Saturday, February 23, 2013

Business or Hobby

  So since my last post I have had several discussions with some rappers that feel my views might not be right in the context of the business today.  They have told me I am out of touch.  I disagree completely.  I also have been told that too many rappers today look at music as more of a hobby than a business, thus why this blog post is being written.

What are some things that make music a business vs a hobby?

1. Quality of recordings.  Rappers today do not feel the need to pay money for an actual sound engineer to mix and master their music.  They feel that their $300 mic and closet setup are good enough to sell records.  There was a thread on the Faygoluvers forums about Fruity Loops which touched on this.  It was the view of one of the participants that in his studio he could get a recording 96% perfect so why should he pay money to get it to be 99% perfect.  My answer is simple, his mixing and mastering is no where near 96%, at best he puts out 60% as for the quality of the recording.  Not because he doesn't have the skills but because he doesn't have the compressors and other equipment needed to even out and fine tune the tracks properly.  95% of rappers today do not know how to properly level the music and vocals so they are even and sound the best they can.  A trained and educated engineer can do that and more.  I have had a few people I work with that thought their recording, mixing, and mastering were on point.  Then I take their track into the studio with a pro engineer and when I am done they have realized the difference immediately.  If you are not willing to pay for quality you think of Rap as a hobby.

2.  Fan base.  If you are the hottest rapper in whatever city you are in that is good on you.  If no one except people from your city know you, you are doing it wrong.  To move from this being a hobby to a business you need to expand your fan base, do shows in as many cities and states as possible, and put in the work to get your name known by more people.  The fans worldwide should eventually know you and what you do, if that isn't happening, you think of Rap as a hobby.

3.  Performance.  Most new rappers need as many performances as they can in the beginning to shake the nerves, get used to the stage, and learn how to play the crowd.  The problem is rappers who don't learn anything while doing these performances.  If you do a show once a week and never change what you are doing, you are wrong.  You should grow with each and every performance.  You should have people around you willing to tell you what worked and what didn't work in the show.  Accept criticism.  No matter how long you have been doing this business there is always room for improvement.  There is always a young guy or gal on your heels that will some day pass you up.  The time most rappers spend at the top is relatively small in comparison to how long they worked to get there.  If you are happy doing a show once a week, never making things better, and surrounding yourself with yes men, you think of Rap as a hobby.

4. Money.  The number one thing that shows you consider Rap a business and not a hobby is money.  If you are not spending money to improve your product with confidence that it will be returned you are destine to fail.  We all can say all the time "I could get paid nothing and I wouldn't care.  I do it for the love of the music"  That's great, does love of the music pay the bills?  No it doesn't.  In any business if you forget that making money is your number one priority you will not be in business long.  I do believe you should make the music because you love it.  You shouldn't be afraid to make money or make music that will make you money.  If all you care about is the "Love" of the music, you think of Rap as a hobby.

I have encountered quite a few underground rappers who, for lack of a better way to say it, suck.  The quality they put out is sub par, their performance on stage is horrible, and their ego is way to large for where they are in their hobbies.  That is the point of this blog really.  Stop making music if it is a hobby.  If you cannot commit time, energy, and money into making a product that makes you money, then don't.  The underground is so flooded with egotistical half talented hacks and it is making us all look horrible.  There are some shining stars and even they get hated on for the money they are making.

All businesses start out as hobbies we enjoy.  The time hobbies become businesses is when you focus your efforts on making money.

MMFWFL,

Juggalotus

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Friends are friends and Business is business

  Over the past few days I have had a few conversations that bring this point to light.  The first was with one of my friends.  We had a disagreement about how some business should be handled.  While discussing business we both got annoyed and aggrivated with the other person.  This led to us not discussing the problem but getting into stuff that had little to do with the actual issues.  After some time I made the point that he is my homie but business is business.  That made something click in my head.

  Then a day or so later another friend of mine was discussing some concerns he had about a member of their group.  The basics are this, his life is falling apart.  His girl left him, he lost his job, etc.  The problem is that this group has a lot of offers on the table which do not include this member.  My friend was having a hard time cutting him out and I completely understand this.  He didn't want to make the guys life worse but if he didn't let him out of the group the whole group would suffer.  My advice was simple, friends are friends and business is business, you have to do whats best for the group and have concern for your friend outside of that.

So why am I dedicating an enitre blog to such a simple concept?  Well most people have a very difficult time making that distinction and it leads to a lot of hate, animosity, and ill feelings.  I also got an awesome shout out on twitter for this blog and feel like maybe some people in the business are listening to me and agreeing with some of what I am putting out there.  That being said I have experiences I am trying to share to make the underground movement better and want to reach as many people as I can.

With my military background we were trained to make the seperation of work and personal.  In this business that distinction is not always so clear.  Most rappers grew up with the guys they work with.  Most know all of the dirty laundry of the other and vice versa.  Most cannot seperate their personal crap from the business.  And that is what this is a business.  Not a hobby.  Not something to do in your spare time.  Not something you can commit to half heartedly.  This is a business and is here to make money.  Once you let personal feelings get involved in business you fail.  Because at that point you spend more time and energy spreading crap online, in venues, to other people than you do on your product.  A lot of guys find themselves getting arrested and put in jail cause they cannot stop the hate toward the other person, even if it means they lose money and freedom to do it.  BUt in the end their point may be proven but their talents go to waste.

