Search Results for hip hop 101
#HipHop101 Don’t be deceived, #Digital #Distribution
Now although the information I post under this category is really information you would have to pay for (by hiring a management or development person or paying for it in the way you spend all of your money before you learn it), I can’t stand to see people be stupid. I’m probably going to upset a few folks with this post because in the event aspiring recording artists actually read this, they may stop wasting money.
First, let’s break a few things down. Major record labels are your Def Jam, Sony, Atlantic, Etc. Independent labels are smaller versions of majors, independently owned/ operated and they actually turn a profit. An “indie label” is NOT a company that you and a few friends started and didn’t even follow through with the proper business end to make it an actual business. I’m explaining this because a lot of UNDERGROUND artists refer to themselves as indies. The word indie actually refers to a professional recording artist that is signed to an independent label. The misunderstanding of terms causes things like ten thousand people thinking their You Tube videos are going to be taken down because the article said “artists signed to independent labels” and they were referring to mainstream independent artists (i.e. Tech N9ne, Frank Ocean) not underground artists. Like with any career, it’s important that you know what you’re talking about for your own good and it’s extremely insulting to the folks who actually know what they’re doing. It’s like me showing up at the hospital to preform surgery because I can cut good with a butter knife.
“The Record Deal”- Please. This hardly happens at all since the game turned digital. NOBODY is “signing” any artist for a significant amount of money unless that artist is already making the kind of money that is worthy of that investment, The deal that some of you would be willing to sell your first born for tomorrow isn’t even what you think it is. A standard major label contract is 80/20 or 70/30. Meaning you get 20% or 30% the label gets the rest because they put up the money for your videos, hotel rooms, studio time, clothes, shows, rented cars, etc. They OWN YOU with these contracts. They own your stage name, social media, and dictate your sound, style, lyrics, and to top it all off if you refuse? They “shelf” you. That means they own you as the artist and they wait out your contract and you release no music until you fulfill what they are requiring or whoever you are as an artist is silent until that contract is over. Good luck being a new artist and not having anything in rotation for five years. The only time an artist can be the wealthy that most people dream about is when that person invests their money in other things or has major sponsors like Pepsi.
We could go in deeper but today I want to pull the curtains back on specifically the “Digital Distribution Deal”. In case you didn’t know ( and you SHOULD KNOW if you consider yourself an artist), the digital world is very underground /indie artist friendly. For under $200 you can get your music copy written, and distributed to all of the major electronic stores like iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, iHeartRadio, etc. There are plenty of sites (Tune Core, CD Baby, Band Camp) you can get your music out for very little money. What good does that do you? Absolutely nothing if you don’t have a fan base or to buy your music and a budget for promotion period point blank, end of story. Making music is not cheap and being successful in music costs lots of money. The digital world may make it look easy, but if it was? Don’t you think everybody would be driving around in a Mercedes?
There are different levels to the “Digital distribution Deal”. In most cases, you end up paying a record label to use their distribution account. They have the same exact “digital distribution” that you can get yourself. Most companies that offer this have an actual record label attached to it and you are paying to use their digital name. Meaning, I am a Hell Razah Music, Inc. artist. We could make Hell Razah Music Digital, charge you $1000 for our distribution through Hell Razah Music Digital (watch the word play, it looks the same but being signed to “digital” indicates you are not an actual label artist) and you are paying for our name so you can tell people you’re signed to Hell Razah Music Digital and whatever weight the name carries is what you’re paying for and we may even throw in logo use so you can deceive who is willing to be fooled that your deal is more then using our Tune Core account. Then, we also collect a percentage of your music sales as well as count the numbers of whatever units you moved towards our overall units moved for the year, then we as the actual label look much better to our investors because of the total number of units we moved. If we offered this deal to 50 people, we make $50k and if each person sells 100 units, we can add 5k units moved to our overall numbers as a label. Let that sink in and some of you may have to read it twice. Most “digital deals” are exactly this, a hustle and you my dear are the one being hustled because it’s cheaper to pay the fee and hope you are also buying buzz and fan base then to spend thousands of your own money the right way.
This is not all digital distributors just the majority. Most of these digital distributors do not offer any promotion or anything else with the “deal”. Some may actually include some type of promotion and that is an important thing you need to find out (NEVER sign anything without an Entertainment Attorney present, and yes that costs money too). In some cases you would be better off spending that thousand on your own digital distribution account and pouring the rest of the money into promotion. If you’ve ever seen a label and scratched your head when you saw their “artists” this is probably why. Just because someone has signed a digital distribution deal, does not in anyway, shape, or form mean they are “signed” to a label in the traditional sense you’re used to and a good deal of them? ARE PAYING TO WEAR THE LOGO.
The average person would have no idea that the logo above isn’t actually Def Jam. Def Jam Digital actually partnered with Tune Core for awhile a few years back, made Def Jam Island Digital and a few lucky folks got to pretend they were signed to Def Jam and made a few bucks. I’m familiar with this because a former mainstream artist tried to “help me” a few years back and told me that all I had to do was add Def Jam Island Digital to Battlegrownd Entertainment and I would be able to charge people for distribution. Too bad I’m not a person who robs people, I probably could have made a nice chunk of change 😉
#HipHop101 How much of my own money will I spend on making music?
I’m so sick of folks out here acting absolutely crazy. I want to explain a very simple principle to you. First ask yourself this,
If you played little league…. Are you now a professional baseball player?
