Starting a rap-career depends on strategic maneuvering. As a matter of fact, success in music depends just as much on following and implementing the right strategies to reach certain milestones as all success in any field of business depends on it. For sure, the music must be good enough so that your target group enjoys it, no question! But following the right strategies and promoting your music to the right people is half of what pushing your career is all about.
LET'S GET IT STRAIGHT
“The record business, It’s exactly what it is –Record-Business. You have to take care of both, or they won’t take care of you.” (Dr. Dre)
Why does an artist, want to get signed to a label? Or, why does a label want to sign an artist? The agreement between an artist and a label is a strict business agreement. The label agrees to invest a) time, b) brain-/manpower and c) money in an artist’s career, with the exact same considerations banks decide to give credits to companies and corporations. Just as banks, forinstance, labels want and have to make profits in order to maintain its business capacity. If they don’t make profits labels won’t be able to nurture the further growth of an artist’s career. And as you can imagine, the bigger the artist grows, the more money you have to invest. That's only one reason why profits are crucial. A bigger business requires more money to be kept running than a small business does. Think of Adidas and the liquor store around your corner! Which one do you think needs more money to cover daily expenses? And which one is making higher margins?
What that means? It simply means that a label, just like banks do, has to be thorough in its decision making process and be sure that you, the artist, are not only a great artist, but also a promising business opportunity. And what makes a great business opportunity? The certainty of future profits!
Otherwise, picture a guy that has a ton of money. Now picture him handing out cash to everybody who’s having some sort of business idea, without him really caring about whether he gets any money back from the people he gave it to, at all. Let alone making any profit! What do you think will happen to this guy? Yep, he’s gonna be broke within a second! And then there is no money left for him to give and invest. Even if there was suddenly this great guy with this genius idea or the most talented artist ever! He already wasted all his resources.
And now picture, this guy was your label boss. Picture this guy being the one who’s responsible for providing the necessary resources to make sure that your next record will be released and properly promoted! So that all the hard work you’ve put into making the record pays off for you as well in form of a great tour, great sales numbers, and you knowing that you’ve touched and moved lots of people. And maybe even made the world a little better (if that’s what you after)! Would you be happy having such a partner on your side, handling your business affairs? Hell, no! Such a person would only kill your career, and that’s all you can expect from such people! Straight up!
So, what is it now that labels are looking for in an artist? What makes an artist a “promising business opportunity” worth to invest in and commit to?
Well, what do you think? What would you expect your bank is asking you for when you want to do business with them? A business plan! A’ight, but slow down homie! You don’t need to send a business plan to a label. What a bank is looking for in a business plan is first and foremost the information that is needed to make a good decision. Usually, the right numbers play a major part in that process. And that is what a label is looking for as well: the right numbers!
In order to gain a clear understanding of this, you can picture a label and an artist as two separate businesses considering the possibility of a venture business. Similar to Yahoo and Tumblr or Facebook and Instagram, or Apple and Beats by Dre! However, a label is more to be seen as some sort of specialized incubator for smaller promising music business entities. A label doesn’t 'buy' the artist, but his products, or at least certain rights to his products that assure them a fair share of the future income, that can be gained from these products.
See, you can improve your bargaining position, when dealing with labels, by setting up and running a profitable business model yourself, which you have established even before you sat tdown together talking business. Your goal in this case was to make a label an investing partner and incubator (more like a venture capitalist; folks who invest cash into businesses they like, but they leave daily responsibilities to the founder of the biz) to your business. An experienced and well connected partner that is able to help you lift your business to the next level by providing you with, i.e. , money for campaigns, distribution partners, media networks, marketing specialists, etc. This way you might be able to set up a very different contract agreement. One in which you offer a profit share, for instance, instead of big portions of your royalties, etc. What does the quality of such a model, and therefore your bargaining position, depend on? What numbers does it depend on?
This article was originally published on: [URL="http://mindofanmc.com/?p=55"]mindofanmc.com[/URL]
1. SALES NUMBERS & DOWNLOADS
Sales numbers, such as numbers of copies sold and your total sales income, are certainly the most valuable numbers you could present to record executives.
Meaning, if you have already sold music to your fans, it is almost guaranteed that labels will at least listen to what you have to say (or to offer)!
