Music Formula

[Big Robb]

Anyone notice how the old formula has been altered?.....there use to be a way to make music happen in the indie world, with a certain formula but now a days ppl short cut and skipp parts of the formula and the end results suffer....then the pressure gets so tight even estiblished lable falls victum to the new formula....fucks the whole game up....

how we formulated our best selling albums:

step one: establish the artist, get him featured on as many albums as we can, ideal 20-30 albums, and at least 5 big selling albums. this starts the buzz.....you are then get worked or promoted by 20-30 different lables!

step two: start to record a solo album, and promote the album by way of flyers 20k-100k to work hand in hand with the buzz from the features, and keep doing features.

step three: another couple 10k's of flyers, along side posters and street appearences at car shows, and events, along side slipping sum snippets out to the streets, and set a date to release the new cd.

step four: release the cd, use about 300 for stores, managers, and distributors, use another 200 for promotions, and try to sell the rest of the first 1000 cds press. keep the all steps above working.......

step five: work all steps above and work consignments, streets sells, and indie store sells, .......find your nitch...



seems like a lot but any one of them steps get left out and your doomed, main thing i see is that many artist like to skipp steps 1 and 2......no a wise move.....shit we have even fucked up and made them same bad moves, many artist are in to big of a hurry to become "that super star".....its great to have a dream but dont over shoot your dream and kill all your resources before you can optimize them......juss sumin on my mind....lol......me and KVE been holding it down for bout 5 yrs or so, and its easy to get the "burn out" effect........when its good its good, but when its slow its dead......i think its juss to watered down right now, go 18 yr boys thinking they own a lable and CEO's aint knwoing shit bout "business" real business that is.....whuts any of yalls formulas?

 

[C-DUBB]

unfortunetly , ive been cursed with the "sitting on albums until there old formula" lol anyway , wussup my killa valley folks. its been a minute , i been away doin the fam thang etc. still got albums done and tryin hard to get em out someday . as you can see im at a stand still with filthy rich records . so now im a free agent and the songs i make now , i pay for myself so i wont have to worry about passin up deals, networkin, etc. i make decions 100% instead of 50%. its all good though , im still makin music and thats whats keeps me goin ya know. as far as my xperience workin with killa valley , i'm diggin the formula , they done alot for me , got me out there to the world and more . keep hustlin

i'll holla

 

[og MS]

you still want that layout?

 

[C-DUBB]

mos definitly want the layout , i dont like to leave biz unfinished but i got into problems with my project etc etc...long story , but right now im reorganizing what and how im gunna do thangz but yes , that design cant go to waste , its way too clean . good lookin out and thanks for your patience . also i got beats mixed down and ready to go , i'll pick some and shoot em your way , thanks for the luv

 

[tray dogg]

Eyo big robb thats some wisdom right there... but

How are you gonna be on big name cats albums... ive you aint that well known.. i mean you can get big name cats on YOURE album by paying for verses blablabla.. but how do you get on thier albums... and the flyers.. slang them @ car shows, preformences, just plain simple on the street, and other events??? And how do you get to preform on big events.. ive youre (again) not a big name cat??

I for now just slang some burned copies with old shit... and im gonna feat. on some mixtapes and undergorund realeases.. I already got some little moms and pops stores over here that gonna sell my shit.. mixtapes.. officieal albums.. street albums whateva.. as some streetwear/urbanclothing (however you like to call it) that gonna sell my stuf. I got some folks that are willing to promote me on the streetz and slang my cds out the trunk.. ofcource im also gonna do that myslef....

but on the real i dont know much about how to do it all perfect.. in principe i dont realy know much about promothing... im only (just turned) 19 so....

1 year ago i was making that mistake a lot of young cats make... i was yaping my mouth about my albums gonna drop soon etc etc... becuzz i was with a label that promised me a lot off shit... but couldnt release one single cd in 2 years whill the planed to release 4... so we split up for that reason and a other thing..... but i didnt know shit so i was still yaping.... since like 9 months i really started to learn a little bit off the game... but im still a rookie

so anny advice...... wisdom......... facts about the game... word how to promote etc etc... is welcome... becuzz now... im in this shit i want to do it wright and not fuck up......

 

[og MS]

he said BIG SELLING albums (albums with higher sales potential) mostly compilation put out by more established labels with a fanbase or comps loaded with new songs from cats with established names. It's easy to get some love from car show people... whether it be performing or just gettin a booth.... if you do it big out there people are gonna come by and learn more about you and want to learn more about you and what you got going on .... we've alwayz had booths loaded with free shit and free shit attracts people and leads to them slappin down $5 on a cd....

