Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Royalty Room. It's legal. Queen la. And today we have the arguably greatest A and R in the industry, at least from San Diego, is what I'm hearing. Junior, the freaking ar.
Welcome to the Royalty Room.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Happy to be here. Happy to be here.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: I just want to first introduce you. I've been hearing about you all year. We've been in the same venues, we've been in the same events, in the same, like, I guess, friend groups and situations on and off all year long. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I don't even know how that happens. But you also showed up randomly at my baby sister's baby shower.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. That's when we really locked in for.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Yeah. And you and Jay are besties.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: That's my boy.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: You both do A and R work, you both do management. And I feel like I really want to start this episode by figuring out for the masses what an A and R actually is and actually does, because you wouldn't believe how many people. What is. What does that mean? Was it A and R?
[00:01:11] Speaker C: Yeah. And I want to. I want to know a real anr.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: So many people say that.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: And this is. This is not just an A and R. This is Junior, the ar. So talk to him.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Give me the T. So we're breaking down what an A and R does.
It could be a multitude of things, but really you're bridging the gap and making plays that wouldn't happen otherwise. Happen, whether it's executive producing projects, putting together features that wouldn't be able to get done otherwise, putting together press runs, media plans once your artist scales up, putting them in situations for admin deals, distribution, joint ventures, full 360s, whatever the situation really is supposed to be at that point. And that really came in like, 2019, when I first started meeting artists in San Diego. I remember Shout out my boy, YHG Peanut. He was like the first artist I met.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: YHG Peanut.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, you'll meet Peanut. That's my dog.
But yeah, I remember I was working at a bar down in San Diego and Pacific beach, and we just met through, like, mutual friends and stuff. And then he started inviting me to the studio. And this is before I knew anything about the industry or anything, But I would always just try to assist in any way I can. So I remember we were at the studio one day. He's like, yo, hey, blood. I really mess with when JR pull up blood. Because, like, he always trying to help.
And that really meant a lot to me at the time. 21:22. And yeah, I was like, okay, cool. If I'm gonna be around people in the industry, I always want to be able to provide some level of asset, you know what I mean? And then I want to say a few months after that, I started connecting with my family up here in la. And then it wasn't on any music shit either. It was actually because they were growing weed and stuff. So I just want an excuse to be out here. Very, very Cali. And I don't know, I feel like I'm a very personable person. So, like, when I tell people what I'm doing, they resonate with my message and then they're willing to help with a multitude of things. So within a few months, I got my family's grow legalized through my boy Danny, Shout Out Danny, who had a cannabis temple over on Melrose, right next to Cool Kicks la.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: And yeah, they became their official growing. And I met him, like my second time ever walking up and down Melrose. Like, because when I would come up here, I'd go up to above Crenshaw, to the house. I'd sit in a warehouse, like a basement underground with no signal for like 12, 16 hours, just trimming, trimming, trimming. So I really didn't have time to, like, really network or spread my wings, like, build like a friend group or anything of the sort out here. But I remember one of my friends from high school, Shout Out Cheyenne, he threw a birthday party out here and his dad was like a big, big videographer. Like, he shot the ET video for Kanye and Katy Perry back in the day type shit. So he's always had, like a core, like, friend group.
So I was like, shit, I'm fucking trimming all this weed. Let me just pull up with a quarter pound. So if I go out, I can at least make some money while I'm out here. Facts, because this is like, before I even had a car. Like, I used to take this shit called Flix Bus. It was a European bus service. I would take it from Old Town San Diego to Union Station. And this shit was probably the easiest, cheapest way you can get to LA and back. It cost me like 5.99.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: For the round trip.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it made it very.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: No, that's valid.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: See what I'm saying? And I remember that first party I went to, I met Lil Mosey's camp.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Okay?
