 What's up? What's up? What's up? I'm brand man Sean and I'm Corey and we are back with another episode of No Labels Necessary Podcasts you can catch us every Tuesday every Thursday on YouTube Spotify Apple music wherever you stream your podcast here at the intersection of creativity and currency and As always we got some crazy topics for you guys today. It is How you break an artist particularly the mindset of breaking an artist There's a difference between marketing and breaking an artist those specific phases It's a game changer now. I want to make sure y'all understand the specifics today Whole different world. There's two clips that we're gonna go over in this episode and The first one the second one really gets into the details of that breaking an artist mindset But the first one is a great setup because Rick Ross dropped game on how he can identify if An artist is ready to go or if they're ready to invest in and I think he applies this mentality towards Just in businesses in general. It seems like but especially artists So let's go ahead play this clip if I see you city the city. I look at you different I know what you capable of when you really getting some paper If you somebody I bump into in different markets I know what you capable of doing when you really getting some money what this reminds me of Actually a recent conversation. I just had completely different context, but the analogy still applies, right a Turtle and a bird can both be in a cage. Okay, but when you open that cage Turtles gonna walk that slow walk and the birds gonna fly All right, okay, so what he's saying, right? Consider the cage not having money having access. All right, but once I give you these resources Already see what you can do is I see the ground. I see you everywhere I see you moving and I know once I give you the resources you the bird you're gonna fly Yeah, somebody else people think a lot of people think oh if I just had money if I just had These other things and then you give them those resources things look the same because though they're those same people, right? They're the turtles. They're the turtles. Okay, right? That's all I think when I see that man, it's just about Environment and knowing who's everybody are you maxing out your current environment because if you aren't maxing out your current environment How can I expect you to max max max out the next one? Yeah? Yeah, I get it. It's a very real Music industry mindset and what I think it it comes from is the respect for resilience. You know, it's like hey Man, I know that moving around in this industry where you probably ain't making a lot of money She got to go to LA you got to go to New York You got to go to Atlanta you got to go to all these different places and I keep seeing you there Or I you know, maybe not keep but I see you here in these spaces that lets me know that either a things are at least Okay enough on your end, right or B. You are figuring it out Two things that I want to see or most people want to see what the people that work with right either You have the ability to do it or you know how to figure it out. I'm saying like either way you cool So, yeah, I get it. You know I'm saying and I mean for like that's kind of one of the things that hurts I think a lot of arts today about being homebodies, right? Like It's like, yeah, technically from a work perspective Maybe you can optimize get more doing, you know, you don't have to leave the house to do stuff But then you lose out on stuff like this and like there's people who literally would be like man I saw you in Atlanta And then I see you again three weeks later in LA randomly like a house party or something Now I'm going to give you an opportunity like you miss out on that when you when you don't leave the house And leave where you're at, you know Because you know what I'ma play this next clip where The breakdown is really about to occur Okay, and we're talking about breaking an artist This clip will give you three things that you need to do or be aware of when you're in the process Of breaking an artist or if you are the artist breaking yourself Benus is benus. You need to touch people at least seven to eight times to get them to buy it right there Jim number one You need people to see you over and over again touch and feel over and over again Rick ross just said this without even saying this. Yeah, he got sold himself He basically said you sell me if I see you everywhere I go multiple times not just one time multiple times and The huge part of breaking an artist, right? And you'll see as we talk deeper into it. It's not just about your fans You're really breaking yourself and giving an impression to the fans The industry at large. All right, and your peers Everybody is seeing this motion and you're selling everybody by Popping up again and again and again. So the fans you're becoming Oh, this artist that we really want to listen to at this level and there's so many of us We want to see you at shows. We love you right to your peers We become oh man, I see what they're doing. I respect what they're doing. I like what they're doing. Actually, I want to capitalize I cannot get in on that. How can I get in on that shit, right? So now you become an opportunity on that side not even in a negative way But people just realize oh, there's leverage in working with you a bigger artist might say Oh, that's the person to come up. It might make me look cool Right or like I know what's going on A artist that's already on your level a let me hop on this train so I can get some visibility on the way up Your peers are also being sold and then the industry is being sold. Oh, how can we invest? How can we get to the table before this other label gets to the table or whatever the types of investment happen? There's three people or three stakeholders that are being sold at least when you start to break as an artist So it's not just tick tock. We still go to radio We still got t-shirts and merch and we still touching down in three records top 40 right now Like we still in in people's faces and in like we just don't rely on tick tock to sell the record like here goes the other thing You don't allow The platforms or wait on the platform itself to sell the record You can't wait on tick tock to blow the