LIVE with Wendy Day #001 | Producer Info & More | Taking Questions Live

Welcome to my first livestream. Hi everybody, um, you guys emailed me questions and I have picked 2 different questions to answer, but one of them is a 3-parter and I'm gonna start with that one. It comes from Nature Boy and he is a producer and he asked me a 3-part really great question. Um, the first question is what to charge in today's industry for beats, and that's a really hard question. Um, the answer is different for every producer because it really depends on the level that you're at as a producer. If you've got platinum singles under your belt, the answer is going to be different than if you're just starting out and you don't really have a very long discography yet. I've noticed that because there's such an oversaturation in this industry with producers— sometimes I feel like everybody's a producer, right? Um, because of that oversaturation, what's happening is people are selling their beats for $50 or they're giving them away for free in hopes that artists will use them, make them a single, and then that song will blow up and the producer will get more work, which isn't stupid. But what that's doing is it's devaluing the upfront money that you receive as a producer. And, and just to be clear, like, when you get— let's say you're being paid $1,000 a track— that money is really the upfront advance for your publishing, against your publishing, right? As a producer, you own 50% of the song, which is the beat, right? The produced half. So that money that you're being paid is not a flat fee. That money is actually in advance on that back end that you'll get from your ownership. Also, if the artist is signed to a label the label will pay you points off of the sales of the song. So for example, if you're like a Drumma Boy or Sonny Digital or Metro Boomin, you're probably getting paid a fee, which is your advance, right, and points— 3 points usually for somebody of that, of that stature because they've got a track record of success. They're being paid 3% of the retail sales price of the song. So that money that you're receiving is not a flat fee, it's really an advance for the money that you're going to receive from, um, from the back end. Okay, so whether it's $50 or $1,000, it's an advance. Because this is the music business and because we deal with so many unsavory people, sometimes it's very hard to get paid on the back end. The artist usually has to recoup before you get paid your back end. So for a producer, my advice would be to front load the deal as much as possible. Get as much money up front as you can for the beat. When you're paid your money— and again, I'm going to use $1,000 as an example— usually you get half of that as you agree to do the track for the person, and then you usually get the, the back end, the other $500, which is the other half. You usually get that after you have signed off on all the paperwork and have delivered the track. So it's usually half up front, half on the back end. And again, if you're getting $1,000, that's $500 up front and $500 when you deliver the, the song and you sign off on the paperwork, which is the agreement that the lawyer puts together that explains exactly what rights that person has. Because really, they're licensing your beat, right? Okay, so have I confused you guys like even more? I hope not. Um, but for me to just give you a flat fee and say that you should get $1,000 up front or $50 up front or a million dollars up front I can't answer that because I don't know what level you are in your career. I don't know what artists you're interacting with. Um, if you're gonna sell a beat to somebody on a major label, it's much different than the beat that you would sell to an artist that's just coming up in your local area. Okay, um, and thank you guys for your feedback. That that was clear because it confused the hell out of me. Um, the next question— and did I answer that okay? Like, are you guys good with that? And I know you really wanted me to give you a number and say this is what you should start with, but the reality is you want to charge whatever that person can afford to pay. And if I was going to give you even more advice, I would tell you that for an artist that has a lot of talent and they're going to go far, and an artist that has a budget to market and promote, they're also going to go pretty far. I would tend to drop my price for somebody where it could benefit my career as a producer, as opposed to for somebody that had no talent and had no budget and probably wasn't gonna go very far because they're lazy, right? And having no talent and having no money doesn't mean somebody's lazy. Sometimes you can have talent and money and be super lazy, right? But you want to be on the songs with the artists that are actually going to work hard and go somewhere, whether they're gonna go somewhere because they have the right team or where they're gonna go somewhere because they actually have the ability to, um, to market and promote themselves properly, the budget, whatever. Okay, I've kind of done that one to death, haven't I? The second question is, what is a production label and how does one set one up? Um, I'm assuming you mean production company, um, which is a little bit different than a, than an independent record label. A, um, a production, a production company is something you set up when you've got the funding and the connections to make a living off of your production and other producers' productions, right? So if you have access to a studio, say you own your own studio and you've got 3 or 4 different pre-production studios inside of that studio that you own, rather than leave those pre-production studios empty, you might want to start a production company and do deals with other producers so that they can come in and record in your studio for free. But then you would shop their music to other artists and get them placements, and then you would split that income with them. And that split would be the price that they're paying basically to work out of your studio. It's a great situation for an up-and-coming producer who needs to learn more about production and has nobody to learn from, or somebody that doesn't own their own studio or can't afford to get into the studio. It's a good