 How do you get attention to your music as an artist? One of the ultimate ways is marketing and 50 cent dropped some interesting information on Jay Z's marketing budget. We're going to play this clip of 50 cent. Give me all inside information and we think y'all are going to enjoy it. So check this out right here. When you've been an artist that's been prioritized by a major label, you've had marketing dollars around your launches. If you ask Jay, he's not launching without the money. Exactly. He always has some kind of sponsors. He's seen 444 and everywhere, little buses and all kind of stuff riding around. And you guys said to yourself, when is the last time you've seen someone do that? You haven't even seen it from Beyonce. Pop divas like Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez or Jenna Jackson, those different artists at points have marketing campaigns that reach the excess of 20 million dollars. Major directors are not going to spend that much money on their projects. So they got to figure out how to create campaigns that mirror that. Or the audience doesn't understand. Like their audience will feel like she was so big. Remember how big she was? But they're saying is she had so much marketing. Remember how big the marketing campaign was? 50 Cent was more bars, more bars, man. He he's at the top for just bars and regular speech outside of music when it comes to like game in the music industry and stuff. I really rock with that. But one thing that you mentioned from this, because there's so many points that we can break down from this. The first thing I want to talk about is controlling perception. You brought that up. So I want, you know, you know, give you a perspective on how that relates to controlling perception. Yeah. So the last bar being, you know, what do you say? Fans to be all you remember is artists and how big they were. And what they're really saying is, hey, you remember that time we put a lot of money into the market or the label put a lot of money into the marketing. And so I don't think enough people think about how much of marketing is really just controlling perception by making the artist seem bigger than they are. We do it, right? Like we do it a lot. You know what I'm saying? I sell artists on that all the time when they talk about campaigns. I'm like, yo, sometimes the goal isn't necessarily to get you popping. It's to make you look more popping than you are. So people feel like they're behind and they feel like they need to catch up. Man, I've seen you in all these different places that I pay attention to and know about, like, who are you? I've never heard of you before, right? A lot of times that can be controlled with marketing dollars, right? And so I like that because, like I said, that's something that we stick on to it. Like a lot of these things that we're about to do for artists during campaigns, you know, if the budget is there, the content is there, the narrative is there. It's really just like, yo, we about to make you we about to string this together to make you look more lit than you may be right now. But if it hits right, it's going to click and you will be, you know, you will be lit and it's like so much of that really can't be controlled with just marketing dollars that controls the platforms you can be on, how many other platforms you can be on, how long your ads run for. You understand? Like so many different elements that contribute to that the overall just I guess, pop litmus, you understand, or the overall perception of litmus. And that there's even another like concept that we throw out a lot where we always talk to clients about building omnipresence, right? And so for those who are listening, omnipresence is really just seeming like you're everywhere to a small group of people, right? Or a massive group of people, depending on how big you are. But we always explain to small group of people, but let's just say a target audience, right? Like omnipresence is seeming like you're everywhere to this target audience. And so the more that you can make that happen, which is an example could be, like we said, your posts and content. So I'm seeing you because of that, right? These eight different outlets, I follow a posting about you. I see your ads, I go on this playlist and I see you on this playlist right turn on the TV, you on like Jay Leno or some shit, right? And so you as a consumer start to feel a lot like, damn, this person must be lit. I'm literally seeing him or her everywhere, not even thinking about this is a person like me who's strong. This shit together exactly like this. Yeah, we're going to make sure you hit these accounts five or six different times and have your ads retargeting these people, right? You'll keep posting. So you pop up in the algorithm and then your label go get you on Jay Leno or something, right? Because for whatever reason, we feel like your fans are paying attention to Jay Leno. But literally all we're trying to do is control perception. And it's like he that can control perception, you know what I'm saying? Lily controls the way the fans move. Yeah, that perception becomes reality, right? Because, like you said, people begin to feel like there must be some power, some importance to this thing that I continue to see, right? And everybody feels like this thing is everywhere. Somebody else is saying this is important. So it feels like everybody else is saying it's important. When I see it in enough places, then therefore it has to be important. Maybe I should check it out and be a part of it. That is a real thing. So that perception becomes reality is like is not a phrase for the sake of it. But the point that I think about hearing all that is the risk of not having the same perception when you're at a certain level, right? He said Jay-Z doesn't