 So that one move that happened at my album release party almost derailed my whole career. So every time I went somewhere and talking to DJs that I've been knowing for 10 years, seeing these niggas all 18 going in clubs, everybody giving me weird vibes. I'm shaking niggas' hands and making the same energy. I'm like, oh, you know what I'm saying? Something's going on for real. Artists, if you don't understand music industry politics, it can completely ruin your career. As a matter of fact, one artist talked about just that. He literally got black ball just because of misunderstanding. But these misunderstandings can result in big consequences. So we're going to play the clip of the artist talking about everything that happened and then break down the realities of some of these politics and how you can use it as tips to navigate when you network in the music industry as well. Check out this clip right here. You did leave us a move to LA. Why? Did you leave us? You don't even want to know why? Yes, please. I got black ball. You got black ball. What year? 2016, the same year it came out. How'd you get black ball? My manager. Because you were just on double excel in the freshman cover in 2015. So you're saying... Speaking of Sweet Lounge, it happened at Sweet Lounge. It happened at Sweet Lounge. What happened at Sweet Lounge? I had an album release at Sweet Lounge. Boom, and you knew my manager at the time. Yes. You know, it's crazy. We recently just, I don't want to say got cool, but we already talked about it. As I see my guy, but go ahead. It's okay. You know what I'm saying? We on talking times. I like, how can we get some money together and push shit in the past? You know what I'm saying? We both successful. We doing our thing now. It was a lot of DJs in the building that night. It was a lot of, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people in the building that night. And, you know, I was what, 22, 22, I was a young nigga. You know what I'm saying? I come to the release party drunk as hell. We drunk as fuck. You know what I'm saying? So I'm on stage. We just playing the music, just doing regular album release shit. So he come around and say, I got plex. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, you're like, shit. I'm like, who the fuck do you, who do you go to? You're like, shit, the name right there. So I'm just, hey, so-and-so. Get your plaque. You know what I'm saying? It was like four or five of them. You know what I'm saying? The night went on, boom, boom, gave the plex out. Didn't think nothing of it. The next day or the two days later, I'm in the studio, just in the studio. I get a text from my boy Iceberg. He like, I'm at, no, no, he didn't say that. He was like, bro, I'm at the radio station and they ain't looking too good for you right now. What the fuck? All right, so obviously this is in the day where the radio was a little bit more popping, had a lot of gatekeeper strength. That shit mattered. It was easier and quicker to get black ball. I don't believe you can get black ball as quickly today in many cases. However, still, it's a lot to take from this. Let's look at the rest of the details. What the fuck are you talking about? You know what I'm saying? I'm hot right now. I'm like, shit, go on. I'm like, fuck I do. You feel me? You like some shit about some plex. I was like plex, what you mean plex? So that one move that happened at my release party almost derailed my whole career. So with that plex shit, you know what I'm saying? You know, I was still outside going into the club. All right, let's stop for one second because I know some people might not understand like, all right, could we get out some plex? What happened? Like why is this an issue? The issue, all right, as I understand it is there were some people who received plex, all right? That's like a plaque to plaque, gold plaque. The song has made an achievement. You have this accolade and he handed it out to some people in front of many other DJs and people who felt like they were a part of the success of the song, right? But they didn't receive a plaque. So they felt the type of way. And there were probably other people who were around town who heard about it. So now they're looking at the artist like, oh man, you don't respect me. Yeah, you don't vote me. I done put you on, all right? And now you're not showing love back. We'll stop it there. Just to make sure y'all understand that part. Let's get to the rest of it. Oh, in a mix and shit. So every time I went somewhere and talking to DJs that I've been knowing for 10 years, seeing these niggas all 18 going in the clubs, everybody giving me weird vibes. I'm shaking niggas' hands and acting the same energy. I'm like, oh, you know what I'm saying? Something going on for real. So just me being me, I was like, shit. Y'all want to go to LA? All right, let's stop it right there. So basically he was told, hey man, shit ain't looking hot for you. People feel in a certain type of way. He experiences it and just being a young artist and someone who's not aware of the politics. And this is what can happen, man. Like politics can happen to you whether you trying to be political or not. Man. Oh, damn. He had no idea, but it's still