 

[YOUNGNUTT]

DON'T MEAN TO GET OFF THE SUBJECT, BUT WHEN ARE WE GONNA SEE THOSE "HURRICANE J" ALBUMS HIT THE STREETS???

 

[Big Robb]

kaine in the making juss trying ta get the promo right....its really bout done.......



tray: you gota think if you can get on 5 albums that sell 10-30k each then you can say thats like getting on a "major know" artist album, cuz that is like 50-150k not to bad to be exposed to that many artist...........best way to get on these albums is "network" be where they are , mingle with ppl, and do wut u gota do ta get whut u gota get, i seeen no ones come in the bizness and basically suck up and now they on made shit selling units, i seen no ones network big time and get shit cracking.....depends how you wanna do it but either way it can happen

 

[Never One]

Thatz knowledge Robb

Formula is sick.... Here are a few things I would add to the formula....

The Artist .... Since everybody raps nowadayz, and that means everybody, Artists need to create tight material.... Being a songwriter is just as important as being a rapper.... Also its time to set the standards as far as recording and mixing is concerned.... No more local sounding recording and songs.... The 209 and the Central Valle are on the map and people know this.... Now its time to make music that everybody could touch and feel.... And since everybody raps now, if U think U are good or the best, U could still get better.... Dont get comfortable cause someone told U that U rap tight.... There is a lot more to the bizzness than that.... I know the bizzness and I have been burned more than once, so imagine the youngstaz who think they are the shit and bout to bubble when their 1st album dropz.... Its not that easy.... Nowadayz U need to be multi-talented and please learn the bizzness cause its a cold world out there.... Anywayz just my 2 cents.... Nev....

 

[og MS]

yup i agree... learn the business... it's called the "music business"

folks think that tight raps equal riches... far from the truth. It costs money to make money.. takes plenty of hard work to even recoup the initial investment... many of these rappers don't understand what it means to recoup.

 

[Doxx]

Anyone notice how the old formula has been altered?.....there use to be a way to make music happen in the indie world, with a certain formula

Good post all the way around Robb.

I know some of us remember how well the old formula worked for indies. It almost seemed easy back in the days when everything was poppin' for Bay cats (93-97). Things have changed unfortunately. Hopefully shit turns around.

 

[Big Robb]

thankz doxx....another thing i would like to touch is the CD-R thang........i will say KVE will be using sum CDR's on the street cds but we will be selling em for about 5-6 bucks thats pretty good deal, its sad labels gota do this here now but the burning and the lack of a way to smash out the ""Garbage" labels its a hard feat......i argued with a few ppl the other night about the CDR thang.....but peep real quick in the mind of a business man....

heres how it worked many times......you spend at least on the low average on a decent album about $12,000 - $15,000 on promo, pressing, and advertising, along with production.......then you sell 3000 units per album on the low average so you will get any where from $12,000 - $24,000 lets meet in the middle..lets say $18,000, so now we make of the album after about 8 months of waiting for payments and all about $4,000, or so......follow me....so that was pretty good when we or when good labels could make that happen which was noithing, cuz any sells after that was all profit with lil expenses......butttttttttt

today, burning and the flood of amature labels saturating the market, or shall i say scaring the buyers, or again shall i say....makeing the buyer scared to try sumin new on the shelf cuz the last shit they juss bought sounds like sum karoke type shit...now the best thing for a business man to do in the situtation is to :
1. Cut cost sum where down the road:
A. Get cheapper beats, sum abc shit
B. Cut big money features which is a good idea any way.
C. Cut the the Pressing cost "CDR's"
D. Or say fuck it and keep doin music to lose money.
2. Quit all together
3. Cut corners

well now ppl wanna put out sum cdrs due to cheap prices...so now peep......the average album still is around $12,000 to put out right.......but cut a few corners and you are around $10,000 now you get at least $14,000 for your 3000 units so now the label and the artist get a lil bit of sumin to live off of and still put music out, but there will still be ppl that say "fuckem i will juss buy sum one else"..........but in the end the arugument dont mean shit cuz more times than you sell a unit your music will ened up on a CDR anyways, in sum highschools downloads and him burning it on cd giving it out to all his friends for free, giving your shit, the labels shit, the artist shit, the whole crews money away for free........so the bottom question becomes who you want the cd from?......the highschool kid or will you support the label?


i said we will be using the CDR on street cds but we will strive to keep our standards up on our Regular releases......remeber a "business Man" will survive in his current occupation or a new one daily....cuz he about his business.......