Your favorite blog might be introducing new artists to a wider audience because the artist is sort of “interesting”, but usually labels usually don’t invest money and manpower to release an artist just because he’s "interesting". And if they would, actually without giving two flying f’s about profits, they certainly wouldn’t last long. And so wouldn’t the careers of all the other artists signed to that label. Basically, such a business practice could be considered as very irresponsible and inconsiderate. Therefore, any artist that can bring some sales numbers to the table when it’s on, is going to be considered as “more interesting" to labels, then many others that are still on the same levels in their careers.
What else could be interesting with regards to your sales numbers?
The price your fans paid for your record! Yeah, maybe! What else?
Your conversion rate(s)! If you have sold, let’s say, 2000 copies to 3000 fans that have subscribed to your email-list (!), than this means first and foremost, that roughly 66% (2000 copies / 3000 FB-fans * 100 = 66%) of your fans have bought your first record! And it also proves that most of your fans (66% in this case) are already willing to happily spend their money on your material. Looking at it from a business perspective means:
However, you can imagine that if you have 3000 fans on Facebook and only 100 bought your latest release, than this means, people weren’t particularly interested in your work at the time you released. Which then tells the label either, you’ve missed to promote your release properly or, it just wasn’t good enough for people to share and recommend it.
You won’t believe how many artists are out there having like 79.000 Facebook likes and 82.000 Twitter followers but they aren’t making ANY money from their music.
What if you haven’t sold any copies yet because you were giving your music to the people for free?
Well, then we’re talking about download numbers (and conversion rates).
2. YOUR EMAIL LIST AND SUBSCRIBERS
Most up-and-coming artists unfortunately underestimate the huge power and potential of an email subscriber list. In fact, nowadays it is most likely the one key tactic that can make a difference between somebody who’s making a living off his art and somebody who had to give up because it seemed like there was no future in this game. Which is simply not true. Straight up! But why is well maintained email list so powerful?
Your email list is the very core of your business because these are the people who actually do care about you and your art and to which you have a direct, a personal relationship with. If you do this right, a well maintained email list will make it possible for you to live off your music, also independently. When you have a good amount of people on your list you can release records, or sell any type of product you can think of, as long as it provides value.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING
Your following on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Bandcamp, etc.
Having a great amount of followers on social media platforms surely is an interesting indicator for labels. However, it only indicates a certain grade of popularity. What you need though, besides being kind of popular, is a good and close relationship to the people liking your social media accounts. As a matter of fact, it is way more important than having a huge amount of followers. So, the quality of your following is KEY when it comes to social media.
The quality of your fan relationships can be determined by:
Another factor that can trigger every business person’s interest is...
The number of Youtube-views is a very strong indicator of how people evaluate your whole art work including music, creativity, style, visual concepts, etc. It indicates if people are almost addicted to your stuff or not, if they share it, if it provoke opinions, if it was controversial and caused a wild discussion or if it went viral. Basically, it is seen as an indicator providing info about the quality of your work as an artist. Very strong, therefore!
And to all those knuckleheadz that are now like: "I'm gonna buy Facebook-Likes and YouTube-clicks!" .... Let me tell you this! The only thing it really does for you is a better ranking on YouTube. And those artists that have more than 500.000 organic YouTube views (which would be about $600) are usually also featured on wider range of blogs. So, if you do that and nobody is talking about you although your video has been uploaded only 1 week ago and it went up to half a million clicks in like 3 days (yeah people can easily check statistics on YouTube) then you might be facing a situation in which bloggers write about you. But not because your music is great, but rather because they are making fun of you! So unless your song is like the dopest ever and you have too much money to spend for SEO-tactics, don’t do it. Folks will check up on you and if your conversion and engagement rates are still like 1.2%, although you have 40.000 followers on Facebook... Well, it ain’t worth shit.
...anyway...
Basically, what we have to remember is this:
3000 Facebook likes that result in high engagement rates per post, and an email-list that has been genuinely nurtured can result in a higher income than a poorly fed Facebook page with 80.000 likes and an email-subscriber list of 25000 people who don’t even open your emails or worse click on “spam” because you have nothing to say.
Everybody always envies everybody. “Oh shit! This guy has 50000 likes on Facebook. I have only 2500! ****! What am I gonna do?!” But let's cut the bullshit! Straight up! We are talking real numbers here. Numbers that actually matter! Numbers that can be turned into profits to make a living and/or create opportunities that help you succeed, for real.
