Ryan Leslie Interview on Combat Jack

[BiggRome 2.0]

Rome we may have butted heads in the past. But welcome back. FP aint the same without you.

I never had anything against anybody here, lol. I only mess with the smart people.

 

[Zonic]

I totally agree artists should be business savvy and market themselves as much as possible and stay away from the "devil's 360 deal." But to the average 19 yr old pretty girl or rapper who aspires to make it big, they don't know anything about business or marketing. They don't care to put in that work. All they care about is making music.

I know an industry veteran with 30 years experience in the industry that has an independent label. He is doing everything 100% on his own. He has 4 artists signed to 360 deals. Since he is doing everything on his own and paying for everything, he doesn't have the time to promote all of them. He is focused on only one artist at the moment and everyone else is on the back burner. Unless one of them miraculously comes out with a youtube viral hit, they are not a priority. He is currently shopping that one artist in L.A for a major to take her on. He explained the terms of her 360 deal to me and even had a third party in the room witnessing the signing of the contract and recorded it on video to make sure she knows what she is getting into signing a 360.

Let me tell you 360 deals are super F'd up for the artist lol. Her deal is basically 80/20 in favor of his label plus every penny spent in her developmemt, studio time, travel, etc, is recoupable. Any outside ventures and related to entertainment like commercials and endorsements, he gets a piece and a bigger share than her. He basically owns her for life lol.

I told him that's a F'd up contract lol. He explained why it wasn't. He said she came to him with nothing to offer on the table except a pretty face and potential. No social media numbers, no YouTube views, Nothing. So he is bearing all the risk and cost taking her on and spending money and time developing her; photo shoots, demos, promo videos, setting up meetings, etc. He said if she brought something to the table like a large social media following then maybe he would've made it a 50/50 360 deal.

Now that I know how much money and work it takes to develop an artist, I understand why if a jacked up 360 deal is all that is offered, people take it. The grind is hard to make it big. Most people are not that devoted to grind for years eating ramen noodles. Chief, Trinidad, and Shmurda are the lucky ones to have a viral hit on their own.

Personally, i'm not against 360 deals if the party offering it has
the resources to make those extra octopus legs grow...

So if you're going to put me on tour, you're going to work and
land me movies, endorsements, clothing lines etc. then by all
means the label deserves a bigger cut of the pie.

In that example you gave that split seems pretty fair, considering
the fact that the chick had absolutely nothing and they are pulling
in all the work. All she gotta do is show up and do as she's told.

I think the problem people have with 360 deals is that it seems like
labels just want a piece of the pie just because, so it's more like...
"oh we deserve a piece of everything because we made you famous,
but we ain't helping you get all that extra stuff, that's on you".

It's funny when you think about it cause Jay-Z, Diddy and 50 indirectly
created what we know as the 360 deal lol.... i don't know which one
out of the three let it slip in an interview (think it was 50) but he pretty
much said they use to play the labels for suckers... they would use the
money they made of record sales and touring to fund their side projects
and then use the music video budget to pretty much create commercials
out of their stuff (rocawear, g-unit clothing etc). The record label started
to see that they were making not only faster but more money and wanted
a cut lol.

 

[Zonic]

Great example. TechNine is another example of an artist with a great manager. I saw his documentary and he actually recruited the guy to be his manager after noticing how business savy and honest the guy was. 50 Cent would be a great manager but he's got too many other things on his plate like movies and being a boxing promoter. Even Game realizes now how much money they were making under Fif's guidance. That's why Buck ran back to G Unit first chance he got. I remember 50 saying something like Buck cleared 6 milliion in less than 2 years with him. That's great for an artists of Buck's caliber even though that figure seems like monopoly money today. It's a whole lot harder to make that amount these days.
One thing I did notice is Ryan Leslie seems a little dishonest with his marketing gimmick. He's giving out his email and phone number one minute to fans saying call me I am accessible, then a minute later he says buying his cd increases the chance he'll respond to the fan. He then finally admits it's physically impossible for him to read all the emails and respond. Haitan Jack told him he reminds him of an evil genius frpm comic books who becomes a villain because the world has slighted him(lol). He does seem like he's trying to be something he's not though when he mentions trading bars with Raekwon and Pusha T, the concert at the European Castle etc... I think he's trying too hard to be accepted in the urban community. Coming in contact with P Diddy, the cassie situation didnt help. I'm sure he was trying to be cool being something he's not trying to impress her. He should just be proud being a talented intellectual. The cool guy image in the shades is a stretch.

I ain't even mad at what he's doing lol...

I think it's pretty smart. Dude knows R&B in 2014
is pretty much dead, he knows that to make money
all you need to do is get a handful of fans that will
gobble up everything you put out, he knows that
fan experiences, now, more than ever matter...

The castle thing is exactly that, a fan experience...
The fan that purchases a ticket to that little castle
show will remember that shit for life.

 

[benji2]

Personally, i'm not against 360 deals if the party offering it has
the resources to make those extra octopus legs grow...

So if you're going to put me on tour, you're going to work and
land me movies, endorsements, clothing lines etc. then by all
means the label deserves a bigger cut of the pie.

In that example you gave that split seems pretty fair, considering
the fact that the chick had absolutely nothing and they are pulling
in all the work. All she gotta do is show up and do as she's told.

I think the problem people have with 360 deals is that it seems like
labels just want a piece of the pie just because, so it's more like...
"oh we deserve a piece of everything because we made you famous,
but we ain't helping you get all that extra stuff, that's on you".

It's funny when you think about it cause Jay-Z, Diddy and 50 indirectly
created what we know as the 360 deal lol.... i don't know which one
out of the three let it slip in an interview (think it was 50) but he pretty
much said they use to play the labels for suckers... they would use the
money they made of record sales and touring to fund their side projects
and then use the music video budget to pretty much create commercials
out of their stuff (rocawear, g-unit clothing etc). The record label started
to see that they were making not only faster but more money and wanted
a cut lol.

The label doesn't negotiate side deals for the artist. The artists were signed for their music. A 360 deal is just backup for the label just in case they get lucky and land a 50 Cent, Ice Cube , Dr. Dre,,Jay Z, Lady Gaga etc... ..artists who can act, run their own film company, sign endorsement & licensing deals etc... That's why a good manager is still required.