record up all the way You can't wait on instagram to blow the record up all the way people out here complaining. Oh, man Like tick tock isn't breaking records tick tock is going to create the spark Like we had a moment in history where things were crazy Like unprecedented where you could just throw shit into the hit machine and in a hit come out almost Now okay, we back to the basics, right? It's still easier to get a hit But now you got to have some strategies. You got to know what you're doing And what does that look like you don't rely on the platform to blow you up You allow that platform to create a spark But you are in charge of if that shit actually spreads to instagram or not Whether it goes to youtube or not the merch and all those things he just touched here Whether it translates to the world or not. That's your job. Your team's job. Yeah, that's the biggest thing I got right I was like, yo, we don't We don't wait to make it real like we take it to the things in real life that that make a What am I looking for a none no longer just an internet thing, right? Which is what a lot of artists kind of fall Short when they have these viral moments and things to the point of breaking is it never really leaves the internet You know saying so as as much as we see it as big as it feels like In that bubble, there's never any like real life evidence that This moment is as big as it looks on the internet and people pick up on that and they eventually I think Lose faith because of it. So like he sounds like yo like This is just a piece of the machine the digital machine, but we're gonna make sure it hits right there We're gonna make sure there's merchants street teams and these things that you know We're essentially going to do everything else That we would have did whether or not this shit hit It's just now we have the attention in the spark from the tiktok moment to add to it Like you said, it's just like I don't I feel like people try to look at how to how to get by With just one part of the machine, you know what I'm saying? Which we've seen a lot of artists do successfully like maybe 12 different parts But we've seen people be successful using one or two Because it goes so crazy on that one. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But they forget they're like, oh man in the perfect world I should be doing all these things at the same time. You know what I'm saying more importantly the ones who are watching Don't forget. They don't even understand that that's an anomaly Most people have to go multiple platforms like really work it to blow those cases that One thing and they really take off one. They're still on the spray to other platforms And um in general but to like those are moments in time that are very hard to duplicate. Yeah, exactly That's it. That's it. Let me take a quick second to tell you about forever fan because many of you know that My agency is responsible for helping multiple artists blow up tens of billions of views and billions of streams But I want to specifically talk about a strategy that we've used to help Artists get millions of streams on their very first song and as a matter of fact in the last 12 months An artist got signed to a major label using this specific strategy and you'll never guess what it is Pre-saves. Yeah, that's right pre-saves. They're extremely powerful when you do them correctly But most people don't understand how to do it. See the problem becomes We've been all this effort for this pre-save campaign and then the song finally comes out And then what happens after that? Nothing. You're starting from ground zero again because you're not about to ask people to pre-save Every single time you drop a song So I'm here to put you on to our solution for that Which is forever fan a platform that removes this massive pain for artists by making it So when a fan pre-saves one of your songs, they automatically pre-save every single song that you drop after that So your work doesn't just create a one-time fan of a single song It creates a forever fan and you can take advantage of this same solution Go to foreverfanmusic.com so that you can get more streams and a deeper relationship with your fans for the same amount of effort foreverfanmusic.com Check it out now. Let's see what else he got actually We're actually touching the people in making it visible. So people are like, oh, okay. Yeah, okay All right. I heard I saw this I heard this like take an example Right now. We got one of the biggest records in the country The jk mack no love record has got the big dance Everybody's doing but like what we did was we were very very very very smart because We made sure that the girl that created the dance was in the video Nice, which was another point for people to be like, oh, I like this kid because he's smart and he likes influencers Because there's so many records where the influencer never made it to the video or never got a chance to You know, I'm saying good customer service that part's huge man. I love that word customer service Exactly. This is reminding the artist That you are doing a service Right to the audience a lot of times. It's like, hey come listen to me me me check my stuff out But it's like all of this is a customer service Business when you say it's a people business All right, everybody knows the music industry is a people business. Yeah, right relationships business Well, customer service is essentially a better way to even streamline that of saying, hey, it's not just people But you have to figure out a serve people we go back to the stakeholders, which is why this is so important He just said Influencers haven't been getting their love and some music videos, right? It's like I came up with a dance I got this thing popping. You show me no love This is his way of saying hey man Like appreciate it, right? Yeah, we're going to show you some love. We're going to give you some clout What was the term that you used used? Social currencies or I don't know. Maybe it was like compensated with clout or something Whatever it was a little alliteration that you said earlier, but I forgot what it was But the fact that if an influencer gets my song popping There's more than one reason that I need to figure out some way to acknowledge them And I just alluded to