In this 20/20 Vision video, Wendy Day dismantles common myths that independent artists hold about the music industry and offers practical guidance for building a sustainable career. She explains that major labels do not scout specific cities; they sign any artist who is already generating buzz and has a proven fan base, regardless of location. She refutes the notion of "overnight" success, illustrating with examples like DaBaby and Rod Wave, who spent years developing underground before breaking mainstream. Day emphasizes that newcomers often try to emulate later-stage promotional tactics without first mastering foundational steps, leading to wasted money and frustration. She advises assembling a recent, digitally‑savvy team that understands current marketing trends, staying connected to the industry’s inner circle, and, if resources are limited, seeking an investor or label partnership to access the necessary expertise. The video’s core message is that realistic expectations, proper sequencing of career steps, and insider knowledge are essential for independent artists to monetize and grow.
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Hey everybody, one of the biggest challenges of the music industry as a whole is that as an outsider looking in, it's not really what it seems. And what I mean by that is that the reality is very different than what you see when you're not in, in the inner circle of the music business. It just happens to be one of those industries where you can't just observe it and think you know how it works and then start being part of it. It's an industry where if you do that, you're going to lose a lot of money and you're going to get taken advantage of. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors about the music industry, and I remember when I was coming up I always thought that the music industry worked a certain way, and I got that image from watching what artists were doing and watching, um, music videos. Like, back then we had BET, and hearing what was on the radio. So I just assumed that that was the kind of music that was hot and popping, um, and at that point in time I was really instrumental in the underground These days I'm not as entrenched in the underground because I'm older, so I don't go to all the events. I don't know who all the up-and-coming artists are. I don't listen to hip-hop 24/7 like I did when I was younger, so I, I depend upon my staff for that. But even so, as, as an outsider coming into this industry it wasn't what I thought it was at all. It was very much about making money, and there are certain things that we do behind the scenes that most of you aren't privy to that help artists to make money. And, and that's what these videos are about. These videos are trying to show you how to make money with your music and what you can do in order to boost your career, whether you're trying to own your own independent label or be an indie artist, or whether you're trying to get signed by, you know, Warner Brothers or Atlantic or whoever. But there's many misconceptions that a lot of you people have today about the music industry that aren't helping you in your career. Um, for example, There is a misnomer out here that labels look for artists from different cities in order to sign artists. And I'll hear a lot of you guys saying, "Oh, it's North Carolina's turn. North Carolina's up next." Or, "Miami is up next." Or, "St. Louis is up next." Or, "New York is back." or the West Coast is back. And it's not that labels look for artists in certain cities or certain regions or certain areas, it's that they look for whoever is making noise in their own respective areas. So if DaBaby is making noise in Charlotte, North Carolina, I could see where those of you looking in from the outside would think it's North Carolina's turn or it's Charlotte's turn, and that's not the case. It's not that Lil Baby— excuse me, DaBaby— is popping and labels start looking for other artists in that area that are popping. No, they're looking for any artists that are popping. And if you're in Charlotte, North Carolina, you're competing with artists that are popping in Houston, in Miami, in Atlanta, in Chicago, in the Bay Area. Major labels, when they're looking to sign artists, do not care where you're based. They just want you to have enough of a fan base to remove their risk so that if they sign you, you can start making money as quickly as possible so that they can make the lion's share of the money based on wherever your fan base is based. So again, they don't care if you're in Detroit or Charlotte or Atlanta or wherever. They just care that you're moving upwards and onwards and getting to that next level. That's what they're looking for. They're looking for you to already be doing the work so that they can step in, put their label behind you, put you into their pipeline, and, and push you with everything that they've got. And in exchange for doing that, they're going to take the lion's share of the money. That's just the way the music industry works. Another misnomer that I see, um, all the time is people thinking, oh, he just blew up