4. MEDIA COVERAGE – MUSIC BLOGS ARE THE NEW A&R’s OF TODAY
And: Who is saying what about you in the world of blogs and magazines/webzines?
Who is saying what about you on blogs, webzines etc is absolutely crucial. Why? Because especially music blogs are to be considered as the new A&R’s of the new music industry! They are the people still digging through Bandcamp and Soundcloud, and so on, to find new artists and music. Back in the days, when music stores were basically the only source to discover new music, they were probably the same people who would have gone to their favorite store, like twice a week, because digging records was their passion. And when their digging friends discovered something new that was dope, they would have called them immediately, and so on. Music bloggers love music and everything that has to do with it and they like sharing their opinions and discoveries with the rest of the world; and with A&R’s, ‘cause many of them keep an eye on blogs, too. Of course though, the old model still applies to today’s music industry where somebody likes your music, then calls you up and introduces you to his friend who happens to be that Def Jam A&R.
Another reason why it is so important who is saying what about you in the “new media” is because, if bloggers and journalists are not equally fascinated by your work as your fans are, it might be harder for labels, too, to promote your music to blogs, so that they write about you so that your music can reach a bigger audience. If you want to find some examples of what it looks like when blogs and journalists like somebody, then just check what bloggers and online-magazines write or have written about artists like Flying Lotus, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Jhene Aiko, FKA Twigs or Kelela in the past 24 months.
If these people like what you do, they want to express that by featuring your latest videos, songs, or any news on their websites. Once you've been blogged you do good keeping a very good relationship to your media partners. And labels are going to acknowledge that, too!
5. LIVE-SHOWS
And now: What about live-shows? Aren't they absolutely crucial? Why haven’t we talked about it yet?
Well, let’s contemplate about one simple fact for a second:
From that, it could be concluded that playing a lot of shows to jumpstart your career is not absolutely essential to gain major attention, or at least an opportuntiy to do so. As a matter of fact, A$AP and his mob created such a buzz around themselves that he got offered a major deal even before the release of his very first official mixtape.
However, you will need the skill to deliver a great show to maintain your career in the long run. Otherwise, you and your partners will be facing tough times selling tickets and getting gigs continuously, which will also make your business suffer, since ticket sales can account for a major share of income.
Playing shows, no matter where or when, is still also a great way of creating opportunities by meeting people, like DJ’s, producers, bloggers, journalist, other rap artists, or gain new supporters and fans and make new friends anywhere. If people like your music or you as a person and want to check out your music, you can ask them for their email or connect with them on Facebook or wherever and message them links to your side. You never know who might show up at a party! Being present in the scene, going to parties and clubs, meet people is an essential part of your job. Reakwon once said “You got to be a people’s guy! It’s what this business is all about. So you better get used to it!”
Many artists, of course, love to play shows. And if you do that, than it is definitely a great asset to have. And additionally, you will find many label bosses who consider that as a crucial skill.
Check outmindofanmc.com for more.
6. WHY YOU MUST BE IN CHARGE OF YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Many artists say labels are greedy. The only thing they care about is money. However, we might have a slightly better understanding by now of why that is. However, there could be another reason that explains why many artists believe that and why we hear of so many artists that are unsatisfied with the deals they get which then affects the whole situation. They are bad business people! Straight up! It is as simple as that! Many artists are lacking fundamental knowledge of business practice in their own field. That’s like wanting to have a #1 single, and not knowing who is amongst the Top 5 right now. Do you believe that Justin Timberlake or Pharrell don’t know who’s on #2 or #3 right now?
Picture a different scenario: When you want to buy a used car (used doesn’t mean cheap, ok!?), the best thing you can do is ask a friend who’s got knowledge and experience to come with you to help you get the best deal. He might take a look under the car, look at the engine, and check all the possible things that could be relevant to the price. With his advice and KNOWLEDGE you might be able to negotiate a much better price, than what the initial offer was.
The worst thing you can do though is go to a car-dealer by yourself without having any knowledge and no experience. This is when folks get screwed over and agree to deals that turn out as rip-offs! Straight up! And who do you want to blame? Everybody knows, this is the way it works. It’s common sense! So why would you expect it to be different in music. It is exactly the same.
I had a landlady once who gave me a really good price for a flat. Later she started complaining and telling me how lucky I am to have gotten a flat like the one I have now for such a good price. It freaked me out, man. Because it wasn’t my greed that determined the price! It was her own lack of knowledge that got her a tenant that was paying less rent than she could have gotten. She didn’t know shit about her own market and the value of the property she was offering. All I had to do was saying “OK!” when she offered me the contract and sign it. But afterwards, she couldn’t stop complaining. Anyway...
