LIVE with Wendy Day #017 | Answering Your Questions Live

Hi guys, this is Wendy Day from Wrap Kolish and thanks for tuning in to my livestream. I'm so happy that you're here. Okay guys, I'm almost there, I'm coming. I promise I'm coming. Hey, I've got a lot of great information for you today. I'm so glad you're here. Okay guys, there's a counter there. I'm trying to beat that counter. As soon as it gets down to zero, I'll be there. Right now I'm filling up my cup with unsweet tea and extra lemon. Guys, thanks for tuning into my livestream. We're almost ready to go. I'm so glad you're here. I've got such amazing information to share with you tonight. I'm so excited. I'm so happy. Hear me now? Okay, I think there's something wrong with one of my USB ports. Okay, so let me tell that story again that you guys just missed. So I spilled a big bucket of Diet Coke on the floor. Can you guys hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me? Yes, thank you, um, Mr. Jerome. So I spilled a big bucket of Diet Coke on my floor. Not a bucket, but you know, like a large, a large cup of soda, leaving a big brown spot. And you know how like when, when stuff like that happens, you just, you just, you just go, oh shit. Well, that's what happened. So as I'm soaking up the Diet Coke, my little dog Gangster comes running up to the spot thinking he's gonna get some free licks on the carpet, which by the way, the carpet's destroyed. It's just this big bent brown spot. I'm gonna have to have it cleaned. It's brand new carpet. Anywho, Gangster comes up, sniffs it, gives it a look, and off he goes. He kind of runs away from it. So let this be a lesson, good folks at Coca-Cola Company, that Even my dog, who eats his own shit by the way, will not lick up Diet Coke. This should be a lesson to me as well. So hi guys! Um, I don't quite know how to turn up the volume. Okay. Why don't I just move the mic closer? Is that better? Okay. It probably is. Hi guys, okay, Wednesday is my favorite night. I'm so happy to be here, and I thought I was being funny. You know, there's a port on my laptop that must not work because we had no sound last week either, um, and I forgot to test it this week. I should have because last week you guys couldn't hear me. Um, you can hear me better now, right guys? Yeah, you can. Okay, good. Um, I had to move the mic closer instead of turning up the volume for those of you who said it's really low. The mic was all the way on the other side of my desk behind my iPad, and I couldn't figure out why you couldn't hear me. Okay, Dark Brothers Entertainment, money baby, Mr. Jerome, White Cloud Music, thank you. Thank you, Eli Bonilla. Bonilla, got it right this time, huh? Bryce, how are you? Christian Mateo, what questions do you guys have for me? Have you been watching the videos that I've been posting? Thank you, guys. Clap on. Yeah, that's how I test my mic, as I clap it, because it makes the It makes the little bar jump, and I can tell that you can hear me. White Cloud Music, Mahal Hines, Baltimore Swagga, JS Thompson Productions. Hi guys! Baltimore Swagga's like, now you're too loud. Hey, I've heard this a lot in my life, that I'm too loud. Okay, Jamad White, how are you? Thank you so much. Chill Cortez, yay! iPhone 7, your volume is still low. Oh no. Mr. Duro is asking me, is there a formula to going viral or is it always hit or miss? I think it's hit or miss. It seems a little bit random. I know there's companies out there that sell you packages to go viral. Um, but it just seems like it has to be something that a large amount of people relate to, you know. So, um, and thank you, Money Baby. He's saying that he watches every video because we're going to talk about, um, features, and that's one of the videos that I posted this week because I think it probably depressed a lot of you that I said that, um that features aren't beneficial until you've already built a buzz. And I really want to elaborate on that because most of you really care about having features, and I want to talk about what it does do for you once you get to that point where you've got a buzz. Um, but let me, um, did I answer that question enough about going viral? It's, it's not, it's not something that I can give you a blueprint on. It's got to be something that people are willing to spread Um, and in a perfect world, you want it to cross into all social media, sort of like— remember when people were, were doing that plank thing, or they were freezing, or the ice challenge where they were dumping, you know, ice water over their head? Um, you want it to not just go viral on YouTube, you want it to hit Facebook, you want it to hit like all the platforms. Um, there's an artist that I'm a fan of out of Rhode Island called Flawless, and Flawless has a video called Doctor. And over Labor Day weekend, it started to go viral on Facebook. And what I mean by viral is, um, like over 100,000 people saw it, and like tens of thousands of— tens of thousands of people were sharing it. But it stayed on Facebook. It didn't really spread to Instagram or to Twitter. And it was basically at a time where, um, people of my generation were complaining that the music wasn't lyrical enough. It was, you know, people were just getting on that anti-mumble rap, um, crusade. And he came out with a video called Doctor, which was about him as a rapper, um, bringing hip-hop back to life. And there was a guy on a table and he was using the paddles, and, you know, and basically it was timing and it was a very popular sentiment. Um, right now there's a huge anti-Trump sentiment that many of you may have noticed. So if you were to have something that spoke to people that were like-minded, that kind of summed up how they felt in one visual, one meme, um, it could probably go viral. Um, I've seen, I've seen— hey, Bubble— I've seen, um folks, uh, post videos and somebody famous will be singing along to their video and it makes it go viral. Um, but when something goes viral, it— you've got like 24 hours and that's it, like, in order to react. And a lot of people can't really chase that viral movement, you know. So, um, I don't know that it would be good for people to be able to manipulate that because most people couldn't handle the virality of going viral. Okay, let's answer some questions here. Stan Smith is asking me, how do you promote a video, a music video online? We do Facebook ads, we do Google ads. Tony just started doing YouTube ads. He's found that Google ads work really well, and for Facebook ads Um, make sure that you're actually promoting a video that you uploaded directly to Facebook. Don't promote a YouTube video on Facebook because they stunt you for that. They stunt your, um, your reach. They want you to use Facebook as a video platform. So if you upload Facebook, if you upload your video to Facebook and you advertise it, it'll go much further than if you upload a YouTube link or a YouTube video. To Facebook. Learned that one the hard way. Bubble on deck! Jill Cortez, how do you work a single on the street? Flyers, stickers, etc.? Is it legal to just post your promo items up everywhere? It certainly is not legal to just post your promo items everywhere. Um, I used to be one of those people that would sticker up places, um, my clients would get hit with fines. Um, and by fines I mean to the tune of like $90,000 worth of fines over, you know, over like a 4 to 6 month period of promotion. And it's just not a good use of money to do that. Um, I tend to— when I'm giving away promotional material, I tend to do it in a place where there's large amounts of people gathered either a block party or some sort of an event where people are. I love high school events for stuff like that, college events for that. Um, Tony just came home, so you're about to hear gangster bark. Um, okay, boo-boo, it's okay. Um, so I prefer, um, putting promotional items in people's hands, especially younger people, like, um, like high school age people or college age people, because they will actually hang posters, especially if you autograph them for them. Um, you could do the big, you know, 18 by 24 inch posters, but you could also have maybe some, um, 8 by 10 size posters that could fit like inside of a locker at high school. Um, and you could autograph it because then it somebody might hang it inside their locker. When their locker door is open, of course, everybody walking by will see it. So, um, I see no downside in autographing what you give to folks. Your arm will get tired, but I just think that it makes it a little, a little more special, and somebody's less likely to throw away an autograph than they are to just, you know, throw away a postcard or an 8x10 picture, or, you know, a, um, a poster. But, um, Chill, don't forget, like, you're asking me about working the single on the street. Don't forget to work it online too. I know you didn't ask that, and you, you definitely, um, are going to do it anyway. I realize that. But I just want to say for everybody out here listening, um, who hasn't done this before, that you're going to work your single on social media. You're going to work your single online wherever you can— Reddit, you know, any place where there's a large amount of people, you know, um, Facebook, places where, um, where there's other people hanging out that may appreciate your style of music, right? Um, but when you're working on the street chill, make sure that you're hitting all the DJs, make sure that you're hitting fans, make sure that you're getting, you know, you're, you're, you're getting it moving The way that you can tell when you've got a record that's going to react is DJs will start to call you and ask you for it. DJs that you've actually given it to like 