If you drew pictures in Art class….. Are you now a professional artist?
Should everyone that can carve a turkey be a surgeon?
Fam… just because the world has made it easy for you to make music, doesn’t make it your profession. It’s actually VERY disrespectful to those in the game that have suffered and clawed their way through being broke and all kinds of other things you have NO IDEA that await you in the music industry. Making music is a beautiful thing. I think everyone should experience its joy. It is OKAY for it to be a hobby. Too many people aren’t honest with themselves. Honestly Fam, let’s keep it real. There is music links circulated all over the net of some music that’s terrible. It’s not even recorded properly and it just wastes space in cyber space.
I don’t know who has been lying to you, but I’m going to tell you the TRUTH about what kind of money goes into funding your own music career. Incase you didn’t know, you will spend THOUSANDS of dollars on it and possibly NEVER make any back. You will give away music for the first few projects. Those projects will cost you money. Promoting those projects properly (which means you hire someone to promote you) cost money. The more you want it exposed, the more money it costs. If you don’t promote your project, you will not build a fan base. If you don’t have a fan base, who’s going to buy your music? If you buy downloads and followers… what happens when you put a song on iTunes? If you have 100k fake followers and can’t sell 2 Singles for $1… why on earth are you wasting time & money? There are THOUSANDS of other emcees JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER then you. I’m not trying to be mean, this is REALITY. You should know exactly how big the mountain is.
SOME OF THE WORST THINGS PEOPLE DO EVERYDAY:
Tweet strangers (people you don’t even follow) your links directly. They don’t click on it. You’re wasting time.
Tweet your music to famous people hoping they click it and love it. Let me know who get signed that way when you find out.
You are the only person promoting yourself. If you don’t invest in you, why would a label?
If you are still doing illegal things and your MXTP cover is your product, who is going to sign a law suit waiting to happen?
DISRESPECT THE DJ If you don’t know how important the DJ is? You are banned from making anymore music. It shows you researched NOTHING.
Get on social media and DISRESPECT the people that created the music of the game you’re trying to get into. NOBODY invests an artist who is disrespectful, immature, & unprofessional. You know why? THERE’S A MILLION MORE OUT THERE.
Not have help. There are a few (not many) folks in the music industry (myself included) that will not take your for a ride and rob you and actually give you what you pay for. What I’m telling you FOR FREE would cost you THOUSANDS of dollars to HOPEFULLY one day learn it from a Management or Development person.
Get mad when people don’t like your music. If this is you? You are banned from hip-hop. NOBODY likes everything. How dare you ask people to listen and when they tell you the truth, you get mad? You need to pay attention. Why? Because this is your BASELINE OF FEEDBACK. If 100 people listen to your song and anything over 80 say they didn’t like it? You need to seriously re-consider doing music or the kind of music you’re doing or accept that your fan base is going to be smaller then you anticipated.
Waste your money.
Not know what kind of rapper you are.
Hobby Rapper
Freestyle Rapper
Battle Rapper
MXTP KING
Feature Rapper
Indie Artist
Label Artist
Let me expound here a little bit… When asked “who is your fan base?” EVERYBODY is not an acceptable answer. Everybody would include kindergarten, middle school, high school, and senior citizens all in the same group.. In the words of Sneak Vandel, “FALSE”. We’re going to get into this in depth in another article but it’s something you need to think about. I also want to give you a reality check about “getting signed”. In the words of Gryndhousz, “You have a better chance winning the lottery.” and that is 100% true. The days of getting signed to a major record label for a 50k advance and all that are long gone unless you are an artist ALREADY making money and numbers on your own that warrant such a deal. These days labels sign known artists or very young artists, they get a 100 page contract and lose all sense of ownership and identity to themselves as an artist. Make no mistake, anyone raking in the dough on the level you aspire for? Most of what you see come across in costume, dress, sound, etc is entirely dictated by the label that own’s the artist. We’ll visit that in depth in a future post.
Fam, this information would normally be contained in a development or management session. I am spilling FOR FREE what I use to eat & pay my bills with because in all honesty, I don’t want you stupid. If I know the way, it’s my job to share it. I don’t depend on any of you to buy services here, hit my blog, or buy our music. I depend on God. What most people don’t understand is that giving things away can get you credit at a bank you’ll never owe it back to. #ProphetTweet LOL Okay, back to business. Let’s start with something basic… Your first MixTape.
You want to drop your 1st MXTP
Studio Time: $35-$250 p/h depending upon where you go. You get what you pay for in most cases unless you happen to personally know somebody. If you don’t know the studio ask to hear some of their work!
15 Song MXTP: You should record a minimum of 25 songs to choose from. You should never just throw something together.
25 songs x $40 per hr for each song to record
25 songs x $40 per hr for each song mixed (bare minimum it’s more when it’s done 100% professionally)
If you want your tracks Mastered, it’s going to cost an additional $25 -$100 per song
Features: Well this depends on what kind of splash you’re trying to make on the scene. Let’s say the fan base you’re aiming for is Little Wayne’s fan base because for whatever reason he is your hip-hop hero. You should be aiming for those kind of sound features. Get Wayne out of your mind though unless you have a million dollar budget for this project because a 16-bar verse from him is going to cost you well over 50K. Your feature cost depends on the caliber of the artist. There are some you can get for $500-$1000 but nine times out of ten you have to know somebody that knows them to get that price, so plan on $1000 at least for each feature. If you’re having a well known underground artist feature, they may not charge you for the verse if they like the project but they will definitely charge you for their studio time which would roughly be $100.
