 What up, what up? I'm bram and Sean and I'm Cory and we are back with no labels necessary PICAS episode number 36 you can catch us every Tuesday and every Thursday on any of your streaming platforms You too Apple music Spotify talk about music Marketing and the content creator economy as a whole and as y'all know as always we'd like to get straight to the sauce We don't have any advice today. We just got a statement. None of the Damien Ritter if y'all don't know Damien He is an accomplished music executive led one of the dopest and fastest growing indie labels in the game at one point and He doesn't think that artists should be CEOs I want to play this clip and see what y'all think about it coming from the corporate world and knowing in what like real CEOs do how much knowledge they have of their business how much knowledge they have of their industry There are very few artists that are equipped to be a real CEO Most artists that say they want to be CEO is Just an ego thing is just like hey I want to have control over everything and I don't want to make it appear Like I'm not the boss of my business Even if that's not the best thing for your business So I don't think CEO is a is a perfect role Title but if I was forced I would say that the Manager and this is not to say all managers are equipped to be CEO either But if you have a manager that understands what they're doing, I would say they're probably more of The person that's equipped to be a CEO than any artist like don't get me wrong like there are a few artists that I've run across We won't even need to play the rest of this. All right, Damien. You only have to hit it with no qualifier You know China, you know Predict the heat and stave off the heat at the same time. I'm making a statement. You've met what you've met, sir And I agree. Yeah, I agree point blank a wise man once said I'm not a business man. I'm a business man. Who was that? You sure? Yeah, bring me a line. Let me know. I just I'm trying a lot for you about before they come for my and as much as people screened that line I don't sound like I'm not I'm a business. It's like, yeah, bro Some of you are the entity but it doesn't mean that you're equipped to run the entity at no info You know, this is the reality of it, bro. A lot of artists don't I Want you know, a lot of artists don't Really want to do the things that go into been the CEO been the CEO is boring brought a lot of work I don't think yeah, they think it's cool and glamorous nice. He's jazzy with the nice suit song She didn't like I want to do that. It's like bro being in CEO is being in meetings all day It's 30 people 30,000 people coming to you with their problems and most artists just want to be creators and make me They don't really want to do to see a lot of execution a lot less creativity. Yeah, a lot Well, it's draining especially you still want to be a artist at the same time. It was funny It's almost like the reverse. I'm a businessman like you already business because you're the product But you know the business man But I think Well, when I hear this it really let relates back to something I've been telling ours for a long time Every artist isn't meant to be an entrepreneur. Yeah, that's right Yeah, and we have this ownership ownership entirely, but what are you owning right? What are you controlling whether you have control over? Do you know how to know what to do with what you have control over and on right? Because somebody else might be able to do more and better with it so Of course, these things are popular terms right want to be an entrepreneur. I want to be a boss I want to be a CEO, but you have to get a realistic view of what that actually means. There's some people Should be an entrepreneur as an artist and so we shouldn't just like the regular workplace There's a few people who decide I want to work at a corporation or whatever type of job And there's some people who say hey, I can't do that at all And I want to run this thing then there's the people in between who might go back and forth depending on whatever the opportunity is So it's the same for an artist right like do you want to take all the problems that come with? doing something from ground up and then once you hit a certain level and Can be more of a CEO because you know, it doesn't really count what is just you right or just you and another person Y'all partner there's something right y'all working on a project. Yeah, well you have a entity And your CEO now that you have to be in control of hiring firing making sure that the execution goes on the way through From beginning in gotta be a SOP There those processes with those procedures man. It's a different type of Mentality alright, so I think the ego is the biggest thing that I see kind of like Damien said and it's not just artists Right. It's just a lot of people in general who Especially are working from ground zero. All right. It's almost honestly. It's like poverty poverty mentality poverty mentality. Yes, what does it mean for it? I Don't want to say all right not just straight poverty mentality because it's not thinking poor. I would say just being on a come-up like and Not being upper-class the way we get market to right. Yeah It is like the CEO is the glamorous thing to be okay, right? Yeah, so I remember all these dudes having CEO on a business car We print make a business create see on a business car and show everybody that we're CEO of something But there's nothing to be Shown for it. There's no actual business there Yeah, and we're just happy with the idea of saying we're the CEO of something right where you'll have some people Who got money like the more and more You see and you around you start to see that some of these people. Yeah, they'll start a business from day one They'll hire everybody including a CEO because they not trying to run that shit They just want the money and you know on the business. Yeah, right. So they can we think of it a lot differently By as you mature and learn more about business because one you can't be the CEO of everything You might not be the best equipped person But if you get good at putting or take best team around you, I understand who does have those skill sets and you'll be good For artist standpoint, I think something that should be clear is the vision Nice. So CEOs and some businesses from a founding business, right? The founder is like I'm leading the charge I am the vision but um, if you're If you're hiring people on it's weird You might have somebody technically be the CEO, but you still have to have a Strong part in that. Yeah, but I think I think you said the the correct word that I think artists are looking for But CEO is just a more popular brother. You're the founder of this, right? Yeah And that's that's typically true like the way that I kind of I Think see most artists describe it. Yep is yeah, they take on the final row, right? I want to be the the the lead horse of this I want to kind of be in charge or want everybody to be behind my vision So yeah, that is more of a founder bro Like this the CEO is like damn you was saying more of the managerial aspect or man Of your manager's role life for real it especially if your manager is like super business savvy and your contribution to your company You know from from that aspect is picking the right people to help you run your company in the ways that you don't know How you know saying and there's no shame of that like every business is like it like you said there There are multi-billion dollar companies where the founder doesn't run day-to-day CEO He maybe did it he or she maybe didn't today until a point to where you know when they had to do it But as soon as they got the capital not to without this shit, right a you person over here I like you you charismatic you you understand