LIVE with Wendy Day #020 | 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 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 in to 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. Hi guys, how are you? It's Wednesday. I love Wednesday. I have to show you guys this logo that Fadi made for us. Isn't this cool? Okay, let me try to— let me try to put it so you can actually see it. Isn't that cool? Secrets to Success in the Music Business. I thought that was so incredibly cool. Um, he surprised me with it and emailed it to me, so I'm so excited. Do you guys like it? I hope you like it because he pretty much made it for all of us. Um, so you see I'm putting it on, um, I'm putting it on the videos now. I'm so excited. How are you guys tonight? I've only got 2 questions here, so you're gonna need to ask me some questions in the feed. Let's see who's here. Jamaad White, how are you? Emily J, bubble on deck! Desario, how are you? And thank you for, um, you know, I'm loving the interviews too. I, I didn't do them for the longest because I didn't know how. Um, and Jordan Tower was kind enough to show me how and set it up on my laptop so that it would be easy for me. Um, and now I'm going crazy because I'm calling like all my industry friends and just driving them crazy. So this week, because I've been promising you guys forever, um, this week, um, I set up interviews with Kingpin for Street Promotions to talk about how to promote, um, your music on the streets. Um, for you songwriters, I set up an interview with Ray Daniels from Interscope Records. He manages Rock City, um, and a bunch of other songwriters, and he's really good at getting songs placed. Um, for those of you who know Rock City, you know that they've done a lot of writing for like everybody who's out there. And if you don't know, Google them. Um, but I've set up an interview with him Anyway, there's just a bunch of really cool shit coming down the pike, and I'm really excited because people have been really supportive of giving me their time. I had a little trouble with my internet connection. You guys noticed if you watched the interview with Mr. Robotik, I had to do it downstairs in my living room, which is right next to the modem. They've been working on the internet in my neighborhood, and when they finished the digging um, it left me with really weak internet, like dial-up type weak internet. So, um, they came out on Monday and completely rewired my house. They rewired the connection from the street into my house. So now I've got some pretty good speeds on my internet. So yay, Misi! Misi's telling me I made it to the big screen. I hope that means you're watching me on TV. Um, I've done a bunch of interviews though. There are places where you can actually see me on stuff, like, um, A&E did, um, a biopic on Eminem and interviewed me, um, about the work that I did with getting him his deal. Um, when Tupac passed away, um, what's the show that kind of investigates unsolved crimes? Is it called Unsolved Mysteries? I was on that show. Um, VH1 did a series for Tanning of America. Um, it was a 4-part series. I think I was in 2 of those. So you can find me every now and again, um, on the boob tube. Jason Steele, how are you? Trakata MG, I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Dark Brothers Entertainment. Yeah, I like the logo too, Desario. I think, I think he did an amazing job. I'm really, I'm really humbled by it. Anthony Crown is asking, where should I spend money to promote singles or an EP? Um, I would buy Facebook ads and Google ads online, and then I would also make sure that I promoted on the streets. I would make sure that I passed out my music And this leads us into a perfect question that's going to answer your question as well that someone had sent me. Okay, this is from Jordan Kelly, and Jordan is thanking me for the information that I'm providing. He says, I know that's not something that you have to do, takes time from your busy schedule, and it's from a place of kindness and care. Absolutely. It's also the best thing that I do every day, honestly. Um, I just want you to know that I truly appreciate it. I'm not sure how often I hear it, but I think I speak for many others as well. I've gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and direction from your materials and have watched all your videos. Yay! Just remember, guys, that I'm giving you my experience and my opinion, so make sure you go and do the research and find um, other answers to questions too, and then weigh all the answers and do what's best for you. I have a question for Wendy Day Live. I've heard you speak about the usefulness of download cards as promotional material. What information should be included on them? How do you make them so that enough vital information is provided without the cards appearing cluttered? Also, do you have any examples you could show? Thanks for your time and consideration. I don't have examples I could show But now that you have asked for that, I will begin collecting them. I have to be out, um, at an industry event or on the streets to do that. I don't actually save copies, um, from my clients, and I probably should. I'm not somebody who saves mementos very much, although I feel like I'm a hoarder sometimes when I look around my house. Um, it's just too much stuff for me to have saved over the years. So I didn't save— I saved some stuff, like I saved Eminem's demo. I still have that somewhere, um, but I don't save all the promotional material for my clients. But now that you've asked for that, I will begin to save them just so that I can put them up on wrapjewels.com. I'll put it underneath a video where I talk specifically about download cards and make sure that you've got plenty of examples. Give me about a month to a month and a half to get that together. I've just got to go to some events and collect. Um, but in order to make it look as clean as possible, you're going to figure out what the most important material is for your fan base. Um, for example, if you have a very strong following on Facebook and Instagram but not Twitter, then you're going to want to post your information for Facebook and Instagram because that's where most of your fans are. You definitely want to have your website on there. I would absolutely put your SoundCloud on there so that people could stream your music and get a feel for who you are. And I would definitely put your YouTube channel on