Production: On a MXTP if you are using other people’s beats (aka “industry beats” beat from a song on the radio) this won’t cost you anything. If you have a friend or team member that makes them you’re still fine, but if want original music and don’t have anyone around that makes beats? You can tack on anywhere from $100 (for something decent)- 5k per beat depending on what kind you want & the caliber of the producer. So multiply 15 songs x $100 per beat and that’s another $1,500 on the bill.
Artwork: Decent underground artwork $30 -$100
Duplication: If you want hard CD’s, you’re looking at $250 off the rip (CD & Case) depending on how many you want and they are expensive. Sometimes 50 CD’s are $200.
Promotion: Typically, folks who make hard CD’s skip this step and just pass out CD’s which of course only reaches where YOU DO. Artists that are hip to social media should hire people to promote there.
If your MXTP is hosted by a DJ, add $100-$5, 000 depending on the status of the DJ
If you do an indie video, add $300-$500
Also add what you afforded for the song’s promotion again because the video also needs promotion.
Add in promotion costs for however long you plan to promote this project.
You will do all this for FREE music. This music you are GIVING away. You have to build a fan base. Nobody is going to buy your music unless they know you or they just rock with you like that. Honestly, if you put out a song on iTunes today, how many people do you know for a fact would buy your single for $1? Count them times .70 (iTunes sells your track for $1 but you only make .70 off each single). That’s how much you’d make with no fans. It costs $10 to load it to iTunes so subtract that from that number. It costs roughly $100 to copywrite & publish the track so subtract another $100. Whatever you’re left with is what you’d make right now selling a piece of music with no fan base. Is your number positive or negative? You will more then likely do this kind of project at LEAST 2-3 times before you should even try to sell anything. Fam, if you are not willing to commit to that? You won’t make it. Some of us have lost EVERYTHING over our music. My team? In the words of @kinggeorge427 “We starved together, we’re going to eat together.” Anyone of the greats in hip-hop, went through most if not all of everything I mentioned. If you’re not prepared for battle, don’t try to be a soldier. We’re only hiring warriors in hip-hop for the next 5-10 years. But if you’re ready? Welcome to #OPERATIONREVOLUTION
If you are in need of organizing, help with your project, or are interested in pricing for this kind of service, click the Queen the Prophet BIO at the top of this page and submit the inquiry form. Please allow up to 72-hours for response due to the high amount of inquiries received.
This has been a @queentheprophet public service announcement.
#HIPHOP101
#HipHop101 for New Artists: Releasing Your Music
Once you come out? You stay out.
When you’re a well established artist (with an established fan base) your fans will find your stuff as soon as it’s out and listen to it. This takes YEARS to build and the reality is it may or may not ever happen. Who are fans? The people (not your few friends that know you and tell you everything you do is good) that don’t know you at all and they genuinely like the music. My recommendations to any new artist would be to start by drop singles only until you can regularly pull 500 legit plays on a song. Once you’ve done this a few times and you see that your numbers are growing and consistent, then drop a whole project. During the time you’re dropping and promoting singles, you should be recording and STACKING music. If you prematurely drop a full project and you have no real audience, who’s going to download it? *crickets* …… Then all of the time & money that went into the project is basically wasted.
Generally speaking, you should have something in rotation every season (i.e. if you just started yesterday, that is one song per season). Full projects like Albums or MXTPS should be promoted HEAVY for the first 6 months and still promoted for the remaining 6 months of the year.What happens is to an artist the music is old to you, so you’re bored. This is exactly why artists need assistance in Management and Marketing. The music is not old if people haven’t heard it. Everything should be planned and timed. Each release should have it’s own momentum or build up. For example, if you’re releasing a single that is just as important as a whole project. A whole project should ideally have a promo flyer, commercial, you release the first single, 2-weeks later drop a second single, 2-weeks later drop the entire project. Then the whole project should be the focus of promotion for an entire year. What happens most time like I said, artists get bored. The worst thing you can do to yourself as an artist is record, release, record, release, record, release what you’re doing at that point is your not putting the proper promotion time behind your release (video, single, project). What happens when you don’t put the proper promotion time behind a project? Wasted time and money. This is where you will see an artist with 20 songs on Sound Cloud and nothing has over a few hundred plays … if that. One of the worst ideas you can have is buying plays, likes, and views. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT REAL. Although most people do it to “give the impression or appearance” that there song is better than it is, it profits you absolutely nothing but “feeling” like a rockstar for five minuets. If your music sucks? It sucks. Not everyone that can use a band aid or knows CPR is qualified to be a surgeon now are they? It is in your best interest if you are SERIOUS about your music is get a legit feel for how it does. Otherwise you’re going to basically just keep wasting money. You’re not fooling Jay-Z, Diddy or anyone else you tweet your You Tube video to with 10k purchased views.
