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Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and this is black Tach, Green Money.

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Speaker 1: Ryan Leslie is a Grammy nominated musician and producer, having

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Speaker 1: produced hits for artists like New Addition and Cassie, which

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Speaker 1: he found in nurtured as an artist, and wrote and

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Speaker 1: produced her hit single Me and You. He's also founder

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Speaker 1: as Superphone, which helps creatives and businesses increase engagement, drive revenue,

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Speaker 1: and build better relationships with SMS, m ands marketing. I've

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Speaker 1: been a fan of Ryan since I heard about his

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Speaker 1: work in the early two thousands, So this is what

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Speaker 1: is the phone for me. We're seeing so many of

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Speaker 1: our great artists selling their catalogs and the rights to

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Speaker 1: their music for sums that are very large and others

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Speaker 1: that are at least we as the public don't feel

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Speaker 1: are large enough. I asked Ryan to explain what's happening

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Speaker 1: in the music business that's brought on this trend of

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Speaker 1: sell off with so many others are preaching ownership.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Well, I would say for me, when you look at

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Speaker 3: money in hands versus money in the future, there's a

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Speaker 3: lot more that can be done with money in hand,

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Speaker 3: and that's what's so important. And so when you have

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Speaker 3: the ability to navigate financial markets, navigate investments, decide whether

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Speaker 3: you want to make investments in a number of different categories.

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Speaker 3: The way financial markets work is it takes money to

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Speaker 3: make money, and so to actually decide to say, Okay,

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Speaker 3: maybe I have two hundred million dollars at some point

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Speaker 3: in the future versus the ability to actually put that

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Speaker 3: money to work right now, in my opinion, becomes a

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Speaker 3: no brainer when you have that much future value that

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Speaker 3: can be unlocked immediately.

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Speaker 1: So what kind of artists does it make sense for

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Speaker 1: If you're on the other side, you're a financier and

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Speaker 1: you're seeing, Okay, here's this artist X and they've had

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Speaker 1: some pop hits. They've had some hits that you know,

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Speaker 1: some would argue are not like, you know, classic, but

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Speaker 1: they maybe hits. What at what point does it make

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Speaker 1: sense for them to have conversations with artists where you know,

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Speaker 1: though that long term value is.

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Speaker 3: There right Well, what I would say is this is very,

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Speaker 3: very detailed and data driven.

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Speaker 2: So they just look at the streams.

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Speaker 3: They look at what they would call steady state, meaning hey,

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Speaker 3: no matter how long it's been since this record came out,

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Speaker 3: this is how much money is being generated on a

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Speaker 3: consistent basis, and so they make an extrapolation on the

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Speaker 3: catalog to decide what they believe the future value of

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Speaker 3: that catalog will be. And that's how they that's how

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Speaker 3: they do these deals. These deals are very, very specific.

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Speaker 3: It had nothing to do with the subjective. Do I

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Speaker 3: like the songs?

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Speaker 2: I like the catalog? They literally just look at.

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Speaker 3: How many streams are these records making, and how many

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Speaker 3: streams are these records generating, and what is the actual

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Speaker 3: what will actually be a great return on investment for

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Speaker 3: them in terms of ownership, and then obviously the partnership

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Speaker 3: and when we look at some of the big players

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Speaker 3: that are doing this, the partnerships are able to potentially

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Speaker 3: even rejuvenate the music.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 3: So when you have investors who also have their hands

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Speaker 3: in film, television, sports, other arenas of entertainment, then they're

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Speaker 3: able to acquire these catalogs and then give a song

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Speaker 3: of brand new life because now it is the soundbed

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Speaker 3: for a hit series somewhere, right, So they understand what

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Speaker 3: they need to do to actually take this to the

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Speaker 3: next level. And it's you know, when you talk about

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Speaker 3: the accounting and the mathematics that's done in order to

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Speaker 3: come to the valuations of these catalogs is very it's

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Speaker 3: very data driven.

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Speaker 1: At the risk of making this even a little bit

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Speaker 1: more technical, you know, we hear this argument from artists

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Speaker 1: talking about, you know, they may get point zero zero

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Speaker 1: zero zero five to seven cents on these streams. But

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Speaker 1: then you have these you know, financers who obviously see

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Speaker 1: the math and you know, they believe that they can

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Speaker 1: get their their investment back. What is it that they're

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Speaker 1: taking advantage of that that artist can't take advantage of

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Speaker 1: to be able to make that math math.