Yes, you can make music for the rest of your life without any of such problems….on the weekends! Nobody is gonna stop you. However, it’s not very likely for you to break into the music business and stay there without acknowledging the traits of the deal. Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, “the world’s most recorded drummer”, who played with artists like Aretha Franklin and James Brown and so on, once said on the couch at Red Bull Music Academy “The difference between an amateur and a professional is, the professional gets paid!”
My old man once said to me “Where there is a market, ethics and morals go down the drain!” And that’s ****ed up, hell yeah it is! But we as artists can either spend our whole career complaining and whining about the “evil man behind the desk”, or we stop being ignorant and put ourselves in charge by taken our careers and business seriously and educate ourselves. Or raise the cash for a manager you can TRUST, if you can already afford it and put him in charge.
When Bob Marley found out that his long-time manager and friend Don Taylor had been robbing him blind they called him up, tied him to a chair, and questioned him for hours. Bob Marley beat the shit out of this guy and then fired him. He took his business serious.
Why do you think it is that so many artists, especially rappers, found their own label at some point in their careers? It is because they have gained knowledge in the course of their careers that made them realize that they would be much better off if they put themselves in charge of their business and then partner with bigger corporations.
I have known a rapper who was like a brother to me. Incredible talent! I’m serious. Everybody who knew him saw he was becoming something bigger. No question! He had the personality, the lyrical skills and the ego! However, he was so obsessed with “keeping it real” that he turned down business offers before the person making the offer could even finish what he had to say. And as time went by, he became…nothing. Nobody will ever hear what he had to say. Nobody will ever be able to enjoy his character, learn to lose himself in his music or get crazy with him on stage. Just because he didn't see the need to take care of his business!
7. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THAT
Artists have to get real, face reality and cut the BS. There are enough independent labels out there and some of them follow a different approach and not everything is always strictly business. Every label boss has his own way of decision making. They are individuals, too, not robots. They have different back grounds, different educations, different tastes, etc! There is a bunch of indie labels doing what they do because they LOVE music, because they believe in artists and want to see him/her succeed. However, the folks that are working for labels, have families and kids, they have to pay bills. They have to pay their rents and mortgages, put food on the table and buy birthday presents for their kids, wives and husbands. For sure, they do have their own interests, because they are people and they have to maintain their own lives! They have wishes and dreams, too. And just like you, they want to self-actualize and realize. But if you face this business, this reality, with an attitude as if people owe you something, you WILL LOSE!
You’d be in a much better position if you do what the music industry expects from you, set up your business model, nurture it and grow it and then you can deal with labels as potential partners in crime that help you get your career to the next level. And just like any other business man in the world you will have to offer something in return for their services, which is most likely a share of your business. But if you know what you are doing and what you need, you’d be in a much better bargaining position and therefore more likely to sing a deal that satisfies your needs.
8. LET’S WRAP IT ALL UP!
I hope you enjoyed the post and that it was of any help to you guys. Stay blessed, spread the love, make music and take care.
P&L.
P.S: If you enjoyed this, check out mindofanmc.com for more unique material on music and business.
Or if you have any further questions or recommendations then hitmeup@mindofanmc.com
LET'S GET IT STRAIGHT
“The record business, It’s exactly what it is –Record-Business. You have to take care of both, or they won’t take care of you.” (Dr. Dre)
Why does an artist, want to get signed to a label? Or, why does a label want to sign an artist? The agreement between an artist and a label is a strict business agreement. The label agrees to invest a) time, b) brain-/manpower and c) money in an artist’s career, with the exact same considerations banks decide to give credits to companies and corporations. Just as banks, forinstance, labels want and have to make profits in order to maintain its business capacity. If they don’t make profits labels won’t be able to nurture the further growth of an artist’s career. And as you can imagine, the bigger the artist grows, the more money you have to invest. That's only one reason why profits are crucial. A bigger business requires more money to be kept running than a small business does. Think of Adidas and the liquor store around your corner! Which one do you think needs more money to cover daily expenses? And which one is making higher margins?
What that means? It simply means that a label, just like banks do, has to be thorough in its decision making process and be sure that you, the artist, are not only a great artist, but also a promising business opportunity. And what makes a great business opportunity? The certainty of future profits!