opportunity for them to have a place to hone their skills and someone to learn from. The downside is, as a producer in a production deal, a product with a production company, is you're going to give up a percentage, sometimes as high as 50%, of all of your income. And I know a lot of producers that really, really, really, really hate shopping their beats to artists and to record labels and would love to have somebody do that for them. And their mindset is that I'd rather get 50% of something than 100% of nothing. And those are the guys and gals that this is a really great opportunity for because they're not going to— they're not going to market and promote themselves and hawk their beats. They just don't want to do that, and that's absolutely fine. How do you set up a production company? You retain an attorney, and that attorney would put together a contract for you with those producers. That are part of the company that gives you the entitlement to shop their beats and to place their beats. And it would give you— there would be language in that contract that allowed you to collect whatever percentage you deem fair in this, in this arrangement. Again, industry standard is 50/50. So you would be collecting 100% of the money and then paying them whatever their percentage is. In the case of this example, it would be half. You'd pay them half of the money that, that you've collected for them, earned for them. Um, to physically set up the company, um, you would want to talk to an attorney, a corporate attorney, and an accountant. If you couldn't afford to do that, you'd want to do a shit ton of research online to make sure that you were doing it properly. Um, you would want to incorporate the company. And, and the reason you'd want to incorporate it— it would either be a corporation or an LLC— is because if someone were to give you tracks and there was a sample that you didn't know about, and you went and sold that to someone and it wasn't caught that there was a sample in it, and you got sued, you would want to have the LLC to protect someone from suing you and gaining access to your personal money. If you're not incorporated, they can sue you personally. If you're incorporated, they can only sue the company. And that's kind of, that's kind of important for protection. And again, do a lot of research online because this is something that can protect you, and if you screw it up, you will no longer be protected. So please do the proper research on that. The third part of Nature Boy's question was, who should negotiate a publishing deal? Should it be the producer themselves, or should it be a lawyer? I'm a really big fan of having attorneys or someone on my team that has actually negotiated deals negotiate deals. With a contract, it's not always what's in it that can hurt you. Sometimes it's what's missing. And especially with something that's affecting your money, you want to make sure that you've got professionals around you that can advise you accurately. And when I say professionals, I mean people that do this for a living and people that have done this before. Um, I have never negotiated a publishing deal. I don't believe in them. So if I were going to go and negotiate a publishing deal I would absolutely have an attorney with me. I mean, attorney's going to do the paperwork anyway, but I would want to follow their lead because they know what's fair and acceptable and they know what to look for in the contract. On the flip side, I've done a ton of distribution deals and artist deals with labels, so in those contracts I know what to look for. I'm still going to have an attorney by my side because I'm not an attorney, and one should always be with me whenever I'm doing something. But I'm going to be a little bit more aggressive in the negotiation of that deal because I'm comfortable doing it. But anytime that there's a deal on the table where it's not my expertise, I'm smart enough to go find somebody that's really great at that. I would hate to see somebody sign away something that they shouldn't. So I'm just a big fan of having attorneys that are experienced entertainment attorneys, and an entertainment attorney that has done a publishing deal before. And if you're gonna— if you're gonna negotiate any kind of deal, an artist deal or a production deal, like whatever you're gonna negotiate, you need to have an attorney that specializes in whatever you're trying to do. Um, so even it's even more finite, you know. A lot of times people ask me, Wendy Day, what kind of attorney do I need? You know, I've got this great real estate attorney, can I use him for my entertainment career? And the answer is absolutely not. You want to have an attorney that specializes in music, but you also want to make sure that that attorney has knowledge and has done deals before like the one that you're doing. If you're doing a film deal, you want to make sure that you've got an attorney that's done film deals. If you're doing a record deal, you want an attorney that has experience with record deals. So, um, Nature Boy, I think I've answered all your questions. Thank you for being my first, um, guinea pig. Nature Boy is from here in Atlanta, and he sent me an email when he heard that I was going to be answering questions live. Um, also, wow, you guys are just blowing up my, my, uh, my chats here, and it's very hard to talk and answer at the same time. Um, thank you for thanking me for doing this. I appreciate it. Um, wow, an artist is rebuilding. This is a great question. I'm going to answer this one live because this is really great, and then I'm going to go, um, answer the other question that I received by email. And if you guys want to email questions to me, um, this is wendyday@gmail.com. Don't be shy, um, and let me know that you want me to answer it live, because if you don't, I will just answer your question and you'll be like, well damn, she just hit reply and answered my question. Um, an artist is rebuilding having been away for 2 years with prior viral songs, a great EP. How does he reestablish himself and re-attract his fan base as well as enhance it? Um, and this is King Vega who asked me this. You know, I'm not sure that you can regain the fan base that, that you, that you left behind. