Young Ef Moducation

super helpful man thanks

your welcome

Okay So you have a product a press kit and a manger and now you want to get some meetings and start shopping your music.

You have to no the chain of command. Your not going to come in from the streets and get a meeting with Diddy or Jay-Z. These types are well isolated and only meet with new artist when it is time to sign them. And some times you are signed for a good while before you even know whose signing your checks.

The chain start at the very bottom with Street Teams. If you go to clubs most of the time outside across the street will be a street team. You have to be careful with them though because a lot of them do this because they are fans of whatever artist they are promoting. Example: You are a 50 Cent fan so you and your friends go to 50 Cent concerts and hand out 50 Cent shit but most of the time its unofficial stolen or over priced because they are trying to turn a prophet Where as an official Street team will be getting their products directly from the company that houses the artist.

Example Jay-Z's Street Team (Dought he has one still) would get packages in the mail or have a place to go in New York or wherever its staged and each person will get the things needed to do the job. Most of the time it is flyers T-shirts CDs. They do not have any direct contact with the artist or company but they can let you know where these artist are going to be. what is coming up for them and can help you be where your favorite artist is for a chance to rub shoulders with them. Linking up with street teams helps you get in to exclusive parties and things that otherwise wouldn't have known about..

After the street teams comes Party Promoters/Djs. I put the promoters and DJs together because they go hand in hand. You fuck with the promoters because they got the clubs on smash. Most promoters can get you a show the thing about fucking with promoters they want money. A lot of them are liars and most of them will take your money and NEVER EVER COME THROUGH! The best way to use a promoter is to pretend to want to help that promoter.

Most promoters hand out flyers for hot parties in your area offer to help hand out the flyers. Find promoters that say they are looking for talent and let them know that you and your people have talent and slip them a demo. The promoters have the ears of club owners and DJs because most of the time a club promoter at the top of his game can book a DJ for a show they are promoting..now this DJ owes this promoter a favor. And depending what you do for the promoter he may owe you a favor and that favor can be that DJ playing your record at 1 in the morning in a packed club...VERY GOOD LOOK!

Thats something i cannot leave out BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IS VERY IMPORTANT AND YOU HAVE TO VERY TIMID HOW YOU DEAL WITH PEOPLE THE INDUSTRY IS FICKLE!!!

After you got a few promoters in your pocket and now your buzzing because DJs are playing your shit you can start looking for A&R's. A&Rs have a lot more pull in hte music business then a promoter or a street team but they are some of the shadiest. A lot of A&R's tell you know people when they don't no anybody lol. And A&R's job is to basically find talent. Not just anybody you have to be buzzing, A&R's would rather find you then you find them. Remember they are busy assholes so when you get in the market for an A&R be very selective because a l ot of them are lazy and most of them don't care they are all focused on the next big thing.

They don't care about your demos either so save those. In fact i found a blog that can tell it a little better then I can because I am not to familure with A&Rs. I just know that they are important when your just not getting a buzz and you are trying to move up in the industry. Here is the blog The A&R Commandments

Now your buzz is you and your name is ringing out. You are getting phone calls its time to start having meetings with some people who can actually sway a decision. This is when you start working with these famous people's managers. Most of the time before you get to a person like Jay Or Diddy you have to go through their managers and assistants because they people know sometimes better then the artist what they are looking for. The manager is one of the first smoke screens you have to get through. But if you are actually getting meetings with Diddy's manger then you should be alright to get other meetings. Stay away from meeting with washed up artist Managers. If you are going to leave your current manager or work with a new manager you want to make sure they are a career builder now a career breaker. Example you don't want to meet with who ever controlled Afro Mans career do you?

Assist time!!! At this point you are more then likely already signed or on the fast track to getting signed. If you are meeting with the personal assists of the stars
.that means you are mos def going in the right direction. still not as important to meet with the big boss but your getting there because if you are meeting the assistant or manager then they definite
know your name and that is better then fucking with the street teams

Now its time for the CEOs and the President meeting. This is the meeting you are going to get signed most likely. Getting signed is great but by this point in the chain you should have knowledge about record contracts (my next thread) and how to read through the lines. You should have an entertainment lawyer who is out for your best intrest and more money for you! Do not be too cocky in these meetings but don't be too over joyed either. You have to be a professional

YOU CAN SCREAM WHEN U LEAVE THO!

peace

Wow.