Most of us know what happened to Wicked Wayz.  That is a prime example of what I am talking about.  The personal feelings caused us to lose a talented rapper to gun violence and another to prison.  Not the way any of them wanted it to turn out.

So I will end this post by saying quite simply Friends are Friends and business is business.  If you cannot make that seperation you might want to look at working with other people and leaving your homies out of the business.  Please take time to show love to your friends and respect to the business.  It will benefit us all in the end.

MMFWFL,

Juggalotus

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Hottest rapper in the city of.......

  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

Saturday, February 2, 2013

14th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos

So the 14th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos tickets went on sale today.  In looking at the costs several things came to mind.  Holy crap that is expensive and what is going to draw the Family this years.  So let's take my reaction to each individually.  I will give my experience from last years gathering in my analysis.

Here is the info directly from the most recent Hatchet Herald:

Running from February 1st until March 1st, when you purchase your Ticket from juggalogathering.com for $175 you will receive a free exclusive Gathering of the Juggalos t-shirt! That freshness can actually be seen in the picture above. This t-shirt combo will only run in the first month for the early bird ticket buyers. If you wait until after March 1st to get your ticket it will still be $175 but no t-shirt freshness. A ticket to The Gathering of the Juggalos will get you free parking in the parking lot outside of the grounds and access into The Hatchet Landings. This includes all the shows, all the concerts, all the madness, and free camping!

This was my personal experience last year with this package.  We got into the parking lot fairly quickly.  Then we realized we had to pack all our gear into Hatchet Landings, with out a cart of some kind this took us about 9 trips and a ton of lifting and hauling.  Had we known this we might have put out the $$ for a car pass.

Next is the car pass option.  Here is what it includes besides the ticket and entry:
Car Passes are available for $100. While there is free parking for everyone at The Gathering of the Juggalos outside of the grounds, if you would like to bring your vehicle into The Hatchet Landings then you will need to purchase a Car Pass.
      As a side note, once your vehicle is parked at your campsite that is where it has to stay. For the safety of your fellow ‘Los and ‘Lettes you CAN’T drive around the grounds of The Juggalo Gathering unless it is an emergency situation. This is simply so you can have the convenience of having your car at your campsite and camp out in it if you want.

So with this option and an extra $100 you get the pleasure of not hauling your gear by foot and having more security for you things (a few people got caught stealing last year).  I think $100 is excessive though.

Then we get to those who want to bring in RV's:

If you’re looking to bring in something bigger than a vehicle, an RV or a trailer, then the RV Pass for $150 is for you. It gives you the same sort of access as a Car Pass, but for a larger class vehicle. Same as before, when you park your RV or trailer at your campsite, that’s where it has to stay until you’re ready to pack up and leave The Gathering.

So $50 more on top of the car pass for a larger space.  I saw a lot of RV's getting tagged and damaged.  Nothing extra with it.

Finally they offer Big Ballas campsites:

Finally, for everyone who wants the top dog experience at The Gathering of the Juggalos we suggest the Big Ballas Campsites. The Big Ballas Campsites are a designated area for you to camp that will include an electrical outlet and a water source for your convenience. A Big Ballas Campsite will run you $400. These spaces are limited and there hasn’t been a year of the Gathering when they haven’t sold out quick as shit. So, we suggest if you’re even remotely interested with goin’ in on this site with your homies that you pool your cheddar and get to gettin’ before they’re gone.

This is the most expensive and really only adds water and electric to your rv spot.  So for $400 you get an RV slot with utilities.  Thats it.  Last year many of the Ballas sites had a ton of issues with the utilities and I would say this option is not worth the money for that reason alone.  All of the last three options do not include your ticket so that makes the total cost this:

Camping no car: $175 and a lot of footwork
Car Camping: $275
RV Camping: $325
Big Ballas: $575

Now keep in mind that none of these include the gas and food money.  You are welcome to cook at your campsite but last year if you sold food to fam at a discount so they would'nt have to pay the $7-9 for a plate you were told to stop or be kicked out of the Gathering.  The vendors at the Gathering know this and charge way to much for food, ie a slice of pizza $5.  Then we get to the merch tent.  The first day the lines are insane but the deals are pretty good.  Then after that it is back to the same as buying on Hatchetgear minus shipping.  So at least they didn't raise prices there.

Now on to my second reaction, what is going to draw the Family to the event.  All the years we have had seminars from ICP, Twiztid, Blaze, ABK, etc.  This year will Twiztid be allowed that courtesy?  Perfromances have always had Twiztid headline a night.  Will they get that this year?  Will they even be at the Gathering?  I would say yes to being there but I don't know to anything else.  I guess as the lineup is announced we will see what Psychopathic will pull out of their hat. 

Please don't misunderstand, I went last year and had an absolutely kick ass time.  It was an experience I will never forget.  But that being said, Psychopathic has gotten greedy and forgotten what brought them to the dance, The Family.  In the beginning the Gathering was our yearly release and while it cost a little bit it didn't put us in debt.  I can't tell you how many Los and Lettes I saw on the way out last year with signs asking for rides to all over the US because they had spent their last dollar just to get there.  More and more people snuck in last year than ever before.  Why?  Simple most of us do not have $600-1000 to blow on the Gathering.  I hate that Psychopathic has become this way.  I love the music and principals we stand for but hate seeing the exploitation of the fans.  Twiztid left and has since stood up and reclaimed the Family.  All of their shows still have the magic.  They preach the principals I stand for.

Anyway that is my take on the big announcement today.

MMFWFL,

Juggalotus