happening around him. And that's why it's so important for artists to still understand, still have maybe some experienced people that you can speak with and just other people that can help you put you on game and understand how it goes. Cause I don't care how many different outlets we get in terms of media, distribution, how fragmented things are today. Yes, it's not as easy to gate keep and block somebody out, but you're still always dealing with people. And as long as you're dealing with people, politics will exist. Yeah, man. Ain't no better way to put it, man, to your point. Especially when you're new, right? A lot of artists come into it thinking it's all about the music and the result, but people have their own agendas, right? People have their own goals and aspirations and things they wanna do. And the reality of it is artists, a lot of times you're a stepping stone to that, not necessarily in a bad way, you know what I'm saying? But the reality is you are a stepping stone for the people around you that are doing their thing for them to hit whatever they feel like the next level is. And so you look at something like that. They're probably looking like, damn, you stopping me from being as great as I can be, you know what I'm saying? I didn't put in all this work, you know, did all this investment work over time, and I didn't get it black, or I didn't get paid my overtime, I didn't get a recognition at the meeting saying, hey, yo, Johnny did his thing this week. That's all it is for a lot of people. Yeah, yeah, and then especially you talk about too, I mean, he said, what, like 2015, 2016. So, you know, this is coming up on the era of taking the picture and the video with the artists and posting on social. I think we're like, we're there, but it's not like as sick as it is today, you know what I'm saying? But we getting there at this point in time. Cause I mean, you know, I've had a conversation with people before, you know, there was a time when we worked a pretty prolific song, and we didn't have a play for a while. And people all asked me like, man, you're not tripping about getting a play. I'm like, no, bro. Like I have so many points of proof to prove that we have something. I got emails. I know this nigga, real name, his credit card, information is on five. I really wanted to prove that we worked this shit. You know what I'm saying? We can do it. But I guess you think about something right then. There weren't as many avenues to prove you were a part of something. The plaque was the proof, you know what I'm saying? That, yeah, that and, like you said, because people are taking so many different pictures and things that act like they know people be with people. But that plaque says something different, right? You can finesse your way into the plaque, but it's way harder to finesse your way into the plaque than it is most of these things. Most people don't even understand how that system works. But check this out. You're like, it's 150 DJs that wanted a plaque. Imagine being the artist, my song moves and I got 150 DJs who want to get paid plaques for y'all who don't know, right? Cost money, all right? And if I'm the artist, so some people say $275. I saw someone say that it was the cheapest plaques gets. The last time I've looked at some plaques, at least for the situation, we were looking at plaques for it. The cheaper one was like $900, I think it was, right? But let's say $275 times 150, you're somewhere at like $40,000, $41,000, right? Just paying for plaques. You can consider that a marketing cost. Eh, but did you already pay the DJs or give them any type of incentive? Don't you have the drop? Don't you have the drop? Yeah, okay, I stopped by the station because that's what that was too back in the day. Being able to play like whoever's drop or whatever, that was a favor because now they got that special drop. They got your voice. All of that is like networking and politicking. And I think like it sucks on the artist's end because you'll see situations where things are moving so fast and artists don't know. They have no idea about the relationship building side of things. They have no idea the impact of their moves based on what they do and they don't do. 150 people paying plaques because that was gonna just come out their own budget, right? That's gonna probably come out to your advance. When your label started getting a whole bunch of people plaques for your song, amen, that's coming out of your budget. Like please believe that's probably coming out of your budget and you don't have to pay it back. And then on the other side, to me this is the solution, right? Oh, everybody who want a plaque. All right, this is what it costs. I'm gonna send out an email. I'm willing to verify that you were able to work this song, you were part of the song, but this is what it costs. All right, go ahead and send in your 275. You know what I mean? We gonna collect this like field trip money and then y'all get y'all plaques if y'all want them so bad. That's the only way we're handling that. Yeah, it's like if you don't want to do it, you're more than welcome to swing by the crib and take a picture with mom. Facts, because that's what you really needed for, right? To make that