XYZ about the business I'll give you you know saying half a million a year and you run this shit while go do the other stuff I like to do like build a product or talk to the people or make the content or whatever That looks like for the business on it So a lot of artists following that same bucket you yes all of you are founders of the business and you know Anybody can be I guess qualified to be a founder technically, but that doesn't mean that you are qualified to be the CEO You know saying you might you and like a lot of you listen They don't even really want to be the CEO when you when you get into it I came across this guy on my Instagram yesterday brown a while just randomly looking at my followers Very small or is maybe like a hundred eighteen followers. Yeah, like CEO whatever in his bio And I was like that shit don't hit like you think it do bro. Like, you know, I'm like, I don't know man Like you probably thought it was hard when you put in his bio. I'm like, I should don't hit like especially today All right, the jiggies up today. Everybody is starting off all these businesses. So people don't look at it Yeah, you don't have the followers or some kind of big business people even look at it that same way So that's when I get back to the eagle of it all like look man What's more important to you and if you do want to be the CEO you have to understand It's something that you need to roll into and take it seriously That's the more important part because you can't be expected to be the most equipped person from day one There is a lot of things you have to learn and there might be some people who have those tangible skills and experiences but for whatever reason They might not be the best person and for your for your business So I'm not always saying that every artist should hire somebody else to be the CEO Very least I think The COO is Very very important. All right Like who's running the operations because that's the part that's the most hard difficult I feel like for artists. Yeah, I know leading certain visions overall decisions It's easy to get into that but the operations again back to the execution of things to do that and remain creative is very very very hard I heard Nipsey hustle talk about it Someone that we know was was a CEO type, you know what I mean? But he talked about how hard it was when he got out of his His flow and tried to get back into the studio It would take him so long to kind of get back into the vibe So he had to start planning and thinking around that I can't remember what his solution was But it's a hard-ass thing to do. Yeah, and if you down to do that, that's great Yeah, man, and even think about like like we see that with all of them Bro, like who are the most notable like RSC or no, like 50 cent masterpiece Jay-Z Who else could we throw in there? Maybe I guess they ain't that's the dentist or maybe you did it right at some point I Think he has I think I got a verse of this. Maybe I was thinking dude like five better way to go And if you look at all of them, bro, it's like think about like how long of breaks you see that you see them take from being an artist But like it'd be like like like they'd be dropping music like every like three or four years You know Sam because it's probably so demanding or so much demand from the businesses They are actually CEO's up and then everything that comes with that, right? Like I doubt only am I entering this industry I have to learn about this industry and don't know what type of people I need to help make me successful in this industry That alone could be a couple years of work. You know Sam for real for real On top of the building the product, you know the other credit or whatever So like it's a it's a hard thing even for those that are qualified for him Sam Like it has to be because of like how many different just like it's a stepping out from creativity and going like math to be way more Analytical after the now I have to be structured to see yo that would be very structure Or at least I have a good degree of structure and most artists. I know hate structure You know Sam so many things that come with it like I said earlier man I think if more art is really understood that I don't think They won't chase that tall as much Well brag about it as much who Do you know That's recognized as as a super creative and also a CEO Maybe Drake doesn't you recognize that way? That's a super creative I mean, I don't think any of them really get recognized as a super creative. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, maybe come here But I I don't I don't know what kind of CEO is his own brand so I'm like in my house I think guys are the late. Yeah, but it's more of a It's a different type of role Than a typical CEO because you know how kind he moves. He has very very strong Operators and executors. Yeah, right. Yeah, so one if you aren't the CEO I mean if you are the CEO, but you aren't a song executor again goes back to you need some Executor in your your uh Their corner. Yeah, your corner, but If you look at yes the CEO mogul artists most of them Have a certain mentality that doesn't or a certain approach that many artists don't even resonate with on a music side Right. It's a third pipe. Diddy rick ross Jay-Z masterpiece baby All right, we're not talking about donald glover here I was like, we're not talking about for real right here. It doesn't mean that they don't like for real Tyler the creator donald glover none of them ever Are the CEO of anything right, especially like very for real. He's been a part of so many things um, musically, but then he's graduated past that to um, the color was that i am color or something or But he has that film or tv production company, whatever that is And some other things he might be CEOs over some of those things But he's also not a musical prime in terms of like that. She's main focus is a day to day on the rise, right? Yeah, so I think you have to think about a certain type of animal that you Need and want to be If you want to be a CEO In that way and also of course it depends on what you're trying to achieve. Yeah, right like That changes things but you look at russ He's in that camp Like I can see him being a CEO. I don't know if ways technical role is that he calls himself or whatever But he's you know, saw a same bucket of thinking and moving that you put those people in. Yeah, um Talked about nipsey hustle the russell I can see him Being considered a CEO and moving in that particular way the way that thinks it moves, right? But again, there is There's a this a similar line that you can draw between all those people in terms of how they Acknowledge and what they're acknowledged most for you know what I mean? Yeah, so That's something I think at least the artist should always think about like who's done this successfully That's the most like how I want to be. Yeah And what does that look like and what does that look like and if there hasn't been anybody who will make music in the way and type of creativity I have And being a CEO at least try to figure out like why that might have been That's that's all I could say to that. But that's a dope Um conversation whenever I hear that CEO I think people are gonna be arguing about that for a minute Because until they get like more legit example, I gotta let us know man all my artist CEOs, you know speak up Comment I mean, I mean, you know what's going through your head right now Exactly now One quick thing everybody We have made the decision that we are going to drop merch one point. Oh, yeah at some point Now this isn't like a a secret announcement or any kind of finesse We genuinely want to know you guys thoughts. We let our private group know we had a private brain man live podcast not brain man, no labels live podcast on thursday and They