 An independent artist who doesn't need any help really means they're poor and cheap. You grew that? Yeah. You say yeah? I agree. That's interesting. My least favorite sentence of the modern decade. Independent and don't need no help means poor and cheap. That's what that means. Independent people don't want to pay for shit. They don't want to invest in themselves. Real independents work their shit like a small version of a label. All right. So he just differentiated right there. He kind of playing tricks right there. Yeah. Independent people, poor and cheap. They don't want to pay for nothing. They don't want to invest in themselves. But he said real independents. So there is a differentiation. All right. But I think I know what he means. New York independents are not like West Coast and Midwest and down south. Mid-West independents and down south and West Coast independents. They got money. Yeah. They're doing it really independently. New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston. Independent me. I don't have no money. Can you do shit? Can you do everything for me for free? Because I'm dope. That's not independent. When I own, you part of my label. You're going to get 59%. John's going to get this Lambo right here. Yo, he killing the sales pitch, bro. You heard that pitch before, haven't you? Sadly, I have. Hey, man. Yo, stop with the sales pitches. You sign me and I'm going to change your life. First of all, I'm a grown able man. I'm not looking for another man to come around and just change my life like that. Don't hit me with a sales pitch if you're going to sweep me off my feet. Don't do that to me, bro. And it's like you only here because you saw something I was already doing. You ain't just reaching out to every random motherfucker on the internet. Offering them that. Offering that shit, bro. Don't disrespect me like that, man. Come on. That too. How many times y'all heard that talk? I've heard it for 20 years. So many times. Any of them bless you back? No. No, and they're not. But that's exactly like look at the marketing, y'all. Oh, then at the end he said if any of them bless you back. See, now he is, he alluded to a whole another issue where some artists aren't necessarily grateful. But that's, but hey, we're going to assume we're only dealing with the tried and true. The good, the good folks, the dope artists who got carried and naturally he put the homies on or whatever you want to say it. The statement though here that we got to address independent artists who don't need any help really means they're poor and cheap. For me, this is a battle of semantics and this is why I talk that no labels necessary talk. It's the same shit. Not because of the, oh, we don't sign to a label, not even that side of it. But I don't fuck with the labels because people use the labels to trick other people. Right? Who's actually independent or not? Right? Now, oh, this artist is independent and I'm being sold a dream that I can accomplish that in the same way that he did it independent. And I'm not really independent, right? Or you got people who are in a deal and they actually do support. I have like label type support and they think they're independent. Right? And so they are, they're not selling the dream like in a lie standpoint. They just don't really know what the situation and differentiation is. So this is why I always say no labels, just build your business the way you want to build your business. It don't matter if someone thinks you're independent or not. Unless you're going to make this your brand and you're going to like, I'm chance to wrap or flying the independent flag or any other artists who are out there making it a core part of their brand, which I think is dangerous. If you don't commit to that long term, you know what I'm saying? It's unnecessary. Yeah. Like independent, like these are all semantics. Do you have ownership? We just talked about Ray Daniels having that clip where he was like, well, some of these artists really don't have them on ownership. They say that they own it, but it's really in a situation where if they don't continue to pay up to a certain amount, they still won't own their masters. So it's the semantic of you literally do not own your masters because I just bought it up off you or you gave it away as a part of the deal. Or you own it. However, like a house, you still need to pay that mortgage payment year after year. And until you finish your mortgage payment, which is still better than the regular deal. I own your shit. Yeah. Right? Like, so I got a house at any time. If I don't pay my shit, the bank's going to remind me who actually owns it at the moment. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Like, but that, but we wouldn't be caught up by most of these tricks if we just paid attention to what's good business or not. And what's the best business decision to make based on where I am. It doesn't matter if this person did this better there or this label, because now I don't want to make a business decision just because it's a label that's been told. Like, I don't want to not be independent because people may be an independent cool. And now I'm afraid to sign. It's all these mental games that people play. And I feel like it distracts from the actual goal, which is do good business. That should be all that she wrote do good business and the people who are quote unquote, poor and cheap. Those are the people are distracted and stuck in the idea is, hey, I'm independent. And because I am independent, there's