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, because if you're out of the marketplace— let's say you're out of the marketplace for 5 years, and I know you said 2, I absolutely read that— but let's say you're out of the marketplace for 5 years. In 5 years, the entire, the entire market has changed. You know, this is such an ever-changing marketplace that even 2 years later, you know, it's, it's, it's different. You know, 2 years ago we focused on streaming a little bit, but it was still only like 15% of the marketplace. And today we focus on streaming because it is the bulk of the marketplace. You know, it's, it's where music is going. Streaming is increasing and downloading music is decreasing. CDs are way decreasing. So if you're going to make a comeback, and that's really hard to do, what I would do is I would start from scratch. I would not try to regain what I lost. I think what I would do is I would put really great music into the marketplace, and I don't mean good music, I mean great music, into the marketplace, and I would just start marketing and promoting myself as if I were a brand new artist. And there will be people out there who recognize you because they were fans, or, or maybe they weren't fans and just, you know, heard your name before. They'll recognize you, and you're just going to pick them up naturally if they like your music. But I don't necessarily think that a new fan is going to care if you were here for 2 years— if you were here, gone for 2 years, and came back again. Where it gets a little hard to come back is when you've been gone for 5 or more years. And it comes back to what I was saying at the beginning of answering this question. In 5 years, like, the entire fan base cycles through. So someone who really likes, you know, dancey club music, 5 years from now may not be going to the club as much because maybe, you know, they're, they're, they've got a family now, you know, they've got a mortgage, they've got car payments. Their life has changed a little bit. So the type of music that they like is going to resonate more with where they are in their life. So I think, um, King Vega, if I were you, I would just put out really great music and I would make it happen, you know, for myself from scratch. Like, build your new fan base as an artist. That's always what you want to do is build and expand your fan base. And you want to have as many people as possible, you know, in your franchise because only a percentage of your fans are going to spend money. And if you want to do this for a living, you want to make sure that, um, you've got enough of a fan base that can support you. Um, somebody just asked me a follow-up question about the, the production, which I'm going to absolutely answer before I go to the next question. Um, and it looks like it's Little Grip Productions is asking me, is it a good idea to send artist beats randomly to their email? Um, the downside of doing that is if you send out that same email to 10 different artists and they all like that beat and they all record to it, it's going to be very hard for them to put it out and work it properly and put money behind it because that same music is going to be all over the marketplace. I think if you know the artist and you specifically send beats to their email, that's not a bad thing. Um, I work with an artist here in Atlanta called Trouble from DuckTape, and what Trouble does when he records is he goes into his Gmail account, and, and for you really smart producers you could go to his Twitter bio right now and find out what that email address is and email him some beats, because I think he's going to the studio tonight. But anyway, um, what he does is he opens his Gmail account and he goes through the beats that are there like, like this. Like, he just goes right down his inbox, he listens to the beats, he listens to the beats for 5 or 10 seconds. If he doesn't like it, he moves on to the next one. Um, if he listens to a bunch of them and they're just not hitting him at all, like if he's not interested in your style, he'll just go to the next email and he'll listen to a few beats there. If he finds one he likes, he'll record to it, and then he will text either me or Tony the name of the producer so that we can handle the paperwork. Sometimes he does not do this, and it's very difficult for us to go back in and figure out whose beats he used. So it's not always a great— it's not always the best system that he has, but it's exactly what he does to record. And as a producer, you either need to have a relationship with him or you need to have access to his email address, and you have to send him music that is similar to what he likes. And that's a hard thing to do when you don't know the artist. It's very hard to say what somebody's going to like and what they're not going to like, because it's going to depend on his mood, it's going to depend on how much he drank, it's going to depend on how much he smoke— he's smoking— it's going to depend on whether or not his girlfriend pissed him off or didn't piss him off. It's going to depend on how much pressure he has and what he wants to rap about. So it's, it's kind of a crapshoot to just send them to his email, but it's how, you know, it's how he records. And if you know him, you know that's how he records. So should you blanket send your beats out? No, I don't think that's a good idea. I think you could send them to somebody who is going to hear it, like the idea, and instead of calling you and saying, hey, I'd like to change this beat, could you put, you know, a stronger snare in it, or could you put more bottom in it, or could you put some keys behind it? Um, my concern would be that they're going to have a producer that they've got a relationship with, they're going to send them that beat and say, hey, I like this, but I want some changes made to it, and you're never going to know that that was your beat because it's going to sound completely different than what your beat sounded like. Okay, so that's that. I have one more question. Hang in there with me, guys. Um, and this question came from somebody that I don't know, and I wasn't given their name, and I don't want to read their email address because then they'll get spammed. So, um, I guess if you had wanted your name read, you would have told me who you are. But, um, what