The underground rap world is flooded with different cliques, different cities, and different views of "how" this game is played. This has become an epidemic that is eventually going to kill our movement. As a group we all should understand that we should be united against those trying to shut down what we are doing. The "Mainstream" is never going to understand what we are doing. Should that make us hate them? Should that make us take focus off of what we are doing to "make a statement?" If you answered no, congratulations you got the right answer. If you did answer no then why should what anyone else is doing in the underground affect what we do as musicians, producers, and promoters? You might be asking why I am dedicating an entire blog to something that should be common sense. Well the answer is simple, I see a problem and if someone doesn't speak up then we all will fail.
Here is the problem: We are so busy fighting amongst ourselves and fighting against the mainstream we are failing to protect ourselves from being taken advantage of. By this I mean in most cities you have two groups, the underground rappers and the mainstream rappers. Both of these groups proclaim to be the greatest thing in the game in their perspective city. Both claim the other side is horrible. Both claim to be "Making it" yet neither is. Both sides are so focused on the next diss track, the next thing to point their finger at and say look how horrible they are, and the next way to prove how great they are.
My solution is simple, stop focusing on everyone else and focus on what is important, the music! Sound easy enough? Then why is it not happening? Well I am going to break down each part of our industry Rappers, Managers, Promoters, and Producers.
Rappers: If you fall into this category you should be focused on making the best music you possibly can, period. From writing to recording, to performing you are the face of your brand. If your focus is on managing, merch, setting up shows, etc. you are going to fail. No one can do all of that and still make great music. You should hire a manager you trust. Someone who can take those responsibilities and make decisions that are best for you as a solo or group act. By "hiring" the right person you can focus entirely on making your music better. Yes it will cost you between 8-12% in most cases (if they take more than that you are getting ripped off) But hiring the right person will make you more money in the long run because the more money you make the more money they make. The next thing you need to focus on is recording. There is no shame in going to a professional studio to record or mix and master your music. The money you put into your product will directly reflect the benefits you get back. If you invest nothing and record in your basement your product is not good enough to make people want to buy your product. Believe me when I say I have worked with many people who found this out because I required them to go to a pro studio. Yes I found a place where cost vs quality was a great deal, thats what a good manager does.
Managers: Your focus should be on making deals that benefit your acts, not yourself. If you focus entirely on you then your acts suffer. You should be dedicating your time to finding better costs for recording, finding more shows to showcase their talent outside of your city, sending out demos to labels and businesses for promotion and/or contracts and reaching out to other artists for collabs. All of these things will expose your act to a broader audience and gain them noteriety in a much larger base. Once the deals come in you will start making money. The one thing you shouldn't do is rape your artists finances. Yes they are responsible to pay the costs for recording, travel and merch at first, but working this right can allow them to get paid in time and have those costs covered by other companies who sponsor your groups. The last two things any great manager should have is integrity and honesty. These two things will make you a valuable asset to any rapper.
Promoters: If you follow my blog you will know that this section of the business pisses me off more than any other. This is due to my experience with these people. The main problem I see in this field is charging artists for timeslots on shows. I see no problem with requiring an artist to say purchase a certain number of tickets from you directly and then in turn when they sell them they get their money back. Doing this it does not hurt you in any way. You are still getting money for the tickets and the responsibility to get them sold falls onto the artist. You should not be charging $250-400 to someone who is strapped for cash to lock in a 12-15 min slot on your show. This has been a huge epidemic in our industry. Artists think that they have to pay these fees to play, this is WRONG. I do understand you have to make money and have people at your shows. By giving the artist a cut of the ticket sales they become motivated to sell more tickets. If they can just pay $200 for a slot what is their motivation to get people in the door? This now becomes your problem. They don't care if people are there or not. By making them invest in the show they will fell more responsible if no one shows up. They will lose money that they could have made. This is huge motivation that will improve the attendance in your show.
Producers: It is ok to charge rappers to record and mix and master. The problem is if your equipment is low end your end product is low end. Invest in quality mics and software so the product coming out of your studio will be better received and make people want to buy it. The more quality recordings you send out the more people are going to come to you and spend money. Much like the rappers I feel like the money you invest in your studio directly impacts the money you get back in profit.
If you have read through all of this please understand I love this business. That is exactly what this is, a business. If you don't look at it as a business you will fail. Leave the street tactics out of the business. If your focus is not entirely on these things you will be spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Rappers need to stop worrying about everyone else. Managers need to be concerned with making their acts money. Promoters need to stop making all their money back off the opening acts and learn how to properly and honestly make the money. Producers need to be reasonable in the amount they charge. If we all focus on these things we will be successful. And success is the best revenge to those haters we all have. If you have haters you are doing something right, don't let their crap stop you.
I have nothing but love for the underground and the movement we are a part of. I am not an expert by any means but all of these things I speak on are from experience.
MMFWFL,
Juggalotus
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