were like, yeah, we'd be down to buy But we literally don't have any graphics for any of it. So any of y'all like have any graphic design No friends or you're a graphic designer and y'all would like to pitch some potential designs that y'all could envision Or no labels necessary Here's the opportunity to get at the ground floor. Um, the best way To inquire is email support at brain man network dot com support at brain man network dot com We'll put the link in the description or the email in the description y'all hit that up and We'll figure it out from there. This is truly us doing it in real time. We don't have any like big announcement coming. So You know I'm saying Oh, but if y'all y'all support y'all what's up, definitely let us know We would love to hear more validation and if y'all um know anybody who could think of some dope designs We're gonna kind of try to figure out and in real time even have y'all a part of our design selection process So that's all I wanted to say there now with that being said Next topic there's a song going crazy viral on tiktok All right for a plethora reasons But then there's also some bag drops at hand as well. So I hear some whisperings. So Don't drop the bag when you go viral There's a couple of ways you can drop the bag when you go viral Here's one of them. Now first, let me show you the song That's no bad if when ain't that shit thing up to me All right, can't play the full song because of copyrights and everything But if you are viewing there's a guy who is rapping looks like the tennis court and he got the mic hanging down Y'all know how those videos are you got the mic hanging down even though you're in the middle of nowhere And you're rapping well, he got one of those going on, right? It's funny because the song goes viral Not just because of the lyrics and it being a solid song But it's because of the buddy's hair Now, I don't think this was planned. You know, I it would have been nice Well, a lot of artists don't have this sense of humor It's a green light us making fun of you as a campaign. Yeah, right now We've had ideas like the artists don't be feeling that y'all. Yeah, I gotta look people are gonna I'll be saying this first people are gonna make money. Y'all anyway It's best to leverage it, you know what I mean? All right, go ahead and put that thought out here So if you're watching this you'll be able to see this guy's hair um He got like a after he got you know waves in the front and Afro in the back like some super saying Type. I don't even know what the color. Is there a name for it? I don't know. That's your father The jacquory says it's fine. That's your fault. Well, look it's got him going viral you watch some of these clips literally people take People have them rapping at the mic and then they literally just have his hair going from infinity infinity Almost like shoot almost like like a DBZ character, right? I am bro. I people underestimate the power of hair when it comes to virally, bro I mean that right hairstyle on the right day, bro. I'll get you 100% God got it going into two different pieces of paper Buddy enough, where is the my favorite one? Yeah, I'm sorry for those who were just listening But then we're just playing and showing a couple different clips of basically people's re-enacting what he's doing. Go watch this This is episode 36 people are doing crazy things to re-enact Was it a microwave or what his hair looks like? I think that's a big air fryer take to the back of this dude's head I think that's right crazy, bro. I Can Then you got another guy got a dog and his hoodie Where's my favorite one? Let's see what you got Oh, this kid you are the toothbrush. There we go. The toothbrush Rabbit looked like a book bag handle. So This song is going viral because people are making fun of him too. Yeah, right? Yeah, but they're playing the clip While they're making fun of him because they pretend to be him rapping The power the power of taking something that could be a weakness and capping off of it It's always there and if y'all will allow yourselves to be made fun of it will bring attention back to you You don't do it through your own page. I think that's what a lot of artists miss I remember pitching this to uh client last year And he was so against it Fortunately, we ended up popping them all going viral a different way But you're just like, yeah, I don't want people to to think that this isn't serious or something like that Brother man doesn't matter and y'all get mean anyway. You know, we all get laughed at Yeah, we all get laughed at you let other people do it because that's gonna bring eyes back to the song It's gonna blow up and then we're good And he ended up getting made fun of for something else that I didn't foresee but You also worked, right? So Allowing yourself to be made fun of is the trick that's that's the the gesture in the court Where everybody thinks that the joke's on him, but it really just jokes on you because he's just Look playing dumb while he's getting all the attention. All right, but don't be afraid of being a joker Everybody uses that role every once in a while Now that being said He's messing he's messing up, right? Tell us how this song is how they fucking up the money Man, so, you know Word on the street is that he got an unclear sample in the song Which I'm pretty sure I've been listening to the song before but I just learned about it Through the little birdie, you know what I'm saying? That's what put me on game. So I was like, oh this is it But yeah, the word is that there's an unclear sample in the song. I think atlantic all the sample so, you know They're about to try to Get this up off on, you know, and we've seen that It happens a lot. It happens a lot. You know what I'm saying? Like These artists will pop from ground zero These massive hits the attention hits before they understand what they're doing I tried to are able to get the sample cleared and then these major level entities come behind me. Oh, yeah You don't suck though, bro. Yeah, I hope you know that you know what I'm saying We about to get this shit up off you And so I think it's gonna be interesting, you know, and I The birdie could be wrong, but I think it's gonna be interesting to see like how this affects him Because I think on one hand it was sucked right if they were able to take the song away from him Which to me says that if He probably needs to go ahead and start capping on this shit now You know what I'm saying put out maybe like EP a couple of the singles, you know Get a little bag off of somebody, you know what I'm saying start building the face card and building the brand They able to swipe this shit from under him or this is his biggest song That's actually gonna be ugly man. It's gonna be sad and ugly To me One I wonder if you pay for the beat That's that's another good point. That'd be interesting. You pay for the beat. Yeah, and then you can't Be anything. Yeah But he thought maybe seem like you own the beat Yeah, because he might not know this is an old song that got sampled, right? Yeah So I could imagine there's some kids that don't even recognize the samples in some of the songs that they're That they're buying and there's some producer who's like for this and them that they because they didn't know or or they don't even know That you can't travel because some people don't know the rules. Yeah, most of them don't even know. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, so all this shit sound cool sped up Right, he's been simple right so It's an unfortunate situation on that side, but I still Look at the value in the marketing of it all. Yeah, that's something like I agree man I don't a homie go through a Almost go through a similar situation like he has sampled a song And they were trying to get in contact with the people who he sampled to be able to put it out It wasn't looking good at first They had some caveat some things that they wanted him to change about some other creative elements for the song to be cool He did it. Everything was okay, but They had a game plan on how they were going to count if these people had no and one of the game plans As fucked up as it was is we were gonna pay people to leak it You know what I'm saying? We're gonna hit one of these meme accounting Hit one of these big reddit pages a little little fan here go 50 bucks You to go post this shit on the your name like we don't get that shit out of one way another you know what I'm saying um And you know, I know that happens like I know for a fact that there are artists that do things like that I can't cap on it and if it comes back to my name, they're gonna sue me So I need this to get out there to the fans in one way or another without me being attached to it Because I'm still gonna reap the benefits right fans are starting to get savvy If you talk loud enough and you tell fans how that song that you like if you heard on your favorite meme account I can't put this shit out because I don't have enough money to clear the sample or the people won't let me clear the sample Two things gonna happen. What three things gonna happen? One they're gonna let all this fucked up, bro And they're gonna ride on your behalf two They're gonna listen to it anyway because they like it and fans don't give a fuck about no industry politics and paperwork None of that shit and then three you still get the positive Attribution of you made the song that I like even though you can't put it out You still made some shit that I like right and so it still is a positive brand builder for you and so Yeah, that's what I'm saying with him if if that rumor is true and Atlanta is trying to Take this here from on him, but I mean it's a race against time or the foot Um to see how big you can cap out this year from a brand perspective before that should happen That's the most important part right just like any song that breaks If you aren't an artist that's broken yet You just need to get them to know your face fortunately. I his face is a part of the memes. It's been like it's up. Yeah, exactly. Yeah He is the meme so I'm not anti song that breaks you being a sample and you're getting no money from it. Yeah, same I'm actually for it in many ways. Why? Because if it's a dope song again, you get all the marketing attention to it And how hard is it to get a song to break anyway? So you just got you just blew up for some music now people at least like you for your music And now you just need to create another song versus I had to pay A whole bunch of influence series or run a whole bunch of ads or whatever I did Playlisting to then blow my songs up. It's like no, I just paid for a beat and it went viral by itself Hey, shit. I saved money. Yeah, I didn't get that money juice world He didn't get probably I think even 90 but he didn't get even 10 percent I think of that track the blue. I think it was something that I think I'll take like 99% It was something crazy stings smack them across the head But it's not fire was fire But He's new became juice world. Yeah, you know just one song so that power is still there and then on top of that I think you still don't have to like I wonder no, actually I'll take that back the cannibal rossies do still go back to that same person. I think Okay, but you still can get paid to perform that song You know take the tour money That's true So if I get popping off of a song that y'all love That I don't hold the rights to you still don't want to see staying perform that shit You want to see juice world perform that shit, you know what I mean? So I still can get show money from it. Yeah now, obviously getting shows We probably want to have more of a song da da da And but even though there are some like one day that people pay you just to Had that one hit performed or whatever at the party and get a turn there's so many ways to capitalize off of it and I think that's just the nature of the game where you one way or another you could fall into A blessing fall into a little trap for a second But in this industry, there's always a way to flip it Always a way to flip it and in the content age if I can just go viral from posting some shit And not have to pay for the marketing. I'd almost use that as my strategy I think that's many people's strategy, especially with women artists Look at how many women artists they blow up with samples knowing with samples. You're not going to get as much money I don't know what the deals they negotiate, but still a huge thing with sample is a Samples they're known in the states they they take that money, right? So but they say it doesn't matter because this shit is a hit And as long as I get city girls popping as long as I get So we need popping All right, let's see what what was Meg's Shit that they pop Meg the mega have a sample. It's gonna pop off. I don't even saw that pop I'm trying to remember what was What was on it? I can't remember. I can't remember either. That's crazy I don't know what this is. I don't I mean, it's been like five years, you know, like five, you know, well, yeah, they're like like both Well, I love his in between there, you know, but Oh now I have another conversation Well point is they do that with um, well female artists again and again Yeah, all right You can sample to get them out there But then take in the brand especially because as much as they might say about women artists In terms of maybe being more expensive because of the looks or things like that or not getting as much Like respect in general I feel like what women artists pop They have way more flexibility Than male artists because of how women support women All right, and these brand directions that are natural where you can get into the beauty Every every aspect of it from the hair to the eyelashes to the makeup All right, you can get into like reality TV and And relationship stuff and there's so many different things that that women have Where I don't know guys have trouble translating Before that for a reason. This is another conversation, I guess, but Let me think about it, bro. That's like, bro. I'll get you find jewelry, bro. I'll get a jewelry sponsorship Yeah, go partner with ice ball. Hey elite Hey, man, I don't think they try to set that precedent Hey, man, we know as the hey these companies the jewels It's on lockdown. They don't just let everybody get the jewels It's hard for a baby to just come up off the street and start a jewel company. I mean, you know, you're right, bro You know, like you're gonna be a brand ambassador. You know what I'm saying something man something when you're getting a piece Like affiliate marketing I'm gonna go where there's half a million dollars chain all the other artists underneath of me you can go buy they 20,000 dollar chains let them get it through my link so I get 15% That's all that's how the the women artist be, but they'll go wear fashion over how the fashion over leaking their bio All their fans buying fashion and they're getting like 30 40 percent crazy, bro But I don't ever see male artists on any idea what the shit they were But it's something not cool about that. I think and that's stupid What's not cool about not making money, but it's not it's not even just the artist. It's the male artist I'm at the bill audience. Okay. Okay. That's fair. Yeah, that's true It is a sweet a problem. We are the problem dude male audience looks at it completely different female artists, they are heavily supportive and Yeah, modern monetizing definitely looks different It looks a lot different once you get to a certain point Um, 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 