10 and 12 times before already will call you and say, hey, how come you didn't give me your new single? I hear it's hot, you know. Oh, I was, you know, at the club the other night getting ready for my set and the DJ before played your song and it was really hot. Could you send me a copy? Even though you've already sent it to them and handed it to them and, you know, made a fuss over it, they still will swear that you never gave it to them. So give it to them, tell them, I don't know how I missed you, I'm sorry, here it is. You know, play it as much as you can, please support me. If you need me to come in and make an appearance at your club, I'm happy to do it. If you want me to come in and perform the song, I'm happy to do it. Whatever you need to do to promote the song, you're also going to want to show up at the club where they're spinning every now and again, so that— for two reasons. One, because when you're there, they're gonna play it. Um, but also because you want to show them that you're supporting them just like they're supporting you. They don't have to play your record. They really don't. They do really fine playing Drake and Jay-Z and Kanye and, you know, Migos and whoever else is hot in the club. They don't have to play your record. You know, when you're new, they're taking a chance by spinning your record for fear that, you know, everybody will come off the dance floor and not because they don't know— they don't know the song. It's new. It's not because it's bad, it's because they don't know the song. So, um, get the— get the DJs on board with your record. Yes, um, Mr. Jarrow is using the example of All Gold Everything when it dropped. Um, because he looked so ridiculous, you know, he was riding around on the bike and, and he just, he looked like a, a Martin character. People were posting that meme everywhere. Um, it worked to spread that song, but it didn't work to build his career. So be really careful when you become a meme that you're a meme that is positive and not a meme that is negative. You don't want to be the meme that's negative, right? Um, you never want to be the meme that's Coop de Trill, how are you? Is showing too much versatility bad for your brand in its early stages? Absolutely. You need to, you need to be consistent very early on. You want to make sure that your sound is a sound that when somebody hears it, it's recognizable. You don't want to be doing reggae one day and trap rap the next day, and then you're singing the following day, and then you're lyrical like, um, like Kendrick Lamar the next day. You want to make sure that whatever you're working is a series of a sound that's similar enough, not exactly the same. It's not like every song has to sound the same, but you want it to be recognizable. Remember what I said about building your brand? Um, you want one logo, you want one image of yourself. If you guys notice, like, my shirts change, but you notice, like, my hair hasn't changed since October. It hasn't changed in years because I want people to recognize me. When I first came out in the music industry, and, you know, sometimes I'd have my hair back, sometimes I'd have it down long, and people would be looking at me like, is that her? Do I know her? You know, one day I'd be rocking a t-shirt, the next day I'd be like dressed in a business suit, and it seemed to confuse people. Even though I was almost always the only white female in the room, it seemed to confuse people. Like, they were like, oh, is that Wendy Day? Like, some days I'd have glasses on, some days I'd have my contacts in, and it would— the, the question would be in people's minds, you know, is that her? So I try to keep my look consistent. Like, when I go out to dinner with Tony, you know, this isn't necessarily what I look like. Sometimes it is, but you know, like sometimes I'll pop the contacts in, sometimes I'll put my hair down, sometimes I put my hair up, you know, different. So, um, you want to be consistent. You want people to get to know who you are and there to be no confusion as to, you know, who you are and what you look like. When they see you, they know immediately, oh, that's so-and-so. You know, when you see, um, Trinidad James today, he always looks different. Like, I always look at him like— and I know him, right? So I'm looking at him like, is that Trinidad? And if I don't see him climbing out of his car, which I recognize, then I don't always know that it's him. Because sometimes, you know, he looks very hippie-ish. Sometimes he looks very casual. You know, he just always looks different to me, and I don't always recognize him. And I think that— did I just say recognize instead of recognize? Um, I just think that you should make it as easy as possible for people until they really get to know you, and then you can be different and funky and change your look and change your style and change your logo. But, you know, give them like a good year and a half or so to really get to know who you are. Yo123789 is saying, do you take time out of your day to study something, or are most things gathered knowledge throughout the years that you can repeat in present projects, both. And both, I say that because not everything works all the time over and over and over. Sometimes we burn shit out, and then there's times where something new will come in that I don't know how to do and I have to learn how to do it. Getting on lists at streaming is a great example of that. It was around this time last year when I realized that in rap it— lists had been popular in music since, God, like 3 years, right? Um, and the thing about the lists in other music, and even in rap, is they were named by the feeling you get. Like, um, there'd be a list for, you know, early morning coffee would be the name of the list, right? And it was energizing music. Then there was the quiet storm, which was the music that you'd relax to before you went to bed. Then there was the playlist for getting ready to go to the club. So they were listed by feeling and emotion instead of being listed by genre, like rap list, rock list, EDM list, right? So I noticed that, that, that was changing in music, and then I noticed around this time last year that people in the— like, the fans of rap were really starting to embrace streaming music, and they were getting with either Spotify or Apple Music or Tidal or, you know, whoever. But, and now like 60% of, um, of rap is streamed, right? That's where— that's where we're getting the bulk of our music today. So In the summer, like around June, I realized that we needed to get Trouble on more playlists, and I realized the importance of playlists, but I didn't really know how to do that. You know, I didn't know if it was going to be pay-for-play like radio, which it is. Um, I didn't know if, um, if you had to be signed to a major label to get on a playlist, or, you know, how the curators chose music. And they've become the new DJs, like what DJs were to rap when I was coming up, you know. And then it became the blogs. The blogs were the people that broke music, um, and they burned it out because they started, you know, um, being, being pay for play, you know. You, you would pay somebody $300 to get mentioned in their blog and they would mention you. And then when the readers of the blog would go check out your music and it wasn't good, it burned out that person's reputation for being able to curate good music. And then people stopped believing that blogger. Well, now it's the playlist, um, coordinator, the curator. And yes, some of them are pay-for-play. Yes, there are companies that are springing up now where you hire them for $1,500 a month or $2,500 a month and they get you onto playlists, um, you know, on Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. And then there's relationships. You can build relationships with the curators of these lists. And send them the music. And it's kind of like DJs— if they like it, they'll play it. If they don't, they won't. So, um, yes, I have— what I know is a, um, is, is a combination of my experience and me being able to call around to people that are successful today. And, and I guess, you know, it, it helps a little bit being Wendy Day, I admit, where I can call into Russ's camp and find out what they did to be successful. I can call into Chance the Rapper's camp and find out, hey, how do you market him? How did you get the deal at Apple? Um, you know, how long did it take? What did you guys do? You know, what was, what was the experience you had putting out your first mixtape? What is different now working his project than it was working the first mixtape? You know, I have the ability to do that. I don't know that just anybody could do that. Um, although I used to do that shit when I was first coming up and nobody knew who I was. So, um, yeah, I study, I study this business a lot. I've got it under a microscope. Um, I read all of the, um, end of the year reports, all of the mid-year reports. Um, Nielsen gives a great recap of what hap— what's happening in music. BuzzAngle does a really nice explanation of what's going on. They do it twice a year. And then, you know, I go into Spotify and look at the data for all of my clients and compare my clients to who else is hot in the area, both signed and unsigned artists. I look at the analytics for my blog. I look at the analytics for my YouTube page. I try to— like, I see what videos you guys watch more than others, and and I try to give you more information about the stuff that you really care about than the stuff that you don't. Like, for example, you guys don't give a fuck about how to choose an accountant, but you really care about how to get shows. So that tells me that I need to do more material