Otherwise, picture a guy that has a ton of money. Now picture him handing out cash to everybody who’s having some sort of business idea, without him really caring about whether he gets any money back from the people he gave it to, at all. Let alone making any profit! What do you think will happen to this guy? Yep, he’s gonna be broke within a second! And then there is no money left for him to give and invest. Even if there was suddenly this great guy with this genius idea or the most talented artist ever! He already wasted all his resources.
And now picture, this guy was your label boss. Picture this guy being the one who’s responsible for providing the necessary resources to make sure that your next record will be released and properly promoted! So that all the hard work you’ve put into making the record pays off for you as well in form of a great tour, great sales numbers, and you knowing that you’ve touched and moved lots of people. And maybe even made the world a little better (if that’s what you after)! Would you be happy having such a partner on your side, handling your business affairs? Hell, no! Such a person would only kill your career, and that’s all you can expect from such people! Straight up!
So, what is it now that labels are looking for in an artist? What makes an artist a “promising business opportunity” worth to invest in and commit to?
Well, what do you think? What would you expect your bank is asking you for when you want to do business with them? A business plan! A’ight, but slow down homie! You don’t need to send a business plan to a label. What a bank is looking for in a business plan is first and foremost the information that is needed to make a good decision. Usually, the right numbers play a major part in that process. And that is what a label is looking for as well: the right numbers!
In order to gain a clear understanding of this, you can picture a label and an artist as two separate businesses considering the possibility of a venture business. Similar to Yahoo and Tumblr or Facebook and Instagram, or Apple and Beats by Dre! However, a label is more to be seen as some sort of specialized incubator for smaller promising music business entities. A label doesn’t 'buy' the artist, but his products, or at least certain rights to his products that assure them a fair share of the future income, that can be gained from these products.
See, you can improve your bargaining position, when dealing with labels, by setting up and running a profitable business model yourself, which you have established even before you sat tdown together talking business. Your goal in this case was to make a label an investing partner and incubator (more like a venture capitalist; folks who invest cash into businesses they like, but they leave daily responsibilities to the founder of the biz) to your business. An experienced and well connected partner that is able to help you lift your business to the next level by providing you with, i.e. , money for campaigns, distribution partners, media networks, marketing specialists, etc. This way you might be able to set up a very different contract agreement. One in which you offer a profit share, for instance, instead of big portions of your royalties, etc. What does the quality of such a model, and therefore your bargaining position, depend on? What numbers does it depend on?
This article was originally published on: [URL="http://mindofanmc.com/?p=55"]mindofanmc.com[/URL]
1. SALES NUMBERS & DOWNLOADS
Sales numbers, such as numbers of copies sold and your total sales income, are certainly the most valuable numbers you could present to record executives.
Meaning, if you have already sold music to your fans, it is almost guaranteed that labels will at least listen to what you have to say (or to offer)!
Your favorite blog might be introducing new artists to a wider audience because the artist is sort of “interesting”, but usually labels usually don’t invest money and manpower to release an artist just because he’s "interesting". And if they would, actually without giving two flying f’s about profits, they certainly wouldn’t last long. And so wouldn’t the careers of all the other artists signed to that label. Basically, such a business practice could be considered as very irresponsible and inconsiderate. Therefore, any artist that can bring some sales numbers to the table when it’s on, is going to be considered as “more interesting" to labels, then many others that are still on the same levels in their careers.
What else could be interesting with regards to your sales numbers?
The price your fans paid for your record! Yeah, maybe! What else?
Your conversion rate(s)! If you have sold, let’s say, 2000 copies to 3000 fans that have subscribed to your email-list (!), than this means first and foremost, that roughly 66% (2000 copies / 3000 FB-fans * 100 = 66%) of your fans have bought your first record! And it also proves that most of your fans (66% in this case) are already willing to happily spend their money on your material. Looking at it from a business perspective means:
- Your fans might also be interested in paying tickets for shows, merchandise articles and everything else that would make sense
- You have actually managed to build up a great and profitable relationship to your fan
However, you can imagine that if you have 3000 fans on Facebook and only 100 bought your latest release, than this means, people weren’t particularly interested in your work at the time you released. Which then tells the label either, you’ve missed to promote your release properly or, it just wasn’t good enough for people to share and recommend it.