overnight. Like, they'll see a new artist, um, I heard it last week about Rod Wave. Rod Wave is, um, is popping right now, and I hear people saying, oh, he came out of nowhere. But he didn't come out of nowhere. Like, on the underground and here in Atlanta we've known about him for ages. Like, he wasn't built by Alamo, although Alamo's done a wonderful job with him. Like, he was kind of bumping around on the underground, and Alamo signed him and got him to the next level. He, he was a 5-year or 6-year overnight success. He did not just pop out of nowhere and blow up. So those of you that are saying that are people that are so far from the underground. And I say that as somebody who's far from the underground, and I know he didn't pop overnight. So you're really, really, really far from the underground if you think he blew up overnight. And that's true with DaBaby or Lil Baby. Like, I remember DaBaby walking around in a diaper at South by Southwest, you know, 3 years ago. So, and then before that um, I think he was called Baby Jesus, and he was putting in work in North Carolina, like regionally. Like, he was really doing what he was supposed to be doing in order to blow up and get to the next level long before the mainstream ever heard of him and knew who he was. He's not a new recording artist. He's somebody that's been really working, um, hard to get to that next level for you know, at least 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years. Like, no exaggeration. So people don't blow up out of nowhere. They've been working for years. And as an outsider looking in, you're not seeing that. Also, as an outsider looking in, it's very difficult to know how to market and promote because you see what artists who are already on and already have a fan base are doing in order to promote and market themselves. You're not seeing what unknown and new artists are doing to market and promote themselves. So you're seeing what Drake and Lil Wayne and Young Thug and Future and, um, DaBaby and Rod Wave are doing, what Roddy Ricch is doing now to market and promote themselves, and you're trying to emulate that, but you're not looking at what they did when no one knew who they were. You're not looking at what they did in order to get on. So they're like— let's say there's 10 steps to success in the music industry, and there's far more than that, but let's just say there's 10, and you're looking at what they're doing at step 4, 5, 6, and 7, and you're thinking that that's how you break a career, and you're completely missing step 1, 2, 3, and 4. So you're spending a shit ton of money, you're not getting the results that you want, you think that you're getting screwed by people that are trying to help you when in reality they don't know any better either. So So they're offering services at step number, you know, 4, 5, 6, and 7. You're just not ready for step 4, 5, 6, and 7. You need to be hitting steps 1, 2, and 3. And as an outsider looking in, because you've never built success in the music industry before, you think that step 4, 5, and 6 is 1, 2, and 3, and it's not. So, um, all these steps are kind of like confusing me now with this analogy, but I think that you understand what I'm saying. That in order to build success, you need to have people on your team that have already done this successfully before, preferably recent success. So they've recently built success because building success 10 years ago or 15 years ago or 20 years ago or even 5 years ago is not recent enough. This music business changes that fast. Like the way that I was marketing and promoting artists a year ago or even 6 months ago is different from the way that I'm marketing and promoting people today. I've got a brand new digital team that I'm utilizing just since October. I've changed. So, and this is February, so what is that, 6 months ago, 4 months ago? Like, you've really got to stay on top of what's new and what's working. And in order to do that, you've got to be inside that center of the music industry so that you can call people you know and say, hey, I saw you just had success over here. How did you do it? I saw that you just did that. Did it work for you? Oh, it didn't? Okay, I don't want to do that. You've got to be within that inner circle to understand how this all works. You can't be an outsider looking in expecting to know exactly how it works. I can't just watch a couple of NBA games and think that I understand everything there is to understand about basketball. Or negotiating or getting somebody into the NBA or getting somebody on the Golden State Warriors just because they're a great team. It takes knowledge and understanding and time in and a team of people that are all proficient at doing this. So that's what you need. Find out who those people are, build the relationships you need to build. If you don't have the money to do this properly, go find an investor or get signed to a label. That is going to do this properly, hand in hand with you. And that's probably the best advice that I have given in this 2-month series of 20/20 Vision. And hopefully you guys will heed it. Take care.
