Blowing Up From The Basement

Lex

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Good article - simple and to the point.
 

N.U.G.

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
a really good and well written article Shadeed. Props to Fade for helping make it happen too.

A suggestion I have for future articles is "how to sell a decent amount of cds from your bedroom", like if you happen to produce your own album or whatever (or you may be helping an artist that you produced). Things like "how many cds should I get pressed up?", "how do I get people to buy my ish?" and all that.

props though on this 1st article

peace
 
R

Renouf

Guest
Nice article. Shame it wasnt longer I was kinda getting into it. Keep it up. Peace
 

bigdmakintrax

BeatKreatoR
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 123
Good Article, its the truth though, you have to build a local discography and work with artists, working with a good MC or singer will also help your music to grow also, not too many ways around that or else you are going to just be a hobbyist at this, nothing wrong with that but the main element in becoming a producer in the music biz is that you actually have to work with artists and create beyond your instrumental craft, your local scene is where you need to start even if the talent is not exactly a prima dona.
 

shadeed

Go Digital or Go Home
ill o.g.
Thanks for the support, these articles are just a way that I see that I can actively contribute and help this website grow. I feel that this site is a good resource for up and comers and if used properly, you can network yourself into a variety of situations that can benefit yourself and your "movement".
There's a big misconception that bedroom producers (hobbyists) have towards working industry folks. they believe that working artists and producers with hit songs on the radio don't regularly browse the internet or are "too busy" or "too cool" to browse sites such as illmuzik. I'm here to tell you that is far from the truth and my advice to anybody is to utilize the web as a form of networking and promotion because having an internet presence is VITAL to any artist in this day and age.

Blowing Up From the Basement is something I do exclusively for the illmuzik fam,
and as long as Fade will continue to host them on the site, then I will continue to write them no matter how busy things get at times. Peeeeace
 

shadeed

Go Digital or Go Home
ill o.g.
N.U.G. said:
a really good and well written article Shadeed. Props to Fade for helping make it happen too.

A suggestion I have for future articles is "how to sell a decent amount of cds from your bedroom", like if you happen to produce your own album or whatever (or you may be helping an artist that you produced). Things like "how many cds should I get pressed up?", "how do I get people to buy my ish?" and all that.

props though on this 1st article

peace


"From the Bedroom to Ghetto Platinum : How to Move Units Without Major Label Help"
Does that sound like a good title???
I gave your topic a lot of thought and believe it or not, your topic could cover the span of 4-5 articles alone. For starters, there is no artist that I've heard of that sold over 10,000 indie units (ghetto gold baby) without the help of DJ's. And you're living in Sydney too, a place that I've been to many times and it requires a different approach than marketing over here in the US, BUT
What I will do is write the article because I think it would help 98% of this site who are independent and trying to do something but might not know the steps.
 

N.U.G.

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
shadeed said:
"From the Bedroom to Ghetto Platinum : How to Move Units Without Major Label Help"
Does that sound like a good title???
I gave your topic a lot of thought and believe it or not, your topic could cover the span of 4-5 articles alone. For starters, there is no artist that I've heard of that sold over 10,000 indie units (ghetto gold baby) without the help of DJ's. And you're living in Sydney too, a place that I've been to many times and it requires a different approach than marketing over here in the US, BUT
What I will do is write the article because I think it would help 98% of this site who are independent and trying to do something but might not know the steps.

that sounds hot man!

I know everyone on here will appreciate it greatly!

how'd you like Sydney my man?
 

shadeed

Go Digital or Go Home
ill o.g.
N.U.G. said:
that sounds hot man!

I know everyone on here will appreciate it greatly!

how'd you like Sydney my man?

How do I like Sydney, put it this way, I had a homie named Yuri over there who had me all hooked up with a job with Apple Cpu's and everything was all set to move over there (this was around late 2002--2003). I had a flat all set up with a cool roomate and everything.
Probably the only thing that stopped me was the fact that if you're on a student visa they only allow you to work part-time, which means I'll be living like a poor dude. There's good money to be made as a DJ over there, but in order to move to any country I definitely need to make sure that they let me work a standard 40 hour week in order to support myself!
 

N.U.G.

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
shadeed said:
How do I like Sydney, put it this way, I had a homie named Yuri over there who had me all hooked up with a job with Apple Cpu's and everything was all set to move over there (this was around late 2002--2003). I had a flat all set up with a cool roomate and everything.
Probably the only thing that stopped me was the fact that if you're on a student visa they only allow you to work part-time, which means I'll be living like a poor dude. There's good money to be made as a DJ over there, but in order to move to any country I definitely need to make sure that they let me work a standard 40 hour week in order to support myself!

I feel that!

looks like your doing your thing where you are now anyway

I'm looking forward to your future articles :)

peace
 

Shonsteez

Gurpologist
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 33
Great article Shadeed.