there. And a download card is something that may have your image in the background or perhaps your logo. Remember, it's two-sided, it's the size of a business card, and I don't have a business card sitting here on my desk. Which is surprising because I can be old school sometimes, um, but it's the size of a business card and it's going to have whatever pertinent information you feel is necessary to educate people on who you are very quickly. Now, you're not just going to take these cards and just scatter them randomly, right? You, you want to walk up to people and engage them, just like you don't spam somebody on Twitter or Instagram with your links. If you do that in real life, it's, it's not going to work well either. Like, if somebody just hands me their download card and I have no reference for who they are, I have no interest in learning more about them. But if I see their show and I get a feeling for their music, or if I meet them at a conference and we have a conversation and I think they're really cool, um, and the best example I can give you is for those of you who saw the interview today with Jake Palumbo At some point, there should have been enough interest in him to go check out his music, to go and Google him, find out where his, you know, what his Instagram is, what his Twitter handle is, and kind of go get a feeling for him. But if I had just sat here and told you to go look up Jake, you probably wouldn't be interested. You'd be like, mm, who's that? So you want to have some sort of interaction. It doesn't have to be a 30-minute interaction. Like you had, um, in watching his video. But when you walk up to somebody, you know, you should start a conversation with them. It's especially easy when you're on a college campus and you're hitting a lot of people, because people are usually sort of in small groups as they're walking across campus. So you can walk up to 3 people and say, hi, where, you know, where are you guys headed? You know, what, what's your major? What kind of classes are you taking? You know, how long have you been here at the school? You know, my name is so-and-so and I'm a rapper. I'm really kind of lyrical. I'm not into the street shit. Or, you know, I'm more of a street type of rapper. I'm not really a pop guy. You know, here's my information. And start a conversation with them and leave them wanting to know who you are as opposed to just, you know, blitzing them with your material. When you're performing at a show, before you go on stage, you may want to put your cards on every table. That are in the club, or hand them out after the show, so that once people have a feeling for your music, it gives them something to take away so that they can check out more. Because when you're new and you're doing a show, you're doing somewhere between 1 and 3 songs. You're not, you're not doing— at least I hope you're not doing like a 30-minute set when nobody knows who you are. So I hope that answered your question. Um, when you're in terms of promoting on the street um, you want to work in your town, your city, and whatever cities are around you. And then as people start to get to know who you are and your buzz starts to accelerate, you're going to go out a little bit further and a little bit further and a little bit further, and you're going to make a concentrated effort. There is a video that talks about, um, how I set up marketing and promoting, how I find the audience So I'm not going to go into that here because there's a whole video that talks about that. I just lost my place in my feed. I hate when that happens. Thank you, Feel Good Vision, and welcome. Terrence Walker is thanking me for having Mr. Robotik. That was really helpful, right? Like, here's a guy that many of you have never heard of and he's making a really good living by placing his music in shows that we've all heard of. We may have even watched some of the shows that his music is on. So, oh, Meezy's watching me on TV, so I'm big, I'm larger than life. Yay! Denise, how are you? How was work today? So Anthony got to, um, have a consultation with Mr. Robotik. He's from Chicago, which is very exciting. KJ the Don Beats is asking me, how do you develop your personal brand? Um, the way that you develop your personal brand is you figure out exactly who you are and what message you want to communicate, and then you start promoting who you are always in line with who you are. So if you're a street artist, you want to make sure that you're always looking like a street artist. If you're a pop artist, you wouldn't necessarily want to wear a ski mask and be holding an AK. So I'm being a little extreme, but I'm, I'm trying to make my point. Um, your personal brand is who people think you are, what people think that you are. And the way you develop it is by marketing and promoting the same message and the same image consistently. There's a lot of artists out here that don't really understand branding. Um, and KJ, you might want to read a book. There's a ton of really great books about branding. Um, there's one and I can't remember the name of it, but it talks about like how Oprah built her brand and Michael Jordan built his brand. Um, it, it was probably written more than 10 years ago, but the information in it is still extremely helpful and accurate. So I would definitely, um, take a look at that. If you go to Amazon and you just search for books, um, for branding Um, you'll know exactly which book I'm talking about because it's somewhere. Um, it might not be in the title, but it's like on the front of the book somewhere in the subtitle. Or you could Google book about branding Michael Jordan and Oprah. Okay. Hi Jordan. Jordan says he's not a long-time listener, but he's always watching my videos. Thank you so much. Beeman is asking me, does a double album count for 2 units sold? It does not. And, and it's funny because I've had that argument with so many of my peers so many times, because you, you would think that it would, but no, it doesn't. If you sell a million copies of an album, it's still a platinum album. If you sell a million copies of a double album, it's still platinum. If you sell a million copies of a triple boxed set, it's still platinum. They don't count as separate units because you're not buying them separately. If you buy them separately, then yes, it will count for 2 units. I think E-40 did that. E-40 dropped a double album. He dropped one, one week and one another week. Um, it's