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Lil Mosey was on tour with the kid Leroy overseas. But the whole time that he was at State or out the country, I was just at his Mansion for like a month. And I'm sitting here, I'm like, okay, this guy pulling up, he works for Warner. This guy's a rep for Ethica. This is a producer for, like, Skrillex and Justin Bieber. And, like, the longer I stayed around, like, I was like, I need to provide more of an asset than just being, like, the plug, you know what I mean? Because that's very expendable. Because in la, there's a weed vendor, like, every two, three blocks. And that's when I was like, okay, let me see if I could put a show together down in San Diego. I want to have a strong base in my city, but I don't know anybody, so I'm like, okay, I can make friends by paying them. So I did my research.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: That's one way in.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: No, you gotta pay to play sometimes. And it's just like. Like I was talking about on my podcast with Flashy B, you pulled up to. And it's just like I pulled up to parking lots, hoods, all these places. Just cashed people out. Booked a venue through Live Nation. And honestly, the show went good. From a professionalism perspective, like, there were no incidents, all the set times went off. But, like, from a monetary perspective, like, that put me in the red, like, really in the red, because, like, insurance, venues, marketing, whether it's like digital marketing, flyers, all that shit just adds up so quick. The venue itself was $3,000 and the show was only 100 people. So. Yeah. And that's not even counting artist costs. So that set me back monetarily, but it gave me my foot in the door for everything I did moving forward. So, yeah, an AR is someone who could really put the pieces together and then monetize it. Because I feel like until you can make money off this, you're kind of just like a helper.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Right. So artists, what is it? Artists and repertoire? Yeah, you're essentially is giving management, it's giving legal, it's giving friendship, it's giving production. It's kind of just like every. Like a melting pot of everything in the industry.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: I feel like ANRs don't necessarily have to be managers because managers, like, that has its whole other list of things. You are with a manager, you're a therapist, With a manager, you're a babysitter.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Chauffeur.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: You're a chauffeur, you're a DD scheduler.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Photographer, content creator.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: Exactly. And an A and R doesn't really take on a lot of those responsibilities. If anything, an A R is going to Find you a photographer and a R is going to find you an.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Intern who can like here figure it out.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Exactly. You know what I mean? Like putting the pieces together. And that was like my ins into the industry. And I was running with the show thing for like a few months, like I want to say from September 2019 to March 2020.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Best month of the year.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it was the best month of my year of the year. And then like 30 days to the date after that was like the worst month of the year because I lost all that money. And then 30 days to the day of that first show, I got robbed at gunpoint.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Like, Jesus. I had a home invasion in San Diego.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Yeah. When I was, I had a house by San Diego State and like an old friend of mine like came in like off coke like Pistol with me, broke my jaw, all this crazy. And like he stole my duffel bag because he knew I had been up here growing weed so he thought he was going to run off with some pounds. But honestly, he just took my Nintendo Switch and a bunch of clothes because I had just touched back down from la, I hadn't unpacked yet.
And shout out Sethi. Smack shout out Sethi, bro. Because he was the headliner of my first show. And like when I posted about on my gram, his mom hit me up and she pulled up on me the next day and gave me like a bunch of clothes so I could like get right. So that meant a lot to me at the time.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: But wait, so your friend is the one that robbed you? And then his mom reached out and.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: No, no, no. An old rob me the headliner to the show I booked 30 days prior, his mother reached out.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: Oh, see, okay, so what, Me putting.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: That money together, me putting that show together, like it paid forward in ways I didn't expect.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Yeah, like, and that's building connections. And okay, is that, is that the show where you met cjr?
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Like six, yes.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: He was like six, seven years old.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Shout out cjr. We do have an interview on the MC Bob and friends. Royalty. Road royalty. Road royalty on the road. We did an interview with CJR. He's literally an 11 year old rapper. He's dropping his own music now, but he's on social media everywhere. And first of all, when I sat down with this kid, I've never met anybody that's more media trained. I don't know if it's his dad. I don't know if he's just used to it or he's just practicing. But like he he got on there, he was like, follow me on this platform. I got a show at this time. I'm doing this. I'm doing this. My music is dropping. Follow me. You go, you know, tap in. I got songs with Mike Sherman and Da da Da. And I'm just like, how old are you again?
[00:09:33] Speaker B: He's the student of the game.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: You can tell no for sure.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: That's what happens when your family supports your dream from very young, because instead of just, like, opposing what you're trying to do, they can, like, coach you to move in the right direction instead of just letting you figure it out.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: That's true. I feel like, so Isabella, my baby girl.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Shut up.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Bella, you know, whenever she was four, that's when she was living with me.
And she's so entertaining that immediately it's just like, dude, this personality has to be known to the public. So, you know, we make her Instagram, we put her on. On all the things. And then I moved to L. A and I realized how fucked up this industry is.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Shit's grimy.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: And I, like, backtrack on every thought and idea that I've ever had. Um, but now her and Isaiah both want to be on YouTube and have a YouTube channel and be YouTubers. And I'm just like, it's not necessarily Nickelodeon, so it sounds safer, but at the same time, it's just like, it.
