People from lables are JERKS!!!

[simonparker]

May 17, 2009, 6:20am, chriscarter wrote: Well, any bozo with some vocal talent can go into the studio with me and come up with some great music and sell it on itunes. Where do I sign up Mr. Carter? I can sing if you put the auto-tune to zero Excellent post that highlights the current industry - great reading and learning from you!

[fry112]

This is to Chris, see you are the type of person that I am talking about. Like Kanye says (You guys wear suits cause you can't dress no more!) it’s not about the fans man! these guys think they are in tune with what Hip-hop culture is but they are from the MC Hammer time when the true hip-hop heads were buying "Ice T"it’s all about the core! you say I don’t do shows, but last night I rocked 400 people at the monkey and that’s people that are loyal fans paying fans ! Trust me you "suits" are wrong and it is showing in record sales so either the game will change or it will continue to fall. Music has a message and since I make some good dough from shows that’s why I put out an album for free called "Depression 10" and through that I brought reality back to Hip-hop! just like Nas with the "NXXXXX" album see the industry thinks that, nas's album destroyed him but what they don’t understand is that it revived him,, people want to hear the truth!So you may be in a better position than me right now lil Chris! But as I continue to be stagnant, you gradually fall and all your ideas on a culture you know nothing about.. And PS: my MySpace is dead right now, because I haven’t promoted on it but that’s still 30,000 of my fans.

[mojobone]

Fry, you might want to go to Dr Von Pimpenstein's myspace and check out his mixes, before questioning his credibility. You can choose to act on it or not, but the man jes' gave you some very good advice.

[cmrmurray]

Fry, if you rocked the Monkey, brag about it! That's what I'd take from Chris's wise message. People over here seem to think my band is always up to something, always busy, but in truth I'm just adept at talking it up and updating the various websites

[chriscarter]