I totally disagree. You've left out so many vital steps. You've left out the grassroots marketing. Street teams are a form of grassroots marketing, but what about the rest? Doing shows, doing fund raisers, etc...how are you getting the capital to fund the street team? Street teams are usually developed by majors and bigger indie labels. Don't get me wrong, a bunch of people passing out some fliers are technically a street team, but it's more than that. It's organization, it's networking, it's a lot of hard work. It would take soooooo long to describe a step-by-step way to the top. What started off as a "chain of command" seems a bit more like a "this is how you blow up" thread. I feel like a lot of people will assume that you can do this and be signed, but please believe IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate you being a contributor and all, I just don't want people to get the wrong ideas about things.

i think you got the wrong idea from it so read it again this aint about you funding anything or spending anything it is about building relationships meeting people and the process to meeting more important people

this aint about you becoming anything paying for anything or anything like that

this is about when you are ready to start shopping your stuff around some of the things you can do

when you are ready to start getting meetings with record companies and meeting with important people these are some of the hoops you have to jump through

only things i left out are things a person will figure out on there own....A lot of people have different processes and they go through different shit to get on...but you know what this is your section and your head is big and you dont want any help with it so you no what im going to take my knowledge and save it...if a person needs help they will get at me because i know what i know you know what you know and i aint trying to go back and forth with you about facts

you can look up anything i wrote here none of it is wrong...it may not be your process but this is what a lot of people i know do...This is a process that i was tought by an old head and honestly i have seen its success with CT artist such as Apathy and A1 who actually was in the Vibe top 51 myspace artist.....so have fun wit ya lil section

FOR BEAT MAKERS!

How to Obtain Sample Clearance

I found this good website that talks about sample clearance and tha things you can do to clear your samples. I see a lot of the beats on here are sample beats and i was going to do this in the music business section but dude over there think he no everything so let him have that.....

in case you dont no what sample clearance is..its when you are sampling someone elses music in your music and you get permission from the owner of the sample to use it in your music....in some cases you do not need to clear a sample and the website provides a link that you go to to find out if you need to clear the sample or not...

I think this is a good place to post this because i see a lot of you guys have myspace pages trying to sale your beats and shit but a lot of them contain samples in them. If you get cought selling a sample beat with no sample clearance you can be in a lot of legal trouble and the worst part about being sued for millions of dollars is MOST OF YOU DO NOT HAVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

so you can either stop sampling...or read this..peace

Wow Ef, you're very childish. I voice my opinion on a matter, and you get all huffy-puffy and move your posts? And you're "boycotting" the business board. How old are you, Ef?

i am not childish i made a choice...me and you think very differently when it comes to these types of things and thats all good im going to respect your mind and voice my opions in my space and you do you in your space...my age has nothing to do with it but if you must no look on my profile it says it there....

plus what i said is more of my personal advice and should be here anywayz

you know what i noticed ef......everywhere you go on this forum some1 starts with you.....you must got a sign on your back or some shit

anyway....that sample clearing shit is VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY useful 2 me....good lookin out on that right here

your welcomed ghetto...and yes it just follows me

You Are Not Soulja Boy!!!

If you are not Soulja Boy stop making dance records! its not hot. I understand your trying to get signed and in this day and age its tough to get noticed so we have to have a gimmick. Even if you say you have no gimmick THERE IS A GIMMICK! The dance song aint your Gimmick. That was Soulja Boy's you need your own!

I am sick of getting demo tapes from rappers the lead song is some song called "shake that" "bounce" "Jiggin" or some shit like that. I am telling you artist out there creativity is the name of the game, being orginal will get you so much further in life then trying to be cookie cut out ass emcees.

IF YOU CAN AVOID SCAMS ONLINE!! A lot of people online are scheming unsigned artist into paying for all sorts of services that cannot be provided OR WILL NOT BE PROVIDED! I have come across a few websites that claims to sell exclusives you send payment recieve no mp3. I use to know a guy on myspace that promised to send 2,000 friend request for you a day as well as messages auto add comments as well as design your myspace page and promised at least 200 downloads a day. He was charging people 40 dollars a month for basically using proxy programs. Though he swore he wasn't using programs and that he had a staff of myspacers it seemed like a scam to me.

Be careful when entering contest that have entry fees..make sure you read the small print sometimes you pay an entry fee and don't even make it to the battle.

If you are a producer be careful selling your beats make sure you tell the person who is buying them what they are paying for rappers be careful buying beats from producers make sure you are not buying a beat that has been used a million times...make sure you are bringing up the words EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS

Looking for new mics? well good cause me too hit me up lol

No Ef, don't warn them about asking for exclusive rights.

j/k

Seriously, tho, to add to your point, the artist should always ask for a contract if the producer does not present them one. If the producer doesn't have contracts available, then I'd honestly pass up on buying a beat from that individual.

That's another thing. If you do get a contract, READ it. I've known quite a few people that have signed shit without reading the small print. It's not a good idea.

I mean, hell, they could put something along the lines of "I admit to murdering 'x' person" in the fine print and it could be a considered a valid confession in legal circles.

Finally, for those who have been scammed, always check to see if the server is hosted in the United States. If this is the case, then you can always report the website to the FBI and hope they look into it.

yeah i was going to post a sample copy of a clickity clank contract to show people examples of what some of them look like from indy lables

hey wat up ef
yo can u help me get some music biz contacts?
or anyone willin to buy a beat?

I can't help u get music bizz contacts but u can get people to buy your beats try classaflids on myspace or even creigslist