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Speaker 3: Well, they're taking advantage of money up front. Okay, So

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Speaker 3: that's you just have to think about this, all right.

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Speaker 3: So if and just for simple math, let's just do it.

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Speaker 3: Let's think about it in terms of simple math, all right.

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Speaker 3: So let's just say you got a penny per stream,

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Speaker 3: all right, instead of breaking it down to the fractional

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Speaker 3: it means a million streams you would get you would

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Speaker 3: get ten thousand dollars, all right.

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Speaker 2: So when you have a record that just you know, goes.

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Speaker 3: Crazy, right, ten million streams, one hundred thousand, right, a

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Speaker 3: billion streams, right, ten million dollars. Right. So when you

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Speaker 3: really think about this, the ability for these records to

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Speaker 3: actually generate this and if the artist wants to wait

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Speaker 3: until the revenue is paid out, then obviously they can

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Speaker 3: wait the difference though, And you know, this is kind

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Speaker 3: of what I've definitely worked with a number of artists

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Speaker 3: that have come to me that are looking for mentorship

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Speaker 3: in terms of how to get their finances right.

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Speaker 2: Is.

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Speaker 3: Look, when you have the ability to navigate the financial

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Speaker 3: markets in the right way, you can take one hundred

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Speaker 3: k today and turn it into two hundred thousand by

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Speaker 3: June of this year. You know. So you know, we've

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Speaker 3: got folks, I got our artist managers, etc.

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Speaker 2: That I work with.

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Speaker 3: They'll come to me the beginning of the year and say, look,

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Speaker 3: you know, I just got this advance and I'm looking

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Speaker 3: to actually go ahead and make it stretch. You know,

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Speaker 3: I know that the label is going to take care

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Speaker 3: of all of the expenses, but this advance, I need

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Speaker 3: this to stretch. And so really it's about giving people

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Speaker 3: the edgection that has been missing from the our middle

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Speaker 3: school to high school to college education system.

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Speaker 2: How do you navigate financial markets?

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Speaker 3: And this is these are these are concepts that are

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Speaker 3: really you know, very very We talk about middle school

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Speaker 3: math to understand they have just been sort of shrouded

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Speaker 3: in secrecy up to this point. And so the difference

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Speaker 3: is not that an independent artist or an artist would

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Speaker 3: not be able to realize that, uh those returns. It's

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Speaker 3: just do they actually have the ability to sit around

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Speaker 3: and wait for that to actually be accrued to them.

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Speaker 3: The difference is when someone has money, their money is

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Speaker 3: losing money if it's just sitting there. So when you're

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Speaker 3: an artist and you don't have the money and you're

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Speaker 3: waiting for the money to come to you, well, then

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Speaker 3: that's great because at some point that is some some

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Speaker 3: some value that will be accrue to you in the

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Speaker 3: future when you are financia or you actually are even

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Speaker 3: an artist that has money that's just sitting there. When

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Speaker 3: that money is not deployed, then it's actually losing money.

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Speaker 3: And so that's why I went especially over the last

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Speaker 3: couple of years, where we saw the rife that was

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Speaker 3: you know what was the we found financial markets that

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Speaker 3: were reeling from over extension due to all the money

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Speaker 3: that had been you know, sort of pumped into the economy.

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Speaker 3: That is when you started to see smart folks looking

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Speaker 3: for alternative places to put the money to work. Because

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Speaker 3: the usual places where they would put money to work, Google, Apple, Amazon,

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Speaker 3: the Nasdaq, the S and P five hundred, those places

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Speaker 3: were over extended, and that money, while it was deployed

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Speaker 3: in those places, those far reaches of the financial markets,

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Speaker 3: was actually moving in the opposite direction that was desired.

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Speaker 3: And so when you can find and alternative ways to

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Speaker 3: put the money to work where those returns are let's say,

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Speaker 3: uncorrelated to the stock market, then that really becomes a

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Speaker 3: prudent investment.

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Speaker 1: You've seen like as many of us have these you know,

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Speaker 1: fake drake AI, you know, recreations of artists and their sound.