Alot of this is common sense stuff, but its good to shine some light on these issues becuase a whole lot of people really never bother thinkin about it like u mentioned in yer article....

I think personally, what i may have benefitted from more inside the article if u could provide later, would be: How to establish good speaking skills with folks yer not used to talkin to. I for one dont specifically get choked up or nothin when it comes to pushin my music to peeps, but ive found that sometimes you will encounter a certain crowd of individuals and not know how to introduce what yer selling cuz for one reason or another, you cant seem to talk to them like u did tha last cat. I suppose most of this is just experience, and have the numerous times of verbal contact under yer belt, but i know personally that first impressions and how u deliver yerself as a business man are super important regardless of how dope u are. Any tips?

**************************************************************************

-EDIT-

Also the part in the article where u addressed giving out a beat cd....Are we talkin about a typical beat CD thats fresh off the boards containing about 3 hot songs or so, most likely unprotected regarding copyrights? Or somethin that has already been copyrighted and cleaned up.....The people need to kno! lol

SHONSTEEZY
 

shadeed

Go Digital or Go Home
ill o.g.
DueceMade Ent. said:
Great article Shadeed.

Alot of this is common sense stuff, but its good to shine some light on these issues becuase a whole lot of people really never bother thinkin about it like u mentioned in yer article....

I think personally, what i may have benefitted from more inside the article if u could provide later, would be: How to establish good speaking skills with folks yer not used to talkin to. I for one dont specifically get choked up or nothin when it comes to pushin my music to peeps, but ive found that sometimes you will encounter a certain crowd of individuals and not know how to introduce what yer selling cuz for one reason or another, you cant seem to talk to them like u did tha last cat. I suppose most of this is just experience, and have the numerous times of verbal contact under yer belt, but i know personally that first impressions and how u deliver yerself as a business man are super important regardless of how dope u are. Any tips?

**************************************************************************
-

Steez, I've learned in life that common sense is not all that common. I do face-to-face meetings with artists and producers damn near everyday, and what seem common to you is definitely college calculus to many other people. These articles are designed to give a newbie a roadmap and to give a veteran a checklist so they don't forget the "simple"
stuff that got them where they are today.

If you are an indie artist with some idea that you want to be successful, you will HAVE to master the art of hand-to-hand sales. The best case scenario would be to have local radio support and DJ support, this way the CD's sell themselves. "I'm Shonsteez, you heard my joints on the radio right??? is probably the best intro line you can use. Honestly, most ppl aren't at that level just yet, so I'd say that you should focus on the following things to help you sell to those unfamiliar crowds:

#1) Make the highest quality recording within your budget as possible. The reason why the average street dude doesn't pay $10 for a underground tape is because it sounds like it was recorded in the basement, the vocals are high, the mix is muddy etc etc.

#2) Always give the fans more for their $$$$. If you put out of a CD of freestyles, put 18-21 / "Hook -16 bars- Hook Then fade out" songs. It really hooks the listener to fade out in the middle of the 2nd verse on your hottest songs because they were into it.
Now when you release the next freestyle CD, people will check for it, because you are giving them quality AND enuff songs to justify spending some dough on your movement.


#3) Whenever you make a sale, get the person's email address and create a monthly newsletter. This makes fans feel CONNECTED to what you are doing and your every move, this is the main reason reality shows are so popular, because fans connect to the cast and characters.

#4) Make a DVD of the making of your CD. Same as #3, not many indies do this, but honestly I have enjoyed every DVD that I have ever seen, even for groups I don't like.
Take a look at Cleverwon's video footage in the videos section of this site, that's a great example of something everybody should be doing. I have a veteran camera crew that has been shooting rock and roll bands for over 10 years, and now we are pushing out DVD's for artists of all genres but from my experience your fanbase will grow because you are putting a face and personality to your music.

#5) Features. Collaborate with EVERYBODY in your area! Get permission to use the feature on a future recording. I suggest that you release a CD called "Featuring Shonsteez" for example. If you are hot (of course), fans will buy other people's CD's just because YOU are on it!

If you follow steps 1-5, you won't have to do much selling or smooth talking, because you'll be a brand name in your hometown. I suggest you set up your enterprise as a business entity (which will be covered in future articles) because making CD's and DVD's are definitely a tax deductible goldmine!
 

N.U.G.

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
^^^^

that's mad knowledge right there!

Shadeed might just be Illmuzik's most valuable member right now - he's dropping blueprints for success yo

props dude!

I'm still hoping you do the "how to sell your cds hand to hand" article soon too mate cause often artists are clueless about that type of stuff. Some aspiring artists I know think even selling 100 cds hand to hand is impossible / too hard... if you could drop a blueprint to sell 1000+ cds hand to hand it would be a huge benifit to us here and artists we work with

thanks again for doing what you do here bro

peace
 
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