THE MUSIC INDUSTRY SURVIVAL GUIDE PART 1

Nowadays everyone and there grandmother claims to be a "rapper" or another sort of musician, not only that 90% of there "emcees" are egotistical and honestly think there the next big thing. One issue with that musicians don't seem to realize there more than just talent that goes into securing a record deal. Especially if your aiming for a major deal lack of talent is sometimes a plus. Still everyone wants to break into the music industry but few have the intellect to do so. So I'm break it down for you. First off i know I'm have people asking how am i qualified to be writing a music industry survival guide. Ive been apart of the music industry in multiple senses since i was 17. When i was in a residential treatment program as a minor i was the resident dj for all party are facility had cus of my aray of music taste. Two years later i started making beats and producing. I was a intern for Atlanta based sky management ran by Aaron martel and ronald Browser (ron g) that has worked with big industry names like beanie man, mase dmx and other big name hip-hop artist. Ive been a street team member for artist like nems, iron solomon, donny goines king magnetic, and more, plus my 7 years as a hip-hop blogger. so i know how both the artist and the label heads work. first off is CREATING A BUZZ FOR YOURSELF One common misperception most inspiring artist have come to think is that social media is going to help you get noticed and secure a deal. Countless artist thinking there big time emcees cus they have 3000 Facebook friends or twitter followers or 100 downloads of there mixtape. How many of those "friends" have actually commented on your music after listing and how many are actually awaiting new releases from you. Probably none if few, and this may not be because your a horrible artist its because EVERY MUSICIAN NOWADAYS TAKES the social media promoting route and people get so over flooded with acts WANTING THERE FRIENDS "to check out the hottest thing your ever here" its gets to the point people don't wanna check you out anymore because there tired of the everyday bugging. If you look in the mainstream industry now how many of the new major artist have u actually head of before they got famous. There not dropping mixtape after mixtape single after single begging fans to take a listen. There either A: dropping one buzz-worthy hot single on youtube that becomes a national sensation without little to no buzz or mix-tapes before hand or B: there hitting the streets the a and r's the label heads, the people WHO ACTUALLY WILL GIVE A LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC. Look at reality. Lets look at the careers of a few select artist. the BLOGGERS FAVORITES Alot of emcees get caught up in this false sense of fame and eventually make it no where. The emcees with blogs take a liking to. There artist have 30'000 twitter followers bout the same amount of mixtape downloads enough buzz to make a blurb in a national pressed magazine witch means a ands r's and label heads should no who u are right? Sad reality its wrong and even if your buzzed on a national level statistics show your most likely stay in the underground mixtape scene. Now alot of artist will prefer this, but theres also the emcee who is striving for the millions of dollars and fans. Lets look at some of the major "BUZZING ARTIST" that have or will most likely fall in the shuffle of new comers daily and never secure the fame they strive for. Chris webby Statistically showing your think there kid already had made it. His mixtape king of the burbs was the first mixtape to shutdown datpiffs servers because of amount of mixtape downloads. He's had songs on mtv rotation has videos with over a million youtube views and national touring. Still no major label backing and its not because he doesn't want it. Most indie artist are bombarded with record deals but deny it for creative freedom on webbys's hand each new mixtape he makes is more suited for todays mainstream market. Its not because hes white either that he hasn't got a deal in the industry now its like every label wants a white emcee, diddys got mgk, macklemore had the #2 album int he country yelawolfs signed major. The reason why i think he hasn't got a deal is for the fact hes trying to hard to fit in the industry witch is what ALOT of inspiring emcees seem to do nowadays. Unless you completely sell out and either become a electronic dance artist claiming to be a rapper or spit elementary rhymes while claiming to be a gangster the industry is looking for original. Then theres the artist who overnight becomes a house hold name ands its most likely cus there hitting industry circles instead of the Facebook circles. before drake and nicki minaj got big they werent buzzing on any radars they just seem to overnight become stars. Thats because they probably werent wasting there time bombarding the streets with mix-tapes and videos they were hitting industry insiders for there big break. Speaking of artist like drake and nicki minaj you'd have to have a strong emotional state. These two are probably the most critically bashed emcees in the game right now yet again you never see them crying and throwing hissy fits because a critic told them there iq has dropped after listing to super-base or best i ever had. You didn't see rick ross or plies making derogatory statements about the people at smoking guns who accused them of being 100% fake. You didn't see images of the writers of smoking guns stating there sex offenders offenders or ect they kept on with there music. so heres my next point. LEARN TO TAKE CRITICISM In both my time as a blogger and a producer I've came across multiple artist who become immature and childish when negative criticism is given to them. This is because like i said most emcees are so EGOTISTICAL they actually believe there music is flawless. When i was still making beats i use to produce for this artist who actually truly believed he was the illest thing on the planet yet again 95% of his bars didn't rhyme and id actually tell him how to fix a bar here how to make this bar sound better and he'd become enrages and threaten me saying he don't need criticsism hes allready dope so i denied him the beats. Alot of producers take pride in the music they make and unless you sell the rights to the beat before hand are entitled to give there opinion on how the want a track finished. Most well respected producers even mainstream don't want there name associated with trashy music either non talented or unsellable. so if the producer is telling you to fix this here or add a line here LISTEN because all you know if he pulls the beat from your album someone else could make a name for themselves off something that could of been yours and your be kicking yourself in the ass in the morning. Also during my 7 year stint as a blogger if pissed off alot of artist for either a bad review or exposing falseness. Thats expected in my field of work like it was said best in the movie "almost famous"And I could be very dangerous to all of you! You should know that about me... I am *the enemy." No artist likes negative criticism or to be exposed as false but its how u handle the situation that will factor. No matter how talented you are no label wants there artist to act like a immature teenager not even there teenage artist. One huge example of what not to do when a critic pissed you off is something that happened to me. I had come across a group of emcees who were paying from blog placement and youtube views first i wasn't gunna say anything not worth my time then they accused another emcee of the same thin so i called them out. 2 hours later theres a picture of me online that stated that i raped my son and it became a local net meme. people just thinking it was a harmless joke. If you did something like that if you were a national known artist you'd be critiqued even more by the public and your label being told your insensitive and probably black listed. the proper way to deal with this is how another artist dealt with it after a article i posted about them being falsely affiliated with national acts. either contact the critic directly and though your manager and handle it like adults. the next point i wanna touch on if your looking for a label make sure it fits your style and make you u present yourself the way u want to be presented PRESENTATION TO THE LABEL HEADS First off make it clear on what you actually strive to be a emcee or a entertainer so you don't waste your time showing something to the label heads they don't want. If you wanna be taken seriously as a artist try to hit either indie labels or labels that have signed artist similar to your style so your not wasting your time at a label that will completely switch who you are. Take b.o.b for example even though he is still a mainstream success he was not creative control of his product. His first single when signed to alantic was suppose to be what become flo ridas right round but dropped the label to creative control. he still got want he wanted fame and a voice. Now if you wanna be a entertainer a clueless label puppet pitch your gimmick hook idias and track ideas instead of hounding the a and r with countless mixtape cus its not gunna matter what u sounded like before but what you sound like now. Show the industry managers live show films instead of your mixtape cus if you cant give a good live show you shouldn't be trying to become a national entertainer. alot of local acts i covered in my blog could not give a live show for shit but they wanna become the next big radio star. not gunna happen you need high energy performances and a out-there personality not just a catchy auto-tuned track that sounds like everyone else. Take this first few steps and adapt them to your career path and tomorrow I'm break down some more for u