kind of what Future is doing. He dropped an album last week and he's dropping another one this week. He's dropping 2 separate projects instead of a double album. And on streaming, you realize, um, it, it doesn't matter as much because people are pulling out the singles and putting them in playlists. Great question though, um, Beeman. DJ Sincere is asking, what are some steps that should be taken before meeting with possible investors? Um, I would definitely build my buzz a little bit if I were going to meet with investors, so that when they looked in at what I was doing, they saw that I had a little bit of movement, um, that my social media was growing, that there were fans out there that were actually responding to the music. Um, because remember, they're putting money into you because they intend to get more money back out. It's an investment. They want it to grow. So you should definitely let them see that you've got a fan base and that you feel that you can grow. Um, I would also put together a business plan so that they could see exactly what I was going to do with the money, how I was going to spend it, who would be on my team, um, how they were gonna get their money back. And then on your side, you might want to give it some thought, like what are you willing to give up for their investment in you. And some investors just want to make their money back plus a certain percent, like 15% or 20% after 2 years. And then some investors want to own 50% of your company. So it just really depends on who you're talking to and what they're trying to get out of it. And then you decide what's best for you when it comes down to them saying, okay, I'm going to invest in you. You have to figure out what makes sense for you. You know, if somebody wants 75% of your company, does it make sense to do a deal with them? I don't think so, but you might. You might figure that it's better to have 25% of something than 100% of nothing. But, um, I'm not real— I'm not real excited about a deal where you give up 75%. Most investors take 25% to 50% ownership if they're not going to ask for a, um, a return on investment, sort of like a loan where somebody might give you a quarter million dollars and then you pay them back in 2 years at 20% interest. I prefer that kind of deal. Obviously, that's a little harder to find too. I don't want you to think that that's a really easy type of investor to find. That's a little more challenging. Most people want back— if they're going to take a risk on you, they want back a large reward for that risk that they're taking. And the 50/50 splits are by far the most common ones that I see. Young, young Palo. Is it Palo or Palo? I'll call you Palo. Hey Wendy, what's good? What's a good PR company that puts your music on a majority of the hip-hop blogs for a good price? I can't recommend a specific company to you because, like, you're at a different— like, all of you are at different points in your career. So somebody that does a really good job for me is going to be different than somebody that does a really good job for you, right? Um, it just depends. A publicist is somebody who, um, looks in at your movement and then is like a megaphone and broadcasts what you're doing to the different blogs. On Twitter, there's a woman named Nancy Byron. She's @rappublicist. I think she's amazing. Echo Hattix, H-A-T-T-I-X, I think her company's called Echoing Sounds. I like her a lot. I like Audible Treats a lot. I like Dove Clark out of New York. Um, um, um, um, um, Theresa Sanders, who's here in Atlanta. I think she's great at what she does. But just because somebody's really great at what they do for me and my clients does not mean that they're gonna actually be super stellar for you. In fact, most of the publicists that I just spoke about, if you're not at a certain level in your content, they won't even take you on because they, they'll feel like they can't help you. And they can't help you. The last thing you want is somebody to take your money and not deliver, right? But, um, Young Palo, that's the closest I can get to answering that question. And guys, if you're asking me to recommend people, um, this isn't the place to do it because what's going to happen is right now there are 30 people here that are all going to go and hit up the publicists that I recommend, and then when you call them, they're not even going to take your call because it's going to be burned out. So it's better to hit me on email, and you all have my email address It's underneath all of the videos, so, um, hit me privately for stuff like that. Larry Hicks, how are you? The Real See-Through TV, yes. Larry is looking for a good PR company. So So Wavy, how are you? And thank you so much. I, I really love this channel. I love what I'm doing. Never Yield Biz, why— what— NYB, how are you? Mizzy, Gibby Sanchez. Thank you, Desario. Um, Lyric Luciano's asking me if Facebook advertising is a strong tool. Yes, it absolutely is. Jason Steele, how effective are blogs like 2 Dope Boys compared to social media sites, for example Instagram, with reaching a new audience? Um, the blogs are not great for reaching a new audience because unless you've got a really good movement It's going to be really hard to get on 2 Dope Boys. And even if you can get on 2 Dope Boys, like let's say you find somebody who works there who thinks you're, you're really likable, or let's say you, um, find a price and you can pay to get on a blog site, for example, um, are the people that are reading those blogs going to have interest in reading about you? I don't know. I think I'd rather— I think you'd— I think you would do better staying on social media and building up your buzz to the point where you're really popping and you're really buzzing. That just— that kind of makes sense to me. Just a thought. I think the, um, yeah, NYB, don't drive and watch this. That's not a good idea. Um, Jason Steele also— I think playlists now are more effective than the blogs because if you get in a playlist, you're already someplace where people are interested in hearing new music. Like, it's a place where people look for new music. YouTube is the same way. People seek out new artists in those arenas, whereas with the blogs people are there a lot for the news. They're not necessarily there to find new artists, but they are there to find out like, hey, is Future dropping, you know, a record this week? I have heard rumors. Or Drake is supposed to be