it when I said you got three different type of people that you got to sell One if I put this influencer in my video, right or I show them some type of love It shows me as one An appreciative person to that particular influencer, right great, but oh man Well, who are like that that influencer is nobody. What does that mean? I don't care Well, that's when you look at the bigger picture today more than any day People are looking at whether they like somebody or not as a whole right people are investing in brands And using brands that are lower quality just because it matches their identity and how they like How people move right or I don't like that brand because I don't like who that person is as a person So your fans and the culture is looking at like, oh, how does he treat people or how does she treat people? Oh, this influencer popped this person off and he didn't put them in the video Oh, does he not like something about that type of person and whatever their identity is? We've seen that in certain videos right where the track star video was a big moment like that All right, that was a huge moment like that where it's like, oh, okay, man You got any problem with you know dues orientation or how he moves so now you get all these other assumptions and Now you're either selling to one specific audience or not selling to another audience or you're cutting everybody out But these decisions Are the pr that's happening by how you treat the influencers and people that have started to get your shit moving, right? Yeah, that's the customer service of it all So a lot of artists aren't thinking about that and But again as you are breaking That period is literally the period when you're winning everybody's hearts. Yeah, right when you think about oh Cardi B's on the rise It's not just oldest song is popping when Cardi B is on the rise when the artist is breaking Then you're making people have a decision and thought about how they think about you Yeah, you know I'm saying like oh Cardi B. So funny or oh man. She's uh, so real and transparent or Who else has been somebody like on the rise and going through that breaking period Ice face. What would you say the conversation has been about ice spice as somebody who like broke last year? Like while she was breaking. Yeah, like while she was breaking When they started to make some sort of impression beyond the music I think the first impression I became aware of was her Being a bad performer and then it started like oh is she gonna last long? You know, because I think like her first show ever was a rolling out show or something That's different though. That's the more artist specific. I'm talking about even the winning their hearts the winning their hearts is more like you know how They talk about this pretty privilege type of shit that was like a conversation around ice spice, but then It also got negated in some ways because that I've seen conversations saying ice spice is like She's nice and cool and she respects other women and things like that. That's what I'm talking about so that To me didn't really start to probably about Five or six months into it when she started talking more like she started doing more interviews She started you know saying being a little more vocal And then she had enough time to be unproblematic because then you look at that stuff and you think like man She hasn't done anything in the last problem. That's the word Yeah, like she hasn't like talked shit about anybody or beef that like you know something you can reflect and like man She is pretty cool. So I would say yeah, probably about like Six months in but that to me changed the first matter which the first matter was like, oh, is she gonna last long? She's not a great performer. She got one song blah blah and it was like, oh, she's cool You know something like she's cool. She's nice. You know what I'm saying And that's when you start to break when people say, oh, thank you cool in some form of fashion Where they have more of a personality connection with you beyond the music itself even go Rilla Had multiple songs like she was ringing off I think they had to slow down with her because she was about to Fetty wop the whole game like she was coming with him, right? but Then it became like this narrative of like She was real in a different different way than the cardi B real they talk about but it was like a Was it like a humble type of thing or like I think so around the way, you know, you know I'm saying that they were kind of doing with her. You're like the girl next I don't think they were girl next door in her. I won't say that. I think it was just like the opposite of He depends on what door like they were girl next door and it was just a different door I think it was just the The juxtaposition of the genre that she's in right like she's in bad bitch rap Which like bad bitch rap was very braggadocious. You know what I'm saying very like Like they out there they the character 247 and she's not like she she makes the music But then she's like realized she's kind of chill. You know what I'm saying like even like the Interviews and stuff. I've seen her do with streamers like ka ka sanat and all those people just always just like chill You know something very like low-key quiet. You know what I'm saying So it's like man, you can't help but not like it and I think will also help the which we haven't touched by Talked about a minute, but you know, we was only pretty heavy is Whoever started running her meme strategy that completely flipped everything for her You know what I'm saying? It was like say it specifically go ahead put out there So There I don't say was a point. Let's still do it Every now and again now. But like they you can tell that whoever her marketing team is has Really good relationships with meme pages and so where I'll see Every few weeks It's just the most random memes and discussion topics around ice bikes Like I saw one a couple days ago. It's like this rap page posted You get a call at 3 a.m You know saying who you going to see first and it was like on the left It was ice spice on the right. It was a lot of and I was like this shit random as fuck Like why is this on the right? But I'm sorry, but you know my marketing brain kicking in I'm like, bro That's a So so nigga