Buying features 101 for Hip Hop Artists
Written By: Miles "M.i." Aaron
Twitter.com/Milesaaron
[email protected]
Artists, artists, artists!! Do I have your attention yet? Ok good now I need to address this issue that a lot of you still not to understand. When you purchase a feature from a fellow artist, there are a few things you need to ask yourself.
1) If I purchase this feature will I still have money to market the project and myself? This should seem pretty obvious but it’s obviously not because a lot of you are running around with a feature from a major label artist with no money left to let others know you have it. Who cares if Lil Wayne is singing the hook on your CD when no one but yourself knows about it.
2) Do I have all clearances from artist and label?: Guess what guys and gals that Trey Songz feature you just got is amazing and perfectly compliments your flow. Only problem is you either didn’t set money aside to pay his record label for clearance or if you did the label is flat out refusing to give clearance. Your song with no clearance means that you are now in possession of a feature that the record label can and will sue you for the minute you attempt to sell that song, have it played, make a video for it, etc.
3) Does the cost justify the feature? If you go out and spend $5,000 on a feature, will that song be worth the same amount financially or in pushing your career? In other words if we are just looking at it from a financial stand point, will that song sell enough CD’s, singles on I tunes, and or ring tones to make you your $5,000 back. From a career stand point a feature marketed the right way with the right artist can give you great cross marketing look and secure you new fans from their established fan base
4) Can I record in the studio with them? No no no, this is not so that you can tell them how much you loved their last music video or toss back drinks. Putting yourself in the studio with the artist you are paying for to feature allows you to get video footage, pictures, and live U-Stream footage of you together. All things that you can not only use for marketing the song later on, but also to convince their artists and the industry that you and that artist really are cool enough to record together and therefore you must be cool enough for them to check out your music.
Good luck on your musical journeys and as always stay #Successful.
Sincerely,
Miles Aaron
Written By: Miles "M.i." Aaron
Twitter.com/Milesaaron
[email protected]
Artists, artists, artists!! Do I have your attention yet? Ok good now I need to address this issue that a lot of you still not to understand. When you purchase a feature from a fellow artist, there are a few things you need to ask yourself.
1) If I purchase this feature will I still have money to market the project and myself? This should seem pretty obvious but it’s obviously not because a lot of you are running around with a feature from a major label artist with no money left to let others know you have it. Who cares if Lil Wayne is singing the hook on your CD when no one but yourself knows about it.
2) Do I have all clearances from artist and label?: Guess what guys and gals that Trey Songz feature you just got is amazing and perfectly compliments your flow. Only problem is you either didn’t set money aside to pay his record label for clearance or if you did the label is flat out refusing to give clearance. Your song with no clearance means that you are now in possession of a feature that the record label can and will sue you for the minute you attempt to sell that song, have it played, make a video for it, etc.
3) Does the cost justify the feature? If you go out and spend $5,000 on a feature, will that song be worth the same amount financially or in pushing your career? In other words if we are just looking at it from a financial stand point, will that song sell enough CD’s, singles on I tunes, and or ring tones to make you your $5,000 back. From a career stand point a feature marketed the right way with the right artist can give you great cross marketing look and secure you new fans from their established fan base
4) Can I record in the studio with them? No no no, this is not so that you can tell them how much you loved their last music video or toss back drinks. Putting yourself in the studio with the artist you are paying for to feature allows you to get video footage, pictures, and live U-Stream footage of you together. All things that you can not only use for marketing the song later on, but also to convince their artists and the industry that you and that artist really are cool enough to record together and therefore you must be cool enough for them to check out your music.
Good luck on your musical journeys and as always stay #Successful.
Sincerely,
Miles Aaron