May 17, 2009, 8:25am, fry112 wrote:>:( This is to Chris, see you are the type of person that I am talking about. Like Kanye says (You guys wear suits cause you can't dress no more!) Wow.Rule #1 - never burn bridges. Be careful how you speak to certain people because sometimes you can talk yourself right out of a record deal.That said, I'm sure you've never met me because I'm far from a "suit". I've been in MANY an argument with A&R on the side of the artist. My point is this: YOU WANT A RECORD DEAL. If you want a record deal, then you HAVE TO KNOW HOW RECORD LABELS DESIDE WHO TO SIGN. It's that simple. I'm not saying the decisions they make are good for artistry, but they have never been in that kind of business and it's foolhardy to think they are. They are in the business of making money. They make INVESTMENTS in artists with the hope of that artist making them money. It's no different than investing in the stock market: you want to invest your money with a company that doesn't just have a cool idea (ie. creative talent - like a singer's voice), you want to invest your money with a company that has a good idea AND has DEMONSTRATED they know how to effectively monetize those assets. Why would a record label be any different? Quote:it’s not about the fans man! What is it about then? Fans are the people who buy (or steal) your album. Fans are the ones who buy your ringtones. Fans are the ones who buy your concert tickets. Fans are the ones who buy your T-shirts. Do you think Lil Wayne would have gotten the "G" commercial if he didn't have an assload of fans? For an artist FANS are your CURRENCY. That said, if you are just making music for music's sake - for personal enjoyment, personal enlightenment, etc. Then it's not about the fans - it's about you. But since you seem to want a record deal, I'm assuming you aren't making music for music's sake - I can only assume you want to make a living at it.Quote:these guys think they are in tune with what Hip-hop culture is but they are from the MC Hammer time when the true hip-hop heads were buying "Ice T"Actually, what happened back then is that every label wanted to snatch up rap artists and it was like a free-for-all. But what they discovered is that they had horrible success in finding artists that would sell. Rap was such a new thing at the time. They learned the hard way that you had to let the artists build themselves up because they, at the labels, couldn't predict who would hit for sh!t. They sucked at it, and they new it. But they have by and large learned and this is why they don't sign artists who haven't already proven themselves. Quote:it’s all about the core! you say I don’t do shows, but last night I rocked 400 people at the monkey and that’s people that are loyal fans paying fans ! ...... And PS: my MySpace is dead right now, because I haven’t promoted on it but that’s still 30,000 of my fans.Well, this is kind of my point. Why is your myspace page dead? Did you know that most of the artists label reps look at are not ones that sent in their demo (very few in fact). Most of them are artist where some colegue/friend/relative/trusted-source says, "hey, you should check out Soandso." They don't wait for a CD, they just go to myspace. If they like what they see, THEN they start investigating more. Myspace is typically your first impression. Please see my previous post regarding myspace as well.You say you just rocked a show. But why wasn't it on your myspace page? Do you do a lot of shows? Maybe you should list all your show dates so that when your 'upcoming' shows section causes a date to expire and you've gotten nothing scheduled (like right now, according to your myspace page), you can show that it's just an off month or something. If you are doing a gig per week, then you need to say that so labels (that you presumabely want a deal with) know you know how to tour and can do it yourself (because you will get little support in that category from the label) and that you are actively making fans and resolidifying the fans you already had. So you can show that the promoters in all of these areas where you have shows believe that putting YOU on stage is a wise INVESTMENT for them (see how this works?).Quote:Trust me you "suits" are wrong and it is showing in record sales so either the game will change or it will continue to fall. Music has a message and since I make some good dough from shows that’s why I put out an album for free called "Depression 10" and through that I brought reality back to Hip-hop! just like Nas with the "Nigger" album see the industry thinks that, nas's album destroyed him but what they don’t understand is that it revived him,, Maybe you think I'm wrong, but I seem to have experience getting artists what you want: deals. I'm not saying I know everything, nobody does. And I'm not saying I can predict who/what will be successful - nobody can. You're lucky if you hit the mark 10% of the time. And if you do everything right as an artist, you are lucky if your odds are better than 10%. But what I'm saying is that there are many things that are pretty much guarunteed to make it more difficult for you and certain things that are guarunteed to make it easier for you in your quest.Quote:people want to hear the truth!And apparently, some people don't want to hear the truth. Quote:So you may be in a better position than me right now lil Chris! But as I continue to be stagnant, you gradually fall and all your ideas on a culture you know nothing about.. Wow. What culture exactly are you referring to that I know nothing about? Please enlighten me. It's like you think I'm a nerdy white kid who grew up on Barry Manilow or something.Look man, I was just trying to help. I think you are very talented and there's no reason you can't put the other elements together. Talent is often something that can't be learned, so that's the hard part - and you have that down. But all the other stuff, that can all be learned. You, for some reason, seem to be unwilling to learn. It's one thing to just not know, which was why I was trying to tell you. But, now you know, and you just don't want to accept things. If you don't want to put in the hard work on the business end of things, and only want to rely on your vocal talents, then maybe you shouldn't try and get a record deal and come up with some other business model that's more suited to your approach. There is one thing that I can absolutely promise you if you get a record deal: if you think the business stuff at this point in your career is too much work to bother with, after you get a deal it's going to multiply 20 times (and that's just YOUR share, not including your manager, publicist, project manager, etc.)One parting thought - check the attitude man. Acting like a total ass never helped anyone get a record deal.

[Mark Kaufman]

Fry, just keep packing houses and gaining fans. That's all that matters, and that's what pays the bills. You increase that action, increase that word of mouth, and the labels will come to you...that is, if you're interested in what they have to offer.

[hummingbird]

Chris, I thought your post was spot on & you gave some excellent advice worth reading.

[Mark Kaufman]

That, and listen to Chris...he's not telling any lies here.

[simonparker]

May 17, 2009, 10:00am, chriscarter wrote:One parting thought - check the attitude man. Acting like a total ass never helped anyone get a record deal.Mr. Carter, more too often these words of wisdom tend to fall on deaf ears. I can't tell you the number of talented artists I've worked with or tried to work with that think they are the greatest thing on the planet, know everything there is to know about how to make the greatest record ever, and just plain don't get it. It's a shame, because no matter how good they are - they are not good enough if they cop such an attitude.By the way, I went to your website and I have yet to see you in a suit... ha ha....

[ggalen]

If you want to sell something, then you need people who like it enough to buy it.Those buyers are your true fans.As Mark said, keep doing shows, shows, and more shows. And if your mailing list is growing, and you are selling CDS at the shows in great numbers, then you are doing it right, I'd say.