on how to book a tour and how to make money doing shows than on telling you to get an accountant. And then when I talk about shows, um, I can squeeze in a little piece about how to pay your taxes that you may not normally go and watch on your own, but that you need to know, right? So, um, big data analytics, I'm really big on that. Thanks for asking that. I'm also not afraid to, um, take risks, and I think that's really big. A lot of my success has come from me not being afraid to try new things and having the budget to be able to try new things. Like, if, if you've only got $100 in your pocket and something costs $100, the risk is a little higher if that doesn't succeed, right? But if you've got $500 in your pocket and something costs $100, it's a little bit easier to take that risk, you know, provided it's a, it's a, it's a, an educated risk. It's not like just out of left field. I don't know how to pronounce your name. Asaya Dio? Asia Dio? I'm sorry, I've just butchered your name. If you've had previous placement success as a producer, how do you go about getting more placement work in an industry that's drying up? Boy, you're not kidding. I know utmost Um, I, man, I, I so sympathize with you on that. Um, the reality is that— okay, let me answer your exact question. You're asking, you've gotten placements before. I think if you've gotten enough placements where you could compile all of that music into a package like on a CD or onto like a private SoundCloud page. Maybe you can't make it public because you don't want to fuck over the artists that you've done production for. But if you could kind of put everything together in a mixtape format where you could share that with other people— I know Drumma Boy did that a couple years ago and it was pretty awesome because he made a mixtape of all of the older music that he had produced.. And when I listened to it, I was like, oh shit, I didn't know he did that. Oh, he did that. Oh man, I love this song. I didn't know he did that. And it was like 14 or 15 songs of me saying that for almost every song because I just didn't know that he was the producer on many of those songs. And he gave out, you know, tens of thousands of those, those mixtapes just so that people would recognize his value to the music community, and he got a ton of work after that. Now, you didn't say here how many placements you've had. I don't know if it's 1 or 2, or it's more like 50. I don't know if you've placed songs that have blown up, or if you play songs that people wouldn't recognize if they heard. But I think that in order to get more placement work— now, this is answering your question generally, as opposed to the fact that you've already had some success, right? It's really building relationships with the artists and the A&R people. And because you don't know when they're in recording mode, you've got to hit them every few weeks with your music, like at least every 5 to 6 weeks with some new beats. It's not going to help you when they're not in recording mode. They may listen to them and they may think to themselves, wow, he's really hot, I need to come back to him. When I'm recording. But the problem is, when they're about to record— every artist does this— they go onto Twitter, they go onto Instagram, they tell the world that they're, that they're recording, they tell all their friends. So they start getting inundated with tracks, and they get beats out the wazoo. And now they're not thinking about the fact that 2 months ago you sent them really great beats and they liked them. They're just looking at what's in front of them at this given moment. So you need to be in front of them whenever they're at that given moment. And I would just send out music at least once a month. At the very longest, I would do it 6 weeks, every 6 weeks. But I would make sure that I had relationships with the people I was sending music to, um, A, so that they'd listen to it, and B, so that they would know who to reach out to when they choose a track. There's a lot of times, um, the way that Trouble Records is he goes through his Gmail and he'll sit in the studio and he'll just listen to tracks and he'll go through his Gmail, and when he finds one that he likes, he'll pull it out and he'll record to it. And then Tony or I will have to go back in and find that email to find out who made that track so that we can go and find out, you know, hey, can we use this track? If we, if we use it, is there a cost? Um, the great thing about Trouble is most people are giving him tracks right now because he's blowing up and they want to get— they want to, they want to get their track on a project that has funding so that their name will spread, you know. And because of that, if somebody's charging for a track, he's more likely to pass on putting that song out than he will on another song where somebody's letting him put that music out for free. And I know that that sucks, believe me, I know that that sucks. But the market is so oversaturated right now that that's the reality for the market that we're in today. And man, I know that sucks because you guys need to be able to make a living off of doing what you do. And it's a production-driven industry, so it's like the beat is what sucks somebody in, you know? And the fact that you're having trouble making a living off of what I think is the most important part of bringing somebody to the music, it's just, it I could go on for hours about this, but I won't. I won't, I won't drive you guys crazy with this. Eli, I don't review tracks. Um, you can go to TJ's DJs for that. He does review songs. He does it every Tuesday and Thursday now. Um, in fact, I'm gonna start funding, um, 10 people a week with him. I haven't spoken to him about this yet, um, so forgive me if, if it becomes a little different than what I'm telling you. Um, but myself and One RPM, which is a distribution company, we're gonna try to sponsor some artists that don't have the funding, um, to get on his VIP list. His VIP list means you don't have to wait in line. He plays and reviews the VIP music before the general audience. So, um, I noticed when I went there on Thursday that, um people really wanted to get their music heard, but they couldn't. And they were there for like, you know, like over an hour waiting. And I sponsored somebody. There was a guy on there that was really assertive about asking him, you know, would you play my music? Would you play my music? Would you play my music? Would you play my music? To the point where I paid TJ $25 to play his song because it was just, he was just, you know, he was, he didn't have the money, obviously. And he really wanted to get his music heard. Um, but Eli, to answer your question, I don't review music. I don't review tracks. What I think does not matter. What matters is what the fans think. Um, here, everybody, just take this. Pretend I just listened to your music. Wow, it's really good. Okay, now what? I just told you your music's good. Now what? I can't make or break your life by listening to your music. It's the buzz of the fans that matters. If you're buzzing really strong, if you're 21 Savage, if you're Trouble, if you are— I'm trying to think of other people that are really hot. Mr. Kane out of Baton Rouge, who's now in Houston, has a nice buzz. Trap Boy Freddy out of Dallas has a nice buzz. Young M.A. out of New York has a nice buzz. If you've got a buzz buzz, I can be really helpful to you. If you don't have a buzz, there's nothing I can do for you. So for me to spend my day listening to music and giving people feedback doesn't make sense. And more importantly, I get too much music sent to me, and I can't possibly listen to it all. Even, even if I listen to music 24 hours a day, I couldn't listen to all the music that gets sent to me. So I'm not willing to play favorites. I'm not willing to listen to some of it and not all of it. There's just no way that I can listen to all of it, so I choose to listen to none of it. And I'm much more valuable to you on the business side than I am on the creative side. I don't like Kanye, so why would you want somebody who doesn't think Kanye's talented giving an opinion on your music? You wouldn't, right? So there you go. Sean is asking me, how much of a budget do you need to get started? It depends on your market. It depends on your type of music. The more pop your music is, the more money it'll take, but the faster you will— the faster your music will explode. The more street you are, the less money it takes, but the more time it takes. And, and for my clients, they're always trying to monetize and they're always trying to make money back. So we work in a very large area, we work regionally, and So people need a budget of about $150,000 in order to start their own label to make it profitable within 9 months to a year. I know money, baby. I'm sorry, I just, I just don't have time to, to listen to music. It's always funny to me that that's what artists want. Artists always want somebody to listen to their music and validate them. And the truth is, like, unless I'm a buying fan, it doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter if I tell you your music isn't good or if your music is good. And again, there's plenty of people out there that'll do this. TJ's doing a really great job. I think it's hashtag Free Music Review, and I think he just— I think he just set up a website for it. Did I get an email today? I think it might be freemusicreview.tv. I'm not sure about that though, but I think I saw an email today. Um, I had a really hectic day, so I didn't really get to my email. I've got, um, 134 emails that I haven't even opened yet, and that, that's not to mention the ones that I opened like when