pulling the strings with this shit. He knew the ass was gonna stop everybody You know saying you get engaged by the headline now you talking about it You know saying like but like her team is really good at putting those types of memes and stuff out on on the meme accounts in a way that like Like I said, I haven't seen really seen too many of the girls from the bad bitch rappers I don't really do that. Usually when they do it, it's on it's like they accidentally kind of crossover You know what I'm saying? Like it seems like Ice spices team has been controlling that for a minute. Yeah, I mean, they're really heavy with it I mean, I think the the ones who's more interesting interesting to me is glorillus because It's not so heavy with it and just be everywhere an omni present Yeah, but it was clean in terms of again saying What type of person this girl like oh, let's show her at peace and not piece of work working at mcdonald's You know I'm saying like she had a narrative with a lot of women that I've spoken to where She's unproblematic in many ways. Yeah in terms of that type of problematic They're talking about like, you know, it's like, oh, yeah, and then things she she talks about Is a little bit it's adjacent to like scamming right? She has her own pocket It's adjacent to I'm uh, I'm just a bad bitch. Like it's not she's actually talking like a nigga Like when you really like the other like There's This will take us too far off topic But the other women they say are talking like dudes, but really they're just talking like I know women to talk but it's just putting put it actually putting out there public But like the way her bars are delivered I are there's fewer women who really deliver the bars the way that glow real is doing But that's again a side of point, but I think that actually had a part of how they brand to her Let's let finish off this video That has to be a part of Everybody's business model. I don't care. We selling a foundation a lot of people don't know how to stretch the moment Yeah into a career and that's the problem That is you know, so everybody talks how bad the tick tock is but like If you don't know how to make a sandwich out of scraps and just shut the fuck up Why is it vice? He came he came hard with the cherry on top. I don't think I've ever made a sandwich out of scraps Hey, I I definitely have out of scraps. Yeah, turkey scraps, especially like That's never yeah, never mind. Let's get off that The that last point is important to stretch the moment and make it into a career. Yep This is why I stress to so many artists when there's moments, right? Every time a window opens up You have to go hard and go up as many levels as you can in that window These windows don't always happen and when they do If you don't take advantage of it, you can't just be oh shoot man Something else is gonna happen next year. Like there could be a window where you miss going to level eight And then you find another window and you go to level five So you feel like oh, I made that progress. I made the moment back. It's like nah, bro You didn't realize you would have been on level eight probably nine from now because you would have been at level eight And then continue to push on Right, it really does work like that that that that image I always say of Being in a spy movie and the doors closing and you slide down that thing before the door closes on you Everybody don't make it. Everybody don't make it and The thing that people miss is just understanding what that momentum It takes like how much energy does it take in that moment? All right, and then secondly Having the preparation the resources and know how to actually take advantage of that moment That's what gets a lot of artists obviously But a lot of times we'll say oh this person just didn't pop or win because they were that type of artist But then you'll find an example of that type of artist that's actually made it A full career or at least made it a longer moment. It's like, oh, yeah, he was just more of a comedian He's like, ah some comedian you look at a little dickie, you know, I mean you look at a weird owl Yankevich, you know I'm saying like you look at all these types of rappers Or in different type of comedic as well that exists that find ways to extend moments It's how you move with with uh with it. So like I think The biggest thing that we just miss when we look at a lot of the indie indie artists that are like just on tick talk You don't have a management team. You're in your bedroom Is feeling like oh, yeah, that person just popped and then they didn't keep going because They just it was just one of those moments It wasn't a real song or they're not a real artist or something like that It's like nah They really just didn't know how to stretch that moment and have the resources around them to do so Yeah, no, I agree. I agree because like I said, it's a it's a lot especially Especially if it's coming from a true viral moment, you know what I'm saying? Like it's all this attention being thrown at you You went from being as artist aware, you know more than likely no one was Talking to you as much for now all these people got advice for you know, so I get it You know what I'm saying? It'll be a lot happening. It's a lot that happens But that's why I like the point that he made earlier About you know still getting outside and touching the people because that that's the person I feel like when the artist catches the viral moment I like you need to flip this Into opportunities that allow you to get outside as fast as possible Right like you want to get that booking agent that can help you get on festivals Now's the time to start finding those people you're saying you want to possibly do some collabs with some artists Again, some studio sessions now is the time to do it. You know what I'm saying? So I think we always talk about Capitalizing on viral moments from a sense of the internet and the music which you know I think I think we've done a good job at talking about and even in previous videos right like here's how you can kind of extend these moments But like I said, I look at it like bro, how can we get you implemented And embraced by the real world As fast as possible why they still care about this thing because we probably got Three