You won’t believe how many artists are out there having like 79.000 Facebook likes and 82.000 Twitter followers but they aren’t making ANY money from their music.
What if you haven’t sold any copies yet because you were giving your music to the people for free?
Well, then we’re talking about download numbers (and conversion rates).
2. YOUR EMAIL LIST AND SUBSCRIBERS
Most up-and-coming artists unfortunately underestimate the huge power and potential of an email subscriber list. In fact, nowadays it is most likely the one key tactic that can make a difference between somebody who’s making a living off his art and somebody who had to give up because it seemed like there was no future in this game. Which is simply not true. Straight up! But why is well maintained email list so powerful?
- People made the conscious decision that they want to stay personally informed about you and your music. Before they ‘have subscribed to your list, they probably watched one of your videos, listened to one of your songs and then checked out your website, because they already liked what they saw/listened to. And after that, they liked it so much that they decided to give you access to their PERSONAL email-account.
- From there you can build a very close relationship by for instance asking questions (and you will be surprised how honest most people will be with you) and respond, because you ACTUALLY do care about YOUR fans. You can also send them free songs (or other content) nobody else will have access to that is not on the list. The possibilities are endless here, as long as it makes sense. They will care about you and what you have to say as an artist if you care about them. It's as simple as that.
- When you’ve established this relationship, you are a thousand times more likely to get some real support from your fans because these are your real fans that love you and your music. And those fans are those who don’t care if they could pirate your music. They WILL pay because they care.
Your email list is the very core of your business because these are the people who actually do care about you and your art and to which you have a direct, a personal relationship with. If you do this right, a well maintained email list will make it possible for you to live off your music, also independently. When you have a good amount of people on your list you can release records, or sell any type of product you can think of, as long as it provides value.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING
Your following on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Bandcamp, etc.
Having a great amount of followers on social media platforms surely is an interesting indicator for labels. However, it only indicates a certain grade of popularity. What you need though, besides being kind of popular, is a good and close relationship to the people liking your social media accounts. As a matter of fact, it is way more important than having a huge amount of followers. So, the quality of your following is KEY when it comes to social media.
The quality of your fan relationships can be determined by:
- Your engagement rate (crucial!): How many people engage with your post or tweet? How many people like, share and comment on what you’ve posted?
- What are they saying about you and your music? Are they saying stuff like “Nice.”? Or rather: “OMG. This is so ****ing brilliant!!! Best stuff I’ve heard in a long time!!!! All thumbs up brother!! Can’t believe it!”
- Or: How many people like and share your music (or output in general)?
Another factor that can trigger every business person’s interest is...
- The number of organic Youtube-Views: How many people have watched your videos (over and over again)?
The number of Youtube-views is a very strong indicator of how people evaluate your whole art work including music, creativity, style, visual concepts, etc. It indicates if people are almost addicted to your stuff or not, if they share it, if it provoke opinions, if it was controversial and caused a wild discussion or if it went viral. Basically, it is seen as an indicator providing info about the quality of your work as an artist. Very strong, therefore!
And to all those knuckleheadz that are now like: "I'm gonna buy Facebook-Likes and YouTube-clicks!" .... Let me tell you this! The only thing it really does for you is a better ranking on YouTube. And those artists that have more than 500.000 organic YouTube views (which would be about $600) are usually also featured on wider range of blogs. So, if you do that and nobody is talking about you although your video has been uploaded only 1 week ago and it went up to half a million clicks in like 3 days (yeah people can easily check statistics on YouTube) then you might be facing a situation in which bloggers write about you. But not because your music is great, but rather because they are making fun of you! So unless your song is like the dopest ever and you have too much money to spend for SEO-tactics, don’t do it. Folks will check up on you and if your conversion and engagement rates are still like 1.2%, although you have 40.000 followers on Facebook... Well, it ain’t worth shit.
...anyway...
Basically, what we have to remember is this:
QUALITY BEATS QUANTITY!
3000 Facebook likes that result in high engagement rates per post, and an email-list that has been genuinely nurtured can result in a higher income than a poorly fed Facebook page with 80.000 likes and an email-subscriber list of 25000 people who don’t even open your emails or worse click on “spam” because you have nothing to say.
Everybody always envies everybody. “Oh shit! This guy has 50000 likes on Facebook. I have only 2500! ****! What am I gonna do?!” But let's cut the bullshit! Straight up! We are talking real numbers here. Numbers that actually matter! Numbers that can be turned into profits to make a living and/or create opportunities that help you succeed, for real.