Speaking of money…. your music is going to cost you thousands of dollars and there is a 90% chance you will NOT make back what you spent and a 100% you’ll end up broke (some of us more then once depends how many years in the game you hang on) before you make one cent. An artist being talented or a song being good has very little to do with the Artist’s success. To quote a very good friend, GRYNDHOUSZ (Indie Artist with over 70k sold) “You are not a singer or a rapper. You just sing or rap until you can feed your family off of it”. BEFORE YOU RELEASE ANYTHING, you should have a plan and budget for promotion. It is a waste of time and money to release a project and have no money saved to promote it. Each project (single, video, MXTP, etc) should have a strategy for release & promotion. This includes researching the best yet most cost effective way to get your music out and in as many places as possible. The general public thinks that you can just “get your music on the radio”…. sure you can, if you have $80-100K to launch a Clear Channel campaign for 6-months. (If you’re not sure what Clear Channel is, it proves you really didn’t research the career field you say you’re in). Any artist you hear on a main stream radio station has spent six figures to get there. I’ve had people say to me “Well when a label signs me, they’ll pay for that.” Again, this proves how little you’ve researched. No record label in the world is going to invest that kind of money into someone who is not already an established money maker you have a better chance of winning the lotto.
It always makes me laugh when a brand new artist starts charging for versus. First of all, WHO ARE YOU? Seriously, who are you? There is nothing wrong with asking to cover your studio time. Honestly you shouldn’t even THINK about charging anybody anything until there’s a reason (i.e. you’re pulling thousands of LEGIT views, plays, etc. ) LOTS of artists prematurely TRY to start charging just because they’re tired of spending all of their money and not getting rich and famous fast enough, which of course realistically probably won’t happen at all. When it comes to money and your music, the best piece of advice I can give you is do it for the love. If you do it for the love, you’ll never be disappointed.
What I have just shared with you for FREE, would have taken you years and cost you thousands to learn, if you ever ended up learning it at all. Take heed, Be Wise, You’re Welcome.
INDIE ARTISTS: This is a must read, trust me! It will save you time & money http://www.thegryndhousz.com/10-indie-commandments
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Battlegrownd Entertainment via Queentheprophet.com is running the following social media promo specials for the Summer (Sale ends 8/31/14) :
BANNER SPOT: Have your business, book, service, album, or mix tape in the banner spot on Queentheprophet.com for 7-days $25
The Banner is seen by all site visitors. This blog is promoted daily, so you inherit the free promotion/ exposure.
BLOG FEATURE: Have your business, book, service, album, or mix tape featured $15
Your blog feature will be hosted on the site and seen by all site visitors. Your feature will be promoted/shared on Queentheprophet’s other social media links (Twitter & Facebook) for 7 days with no additional cost. Your blog feature stays active for the life of the blog article, free promotion ends in 7-days.
To maximize your feature & exposure, when you see the link to your article have your team or hire a team to circulate your article via social media. You can add the Banner Spot to your feature for $15.
INTERVIEW: Customized Interview $25
Your interview will be hosted on the site and seen by all site visitors. Your interview will be promoted/shared on Queentheprophet’s other social media links (Twitter & Facebook) for 7 days with no additional cost. The link to the interview stays active for the life of the blog article, free promotion ends in 7-days. To maximize your feature & exposure, when you see the link to your article have your team or hire a team to circulate your article via social media. You can add the Banner Spot to your feature for $15.
BANNER SPOT, FEATURE, & INTERVIEW $50
Battlegrownd Entertainment via Queentheprophet.com is running the following services to indie & underground artists for the Summer (Sale ends 8/31/14) :
Consultation/ STRATEGIC PLAN- $65
Regular price for consultation is $100 per hour. For the next few weeks, I will customize strategic plans for new /indie artists that cannot afford official Artist Management. Basically, $65 will buy you free consultation from an experienced Artist Manager/ Developer and a detailed written plan (course of action) customized for you personally and instructions on how to do it all yourself. The consultation will include a 60-minuet phone assessment at no charge. Who would benefit from this? An indie artist that cannot afford formal management, wants to release a project and has no idea how to do it or where to begin. If you feel you would like more support afterwards, add 1.5 hours of Artist Development and pay $100 for the entire package.
New Business Start-up Consultation/ Strategic Plan – $65
Social Media Music Promotion- Contact for details, packages start at $25 and Up
Digital Promotion Consultation/Strategic Plan- $40
Digital Promotion Consultation will customize a digital promotion package as well as a directory of where to purchase the services at little or no cost to meet any budget.
Legal Services Consultation- 1-hour $40
If you are a new artist and have no idea where to begin with the legal aspect of music? This is for you. We will address name registration, trade marks, copy writing, and basic music law.
ALL INQUIRIES SHOULD BE EMAILED TO: queentheprophet@gmail.com PLEASE BE SURE TO INDICATE WHICH SERVICE YOU ARE INQUIRING ABOUT.
HELL RAZAH presents : GHETTO GOVT USA (Under Seraphim Authority), Volume 3
***DISCOUNTED MXTP SLOT RATE ONLY AVAILABLE VIA QUEENTHEPROPHET.COM*** Non-GGO slots are $100 MENTION this ad on Queentheprophet.com slot is $75
email GGOMXTPS@gmail.com YOU MUST MENTION THIS AD IN YOUR EMAIL. NEXT MXTP SUBMISSION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 31st
#HipHop101 How much a music career REALLY costs by @queentheprophet
#HipHop101 How much will my music career cost?
I’m so sick of folks out here acting absolutely crazy. I want to explain a very simple principle to you. First ask yourself this,
If you played little league…. Are you now a professional baseball player?
If you drew pictures in Art class….. Are you now a professional artist?
Should everyone that can carve a turkey be a surgeon?