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Speaker 1: And I wonder with us, with us giving up these rights,

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Speaker 1: do you foresee any potential regret that may come because

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Speaker 1: we don't know what, you know, these things may be valuable,

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Speaker 1: what the value of these things may be. Because AI

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Speaker 1: blockchain the center is happening so fast.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think to look at it that way is

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Speaker 3: really looking at it from a scarcity mindset.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 3: It's almost like when I first got into the music business,

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Speaker 3: there was a record I had that I thought was

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Speaker 3: gonna be my singles called hot Tonight. The single ended

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Speaker 3: up being a single for New Edition, and I just

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Speaker 3: knew at that juncture.

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Speaker 2: Being a creative when you look at just.

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Speaker 3: Life in general, as a creator, you want to be

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Speaker 3: able to create. And so, yeah, maybe you have the

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Speaker 3: song that got away, maybe you have the you know,

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Speaker 3: the show idea that got away nine time out of ten. Okay,

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Speaker 3: when you decide to put that piece of intellectual property

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Speaker 3: into the hands of a different custodian, the hopefully that

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Speaker 3: custodian has an incentive to actually make that a very

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Speaker 3: increase the value of whatever you have have delivered to them.

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Speaker 3: And so in a case of new edition, in the

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Speaker 3: case of writing and producing me and you for Cassie,

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Speaker 3: for example, instead of thinking of this from a scarcity

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Speaker 3: mindset and saying, oh, you know, if I give this

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Speaker 3: catalog away, you know, you know what did I leave

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Speaker 3: on the table? I am always thinking in terms of

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Speaker 3: my gift is the fact that for what they just bought,

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Speaker 3: I can actually create one hundred two hundred one thousand

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Speaker 3: more and they wouldn't even have to pay me to

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Speaker 3: do it.

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Speaker 2: It's something I want to do anyway.

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Speaker 3: So whether they paid me upfront now to do this

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Speaker 3: or they didn't, I would still be in the studio

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Speaker 3: the next day.

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Speaker 2: Deciding that I wanted to create.

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Speaker 3: And so when we look at our lives from that

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Speaker 3: through that lens, when we look at our lives through

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Speaker 3: that lens, we are able to really kind of strip

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Speaker 3: away all of those kind of distractions around what really matters.

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Speaker 3: And money really is just currency. It just kind of

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Speaker 3: flows through accounts if it comes to your account. The

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Speaker 3: only difference is and the reason why you want it

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Speaker 3: to flow through your account is because you can exercise

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Speaker 3: control on where it is distributed. And so really, the

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Speaker 3: shrewd musician, the shrewd businessman, the shrewd person in general

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Speaker 3: is looking to understand the science because it really is

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Speaker 3: a science of how to get currency to flow through

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Speaker 3: your accounts, because when it flows through your accounts, you

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Speaker 3: can direct the flow.

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Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about your brand a

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Speaker 1: little bit. I've been following you for a long time.

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Speaker 1: I meet YouTube videos where you would jump off the

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Speaker 1: keys onto the drums, jump off the drums onto the guitar,

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Speaker 1: and it will be these You were a pioneer in

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Speaker 1: that way, you showing that one person could be in

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Speaker 1: the studio doing all these things. I mean, you had

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Speaker 1: artists who could do that, but they didn't have the

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Speaker 1: gift of YouTube to be able to show the world.

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Speaker 1: And what we've learned about brand is that if you

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Speaker 1: can build a successful brand, people will follow you wherever.

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Speaker 1: They'll go, buy your thing, they'll come to your show,

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Speaker 1: et cetera. Congrats on your successful crowdfunding raise. What have

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Speaker 1: you learned about storytelling and branding that allows you to

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Speaker 1: deploy your brand in any direction you wish?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think really stories are what connect humans and

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Speaker 3: even just what we're doing right now, we're telling stories

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Speaker 3: and that's why people are going to tune in. And

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Speaker 3: stories are the way that we convey and communicate.

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Speaker 2: Our value to one another.

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Speaker 3: And so whatever it is that you do, your ability

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Speaker 3: to tell a story, a story of success, a story

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Speaker 3: of challenge, a story of obstacle, a story where people

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Speaker 3: can relate and see themselves in that story, that will

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Speaker 3: give you sort of a universal appeal on a human level.

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Speaker 3: And when you strip away, hey is this music, is

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Speaker 3: this technology?

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Speaker 2: Is this finance? And you get down to the human

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Speaker 2: level and you realize, hey, what is it that people

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Speaker 2: really want? Well, they want to live their best lives.