going to be some people who are out there that look at me as a charity case. I think the sentence that's throwing me off in this headline is that doesn't need any help. Because from my experience, man, independent artists are not shy about letting you know. That, I agree. They need help. I agree. What I was saying earlier is I do hate the way that independent has become synonymous with broke in the artist mind. You've gotten the deals, but they leave with a, hey, Sean, love what you do. I see y'all do great work. I saw your prices, but I'm just an independent artist. Okay, like most of you think we're working with an independent artist. So like, what are you saying here? Which is a, most of the people that we work with are independent artists. People actually don't know that. At least 95%, you know what I'm saying? Like independent. So when people be asking me, yo, how can independent artists get money to do these things? That's why they're like, hey man, I don't know, but I watch 40 people a month figure it out. I don't know where they get it from. I don't ask any questions, but at least 40 a month I see figure it out. Add on top of the artist I see online, who maybe I have a good relationship with to know that back in. Add on top of that, my artist friends who I know their situations very intimately, you know what I'm saying? So I got trained out of that mentality a long time ago. Like probably my first year of being a marketer, but once the first independent artist dropped the bag on me, I was like, oh, so the ones out there do have money. So that's why I agree with the sentences. I don't like that artists use those terms interchangeably. You know what I'm saying? They don't want to say, hey Sean, I'm broke. I can't afford to serve. They want to say, hey Sean, I'm an independent artist and try to guilt-trip you to give them some shit. Not knowing, but the emotional wall is strong. I get so many of these DMs brother. And my thing like, you know, I know some people, especially when I talk, apparently people think I'm just being like hard on folks. But my shit is like the opposite because I see it in terms of like a need for education because I feel like a certain that mentality is hurting you. Yeah. It's not even hurting me. It's hurting you just like the idea of the broke artists, the starving artists. Independent is the new shorthand for the starving artists. And that whole propaganda campaign that has inflicted the creative community has allowed creatives to be cool with not having money and allow other people to take control of the business and take the money. This is where we go back to the idea of no labels, unnecessary creative currency. Your creativity is the currency. It's other people who are trying to convert that currency, but you need to be the one who creates that, converts that currency into dollars, right? But the creative itself is that artists get tricked up out of that thinking that, oh, because I don't have a label because I'm independent, because I'm an artist, not having money comes with this shit. It might be harder to make money than some fields, but we all have to figure it out. Like create creative fields are the hardest to figure out in terms of how to make the money. But nobody is going to care. Nobody is going to care because everybody still is trying to figure it out themselves, even if people in a better position. It's still hard, especially if they're trying to make progress. So like Brett, it's already hard enough to make money. Don't make it worse on yourself by selling yourself this idea that you have to be in that position just because you are independent. That's the way I see it. I agree, man, because that's a lot of independent artists I had figuring it out. And that should be the narrative, right? We can't only hold it against them so much that they only get access to so many platforms. But like I said, for the last three, four years of my life, I've been watching independent artists that come through the agency to figure it out. So that completely changed my perspective of indie artists. I'm like, man, first click for me, too, we had this one client who, I remember did a campaign with us, then you worked on it, it didn't go that great. We gave him a refund and he came back. Oh, yeah. Years later, well, not years later. The next year, did a campaign because he liked the fact we gave him a refund. Apparently, that's this wild concept of music. And I remember like the first two months of the campaign went well. He maybe spent like 10K. And then he was like, how can we gas it? I was like, bro, you got like four more thousand dollars. That shit would go crazy. And then he was like, all right, give me like three months. And he came back with it three months later. And I was like, where'd you get the money from? And he's like, man, I have a production company. I did XYZ and I ran this shit up and I figured it out. And like when artists wanted bad enough to figure it out. Oh yeah. You know what I'm saying? And that's been the biggest thing I've learned. But when I come across artists, I can always tell how bad they want it, by how willing they are to figure it out. Like the money barrier is the wall that stops you. You don't want to harden up. You know what I'm saying? But the ones that see the wall, they go like, damn, man. Corey gave me a real ass breakdown on this wall right here that I can't get past. Let me take some time to step back and figure out how to get past this wall. Those people, I believe in it. You know what I'm saying? I