Fam… just because the world has made it easy for you to make music, doesn’t make it your profession. It’s actually VERY disrespectful to those in the game that have suffered and clawed their way through being broke and all kinds of other things you have NO IDEA that await you in the music industry. Making music is a beautiful thing. I think everyone should experience its joy. It is OKAY for it to be a hobby. Too many people aren’t honest with themselves. Honestly Fam, let’s keep it real. There is music links circulated all over the net of some music that’s terrible. It’s not even recorded properly.
I don’t know who has been lying to you, but I’m going to tell you the TRUTH about what kind of money goes into funding your own music career. Incase you didn’t know, you will spend THOUSANDS of dollars on it and possibly NEVER make any back. You will give away music for the first few projects. Those projects will cost you money. Promoting those projects properly (which means you hire someone to promote you) cost money. The more you want it exposed, the more money it costs. If you don’t promote your project, you will not build a fan base. If you don’t have a fan base, who’s going to buy your music? If you buy downloads and followers… what happens when you put a song on iTunes? If you have 100k fake followers and can’t sell 2 Singles for $1… why on earth are you wasting time & money? There are THOUSANDS of other emcees JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER then you. I’m not trying to be mean, this is REALITY. You should know exactly how big the mountain is.
TO THOSE WHO DISRESPECT THE DJ : If you don’t know how important the DJ is? You are banned from making anymore music. It shows you researched NOTHING.
SOME OF THE WORST THINGS PEOPLE DO EVERYDAY:
Get on social media and DISRESPECT the people that created the music of the game you’re trying to get into. NOBODY invests an artist who is disrespectful, immature, & unprofessional. You know why? THERE’S A MILLION MORE OUT THERE. Some argue that’s what they see famous people do…. yes. People who have money tend to act up because they can buy themselves out of trouble. Can you dummy?
If you are serious, you need a person to help you & guide you. Teach you how to spend your money. Someone that has the contacts you need or knows how to get them. Management/ Artist Development cost money.
Get mad when people don’t like your music. If this is you? You are banned from hip-hop. NOBODY likes everything. How dare you ask people to listen and when they tell you the truth, you get mad? You need to pay attention. Why? Because this is your BASELINE OF FEEDBACK. If 100 people listen to your song and anything over 60 say they didn’t like it? You need to seriously re-consider doing music or the kind of music you’re doing. If you would like help? I will GLADY for FREE post your song with a poll box and people can crunk it or junk it.
Tweet strangers (people you don’t even follow) your links directly. They don’t click on it. You’re wasting time.
Tweet your music to famous people hoping they click it and love it. Let me know who get signed that way when you find out.
You are the only person promoting yourself. If you don’t invest in you, why would a label?
If you are still doing illegal things and your MXTP cover is your product, who is going to sign a law suit waiting to happen?
Waste your money.
Not know what kind of rapper you are.
Hobby Rapper
Freestyle Rapper
Battle Rapper
MXTP KING
Feature Rapper
Indie Artist
Label Artist
Fam, this information would normally be contained in a development or management session. I am spilling FOR FREE what I use to eat & pay my bills with because in all honesty, I don’t want you stupid. If I know the way, it’s my job to share it. I don’t depend on any of you to buy services here, hit my blog, or buy our music. I depend on God. What most people don’t understand is that giving things away can get you credit at a bank you’ll never owe it back to. #ProphetTweet LOL Okay, back to business. Watch the math:
You want to drop your 1st MXTP
Studio Time: $30-$250 p/h depending upon where you go
15 Song MXTP: You should record a minimum of 25-30 songs to choose from. You should never just throw something together.
25 songs x $30 per hr for each song to record
25 songs x $30 per hr for each song mixed (bare minimum it’s more when it’s done 100% professionally)
$750 + $750 = $1500
Artwork: Decent underground artwork $50 -$100
Duplication: If you want hard CD’s, you’re looking at $200 off the rip (CD & Case) depending on how many you want and they are expensive. Sometimes 50 CD’s are $200.
Promotion: Typically, folks who make hard CD’s skip this step and just pass out CD’s which of course only reaches where YOU DO. Artists that are hip to social media should hire people to promote there. Battlegrownd Entertainment has resources we will GLADLY share with you. We can point you in the direction of indie folks WE use that give us great prices. We could start decent social media promotion to meet a $100 budget & up.
TOTAL LOWEST BALL PARK: $1850
If your MXTP is hosted by a DJ, add $200-$5,000 depending on the status of the DJ
If you do an indie video, add $300-$500
Want your video on World Star $750
Also add what you afforded for the song’s promotion again because the video also needs promotion.
Add in promotion costs for however long you plan to promote this project.
You will do all this for FREE music. This music you are GIVING away. You have to build a fan base. Nobody is going to buy your music unless they know you or they just rock with you like that. Honestly, if you put out a song on iTunes today, how many people do you know for a fact would buy your single for $1? Count them times .70 (iTunes sells your track for $1 but you only make .70 off each single). That’s how much you’d make with no fans. It costs $10 to load it to iTunes so subtract that from that number. It costs roughly $100 to copywrite & publish the track so subtract another $100. Whatever you’re left with is what you’d make right now selling a piece of music with no fan base. Is your number positive or negative? You will more then likely do this kind of project at LEAST 3-4 times before you should even try to sell anything. Fam, if you are not willing to commit to that? You won’t make it. Some of us have lostEVERYTHING over our music. My team? In the words of @kinggeorge427 “We starved together, we’re going to eat together.” Anyone of the greats in hip-hop, went through most if not all of everything I mentioned. If you’re not prepared for battle, don’t try to be a soldier. We’re only hiring warriors in hip-hop for the next 5-10 years. But if you’re ready? Welcome to #OPERATIONREVOLUTION anything we can reasonably do to help, holla at us.