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Speaker 3: They want to be able to spend time with those

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Speaker 3: that they love, they want to be able to not

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Speaker 3: have to trade their time to be employed in some

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Speaker 3: kind of work that they you know, that they that

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Speaker 3: they wish they could do something else. So when you

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Speaker 3: can help people to improve their lives in that way,

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Speaker 3: whether it's just hey, you know, a record that they

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Speaker 3: can play over and over and over again when they're

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Speaker 3: at the job that they probably wish they were doing

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Speaker 3: something else, or when when they are able to learn

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Speaker 3: how to to finance whatever it is, maybe it's a

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Speaker 3: new business or a vacation that they might have, or

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Speaker 3: or some medical procedure that will you know, or to

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Speaker 3: hire a trainer or get to the gym, whatever it is,

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Speaker 3: to eat better. You start realizing that as you can

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Speaker 3: empower people to live their best life, the brand therefore

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Speaker 3: becomes universal.

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Speaker 1: Aside from Prince, you probably want them at least my

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Speaker 1: earliest memories on people talking about, you know, ownership and

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Speaker 1: taking your own path in the music business, and again

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Speaker 1: back to those early YouTube days. What was obvious to

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Speaker 1: you about because you had labels coming to you saying

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Speaker 1: here here's the contract, and you decided to take your

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Speaker 1: own path, what was obvious to you was obviously not obvious.

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Speaker 1: No point intended to so many other talented mes issues.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think really.

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Speaker 3: Music is one piece and the business is another. And

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Speaker 3: what we understand now, which became very very apparent to

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Speaker 3: me early on, is that those businesses who had a

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Speaker 3: direct relationship with their customers were going to be the

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Speaker 3: businesses that would have exponential success.

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Speaker 2: What does that mean?

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Speaker 3: That means that when I am a massing of following

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Speaker 3: on any platform, that platform, because it's free, I am

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Speaker 3: the product, meaning that Instagram is selling me to acquire

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Speaker 3: data and users.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 3: And though it may seem that I am a massing

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Speaker 3: of following, when I look at the engagement, when I

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Speaker 3: look at the clickthroughs, when I look at the conversions,

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Speaker 3: I'm saying, wow, I really don't own these people.

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Speaker 2: And it was very very i would say, very very clear.

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Speaker 3: When we had built this quarter million person following on

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Speaker 3: MySpace with Cassie and then all of a sudden that

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Speaker 3: was no longer the platform DuJour, and so once everyone

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Speaker 3: migrated away, we realized, oh man, we got to go

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Speaker 3: do this all over again, and what a what a

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Speaker 3: shame and a waste of time, energy and resources to

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Speaker 3: go and do it all over again. So really, for me,

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Speaker 3: it's always just been about understanding that the companies in

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Speaker 3: which I invested when I got my advanced checks, the Amazon,

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Speaker 3: the Google, the Apple, the Facebook, now Meta, those companies

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Speaker 3: were really very clearly paving the way for businesses that

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Speaker 3: had a direct relationship with their customers and not just

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Speaker 3: the ability to contact them, but the ability to build

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Speaker 3: a profile, to personalize the products and services that were offered.

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Speaker 2: Those were the business that would be able to thrive,

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Speaker 2: and in their.

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Speaker 3: Ingenuity and their ability to create an infrastructure to do

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Speaker 3: this for themselves, they were able to build platforms on

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Speaker 3: which other businesses could also be built. The number of

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Speaker 3: people who have built multimillion dollar businesses on Amazon's platform,

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Speaker 3: the number of people who utilize Facebook's advertising network to

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Speaker 3: build multimillion dollar or multimillion dollar businesses, the number of

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Speaker 3: folks who rely on Google's cloud services, the same cloud

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Speaker 3: services that they use to deliver their products and services

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Speaker 3: to their users. You find that the ability to have

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Speaker 3: that kind of close relationship with those who support you

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Speaker 3: allows you to refine your products and services so that

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Speaker 3: you can even price them in a premium fashion, and

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Speaker 3: so that also reduces the number of people, the number

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Speaker 3: of customers, the number of supporters that you need to

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Speaker 3: hit a threshold financially.

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Speaker 2: To live and thrive in business. The way that you were,

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Speaker 2: that you that you aspire and in the way that

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Speaker 2: you aspire.