I was in the bathroom and when I was waiting in line and stuff like that. But I've had meetings all day. JS Thompson Productions is saying, when starting a label, how many artists should I have to release right off the bat? One, one artist. Get good at one. You don't need more than one, just one. Get really good at one. Once that one starts to bubble and blow up, then you need a second one, and you're going to want to bring them right behind the first one, maybe feature them on a track with the first one. But you're going to have to put out a lot of music on the first one, so, um, you really just need one artist to start. Somebody really talented and that works really hard. Tamara Bubble has a question. Bubble in the house, bubble on deck. I had a question about contracts for a certain period of time. For example, if an artist gets sick or locked up and you're under contract as a manager publicist for a time period, say a year, um, there is a clause in every contract that automatically extends it if something like that happens. Like, let's say you're a singer and you lose your voice, and you lose your voice and it takes you, um, like Adele, it took her like 6 months to, to heal her, uh, vocal cords so she could sing again. More than likely her contract froze for that period of time. Um, if you go to prison, like you get locked up, your contract will freeze for the amount of time that, that, that you are locked up. Tony Harvey is asking me, do you have any suggestions for a producer trying to get a placement on not only albums but TV, video games, and so on? Um, absolutely. You need to build relationships with music supervisors. Um, there are music supervisors for video games, there's music supervisors for TV, there's music supervisors for film, and then there's music placement people who place your music and charge you for that, obviously, who place your music with video music supervisors, TV music supervisors, and film music supervisors. And if you go to rap-resources— it's rap, rap resources, but there's a dash in between— rap-resources.com, um, those lists are there for sale. I would not blanket email those people. I would reach out to them one by one and start building a relationship. Um, however many you feel you could reach out to at one time, um, reach out to them, ask them what the placement process is. I would Google them before. I think all of their websites are on the list. Um, I would go to their website and see what kind of music they specialize in, and, um, I would definitely explain to them the type of music that you make and ask them what it takes to either get on their radar or become one of their clients. Tamara Bubble 2: Does it terminate even though you weren't able to do anything? No, your contract never terminates. They have to actually let you go. Is the artist free to go and get a whole new team? No. Um, the way contracts are written, they always favor the person who is putting up the money. So if you're signing to a label or an investor, they're going to make sure that they're protected because they see the money as having more value than the talent, because it's easier to find talent— it's easier to find an artist than it is to find an investor. So the prevailing attitude is that the money has more value. I disagree. I think it's the opposite. I think that an artist can sell music without an investor, but an investor can't sell music without the artist. So that tells me that the artist has more value. But unfortunately, people with money don't think the way that I think. They think that if they're investing in you, that you should be signed to them until they feel that either they've made enough money or enough profit in working with you, or they feel that there's nothing else they can do with you and they're willing to let you go. And it's very hard to get released from a contract, and that's mostly because there is no downside for them to just let you sit still and not do anything with you. Now, a smart boo that had leverage would put something in the contract that said, if I don't release X amount of songs per year, or if I don't make X amount of dollars every year I get to walk. Unfortunately, most artists don't do that. I don't know why I do. All of my contracts have an out for artists. Stan Smith is saying, do street teams that you hire get you performance opportunities on promo tour? Some do, yes. Before you start getting paid shows in the area, yes. Um, some of the better street team guys can get you on to different showcases that are happening in the area It really depends on the street team person. Um, not every area that you're going to go through has a dedicated street team. There's going to be times where you need to do the work yourself, or you need to bring somebody along on your team that has the relationships. And they may not have great relationships in every marketplace. They can't be superstars everywhere, right? So they may not be able to get you a performance opportunity. But for the most part, somebody inside of that marketplace is going to get you opportunities. There's, um, there's a street team person in Tampa who gets a lot of shows when you hire her. Um, there's Ice in Tallahassee who gets shows, you know, when, when you bring her on board. And again, this depends on your music. If your music is resonating in a marketplace, you're good. People are going to want you to perform. If you make music that's like music to ride to and smoke a blunt, it's going to be hard to get a performance because it's not a club song, right? It's just a great rap. So the music, it has to make sense, right, for you to be able to get shows. But yes, you're going to perform as much as you possibly can No matter what kind of music you make, you're going to want to get— you're going to want to get as many shows as you can get for free, because as your name starts to resonate in the area, people will come see you and then they'll tell their friends, hey, I saw so-and-so perform last night, it was awesome, or it was whack, you know, depending. You want them to say it was awesome, right? Bruce is asking me, as a new manager, what are the best platforms to get my artist music on besides SoundCloud and YouTube? Um, I always suggest you get— you go through a distributor and get on the paid sites too. I mean, why not? I would get up on iTunes. I'd go through like a DistroKid or 1RPM or TuneCore, and I would— or even an Empire if you've got a little bit of a buzz. And I would get on Spotify and Tidal and Apple Music. And you've got to have an aggregator, you've got to have a distributor to get in those places. But I would want my music everywhere. Another free site, Bryce, that I use a lot— Bryce, I think I just called you Bruce, didn't I? Bryce, another site that I use a lot is AudioCloud— and excuse me, AudioMac. And the reason I use AudioMac is because it's owned by the good folks at Complex. And if you want to get posted on their blog, you need to be there instead of SoundCloud. They won't post SoundCloud links. So I always want to be on Audio Mack too, and I do that— I do that sooner rather than later because I want to have some good numbers, you know, not on the song that I'm working but on my previous songs, to show them that there's value in posting my song. You guys know that you can't bring an old song to a blog and get it posted, right? Like, if you have a song on SoundCloud that you posted in September and and in January you bring it to, um, the blogs and try to get it posted, they're going to tell you it's old. They're not going to post a song that came out in September on a blog in January. So you got to be careful about posting singles that you're going to work, but you want to post as much music as you're comfortable giving away for free because you want somebody who likes your single to go and research you and hear other music that you've made so they get a feel for exactly who you are and what you have to offer. Money Baby, I believe in focus groups, um, like what Fly did. I might have taught him to do that. Bryce is saying, I have unreleased music from an artist and I release it, can I be sued? Um, yes, if you don't have a contract, you absolutely can be sued, even if it doesn't make any money. You can be sued if you don't have a contractual agreement allowing you to release it. Absolutely. Jason Waddell is asking me, do I prefer the music business today? Absolutely. Compared to when you started in the business? Abso-fucking-lutely, yes. Um, it's much easier today. When I started in the business, I feel like I'm 100 years old. Um, Jason, when I started in the business it wasn't cool to be independent. So unless you were signed to a major label, nobody was checking for you. And it was really, it was really, really, really, really difficult. Hey, Miracle! Um, it was really difficult to get, um, fans because nobody cared, you know. And so breaking records was really, really, really, really hard. It wasn't until the mid-'90s with Master P— I know that Too Short did it before him, I know E-40 did it before him, but I'm talking about on a national basis, right, not just in Oakland— it was really hard to get people excited about somebody doing it independently. And Master P was able to really change the exception of independence and the value of independence. He just did it big. He had a ridiculous budget and he spent money in the right places. He had a great sense of marketing and he had a great understanding of what people wanted to hear at that point in time. But today, you know, I can go into any market and I can work an artist— and it doesn't matter, like every market's different, right? And some markets are really easy to market an artist in. Atlanta, for