This has been a @queentheprophet GHETTO GOVT 1st Lady public service announcement.
#HIPHOP101
#watchthethrone
#HipHop101 with QTP How much a music career costs #REALTALK
#HipHop101 How much will my music career cost?
I’m so sick of folks out here acting absolutely crazy. I want to explain a very simple principle to you. First ask yourself this,
If you played little league…. Are you now a professional baseball player?
If you drew pictures in Art class….. Are you now a professional artist?
Should everyone that can carve a turkey be a surgeon?
Fam… just because the world has made it easy for you to make music, doesn’t make it your profession. It’s actually VERY disrespectful to those in the game that have suffered and clawed their way through being broke and all kinds of other things you have NO IDEA that await you in the music industry. Making music is a beautiful thing. I think everyone should experience its joy. It is OKAY for it to be a hobby. Too many people aren’t honest with themselves. Honestly Fam, let’s keep it real. There is music links circulated all over the net of some music that’s terrible. It’s not even recorded properly.
I don’t know who has been lying to you, but I’m going to tell you the TRUTH about what kind of money goes into funding your own music career. Incase you didn’t know, you will spend THOUSANDS of dollars on it and possibly NEVER make any back. You will give away music for the first few projects. Those projects will cost you money. Promoting those projects properly (which means you hire someone to promote you) cost money. The more you want it exposed, the more money it costs. If you don’t promote your project, you will not build a fan base. If you don’t have a fan base, who’s going to buy your music? If you buy downloads and followers… what happens when you put a song on iTunes? If you have 100k fake followers and can’t sell 2 Singles for $1… why on earth are you wasting time & money? There are THOUSANDS of other emcees JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER then you. I’m not trying to be mean, this is REALITY. You should know exactly how big the mountain is.
SOME OF THE WORST THINGS PEOPLE DO EVERYDAY:
Tweet strangers (people you don’t even follow) your links directly. They don’t click on it. You’re wasting time.
Tweet your music to famous people hoping they click it and love it. Let me know who get signed that way when you find out.
You are the only person promoting yourself. If you don’t invest in you, why would a label?
If you are still doing illegal things and your MXTP cover is your product, who is going to sign a law suit waiting to happen?
DISRESPECT THE DJ If you don’t know how important the DJ is? You are banned from making anymore music. It shows you researched NOTHING.
Get on social media and DISRESPECT the people that created the music of the game you’re trying to get into. NOBODY invests an artist who is disrespectful, immature, & unprofessional. You know why? THERE’S A MILLION MORE OUT THERE.
Not have management. If you are serious, you need a person to help you & guide you. Teach you how to spend your money. Someone that has the contacts you need or knows how to get them. Management cost money.
Get mad when people don’t like your music. If this is you? You are banned from hip-hop. NOBODY likes everything. How dare you ask people to listen and when they tell you the truth, you get mad? You need to pay attention. Why? Because this is your BASELINE OF FEEDBACK. If 100 people listen to your song and anything over 60 say they didn’t like it? You need to seriously re-consider doing music or the kind of music you’re doing. If you would like help? I will GLADY for FREE post your song with a poll box and people can crunk it or junk it.
Waste your money.
Not know what kind of rapper you are.
Hobby Rapper
Freestyle Rapper
Battle Rapper
MXTP KING
Feature Rapper
Indie Artist
Label Artist
Fam, this information would normally be contained in a development or management session. I am spilling FOR FREE what I use to eat & pay my bills with because in all honesty, I don’t want you stupid. If I know the way, it’s my job to share it. I don’t depend on any of you to buy services here, hit my blog, or buy our music. I depend on God. What most people don’t understand is that giving things away can get you credit at a bank you’ll never owe it back to. #ProphetTweet LOL Okay, back to business. Watch the math:
You want to drop your 1st MXTP
Studio Time: $30-$250 p/h depending upon where you go
15 Song MXTP: You should record a minimum of 25-30 songs to choose from. You should never just throw something together.
25 songs x $30 per hr for each song to record
25 songs x $30 per hr for each song mixed (bare minimum it’s more when it’s done 100% professionally)
$750 + $750 = $1500
Production: On a MXTP if you are using other people’s beats (aka “industry beats” beat from a song on the radio) this won’t cost you anything. If you have a friend or team member that makes them you’re still fine, but if want original music and don’t have anyone around that makes beats? You can tack on anywhere from $100 (for something decent)- 5k per beat depending on what kind you want & the caliber of the producer. So multiply 15 songs x $100 per beat and that’s another $1,500 on the bill.
Artwork: Decent underground artwork $50 -$100
Duplication: If you want hard CD’s, you’re looking at $200 off the rip (CD & Case) depending on how many you want and they are expensive. Sometimes 50 CD’s are $200.
Promotion: Typically, folks who make hard CD’s skip this step and just pass out CD’s which of course only reaches where YOU DO. Artists that are hip to social media should hire people to promote there. Battlegrownd Entertainment has resources we will GLADLY share with you. We can point you in the direction of indie folks WE use that give us great prices. We could start decent social media promotion to meet a $100 budget & up.
TOTAL LOWEST BALL PARK: $1850 (and don’t forget the extra $1,500-infinite if you’re buying beats)
If your MXTP is hosted by a DJ, add $100-$5, 000 depending on the status of the DJ
If you do an indie video, add $300-$500
Also add what you afforded for the song’s promotion again because the video also needs promotion.