It doesn't sit well with me anymore now that I'm in this industry.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: True. But wouldn't you be kind of a hypocrite to, like, I know on her YouTube dreams, like, that's literally what you're doing right now.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Like, I can do it, but you can't.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: Exactly. No, no, no. You can't be like, oh, do as I say, but not as I do type shit.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: That's very much my dad.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Really?
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Very much my dad.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Damn. I hate coming to realizations on. On camera.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: We love these epiphanies.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: But, yeah, I guess, I don't know. Shout out to cjr. He's doing his damn thing.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: And shout out to little homie man.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe next year. And Lil Wolf, he came up and showed out. I think he just started the ninth grade. I'm proud of the little, little young kids.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: The tick tock homie. Right?
[00:11:19] Speaker A: He does things. I guess he went viral originally from going school shopping with his dad. And I was just like, oh, yeah, ride that wave for sure.
There's this one video of Bell where she. She was, I think, four or five, and she put on my heels. Which she'll tell you. She'd been wearing my heels since she was 2.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: I was going to be bad in a few years when y'all can actually fit the same shoes.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: She wears my. She wore my shoes, my heels to the MC Bob show. She was wearing my heels. Okay, And Nina, I got home and.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Why are you popping it? Like you didn't allow this behavior?
[00:11:51] Speaker A: I was fine with it. She's wearing my dress, my heels. Okay, we're fine. And then we get home and Nina, who is the middle sister, she was just like, I'm not impressed with this outfit. I'm not impressed that you let her out the house like this. And I'm like, but she can walk in them.
We went to a bar. It was an all ages show.
I tried to be the cool sister this summer instead of the like big bad mom.
[00:12:17] Speaker C: I got a question for you.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: I think it worked. What's up?
[00:12:19] Speaker C: So when did you decide that this was gonna. That you were going to be an ar? What was that moment that you said, okay, I'm gonna do this for a living?
[00:12:28] Speaker B: After I couldn't throw shows no more because I thought I was just gonna be like, not a promoter. I was always like curating my own events and stuff. I work with a touring agency now. Shout out. No label tour. But yeah, I was throwing my first south by Southwest showcase and I was driving out to Austin and we had booked this like 1,400 person venue. This was gonna be like the biggest show of my life. And mind you, this is like six months after my first show, so shit's picking up quick.
I get a call from my boy Rick and he's just like, yo, that Covid thing's like real. And city officials are saying we can't have more than 20 people in this venue. So then I have to do the drive of shame back with my team. And mind you, I'm couch hopping because I had like cut the umbilical cord, left my crib by state and like, I was staying with him for a few months while we were just like programming, getting the show together because he has family in Austin. So he was out in Austin building the street team. I'm doing promo out here. I'm like, okay, I'm going to do this show, then I'm going to put down a deposit on a new spot and really get settled in la. So not only did I lose all my money on this show. No new apartment complexes, houses, even like Craigslist rooms were taking new tenants.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: Covid.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So I was just stuck on the couch for like six, eight months. You feel me? And then I was like, I need to keep creating. And then I want to say about a year after that, I met my first artist that I really wanted to, like, develop. And like, we're not on the best terms now, but we changed each other's lives. And that really showed me, like, yo, I could really do some monumental in this industry if I just apply myself. And before this, I was like, I had a pretty corporate background. I was doing, like, reverse mortgages. Like, I was a loan officer doing FHA VA loans. I did some stuff with Medicare franchise sales. So that just wasn't fulfilling to me. I wasn't having fun. And on the type of. I'm not having fun with something, I'm gonna drop off of it.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: Yeah. I always say, like, I don't want to climb the corporate ladder. I want to make my own ladder that's pink with rhinestones.
You know, I get that. I definitely, like, it's interesting to hear, like, what I feel like Covid, it stopped everything and it fucked everything up. But at the same time, it gave people the opportunities to find those other avenues. Like, I found out that I had creative bones in my body in Covid. And you clearly found out that you can do other things besides, you know, putting the events together and what, four years later you are a and Ring and executive producing albums and flying around the state and the country and doing all these things that you probably didn't imagine whenever Covid hit.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm being Albuquerque. Then I fucking just found out I have to do a date in Denver after I go to Missouri for this wedding thing.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm bouncing around, trying to make the most of my time, but it's fulfilling. That's the biggest thing to me. You know what I mean?