example, if you're from Atlanta and you're working in Atlanta, it's so easy to work a record. Houston's another market where if you're from Houston and you're working a record, it's relatively easy to work a record. Then there's some markets where it's not easy. Detroit is a little bit harder. St. Louis is a little bit harder. You know, Miami is hard and expensive to break a record. So I find that no matter what market I go into now, it's much easier than it was in the '90s to break records because people are just more accepting of independent artists. You know, like Chance the Rapper in 1995 wouldn't have worked, even in 2005. Chance the Rapper wouldn't have worked. He would have had to sign to a major label to become a national recording artist. He could have worked regionally, he could have worked in Chicago and, you know, the Midwest, but he— it would have been very hard for him to break out into a national and international recording artist, you know, before he did. So, you know, I would much rather work today. You know, Chance is going to make 80% of, or even 85% of the money that he makes. You know, whoever his independent distributor is, is going to make the other 15% or 20%. But I'd much rather make 80% of the money than, you know, 12 to 16% signed to a major label. Hi Pat, how are you? Hi, Tone. Thank you. Money Baby saying, I know I have to build a relationship with the DJs, but how do I get the DJs on board? Back in the day, the DJ was the one who broke the artist. Yeah, they don't, they don't really break artists as much as they used to. And you know, I, I can't blame them because for years they broke artists and artists would tell them, man, I'm gonna come back and do free shows for you when I'm a superstar. I'm gonna take care of you, I'm gonna look out, and then they didn't, you know. And, you know, here are guys that have no job security, they have no healthcare, they don't— if they don't spin, they don't get paid. It's not like, it's not like they can make a shit ton of money and just bank it, you know. DJs don't get paid well. So these are guys that have kind of gotten the short end of the stick for their whole career, and now here you are as a brand new artist, all excited like a puppy dog coming up to them saying, hey, if you break my record, I'll look out for you. And it's like, you know, in their head they're thinking, I've been hearing that one for 10 years or 15 years or however long it is. So they've kind of heard it all, and they have a lot of attitude towards artists that don't have budgets to work their records because the one thing that they've learned in all these years is this is not a free industry. And if you can't market and promote properly, then I don't know what to tell you. You got to find an investor. You're going to have to do something. You're going to have to get your money up, get a job, put your, put your income into this if this is what you want to do, you know. So how do you get the DJs on board? You show them that you're serious. You show them that you're going to be around for a while. They might not support you on the first release. They might not support you on the second release. But they'll support you when they see that you're serious about doing this and you keep— like, you're not going anywhere. Like, this is what you want to do. You're gonna have to stand out from all of the other people that fucked up before you. That's what you're gonna have to do. And I know that sucks, and it's reality. And I have the same difficulty with DJs that you guys have. It's not— it's not unique to you guys. Okay, Pat's asking me if you have, um, and you see Pat, like, I'm slick avoiding that first word because I can't pronounce it. Okay, let me try. Koskiosko. Pat, if you have your songs done and want to send it to ASCAP, do you have to copyright it first or go to ASCAP first without copyright? Um, you wouldn't. I'm not sure why you would take your songs to ASCAP. You would— you don't upload your music at ASCAP. You upload your splits, your information, to ASCAP. You tell them who the writers are, who the publishers are. You're going to tell them the names of the people, and then you're going to tell them the names of their publishing companies, and you're going to say what percentage each person owns. And if you go to ASCAP.com or BMI.com, you can get more information about how that works. In fact, I'm going to interview, um, I'm probably going to interview somebody each from ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Miracle, I'm not sure what you're apologizing for. Doug Nice is saying that Nori in two VladTV interviews stated that the Illuminati exists, and in one interview he states that there are three paths an artist may take in the music industry. Um, If he saw the Illuminati, um, very sad that he did. I like Nori. I like Nori a lot. Um, he's had a very different experience in the music industry that I've— that than I've had. He was signed to a middleman who was then signed to Tommy Boy. Um, so the money had to trickle down through 3 different people before he'd get paid. It would come from Warner Brothers to Tommy Boy to Penalty to him. So I could see where he's had a little bit of a difficult time. So his experience is just very different than mine. I have not run into the Illuminati doing what I do. So, um, there are certainly more than 3 paths that an artist can take. Um, all I can tell you is that the path that, that I have helped artists take works. I mean, Eminem's doing pretty well. I've never heard him talk about the Illuminati. Cash Money's doing pretty well. I don't know how they feel about the Illuminati. Um, David Banner has done well. Trouble's done well. Um, I don't know, I'll ask Trouble when I see him, um, later what he thinks about the Illuminati. He might still be too new though to, to have those kind of feelings. I don't know. Stan Smith is saying, how do you promote on Reddit and what kind of artists do you push there? Street artists, lyrical rappers, etc.? Um, you're gonna have to go to Reddit and, you know, there's different crowds of people on Reddit. Um, I would go to Reddit, I would find the rap fans that are there, I would go into those— um, I don't want to call it a chat room, but it's like a discussion board, Reddit, right? So I would go into those rooms and see what people are talking about and I would fit into their discussion. And then once the discussion, you know, I wouldn't out of the blue talk about myself as an artist, but once the discussion came around to something that, that made sense, I would mention that I was an artist and that I make music similar to, you know, whoever they're talking about. And then anybody that wanted to hear it, I would tell them where to go to hear it. And then I would keep conversating with them. I wouldn't just, you know, post and run. I wouldn't use it as, you know, as a promotional tool, but I would certainly go there to find fans. Why not? Pipeline TV. Sue Hill, I can't remember what you said about producers. If they are in your team, should you still have to pay upfront? The upfront money is an advance and they then they get paid on the back end. I don't know of any producer who wouldn't want to take money up front. If— and here's what I said, and here's what I'm going to say again because I stand by it— if the artist has a good chance of success, meaning Jay-Z comes to you and wants to buy a track, you know you're gonna get paid on the back end, or you hope that you're gonna get paid on on the back end. Ditto Eminem, ditto Rihanna, ditto Beyoncé, you know, whoever. Um, I would be less inclined to fight over an advance if I knew I was going to make money on the back end. But if an unknown rapper came to me and wanted to use my beat, I would be worried to not get paid up front because I would think that that was the only money I was going to get. Now, would I give that— if I were a producer, would I give that person tracks for free, I absolutely would, provided they had a budget to market and promote. If I felt like they could blow that song up because they have an investor, I would be more inclined to take the risk with them. But if they were coming to me and they were broke and they were bummy and they just stepped off the bus and I didn't know how they were going to market and promote the song that I was giving them, I would be a little bit reluctant to give them a beat for free unless I had a relationship with them. Just my opinion. Stan Smith, how did Russ blow up? I watched his interview where he said he put out songs every week. He absolutely did until he blew up. But where was the marketing and promotion behind it? He was kind of everywhere. Um, I can't speak on what I've learned yet because I'm doing an entire video about him. But, um, I'll give you this: he put out a song a week, and he put out music that his market really embraced. He also hooked up with Kara Lewis, who's a booking agent, very early in his career. She knew a lot about performing because she's a booking agent. She's been doing it forever. She books like Eminem and Busta Rhymes, and she's like a superstar booking agent. And she started booking him very, very, very early on. Um, again, relationships, right? So he was able to get out and perform in different markets outside of Atlanta and outside of North Jersey where he was staying. And when he was out on the road, he would market and promote his music. Also, if you notice, if you go to his website and you look at the artwork on all the covers of his, of his singles, they all look very similar. Like, when you see them next to each other in a row, it really has like a brand. It really looks similar. So when people saw his artwork, they knew right away