 What's going on? It's your man, Cobra. Welcome to the Digital Dash. I'll be giving you guys tips on how to market your songs like adults. Now I'm just booming. Now today I have a very special guest with me, my guy, Arshan. He is a media personality, a journalist based out of Montreal County. Is that correct? Vancouver, Canada. So the west side of Canada. Vancouver, okay, my bad man. So based out of Vancouver, he owns this really cool platform called Kids Takeover. They interview everyone from Holo G to Murder Beasts to Zay Tsovain. Just a really bunch of cool creatives and artists that are currently coming up to the scene, man. So appreciate you, bro. Appreciate you for joining me today and hopping on here and giving us a game, man. Thanks man. Thanks for having me on. I like your content and I'm excited to be here. Appreciate it, man. I'm glad to see you staying happy, healthy, hydrated, washing your hands, bro. That's what we're doing right now. Yeah, man. So I'm real big on just thinking that every person is bigger than their platform or their jobs or what they're doing and that we all pretty much have a story that kind of got us here. So, you know, if you would be so kind as to let us know what got you into the space that you were in today, you know, saying what were you doing before that, what kind of inspired you to start moving to the space of making your own outlet? Right. Well, so I'm 20 years old right now. I just turned 20 and I wanted to be a journalist when I was in high school. But I think like grade 11, I really wanted to be like an on-air personality for complex and hot new hip hop, all those blogs, right? And, you know, I would apply to all those places. I had a YouTube channel where I was just making little videos, but I actually got denied like every single place pretty much. So at some point I was like, you know, I need to do this myself. I need to like make my own media outlet. So at first I would just interview these random small artists. And then eventually, you know, I would just like shoot a DM to every single artist or manager who came to Vancouver. And I'm pretty sure that like one person would let me do the interview. So I got one interview with Swoopy Marjorie, I left from the eight-step mob. And then from there on, I just, I made sure I used that interview to get the next one. And I just kept slightly like getting a better interview. And then from there, you know, I just kind of built credibility. Okay. So it's interesting. So Swoopy was the entry point into it. And you just were using that to leverage other interviews. What is that conversation sound like? Is it like, hey, check out my platform, we got Swoopy, you know what I'm saying? Take me a little bit more seriously? Or was it just hoping that, you know, like a artist would care and at least open up to having a conversation with you? Yeah, I think well, basically the thing is, is like, you know, if you, even if you're like nobody or if you're like kind of nobody, right? If you send out 100 emails, one person will respond, right? Yeah. So my thing was like, okay, I know one person is going to respond to me. So next time, you know, if I want to interview Zaytov, and at least I have something good to show them, right? So I just made sure that the Swoopy interview went amazing. It looked amazing, because that was my only sample of work, right? So yeah, you know, I just showed that to Zaytov's manager. They liked it. I showed the Zaytov an interview to Murder Beats his manager. They liked it. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so what's what has been what has been the hardest interview for you to get? Like, which, which interview stands out in particular? Like, oh, this was a tough one to get. And how did you get over whatever was making that a hard interview? Damn. Um, in terms of hardest to get. Um, you know, the thing is, when you have, when you have like barely any credibility in the start, you, you rely on like DMing manager stuff, right? And if they respond to you, you know, who knows, maybe they might not respond like 10 hours later. So I'm trying to think of it. I think there was a guy named Mr. Easy. He was like a really big international artist that I interviewed. And he's a very nice commission. His team has been nice. But like, the first day I did it, I was going to do the interview with him, I waited like six hours for them to tell me like, you know, he was sleeping in his hotel. So then I had to drive all the way back home where I live and come back the next day and then do the interview. So I guess just, you know, the hardest part is, is waiting and not knowing, are you going to get the interview? Are they just going to bail on you? You know, that's the hardest part. Okay, is it, is it, is it hard getting certain artists to like open up their interviews or getting them to, um, I guess what I'm trying to ask is, I feel like we're seeing that since so many of the bigger outlets or more for lack of better terms, I say like major control and a lot of artists aren't getting the opportunities to do interviews with these media outlets. I personally feel like we're starting to see like less and less media trained artists who really know how to like take full advantage of an interview. Are you, are you seeing that on your end? 100%. Yeah, I can easily tell which artists have been media trained and then which person just like doesn't even want to be there. So I would say like, the more they respect you, the better the interviewers, you know, if they don't know you at all, um, there's just a bigger chance that they're just gonna like slouch and, you know, not really explain a story fully. Um, you just got to like make them respect you. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah. And I get that. Like getting under respect to art, respect to content, want to be on the platform, that type of stuff. So let's keep that same thought in mind then. So let's say I'm an artist and I haven't done a lot of interviews. I'm looking at a platform like yours. I said, you reach out to me, you want to do the interview. What are some of the things that just offer what you've noticed help to make an artist interview stand out or resonate? Whether that be from the standpoint of just being a good piece of content or just to the point of even being something that like their fans look at it like, oh, shit, this was a really dope interview for you. I think every artist, big or small, should look at an interview the same way as the ones they watch, you know, like, would they watch this video if it was coming out, you know, like, let's say I did an interview with a small artist, that small artist should do the interview as if, you know, it's on the breakfast or something, you know, just explain things with stories because that's what people actually relate to. If you just give like two sentence answers and like, you know, things that are just super boring and not different from everyone else, like no one's going to watch your interview and no one's going to connect to it. So like fans, you know, like you will gain fans of people actually connect to your stories, your background. So you got to be able to actually explain that in your interviews. Okay, who's been who's been your favorite interview from like that standpoint? They gave great answers. They did, you know, all the, all the right things. They took up all the right boxes in your opinion. And what were some of those things about the interview that made it just a really good interview? Um, yeah, there's a lot, but I would say, I would say Toby Lou because, you know, he was kind of talking to me as if I was his friend, he wasn't being disrespectful at all. But the best thing is like, you know, if I would say any topic, he would just like bring up a story from back then, like we talked about Juice World. And he's like, oh yeah, you know, I went to school with Juice World and all that stuff. So it's like, you know, you can use those little little clips and like people actually like watch it online, like people think that stuff is interesting. So Toby Lou for sure. Who else? Let me think. Man, I've done so many interviews that I'm just drawing a blank. Let me see. Yeah, I'd say I'd say Toby Lou was the best. Okay, okay. So let's step back a little bit and kind of I feel like a big, a big question that we always get is kind of what point should I start seeking to have these conversations or do these things with these media outlets? I feel like it's a big industry debate of always between like press versus just pure like marketing, like some people were like, oh, you need the blogs, you need the media outlets to cover certain things, to be legitimate, arson it up. Those are those who feel like you don't need the media outlets. You can do your thing without them. What's your stance on it? Where do you see new media outlets like it was kind of fitting into the mode of our career? That's an interesting question. I think I okay, if I were an artist, right, I wouldn't bank on like, oh, I need interviews, I need to have this media outlet mess with me. Because at the end of the day, I feel like the best videos come from the ones that are the most genuine, you know, if I, if I really, really like your music, you know, and I reach out to interview you, I already know the interview is going to be great because I'm reaching out to the person right, whereas like, you know, if you're an upcoming artist and you're just like hitting up every single media, like, hey, that's an interview. I don't think that's the right way to go. I think the best way to go is to try to get that media outlet to like, hear your music first, you know, just push your music. Don't don't go straight to the interview because, you know, people just don't like closing on a first transaction like that. Anyways, just, you know, share your music, find, find out when they're doing like an open mic or like an IG live listening session, get your music out like that. And then, yeah, I think from that point on, just start talking with them over DM or reply to their stories. And eventually, you know, you'll build like a, like a little small relationship with them. And even if they don't do an interview with you, they'll eventually like poke your music or something. So I think it's very important to be in touch with the founders of the hip hop media outlet, or even just like the writers, just like try to be friends with them, you know. Okay. Okay. Let's do it like this. It's going more so the advice, everyone gets in the music issues, like find these people that are easy to deal with because they like you and then just stick it out with them until it makes sense for you guys to do something right. Yeah, because I'm not going to say it's annoying, but it's just kind of weird to, you know, talk to someone for the first time. You don't know each other and they're like, Hey, let's do an interview. You know, it's like you just try to become friends or try to build some sort of like, you know, like like get your music to the first, like try to let them hear your stuff first, you know. Okay. That's interesting about it too. So let's let's say that are there are there are there are these etiquette tips that you would give for reaching out to media personalized or just trying to pitch yourself to to just a blog or any of these content networks, anything? First thing I would say support even if it's in a very small way because I think what what I hate and what a lot of other people who own media outlets hate is when