don't know how you did it. I don't know where you got it from, but you did do it and I respect that. We need more of that narrative out there. We do. Artists should share their stories more on how they got the money that helped them get to a certain place. I know artists don't want to talk about the money, but that's part of why I'm so passionate in this space. It's just like, yo, the money is serious. We need artists to talk about the money, have that as a regular conversation so people can have a realistic expectation of what it looks like, what it takes. And we go back to these same labels. Artists are so caught up in this path and thought of the label of what it looks like to be an artist, music artist specifically. We're not in that era no more though. There's so much more to being a music artist. And I want more artists to, again, this poor mentality, realize that they can make money in different ways and have this full blown creative brain and not have to worry about not being labeled as, oh, I'm just an artist. Oh, you're an influencer or oh, you have a company. Do whatever you need to do. You know, okay, you got a merch brand. You start making money that way or you a videographer or you got a production company, whatever it is, turn that creativity into currency and then apply that to your music or then bridge the gap into your brand if it is something that's all front facing. But a lot of artists get caught because they're taking the old system, here's the label, and then saying, I want to be independent. So they're separating themselves from the old system but then they're trying to still act in just success by the old system way of doing things. The system you said you don't want to be a part of. Exactly. You know what the beauty is? Once you're not in that box, that system, all these opportunities open up. Like you don't have to do a traditional concert and you don't have to do it at a live nation venue. You could do it at a random venue that you find yourself or outside or whatever kind of weird retreat and private event that you want to create. You don't have to do the traditional concert at all. It could be like more of an event or a series or something like that. And you might not even perform, but your fans come because they like the lifestyle. You can have merch and have your own brand or whole clothing line, whatever all your creative talents are, you can just build out your world and your music happens to be a part of it. Open your mind because the box that exists that the industry is built on wasn't built for independent artists. You know what I'm saying? So that's the kind of stuff I started thinking about when I hear it is. What artists associate with independent is just very clear in terms of it being one of the many boxes and limiting beliefs they create for themselves. That's the term. They create a lot of limiting beliefs without even knowing that they do and it's making the game more difficult than it is. And shit, we all do that in different parts of our lives. Music executives do that. So here's something for the music executives. You don't need a label either. You don't need some big time music exec or artists or anything like that to build your career, right? Get you poppin'. We just talked to JR the other day and I was asking, remember I asked JR if you were starting out today, do you feel like you would still need to go through a label or something like that just to get the knowledge and then come out and pop out as you are? And he was like, nah, today you can get mentors or get connected with people but he would never be a part of the label system as an entrepreneur in music, right? They niggas got consultation fees. Right, right. Like you just pay them, you get the advice and you act on the advice, right? A lot of young music executives are still trying to chase the industry in the same way artists are. We never, I never had, well I know you had some label stuff but I wouldn't even count the label stuff that you had like, oh, you were like in the industry type shit. You know what I'm saying? I don't want to say basically it was an independent label. Right, and me, I've never worked with any kind of label, any type of internship in music, zero connections. The start of it just moved the way I moved, right? So you don't need that shit in the same way that artists can move independently, label execs, future label execs, music entrepreneurs, executives, whatever you want to call yourself. Y'all need to start looking at the label system and figure out how you can build independently too. How can you provide value for an artist maybe you build a video production company and then get good at that and then help them and barter that way, provide value and then y'all build. Maybe you become a producer, whatever that looks like there's so many ways you can make money and then build at the same time. That's what we do. We market it, right? We help with marketing and then we've built from there, period. And y'all, thankfully for the internet man we're in a position where you talk loud enough the right people will come. You're not the only ones with that ability, you know what I'm saying? You talk loud enough, you yell your message long enough the right people will start to get it. We need to talk louder actually. We working on that. We're about to talk a whole lot this year. I'm going to shut up. Please shut up. That's what you want actually. But that's a whole other story. This is another clip from No Labels Necessary. I'm Brain Man, Sean.