Charred on billboard go viral 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 brand man network. All you have to do is check out brand man network dot 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 brand man network dot com. Check it out Back to the video. Now would that be a set though? Different topic Staying in your hometown Or going to the big city Should an artist or somebody who wants to be in the music industry stay in their hometown or should they go to in lana? Should they go to la should they go to new york? No, but you know Nashville big city bro come on man. I'll speak on that once we get into it man. You know what i'm saying? But big city. I don't know. We'll get right into it. We'll get right into it Clip or anything like that. I mean you were you were case study. Yeah, exactly. That's what I was about to say I am a case study. I want you to say I'm I'm I don't think everybody knows that but I'm not from Atlanta You know what I've been living in Atlanta Well, maybe the last six years at this point Originally I'm from a very small country town like an hour south of here And I left to move to virginia and then left virginia to come here once I got kicked out of school And I can speak very confidently and say that I don't think I would be the person I am if I didn't move to Atlanta one And like I said, every major city isn't necessarily like this, but one of the big Things about Atlanta is it's very uh community oriented, right? And for good and bad reasons, right? Like when you're not in the community, the community is tight You locked out. Well, like once you get in it's like you're you're you're embraced is warm You know saying you know people everywhere you go. It's nice. You know, that's nice I remember being on the outside of the circle looking in and getting in and like, oh god This is what it's like. So I like that aspect of it two More opportunities come through here, you know When I first moved here the way I was meeting people and doing things was just going to local shows and while from in barnsville You might see a concert once every couple of months and Atlanta, but it'd be like 15 shows happening a week. You know saying like you got options all over the city of where you could go A lot of big people come and you don't even know that they came It's ugly. They'd be like, bro, and I know LA and New York, Miami They didn't even worse and stuff like that. But yeah, you know, you like man I actually would have went to that show if I knew the new Yeah, yeah, so it's like so and this is why I do get conflicted with like this question, right? Should you move to a big city? You know, I'm saying a stairway wet now. I think that What we do currently in terms of the agency in terms of Even like this podcast Well, I guess you live if you were willing to move around somewhere else We could in theory do this wherever the fuck we was at, right? But I don't know if I would have had the mentality to do these things and move to I did if I hadn't moved to a big city So that's where I get conflicted with like I could have done it back where I'm from But would I even think the way I think if I never moved out here? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so I think sometimes like you can make an argument for The execution aspect of it all. Yeah, I could have just you know You could be in a small town and fly to these different places to do work and get things done But sometimes there's something about being in that like 24 seven that just like changes just like you a little bit, you know so see I'm gonna answer for somebody who is absolutely not a case study. You know, I'm from Decatur Being all around Atlanta in sport Yeah I was at like Peru every single part of town where there's living school grandpas shipped across town all the way whatever whatever um And I see it like this Today in the music industry more than ever Can be in a town that's not a big town and be successful as an artist and even on the professional side I actually know some producers who Move to LA And they were like man, I'm paying all this. I rent What am I doing? I didn't do move to Oregon All right Now I ain't gonna say much about Oregon because I don't know much about Oregon But that's one of the things we go You know what I'm saying? But he was like, yeah, and then I just go to LA And when I'm in there for that two week period I batch all my meetings and stuff just like what we do And people are more willing to come out for you anyway because they know you're not going to be there for long That if that's scarcity, right? That's true. So That's the type of thing that we're seeing more and more people do Yeah, right because even when you go back traditionally LA and new york was really the cities in Nashville, right More people staying in Atlanta today Than used to or than they would before Because we have that flexibility. We're like, it's a lot of people. I don't want to move to LA I want to stay in Atlanta as much as I can, but I'm gonna do business over in LA So there's that for that tier. Then you got people who are out In whatever city that they are they are figuring out ways to do business in cities like Atlanta because Atlanta is not even The top of the top of this huge in terms of the creativity the business Obviously, LA and New York So I think it's very possible because I see people doing it It just depends on Where you are in it all and knowing yourself when are you going to be inspired? All right to move a certain way Without having certain type of people around you by some people they need that like I need the information I need the exchange. I just need to see how this shit works Or I can't even get a certain mentorship or a job if I'm not there and I'm not not around In a lot of ways now you got more people like us where we have a lot of people on our team that Are I mean we got one in Oklahoma, you know what I'm saying? I still think that two people in Oklahoma, Oklahoma actually. Yeah, all right Alabama Alabama, right? Yeah, that might be the two most obscure Probably right so You can get connected to these entities from wherever you are in today's day and age and you know one artist in Virginia I don't want to say the artist name because I don't know if he want people to know where he lives and everything but he's doing crazy done 100 million plus streams and he doesn't want to be a part of the record label industry Or I'm at the music industry traditionally. He don't want to tour. He don't want to do none of that stuff But he's just writing up his numbers going crazy a lot of people know if I said his name Y'all would y'all would know it but he's doing it all From his shit. Yeah, right where he is. So it's extremely possible But you got to be a certain type of person have a certain type of motivation and Then of course it has to work and it's harder 100 percent. It's hard. Yeah, all right to not have people on your side Because you have to build the thing that creates the the magnet magnetic Attraction, but it's hard to do that from ground zero versus just going to the place that people are attracted to already And then catching flies over there because they're already coming. Yeah, but the thing about that though like that People romanticize the opportunity aspect of it, but I think they They don't often acknowledge the competition aspect of it, right? Yes Like that people were like, man, I want to move to Atlanta because Atlanta's like that Atlanta's has a reputation for being very Yeah, exactly their community oriented But I can say as a person that had to get in that shit. It wasn't easy, bro Like I don't think what helped me was getting a job out here You know, I had to kind of swallow my problem. Like I'm gonna get a job out there You know saying like this shit ain't gonna