dropping, what's going on with that? You know, it's, it's, it's no longer a discovery tool. So I always try to be wherever people are trying to discover music, and playlists on Spotify and Apple Music just really matter. JB Sanchez: I have an artist that just created some new music. We want to build his fans by hitting the streets in the net. Should we send to as many DJs as possible? Absolutely. How should we hit the streets too? Um, I, I answered that a little bit earlier in this episode, um, so if you missed it, this will post about an hour and a half after it's finished. You can go back and just watch the very beginning where I talked about promoting. Lyric Luciano's asking, how do you take over your town? I'm Virginia, so I'm from Virginia, so it's like country here, but it's also urban. Um, you know, when I was working with David Banner, he was from Jackson, Mississippi, and we found it really hard to take over Jackson, Mississippi. So we actually broke him in Atlanta because it was just a little bit easier. This is the early 2000s. It was a little bit easier to break him, um, in Atlanta and then take him back to Jackson when he had a little bit of a buzz. We just got a better response. So maybe you would want to do that. Um, but I gotta say, you're from Virginia. If, if you're from the Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Richmond area, that's one of the first areas where I work my clients. It's an amazingly great area for working records. There's a Street Team guy there named Batman who is phenomenal. Um, so Southern Virginia is just an area that's great. So if, if you're in Virginia already, that's what I would do. I would, I would, I would hit that area. Trakate MG, do you think up-and-coming producers should give out free beats or sell beats? Why or why not? Um, I have a whole video about this topic. Um, I believe that if no one knows who you are, you're not going to sell a lot of beats. It's going to be very, very challenging. You're going to have to give out free beats. I don't like that answer, but it's just, it's just reality. It's so oversaturated out here with producers right now, um, that I don't think you have much choice, unfortunately. And if you're going to give away free beats, I don't think you should just give them out randomly. I think you should give them to the artists that have a budget to actually market and promote their music, and the ones that have a lot of hustle in them and a lot of promotional drive, because they're the ones that are going to take the beat that you've given them and make something from it, make something with it. And it's— that's not based on talent, that's totally a marketing and promotion comment that I'm making, right? There's just some artists who are so dope that you're gonna want them on your beats, but unfortunately, if they don't have a budget and they don't have a lot of hustle in them, it's gonna be harder for you to get known being on their beat than somebody that has a budget and can market and promote it. But it's your call, like, you know, whatever you feel is best for your career, do it. Um, I have a couple of videos now for producers. So please go through and, and watch them all. Um, I think they'll be really helpful to you. I have a video dropping on Friday, I think, about publishing. Um, it's another Deborah Manus Gardner interview. When I interviewed her, we broke her interview into 4 parts, and I think it's the last of the 4 parts. Art of War Media: What is the best way to copyright multiple beats I have a video that talks about copywriting specifically, and it explains exactly how to copyright multiple beats. But the way that I do it is I put them all on a CD. It makes it a little more expensive because I have to send them in. Um, after I said that a couple weeks ago, somebody sent me an email and said that you can lump music together and submit it electronically. I wasn't able to figure out how to do that, so you might want to reach out to the Copyright Office and ask them. But you would, um, you would name it like Art of War Media 1, Art of War Media 2, Art of War Media 3. You would keep copies of the compilation of beats that you're sending in, and then if you hear one of your beats somewhere outside, you can go back, figure out which compilation it's on of the beats that you sent in, and find it, and then it's already— it's already been copyrighted. So you've got proof that you made it. If you don't copyright something and you, um, and you hear it, um, you hear somebody else use it, you can still sue them. You just can't sue them for damages. You can sue them to make them pull it down and stop using it. Sosa wavy. I have a cousin who's worked with Rockefeller Artists and has a tremendous library of beats. How can he start putting them out independently? Um, if he is signed to Rockefeller Production— and you don't say here whether he was or not— if he's independent, he can certainly put them out himself. But if he's signed to them in any way, shape, or form, they actually own those beats and he cannot. So let's just say he's worked with Roc-A-Fella artists, but he's independent. He's never signed a deal with them. Um, he can then work with whomever he wants, but he can't, he can't use those same beats that he gave to Roc-A-Fella artists. He cannot recycle those beats. Emily, did I get cut off? I hope not. I can usually see it when I do. My screen usually, um, I usually get a red line. I haven't seen one. God, they've rewired my whole house on Monday because I was having internet problems. I would hate to think that I'm still having internet problems. That would drive me crazy. Yeah, it looks like, um, my phone's still online, my computer's still online. Top of the Gate Records, hello, long time fan, I've been following you. Yay! 