people just ask, ask, ask, you know, without like giving anything at all. So like, like people can tell if you're not like, if you're never liking their stuff or like commenting on their stuff or sharing it, like, you know, and you just you just randomly DM them, they're going to be like, Oh, like, you know, you just want something for me. You don't really like care about my stuff. So show a genuine interest in their blog. And if you're emailing them, I would recommend like mention something specific, mention like a specific like on their blog, you know, when people email me and they're like, Hey, man, I loved in the peer interview where you asked peer born this question, you know, like, I like that. I'm like, Oh, you're actually paying attention to my content. Like, you seem like a core person. Goes back to the support. Like, I know that you ask for attention to me. You didn't just see the interviews or the numbers and go like, Yeah, I need to be on that platform. I need to get to me. Yeah. So for and well, actually, let me back up a little bit. So you said before you hopped into creating kids takeover, you were already trying to be a sports journalist who are moving in that space. Yeah, like a music sports journalist, I really want to just be like an on air personality for someone. For like, all right, I was going to ask, have you noticed any differences in well, I guess let me let me back out there. Well, I want to lead this conversation to support those of who are watching this that wants to grow that on the outlet side. Obviously, thanks to things like YouTube and Instagram, you're able to build out these platforms a lot quicker. I personally feel like then more traditional outlets like a complex or like those networks have. So what are some of the what are some of the strategies that you've been doing from your end that you've seen get you good growth results for kids takeover? Like what are some of the is that is there any particular thing that you do like a strategy to it? Or are you just Yeah, I mean, there's a couple. I would say I would say one of the strategies I use is like, you know, once you do an interview, even if it's with a small person, you have to, even if like, you know, this seems wrong or whatever, but you have to get like that little like click baby, like interesting moment because even if you do an interview with someone that's smaller, but he talks about the time when, you know, he met juice rolled out a concert or something, you know, it's like, you have something to attract more listeners and I'm talking about. So it's like always try to, you know, do whatever type of interview you want to do, like stick to your, to your roots, like what you like from an interview, but try to get one clip that you know will like, you know, be seen by other people rather than like just your audience right now. So so do you prep your interviews with that amount of you have a list of topics that are more like, you know, these are used to pull the sound by itself or you just let the conversation just flow into something like that. I definitely have topics that I just am interested in because I don't believe in doing an interview where you're just getting like drama and stuff, right? But I do always plan one thing that I know is going to get on other blogs, you know, like I always, if I interview Enelie Chapa, right? I was like, OK, I have to make sure I get him to talk about like Roddy Rich, you know, I'm talking about. So I asked him, I'm like, oh, like, you know, would you ever do a collab album with Roddy Rich, something like that. And it got on like some Roddy Rich fan days. And it really helped the interview grow, to be honest. Yeah. OK, that's fine. That's fine. So that's does that play a lot into who you reach out to for your interviews? Like, I know, of course, you said you're reaching out to artists that you like. But are you reaching out to artists that you think like that you see has like a unique side to this story that you that you aren't saying it covered and you want to get them to speak on that or you is it just still purely just I like this artist music. And that's the reason I want to talk to them. Both, I think people ask me this often, but like, here's my criteria for who I want to interview, right? One, it's like, obviously, if they're really big artists, they're doing great numbers. Like, yeah, I'm going to want to interview them because it'll help my channel a lot. The second thing is I have to like your music, you know, like, it just has to be good music. I don't want to I don't like interviewing people that I know suck. So that's that. And then the third thing is that they need to have an interesting story. So for me, it's like, you got to either have two of those three or like one of those three or even all those three. But if you lack all of them, then it just doesn't make sense to an interview because like you're saying that with the story thing, it's like, you know, it's just so boring interview somebody who gives you these like, like one sentence answers. And, you know, if you're not having fun in the interview, there's like literally no point of doing it. Yeah, that's interesting, man. That's that's a great point you brought up. Very great point we bring up a lot is the having the story like stuff artists need to have a reason for you to even want to talk to them, right? Because we'll be we'll get clients and things who want to do press and we'll be like, OK, before we start reaching out to a publisher, something like, what's your story? Because if the story is X Artist Drops new song, that's not interesting to you, right? That is that's the worst story in the world. It's like X artists, you know, wrote this story while blindfolded in a closet and it's