hit the way I thought it was gonna hit, you know As fast as I thought it would which is whatever, but That was my end, you know saying so I could imagine the artist moving out here. It was like, I'm not gonna take job I'm just gonna come out here and network and go to shows and motherfuckers gonna fuck with me because on me I'm like, no, bro. Very rarely works like that. You know saying unless you know people already and I'm No countless artists to move to different cities thinking like that on me Shafa, I'm just gonna get out there and all these opportunities gonna open up Not even realizing you the hundredth artist this week to have this same idea. I mean, I'm moving out to LA I'm moving out in New York. I'm moving out there. Only when I think don't get that much attention like that is Nashville Probably even motherfuckers probably just up about Nashville and B Okay If you don't make country Because all the people who don't make country have to band together to support each other Nashville Nashville is a different city. Yeah, sure. You got all those bars that you get to perform in It's a different culture failure looks different than that. Yeah, exactly. You know, I'm not saying that everything's sweet, but Like especially let's just say hip hop come into Atlanta Like people not really trying to see you and you're not that person Yeah, it's like the reverse in Atlanta, right? Like like you go to national all the rappers might be sticking together because they're like We all we got country motherfuckers rush it out here in Atlanta. It's like oh You want many you know, right? Well, I'm saying like we're not about to go watch random rapping bars in most cases Most public some people were into like going to like a patching type Pat cafe type vibe underground shows a little bit like, okay, you might have that small small niche But just the general public wearing Nashville Even a motherfucker who's not in the country while they're in Nashville, you know When in their own they'll go watch So touching performers at a random bar. It's just a different type of vibe. So, you know, I don't I don't know how you account for that, but Like the reality is yeah land is different And I just hear it and see it all the time from the people who come here Like but for me, you know, I realized my vision of the world is is warped because of where I'm from Yeah, it's boy world. Yeah, because I'm already all life all I all I never ever known was you know, like The black culture black success, you know, I always saw all sides, you know, you see here people saw people go They're like, I mean, I've never seen black people with money or whatever. You know, she's like My doctor did his my mayor, you know, everybody Blacks well, it was it's a different culture. Um, and I appreciate it more. You know, we got the women We got a lot man. We got a lot of good things out here. A lot of y'all We hate on Atlanta too that y'all come because y'all go come to the wrong part So y'all hang with the wrong people like y'all a lot of times y'all really hanging with transplants. It's just a thrill I mean, I guess I can't I can't really Yeah, but she at least from the country of Georgia like in Georgia. Yeah, like that's different It's still a little different. I'm talking about them people who come from further places I don't want to I don't want to you know, let's stay out the transplant covers I'll have a man up. I've been like over six years. I'm like an underrated Atlanta. You know what I'm saying? Like I don't live all over the city, right? And nowhere that somebody from Atlanta knows about our part. I don't know I'm good. You can pass, bro Well, yeah, but I only only thing I would tell to somebody that's making that jump is like One research to see you think you want to move to No, because like you said like Atlanta, New York, LA probably the pop most popular three But we got clients who just moved to Nashville because they didn't because Nashville is cheaper in Atlanta Or at least whatever we're moving to and they were like hey pop client specifically. Yeah hip hop client Yeah, and they were like, hey, it's close to Atlanta. We can get there in three hours That's where Atlanta is really what we want to be but naturally got the prices that we're looking for, right? Like you said, all right, you talk to move to Oregon and be close to that late No people that live in Jersey to be close to New York, right? You don't have to always be in that city You know people there people out here living in stock bridge to be close to Atlanta You know I'm saying like you don't have to be in that city. So one do that research on You know, do you have to actually be in that city to be a part of that city to? I would encourage everybody to try to find someone that's a part of that that scenes local music culture and That talk with them ask them what it's like, you know, like before I came to Atlanta I got I had the privilege of kind of standing because of events like a 3c and You know just walking around like different places in the city and they kind of let me know Oh, yeah, I want to move out here. You know, and this is this is the shit, but I don't know What if I was like, you know a pop artist enthusiast and I move to Atlanta and I've been I've been sick, you know That's how now seen that happen. I think some people think it's about being in the mix every day all the time Right, you see this tv version of things and a lot of times people ain't in the big behind the computers Yeah doing some work. So, you know having to be there every single day not at all now It's it makes sense that that vision is there because at one point in time it was more like that now Super remote work. Like remember we spoke to jr On that talk we had a couple weeks ago and he was like He doesn't get to be in that process before he like he made more money being behind a computer as an executive But he misses the part of the game where he was actually in the studio working with people collaborating It doesn't happen like that anymore, right? So maybe our visions Of going to these big cities Come from that right too when culture really was more collaborative more mixy more events and things like that But today the reality is not as pretty, you know, you'll have more people Spread out that don't see each other all the time But then they'll have these events But you just need to be able to make it that two hour drive to get to the city If you you know you further out of cheaper space really ain't that bad when in reality You only need to be there in the city one day that mom Yeah, that's how it was. I moved out here, bro Like where I'm from like hour 20 minutes from the city But I used to make that drive, you know a couple times a week You know saying I had shit going on whenever something be going on. Oh, it's this networking event Oh, it's a 3c going on. Oh, there's always wants to link up. Yeah, I'll make that You know three hours take that three hours on my day Um, and you know some people find strategic ways to go about it too Like go to schools in certain places, right? Like I know a lot of people that went to Georgia State because they wanted to be here You know finding like cheaper ways to get there, but my mind was going a different way when you said strategic What you mean? I was thinking more like You know get you a little boo in the city. I mean boo college same thing. So you can see Somebody's friend. You're good. You can stay tonight if uh, and I did or something. I did I did was you know, that's what I'm saying. I've been there. I'm sure I'm sure yeah So you get you a situation that can give you some free or a low cost overhead while you're in the city And then my first Elana love one of Georgia State man She's right smack in the city, right? Did you love her the city? Both