'Can you give me a shout out and check out my video?' I can't check out your video, but I will shout you out, Top of the Gate Records. How's that? And thank you so much. I'm so happy to be doing this. Um, Badman Vegeta is asking me what my thoughts are on Roc Nation. Do I have any history with Jay-Z? Um, no, my history is with Dame Dash, who used to be his partner. I've met Jay, I've spent time with Jay, not a great amount of time. Um, he's not— we're not similar in our, in our thinking or our personality, so he's not somebody that I've really spent time with. He's not really somebody that I would care to spend time with. That's not a diss, that's just reality. I think he's a great businessman. I won't make the joke, I know you all are thinking in your head, but I'm not going to say it. Um, I think he's an awesome businessman. I think he's building a great empire. Um, in terms of a fan of hip-hop, I think he's an amazing rapper, but he's not one of my favorite people. I really like Dame Dash a lot. I think he's a great human being. BMO 13, your Wednesdays have been screwed up since your work schedule changed. You gotta make that money though, and these get posted afterwards, so Art of War, you're so welcome. Okay, you guys are telling me that the— that it's clear and you can, um— oh good, Tamara Bubble is helping you guys. Once you pay for your copyright, it takes you to the upload screen where you can upload each beat individually when registering. Select title of registered work for each track and then make sure they upload. And make sure that you're— make sure that you're uploading them as a body of work together. Don't, don't copyright them individually. It's going to cost you a fortune to do that. Once you sell a beat and, um, the artist raps on it, the artist or his label or her label will copyright it. And give you credit as half of the owner. So you don't have to worry about that. But just make sure that— just make sure that when you upload them, you're uploading them as a unit. I do it by CD because I'm just terribly afraid that when I upload it for that $35 fee or that $55 fee, that I'm only going to— I'm only going to get one beat. For that price. J Styles. J Styles is asking, would I have a problem using one business entity for publishing as well as a label? For example, XYZ Music LLC is my label and publishing company. And he's saying that he will be the only artist or writer. Um, and the way that I do it And this really depends on your budget, and I don't want to drain you of precious money that you don't already have, but really, in a perfect world, you want to have your corporation separate in case something goes wrong, in case you get sued, and that way somebody can't touch the money that's coming in from one company because they're suing the other. And what I mean by that And this is especially true for touring because for some reason artists seem to get into altercations at nightclubs, or even when fights break out that the artist has nothing to do with, the fan will sue the club and they will sue the artist. Um, and that's problematic. So you definitely want to have your touring company. So it would be XYZ Tours LLC. You'd want to have your label separate, XYZ Label LLC, and then you'd want to have your publishing company separate, XYZ Publishing LLC. And the reason that you want them all separate is, let's say you have a beat and there's a sample in that beat, or there's just a section of the song that sounds like a sample and somebody thinks that you sampled them and they sue you. If they win and you've got all of your money in one bank account, they're going to go after that company and they're going to be able to attach whatever money they win from all of your income. If you've got your publishing separate and your touring separate and your label money separate, they can only sue what they're going after. So if a fight breaks out in a club and your, your company is XYZ Music LLC, they can sue XYZ Music and they can get money from your touring, from your sales, from your merchandise, from your publishing, whatever happens to go into that company's bank account. It's just a great idea to keep your money separate. I know a lot of you can't afford to start 3 companies at once, so I would start the label first As you start marketing and promoting your music, as you start to make money, um, at least after you get your first paid show, definitely incorporate the touring company. That's the most important one outside of your label to incorporate. And then once you've got a little bit more money, then you can incorporate your publishing company and move all of your publishing into that company. Tamara, thank you for, um, weighing in on that. Badman Vegeta, what are my thoughts on Lior Cohen? Do I think he's a culture vulture? Dude, how, how is what I think about Lior gonna help your career? Seriously? Jason Steele, what is my opinion on South by Southwest nowadays? How effective is it for up-and-coming artists? I don't think it's ever been effective for up-and-coming artists. I think if you attend the panels, um, that you'll learn stuff and you'll network with people that can potentially help your career down the road. So I think in terms of the learning at South by Southwest, it's an amazing opportunity. If you're going there to perform, you're basically performing in front of other industry people, and your goal is, is to perform in front of fans, right? You guys need to build your fan base, so You want to perform in front of fans of hip-hop, not other artists. Other artists aren't going to buy your music. Other artists aren't going to go to your shows. They're not going to buy your t-shirts. Um, so I would focus on building my fan base until I got to a certain level. Um, like the level that Trouble is at right now. This is really the first year he was invited to go last year when we passed. Because he had paid shows. Um, this year he's at a level where it would probably benefit him because his buzz is big enough, but he's making money now. So it's very hard to say to an artist, hey, do you want to go to Austin and hang out and spend $5,000 or $10,000 on being there for 5 or 6 days? Because it's really expensive to go to South by. Or do you want to keep doing shows for $10,000 and $12,000 a pop in, you know, in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina. It's just, it's very hard to get an artist to stop making money to go to South By, and I can't argue with that. Tamara Bubbles asking me what my thoughts are around talented artists getting on reality shows. I saw an article that Bridget Kelly, who was once on Roc Nation, and Brooke Valentine are joining Love Hip Hop. Um, I don't think it ever benefits any artist to be on a reality show unless they're at the end of their career. Um, I don't know of any artist that's actually been on a reality show that then came back into music and excelled. Um, Keisha Cole, Jim Jones, Three 6 Mafia, Snoop. Snoop, Snoop, a little bit. But the thing about Snoop is that when he came back, he looked like somebody's dad who coached football. And it, and it made it hard