Industry Questions

[MrC The Rap God Almighty]

Nice reply there Dok.


Damn, so all they get is R1.20 ? That´s a rip-off man, especially cos the record companies here don´t really spend that much on promotion and marketing of the album. All you ever see are posters around town of an artsist new album. And that´s it. That´s all the promotion i ever see around.

That´s why cats shouldn´t concentrate so hard on getting a deal. It´s not worth it. If u got some spare cash lying around somewhere, use it to start your own thing. Look  at Skwatta, they started this a while back and now they are ripping the fruits of their labour.

So go ahead and attend those industry parties.
Meet people.
Network.
Get to know the industry and it´s people.

Even those KWAITO ARTISTS.They might come in handy for u. (LOL!)

[Anonymous]

Mr C

I wouldn´t say that cats shouldn´t concentrate on getting a deal, just that they should concentrate on getting the RIGHT deal for them.

What you have to do is find out what you want.

A big Record Company has money.
They can spend on marketing, radio-airplay, tv, the best studios, the best producers (or so they think!), etc...
They can press 20 000 copies with no ha**le from their bank managers.
They can give you a nice recoupable advance with which you can buy a house, car, gear, etc. depending on how much obviously!
They can put you in magazines, newspapers, tv channels, etc. just because they are THAT record company.
They can fork out thousand´s on a good quality music video and get it playing on tv regularly just as quick.
They can do ALL that without any problems.

Your independant label doesn´t have money like that, so first and foremost, the points listed above are all on you, you will struggle with EVERYTHING listed above. And I mean STRUGGLE!
Not only will you struggle to pay for everything listed above, but you will  struggle to achieve them regardless because you are new and they don´t know you.
But YOU are your own boss, and that alone means more than everything listed above to some people.
YOU have creative control, so you decide what is going on the album, which producers to use, what the album cover looks like, what the music video is gonna look like, etc.
If the album is a success, there is some major cheese to be made, and if it fails, you can get into some major shit as well.

Artists and labels have to find out what´s best for THEM and what THEY want.

As far as I know, Cashless Society do everything thru their own label, but are only distributed by BMG. But they work F-CKING hard to do what they do!
I had a long conversation with Draztik in July 2003 when Cashless came down to Cape Town, and lemme tell you, these maaf***az work hard! I gots much respect for them, doin´ what they do and shit.
And it shows on their album...

If you´re prepared to work hard, independent is probably for you.

If u wanna leave all those things and get on with your art, then perhaps a deal is for you.

Only you know.

Peace.
Dokter.

[DAZ aka-Cyfa Lojik (PPL ON THE STREET)]

this is just showing how serious heads is getteing in all this ish we making it happen .

viva SA hip hop :-)

[biz-ark-human]

Yes y´all. But, how does one get to market theyselves efficiently?

[khoi]

Quote:

25-01-2004 at 16:17, Anonymous : Yes y´all. But, how does one get to market theyselves efficiently?

there´s many ways to market yourself but which ever way you feel confortable with, make sure that you become a hit where you live first. that can be achieved by performing in street corners, shops, parks, even parties if possible bashes  (yes i mean have a mic and speakers and perform your songs over and over again - remember to be a fan of your music for people to be your fans)

press promotional copies (ca**etts and cds) and sell them to taxi drivers at the price you pressed them with (if you can and want to give it them 4 free) and ask them to play your shit. if you have a badget get posters (they don´t need be glossy - even an A4 black and white poster does the trick) and place them in salons, shops, public phones, any where possible.

REMEMBER MAKE YOUR FIRST ALBUM AFFORDABLE

altough "heads" don´t like it but go and perform in shows like craze, jam alley and all these show - those shows might be wack to you but these a million other people that watch them.

don´t sweat it if Yfm, Metro or you favourite radio station don´t play your shit, simply take your shit elsewhere (radio zulu, sotho and them)

PLEASE NOTE THAT MARKETING YOURSELF IS NOT SELLING OUT. ;-)

[Just Dee]

yo people check this...
I´ve just heard that Hugh Masekela charges R120000 for a show that´s a Hundred and Twenty Thousand Rands... others are Letta Mbuli & Caiphus Semenya charge a joint fee of R60000, Oliver Mutukudzi costs R100000...
now these are all jazz musicians obviously they put their band members on the tab also

but Kwaito artist Mandoza charges R30000 for miming...damn
Mafikizolo charges R35000 per gig...(well they do perform)

but this made me realise what amount of money is there to be made, but first we need to pay them dues. It will take a long time to reach a point where heads can charge such amounts, but if we look at it, it´s worth the pain...
let work on our live performances coz that´s where the money is

keep on keeping on...get dis money