Beat Teams: Best Way to Break into Industry?

[divineaspex]

Ok here is the thing....one of my buddy's from back home is a very talented producer(he's partly a reason I started making beats after i quit rapping). He went to Full Sail for awhile, and although he didn't graduate he was still smart enough to network while he was up there. Well he knows this guy that did graduate from Full Sail, and hes a mixer for names like Danger Mouse, Cool & Dre, The Runners and some other cats that I don't know and he's supposed to start mixing my friends music. Well the guy is basically telling us, that the best way to get into the game now, is by forming a team, consisting of well...alot of people. I guess the science behind it is......if you got a team of say 5 or 6 beatmakers, then everyone can eat off each other by selling individual the beats as a team.....even if there was no collaborations involved. Like say producer #1 makes a hit today, he gets 75% of the revenue, and the rest is split by everyone else. Or producer #2 and producer #5 collab on a beat, they get most of the money, while the others split the rest. It sounds like a dope concept to me...."two heads is better than one"

 

[Relic]

Get in where you fit in, guarantee even if that is the deal ,for now, everyone will be trying to put their name out. lol, no problem with that per se at all, but I have yet to see this ever work out without there being the alpha dog, say like Dre or 50 or Em or Cash Money or ya boi outta Louisianna , you know em... his son was on nickilodean, pioneered the ghost producer,,,arrrgh
But anyway the alpha dog to slap a name on it then make it ligit then have cats break off from there, its hard to put the egos to the side for the main goal, which depends on you using you ego to put it out... See?

I wish I had a grand everytime someone had stepped to me and other cats trying to make some sort of conglomerate only to watch that crumble, even with the best talent in the area. As a producer though I think you should try it, just keep ya eyes open and dont sign away your works for the next ten years or nothin!

 

[Quality]

I've thought about this before, and it definitely seems like a good concept. It helps to work with other producers most definitely. Their contacts can become your contacts just like your boy. I'm actually going to Full Sail at the moment, and I've met a few different producers. I was working with one talented cat but it just didn't work out due to musical differences. Another producer I met is pretty dope, and we haven't exactly been working on beats together. But we always show each other what we've been working on to feed ideas off each other.

Right now I'm not trying to "break into the industry" on the producer side of things, but more so on the engineering side. Its mad difficult either way, but it always helps to work with others to gain exposure and ideas. If you have similar musical goals and styles, I'd say why not work with them a little to see where it takes you.

 

[divineaspex]

Get in where you fit in, guarantee even if that is the deal ,for now, everyone will be trying to put their name out. lol, no problem with that per se at all, but I have yet to see this ever work out without there being the alpha dog, say like Dre or 50 or Em or Cash Money or ya boi outta Louisianna , you know em... his son was on nickilodean, pioneered the ghost producer,,,arrrgh
But anyway the alpha dog to slap a name on it then make it ligit then have cats break off from there, its hard to put the egos to the side for the main goal, which depends on you using you ego to put it out... See?

I wish I had a grand everytime someone had stepped to me and other cats trying to make some sort of conglomerate only to watch that crumble, even with the best talent in the area. As a producer though I think you should try it, just keep ya eyes open and dont sign away your works for the next ten years or nothin!

Word, I definitely feel that man......I'll make sure not to sign anything too lucrative, maybe I'll have an agent by then, to handle things for me.

I've thought about this before, and it definitely seems like a good concept. It helps to work with other producers most definitely. Their contacts can become your contacts just like your boy. I'm actually going to Full Sail at the moment, and I've met a few different producers. I was working with one talented cat but it just didn't work out due to musical differences. Another producer I met is pretty dope, and we haven't exactly been working on beats together. But we always show each other what we've been working on to feed ideas off each other.

Right now I'm not trying to "break into the industry" on the producer side of things, but more so on the engineering side. Its mad difficult either way, but it always helps to work with others to gain exposure and ideas. If you have similar musical goals and styles, I'd say why not work with them a little to see where it takes you.

Thats dope man, I wish I would have had the money to goto Full Sail, which one are you at, Orlando? Yea my boy are always sharing our new beat projects.

 

[Quality]

Yeah man, I'm at the Orlando one...its a dope school, but I just want to make it worth the money and all after I graduate. Need to really start looking for internships pretty soon.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do bro.

 

[slik da relic]

u must check ur egos at the door for this to work... ive been there... didnt work with the group i was down with (about 3 yrs ago)... plus, no lazy producers... ull see who's hungry and who's not.

da relic

 

[Sucio]

Yeah....my boy n I started making beats together recently here in Orlando (to all you Fla cats..hit me up)

I just picked up a dude from Full Sail....dude plays guitar, cello, and piano very well.....

Exactly what we were missing. So yes...teams can be good, especially if someone is strong at something you're not.


