***How To Get A Placement***

This is a great thread I can post up some of my experiences when I have more time. But this needs to be at the top of forum homie
 
very good info. thanks jackpot and legal dollaz. i just copied everything good onto notepad on my pc.
 
Thanks for all the info. This is why I love this forum sometimes. We need topics like this everyday.
 
I gave up on the majors about 5-6 months ago, as my sole measuring stick of success.


I took a realistic look at the stats of what records were actually coming out, what numbers they were doing, etc.


I realized that music is more popular than ever, and that major label spots and checks are decreasing damn near exponentialy...


So I put my briain into overdrive, came up with a business plan, and I'm about 2 months from taking my ideas to market.


Placements?? I'm no longer worried about placements. My focus is creating revenue streams from my talents...major or minor.



I'm not trying to get a plaque, a Grammy, and a radio hit. I'm trying to change this entire game from a business perspective...


...like walmart. Yup. I'm trying to walmart the game.
 
Jackpot ProductionZ said:
I posted this in another thread but I don't think it will get any real recognition so I'll re-post it here. Now keep in mind....there's hundeds of ways to get a placement. Sometimes it may take a long time and sometimes it is very quick, sometimes it may be 6-9 months before you get another placement once you've placed, others it could take a few years. Politics & relationships play a big factor as well.......

All of you anti-industry cats who think you're above the system might as well quit today and not even waste your life chasing something you fundamentally aren't even prepared to work for......

For others, this is some insight to answer a few questions on how some placements can happen.......

-SCENARIO-
"Here's a scenario of how a placement can happen."

Let's say it's 2009 right? Let's say you moved to Los Angeles in January and you have no idea what to do and know nobody. You signup with Ascap and they send you some information about up & coming Ascap events coming up. You go to 2 of the Ascap events in February. Now let's say you have your DEMO CD with you when you go, you dress accodrdingly and keep professional at all times.

You meet a person who is managing a couple artists and producers and you present your DEMO to them. They call you back a few days later and tell you they are feeling your music and would like to sit down with you and talk about possible management. So you go sit down with them and details get discussed and after a week of having the contract looked over by your lawyer you sign.

The manager invites you to a few studio sessions at a very well known studio. During those sessions you run into Fergie, Will I Am, JR Rotem, Jasper Cameron & a rep from Interscope. Your manager formally introduces you to these people as they come and go as his new producer, tells them you're hot and that you could be the next big producer. Your manager pays for a couple studio sessions for you over the next couple weeks and you meet more and more people and get your name circulating throughout that studio.

Then one day your manager tells you that Akon is in the room next to yours and him and Akon have a good relationship and that he'd like to invite Akon to listen to a few of your tracks. Akon kindly accepts, your manager pumps you up to Akon to show confidence in your music. You play 5 or 6 tracks for 45 seconds each. Akon tells you he is really feeling the 3rd track you played and if you could send that over to him he'd love to write to it.

Your engineer mixes the track a little and gives it to Akon. 2 weeks later you learn that Akon has demo'd up a song to your track. You're excited and hope he keeps it. During this span you meet more people at events, studio sessions, concerts, etc. 4 months later you learn your song has made the cut for Akon's album and they send over the paperwork, split sheets, etc. Akon's album is released in December of 2009 and goes platinum, you are now getting some nice publishing checks.

Your track gets some mention around Akon's camp and others and the Interscope rep who met you a couple times over the course of 2009 wants to sit down with you and offer you a $75,000 Publishing Deal through Universal Music Group.

You accept after a couple weeks of deliberations over numbers of commitments and percentages. During these couple weeks you learn that a song you wrote to one of your tracks was playing in the studio when Tiffany Evans walked by and she asked if she could have it. You now have more leverage for your offer from UMG and they raise it to $100,000 and 12 commitments. You sign and your manager uses his relationships to try to get you on as many projects as possible.

You get your Pub Check in May of 2010 for $40,000 of your $100,000 for landing 2 placements. You come to find out your song on Tiffany Evans has been chosen for a single.......

And the cycle continues.......

There's millions of ways to get placements, get on, etc, this is just one of many possible scenarios.......

Is this your story?

This sounds too specific. Either way, good shyt.
 
Situation: P diddy's tour bus breaks down outside your house. He rings the bell and asks to use your bathroom, as its very urgent and there's a fine for pooping in the bus john. Your mom mentions to him that her son is into music and maybe he could check it out when he's done. P diddy comes out the bathroom and enters your room. He didn't knock. He catches you tea bagging your computer keyboard as your beat is playing. He sees your sacks. He's impressed. U are now the newest producer on the bad boy staff. True story.