that it was Russ, and he was able to catapult that, that reaction into people recognizing him very quickly, very early on. He didn't really have to brand himself the way other artists have when their covers look different or their music sounds different. Like, he really nailed it on the branding. Miracle, could you touch upon performance preparation from the performing standpoint with background music, just hook and beat? Performing standpoint. Um, I think you should always perform your single, whatever single you're working when you do a show. I don't think it should be longer than, you know, 5 to 7 minutes. People don't know who you are yet, so you want to leave them wanting more. You don't want to perform like 4 songs or 5 songs. There is nothing more hellacious than watching a new artist perform songs that you've never heard, and it goes on and on and on and on and on, it becomes a turn-off more than an interest creator. So if I were you, I would just do like my single and maybe one other song and get off the stage. And, um, you're asking about preparation. I mentioned in one of my other videos That, that's, that's what I use, um, showcases for. If an artist hasn't honed their performance skill yet, I suggest performing as much as possible at the artist showcase that exists in every city because you want to get really good at your show. You definitely want to stand out when you're on stage. You don't want to be a rapper who just paces back and forth and has a boring show. Um, people will talk about your show and you want the people who weren't in attendance to feel like they missed something, so that the next time you're in town or the next time you're doing a show, they'll make sure that they don't miss it. MGK is really good at that. David Banner was always great at that. David Banner used to breathe fire when I first started working with him. He had a song called Firewater, and he would take pure grain alcohol and he would light a lighter and and, and shoot fire. And he was kind of known for that. I don't recommend you do that. He stopped because he, you know, burned off his eyebrows. Um, I don't, I don't suggest you do that, but I do suggest that you do something where you stand out, something that's not gimmicky or hokey, something that makes sense with what your image is and what you're doing. Tone Mobster Music. You're a producer from Chicago. Woohoo! Um, thank you so much. I've also worked with Do or Die and Snipers and Twista and Moleman. Um, who else have I worked— I've worked with a lot of artists in Chicago. I love Chicago. If I didn't live here, I would probably live there. Tone 100 Slugs, South Side or West Side? Probably the South Side. I'm guessing South Side, right? I spent a lot of time on the South Side and the West Side. Dave Vids de View is saying, hello Wendy, which PRO or agency collects mechanical royalties for independent artists? Mechanicals are paid by the record label. Um, nobody collects them. The record label, after they sell your music, they're obligated to pay you 9 cents per song. And your contract kind of whittles that down a little bit. It'll say that you get paid on only 10 songs or 11 songs or 12 songs. Again, this is in the contract. A lot of people don't read their contracts, so they don't know this. And then your contract will also stipulate whether you get paid 75% or 85% of your mechanical royalties. So they whittle that 9 cents down to the point where it becomes about 6 cents, 5 or 6 cents, and then the label has to pay that to you, and they either pay it to you quarterly or twice a year. Again, it's in your contract, but the label pays the mechanicals, and they cannot recoup against mechanicals. Okay, is this Joquan or is this Joaquin de Hooligan? Hey Wendy, what do you think about recording artists selling their CDs on the streets for a living until they can generate a bigger budget? Um, today it's really hard to sell CDs on the street. First of all, most people don't listen to CDs. Um, we still do in the South, so if you're in the Southeast, um, you can certainly give away promotional CDs. But because so many people give away free CDs, it's really hard to sell them. Every now and again I'll bump into a kid, like maybe at Walmart. Why is my nose itchy tonight? What does that mean? Does that mean I'm gonna make money? I I hope that means I'm gonna make money. Um, every now and again I'll see like somebody standing outside the, the Walmart, you know, hawking CDs, and they'll just say, you know, give me some money for this. And I'll give them, you know, $5, $10, whatever. But they always act surprised when I give them the money because I think that most people don't. I think that the attitude is that, um, money is free. So that's probably not a great way to to grow a budget, but maybe selling t-shirts would be better. Like, if you have a really cool slogan, um, or a really cool logo, maybe you spend $5 to print up a t-shirt and you sell it for $10, and then you take that $10 and you go get two— excuse me, two t-shirts pressed up, um, and then you sell them. Oh good, I have hiccups. And then you sell them for, um, $10 each, and then you take that $20 and you go get four t-shirts and you just keep flipping and flipping and flipping until you have enough money. Why not? We sell a lot of t-shirts for Trouble, and they don't even have his logo. Well, they have his logo on it, but it's really small. It says, um, it's the lyric from the beginning lyric of Ready. It says, um, can't get involved too deeply. And that t-shirt sells an incredible amount. Surprisingly, even people that aren't fans buy that t-shirt. So, you know, maybe you could do something like that, or maybe you have a really cool logo. Tone, you are my new hero. Here's what Toe just said to me. I love this. I just respect your MO. I don't need your opinion. Just checking in, um, just check and keep it only to yourself, Wendy. I don't need feedback. I know it's good. You rock. Me love tone. I love you for that. That's real. That's real. What I think doesn't matter at all, and he gets it. Tef B is asking me, do you feel Atlanta is a major market for music, and what does it take to obtain a manager without a budget? Okay, is Atlanta a major market for music? Seriously? Yes, Atlanta is a major market for music, enough that I felt a need to move here. I moved from New York to Memphis. I was in Memphis for 3 years, and then I moved to Atlanta. I've been here 10 years. Yes, Atlanta is very much a mecca for music, but it seems to be that if you're from here, if you move from Detroit to Atlanta tomorrow, you're probably not gonna pop off here. But if you've been in Atlanta for a long time, or if you're from here, it appears that yes, it's a major market for music because the fans— well, let me tell you why. There's radio stations that'll play your music. There are fans here that will embrace you whether you're signed to a label or not, so they will support you financially. They'll attend your shows, they'll buy your merchandise, they'll buy your music, they'll stream your music. Um, there's an industry here, so there's people here in Atlanta that can help you monetize your music and make money with music. And most importantly, there's a lot of talent here, so it's got its own industry. It's, it's kind of a mecca for music. Atlanta seems to be doing better than most of the other cities around the country. What does it take to obtain a manager without a budget, um, somebody to believe in you. If you're looking for a manager and you don't have the money to market and promote yourself, um, you need to find a manager that maybe could help you financially and help you, um, market yourself and grow your career. If you both don't have money, it's going to be a little bit more challenging. If your manager has relationships that he or she can leverage to help you get things that would normally cost money, like on playlists or whatever, on blogs, um, that's a plus, right? But if you don't have money, like, this is an industry where it's very hard to succeed for free. I'm not saying that you can't do it, but I am saying that it's hard. It's like winning the lottery. Or whatever the statistical chances of getting struck by lightning. It happens, but it's not something that you should bank on because it's not something that happens a lot. So if you can find an investor, or if you can find somebody who believes in you financially to help you get to the next level, that's ideal, right? Tone 100 Slugs on YouTube, thank you, Tone. Yo123789 is saying, working in the industry, do you see fans as a different type of human? No. Like pieces in a game that you have to gather? No, not at all. Does psychology play a big role in gathering fans? No. Um, good music and a great image plays a role in gathering fans. Your music has to be better than average. It has to be better than what's out there, and in a perfect world, it has to be a little bit different than everything else out there. If you want to grow fans and you sound just like Future, it might be a little more challenging— designer— to grow a fan base, right? So you want to stand out a little bit and be a little bit different than everything out there. And again, this is a business, so your goal is— if your goal— I shouldn't say your goal is because I don't want to speak for you, but if your goal is to make money, the way that you make money is you find people that are willing to give you money in exchange for your music, whether that's by coming to a show or buying an album or a digital download or stream your music. You want to— you don't want to gather fans. I don't want to make it sound like you have a big basket and you put them in there but you want to interact with