[00:15:25] Speaker A: That's good. What about management? You also manage artists as well?
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Yes, yes, I manage a couple artists right now. Both of them are from Sacramento. Shout out, cashed out, Kari, my little Rue from the east side of Sacramento. And then Gritty Lex, the queen of sack.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: No, she's hard. No, she's tough for sure. They have a show coming up too, right?
[00:15:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Gritty is going to be at flashy B show on Friday the 13th with 60th.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Again, Gabby, I just put two and two together.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: It's Friday the 13th. Damn. Yep, yep. Capolo 304. Frosty the Snowman, DJ'd by Cypress Moreno. That's my boy. He's always supported me, like, since the very Beginning, bro. Like, Cyprus is such an important part of this, like, west coast culture out here. I remember when he was first working with Big Sad, like, and this is me figuring out what I wanted to do. This is before I got my first artist, but after I couldn't do shows no more. So I'm doing, like, vlogs and just, like, photography and shit. And I DM Cypress and I saw. Cause I saw he was having an event with this rapper, White John, I was really messing with at the time.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: White John.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: White John, yeah, he's a white.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: The names that we're coming across during this episode.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: White John, he's a. He's a white blood. He's super dope. But, yeah, I pulled up to some video shoot they were having, and then Cyprus never gate kept anything. That's something you'll realize if someone feels like you could push them out of a position or you might be able to make something for yourself. They'll try to put restrictions on how close they could, like, have you to that connection when realistically, they can make a call and just, like, make that shit happen. And Cypress has always done that for me. So, yeah, it went from White John to. He was working with big sad 1900 a lot. And then that's how I nurtured that relationship with sad. Fast forward a few years. That's my biggest podcast today. And I have some crazy stories about me and Big Sad Man. But.
But, yeah, I just want to give Cyprus his flowers because he is so important to. So many things going on in the background of LA that people don't give him credit for, and he does it selflessly, and that's very rare out here.
[00:17:26] Speaker A: So it's kind of like you as a San Diego type.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Other people who really help San Diego, like my boy 88 the gang, he's a producer and I. Oh, he.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Yeah, we follow each other on Instagram. But I see him everywhere. On everything, doing everything. I didn't know if it was just one person or if it was a group of people. 88 the gang. I don't know.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: No, I feel you.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: He's everywhere.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: No. And he's probably made, like, out of the top 50 records in San Diego, 15, 20 of them are, bro.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: And when I met him, like, he was behind the camera, like, he was at my first show, taking photos to put in perspective of how things have changed in the past, like, five years and stuff.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: See, that's the thing. Like, that's the thing that people don't really comprehend while they're moving funny around here. Like you're, you're always going to run into someone again. Like the city, the industry, the music, everything is just such a small space.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: It's like high school.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: It is. It really is. And no matter if you didn't see them last year, in junior year, they gonna pop up again because they still go to the same school, you know what I mean?
And I just, like, it really irks me. Like, I've been out here for five years this month and I'll see people that either act like they don't know me or they'll say hi and then just move on. Like when we're literally in the same. We're in the same venue doing the same thing.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: You brought this up.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: Why are you weird like that? Just, it just, it really irks me. And it's like the same people that be blowing me up in my DMs, liking all my pictures, responding to all my stories, like, but you see me.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: In person, like, brand new as hell, no. And I'm victim of that sometimes. But it's mostly with rappers because I meet so many artists at so many different events. Like, I was at the Underground Studios release party not too long ago, and I remember like two, three people came up to me like, yo, I sent you a DM for Woo Doo Woo Doo Woo Doo. And I just had to be hard.