That is all.
 
KomplexBeats said:
This is a great thread I can post up some of my experiences when I have more time. But this needs to be at the top of forum homie

Yo... komplex is right.. some is gonna always want an answer to this question.... we can end the questioning and any stupid take about money if ...some make this thread the top one.

How threads about placement have you seen and how many will you see down the line.... just top it out and get it over and we can refer the next guy to this thread....
:cheers:
 
Sorry for the paraphrase Troup, but you said something very profound, when put into a different order -

"I'm not trying to get a plaque, a Grammy, and a radio hit." "My focus is creating revenue streams from my talents...major or minor."



See, this is how you make yourself a career in music, not just a few quick bucks.
 
Got A Point!!!!!!!

j.troup said:
I gave up on the majors about 5-6 months ago, as my sole measuring stick of success.


Yeah I agree with Troup...

As a person with serve ADD, I don't function well under the thump of others. So.... placement hasn't been the biggest deal for me lately. I would read all these books and articles.... (I got ADD) for days. I figured I rather make the avenue for myself and others to get paid. Everyone usually enters the game one sided saying they gonna do this and that. In truth within a certain time you can do everything.... people like Timbo and the Neptunes proved that ... That's why I bless Legal for putting it out there that .... this business is like quick sand... you don't want to fall victim... That's something we forget a lot of times. This is why we see most of these entertainer doing all these ventures .... This is not a get rich quick thing.....And you'll be very lucky if you make it to the top. So when someone says do it cause you love it ... you should listen. Doing music for any other reason will only end up mind fuking you every waking day. With that said I'm gonna tell ya'll both my stories of how ... I almost got my foot in the door... once as a singer and then as a producer.
 
scenario:
[yes this is 1 of my situations]

your boy tells u he knows this dude that raps- he met him at the HipHop Soda Shop and came to find out that he helps run it - they chilled for a good portion of the night and he mentioned your name 2 em and go his email address. the next day he sent over a few tracks you had sent 2 him 2 get some feed back on.

the guy replies, going nuts over the tracks your boy sent. he says he wants to use them for a mixtape hes doing. being kind of skeptical your boy calls u up the next day and tells you situation.

your put in a position to where you gotta decide should i take the risk?

after a week of thinking it over you decide to let him use the tracks for his project knowing that it wont generate any revenue for you but in turn create a buzz and demand for your product.

the mixtape drops and was a datpiff featured release for the time being. the aritst did a few shows and perfomed some songs from the mixtape. eventually people started to take notice. they wanted to know where his production came from. you had like 6 tracks on the mixtape so your beats created the sound for the CD.

next thing you know you have other artists emailing you and giving you calls inquring about your music.

1 year later after the above mentioned situation happens the same artist you worked with initially gets signed to a label based in California and 1 artist you worked with because of him was promoted to be the president of the record label. go figure.

so now you do songs with the two of them and you get some pretty good $ considering you gave away beats in the first place.

its all about picking your battles. work smart not hard.
 
How I almost got my foot in the door.

When I first started I was singing in a Latin Rap Group called Ilusion Profectica. Well at the time we had been grinding for about 2 to 3 years. We did shows in New Orleans and opened up for Guanabanas and Magic Juan. And anytime some artist came... we gave them our DEMO with all the information... we did not have an internet page or did we do internet promotion. We was a local latin group with a small small market.I would tell we need to get out of New Orleans cause we was not gonna make.... Anyway I get an e-mail from A famous A&R from Sony Tropical....Dude starts asking me do we write our own songs and can I send in my demo ... and we was going back and forth. At the time group had split apart ... but I knew I could get everyone on the same page...long story short...I let dude know the deal with the group ... he replied once on a positive note and that was it .... the emails stopped.... I could smell the money with every key stroke and then nothing.

After Katrina... I came back as a solo artist and push a mix tape... at the time I just had gotten affliated with BMI... so I was on the move ... I got in contact with a BMI director who had been involve with some of my favorite Merengue Rap groups from back in the day. I sent him my mixtape he replied. I told him about the A&R story and he told me that that A&R was a known snake in the grass and could not stand him. He then told me if I was ever in New York to hit him up. cut to about a 1 year and a half later ... I contact him and tell him I'm no longer a singer ... I'm just producing now...he says great are you coming to New York..... I wasn't but I told him yes and booked a flight. Went to my Aunts in the Bronx and shortly after went and had a meeting with him... I was waiting outside the office for an hour... and I was on time. Not to mention I'm not from New York ... and everything went like clock work to get to the BMI building.