4. MEDIA COVERAGE – MUSIC BLOGS ARE THE NEW A&R’s OF TODAY
And: Who is saying what about you in the world of blogs and magazines/webzines?
Who is saying what about you on blogs, webzines etc is absolutely crucial. Why? Because especially music blogs are to be considered as the new A&R’s of the new music industry! They are the people still digging through Bandcamp and Soundcloud, and so on, to find new artists and music. Back in the days, when music stores were basically the only source to discover new music, they were probably the same people who would have gone to their favorite store, like twice a week, because digging records was their passion. And when their digging friends discovered something new that was dope, they would have called them immediately, and so on. Music bloggers love music and everything that has to do with it and they like sharing their opinions and discoveries with the rest of the world; and with A&R’s, ‘cause many of them keep an eye on blogs, too. Of course though, the old model still applies to today’s music industry where somebody likes your music, then calls you up and introduces you to his friend who happens to be that Def Jam A&R.
Another reason why it is so important who is saying what about you in the “new media” is because, if bloggers and journalists are not equally fascinated by your work as your fans are, it might be harder for labels, too, to promote your music to blogs, so that they write about you so that your music can reach a bigger audience. If you want to find some examples of what it looks like when blogs and journalists like somebody, then just check what bloggers and online-magazines write or have written about artists like Flying Lotus, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Jhene Aiko, FKA Twigs or Kelela in the past 24 months.
If these people like what you do, they want to express that by featuring your latest videos, songs, or any news on their websites. Once you've been blogged you do good keeping a very good relationship to your media partners. And labels are going to acknowledge that, too!
5. LIVE-SHOWS
And now: What about live-shows? Aren't they absolutely crucial? Why haven’t we talked about it yet?
Well, let’s contemplate about one simple fact for a second:
A$AP Rocky had only THREE LIVE GIGS before Drake took him on tour!
From that, it could be concluded that playing a lot of shows to jumpstart your career is not absolutely essential to gain major attention, or at least an opportuntiy to do so. As a matter of fact, A$AP and his mob created such a buzz around themselves that he got offered a major deal even before the release of his very first official mixtape.
However, you will need the skill to deliver a great show to maintain your career in the long run. Otherwise, you and your partners will be facing tough times selling tickets and getting gigs continuously, which will also make your business suffer, since ticket sales can account for a major share of income.
Playing shows, no matter where or when, is still also a great way of creating opportunities by meeting people, like DJ’s, producers, bloggers, journalist, other rap artists, or gain new supporters and fans and make new friends anywhere. If people like your music or you as a person and want to check out your music, you can ask them for their email or connect with them on Facebook or wherever and message them links to your side. You never know who might show up at a party! Being present in the scene, going to parties and clubs, meet people is an essential part of your job. Reakwon once said “You got to be a people’s guy! It’s what this business is all about. So you better get used to it!”
Many artists, of course, love to play shows. And if you do that, than it is definitely a great asset to have. And additionally, you will find many label bosses who consider that as a crucial skill.
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6. WHY YOU MUST BE IN CHARGE OF YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Many artists say labels are greedy. The only thing they care about is money. However, we might have a slightly better understanding by now of why that is. However, there could be another reason that explains why many artists believe that and why we hear of so many artists that are unsatisfied with the deals they get which then affects the whole situation. They are bad business people! Straight up! It is as simple as that! Many artists are lacking fundamental knowledge of business practice in their own field. That’s like wanting to have a #1 single, and not knowing who is amongst the Top 5 right now. Do you believe that Justin Timberlake or Pharrell don’t know who’s on #2 or #3 right now?
Picture a different scenario: When you want to buy a used car (used doesn’t mean cheap, ok!?), the best thing you can do is ask a friend who’s got knowledge and experience to come with you to help you get the best deal. He might take a look under the car, look at the engine, and check all the possible things that could be relevant to the price. With his advice and KNOWLEDGE you might be able to negotiate a much better price, than what the initial offer was.
The worst thing you can do though is go to a car-dealer by yourself without having any knowledge and no experience. This is when folks get screwed over and agree to deals that turn out as rip-offs! Straight up! And who do you want to blame? Everybody knows, this is the way it works. It’s common sense! So why would you expect it to be different in music. It is exactly the same.