extra money. You know, you need the official pic. Yeah, we can have a whole little session, like a little yearbook session, bruh. Everybody pull up, I'm ready. You know, I can switch fit so everybody can't tell that y'all are talking about the same time. I like the way you're thinking. But this is a real thing, man. As long as you're dealing with people, man, people will come with their own agendas, emotions, and it's not a negative thing. We all have our own things, and some people are more sensitive than others. Like, I like to keep myself in situations where, like, hey man, it's great if you show me all the love in the world, but if you don't show me any love at all, like, it's not gonna stop my life and I'm not gonna feel bitter, all right? That's how I like to move. But most people are in a place where they're like, hey, I need this thing attached to you to work and I need you to show me love. So, because that's gonna impact my career. You know, maybe because I don't put myself in that position, I don't ever feel some of those emotions. And I think, too, you know, like I was saying earlier, man, we have a platform and we got receipts. If any artist I've worked with, you know what I'm saying? Try to take that route, it's up, bro, it's shit, all the information going on. I ain't leaking this credit card info, you know what I'm saying? That'd be fucked up, but I'm leaking emails and texts and Zoom calls. I'm putting the whole nine out, you know what I'm saying? So it would definitely be the one to come for y'all, bro. 100%, bro, it would definitely be me, you know what I'm saying? Because, to your point, it'd be like, all right, I don't need a lot of credit, bro, like as a professional, you only need a little bit of credit to go far as a professional. Yeah, because I mean, he's like, I know how to do, I know how to flip every little scene and create the crew out of it. I don't need you to, you know what I mean, to, you don't need to kiss my ass or nothing like that, how some of these people be wanting, where I gotta be at every birthday party and every picture and like, nah. I actually don't want that, please don't do that. Leave me be. Send me a thank you text so I can screenshot it. You know what I'm saying? Don't create more work for me. Exactly, bro, send me an email to the team so I can screenshot that. And, you know, let me make my carousel post of lifestyle moments and great things, that little tool. You need to just like it. Yeah, and just like it, exactly, bro. Maybe leave a comment, a little flame emoji or appreciate you, bro. That's all I need, bro, I don't need, I don't need to plait for every situation, it's nice, but I don't need it. Yeah, especially we gotta order them. I only want plaits for songs for me that have sentimental value or I must really, really, really love the artwork. Yeah, I feel that. Like, that's it. I feel that. Otherwise, why am I paying the money and then I gotta find somewhere to store it? Let's talk about the fact that most artists fail to understand that it doesn't take forever to monetize your audience. We had an artist literally begin to take off and make $20,000 from his brand new audience in the same month. But how is that possible? It's because we're in a new era, baby. Yes, you wanna continue to build a relationship over time, but the first time you make money from your audience can happen today if you understand the new age music marketing funnel for artists. So if you wanna hear about this approach and how you can apply it to yourself, I made a completely free video to watch at www.nolabelsnecessary.com slash monetize. You gotta make sure you put the www or if you're on YouTube, you can find the link in the description and check out how we help monetize artists for completely free. I promise it'll completely change how you see things. Either way, it goes back to the politics of it all. Like this is a real thing and there's some people in the comments basically confirming that this has happened to them. They've seen this happen to this particular artist, but a lot of artists disagree and I feel y'all. Hardboy Kioti says just because you play a song doesn't mean you broke a record. Breaking a record is about platform and how many people you are touching or what you are marketing, resources, relationships you have in the place that you helped grow a song. If a plaque is that important and you rock with an artist, pay for your own. They can send you that invoice. Hey, that's what I said, man. I will send y'all all of the information. No different than you have to order your own YouTube plaque. I don't even think I have the YouTube plaque out here nowhere. But hey, we got that YouTube plaque we're hitting 100K and then YouTube said, hey, yeah, y'all can get a plaque but you got to pay for it. All this is money. Any plaque you see, a Spotify, a YouTube, a record plaque, any type of award these days are mainly marketing symphonesses and it's a beautiful system because we want to get this carrot and we're gonna use this carrot for ourselves and business so we're gonna pay you for this carrot. Like these plaque monies are caked up, bro. This shit's crazy. B, though, if y'all don't know who he is, a singer, he's an R&B singer. The