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Speaker 1: So I became aware of you in early two thousands,

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Speaker 1: late ninety late nineteen nineties, I was writing for Brian

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Speaker 1: Michael Cox. I was a songwriter and him and a

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Speaker 1: guy named a Donna Shropshire, you might know a Donna's

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Speaker 1: we're having a conversation about you. And we were at

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Speaker 1: Doppler in Atlanta. Oh, we had stink Onnia in Atlanta, actually,

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Speaker 1: and the reason your name came up was because they

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Speaker 1: were talking about ownership and studios like you were. You

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Speaker 1: were the only guy back then when everybody else was

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Speaker 1: written our studio time, you were building your own and

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Speaker 1: buying your own equipment, your own keyboards and your own

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Speaker 1: drums and stuff. And that's how I became aware of

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Speaker 1: Ryan Leslie or Less. And we have these conversations about, well,

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Speaker 1: if we got you know, the Lebron James of the

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Speaker 1: world to go to Africa and build the NBA there,

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Speaker 1: like they could own it and they don't have to

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Speaker 1: be tied to this organization. And if the jay Z's

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Speaker 1: of the world built over or wherever else they could

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Speaker 1: start their own. Why do those things not connect to

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Speaker 1: reality in the way that we don't have the people

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Speaker 1: who have this amount of wealth and power decide to

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Speaker 1: seceed away from institutional organizations and build their own in

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Speaker 1: different ways. I mean, you have ice Q doing it

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Speaker 1: like with the Big Three, but you don't have it's

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Speaker 1: not like a proliferation of people taking it away from

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Speaker 1: the institution and doing it on their own like you did.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I would say that first and foremost, though,

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Speaker 3: there is an infrastructure in a history with those institutions

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Speaker 3: that allows them to continue to grow, acquire, consolidate to

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Speaker 3: the point where like the government has to get involved

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Speaker 3: and say, hey, antitrust.

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Speaker 2: Right, So that's number one.

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Speaker 3: Number two, we also need to think about the fact that,

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Speaker 3: you know, we are probably just one generation away from

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Speaker 3: the kind of wealth that we control as a people.

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Speaker 3: To do that, when we think of the institutions, those

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Speaker 3: institutions were built on our backs, and to build on

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Speaker 3: the backs of those to amass that kind of wealth

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Speaker 3: and influence, you had to actually you had to do

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Speaker 3: that in such a way that completely separated them from

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Speaker 3: the math and mechanics around how.

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Speaker 2: To actually generate that kind of wealth.

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Speaker 3: And so we are starting to see this now. But

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Speaker 3: how many players in the NBA did it take? How

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Speaker 3: many success stories and failures did it take for us

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Speaker 3: to have a billionaire athlete in a short amount of

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Speaker 3: time as it took for Lebron to get there. How

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Speaker 3: many artists did it take, mega, massive, ultra multi extra

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Speaker 3: platinum artists did it take to have the ability for

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Speaker 3: a jay Z to then shorten the time for Rihanna

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Speaker 3: to get to that billionaire status. And at the end

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Speaker 3: of the day, when we think about this, we need many, many,

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Speaker 3: many many of those folks, and then we also need

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Speaker 3: sort of care, concern, consideration, and collaboration to actually happen

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Speaker 3: amongst them. And what we've seen so often, especially in

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Speaker 3: our community, is that besides, almost in contrast to care, consideration, concern,

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Speaker 3: and collaboration, we have competition, right, And so when we

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Speaker 3: have that, it starts to sort of pit us against

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Speaker 3: one another as opposed to having the kind of fabric

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Speaker 3: that can actually collectively when the money's pooled, when the

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Speaker 3: influence is pooled, to actually build the way that we

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Speaker 3: want to build, and so I think we're probably just

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Speaker 3: one generation a way.

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Speaker 1: One of the business lessons I learned later than I

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Speaker 1: wish I would have, but I did learn it was

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Speaker 1: about reinvesting the profits. So yeah, because you you know,

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Speaker 1: put in nine hundred, you got a thousand, don't go

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Speaker 1: spend that hundred. Put the one hundred in to grow.

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Speaker 2: You know the.

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Speaker 1: Origination. So obviously you learned that lesson and you were one,

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Speaker 1: you were the one buying your own equipment in et cetera.