I. I'm talking to like 5, 10 upcoming rappers in my DM a day. Unless you at the end of the.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: Day, let's be real, Instagram dms. Like, I don't know what it's like for anybody else, but there's no possible physical way that I can go back and see every DM that has been unread. Like, even when you choose the option unread, they don't all load. Just today, like I, it said I had like 20 DMS, and that's just like the ones that are counted that are like recent. And then I refresh my page and like 10 more showed up that weren't there like 10 minutes ago, but they're from like the last 24 hours. And I don't understand like, so nine times out of 10, if that is the case and you're stuck in DM land, like, we probably didn't see it. Like, I'm not going to hold you.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: That's not me though, because one thing.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: I'm okay, I probably didn't.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's her ass. But with me, I reply to everyone, whether it's hate comments, Someone asking about business, someone asking for advice.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: I reply to hate speech as well. Because you not go do me, especially on my page. I'm going to respond, oh, I just.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: Kill them with comments.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: I'm going to say what I got to say.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: But yeah, I was just saying I don't have that excuse because they always, like, have that open line of communication. Unless.
[00:20:40] Speaker C: What kind of hate comments do you get, Junior?
[00:20:43] Speaker B: It depends on the time. Like, when me and my artist, when we, me and my artist fell out. Like, I had made him, like, objectively speaking, like a top five rapper out of San Diego. So when we broke up, people chose sides and then like, there were a bunch of rumors on my name. Like, people said I was stealing from his budget, all this crazy shit. And then like, one of the people who was lying on my name is like a gang member. So like, he had all these little Southsiders saying, like, oh, you're going to see us. We're going to pull it to your crib.
And it's just like, those are the few that I don't reply to because it's just like, I'm not going to fan the fire, right? But nowadays it's just like, someone's gonna be like, oh, you sound like a white boy. Like, it really doesn't get much worse than that.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: It's like, it's like black jobs.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: No, for sure. And it's just like me sounding like a white boy helped me in corporate America for a long time. Like, I'm calling like, Gladys from Missouri, and I'm trying to get her to refinance on her house, but. Hey, Gladys, how's it going? Jonathan Robinson calling from. How's it shaking? I wanted to let you know that the current APR is sitting at 3.75 and you're actually at a 5.2. So if you wanted to refinance, pull out an equity line of credit, consolidate some debt, I'm your guy.
[00:21:50] Speaker C: I'm sold.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: That's crazy. Sign me up.
[00:21:53] Speaker C: Hey, we all got that. We all got that.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I definitely have a customer service voice. Before, when I was in, when I was in college, all of my jobs were like, I did Medicaid, I did an answering service. I did like, everything was customer service based. And then I was a paralegal and office manager. So the only people or the only person that four or five hundred clients could talk to was me if they wanted to higher up than the, than the secretaries. And it's. I wouldn't. I guess it's important to code switch Like I'm not going to say, you know, I'm not going to sit at my, on my law firm business line and talk the way that I'm talking when I'm out with my artists. Like it's probably not going to happen. Hello, thank you for calling AB Legal Entertainment. How can I help you? I don't answer my own calls first up but you know, I'm definitely going to code switch and I think that people just, they mistake code switching in professional settings for being fake or, or two faced or something like that.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: But it's really just catering to your environment.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:23:01] Speaker C: You see how it's more acceptable now to the audience.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Because you see how I talk with you and then you've seen how I talk to like Jay and you've seen how I talked to Trill and you see how I talked to K. Like it's all catering to like who I'm communicating.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: And it's just like yeah, and if I'm doing business own like I have a bunch of big interviews once I get back off a tour and it's like no, they're gonna get this version of me because I'm really trying to secure these positions.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: So you mentioned at the very beginning like connecting the pieces and helping with deals and stuff. I feel like there's also a lot of like misunderstandings or a lot of questions about specifically getting distribution deals and stuff. And I know we talked about that a lot. What advice would you give? Like not free game, but as an overall tip for artists who are looking to get into like distribution deals or publishing deals, things like that.