release without a certain amount of money. And we remember when he did the Samsung deal and it was exclusive on Samsung. Jay-Z's done multiple deals like that, right? Where he navigates and uses some funds and sponsorships or something else beyond the label. Now we know that it's to make sure that the money is there to maintain the perception. All right, not just, oh, this is a cool business move in general. Right. No, I can't risk looking like I didn't hit on the same level I hit on before, because that might be a big level for artists lower than me. But for me, it's a step or two down, which has an impact. And once you have the perception of going down, that perception can continue and manifest it with me falling all the way off. Yeah. Right. So as you navigate, all right, your battle of perception will change. Once in the beginning, you're trying to appear bigger than you are, like you said, right? But then over time, it's all about maintaining because you might not even get as, you know, you might not be able to get any bigger. Yeah. All right. So you're playing two sides, right on the way up. I'm trying to get bigger. I get big enough. Now I'm trying to get bigger and I look smaller. That's the game I'm playing. Let me take a quick second to say if you're an artist trying to blow your music up or if you're a manager, a music professional in general, trying to help an artist blow their music up, I have something that's a game changer for you and it's completely free. As you may know, we've helped multiple artists go from zero to hundreds of thousands of streams. We've helped multiple artists go from hundreds of thousands to millions of streams, chart on Billboard, GoViral, all of that stuff. And we've now made the way we've branded multiple artists and helped them go viral, completely free step by step in Brandman Network. All you have to do is check out brandmannetwork.com. You apply. It's completely free. But the thing is we're not going to let everybody in forever. So the faster you apply, the better your chance of getting accepted. Brandmannetwork.com. Check it out back to the video. Yeah, I also think, too, that clip is important because, you know, how many artists have you heard say they want to move like certain bigger artists, but they don't really understand what's being put into the market. But like he said, if you're a priority, and this is different times we got thought out there, but I'm assuming that clip was late 2000. But, you know, he said, if you're a priority act, but he's spending 20 million on you, right? And then there'll be an artist, someone that's like, I want to move like that artist, but you don't have 20 million dollars. 20 million is different. And like, so that's important context. Because like you see them doing things. You sometimes see things stringing together and you just think that it's just happening by the graces of the universe. I was like, no, but money was spent. I personally have trained myself to assume that any moment I see an artist having was paid for. Yeah. Even if I'm wrong, it soothes my brain, you know what I'm saying? Because I don't try to start racking myself for the answers that ain't going to be there. Right. And like, that was something that just kind of came along as I had like other conversations. I think I told you about it before, but one of my most eye-opening conversations ever was this was maybe a couple of years ago. Yeah, this is like pre-pandemic. And my friend, actually, I want to say his name. One of my friends is a great guy, a great manager, and he's managing an artist that started popping at the time. And he was going to LA to just meet with a bunch of different labels about his artists, and he invited me out, you know what I'm saying? So we could split Ubers, you know what I'm saying? Be cheap. And I remember we were meeting with this one, this one head of A&R, the label, and she's talking to him. And she's like, man, like I marry off or really want to do the indie route. But do y'all have the money for marketing like you think you do? And then my homie's like, yeah, you know, we got, you know, this investor thinking about, you know, we're pulling this money together. He's making this much. I think we can make it happen. And she's like, you know, I don't know, like, you know, do you know how much Dua Lipo spends on marketing? And my ears perk up. I'm like, how much, how much does Dua Lipo spend on marketing? And she's like a lot. I'm like, nah, I mean, I assume that, you know what I'm saying? But like, how much is a lot? She doesn't know like a lot. I'm like, no, but like, what is a lot? You know what I'm saying? She's like, how would I say this? It can be anywhere from six to seven figures a month. I was a bit crazy, bro. Y'all could be spending anywhere from a couple hundred thousand to a millions of months on Dua Lipo, which I get is Dua Lipo. You know what I'm saying? But that was when shit started to turn for me. And I got the argument she was trying to make to him is like, hey, you telling me about this hundred fifty K that you about to get from your investor? That's cute. And that's that's that's three weeks of Facebook ads for us. You know what I'm saying? Like in this system. And I think on one hand, that could be discouraging for as an artist, right? Because, you know, because to them, like one hundred fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money, right? Like you come into that situation and then you kind of hear, like, man, this this number that I kind of aspire for is like a drop in the bucket compared to where it really could be. But on one hand, I also think it's it's motivational. No, maybe not motivation, but it kind of brings you to a sense of reality because now I can assume, OK, they spend at least X amount of money on Dua