Pay For Play

[Iron Keys]

Dropping this here, but to those unknowing, please know this is certainly not anything new and has long been practiced; majority of those organic 'oh she just posted videos from her bedroom and became a megastar' stories are engineered and manufactured by marketing teams, managers and A&Rs, and often at best have loose-links to the truth.

There are (or at least were) professionals known as "Radio Pluggers" whose role is to attend playlist meetings and pitch songs to radio producers/djs. Usually a single campaign which last 12 week is about £3000

Just dropping some wiz for ya

 

[Fade]

Yeah it's like way back when DJs would get paid in whatever (money, drugs, etc) or getting into parties and whatnot, just to play certain songs the label wanted to push. This is why there's rappers out there that many people have never heard of and have 400 million views. It's about who you know and the promotion has to be insane.

Same thing with beat makers. There's some well known producers and beat makers that have been around for years, but what's the difference between them and a regular beat maker? Lots of us have experience, but lots of them also know a ton of people from networking over the years. For some of them, it doesn't mean their beats are amazing, it means they got the hook up at one point or another.

 

[Iron Keys]

Yeah it's like way back when DJs would get paid in whatever (money, drugs, etc) or getting into parties and whatnot, just to play certain songs the label wanted to push. This is why there's rappers out there that many people have never heard of and have 400 million views. It's about who you know and the promotion has to be insane.

Same thing with beat makers. There's some well known producers and beat makers that have been around for years, but what's the difference between them and a regular beat maker? Lots of us have experience, but lots of them also know a ton of people from networking over the years. For some of them, it doesn't mean their beats are amazing, it means they got the hook up at one point or another.

Bro, ime one of the biggest moves you can make as a bedroom prod/artist/music biz type person is to go get some fucking contacts.

However and wherever that is.

Whether you go to a music course, or some online thing, or some event where you're going to meet a genuine music business person --- i.e. someone working in whatever position within a major or big indie label or publishing, whether they a manager, A&R, marketing, engineer, whoever. Get them contacts, be a cool person, because once you're 'in' it's a lot of 1-degrees-of-separation, and if you're talented enough, which many are, you now have access.

 

[Fade]

Bro, ime one of the biggest moves you can make as a bedroom prod/artist/music biz type person is to go get some fucking contacts.

However and wherever that is.

Whether you go to a music course, or some online thing, or some event where you're going to meet a genuine music business person --- i.e. someone working in whatever position within a major or big indie label or publishing, whether they a manager, A&R, marketing, engineer, whoever. Get them contacts, be a cool person, because once you're 'in' it's a lot of 1-degrees-of-separation, and if you're talented enough, which many are, you now have access.

We had so many of these discussions in the 2000s with guys like Shadeed and God, to name a few. It's crazy that even now this is the way to go. I would assume it would be difficult in another way today because it's mostly online contacts, plus everything is oversaturated, but the bottom line is networking is key.

 

[2GooD Productions]

We had so many of these discussions in the 2000s with guys like Shadeed and God, to name a few. It's crazy that even now this is the way to go. I would assume it would be difficult in another way today because it's mostly online contacts, plus everything is oversaturated, but the bottom line is networking is key.

God used to always make a point of having your shit together, if you have an album to push then make sure the artwork is professional, it has to look the part, have all your socials in order and have your branding sorted out. Make sure you have a press release ready and have your well written biography in place, and in today's age, most importantly, develop a following on your own.

If you want to get signed and get the big promo, then you have to have a following already. The labels need to see you have what people are looking for, they aren't really about artist development from nothing in the social media age, they are looking for maximum return on minimal investment. They dont want to invest a load of time(and money) in an unknown entity. Unless you are related to somebody and get in through nepotism, then you need to work by yourself to develop a fan base. Yes, connections are valuable, be humble and be respectful and professional in your networking.

Know your worth and dont cut yourself short, if we dont take our time and skillset seriously then how can we expect anybody else to. By this I mean dont undervalue your music. Music takes time to make and years to develop the skills to become good and consistent in our craft. We are craftsmen. Don't sell your craft for less than the minimum wage. I'm talking about people that give their music away for free, or 10 beats for $5 type shit, that doesn't even pay for the time spent making them, let alone the years it took to get where you are today. I dont charge people for my time alone, I also charge for the years I have put into this and the thousands of pounds I have spent getting all the gear to make quality music.

Rappers need to perform at shows to build a fan base, us producers/beatmakers need to go to networking events to meet rappers and artists to complete our beats and make full original songs. Its up to us to find up and coming talent and build a following with them. Once a following has been developed then bigger players might take an interest.

Also use social networking to talk to artists, you never know, a big name artist might just resonate with the beats you are making and you can piggy back off of their success and fanbase as a way of picking up fans for yourself.