Add in promotion costs for however long you plan to promote this project.
You will do all this for FREE music. This music you are GIVING away. You have to build a fan base. Nobody is going to buy your music unless they know you or they just rock with you like that. Honestly, if you put out a song on iTunes today, how many people do you know for a fact would buy your single for $1? Count them times .70 (iTunes sells your track for $1 but you only make .70 off each single). That’s how much you’d make with no fans. It costs $10 to load it to iTunes so subtract that from that number. It costs roughly $100 to copywrite & publish the track so subtract another $100. Whatever you’re left with is what you’d make right now selling a piece of music with no fan base. Is your number positive or negative? You will more then likely do this kind of project at LEAST 3-4 times before you should even try to sell anything. Fam, if you are not willing to commit to that? You won’t make it. Some of us have lostEVERYTHING over our music. My team? In the words of @kinggeorge427 “We starved together, we’re going to eat together.” Anyone of the greats in hip-hop, went through most if not all of everything I mentioned. If you’re not prepared for battle, don’t try to be a soldier. We’re only hiring warriors in hip-hop for the next 5-10 years. But if you’re ready? Welcome to #OPERATIONREVOLUTION anything we can reasonably do to help, holla at us.
This has been a @queentheprophet public service announcement.
#HIPHOP101
#watchthethrone
#SALUTE @ihannibalaka730 for the above 2 graphics #TEAMPROPHET #TeamFollowOrDie
Services @Battlegrowndent:
Now, before anyone ever purchases a service from Battlegrownd Entertainment in regards to music management, I always ask if they are ready to be broke. We are one of the only places I know of that charge hourly for Management & Development and a flat rate for International Electronic Distribution. Why? #OPERATIONREVOLUTION isn’t just about us. It’s helping EVERYONE eat. We ONLY hire independent entrepreneurs for services, promotion, & consulting.
Some of our #OPERATIONREVOLUTION Artist Managers, Developers:
@queentheprophet (sorry, I’m not managing any new artists directly)
@thequeendyme
@qjohnsongroup
We cosign @kingmagma www.beasthoodincorporated.com
We issue no contracts, we want no percentage. We will help you help yourself. We will teach you everything you need to know & you will only pay for what you need. If you only need 2-hours a month? That’s all you pay for. We want you to be successful. We want you to be successful so bad that if your music is not good, we will not take your money. We will ask you what else you do well and if you want help, we will point you in the right direction and if you have no skills? We will help you set up your own small business via Twitter and TEACH YOU FOR FREE how to do proper social media promotion and how to make a few bucks.
Service inquiries should be made to battlegrowndent@gmail.com
PLEASE put the nature of your service inquiry in the subject line (i.e. Management, Promotion, Development, Distribution
#Relationships101 Broken Heart Stages of Grief
The cycle of relational healing is very similar to the cycle of grieving when someone dies. Unfortunately, many people do not take the time to properly heal before getting into another relationship and then 2 or 3 relationships later, they can’t figure out what’s wrong. Too bad relationships aren’t like taking an exam for a license where you’re forced to wait at least 90-days before taking the test again.
Let’s take a look at the stages of grief as it relates to death (some sites will show you 4, 5, or 7 steps but it’s all basically the same):
1. SHOCK & DENIAL-
You will probably react to learning of the loss with numbed disbelief. You may deny the reality of the loss at some level, in order to avoid the pain. Shock provides emotional protection from being overwhelmed all at once. This may last for weeks.
2. PAIN & GUILT-
As the shock wears off, it is replaced with the suffering of unbelievable pain. Although excruciating and almost unbearable, it is important that you experience the pain fully, and not hide it, avoid it or escape from it with alcohol or drugs.
You may have guilty feelings or remorse over things you did or didn’t do with your loved one. Life feels chaotic and scary during this phase.
3. ANGER & BARGAINING-
Frustration gives way to anger, and you may lash out and lay unwarranted blame for the death on someone else. Please try to control this, as permanent damage to your relationships may result. This is a time for the release of bottled up emotion.
You may rail against fate, questioning “Why me?” You may also try to bargain in vain with the powers that be for a way out of your despair (“I will never drink again if you just bring him back”)
4. “DEPRESSION”, REFLECTION, LONELINESS-
Just when your friends may think you should be getting on with your life, a long period of sad reflection will likely overtake you. This is a normal stage of grief, so do not be “talked out of it” by well-meaning outsiders. Encouragement from others is not helpful to you during this stage of grieving.
During this time, you finally realize the true magnitude of your loss, and it depresses you. You may isolate yourself on purpose, reflect on things you did with your lost one, and focus on memories of the past. You may sense feelings of emptiness or despair.
5. THE UPWARD TURN-
As you start to adjust to life without your dear one, your life becomes a little calmer and more organized. Your physical symptoms lessen, and your “depression” begins to lift slightly.
6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH-
As you become more functional, your mind starts working again, and you will find yourself seeking realistic solutions to problems posed by life without your loved one. You will start to work on practical and financial problems and reconstructing yourself and your life without him or her.
7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-
During this, the last of the seven stages in this grief model, you learn to accept and deal with the reality of your situation. Acceptance does not necessarily mean instant happiness. Given the pain and turmoil you have experienced, you can never return to the carefree, untroubled YOU that existed before this tragedy. But you will find a way forward. You will start to look forward and actually plan things for the future. Eventually, you will be able to think about your lost loved one without pain; sadness, yes, but the wrenching pain will be gone. You will once again anticipate some good times to come, and yes, even find joy again in the experience of living.