for him to embrace the new generation of rappers. He looked like somebody's dad. Um, Love Hip Hop— I have— any of their careers excelled? I, I can't think of an example, Bubble, of where it benefited somebody. Um, I see where— I see where the Atlanta TV show has help Danny Glover, but that's not a reality show. I wonder if Empire has helped any. I know they do, I know they do, um, appearance fees, but it's mostly like the major stars, and they're not really artists, right? They're actors. I, I can't— I— and it's not even really a reality show, it's sort of like a soap opera. Um, Bubble, I can't think of an example. Where it helps somebody. Tracata saying, what do you think is the ideal game plan or blueprint for an artist to take before he or she approaches a person, um, like me? Um, basically a checklist. Um, you don't really approach— you don't really approach me. Um, I'm a hired gun. If you've got an investor, you hire me to set up your project and help build your career. So you don't really approach me unless you've got an investor. It's kind of a waste of your time. And I do this because 99% of the artists out there can't afford to hire me, and I want you guys— like, just because you don't have an investor and a large budget doesn't mean you shouldn't succeed. So this is kind of my way of giving back. Um, I'm going to assume that you're asking what steps should somebody take before they approach somebody that can maybe help them find a deal. Maybe that's what you're asking. Um, and I don't find deals for people that aren't my clients. Like, I build the artist to the point where they can get a deal if that's their goal, and then we go and get a deal. We go and get a leverage deal. Um, but basically the plan is for you to be at point where you're profitable, you're making money, you're getting paid for shows, your buzz is enough in your regional area— and just your regional area, it doesn't have to be national— but when people say your name in that area, they know who you are. Um, just like you guys probably know who Problem is in LA, you probably know who Trouble is. Um, 21 Savage in, in Atlanta, Russ in Atlanta. Troy Ave, Young MA in New York, you know, as they were coming up, they got to a point where their fan base was large enough to, to attract people with money to help them, or people with the right connections to manage them, right? And, and if that's your goal, that's what this whole series that I'm doing is for, this whole channel is for. I can't just sit here and lay out a blueprint for you, step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4. It's basically building your entire career. But if you go through and you watch these videos, that's what I'm doing. I'm giving you the blueprint. Everything that I have done for the folks that I've worked with, I have talked about on here— how we've done it, what we've done, who, who we focused on. So every aspect, um, is here. Jason Steele is asking, what are my thoughts on shows in which artists have to sell tickets to open up for big artists? I don't see the upside of that. Um, if you haven't performed a lot and you need to hone your skills as a performer, that's where it makes sense to me. Although there's a ton of open mics where you could do that where you don't have to pay. To perform. I'm not big on paying to perform no matter how big that artist is. I don't see the upside. Tamara, you're asking me if it's a trash reality show or a good reality show, is it a good look or does it mean you're officially washed? For me, it means it's the only way you have to make money left. You're not able to make money with your career as an artist, so you go and you do a reality show. I've just never seen somebody recover from a reality show. Juicy J, kind of, sort of, but he's Juicy J. He's not really— he's not really Three 6 Mafia anymore, right? So I, I've just never seen— I, I don't think it's a good look, a reality show. That may change. Lady Tiger is asking me, do I think you could spread yourself too thin on social media? I've been noticing all of the big artists are hardly interacting on social media. Yes, I do think people can spread themselves too thin. Also, it's really, um, time-consuming to, to work your social media, and I think that a lot of larger artists are so busy they just don't have the time to keep up with their social media anymore. Also, when you get to a certain level, your social media becomes a way for people to really shit on you. Like, just the haters come out and it becomes very heavy to have to answer and engage with people that are just attacking you a lot. Um, I've noticed Talib Kweli really entertains his trolls, and you'll see if you watch his feed for a while He will answer people back as they shit on him, and I just think that it's just like to go through life always having to argue with trolls, it's just, it's gotta suck. And I think that's what happens. Crown Me King is saying, with music becoming oversaturated and so easy to put out, do you think it's possible to grow a record label into a powerhouse like Cash Money or Def Jam? And would you still need a big budget? You absolutely need a big budget. Cash Money had a big budget. Def Jam had a big budget. Um, I do believe you can build a powerhouse. Look at Think It's a Game. Um, Think It's a Game has Rich Homie Quan, they have YFN Lucci. They're, they're both doing really well. They've got Trinidad James who's doing well independently. Um, he had a million dollar deal at Def Jam, so they're making money, they're, they're doing their thing. So yes, I do believe you can build a powerhouse. Strange Music is a powerhouse. I think Chance the Rapper's label, I think Chance is a powerhouse. So yeah, most people don't take that, that route though, Crown Me King, because most people want the money in lumps. And if you're building a label, the money trickles in like monthly instead of in chunks. And if you sign to a label, like if you sign a deal with Atlantic, you get a chunk of money in as an advance every time you put out a record. You have to pay that back But sometimes people think that having $300,000 in your hand in one day is better than having half a million dollars over a period of 6 to 9 months. And I think that's why people don't build huge empires. Maybe, K. Michelle. I think the jury's still out on that one. We'll have to watch that and see. Cardi B. Is Cardi B taken seriously as an artist? Maybe, um, maybe. And maybe they