like, oh, shit. Now you have something to talk about, now you have something that you will actually want to watch about, right? That's that's a good story right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, OK. New thing, man. So as far as as far as you doing this, man, because I've I've watched you grow this platform, I think, for about two years. I want to say when I first came in contact with it, I want to say was maybe the Toby Lou interview at first like like brought you to my attention. What exactly are you looking to accomplish with kids? Are you trying to get out a more traditional network like a complex or do you see it going more so so towards artists or services type of thing? What's the general goal of the goal of kids take over is, you know, when I when I took matters into my own hands and created kids take over, my main thing was like, OK, if people don't want to give me an opportunity, you got to make yourself. It doesn't matter if you're if you're 40 or if you're 12, you know, like you can make these opportunities yourself. So my goal with it was, OK, I'm going to create this hip hop media outlet because that's what I'm super into right now. But I want to eventually be able to have this brand where I can do anything I want, any interest. If I want to go into sports, if I want to go into clothes, I have this brand to help me do that. So, you know, it's like I'm doing interviews right now, which I always want to do. But eventually, you know, I do want to make clothes like that's been a dream of mine. I do want to go into sports. I want to interview like young NBA players. And I really just want to I really just want to help a young artist, man, because people don't realize like how much potential you have at a young age and how much tools you have at a young age. Like you have everything you need. So I want people to make their own kids take over. I want I want them to watch my content and just be like, All right, now that like pick me back up and I can be an artist. I can be a producer and I don't need to have like some huge cosign. So I think that's ultimately the goal of it. Yeah, that's dope, man. And you're going to be right there ground level with these artists coming up because that's what I like about your platform is like I said, yeah, you're going for big artists, but even the big artists you go for still in a sense, like rising artists, right? Like NLE Chop is big, but he's still not solidified yet. So you're still the platform where maybe some of these other bigger outlets, man, I have the same interest in his story as you would have to your audience or the thing that you want to ask. But you're still going to kind of like push this side. I always thought that was dope, man. I like what I'm seeing so far, man. Thank you, man. Thank you. And I think I always end the interviews. I try to ask questions at least two or three that will like help a young artist that's watching, you know, because it's great for NLE Chop to talk about his new album, right? But people want to hear like, OK, what was NLE Chop doing when he just wasn't getting buzzed? Like when people weren't fucking with him, like what strategies did he use to get more followers or, you know, just just things like that stuff like a young artist would really want to watch. Has there been any particular gem that you picked up for these artists that just like stuck out or something that like, yo, such as I said, there's like every artist needs to know they should. Damn, that's so rough. Like there's probably so many things. I'm kind of drawing a blank, but let me think. Man, off the top of my head, I probably can't remember this because there's so many like gems. Yeah. Yeah, I get it. Going back to I think all the interviews I've seen that Toby Lou interviews probably the one where it felt like, you know, Toby really doesn't care where he's dropping out again right now. Oh, right. I do remember from Toby Lou interview, what he was saying was, you know, he was just talking about how he drove Uber at the time and like he didn't, like, you know, like you had you got to do what you got to do. If it seems like I could be moralizing job or whatever, it doesn't matter. You got to do what you got to do to, you know, get your career going. So I think I really respected Toby said the Uber thing because a lot of artists are just like sometimes they're scared to know if they need money. They're like, oh, I can't work a job, you know, it's like not sometimes you got to go work, be a fry cook at McDonald's and just make some money. You've got to get some recording time and then move like now you have an opportunity. Yeah, but it's like the money got to come somewhere. We know we know you have to spend the money. The money got to come somewhere. We're not we're not sure. I think that was the part that got me too. I was like, oh, Toby, which I also actually I think is one of the cooler things of ours coming up today where used to be so secretive about, you know, all this artist has a job. This is what this artist is going to grow. But ours they are like, no, bro, this is what I did. I was working, you know, 20 hours a week in McDonald's stacking my check up, going to live shows every week and I did this and I was saying that's cool. Like it seems like the hardest on afraid to share the game and others know what it did to get there. Facts, if I was an if I was an upcoming artist or if I got a chance to do an interview, I would definitely mention those things because people can relate to that. You know, people relate to working at McDonald's because they probably get it themselves. Yeah, yeah, that's right, man. That's a good point, man. Let me think, man. I think I think it might be everything I want to touch on, man. Like I said, I