 All right, Bao, Bao, what's up everybody? It's Shawn Brayman, Shawn and I are back. It's been a good minute since I've had Tea Cup on the channel. You know, she's been out doing her thing undercover, but she is back on the channel. And as you know, she always brings really dope advice and tips to the artist community. So today is 2022 now, right? We've talked budgets before. I've talked budgets. There's been a lot of different conversations and budgets and popular topics for artists. But we haven't updated for 2022. It's a different economy out there. So I'm excited to be able to get, you know, your insight to become somebody who's in the trenches and actually doing stuff. You know, I work with artists on what you're seeing and your perspective on it. So again, I appreciate you having on, but let's get into it. What, how much budget do I need? That's the question. Five hundred dollars. Can you blow my song up? So how much? So the thing is, I really don't like answering that question because the budget can depend. Now I always tell artists, when I start with artists, I want to say, list out your network first. So list out how many DJs, the different DJs that are rocking with, because as you know in music, it's really about relationships. It's about relationships. It's about who you know. This person may know this, X, Y and Z. So a lot of things, artists, they can learn themselves. Like they can make their own flyers now, make their own like promo materials and things like that. So I would say, I would rather say things to budget for rather than a price. But first, before we go into that, again, if you list out your resources, okay, how many influencers that you have relationships with? I mean personal relationships, whereas if you drop a song, they'll repost it just off the load. So influencers, DJs, how many DJs are actually looking for your music? You know, how many people have been waiting to drop? Okay, relationships with, I would say, interviewers or radio personalities. So what relationship do you have there? I have like a graph. I can send to you as well of like the different breakdowns of people on board. But I would say DJs, so DJs and hosts, so club promoters, so strippers, of course, influencers, platform, engineers, fans, also be aware of how many fans, how many people buy into you and things like that. Producers, other artists, graphic designers, A&Rs, managers, labels, people that do artist development, curators, venues, and marketers like Brian Manchin. So I would say make a list and actually list out all the people that you have direct relationships. With, before going into budgeting. Okay, and then you always balance out your budget based on what's like working for you. So it's pretty important to do that before you get into a budget. And then, okay, so let's start off with production. Right? So production is the priority that you should budget for. Because you said what now? I'll just say why is that? Why you say production? Because it's all about music. It's all about what we like. It's all about what we like sonically when we hear it played out loud. So mixing and mastering, quality mixing and mastering is important. So the studios that I would say one studio I would recommend is Patchwork, of course. Patchwork has like the top quality equipment. Prices can start from about 50 plus. So people may think it's just very expensive and they're hard to reach, but you can literally call their number on their website and you could be able to get a budget for that. So knowing about like leasing the beat and being aware of like sale limits. So that's very important because a lot of producers, they'll say, oh, like the beat is this amount. It's like some producers may want to flat free upfront or some producers may say, hey, well, you can pay this amount after a certain amount of downloads. So quality is important. Okay. And then quality production also goes into content. So content is very important. So you have to decide whether you're the type of artist that you're using your personality a lot, which of course that may be the most cost efficient, right? Because the people like you as a person and you do like funny things, whatever you use your music in the background that helps as well. Photoshoots, vlog contents, performance footage, live videos. So this also factors into your resources. So, okay, even if you may not have, can afford a videographer to follow you all around. Do you have a little cousin? Do you have a friend that has a, because you can use your iPhone these days just to get vlog content or like live performance content, right? Okay. And then you have to set aside budgets for those videos. So how often do you try videos? So all of this that she's going to do so far and like just straight up, what's in my resource pool? Like just the first thing that people need to think about, right? Okay. I know that you probably got some more listed, but I want to get your opinion because I like when you're going with it. Again, people always say, yeah, what's my budget? And then you can just give my answer, but your resources can cut your budget in half that you might need to put out financially. So give me your perspective though, because obviously you came to this conclusion from being with the artist. Like why are you so keen on just starting here and not before you even got to anything else? Okay. Starting here because really identifying first what you need and who may have what you need, who directly around you may have what you need. And I think people kind of overlook that and how content specifically is becoming in demand. You know, platforms are saying post two to three times a day, things like that. And they say as an artist for Instagram, they say post at least 10 times a day on your story. Well, if you have certain resources, if you have certain people that can do certain things, for one, it's more accessible. And if you have people that genuinely believe in what you have going on and genuinely supported, you know, they're more likely to offer some of their resources, which can cut things in half. Or you know, you can make work out something like, hey, you know, if you do this for a while, then this is how this works. Or if it comes to content, let's say if you do want somebody to come out with you three times a month and blog you, maybe setting up that retainer fee or a certain amount that can work for you. So to your point of why I say resources, because there are some people that, there's a lot more creatives out now. And there's the exact community is getting really big now, I want to say like more people are understanding, okay, I may not be the artist or the entertainer, but I can help with an artist or I can help with someone that I believe in. So there's a lot of people looking for somewhere to start in music, right? Or they're looking for somewhere to start, they may pick up a camera or pick up a video and say, hey, this I want to start with this, I really like your music, let me start with you. And there may have been people that