left in time. I just, I don't— yeah, I, I don't think K. Michelle and Cardi B have such great careers in music that it would be worth following that path. I think the risk is a little higher than the reward on that one. You know, I'd rather be K. Michelle than Cardi B in terms of my career. Um, what artist— what if— what artist wants to host instead of performing? Um, is Nick Cannon taken seriously as an artist anymore? He's the only person I can think of as a host. Um, and he's not even doing that anymore. Um, Bubble Light, I, I can't answer that. I wouldn't, I wouldn't advise it. Yeah, I wouldn't advise it. Top of the Game remembers reading a book and it said that you need at least $80,000 in order to holler at Wendy Day. You actually need $230,000. I'm not sure where you got— oh, I know where you got the figure of $80,000. $80,000 is what I charge And you have to have a budget of $150,000. Oh, Tamara was saying it was all— the questions were, were split, but they were all one question. I'm sorry, I answered them separately. John Ferg, how are you? Why do producers drop mixtapes of them rapping over their own beats? Is it more lucrative if it sells, and how so? It is more lucrative because they get paid 100% of the publishing. They own the whole song, they own the beat, and they own the rhyme, so they make more money. Um, another reason producers may drop their own records is it gets really frustrating when you're a Sunny Digital or you're a Metro Boomin and your goal is to, um, just make music for people you get paid once for that beat and then the artist has to recoup before you make money on the back end. However, they're watching their beats go on and make show money for artists, where an artist will make, you know, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 per show, and they don't get a cut of that. So I could see where they would rather be the rapper as well as the producer. They just have to be good at it, and a lot of producers can't rap. Badman Vegeta, why are artists signing strictly management deals nowadays? For example, Jim Jones and the Lox with Roc Nation. Is it beneficial? Um, they needed management. They needed to take their career to the next level. I noticed that Busta Rhymes is now working with, um, Blue from Family Tree. I think it's not that they're only signing management deals, it's that they needed management and you just happen to be seeing them signed to a management company. Roc Nation is a very, um, well-respected management company. Jason Steele, how effective is internet radio? Um, I don't know the answer to that yet. It's something that I've been watching. I know that a couple years ago I did an internet campaign and it didn't do anything. For the artist. Um, recently there's a company— not recently, like 5 years ago— there was a company that started called Digital Radio Tracker, but I just became familiar with them this summer. So they're a company that tracks your spins so that you can see exactly where you're getting played at internet radio. My concern about, um, boy, does my nose itch tonight. Does that mean I'm getting money? What's that? What's that wives' tale? For Itchy Nose family, uh, visitors. Anywho, um, for tracking internet— for internet radio, the reason that I, I haven't been really in love with it is because when I send an artist to do an interview, or when their music gets played on internet radio, there's no way for me to know whether 3 people are listening or 30,000 people are listening. And before I found DRT, um, their reports, I, I couldn't tell the audience size. So the great thing about them is that now I can see exactly where my artist is getting spun, and I can see what the audience is, the total audience is for that week. And it tells me whether I'm reaching enough people for the amount of money that I'm spending in order to go after internet radio. But I'm not sure how effective it is. It's something that, that I've kind of been playing with, you know, for the past 6 months to see. I'll have a better answer for you in the next few months. DJ Sincere is asking, what's the best way to earn income as an independent artist and/or company? Um, I don't think there is a best way because if you don't have a buzz, it's going to be really hard to get somebody to give you money. You can write for other artists if you're a great writer, but then that takes some work. Um, I had a video that I shared with you guys, um, recently about somebody who makes money selling their songs for use in— or licensing their songs for use in TV, film, and video games. And he makes a great living at that. I think he said over the past 5 or 6 years he's made half a million dollars. Um, show money is always the first money that I see come for artists, but you've got to have a buzz that warrants somebody to pay you to perform in front of a room full of like 200, 300, 500, 1,000 people. So without a buzz, I, it, I, I don't know of a good way to get paid. Um, streaming, once some, once there's a demand for your music Streaming is a great way to get paid. Um, with Trouble, he's streaming 5 million times a month right now on all of the platforms, and the checks, the checks are lovely. You know, it's, it's a nice way to make money. Between that and his show money, he's, you know, he's making more money than if he would if he was signed to a major label. Yes, Tamara, that's exactly, um, you said it so much better than This is what I was trying to say. Um, Tamara's saying, I was saying that most reality show people end up doing club hosting gigs when I'm pretty sure they'd rather be performing as an artist. Yes, because as a, as a club hosting gig, what's the most you can make, you know, doing that? You know, most club hosting gigs are like $5,000, but if you look at somebody like YFN Lucci, he's making like $40,000 every time he performs right now. You know, I think I'd rather make the money as an artist than as a reality show? And then how long does that last? Like with YFN Lucci, he's going to keep putting music out and he's going to build his career. Can you keep doing reality shows and be in a position where somebody wants to give you money to come through? Top of the Gate Records is saying it was an old book. Badman Vaguetta saying, how does a management deal work? Is it similar to a 360? No. Where the management company acts like a middleman to take a portion of everything they help the artist do. Okay, a management deal— and I've