Sorry for this long post, thanks for any advice!
Ok, so i've been making music for over a decade, in that time i've probably given out 10 cds with my work on it, i probably have 3 or 4 friends/associates i let hear my music. I've dealt with some confidence issues. I once met a big time artist, he gave me his personal number and later told me to email him, by beats. After 2 weeks, i sent a message to see if he had a chance to listen and he said point blank its not his style.
I talked to a couple of rappers on myspace who have worked with Jeezy and T.i. i sent my tracks through gmail and never got a response. Then i let some associates hear it, one guy honestly says i'm sitting on some serious money, another guy says it doesn't sound like rap music, another friend....every time i think i've created some good music, i go over, we have a drink, i briefly interrupt him playing his favorite music and put my cd in and this clown starts talking about sports on other things not even listening to my beats. So i've had some confidence problems. But, I now think i'm ready to seriously start shopping my music. I live in Atlanta. There's a lot of industry people out here, my question is how do you guys suggest me getting my music to them?
Also, most of my beat cds are 50 second snippets of the songs, there's no intro or anything cinematic, the beats start off with first verse then chorus. I'm wondering if I should start making intro's and break downs? As stated i have a busy schedule, it already takes hours to make songs, so on an off day where i can hopefully make 5 good songs, if i made intro's, breaks, basically full songs, i'd probably only get 2 songs done on those days. I'm thinking when its time to get into a real studio, then i'll make complete songs, but for now the beat starts (first verse) then chorus plays then that's it. Do you feel it's important to do some dramatic intro before the beat drops when sending off music or just get right into the beat?
I can't seem to find where the major labels are out here, i know many have branches out here. I've tried contacting some people on twitter but they don't follow me back or reply. Do you guys have any tips and meeting industry people on twitter. I know many have thousands of followers, but I'm hoping somebody has some good advice on contacting people on twitter. There has to be a good method.
Should I be contacting A&Rs, Managers of the rappers, etc...? If someone could give me a good starting point of people i might want to consider contacting and how?
I know somebody on here mentioned clubs, going to studios, working with no name up and coming artist..... Well I don't go to clubs, don't have the money or time, lol. Besides i'd assume the big shots are too busy partying at the club.... A lot of the studios seem pretty secure, so I don't know how to get in there, plus there's probably a bunch of producers the artist are already close to at the studio. As for working with no name artist. I know we have to start somewhere and it seems like many start off that way and that seems to be the way of many producers on this site (though i do know we have some super star producers on board!). But, I live in a city where everybody is trying to rap. I've saw so many people signed to these indie labels (neighbor hood labels out here), they've been dropping cd's and mixtapes for years and seem to have absolutely no following outside their neighborhood. I'm not trying to waist my time dealing with those guys. I work a lot, have family, and several obligations, to waist time working with artist who sound like every other gangster and dope boy rapper. So i'm really not trying to go that route unless they have a nice budget behind them. I know that's arrogant to say for somebody who's never even been to a real studio, but i'm getting old, this is my last run, trying to get into the industry.
I totally respect Soundclick, Soundcloud and all the other sites offering open doors for us aspiring producers. But, I don't really want to put my music out there like that. So the route i'm trying to go is to meet artist or people closely affiliated with artist through sites like twitter and myspace. Or maybe if there's some where in Atlanta I go? any suggestions on labels out here...they say Def Jam is out here but I don't see them listed in the yellow pages. A&Rs? Should I contact managers? I heard a manager isn't really going to take you on if you aren't already getting work unless your an artist?
On a side note i wanted to know, do new producers get paid for their beats on mixtapes? I'd assume since mixtapes are often offered online for free by the artist, i'd imagine that producers don't get paid for their mixtape work? I'm talking the stuff that doesn't make the album. I know rappers get to tour using their mixtape songs, but as a new producer/beat maker do you even get a penny for doing the song if it doesn't make the album?
Sorry for this book of questions i'm posting. Thanks for any help and your time.