bro What you mean, man? I'll be questioning my love, bro I love her in the city. Maybe the city a little more but you know what I'm saying That's why she was your first not your last But there's a look there's a lot of ways to flip and make the city work for y'all so Like I don't think people need to come by or some biggest thing is Why I said knowing yourself and how you are who you got to be around now There's a lot of people in spaces where they are especially Where you're like, I just need to escape this environment for whatever that means whether it's family or streets or Just needing that change of environment to start a new Pattern whatever that is know yourself. You know know your work. I feel like you always gotta say that So And make it a city from there, but it's not 100 percent necessary again We don't go to LA. We have pressures to live in LA and I don't know 10 15 20 years prior we might have had to live in LA Yeah, I feel like a lot of stuff we do we would have had to live in LA. Yeah, right Now we go to LA. We frequent it often. We still do feel those pressures at times too. I just gotta ask that question Like I said, it's crazy, bro. When you moving that way, I'll tell you that But you get there from where you can make your work. I know people will make a hell of money Um and do a very well for themselves who have made it work where they live They moved out there for maybe two years and then came back But most people are figuring a way to not have to be forced to live in old man cities So That's it there like for those who have Just those questions. It's not that serious. I know people say it all the time Now switching directions real quick. I want to talk about this amp situation to end off the pot So explain people what amp is because I feel like a lot of people aren't and then we're going to get in how they also Are fucking up the money on their track Just like the superstar track. Yeah, man. So amp is a essentially this collective of Streamers. Um, so castanet is the big face that most people have probably seen there's a couple other people in there, chris You know saying I can't think of the other guys name But it's pretty much a big like streaming collective and they dropped this video recently Uh where it was like a love and valentines day challenge essentially where they each Winning got just a different female Creator like a songwriter or singer rapper or something like that. They were broken off in the pairs They created songs for the video. Um, and then the end they released it and they're kind of letting their audience pick Who had the best song a lot of really dope music came out of it but Two things that two things that drew my attention to this is the first thing about we we had we had a client and we asked my we fought with be a part of it and I'm watching Actually, let me double back They all fucked up because nobody has released the song yet, right? So they have it if you go look at the original video on the youtube channel at one point It was trending on youtube it was like top three and then like drake knocked it down Um, it's like 1.3 million views in a couple of days Like everybody who was a part of that video is having a bit of a viral moment right now Our client and one of the other artists are having maybe bigger viral moments out of it Their songs seem to be the one that people like the most But everybody that was a part of that is having a moment None of them have released for at least the saw of put the thoughts out None of them are capping musically Musically from that moment socially. Yes, right like they've all gained followers They've all jumped up in in some way videos, but musically not capped at all You said it was number one trending on youtube, right? No, it was number three number three trending on youtube Yeah, and they got knocked down like maybe like nine or ten now drake drake came and Kiss it up So you got a song It was the video or that introduced everything or the song itself the video the video the video introducing everything Number three trending on youtube. You don't even have a song out. Mm-hmm, right And youtube that's hard achieving to make very hard, bro That's I'm saying like and they got the pool for like it's not like trending isn't like a new thing for them You know what I'm saying, right? So it which makes me even more angry about it because that means that you Had a good idea of this could happen. You know what I'm saying? Why not have the things in place ready to go When it hits I think that goes back to the complexity of being artists to artist credit, right where influencers Don't have to deal with all that. Yeah most spaces you got your main place You put up the content and then everything's clear from that plane platform Artists are doing youtube to post on instagram or tiktok But then I have a whole other suite of technology to figure out how their music is performing deals I got to create mechanical royalties or I was in like all these little things to figure out They just I post like the money, you know, everything shows up The platform take care of right the platform take care that don't happen with music So it's easy to make them mistake as an influencer, especially just coming from a creative space But I love the concept the way they Pop this off Crazy rollout was amazing. It's a amazing rollout. We need to put the link in the description to the video of them Like rolling this whole thing out. It is long. It's like an hour long But they basically created an episode Right this whole show Of this we got this competition going they show you the ends and the ounces they vlog in and then it ends with every single song All right, it's like a really like a tv show like how they do the competitions All right, hey, go make a song and here's the end in the audience votes. That's basically what they did in one episode Yeah, exactly exactly So that's all right, man if that and if anybody knows that the amp team, bro, please send them out way You know what I'm saying? I would I would give these motherfuckers a free consultation because you can you know when you see Influences you can tell they don't know that like you said, they don't know much about music stuff Like I'll look out some of them. I'm like, yeah, but I can tell I don't know, but I'll just be fucking around. You know I'm saying Chris Um, which is one of the guys that has a song that's going crazy I've seen his fan base talk about like they wish he would take music a lot more seriously Yeah, this shit was good. Yeah, it's like he's you know, he's he's weaving through that He just needs to walk the line straight. We already talked about this, bro He's making that content creator money. Right, bro. The same money is different, man. Hard. Yeah Motivated you gotta be ddg where there's some intrinsic motivation where you really want it to be this shit Already, but otherwise why not them and we'll do that. Yeah, I mean But that's also where I get confused like this is like because I will argue that we asked them Most of them would say it's for the love of music And this would be my right where artists that say that is if you love this shit Why not figure out how to release it the right way so we can love it right there with you, you know what I'm saying Like if I if I love the game of basketball, I'm gonna figure out how to do this shit The right way so I can play this shit the right way You know what I'm saying if I love a certain video game I'm gonna go learn all the rules and shit so I can play that way You know what I don't think it goes that way. Yeah, but it should man I put it all on youtube. What else do you need people can find it on youtube? That's where I would be Where he didn't put on is the Chris Chris example specifically. That's the one that's blowing