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna give a snapshot. If you want a full consultation you can DM me at jr the AR and I can put you on a program but come deposit ready. But when it comes to distribution and especially publishing, publishing is where people fuck up the most. Because for example, I have an artist that I was telling you I'm working with right now they're getting like a few million streams a month but they only have like two, three songs submitted on their bmi. So I'm like, okay, you're either going to get some weak ass publishing offers or they're only going to offer you admin deals. And admin is like collections. Admin is them sitting here and submitting your music when you could do it your damn self. And then you're going to have to wait until you have proof of concept of what you're publishing is like pulling in quarter by quarter to renegotiate and get something that makes sense. So the biggest thing is making sure you do good business. Submit everything, make sure you pay your producers right if you agreed to splits and stuff, because they can have your shit taken down. And then every time that shit happens, it ruins your equity. So the biggest thing is building up that equity. Like one big thing with me is like, don't search for the hit. Because whether you making a million streams a month off one song or 50,000 streams off 20 songs and that equates to a million, it still brings in damn near the same amount of revenue. So I think that you should just keep your head low until you're sitting at a level where. Because everything's in systems. Like most of these distro companies, labels, they have machines where they can just pull up your numbers, see how you're doing monthly, see how you're doing quarterly. And then they. Unless you have like a huge brand presence like Allah, like your favorite rapper, like a Sexy Red, like Sexy Red. Don't ever do you see someone like Sexy Red. You can monitor that. To me, like a label is going to look at her and be like, okay, we can get Shorty in a360 because even if the music doesn't work, she has the personality that we can recoup off a Zeus deal or something like that. So unless you have that brand presence, like it's a numbers game. So sit here, get your head low. I wouldn't even really entertain distribution deals until you're sitting at like 12, 1500amonth off the distro. Because before that they're going to be giving you chump change. It's something that you can make in six months off, just like building off of your catalog. And what a distribution company is going to do is depending on the situation, they just want to buy your catalog and distribute it for X amount of years. That's what they're going to do. And they'll give you a lump sum based on how long they want to hold the catalog. But otherwise they're going to give you a marketing budget, they're going to give you a video budget, and they're going to use their resources. Because every distribution company, whether it's like 301rpm, they're using backend companies like Foundation Media, Sparta, things like that to get you on to playlisting. Playlisting is a cheat code to speed everything up. And there's two different ways of playlist. I'm giving way too much game, but I think it'll be helpful. There's two different Ways of playlisting that really speed up this progress process. One is algorithmic and the other is editorial. Algorithmic is something that you could work on yourself. Getting features, getting as many people as primary artists as possible. Pre saves throw you into algorithmic as well. So if you get 500 pre saves, your chance of getting placed on like all the playlists in your genre slash region is exponentially higher than your peers who are streaming the same. And then editorial, that's where the distribution companies come in. Because editorials are hand curated playlists. So they're the ones who submit to these editors who are contorting these playlists week by week by week. And that's like some of their biggest value. Distro deals can also help with sync. So placements in video games, TV shows, movies, stuff like that. And that's why setting up your publishing is so important as well because that's going to expand your revenue on that aspect of things.
[00:27:44] Speaker A: Setting up your own publishing company or.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: No, no, no. Just making sure all your music is submitted correctly.
Back to 88 the gang real quick. Like that's one of the biggest things he's done for all these dago he's worked with. He sat down with them and showed him, showed them how to set up their sound exchange, how to set up their bmi, how to set up. There. There's your kid. He's really empowering.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: The basics.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's the basics that a lot of people who are getting millions of streams aren't doing. So it's not so basic. Common sense ain't so common sometimes. You know what I mean?
[00:28:11] Speaker A: That's good.
[00:28:12] Speaker C: Is that what you do as they are?
[00:28:15] Speaker B: I do that more as a manager. I'm not sitting here and babying grown ass man to submit their music unless I'm pitching them for a deal where I'm going to be eating off of it. Like otherwise, like it's a time consuming process. Especially if they have a back catalog of 80 songs that need to be submitted.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Right.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: You better pay me up front, bro.
[00:28:32] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a lot of time. That's a lot of time and effort. And thankfully even with my artists like they've been in the industry for so long that they do all of that because they've been doing all of that from the beginning and I don't have to do. It's not my job, you know what I mean? And that takes, takes a world of trouble off of my shoulders.
But also I wanted to kind of transition into a topic that I don't know that I've talked about very much on the show, but it's a big topic that we've been talking about in real life and daily life.
God, my Lord and Savior.
How do you feel about not just your relationship with God, but God in the music industry as a whole?
[00:29:23] Speaker B: I feel like God in the music industry, there's been very few people to preach the message of the Lord. And it actually doesn't come off as super corny to the masses. For example, like. Like a Lecrae or a Common or like Chance the Rapper on his coloring book album or Kanye's Jesus.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: I knew you were gonna say it.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: No, no, no. Because that's probably one of my least favorite Kanye projects. But the masses received it relatively well.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Do you think it. It's genuine?
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Yeah, because I feel like all those artists besides Lecrae, he's been consistent with it. All those artists, like, they're really painting a picture of a point in their life where they had to find God.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:30:10] Speaker A: That's valid.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: Like, look at someone like Kanye. Like, he didn't stay in that box forever. Now he's like, getting head on gondolas in Paris and shit. But, like, for that isolated point of.