Ok, so i've been making music for over a decade, in that time i've probably given out 10 cds with my work on it, i probably have 3 or 4 friends/associates i let hear my music. I've dealt with some confidence issues. I once met a big time artist, he gave me his personal number and later told me to email him, by beats. After 2 weeks, i sent a message to see if he had a chance to listen and he said point blank its not his style.
I talked to a couple of rappers on myspace who have worked with Jeezy and T.i. i sent my tracks through gmail and never got a response. Then i let some associates hear it, one guy honestly says i'm sitting on some serious money, another guy says it doesn't sound like rap music, another friend....every time i think i've created some good music, i go over, we have a drink, i briefly interrupt him playing his favorite music and put my cd in and this clown starts talking about sports on other things not even listening to my beats. So i've had some confidence problems. But, I now think i'm ready to seriously start shopping my music. I live in Atlanta. There's a lot of industry people out here, my question is how do you guys suggest me getting my music to them?
Also, most of my beat cds are 50 second snippets of the songs, there's no intro or anything cinematic, the beats start off with first verse then chorus. I'm wondering if I should start making intro's and break downs? As stated i have a busy schedule, it already takes hours to make songs, so on an off day where i can hopefully make 5 good songs, if i made intro's, breaks, basically full songs, i'd probably only get 2 songs done on those days. I'm thinking when its time to get into a real studio, then i'll make complete songs, but for now the beat starts (first verse) then chorus plays then that's it. Do you feel it's important to do some dramatic intro before the beat drops when sending off music or just get right into the beat?
I can't seem to find where the major labels are out here, i know many have branches out here. I've tried contacting some people on twitter but they don't follow me back or reply. Do you guys have any tips and meeting industry people on twitter. I know many have thousands of followers, but I'm hoping somebody has some good advice on contacting people on twitter. There has to be a good method.
Should I be contacting A&Rs, Managers of the rappers, etc...? If someone could give me a good starting point of people i might want to consider contacting and how?
I know somebody on here mentioned clubs, going to studios, working with no name up and coming artist..... Well I don't go to clubs, don't have the money or time, lol. Besides i'd assume the big shots are too busy partying at the club.... A lot of the studios seem pretty secure, so I don't know how to get in there, plus there's probably a bunch of producers the artist are already close to at the studio. As for working with no name artist. I know we have to start somewhere and it seems like many start off that way and that seems to be the way of many producers on this site (though i do know we have some super star producers on board!). But, I live in a city where everybody is trying to rap. I've saw so many people signed to these indie labels (neighbor hood labels out here), they've been dropping cd's and mixtapes for years and seem to have absolutely no following outside their neighborhood. I'm not trying to waist my time dealing with those guys. I work a lot, have family, and several obligations, to waist time working with artist who sound like every other gangster and dope boy rapper. So i'm really not trying to go that route unless they have a nice budget behind them. I know that's arrogant to say for somebody who's never even been to a real studio, but i'm getting old, this is my last run, trying to get into the industry.
I totally respect Soundclick, Soundcloud and all the other sites offering open doors for us aspiring producers. But, I don't really want to put my music out there like that. So the route i'm trying to go is to meet artist or people closely affiliated with artist through sites like twitter and myspace. Or maybe if there's some where in Atlanta I go? any suggestions on labels out here...they say Def Jam is out here but I don't see them listed in the yellow pages. A&Rs? Should I contact managers? I heard a manager isn't really going to take you on if you aren't already getting work unless your an artist?
On a side note i wanted to know, do new producers get paid for their beats on mixtapes? I'd assume since mixtapes are often offered online for free by the artist, i'd imagine that producers don't get paid for their mixtape work? I'm talking the stuff that doesn't make the album. I know rappers get to tour using their mixtape songs, but as a new producer/beat maker do you even get a penny for doing the song if it doesn't make the album?
Sorry for this book of questions i'm posting. Thanks for any help and your time.