plaques ain't cheap, that shit has to be recouped. You do the math. You don't require plaques from the Drake's and Nicki Minaj, Cardi B's, et cetera. You just play that shit. Let's keep that energy across the board. Major love to all the DJs out there. Y'all keep the culture moving forward and we know that. So it's always love when we tap in. Here's another one. Big dog says, bro, YFN and Luchi had 120-pack plaques for every day we lit. 124 key to the streets. I gave at least 75 of each plaque out and still got plaque. Them joints are 175 to $400, depending on the design. Wow, he gave out 75 plaques and still people were hating. See, that's the problem too. Once you start giving it out to anybody, you're gonna create this breeding ground for hate because we were like, well, how come I didn't get one? That's why I like the all or nothing or hey, hey, Brad, you know who I am. Just send me the email if you want it, you get it yourself. So navigating all this stuff, you have to find a balance. When you're networking, how do I help someone else while helping myself at the same time? The mutual win is the way you continue to move forward in this industry. And if you don't, as an artist, understand what helps somebody else move forward, it can very easily become a slight unintentionally and that's why we feel like this topic is so important. Not because of all of the, you know, if, or is it, I guess the details around this situation specifically is more so like the stories of, I remember when, what's his name, Panda Panda Panda designer took off and he took off so quickly, he didn't realize that he needed to build a relationship with the DJs at the stations. And then when he wasn't as hot, so they didn't have to play him because he was just that hot. Now the DJs are like, nah man, you ain't really show us support like that. Now there's the radio DJs, right? So now they're not gonna play your music when they don't have to. And at the end of the day, all of y'all think the same way, artists. Like, of course you gonna do what you have to when you have to, but when you don't have to, you're only gonna do it if you want to. And why are you gonna want to? Cause you're cool with that person. They was a nice person. You believe in what they're doing. Maybe you're getting paid for it. It's gonna be for the regular human reasons. So thinking that other people don't have that same frame of mind or being, I mean, it's kind of wild, all right? Just understand that's what you're dealing with. At least that simple statement. And then from there, hopefully less of these situations will happen to less artists. Yeah, yeah. I feel like too, it could be solved. And we talked about this on the old podcast episode, but artists should fight for every person that works their song or project to be credited. You know what I'm saying? The songwriters and producers get credit, but it should be a little section in the liners that say a little artwork by, you know what I'm saying? I guess it get kind of tricky in situations like this. You can't list 120 DJs on Spotify credits. Yeah, I'm Spotify now. Cause you don't even wanna show those platforms. Maybe it'll see a website or something like that, but that's not as valid to some people these days. I think some artists do a decent job at that though, like showing love to their team as much as possible. And that's a benefit. They don't even have to do that though. On the worker side, the music professional side. Hey man, it's plenty of these businesses where y'all don't get no love for a period. You know, but I know, and artists, this is why the music professionals are more sensitive to this. The music professionals, just like y'all are moving in an industry where they aren't making as much money as they could be. So they want the love. Like they're doing it for the love, many of them. So they want the love, you know what I'm saying? Like, oh, if I'm at this corporation cause it's paying me good, I'm not doing it for the love. I'm doing it for the check. You clear my check. I'm cool, keep the love and take it somewhere else. Take whatever credit you need CEO. But if I'm already over here, I could be making more money. Like I'm staying up late nights, moving different. Yes, I enjoy being a part of the creative process. Then look, just show me a little something, right? Give me a little, little pat on the back. Let the world know that I was involved. I think that's a huge part of, like you said, like people in the creative industries really value those moments that truly step that, hey, I was a part of this moment for real. Cause they put that much into it, that documents the history of their life and they can validate. Yeah, I agree, I agree. Artists, what do y'all think? Have y'all had any moments where y'all feel like y'all took a wrong step politically and didn't even know and learned that hard lesson? Drop that in the comment section below cause we can have a great thread of teachable moments below this video. If y'all do that. That'd be beautiful. That would be really beautiful actually. That would be one of the threads that I would go through every single comment. I'm interested for those stories. Other than that, hey, watch the next video. That's it.