me That's that's the right top bat to you know, cba, you know saying Be honest on one way or another but not I do get that man Like I said that to me is what's interesting Always the most interesting about watching influences become ours about watching them go through the process of figuring music out because We talked about before I think both sides think the other side have it easier, right? And then both sides learn how hard the other side have it has it like I said, like our client that was a part of it She's telling me about like amp's like shooting process and she's like these motherfuckers be working But like like 12 14 hours a day cameras blowing out of time editors all over the house You know something like that like and she's like it gave me such a Deeper appreciation for the way content creators move and I can assume they're seeing heard from the other side like that You gotta follow this paper where we gotta talk about splits. We gotta do x yz I know y'all artists did all this type of shit. You know I'm saying so I think it's always cool to see Both sides like go through that I can I can respect that but it shouldn't be that way You know I'm saying like like I said But this song was out the day that video came up All those artists have their songs out the day that video came out At least two of them will be probably hitting like a million right now You know what I'm saying the other the others that was a part of it, which y'all let's see once y'all watch it Y'all know exactly which ones I'm talking about which ones I'm not talking about The other ones maybe a couple cool hundred thousand to tens of thousands and for either way like they could have capped so much Harder off of this moment because but that type of Creativity to roll out into the song is the type of shit that like we wish Regular artists clients would do we I'm saying so the fact that they have the content infrastructure to Put that type of shit together and they actually have like decent artists within the group That should go so much further than I think it is it is currently going You know and I think that my fear is that by the time they get it together and actually put it out The moment it be going like we've seen so many times before you know what I'm saying Maybe you can re-sparkle with some ads and some influence or shit But like this year would have hit hot off the press bro. Like I said in a couple days I believe that oh Harley. I don't know man the attention that they get in their streams though They could probably work it back in maybe because the only ones that Super super string crazies cost trains crazy because cost car does do it in their name phantom Phantom does pretty well. I think phantom is a pretty decent artist already And there was another one like those Two or three maybe are like cool. You know what's funny back this shit actually though And it shows how little experience they have in this space. What it's all the reverse today. What do we do? We tell people Y'all really don't even need to worry about a music video until the shit's popping, right? But what do many artists do still they'll Drop the music video at release because they have this entire vision, right? Where do you see somebody dropping the entire music video? And the song's not even out Like that's the crazy part about it. They dropped three high quality as fuck I know like miles by High quality as fuck music videos put the song not out not a teaser the whole song and They didn't even drop the music videos separately by the way. They never posted it on their own Maybe they are right now as we speak They might be set posting it like separately for people to watch it The music videos aren't a part of this like hour plus long stream I ever learned that thing is so people can't just go individually to find say, yeah, I like this song Let me go listen to it this way. Yeah That's just an experience. That's great um Creativity raw talent Perspective in terms of how they put that shit together, but yeah a music manager being involved from ground up Probably will be like, oh, whoa, whoa, but maybe that would have prevented that shit into where it was because who knows They might have just came with the idea had some fun and did that in a real short period of time Not for us. Yeah, but for I know it's supposed to it was supposed to come out a while ago You know down some editing issue But sometimes timing, you know what I'm saying? But would it have hit the same actually not think about it It probably might have went bigger Brux like that if drake hand came out and knocked it out You know saying like if they came out early, maybe they would have missed that one though Yeah, I don't know who else No, I think if it would have came out when it was supposed to come out They would have got clipped by somebody else, you know pretty much, but yeah, man It's like I think that they're gonna be cool Especially the songs that you know are doing pretty well that the fans seem to be translating to There are some fan accounts Even though like tiktok and youtube like starting to upload the video You know on their channel which speaks a lot to it and you know I'm pretty sure somebody in the music industry ecosystem is saying that's just like we are and you know saying and And it's probably trying to figure out how they're gonna take advantage of this or cap or do whatever I don't think all of them will because cada is pretty good monthly listeners And I don't think he signed to a label or nothing like nobody's got him yet, you know And it's like why would he bro? I know if I can post this shit to my youtube channel And my fans gonna go listen to it and then the algorithm gonna pick me up and keep me in the cool So he got to be at least like three million monthly listeners. What's he uh? Oh, nah, I suppose that I remember I was well 916,000 still a respectable amount You probably said that three million because when the song was popping Probably had more of the time because he only has two songs out. Yeah, so let that be, you know two songs out 916,000 monthly listeners, but look at that shit, bro. You can tell he ain't acting this is right Look at that profile picture his profiles there developed got 40 million on one song and two million on the other So, you know, you know That's probably the influence be pissing me off, bro. Shit don't make no money, bro. You know, no money. No sense Because I got so much money. So it's like, you know, this shit is at least easy to follow. She was mad. So I don't know, man There's so One like if anybody out there knows if anybody out there knows the AMP team You know what I'm saying? They can push them back our way I love to help them out with that just because you know what I'm saying? One it'd be cool, but in two, you know something like I client was a part of it man I think they they they had some some real dope shit that came out of it hard So it's hard, bro Um, but then too, bro, like if you are an influencer listening to this And you have dreams of crossing over to the music side Please stay the way music artists do shit like at least at least attempt to do things the right way because just like this Well, like I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt of not thinking the video go viral They get viral videos outside. They knew there was a high chance this shit could go viral But you regularly influence a regular person You never know. You know what I'm saying? So the best thing you can do for yourself is make sure all your ducks are on the road. So that shit do hit Then great. You were ready for it. And if it don't hit then you got some practicing And we can leave it at that And don't forget to check us out every Tuesday every Thursday if no label is necessary I'm brain man shine and I'll cover it and we out