just kind of I want to just chop it up with somebody that's working things now from a new media standpoint because we have a lot of people who watch this channel who want to do some of the same things that you're doing. You know, they want to be able to reach out to an artist they like their respect and do an interview. So is that any piece of advice? Any, you know, any words of wisdom that you would give to the aspiring media personality or the aspiring journalist? The aspiring journalist. I would say number one thing I would say is if people aren't giving you opportunities, just do it on your own, man. You YouTube is there, Instagram is there. You can literally do all the stuff on your own. If no one's giving you an internship and let's say let's say you don't want to make your own media outlet and you want to be a journalist for someone, you don't. If no one's giving you an internship, forget that. Use like Instagram as your internship, you know, do these like one-off interviews with people and then show complex like, hey, I did this by myself. You know, I just hustled and I got an interview with Zay Token or I got an interview with like Lil Key or whatever. That will be your resume. So I would say just like use the internet to your advantage, man, because it's free. Well, so, okay, I thought it was it would just make me think of something. So how much of your week is pitching to other outlets? Like, is that something you are like proactively doing? Or do you let clips flow to these outlets and then just run with them? Or are you like pitching stories yourself to these networks or are you pitching clips or are you pitching parts of interviews to these outlets? Well, I have an intern now who does that. Like she basically gets clips, cuts them up and then sends them to outlets. But to be honest with you, when the moment I'm doing an interview, I already kind of know I'm like, oh, shoot, like, this is going to get picked up by Felicia Report. You know, like, I already know because because before the interview, I specifically look at what are these media outlets writing about? You know, what what are the things that are that are getting the writers like attracted to these stories? And for example, I did an interview with Jamal Crawford, right? He's not the biggest NBA player, anything pretty small, if anything. But Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors, I think at that point where they just won the championship. And I was like, I know for a fact, if I asked him about Kawhi Leonard, right, he's going to give me some sort of story, some sort of answer. This is going to get on the report. And that's exactly what happened. Like as soon as I did the interview, I told my intern, I'm like, yo, send this, like, DM this to Felicia Report. I don't care how big they are, they're going to respond. And that's what happened, like Felicia Report responded to our DM right away and sort of like every other hip hop. I mean, basketball. I already know when I'm doing the interview that it's going to get a block. That's fine, but it's all right. It's that muscle, man. You change yourself and they'll like, all right, this is what I need to do to spark something like this is what I've been talking about. This is what I used to say. It's interesting that you said you do the research on whether these outlets cover and so, you know, what's going to resonate with them, what's going to make sense to them and get them to open up somewhere. Post it, right? Definitely, definitely. You got to see like what's already out there and what has already worked, you know, like it's good to try new things and all. But it's easy. You got the internet. You just literally search out the trends that are happening right now and you can do yourself. All right, man. That's fine, man. So let everybody know where they can come find you and come follow you at. It's going to be a lot of arts. I'm sure you're going to reach out to you, chop it up with you. Should it be a lot of other personalities who want to reach out to you and chop it up with you? So let them know the best place to come find you and talk to you. For sure. I would say the best plays would be Instagram, which is at kids takeover IG. If you want to send music or anything, I would just say this email to us. The email is on our Instagram. But don't just send a link. Like, tell me your story. Tell me, like, why I should care. And yeah, you know, just like, present yourself in a good way. All right, man. Appreciate you, man. And I'll make sure to put all of that information in the description below. We'll also have your name nice and tidy on the video by the time this gets all wrapped up, bro. So thank you again, man. Thank you again, bro, for speaking with me, man. We're going to have to do another one of these interviews once you've grown some more, man. So we can do a back track on the process and see if it's in and out, bro. I'm down, man. I'm down, man. But I appreciate it a lot. Thanks, Corey. Yeah, no doubt, man. And as always, if you feel like you're learning anything from this video, please like, share, and subscribe. Hit those post notifications as well, if I want you guys to miss anything. Once again, my name is Corey. This has been my guest, our Sean. I'll see y'all next time. Peace. Thank you, man. See ya. Cool. You got everything? Yeah, bro. That was dope, bro. Appreciate you, man. So awesome. Is there anything else you need on my end? Email me a high quality photo of yourself. OK. But it's done, man. When do you need that by? On the video's not going to go up until next week. So let's say by like Monday and Lays. Video's probably not going to go up at least a week or two. I got to see what we have in the phone. That's why I was like, ouch. It's the network.