Lipo, you know, a year I can go start doing some calculations. I mean, is this shit really hitting like I think it's hitting or is it contextual to the amount of money that was spent and maybe my hundred fifty thousand dollars is on par contextually to what I got from it. You know, not the same exactly, but you know, maybe her twenty million got her a hundred billion streams or some shit. And your hundred fifty thousand got you a hundred million. You know, it's not exactly the same, but you know, contextually, it is what it is. So but that conversation, like, bro, when I heard that, I'm like, Dua Lipo spending that type of money, bro, on her digital. That was just digital, bro. Like that wasn't even considering like PR, press, all this other stuff. That's when I was like, oh, no, bro, like artists need to hear things like this because they will go into a situation trying to mimic someone who is spending twenty million dollars and like the budget isn't the same or even the work ethic, bro. Like how many times have we heard artists go like, oh, you know, I want to be like Playboy Cardi. Playboy Cardi doesn't post on Instagram. He doesn't post on TikTok. And it's like, yeah, but Playboy Cardi's label is probably spending a couple of hundred dollars a month. You know what I'm saying? You got a couple of hundred dollars a month. So go for it. If not. Amen. Get back to that content ground. You know what I'm saying? So I like that there are conversations like this to add context to, you know, not even just marketing, because I think we hear all the time like your marketing is important, right? At this point, I'm assuming anyone is listening to this channel have that shit beaten to their brain. But as an artist, one way or another, you come across the conversation of marketing is important, but no one ever gives a number. You know what I'm saying? Like no one ever puts numbers to that shit. It's like, oh, it's important. And then artists are like, hey, so I got a thousand dollars. So I could do what do Alipa's doing. Like, no, no, man. You know what I'm saying? Like you could get shit moving, but like, no, just be real true. You know what I'm saying? Unless some lucky shit happened. But I think that needs to be out there more. Artists need a point to shoot for, you know what I'm saying? Like a number to shoot for, I think, you know. Now, I agree because context is everything. Yeah. Right. Even if it helps you understand that this is why I'm not getting there, but forces you to at least focus on what does my progress look like? Yeah. Right. Or maybe if you can become aware of how much money all these artists are spending on different levels, then you can compare it to the right artists. You know, I'm I'm performing him when I spent my thousand dollars. Right. And that's the beauty of like working with people who do it. Like that's one thing when people ask me, like, what's the value of working with the agency when we work? And I say, look, man. Context is one of the biggest beauties of working with an agency. People like us who have seen multiple things. Because one thing I see a lot of artists mess up on is they will have results and they don't know if these are good results or bad results. Yeah. So I've seen artists stop campaigns early and they were killing it and it's like, no, bro, keep going, but they don't have the context and know it was good. They just know I haven't hit what I want it to yet. It doesn't feel right. And then I've seen some artists think they were killing it and it's like, nah, bro, you need to slow that down, bro. Like, don't waste your money. Right. But we have the context from different genres, similar artists, different platforms, different times of the month, different times of the year. We have all this context. So that becomes one of the like superpowers of working with people who've done it in some form of fashion. Right. Doesn't have to be an agency. It could be a manager who has multiple artists, a label, or you could at least just talk to the communities. We got our community, brandmannetwork.com is free. Hop in that thing. But like context is so important for getting yourself out of this forest. Right. That's what we seek all the time. Yeah. And we go try to have conversations. That was why you kept on saying, hey, yo, but like, what do you mean by a lot of things? We're always searching for context so we can better position ourselves and how we help artists or our expectations for campaigns and some of our other industry aspirations we want to do around artists. So like the industry is in some senses, a dark box. And we try to help as much as possible. Right. And bringing light on that box. Right. But still, there's so many pieces of information to gain and talk to as many people as you can to figure out what they're doing or people that they know are doing. So like that's definitely one of the biggest takeaways. That context aspect of it, the beauty of it, because boy, you know, like when 50 talked about Jay not releasing into unless he had the money to control that reception, but then throwing that 20 million number out there. I was like, man, like that's that's some cash. But you also look at how the older artists are feeling a certain level of pain because they're not getting that 20 anymore. I'm Beyonce and I'm not getting that 20. Even though I am Beyonce and I got to finesse and bring together other deals and things to still mimic a similar level. But yeah, we would love to hear that conversation. We wouldn't want to continue that conversation through in different pies and probably have some people on. But definitely want to know what y'all think. So like this video and comment on this convo. What do y'all think? What's your perspective on it? But on top of that, all right, moving on to the next thing.