[00:30:20] Speaker A: Time, I think life be naked all the time.
[00:30:22] Speaker B: Exactly.
And that's a whole other story. But I only say that to say that, like, with someone like Chance the Rapper, that's someone where his project before that was about him high off acid and just going through the motions of being like 20, 21, really blowing up in the industry. Like, it was really rambunctious. It was really loud. It was really, like, resistant to anything faith related. But as he got older, he developed into finding a way to talk about his Lord and savior in a manner that was digestible to the masses. And I think that's where people, like, get it messed up is when it comes to music. Like, for example, like battle rappers, they are technically better than most like, artists that we see day to day. The motherfuckers can't make a song. Like if Battle Rapper. If the radio was based on who's the best rapper, you would see, like, Lush1 and Disaster and like, Arsenal, like, in the top 40. But that's not how it works. So I feel like it takes a true artist, someone who has perfected their craft to be able to get that message off in a way that people want to repeat consistently. Because it's way easier to talk about bullshit.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's true. I think there's this song called actually Called Lord and Savior by Sam Rivera. And that's my favorite Christian song, I would say. Not necessarily gospel, but it's. It's. I would call it, like, maybe Afrobeats esque or, like, Caribbean islandy.
And it's really good. Like, and I feel like there's a lot more Christian artists that are coming out. And to be a Christian artist, you don't need to, like, fit a specific criteria. You just need to make music about your relationship with God or the religion or the. A message. Like, one. One thing where you're not cussing, you're not talking about nonsense.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: No, for sure. We talk about it all the time. And Ellie has a problem with it. It's like, they want to talk about drugs, prostitution, domestic violence. Yeah, it's, like, super promoted. Have you listened to Good kid Mad City by Kendrick?
[00:32:28] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Okay, so that song Dying of Thirst, I didn't realize until my adult life. He's talking about, like, dying of thirst from his relationship, from God. Oh, and that's an album where you have songs like backyard freestyle. Like, what the. Was I gonna say? Mad City? Like, all these, like, gritty showing, like, the darker side of Compton. But he brought it back to, like, okay, like, yeah, this is my life, but this is what keeps me sane amidst all the chaos. So I feel like you don't need to have all your music focused on that, and I respect the people who do successfully. Like, I keep coming back to, like, Lecrae, but I feel like contrast is very important, especially as you get older, because your fan base gets older with you. Like, if I'm listening to someone at 16 and now I'm 22, I'm going through different shit.
[00:33:15] Speaker A: That's true.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: And as are they. So I want to see the evolution, if that makes sense.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it does. And I feel like it's hard. It's. I feel like it's much harder to be on that path or stay on that path when you are submersed into an industry that is quote, unquote, of the devil.
And there's. There's a lot of, I guess you could say, conspiracies about the revelation coming through music. Because what's more powerful than music? There's nothing more influential. Like that movie, they Clone Tyrone. Yeah, that movie was just. So if you guys haven't watched they Clone Tyrone by now, you have to watch that freaking movie. It is insane because, yeah, it has a lot of other stuff going on, but specifically, like, the music controls the people. Like, and it does. So whatever you're listening to whatever you have that's coming into your brain and that you're feeding yourself and feeding your body is what will be.
And so you're. If you're always constantly listening to this, this gang banging and, and shooting and drugs and twerking and drinking and ass and all these things, what do you think? What do you think is going to exude from you? You know, so that's why I like to.
I don't listen to much music at this point. I listen to my artist Kyron Shank near the Prophecy. I listen to my favorite artists sometimes, but really I drive in silence and I listen to Christian music. I listen to Transformation Worship and Elevation and Zoe and Chris Brown. That is not breezy.
I listened to Halvey and Halvey.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: You gotta put me on later.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: Yes, for sure. There's so many, there's so many artists that are coming out in the Christian space. But also just like the specific churches that I subscribe to because I go to Oasis, I used to go to Zoe, my sister goes to Fearless. I watch Transformation Church online. Pastor Michael Todd. They all have their own worship team and the majority of them create their own music and their out their own album albums, you know what I mean? So I feel like we just need more of that. And turn off, turn off the, the radio or the Spotify or the Apple music sometimes and just listen to silence or listen to something different that you normally wouldn't and maybe it'll inspire you to do something different.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: I feel like people aren't comfortable with silence.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: It's hard. It's hard to sit with your own thoughts.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: Yeah, people aren't comfortable with silence. People aren't comfortable being alone. Like there's a lot of things where, when you're in an isolated, like state of mind or isolated physically, like everything comes to light and your thoughts that you've been like pushing to the back of your brain, like you kind of have to address them, so.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Which is why people drown themselves with their vices.