them and engage with them, and you want to build your fan base. You want to surround yourself with as many fans and supporters as possible. Um, but no, I don't, I don't see it like a game. But you know, I didn't grow up in a video game era, so maybe those of you who grew up in a video game era, maybe you do see gathering fans like a game. I see it like gathering friends and people that want to be around you and support you. Asaya. Asaya Dio. Thank you. Asaya. Asaya. Asaya. Okay, um, Jamad White. I have heard of Hattie Racks from the Bronx. He is managed by Dove Clark, who is a publicist that I have known since 2001, before she was in the music industry. Pat, do you have to copyright your music or go to BMI or ASCAP? Um, you're going to want to copyright your music just in case someone, um, you want to copyright your music in case someone steals a song so that you can sue them for taking your song. It's a way to prove ownership, but you don't need to copyright to go to ASCAP or BMI. They're two completely different things. There is a video that I did very early on called Copyrights Um, if you go to my channel, This is Wendy Day, um, and you scroll down, you will find copyrights. You can go to rapjewels.com and scroll all the way to the bottom. It's like within the top— it's within like the bottom 10 videos, but there's a video there on copyrights. It tells you how to do it, what it means, why you should do it, how to do it cost-effectively, etc. White Cloud Music Hi, Desario. It's okay that you're late. You can go back and watch these at any time. So guys, don't worry about being late. Like, they're, they're here for you, so don't worry. You're not— it doesn't offend me at all walking into the room late. As a producer or beatmaker, do you think putting out a project with just your beats or other artists rapping on them is something producers should do to get their name out there? Um, I think it's better to put it out with just your beats because sometimes when you put other artists rapping on it, it, it, it messes up the beat for a rapper. Like, rappers hear your beats and it gives them a certain vibe. And if their vibe is like sunny and happy and the beat has somebody else rapping about killing their mother on it— it— where did that come from? Um, if the beat has something negative on it, it might distract them from whatever they were thinking. So I would just give them the music the beat without somebody rapping on it. And I would tag my beats if I were a producer. You can't stop somebody from putting out your music, like that— you can't stop somebody from taking your beat, but you can at least have your tag in there so that somebody does take it. Everybody in the world first of all knows they took it because they hear the tag, but if somebody really likes it, they can come back and, um, get beats from you. It's like a little promotion, right? Brah Nolo, it's okay, you're late. I don't mind at all. Oh, you have a great idea. That's good. J Mo is saying, I have— I'm having a horrible time trying to get stage time in Southeast Wisconsin. Should I go harder online or just move around the state? I would move around the state. I would, I would go to Madison for sure. Madison has a really great, small but great hip-hop market when the school is in session, when the University of Wisconsin is in session. They have some good opportunities. I would go down into Illinois. I don't think I'd hit Chicago, that could get a little expensive, but I would go down into Illinois. I'd probably go down into Indiana. I would move around larger than just the state if it were me. Um, Israel, I didn't mention the name of the person that does the street promotions in Tampa. I mentioned, um, Ice in Tallahassee. So you moved from Southeast Wisconsin to Atlanta. Um, how did that work for you? That's interesting. Are people here embracing you? Um, that's for Asaya. Asaya just said, um, that you're in Atlanta now. That's interesting. And Asaya used to stay in Tampa too. If you reach out to me, um, privately, the person that asked me for the Tampa person, I will happily make the referral. Um, but I don't want to, um, I don't want to put her out there like that. Some people like when I mention them and some people don't like when I mention them, so I try to respect people as best I can. People get mad at me for this shit all the time. I have people call me saying, why'd you mention me? Or why didn't you mention me? I do that. Okay, Broke House. I'm making beats for a cat that has an old-school artist backing him, but he loves my tracks, but they're not talking money. What should I do? Um, I think that, um, yes, Asaya, um, you mentioned her. Um, what should you do? I think that you should explain to them that you need to get paid something. For your production. I think you should be realistic. Um, it depends on how much— you know, a lot of old-school artists don't have money, so I would hate for you to ask somebody for money that, um, I would hate for you to ask somebody for money that can't really afford to pay you or pay you money, and then they don't have money left for marketing and promotion. Marcus Boozer, the answer is 19. Um, yo, 123789, um, I realize that you guys are asking questions before I'm answering them. You're asking why Atlanta is such a hub for music. I explained that. And Phoenix is co-signing, saying, I'm from Miami and it is hard. It is hard. It's expensive too. Desario, hey Wendy, did you see the New Edition story? I did not. Um, how do you feel about that $1.87? I heard about it. Um, it's normal. I'm sure you've seen the TLC story. A lot of guys don't make money in music, and it's not just like New Edition and TLC. It's like people today aren't making a lot of money in music because they're signing contracts that are oppressive. That's why I'm such a huge fan of independence. I just feel that it is, um I just feel that it's easier to find an investor than it is to get signed to a label, and you make more money. Broke House is saying, Wendy, how much to have you represent me and shop a joint venture deal? You cannot get me to do that. You don't have the leverage or the buzz that would warrant any kind of deal, um, let alone a joint venture deal. I'm sorry to embarrass you. You like that. If I had read it first, I would have toned down my answer. I'm sorry, or not said your name. Christian Mateo: I'm an amateur music artist. All of my music is mixed, mastered, and ready to go. Now I want to show my music to the world. Where do I start? I have answered that question so many times. Um, you're gonna need to go back and watch my videos. It's any video that has to do with building a buzz, marketing, promotion. I have discussed that ad nauseam, so if you don't mind, I'm going to go right by that. Um, Christian, you're asking a great question here. Photoshoot, music video, release a single? Absolutely. You've got to have a video, you've got to have a photoshoot because you need to have pictures for your single covers that you're going to put online, right? You definitely want a music video, you want more than one music video. Content is King. So you're going to want to release as much music as you can while you're working that one specific video, right? And you're going to get a video promoter to help you do that. You're going to have a publicist help you get blog placement. You're going to work the streets, you're going to work the internet, and you're going to focus on the single. And please go watch all those videos because there have to be— out of all the videos I've done at least 25% of them talk about how to build a buzz. And you, if you don't want to, like, if it's too hard to find them on YouTube, go to rapjewels.com. I've got them archived in order there. No, no particular order, but they're in order there. You can find them easily. Israel Devoe: The DJ doesn't make you. We have the internet. Where can you go directly to the consumer? Yes. You're right. Um, if you want to get played in the club though, um, going right to the consumer online is one way to do it. But if you want to get spun in the club, you're going to have to build a relationship with the DJ. Remember, they have 500 to 1,000 people in the club every night that they're spinning. So it's just an extra way to promote your music where people are in a pretty good mood. You're welcome, Pat. Okay, broadcast, that's cool. Oh, you're having trouble typing, I'm sorry. Linear Davis, Linear Davis, Linear is asking what's the proper way to submit music to a bigger blog. Um, they're going to want a bio, they're going to want a picture of you. They're gonna want, um, it's easier to get videos posted than music posted, I have found personally. Um, I've reached out to the bloggers individually though. Um, I've built relationships with them before I've inundated them with whatever I'm trying to get them to talk about. Um, and for me, remember, I do this for a living, so it's important to me to have the relationship so that whoever I'm working, I can come to them again and again and again and again. So I'm gonna build relationships a little bit differently than you are, but you at least want to know who the blogger is and what they've written, what they've covered. Make sure they cover your type of music. You might want to tweet them and tell them, you know, good article, for an article that you've read, mention the article. If you've learned something from what they said, you know, hey, 'Your article made me go listen to artist XYZ. It's somebody I would have never checked out, but I liked your review so much that it made me listen.' And you might say, 'I agree with your assessment,' or, 'I don't agree, and here's why.' You know, you start a dialogue. Treat