We're

 

[divineaspex]

Yeah....my boy n I started making beats together recently here in Orlando (to all you Fla cats..hit me up)

I just picked up a dude from Full Sail....dude plays guitar, cello, and piano very well.....

Exactly what we were missing. So yes...teams can be good, especially if someone is strong at something you're not.


We're

Dat's dope man I'm actually living in Tallahassee right now.........I appreciate everyone's feedback, I think I'm gonna go ahead and join 'em. Being that I may be the weaker link right now.....I can definitely put my ego aside, and just learn.

 

[God]

This post might illuminate you on writing pools ("beat teams" as you put it):
https://www.illmuzik.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4566&highlight=pools

 

[Krazyfingaz]

Yeah man, I'm at the Orlando one...its a dope school

My homie who mixed my album is down there right now aswelll

 

[Beatz 101]

I always wanted to be in a Production team/writing pool. But i never met anybody compatible i'd wanna work with so closely like that.

Those teams are how they used to do it. Thats great music and hit records back to back to back. Thats a breeding ground for competitiveness and growth. And everybody still eats... thats how i imagine it.



101

 

[Relic]

^^ Me too, and I'm good in those scenarios, I just watch the rest of these groups fall apart eventually.

 

[divineaspex]

This post might illuminate you on writing pools ("beat teams" as you put it):
https://www.illmuzik.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4566&highlight=pools

Good Read.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I always wanted to be in a Production team/writing pool. But i never met anybody compatible i'd wanna work with so closely like that.

Those teams are how they used to do it. Thats great music and hit records back to back to back. Thats a breeding ground for competitiveness and growth. And everybody still eats... thats how i imagine it.



101

word, competetiveness breeds innovation and advancement of the art.
thats why the human race comes up with some really great inventions at times of war.

 

[Producer_GyaL]

This is exactly where I wanted to be.. on a team.. but hey.. things cannot go as you wish. Hopefully i'll find my team

 

[God]

word, competetiveness breeds innovation and advancement of the art.

It also leads members of the "beat team" to do creative things in order to screw the "team" out of a royalty or credit.

Greed is great motivator. That's why a lot of these fail. Internal politics, envy/jealousy. One person has a string of hits and doesn't feel like "sharing." Somebody "forgets" the glyph with a cat's track in a taxi.

That's why they're best done when led by a person with a lot of money that can whip the troops into shape and keep them in line. If not - they are out. It has to be more of a dictatorship leading the collaboration rather than a "collective." Without leadership, it falls apart.

 

[The Arkitekt]

It also leads members of the "beat team" to do creative things in order to screw the "team" out of a royalty or credit.

Greed is great motivator. That's why a lot of these fail. Internal politics, envy/jealousy. One person has a string of hits and doesn't feel like "sharing." Somebody "forgets" the glyph with a cat's track in a taxi.

That's why they're best done when led by a person with a lot of money that can whip the troops into shape and keep them in line. If not - they are out. It has to be more of a dictatorship leading the collaboration rather than a "collective." Without leadership, it falls apart.

Sounds like the Wu.

 

[Beatz 101]

It also leads members of the "beat team" to do creative things in order to screw the "team" out of a royalty or credit.

Greed is great motivator. That's why a lot of these fail. Internal politics, envy/jealousy. One person has a string of hits and doesn't feel like "sharing." Somebody "forgets" the glyph with a cat's track in a taxi.

That's why they're best done when led by a person with a lot of money that can whip the troops into shape and keep them in line. If not - they are out. It has to be more of a dictatorship leading the collaboration rather than a "collective." Without leadership, it falls apart.

Real shit.


All the failed hiphop groups i been had one particular problem in common. Everybody wanted to be their own man. Everybody wanted equal power and democracy (conducting votes on important decisions and not discipling anybody slipping). And I was always the one like "Nah....who's the head of Voltron. ..? Somebody gotta run shit and make sure all ducks are in line."

I was comfortable being a soldier. I didnt wanna be the star or handle every decision, because i was always the strongest producer so i always held the music/artistic portion down. But in the end, i always did the most work. I always did most of the beats on the records, did the cover art, i did the traveling, had the networking connects, & had the most drive. When i look back, I should've taken control of the wheel, got the job done, and cut the fat myself since nobody else was willing to do it cuz "we boys"....but this is business.


101

 

[slik da relic]

what some people must understand is, u dont hafta be THA MAN 1st time out... Dr. Dre wasnt THA MAN when NWA started... but he (and Cube) is THA MAN now! let ur beats, or whatever u do speak for itself... one of the reasons LOTNS didnt stay 2gether is bcuz Busta was becomin THA MAN, and it was C. Brown's brainchild... u need a "Wu Tang" attitude for this to work... otherwise u'll be breakin up very quickly... yrs later, u'll realize u prolly broke up over bullshit.

da relic

 

[afriquedeluxe]

I think production teams are best 2s. Anything more, and an autocratic leader, as god mentioned, could be the only thing that manages keeps the team intact.