This is the most important document for producers

because truthfully, it's because they don't look at it as a career. they look at it as a hobby, an escape from their actual day job. they say they would like to do it for a career, but to them, in their minds it's nothing but a pipe dream. they think that if somehow magically they 'get on' it's because of talent.


talent is nothing but a prerequisite. everyone in the industry has talent, talent is no big deal. it's about business, not talent. it's like a being a pitcher. talent is like you can throw a fast ball at 90mph. cool. but if you can't control the ball, talent (90mph fastball) doesn't mean anything.

knowing the business is control, and without control you have nothing
 
dwells said:
because truthfully, it's because they don't look at it as a career. they look at it as a hobby, an escape from their actual day job. they say they would like to do it for a career, but to them, in their minds it's nothing but a pipe dream. they think that if somehow magically they 'get on' it's because of talent.


talent is nothing but a prerequisite. everyone in the industry has talent, talent is no big deal. it's about business, not talent. it's like a being a pitcher. talent is like you can throw a fast ball at 90mph. cool. but if you can't control the ball, talent (90mph fastball) doesn't mean anything.

knowing the business is control, and without control you have nothing
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church.

when you say "knowing the business", does that mean knowing trivial stuff like, who is "hot" & what is playing on the radio / reading hip hop magazines like The Source, having a myspace music, and creating music that you think "people are looking for"???

do you think that people even know WHERE TO START learning the business?
 
No most people don't know where to start learning, they dont understand what resources they have. and if they do realize some of the resources, they don't use them right. Obviously, the internet is a great resource, and this site. but there is a lot of bullshyt on the net and on this site. alot of wrong made up information. The best resources are in your back yard. your community. Unless you live in a completely rural area you have many resources. Every city has what people need to learn. Every city has an entertainment industry. everycity has working djs, every city has radio and tv, every city has clubs and concerts. but most people think you need to got to NYC, ATL, or LA to do music business. wrong. I'm from a suburb of Chicago and I know the business pretty well, I know many industry people from major label presidents to artist to producers. I learn most of what I know in my own city. and anyone from Chicago knows how screwed up the music industry is in chicago. it is beyond fvcked up. I really first built with working djs. they are the easiest to access music industry professional. remember, they get paid to play music. many djs career is a dj. nothing else, they just dj and they get paid well. build with all you can, this is a relationship business. it's not networking, it's building friendships. and learn everything you can from your new friends. your new dj friends will introduce you to some artists friends of theirs, some local artists. learn everything you can from your new artist friends. they will introduce you to their producer friends, learn from them, they will introduce you to their manager friends. learn from your new manger friends, they will introduce you to their radio station and club promoter friends. they will introduce you to their out of city music industry friends, build with them, and so on and so on.

This was what I did. I just got many friends. and I learn from them. The world is very small, someone you know knows someone who knows someone who knows the President.

Hell a friend of mines friend is friends with Obama. you just got to get out and make new friends.
 
[F_or_DEAF] said:
but doesn't that create a whole bunch of "I OWE YOU'S" and unnecessary potential overhead?
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how? I don't do I owe yous, I don't do credit.

I'm not saying give shyt out for free all the time. In highschool, I smoked a little pot. I had a friend who I bought from. we were friends. I wasn't trying to score free pot, no , I bought it. sometimes he didn't charge me, but I never expected free anything. we were friends, but I understood he made money from it. samething. you sell beats.

I have many artists friends. back in chicago. people also knew me as a producer. I wasn't trying to produce every artist. that is just a bad idea. I'm very picky with my music because it is an asset.

Some artists are better than others. some I'll work with without charging them upfront. I only do this for these reasons:

1. I know the artist is dope and he/she already has a buzz, and I would get exposure from it.
2. they did something for me and I'll returning a favor
3. I am anticipating a favor that i need in the future, and this person repays favors.
4. practice. until you know what you are doing, why are you charging?
5. I'm doing a favor for a close friend. someone who's been looking out for me
6. with my really really close friends, I don't care about money. for my 'family' my time is meaningless.
7. I have other reasons here and there.


Remember young jedi. this is chess, not checkers. sometimes to win you need to sacrifice more then your pawns.

you don't need to work with all your friends, I'll help all my friends, but I may not work with all of them.

I would say I can thank my relative success on djs. then other producers and artists.

I have many people who 'owe' me. I helped them to the next step one way or another. I have friends who are A&Rs who owe me. but I don't care. because they are my friends and because they are my friends they don't owe me anything. but if I need a favor they will help me and if they need a favor I'll help them. but friendship is based on giving. friendship is a two way street, you got to give and recieve. that's just the way it works.
 
Good (and useful) thread...my split sheet is more fancy done in excel w/ boxes & the whole 9 yards but more people need to be up on this
 
Ahh SPLIT SHEETS! I should have created a simple layout like this. Ive allways used random paper. Do you think i looked like an ass for whipping out a napkin split sheet?
 
Would the artist be included in the split sheet because i only saw the writer and producer mentioned ?

And also is their any reccomended reading for the legal and business side of the music industry ?
 
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Thanks Dwells, this is right on time because I'm starting a label and will be releasing music soon and need to figure this out. Everybody is signed for a 50/50 profit split deal. I was wondering should that include how we set the splits on Ascap. I'll name the scenarios for each album so you can suggest common splits. Scenario One: I produced the track, wrote the hook, second verse, and bridge. The artist wrote the first verse. Scenario Two: I produced the track and wrote the hook, the artist wrote the verses. Thanks for your help in advance
 
Appreciate it Mad Tiger! Another question do you haveto have both writer and publisher accounts with ascap to register a title? I have both but my artists don't.
 
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