there's still money involved. So I'm very reluctant to do this, um, this video on how to find an investor because I've never had to find an investor. But I do have clients that have investors, and they're from all walks of life. Like, some, some are childhood friends that made money in real estate or even made money selling weed years ago, and their friend wants to invest in their career. Um, one guy was the head of security at UPS for most of his career, and now that he's retired, he wants to put investment into music and film. Like, that's his, that's his passion. So, you know, even though he's like my age or older, that's what he wants to do, so he hired me to work with his client. Um, some of my clients have made money themselves, either, you know, an insurance settlement or flipping real estate or whatever. But the point is, there is no one way to meet investors. So this is a very difficult video to make. If I could just tell you to go to a certain place at a certain day and a certain time and voilà, there you will find investors, I would do it. Um, in fact, I'd probably go lived there myself. All that to say, you can tap into the Chamber of Commerce, um, you can join the Rotary Club. There's places where you can go to meet people that have money. Lawyers have money, doctors have money, dentists have money. And investing in, in the stock market doesn't have such a great rate of return. So people that are high wealth individuals are always looking for places to invest their money. You know, can you get somebody to invest in the music business? That has no interest in being in the music business? Probably not. But if somebody wants to be in the music business and they see you out there hustling and making a difference and they're watching your numbers grow, it just would make sense for them to embrace you instead of maybe another artist that has less of a following or less hustle, even if they have better music. You want to work with somebody that's actually doing something for themselves in order to succeed. And then as an investor, they just come along and they put up the budget to help you get to the next level. You're already, um, succeeding in their eyes, and then putting up their money just helps you, helps you get to the next level, and then they're able to get a return on it, on their investment when the money starts coming in. So if I were you, I would put together a business plan. I would study how to do that. I'd read a couple books, or I'd go online and Google how to put together a business plan, but I would put together a plan so that I figured out how much money I need, where I was going to spend it, what I was going to do, how the money was going to come back in through streaming, through merch sales, through touring, through shows, through whatever— endorsements, sponsorships, um, placements at TV, film, video games. Like, however you feel the money is going to come back in, and then figure out what you're willing to give up to an investor. You know, are you willing to give them half of your income for 3 years? Are you willing to partner with them so that you own your company 50/50 and they put up the money and you put up the music and the work? You know, are you looking for somebody to just lend you the money at, you know, 10% return or 15% return or 20% return or whatever you agree upon? In this industry, you don't get what's fair, you get what you negotiate. So start talking to a lot of people and let everybody you know know that you're looking for an investor. And just putting it out there will start the, the, the wheels turning. But make sure that you've got a business plan, um, or, or, or a pitch deck or something so that you can show them that you've thought this out and you've got a plan to help them make their money back. And then as you move forward looking for an investor, one will come. Like, whatever you put your time into, it's going to manifest and it's going to bring a return of some sort. So if I were you, that's how I would do it. And again, I've never had to go and seek an investor, so I've never really had to figure out how to do this. Um, so talk to people that do have investors and talk to people that have money and ask them, you know, what do you look for in an investment? Like, treat this with respect and do the research and the digging of knowledge that it takes to find the answers that you seek in order to be able to do this. And I'll tell you this, like, I see more artists out here with investors than I see artists with record deals. So that tells me that it's easier to find an investor than it is to get signed to a record deal. And that alone should have you out here hustling and building your career as best you can with what limited funds you have while you look for somebody that can help you get to the next level. So I hope this was helpful. Once you find an investor, do the research, make sure you have an attorney that can help you. If you need to reach out to me, please do. There's a lot of investors that have entered the music industry, especially pro athletes that have stepped up and hired me to consult their artists just because they want to make sure that they don't lose money. And they've seen my track record, they know what I can do. So whatever it takes for you to do this, figure it out, put time into it, and see if it can manifest. It almost always does. As human beings, whatever we put our brains to, it somehow comes to us in the end. At least that works for me, and I'm not any smarter than you guys. So if I can do it, you guys can do it. Okay, take care. Bye.