have already said something to, you know, an artist about it. Like if they meet you somewhere, they may have already said it, you know, you can just tap back in and keep building that rapport and continuing to support what they have going on. So other forms of content, as aforementioned, so flyers, merch, press kits, these are things that artists have to heavily invest in. I would say, of course, press kit, first, once you get numbers, now there's two types of press kits. So there's a bio, which is like smaller, is usually done per single or per release, but then there's an electronic press kit or EPK, which is done collecting all of your numbers and everything that you've pretty much done overall in your career, which is pretty much like any electronic resumes. So make you sound good and all fancy and all that stuff. And then merch is important, because merch is what ties people to, for one, is direct income. And it ties people to support what you have going on. And you can see in real time, how many people are invested into your artist community. So, and then let's see here. So marketing, so marketing is very important. The way you, I would say, again, just having those relationships and the way you present yourself to people, that can determine whether, oh, somebody just believed what you're saying, they may want to work with you, or that can determine, okay, well, they may prefer to be budget based. Yeah. And then doing things like ads. So, of course, we've got YouTube ads, we've got Instagram ads, and now we've got TikTok ads. So budgeting and ads, once you look at your target audience on your platforms and look at what it's targeting, budgeting for ads helps as well. Got you. Got you. So, I mean, you have all this stuff in a checklist, speaking that you can provide for people. I do. So, gave y'all the free consultation. So, I do have all of these things that I do typically break down an artist. I usually go based off of their budget. I let them set the budget, because of course, if you want to do $500, can possibly work, right? So, that can possibly work on a smaller scale. So, let's say for marketing, for example, if you only have $500, maybe you need to reach out to the smaller blogs and target the smaller blogs. Now, I'm not a wick. He said he blew up off of support from small blogs. So, Me, Spoodity TV, I'm a smaller platform. So, a smaller platform has probably like under 10K followers, things like that, but they're well-respected, you know, in the community, and people do check what they have going on. So, there's a lot of smaller blogs that may charge between $10 to $100 per post. So, let's say if you found, because small blogs are more prevalent now, that are posting music, and that are posting funny skits, and like I said, it doesn't even have to just be music. It can be funny skits. It can be things that are drawing different attention. ATL Hood historian, if anybody is in Atlanta, he's a good one, because he posts artists for like $50, like on his story. And he gets so much traffic. He gets like Waka Flaka and all the different celebrities coming to their page. So, if you got maybe like, if you only have $500, you can at least pay 10 blocks to post your single. So, that could be somewhere to start. So, you have like the bigger platforms like you have Say Cheese, you have like Off The Porch and things like that. So, those may be bigger. That's where the budgets get bigger, probably in like the thousands and you know, things like that to post. So, that all varies. Also, another form of marketing that is becoming popular now are social media influencers. So, there's a lot of people that start new dances and challenges. There's people that, there's people that people like their likeliness for what they do. So, let's say if there's a girl on social media that talks about holistic health and she's, you know, pretty popping online, she has like products that she sell or she has like affirmations that she posts daily. But you've got a song that ties into that, right? So, influencers, you definitely have to know like you have to understand their niche. And of course, come up with something that works for both their platform and works with your single, your song as well. So. Awesome. My thank you. But that's perfect. So, I mean, with all that being said, how can people get at you? So, because you're giving out a lot of different gains and a lot of different options. But I think it's all about talking to somebody who understands these options to help people choose what's best for their budget. So, what's the best way to get in contact with you? Okay. So, you can contact me on my Instagram page. I have a phone number 770-765-5422 that you can text directly. You can also email me on Instagram or you can DM me as well. So. So, okay. So, y'all, T is giving out so much gain here. Just so many options because I think one thing the artists don't do enough, right, is just consider your resources. And, like, I can't stress enough how, like, that's true gain just from the standpoint of spree. Like, that's not saying, oh, what's your resource and now you got to pay me. That's what's your resource. And those are people all around you with relationships you already have established. And artists who last in this game, they do a good job at developing resources, right? And some of the resources are free because they develop over time in terms of your friends. And some of them start off business and become resources because they like the way you do your business. They believe in you. You're respectful, you know what I mean? So now they're willing to do extra stuff for you. Sometimes they'll do it for free or they'll just do more than they would with any other client, right? All those things matter. So, I think her starting there just lets you know how much she's gonna, how helpful she is when it comes to the game. So, y'all definitely hit T up. I appreciate you have always happened on the platform. It's always good to have your insight. And if there's any last thing you want to leave people with, what would that be? Okay. Last thing I will leave people with, well, first, thank you for having me come on a platform. The thing I can leave you with because performances and PR, that was pretty much going to be the next kind of categories that I get into. But I also offer theirs as a service from my platform. So, I do have an event series as Brandman and Sean mentioned. So, I'm bringing it back. The show on Cypher's coming back. So, if you are looking to perform, which performance is it something you should put in your budget, you can definitely hit me up. And then also PR. So, press, having interviews, having log write-ups, things like that. Definitely those you can get up for me as well. So, yep. You can just text me 770-765-5422. Thank you so much. She got the number out there. Y'all don't, y'all don't blow it up too bad, but we're not going to get to see some business and get your shit going, man. So, good to see you as always too, and me and the other UDs and of course. Thank you.