I had a landlady once who gave me a really good price for a flat. Later she started complaining and telling me how lucky I am to have gotten a flat like the one I have now for such a good price. It freaked me out, man. Because it wasn’t my greed that determined the price! It was her own lack of knowledge that got her a tenant that was paying less rent than she could have gotten. She didn’t know shit about her own market and the value of the property she was offering. All I had to do was saying “OK!” when she offered me the contract and sign it. But afterwards, she couldn’t stop complaining. Anyway...
Yes, you can make music for the rest of your life without any of such problems….on the weekends! Nobody is gonna stop you. However, it’s not very likely for you to break into the music business and stay there without acknowledging the traits of the deal. Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, “the world’s most recorded drummer”, who played with artists like Aretha Franklin and James Brown and so on, once said on the couch at Red Bull Music Academy “The difference between an amateur and a professional is, the professional gets paid!”
My old man once said to me “Where there is a market, ethics and morals go down the drain!” And that’s ****ed up, hell yeah it is! But we as artists can either spend our whole career complaining and whining about the “evil man behind the desk”, or we stop being ignorant and put ourselves in charge by taken our careers and business seriously and educate ourselves. Or raise the cash for a manager you can TRUST, if you can already afford it and put him in charge.
When Bob Marley found out that his long-time manager and friend Don Taylor had been robbing him blind they called him up, tied him to a chair, and questioned him for hours. Bob Marley beat the shit out of this guy and then fired him. He took his business serious.
Why do you think it is that so many artists, especially rappers, found their own label at some point in their careers? It is because they have gained knowledge in the course of their careers that made them realize that they would be much better off if they put themselves in charge of their business and then partner with bigger corporations.
I have known a rapper who was like a brother to me. Incredible talent! I’m serious. Everybody who knew him saw he was becoming something bigger. No question! He had the personality, the lyrical skills and the ego! However, he was so obsessed with “keeping it real” that he turned down business offers before the person making the offer could even finish what he had to say. And as time went by, he became…nothing. Nobody will ever hear what he had to say. Nobody will ever be able to enjoy his character, learn to lose himself in his music or get crazy with him on stage. Just because he didn't see the need to take care of his business!
7. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THAT
Artists have to get real, face reality and cut the BS. There are enough independent labels out there and some of them follow a different approach and not everything is always strictly business. Every label boss has his own way of decision making. They are individuals, too, not robots. They have different back grounds, different educations, different tastes, etc! There is a bunch of indie labels doing what they do because they LOVE music, because they believe in artists and want to see him/her succeed. However, the folks that are working for labels, have families and kids, they have to pay bills. They have to pay their rents and mortgages, put food on the table and buy birthday presents for their kids, wives and husbands. For sure, they do have their own interests, because they are people and they have to maintain their own lives! They have wishes and dreams, too. And just like you, they want to self-actualize and realize. But if you face this business, this reality, with an attitude as if people owe you something, you WILL LOSE!
You’d be in a much better position if you do what the music industry expects from you, set up your business model, nurture it and grow it and then you can deal with labels as potential partners in crime that help you get your career to the next level. And just like any other business man in the world you will have to offer something in return for their services, which is most likely a share of your business. But if you know what you are doing and what you need, you’d be in a much better bargaining position and therefore more likely to sing a deal that satisfies your needs.
8. LET’S WRAP IT ALL UP!
- Labels are like venture capitalists or incubators. They invest their resources into promising businesses [reading: artists]. If they don’t make their decisions carefully and under consideration of potential future profits, they wouldn’t be able to maintain their business, nor the careers and businesses of the artists signed to the label.
- Numbers and qualities that play into that consideration: Copies sold, Downloads and conversion rates; Number of subscribers to email-lists and quality of relationships; social media following and engagement rates (quality of relationship); press and blog voices (who is saying what about you)
- Live-shows can be essential to some label bosses. They are definitely crucial to your career outlook. However, don’t seem to be key when it comes to initiating a partnership with a label.
- Artists have to stop believing that the world or the industry owes them and better start taking care of their own careers and lives.
- Artists can build and run a business model that is based on these criteria first, to be in a much better bargaining position when it comes to partnership and investment negotiations, since they can offer labels to invest in their model instead of being swallowed by and therefore depending on the system/model of a label.
I hope you enjoyed the post and that it was of any help to you guys. Stay blessed, spread the love, make music and take care.
P&L.
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