them like a human being. Don't treat them like somebody that you're trying to get something from. Everybody does it. Everybody inundates them with shit. So treat them like you know, like you're gonna make a career out of this and you want to be able to build a relationship because 10 years from now you still want to be able to reach out to them. Broke House is a producer from New York. I currently have a relationship with Enough— oh, excuse me, Nuff Said Entertainment. See, you're writing properly, I'm just not reading properly. With Nuff Said Entertainment, which is through Hit Squad Music Group, which is backed by P from EPMD. My brand is Soulful Beat. Cool, I like Parrish. I think Parrish is cool. Um, the answer to what you should charge for your beat is whatever budget you can get out of him. Um, I don't know how wealthy Parrish is, I'm not in his pockets, um, but I would definitely ask him. I would have a conversation with him and say, you know, look, I really need to get paid for some of my music. Even if it's a nominal amount of money, you should be getting something, not doing it for free. Genos Howard is asking me what made Tupac so interesting. Um, I liked his take on life. I liked how real he was, and I liked his sense of humor. I found him really funny, like stand-up comedian funny. He was a funny Phoenix is asking me, how is the Los Angeles market compared to Atlanta? Um, LA is a little bit more challenging. It's a little bit harder to work, especially because if you're going into the hoods in, in LA, you've got to worry about what color you're wearing, who you're affiliated with. It makes it a little harder to move around. We have gangs in Atlanta, but the gangs in Atlanta don't bang based on territory, at least they don't for the artists that I work with. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it just means I don't see it. And Los Angeles is a little bit like— to work, the money in Los Angeles seems to go more towards pop artists than street rap artists. But that's just, again, that's my opinion. I don't live in LA. I guess if I lived there, I would, I would figure out the marketplace, right? But, um, it's bigger than Atlanta. It's a little more expensive. It's harder to get on the radio in LA than it is in Atlanta. In Atlanta, we've got 3 rap radio stations. They're about to add a 4th, um, that's a little bit more pop, um, this month. So it's, it's getting interesting here. We've got 2 old school— may have even have 3 old school stations now, um, that are on the air, like Music is king here. Jamo, being that I am an introspective artist, it's obviously going to be more difficult to get people to listen as compared to the many other styles that are hot now, but what would be the best avenue for me? It's very hard for me to give you individual advice. Um, first of all, I don't work for you. Second of all, I don't know what your market is. I don't know what type of music. If you're introspective, I'm assuming you're talking about shit that, that a lot of people can relate to. Um, because you can be introspective talking about stuff that no one can relate to, or you can be introspective talking about things that everyone can relate to, like struggle or breakups or loss of friends or death or desire or lack of money. Or, you know, there's a lot of topics you can be introspective about. You just have to find people that, that are deeper and that aren't listening to money to shake their ass. So J-Mo, I would say don't work your music at the club because unless it has a beat that is amazing, people don't really want to shake their ass to really deep songs unless the beat is banging. And I would hit colleges, college campuses, any place with people that are analytical and introspective. Dark Brother, Detroit. I just wrote a blurb. Hex is writing an article on the history of Detroit rap, and he asked me for a quote today, and you will be very proud of the quote that I gave. For Detroit. I love Detroit. Yeah, I know, Brokehouse. Brokehouse respects me for my videos, but he feels like I tell stuff that I've already said in my videos. Yeah, it's cuz people keep asking me questions that are in my videos, and I feel like the world's biggest asshole when somebody asks me a question and I say, go check my video, and then I move on. I just, you know, I try to give everybody like a little bit of But yeah, you guys are asking me questions. Um, I think this worked much better when you guys emailed me questions because I've spent so much time going through the, um, the chat questions, and I'm going in order in the chat, in the chat questions. I'm not taking the time to like pick and choose what to answer. I'm just answering everything until I hit an hour and a half, and then I'm gonna stop. Um, and we're at an hour and 25 minutes right now. Um, but it worked much better when you guys emailed me your questions because those of you that asked me questions that were personal, um, about your own individual career, or those of you that ask questions that I've already answered, I could just send you the links to go to. So I think we're going to go back to you guys emailing me questions because, um, this has to be boring for you guys. It's boring for me to repeat myself. And thank you, Broke House, for saying that. I appreciate that. I agree. Yo 123789 is saying the truth always wins. You know, you know what's, um, you know what that is? It's your passion comes through when you're being authentic and you're speaking from your heart. Like, your passion comes through when you're telling a story that you didn't live or that somebody else's experience, you're not passionate about it because you're trying so hard to remember the details that you're not letting the real you come out. At least that's my opinion. That's why I think authenticity, um, works so well. Um, Not Good But Great— no, I do not have a book that is strictly for music producers. Um, I don't work a lot with music producers. So I don't feel like I've got a book's worth of advice that I can give you. Also, the, um, the market is so oversaturated that really I'm waiting for you guys to all duke it out and for the market to thin a little bit so that producers can start making money again, because producers aren't making money right now. Y'all are giving away tracks for free and nobody's making any money. You know, you guys are selling leases for $10, $20. Like, there's no way you can be living off of $10 a track. There's just not that many rappers. There's a lot of rappers, but there aren't that many rappers where you can really make a living selling your beats for $10 a pop or giving them away for free. Yo123789 is saying, are artists that have been out for a long time, constantly on tour, No, most artists tour about once a year. Um, the most touringest— I'm making these words up now— the most touringest rapper I know is, um, out of Strange Music, Tech N9ne. Tech N9ne goes out on the road twice a year. He hits the bigger markets like the A markets, and then he hits the smaller markets later in the year like the BC markets. So he'll actually be out on tour, you know, almost half the year, and he makes a lot of money. Touring, but most artists can't keep up that schedule. Does touring become what they do all the time on the low? No. For example, Fabulous and Lloyd Banks, or do they do other things to make money? Um, I don't know how they make their money because I don't work with either of them, um, but I'm guessing that they've made enough money. Like, when, when an artist like Fabulous goes out on tour, he's gonna make a couple million dollars. So I would like to think that that money could last him for a couple years, right? Um, the problem with, with, with focusing on the money instead of your career is 3 years in today's— on today's calendar is a really long time. So if you're not in the marketplace for 3 years, you're going to kind of become irrelevant. This is a market where you've got to be reinventing yourself constantly. You've got to be seen by people a lot, and if you don't, you kind of give up your throne to somebody else to take your place, right? Broke House, did I ever meet J Dilla? Um, I did not, no. I've spoken to his mom quite a few times. I referred her to an accountant that could help her. Um, but no, I never met J Dilla. Jennis is saying big labels aren't worried about this knowledge, um, until these views reach a million. Um, I don't know, I've been educating people for 25 years and they haven't, they haven't tried to take me out yet. Um, or, or maybe, you know, I'm wearing a bulletproof vest and you just don't know. I don't know. Um, Bomb Productions is asking me, how do you break through without a major budget to Spotify curators? Um, I don't know how you succeed in the music industry without a decent budget. Um, and you're gonna hate the answer because it's the answer for everything— relationships. If you build a relationship with somebody who's a curator and they like your music, you have a much better chance of them putting it in a playlist than somebody who doesn't know them and just emails them a song. And doesn't make the, um, effort to, um, to befriend them, you know, to build a relationship. So that's how I would do it. I would build relationships. So guys, um, we're at an hour and a half and it's been a really long day, so I'm going to tell you thank you for coming and watching my videos. Um, if you guys would please email questions to thisiswendyday@gmail.com. @gmail.com. Next week I'm gonna focus more on the email questions, and, and that's it. Thanks for tuning in, guys. Take care. This will be posted to my site in about an hour, so you can go back and rewatch anything that you missed. Okay, guys, bye.