You may think it’s crazy to compare it to death but think about it… the ending of a relationship, marriage, or family when love is involved it is a death. It’s a relational death. I know I am not the only person in this world who has experienced every single one of these things during the course of a divorce. When a relationship is breaking apart there are all of the surface parts in play and also the spiritual that many ignore. When you join yourself to another person (even if you only do it once) you become one flesh physically and in the spirit. When that bond is severed, there is unseen emotional and spiritual damage that has been done and needs time to heal. If you do not take time to complete this process? You are setting yourself up for failure and why set your self up if you want to have a relationship that is meaningful again? A lot of divorcees “jump the gun”. I have seen time and time again, folks not even divorced yet and they hop into another relationship because they’re so accustomed to being married that they immediately look for a routine or structure to put themselves back into. Nine times out of ten rebound relationships fail.
Being single is not a disease. We have got to take the time to love ourselves, especially those of us with children who are absorbing everything we do, and everything we don’t do. Don’t worry about what people think or appearances, those things don’t make or break you. God gave you a life that He wants you to live abundantly, especially in love.
Reference Site:
#Relationships101 When love is toxic by @queentheprophet
#Relationships101 When Love is Toxic
Can “love” be poisonous? ….. This is a question asked by many and I will do my very best to explain.
Love is a word often tossed around too loosely and not everybody actually understands it. I remember the first time I thought I was “in love” and when people told me I was too young to know what that meant I immediately rebelled against it, as most young people do. The truth is, most people confuse lust, sexual attraction, and emotions as love and that has nothing to do with love actually is. The best definition of love that you’re ever going to find is:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8New King James Version (NKJV)
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never fails.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a bible fan or not. Really read that. It is the description of what love actually is. It does not mean that relationships are perfect, but love is and it never fails. Committed love is NOT a feeling, it is NOT an emotion. It is a decision. Staying in a relationship with a person who cheats or beats on you is not love or “long suffering” as mentioned above, it’s actually a lack of self-love. I am going to speak on this because I not only have enough personal experience to make your head spin and do a few back flips, but for those who that won’t be good enough for, I also have the formal educational background (which of course was obtained AFTER the personal mishaps).
If a pot has a hole in it, can it fully hold water or will it leak out? It will leak of course. Does it mean that the pot can’t be fixed? Nope. But until it is, you’re never going to be able to boil water in it and cook dinner. Too often we have broken people jumping from relationship to relationship and they honestly don’t have a clue what they’re looking for, what they’re doing, or what a healthy relationship is even supposed to look like frankly because most of us didn’t get to see to many as role models growing up. Most people find themselves in “situation-ships”. Just because you are sleeping with someone does not mean its love. How many relationships have we all seen or been in ourselves that were just wrong? Wrong are those relationships FILLED with drama. Who’s hitting who, who’s cheating, who’s lying, make up, break up, tearing each other apart to other people, etc. These relationships not only slowly poison the two people in it, but it spreads like a cancer and starts to negatively impact the people around you. For those in these kind of relationships with children it’s even worse. These innocent babies see your dysfunction and they will grow up doomed to repeat it unless you as a parent give them a better example.
Believe it or not, God is not going to bless your mess. People can’t and do not “change” for other people. If the change is real they will change for themselves and it will have nothing to do with their partner. Change is most effective when an individual gets sick and tired of themselves and or their situation; it’s a very personal matter. Unfortunately, most people hop from one bad situation to another and sadly many people experience that for their whole life because they never take the time to fix the pot before they start cooking. People accept the love they think they deserve, and that is the saddest yet most honest thing I can say to you and if you are honest with yourself (you don’t have to be honest with me because I’m nobody that important) but be honest with YOURSELF.
Anytime you step outside God’s plan for your life, you are putting yourself at-risk to get whatever the world starts dishing out. People often times are actually subconsciously attracted to their equal opposite on a negative scale until they have that pivotal change within themselves when they recognize their worth. If you are a man with low self-esteem nine times out of ten you’re going to subconsciously attract a woman who is going to be a control freak maniac who uses this self-esteem issue of yours to run you and the relationship and vice versa. Self-esteem is a whole other issue because healthy self-esteem has nothing to do with taking nine thousand selfies and posting “cute” pictures of yourself. Women that grew up with parental issues nine times out of ten automatically are drawn to men that will reject them, men that grow up with a mother who is always drunk or on drugs often have severe anger management issues, hit girls, and most of the time have a healthy criminal background. Girls that grow up without Father’s can often times be attracted to older men, or they get so desperate to find love and affection that they will take it from anywhere that even offers a glimpse of it.
It’s not easy. I know… believe me, I KNOW. Here’s the truth, you deserve to be loved. Will everyone experience it? Sadly, the answer is no but you don’t have to let it be you. Sometimes people hold off on ever finding healing because they are waiting for an apology that they may not ever get. It doesn’t matter what your situation is, God is still in the miracle working business and you can really experience love in the fullness that you were meant to but you have got to make a personal decision and commit to that decision. Even if you have never seen a “healthy” relationship, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have one. Love? Love is not poisonous, it’s not toxic. Lust, soul ties, habit, and situationships can be destructive, draining, and toxic, but never love.