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For four of the seven years of Rap Coalition's
existence, we have assisted artists in putting out their own records and
negotiated distribution deals. In that time we've seen many artists come,
we've seen even more artists go. We've watched artists sell 60,000 units
in a few months (at $5 a record--do the math), and we've seen artists piss
away $50,000 in a month to no avail. One of our goals is to share
insights, successes, and failures for those who are inclined to put out
their own record. The street entrepreneurs. This article is for you...stay
strong, stay focused, and keep up the good hard work. Success is yours, go
get it.
Although it started as an alternative for artists who couldn't get a deal,
there are two main reasons why someone puts out their own record: 1) to
own their own destiny and control their art form by owning their own
label, or 2) to get picked up by a larger label or distributor by proving
that your music is marketable. You either want to be a Def Jam or
distributed by a Def Jam. Regardless of the reasons, controlling your own
project and proving to the world that your music is marketable, while
making money, is very attractive. There are many successful examples of
self-released artists and labels who have come before: Too Short, AWOL, No
Limit, Cash Money Records, Inner Soul, Esham, Slip-N-Slide, E-40, Luke
Records, Revolutionary Records, 3-6 Mafia, Big Boy, Trinity Garden Cartel,
Deff Trapp, Rubber Room, CWAL, and many, many others. Some have
self-destructed, some have been shut down by the Feds, some have been
swallowed up by larger labels, some have robbed their artists and
employees--the very people who created their success, and a few have gone
on to succeed remarkably. There is a lot of money and prestige in owning
your own shit in this industry, provided you have the financing and staff
to do it correctly. It isn't rocket science so provided you have the
proper tools and determination, you can make it happen for yourself.
That's our focus: doing it correctly, meaning profitably.
The basis of any successful project is the music. The music must be
banging and must have appeal outside your inner circle. That means you
don't just play it for your boys, you plat it for people you don't know
who are most likely to be honest with you about whether or not it's on
point. When Creator's Way was putting out Do Or Die's first single in
Chicago, Po' Pimp, they gathered together all the local mix show DJs, club
DJs, and some of the local retailers and played a few songs for them. They
unanimously picked Po' Pimp as their favorite song, so CWAL had
reconfirmed exactly which single to press up (and the DJs felt like they
played a part in choosing the single). Why spend tens of thousands of
dollars on pressing if you aren't certain you'll have the support of the
local DJs and stores?
Once you decide on the first single and press up your record, you market
it within a small geographic area that you can affordably control. Unless
you are backed by millions of dollars and a flawless major distributor,
you don't want to start nationally because you can't be everywhere in the
country at once. The larger labels have staffs and budgets to accommodate
a national release, but since you don't, start with just your city or town
and no more than two or three others nearby. Make certain you've done the
research in all of the areas you choose where the record will sell. Choose
areas where the artists can travel cheaply and easily, since they may need
to travel often into those areas to support the record. For example, it
would not be a wise decision to choose New York, Houston, and the Bay Area
for simultaneous release because the airfare alone would kill you
financially every time your artist needed to travel to support the record
at radio or retail or with a show. Once the record hits, however, it will
spread naturally and you can't control this. When Twista released his
first single, Emotions, even though we tried to contain it to Chicago,
Milwaukee, and St Louis (all within a few hours driving distance from
Chicago where he lived) the record spread naturally to Louisiana, Atlanta,
and Cleveland. By the time that happened, we had enough income from record
sales to send Twista into those markets. Cash Money Records focused on
Louisiana and Texas for all of their releases until they decided they
wanted major distribution and then they expanded slowly throughout the
South and up into the Mid-West. At this point they had enough money from
their record sales to be taken seriously by a regional distributor. The
success they experienced with this expansion gave me enough ammunition to
get them a $30 million distribution deal with a major, allowing them
complete ownership of their masters and their company. Master P focused on
Oakland and the surrounding areas prior to signing to his distribution
deal, even though he was getting sales in his hometown of New Orleans. He
was not distracted by that and kept his focus on his target area
(everything beyond the Bay Area and Northern California was gravy).
Timing is a key element for the project. Once you choose a release date,
everything works backwards from that date. All aspects of the project's
set-up is worked simultaneously so that everything happens at once on that
all important release date. In other words, if a local newspaper writes
about your artist or publishes a review of the record, it's important that
it comes out at the same time the record is released. It does no good to
have an article published four months before the record drops. No one will
remember it. The street team needs to blitz the streets before the project
drops to build anticipation for its release but in a timely fashion. How
many times have you gone to a store to buy a record you've been hearing
about for months only to find out it's not out yet? Remember the first
Snoop Doggy Dogg record? We all waited a year for it to drop, but couldn't
wait to run to the store to buy it the day it came out. Make certain when
choosing your release date that it's a realistic time frame to accomplish
the art work, the printing, the pressing, the street blitz, and local
press. Don't worry about national press, you'll need that later. Why would
you want someone in Oakland to read about a record that can only be bought
in Houston? As you grow, the national press will come. It won't help you
to have a write-up in the Source in October when your project is local,
because when you go back to them in May with a national story to tell,
they've already written about your artist and won't do it again. So go for
what you need, when it does you the most good.
Don't focus on getting a distributor right away. You'll get a better deal
once you can prove your record is selling. You can put your product in
stores on consignment, meaning you give it to them and when it sells they
pay you. Once your product has a demand and they start to sell units
regularly, it will be easier to get paid. If your record becomes a hit and
sells quickly, it will be very easy to get paid in advance, and you'll
have the distributors coming to you to do a deal. Remember this is a
business. As long as someone thinks they can make money from you, they
will. If they know they can, the terms will be more favorable for you. The
less risk involved for a store or distributor, the better the deal is for
you. Once the distributors start making offers, the best way to find out
if a distributor is right for you is to look at the type of music they
distribute to see if it's similar. Then ask the other labels they
distribute for their experiences regarding the distributor and if they get
paid on time. Local retail stores who buy from that distributor can give
you great insight as well.
It is important to create a plan and stick to it. Focus and determination
are the only things that are going to get you through the chaos of putting
out your own record. Many offers will come, most of which are from people
who can't do much more for you than you can do for yourself. It's
important to weigh everyone's reputation, check on their accomplishments
and successes to be certain they are legitimate and true, and be patient
and wait for the opportunity that will bring you exactly what you want.
You will not get what you deserve, you will get what you negotiate. The
music business is not fair, and seems that one who holds out for what one
really wants, usually gets it! Do the research and study the industry so
you can figure out what it is exactly that you want. The best part is that
you control your own destiny.
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