Okay, I see where you're going with this.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: Yep. Yep.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: So what would be, what is your self care measure today in. In fall of 2024?
[00:36:33] Speaker B: In fall of 2024, it's way different than it was 90 days ago.
I'm getting more in touch with God, so that's been really important.
Digesting content that excites me. Whether it's like a podcaster that really inspires me or like a new artist, I'm like, oh, this, this is super dope. I want to be the first on it. Whether I Want to work with them whether I want them on the podcast for a conversation. Conversation. The gym has been helping me a lot just to get up a bunch of like pent up anxiety that I'm sitting with. So those are big for me because I need to do things or like playing video games, like walking up and down the beach, playing Pokemon Go, like super nut. But little things like that keep me grounded because it's completely separated from all of this music and I'd be needing that a lot.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Okay, so back on this nerd, I do want to highlight this new party in LA called Adrenaline that Kyron Shank and Trace from Impound Comics put together. They're going to be doing.
This is a super announcement. They're going to be doing a Halloween anime Adrenaline party on Halloween.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm a dress up for that one.
[00:37:42] Speaker A: Yeah, no, for sure. I'm not a nerd like that. I'm a nerd like books, but find.
[00:37:48] Speaker B: You some cute shit.
[00:37:48] Speaker A: Don't you worry, if you are in LA October 31st, adrenaline parties will be live.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: I mean, illegal Queen LA cosplaying you got. You guys are welcome in advance.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: Anyways, that wasn't enough.
But before we get out of here, I do want to circle back. Obviously, we put your at name up. Follow, subscribe, like all the things Colorblind podcast.
Tell the people to tea about your pod. Because I know we talked about it before, but it's just, there's just such a good message and you're doing such a great thing with your pod that I also want to highlight it on my pod.
[00:38:23] Speaker B: Okay, yeah, I'll make it quick because I know we got to get out of here soon. So, like when I first got into the industry, one of the things that was like separating San Diego was either like racial relations or gang relations. And it like stunted a lot of growth for the scene as a whole. Like, I was just talking to Jay. Like we have a scene now that's so beautiful to me, but I call it Colorblind because I don't care about what set you from, what race you are, your sexual orientation, your gender. I don't care about that. I want to just like showcase talent and do it in a way that has some level of tact because there's a lot of podcasts out here that kind of just use people for clickbait and I think that shit's super weak. Like super super weak, so. And I feel like that's why I've been able to work with all different walks of life. And it's never been like, hey, why are you working with him from that side? Because you know how I'm coming with this shit, right? You know what I mean? That's a Spark Notes version, though.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I really want to thank you for coming all the way to my pod. Maybe.
[00:39:19] Speaker B: I know this was.
[00:39:21] Speaker A: I know everybody complains, but guess what? We at the podcast place right here in Long beach. Okay? And if you don't know now, you.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Know happy birthday in advance.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: It's my birthday and I'm going to see Nicki Minaj. Okay, Mickey Mini Min.
Anyways, podcast place in Long Beach. This is the best place to do your podcast that there ever has been. Shout out to Solomon behind the mic, coming out of the cloud.
We appreciate you. We'd be nothing without you.
I just want everybody to know that y'all need to, like, subscribe, comment on my podcast at the Royalty Room. Legal Queen la. But we also. I need you to tap in and tune in with my boy, Junior, the AR Colorblind Entertainment podcast everywhere.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: You heard the lady.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: I mean, it is my birthday, so y'all gotta do what I say, okay?
[00:40:15] Speaker B: Unless you're gonna send her a cash app. That's another way. How to make it worth a while.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: Hashtag. Oh, wait, dollar sign. Ashley Valenzuela. Y'all know how to spell it, so I'll put it up there for the people.
Put it up. Anyways, catch us next time. Legal Queen la. On all platforms.
[00:40:30] Speaker B: And we are out of.