Anyway I get in play my stuff from when I was in the group and he goes ...DAMN... are y'all still doing this ... I was like ... No... His face hit the floor. I played my beats ... he would listen for like about 30 secs... and did not even crack a smile. I thought I was done for. Then he turns around and says he liked all my shyt and sorry that the group was broken up cause we was hot. So he open his roll a dex and proceeds to give me 3 contacts and calls this big named producer in front of ... I freak out ...I was like damn... it's so easy I'm in... but the dude was in miami doing a video for his new release. And it was gonna be a week before he got back.. I had to get home in 2 days cause I was going through somethings. Anywho I called the producer later that night and let him know the deal so...he said cool send me your demo. I did ....and then no repsonse and the producer changed his number ...also the other contacts were a bust too. I was sick for a month. That shyt cost me a portion of my student loan.....

After that I decided to focus on becoming a better producer....
 
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Kaminota said:
After that I decided to focus on becoming a better producer....

And this is the post important part of the post because its smarter to focus on what you do have control of (ex- becoming the best producer you can be) than to base your success on what you have little control of which is filled with a bunch of 'hopefully' and 'if only' etc...You don't hope for success you BUILD your own success. If you wait until you get a $50,000 check to start putting money away in your savings you may never save a penny in your life. If however you save a penny every day of your life you will have OVER $50,000 in your savings sooner than you think. Stop daydreaming about the success of Timbaland, Dre, Swizz, etc that was all built off of a old industry business model that doesn't apply to you. Instead challenge yourself to build your OWN industry so you can become 5 times more INFLUENTUAL than all of them combined!
 
Alabaster said:
Sorry for the paraphrase Troup, but you said something very profound, when put into a different order -

"I'm not trying to get a plaque, a Grammy, and a radio hit." "My focus is creating revenue streams from my talents...major or minor."



See, this is how you make yourself a career in music, not just a few quick bucks.


Yeah... I get kinda scatterbrained when typing on the iPhone...


The way that I see it, is fairly simple math, when you know how to quantify what you're seeing go on in the world...


1) Downloads and the Internet are making the major label concept shrivel up and die. There are less and less spots on major albums every day, paying less and less money...

(why you think MJ is announcing tour dates, instead of announcing a new album?)


2) There are more and more "producers" chasing less and less major spots...and all they are doing is making it harder on the truly talented people to have any type of leverage due to the (Peter Producer makes beats too yanno..." line of thinking.


3) looking at the popularity of sites like YouTube and myspace and soundclick among musicians, it's clear to see that people would rather make their own music than buy someone elses. That's evident by the fact that you have leading consumer electronics store Best Buy moving into Guitar Center's lane, selling music instruments.



So putting those facts together, it's clear where my focus should be. And that's exactly where my focus is right now...on the market segment that actually HAS money, and is GROWING!


Just have to complete the plan of how to maximize revenue and minimize risk, and I'll be set.


I've set a date of June for my venture to pop off.



Can't depend on other people, cuz everytime I put my career in someone elses hands, they drop the ball.


My time is NOW. And I'm about to get it.
 
The fun thing about this is everybody can have their own definition of success and the goal is to know what you want and take the best approach. My previous posts refer to those that are looking to have a lifetime career/business in music. However most are not looking for that, just some form of fame justification. Here are a few definitions:

1) Success to me is working with one of my favorite artists. Anything else is cherries on the top

2) Success to me is getting to meet some of my favorite producers and vibe with them in the studio. Anything else is cherries on top

3) Success to me is having one of my records played on the radio station. Anything else is cherries on top

4) Success to me is finding, developing and breaking a new artist who can make me enough money to go back to college, become a scientist and quit the music business

5) Success to me is getting a record deal period.

6) Success to me is having L.A. Reid and Doug Morris know me on a first name basis

7) Success to me is getting 500,000 views on You Tube or 50,000 or worldstar or the main caption on mediatakeout

8) Success to me is to have a gold/platinum plaque on my wall to show my parents I 'made it'.

I can go on and on and on. Feel free to add on
 
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9) Success to me is getting to a spot in my career where I can make a modest living off making beats, producing people, and any other avenue I find of interest.

I'm talking about some where under 60,000 a year max. Don't want your fame and don't need your wealth. Just want to live good doing what I love. It would probably be less if I did not have a mortgage to pay.
 
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