months max before they no longer care about it You know because even if we look at someone like the glow rulers and icepices Like you can literally see them doing things like every three or four months. So to extend give them something else to care about Exactly keep extending the conversation. So it's like you look back and I always took us Five three month extensions, which is usually about how long it takes. No, that's about a year and a half two years And now they're like here and so that's a little five So that says to me to the No, the artist is kind of coming through the notches is like, you know, like oh my song went viral in january It's june and I'm still here. I should be good. It's like, no, bro. You're still new You know what I'm saying? You still the window about the window of opportunity Is still there in the sense it may be shrinking a little bit slower, but it's still shrinking You know, you have to keep kind of prying it open Pushing it up and walking back and through starts to close and push back up right until eventually it just stays You know what I'm saying? like we've seen with like a cardi B or Other viral acts that are now, you know, we look back three four or five years later and that's solidified now Like I don't ever feel like cardi B is gonna fall off. You know what I'm saying? I don't ever feel like like who's another. I mean, we just happened to come and ask him about Oliver tree, bro Like I was talking about, you know, like Oliver tree and young gravy and all them Well, me rappers so long ago when they kept opening the door, bro And like now they're not going where you know what I'm saying? Like they're never falling off, bro So it's like no you can at this point once people hit that level They can fall back, but they're not gonna fall off. So people might say Oh, I think they fell off because I haven't seen them. It's like not a specifically Go back. So now I'm at what I think This comes down to is There's the mountain, right? This this success mountain this mountain represents A certain level because there's higher and higher mountains. You can climb once you pop, right You're able to get to a certain mountain All right One do you put in the energy to get up that mountain though? Do you run long enough? All right, or do you have enough gas in the tank to get to the top of that mountain? It takes time But then once you're at the top of that mountain Do you have the foundation to stay there? Because that becomes the difference between the people who are living on that mountain and the people who are just renting You see some of those people oh, they're up there in the mid for a minute They done scammed or they done like just luckily found their way up in the building And it looks Mixy you like oh man this people don't this person doesn't even belong to be up there or how this person get up there Give enough time Those renters, you know, I mean when those prices rise They're like, ah, man. Okay. Let me just go buy me a house where I could afford one You know, so just do it damn money and rent and and then you start seeing the people who really live on that mountain so That's the decision that you you have to make is like am I going to continue to put up that effort beyond what I see so I can be certain and The best practice I always see is Really This is that shoot for the the moon and lane amongst the stars type of mentality because when you're first coming up Especially if you don't have anybody like really seasoned on your team You really don't fucking know. Yeah, so all you can do is like i'm locked in I'm gonna keep going going going going going going going because I don't know where to stop to to ensure I'm where I need to be and Kind of got to just leave it at that. Look and I'll let the advisor Or you know your life situation help you figure out that last detail on when you actually do Yeah, man, you know a wise man once said, you know, the good news is came a long way bad news is Went the wrong way You said that shit, bro. I don't even heard that one. What bro, jaco, bro. I have not heard that one Really? I have not heard that jaco song, bro. That's crazy, bro. Y'all Please roast him in the comments. Hey, man. Look, man. No, bro. You deserve to be ashamed for that No, bro No, is that hey, I stopped listening to jaco word for word after a certain year But that's a whole other conversation Wait, I mean to me that's the the bigger point is like I don't know it's it's a it's a I don't know how it's always hard to give advice around it Because it's such a like a viral moment It's such a like in the In the moment thing like there's so much being thrown at people depending on what their resources are and how Close to the bottom they wear when they went viral can determine so many things You know what I'm saying? Like a Arts has been building for five years that went viral is much different than the artists that have been building for six months It went around foundation. Yeah Uh I don't want to even extend the conversation Um far, so I'll just let this be an example of what you just said Doja cats, bitch. I'm a cow Was a viral moment on the foundation of a career that already Have been around for about four or five years. Yeah already had some little bit of peaks and plateaus Perfect example of that but with that being said this is yet another episode of no labels necessary podcast I'm bray man. Sean. Oh, hold up. Make sure you subscribe by the way. I'm bray man. Sean And we out Hey, if you like this clip and your artist is looking to grow your career Or a manager or a label to have artists that you're working with We have free content and courses at no labels necessary dot com where we break down using some of our real case studies For instance, we took an artist from zero to over one million streams on his very first song Using a special content rollout method and we break down step by step Everything that we did and how you can use it for yourself Check out no labels necessary dot com if you like to get access to that ask us questions directly and see how we've helped Artists grow to millions of streams from ground zero again That's no labels necessary dot com and if you're watching this on youtube There should be a link in the description below. See you next video