got a video that explains exactly how management deals work, um, if you go and you search my YouTube page, you will find it— but a manager gets 15% to 20% of all of your Entertainment Income. And what they do is they help you— they help you plan what you're going to do with your career, and then they help you achieve it. They're like your quarterback. So they help you put together the blueprint of what you're going to do, and then they help you achieve it. And by achieving it, they're getting a percentage of the money that you earn. It's not like you pay them upfront to help you build their career. Does that make sense? But definitely go check out that video. DJ Infamous, internet radio has some years to actually blossom where the audience has to get familiar with hearing music where unknown artists are played. You're right. One thing about internet radio is that many people don't market their stations like a terrestrial station or satellite, so many people won't give internet radio a chance right off the bat. Absolutely. Hey, Twisted Sun. Um, absolutely. You know, I noticed that like Warren G has an internet radio station and the Rough Riders have an internet radio station. Rampage has an internet radio station. I think, um, I think I heard around the hallways at Def Jam that MMG— not MMG, um, that's Warner Brothers— um, Rick Ross is starting an internet radio station. So a lot of guys are seeing the value, guys and gals, um, are seeing the value in starting internet radio stations. But you're right, they have to actually promote them, because if you don't know that they exist, why would you go there when you could just listen to music on Spotify? And, and you get to choose the music you listen to, you know. And if you want new music, you go to a playlist and you listen to a playlist that has music that you recognize and music that, that you can discover. But Infamous, you're absolutely right. Sun Twisted is asking, do you have to be a corporation to register with BMI as a publisher? No, in fact it's cheaper if you sign up with ASCAP or BMI as a person as opposed to a corporation. It's, it's a little bit cheaper. I think BMI was $150 to sign up as to sign Trouble up as an artist, but it was $500 if we signed him up as Trouble LLC. Exactly. Yeah, you know, Infamous, I'm guessing that Infamous is saying Rick Ross with the station, I have to believe Apple will throw him some money to be on the network. Um, you know, I think Apple has a system where they're weighing the, the assets and the detriments of having artists with their own station. I think Rick Ross is also very entrepreneurial and may not want to be under a corporation like an Apple where he's told the type of music he can or cannot necessarily play. Um, but it might be, it might be interesting to see, right? What he does. Um, I could, I could see where he would want to own his own station and collect the advertising revenue as opposed to just being a conduit at Apple Music. Um, Jason Steele is asking, what is a playlist? A playlist is, um, when you are on Spotify, there are all sorts of different playlists that you can subscribe to. It's, it's it's free for the price of, you know, being on Spotify for $10 a month. Um, they have Rap Caviar is one of the playlists, for example, and it's, um, it's a, a list of songs that a curator puts onto Spotify. And, um, let me use Apple as an example because there are different, um, famous DJs that curate on Apple. Drake, for example, has a playlist. Dr. Dre has a playlist. I think it's called Beats 1. He has a playlist. I'm not an Apple person, I'm a Spotify person, so I'm a little bit out of my league on this one. But the playlists are the lists where there's people subscribing. So if I'm working an artist, let's say my artist is XYZ, I might want to get him on the um, Rap Caviar playlist because there are like 1.4 million listeners on Rap Caviar, or whatever the number is. I'm kind of like, like freestyling this, but you want to be on a playlist as a new artist because if there's a million people that are listening to that list, they're going to hear your song and they're going to discover you, and then they're going to go and add you into their playlists and the music that they listen to when they're at the gym or when they're driving, etc. And guys, we're right at an hour, so I'm going to answer one more question and then I'm going to head out. Um, Sun Twisted is saying, if someone resells your beat to a TV show even though your contract states they cannot, can you go after the TV show in any way? Nope, but you can sue the pants off the producer. Um, if you're a producer and you've got an exclusive contract with the artist, you cannot sell the song to TV. You would have to get the permission of the artist to be able to do that. Okay, I'm going to answer this one. Font Kilson is saying, um, I love you too. Um, a producer from New Jersey, my question is what's the best way an artist can break with their EP with minimum finance? I have a, I have a video that talks about marketing and promotion. You're welcome, Sincere. I have a video that talks about marketing and promotion that breaks down the best way to work a record with minimum, with minimum budget commitment. I'm not great at that though. For me, I would rather go get the proper funding and and then work it properly rather than half-ass my music and not get it to where it needs to be as quickly as possible. That's kind of my thinking there. Okay, okay guys, I'm gonna call it a night. It's been a long day for me. X Stax is saying, I'm interning at a recording studio. What are some things I should interview a music manager and A&R person to learn? Um, how to find hit records. The most beneficial thing that you can learn from anybody is how they, how they use their ear to find music. Um, for me, I don't use my ear. I look at the buzz. So if somebody has a great buzz, whether I like their music or not, it tells me that they're, that they're doing something. So, um, that's it, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. This will post in about an hour and a half for those of you who want to come back and watch it again. Check out the video that I posted today, um, by Jack Palumbo. I did an interview with him, especially the person that asked about the limited budget, because Jake talks about how he works his music on a limited budget. Okay guys, thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you next week.