he or she is asking me is What does a publicist do exactly? And it really depends on the— on, on where you are in your career. If you are an artist and you're very new, the publicist's job is going to be to get you exposure anywhere they possibly can because nobody knows who you are yet. And they're gonna wanna get you onto the blogs and into media, and it's gonna be a little challenging because nobody knows who you are yet. And remember, the blogger's job is not to expose rap music fans to music, or R&B fans to music, or pop fans to music. They exist because they are earning money through advertising. And they can charge money for advertising by the more eyeballs they have on their site. So a blogger is going to want to know, is this artist going to be around for a while? Does this artist make good music, great music? Are they promoting themselves properly? How much of a buzz does this artist have in the marketplace? And who's on their team. Obviously, if you've got somebody on your team that has a relationship with the blogger, you're going to get placed faster on that blog than somebody who doesn't have the relationship. So in hiring a publicist, you need to be at a place in your career where you've got enough content that you can supply to the publicist to send out, and it's easier to get videos placed than it is to get music placed. So obviously, obviously a publicist is going to want to work a video. Also, if you've got a feature from a known artist or an established artist on your song, it's going to be easier to attract a blogger than if you don't. And the downside of that, as somebody who helps artists set up their their own labels and put out their own music. From my perspective, I hate when an artist has a feature because I then have to go to that artist's record label and clear that feature. And that record label might tell me, no, you can't use my artist. For example, if I have a song that one of my artists recorded and he chose to feature Young Thug on that song, for example, then I would have to go to 300 and get permission. And 300 might tell me, hey, we've got an album in the marketplace right now called Jeffrey, and we don't want you out there with your artist competing against what we're doing. So you can't use Young Thug on that song 3 months before the release of the album or 3 months after. And they would have every right to do that because Young Thug is signed to them and they're investing in building his career. So as somebody that helps artists put music out, I hate when they've got a feature that is by an artist that is signed to a record label. But a publicist on the flip side wants that because it's much easier to get a look on HipHopDX or AllHipHop or Pigeons and Planes if there's some sort of a hook to get the person to click on your song, right, to click on your video. Another thing that publicists do is if you're at a stage in your career where you're more known— and that's why I said it really depends on, on where you are in your career what a publicist does— one of the things that a publicist does is if you have some renown Their job is to get you on guest lists at events like the BET Awards, for example, or the MTV Awards. Your publicist would reach out to that organization doing the event and they would find out, okay, who else is going to be attending? When is the red carpet? Because obviously you want the artist to walk the red carpet for photo ops. And, um, they would use their relationship with that organization to get you on the guest list. If it's an event that is very popular, like the BET Hip-Hop Awards for example, you may only get a ticket for yourself. You may only gain access for yourself plus one. If you're a larger artist like a Snoop Dogg or Young Thug, to use him as an example again, to carry over the example, um, you might be able to get plus 3. It, it's, it's sort of the pecking order. The more successful and known you are as an artist, the more leeway you're going to get in what you need. They're obviously going to want you to walk the red carpet if you're well known because it gives them prestige for the who's who of the entertainment industry to show up to their event. If you're a smaller artist, it may be a little more challenging. You may be, you may be asked to walk the red carpet, but you may not be able to walk the red carpet when the bigger stars are there. They may save you for the end of the entry, you know, the end of the red carpet. And again, it's just, it's, it's pecking order. The larger your fan base is the more power you have in this industry. The more money you're making, the more powerful you're going to have— the more power you're going to have. Um, you're going to be able to watch this. Um, it's going to post within the next hour and it'll be up on my page so that if you missed anything, um, I will go back and watch it to make sure I didn't say anything stupid because it is my first one. I am a tad bit nervous. So, um, I will go back and watch it and make sure I didn't say anything wrong. If I did, I will post it in the information underneath. Um, and guys, thank you so much for, for joining in. This is my first one. My head did not explode. That's a really good sign. Um, and I gotta really thank Jordan Tower. Jordan Tower helped me set up my YouTube page and get it popping last week, which is really exciting. It's something that I've wanted to do but I hadn't done because the learning curve of setting it up is so extreme, especially for me, um, that I just kept saying, oh, I'll do it next week. Oh, I'll do it next week. Oh, I'll do it next week. Well, yeah, here we are, like, you know, 4 years later, and, um, I'm finally doing it. So thank you, Jordan, for helping me do this, and, um, I really appreciate you guys. Make sure that you subscribe so that you get to see— I'm dropping videos Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I drop them at 11:00 AM, and, um, I talk about a different aspect of the week. And then every Wednesday at 7:00 PM, I will go live and answer your questions. So if you email them to me or, um, you know, send them by carrier pigeon, get me your questions, and I will answer as many of them as I can on Wednesday nights. Again, thisiswendyday@gmail.com. Thank you for tuning in, and, um, I appreciate y'all. Peace!