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Speaker 1: How did you learn that lesson? And how do you

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Speaker 1: communicate it to other entrepreneurs or creatives who would be

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs to take the revenue that they generate put it

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Speaker 1: back in. Because I heard you say before and the

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Speaker 1: end of the interview which we were talking about you

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Speaker 1: were completely fan funded in so many ways.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, And I would say that that reinvestment is

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Speaker 3: on so many different levels. It's not just finances, it's time, energy,

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Speaker 3: and resources. And those resources are not just finances, it's

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Speaker 3: time and energy as well. So what I would say

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Speaker 3: is Number one, I had great mentor. I had a

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Speaker 3: great mentor and other great mentors, and I showed up

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Speaker 3: the way I needed to when I had the ability

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Speaker 3: to actually learn, and I invested in my relationship with

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Speaker 3: those mentors because I wanted to. Just as we saw

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Speaker 3: Rihanna's ability pathway to one billion dollars was roughly half,

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Speaker 3: if not shorter than Jay Z's pathway to a billion dollars.

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Speaker 3: And that really is a direct correlation to the kind

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Speaker 3: of mentorship but also the ability for the mentee to

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Speaker 3: show up and be coachable. And so as I you know,

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Speaker 3: it kind of touched on the beginning of this interview,

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Speaker 3: I personally because I am only where I am today

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Speaker 3: because a great mentor took an interest in actually, you know,

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Speaker 3: investing time with me. Obviously I compensated that mentor, but

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Speaker 3: took an interest and gave me a shot. I have

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Speaker 3: made a commitment that any and I'm talking about any artist, manager, attorney,

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Speaker 3: software engineer, mail carrier, doordas driver, anyone who has an

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Speaker 3: interest in understanding the mindset, the mentality, the math and

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Speaker 3: the mechanics when it comes to money in the markets,

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Speaker 3: as long as they can come to me with the

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Speaker 3: spirit of a student and a respect for my time

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Speaker 3: and the energy and the expertise that I will share

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Speaker 3: with them, I make it a point to actually take

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Speaker 3: them under my wing one on one, and I have

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Speaker 3: literally a program that has been running to help folks.

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Speaker 3: You know, whatever they're starting with, let's get you to

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Speaker 3: a pathway to not just six figures, not seven, you know,

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Speaker 3: let's get you to eight or nine figures. And the

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Speaker 3: beauty of compounding is that when you have the patience,

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Speaker 3: you can actually get there. And I've literally shown folks

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Speaker 3: how to start with a if your investments only. I

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Speaker 3: was literally talking to one of my mentees today, I said, look,

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Speaker 3: if your investments grow by thirty eight dollars this year,

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Speaker 3: I can show you a pathway that you'll leave ninety

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Speaker 3: million dollars to your family when you pass on. Now,

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Speaker 3: that obviously means that he's starting at age thirty three

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Speaker 3: and he's looking to leave whatever he's leaving at ninety

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Speaker 3: five or one hundred, but all of those years, with

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Speaker 3: the right kinds of decisions, the right kinds of techniques

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Speaker 3: and strategies, you can do what so many others have done.

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Speaker 2: And you know, and then maybe they don't.

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Speaker 3: They're not the same shade that we are, right, but

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Speaker 3: so many others have done because they learned it early.

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Speaker 3: And it's never too late. You know, they say the

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Speaker 3: best time to start investing was twenty years ago. The

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Speaker 3: next best time is right now. And so for those

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Speaker 3: where they're right now.

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Speaker 2: Is right now.

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Speaker 3: That's the way in which I lend myself and make

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Speaker 3: myself available to anyone that wants to learn. And so

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Speaker 3: it's very easy to get in touch with me. You

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00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 3: go to your browser, you type in text Ryan dot

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Speaker 3: com is going to ask you for your phone number.

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Speaker 3: And I have built a system. I built a technology

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Speaker 3: that allows me to actually find the people that are

441
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 3: really serious about making that kind of difference. And so.

442
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:06,880
Speaker 2: It's been super rewarding.

443
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,239
Speaker 3: And so also, you know, I was just looking at

444
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 3: a documentary around Warren Buffett and he said, look, you know,

445
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 3: at one hundred billion dollars, you know a guy that's

446
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 3: worth one hundred billion, He said, look at one percent

447
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:21,919
Speaker 3: of that, it still will be so much more than

448
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 3: I would ever need to live. And I'm at a

449
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,679
Speaker 3: place now in my life and career that one percent

450
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,400
Speaker 3: of what I've been able to mass and earn will

451
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 3: allow me to be very very comfortable for the rest

452
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:36,200
Speaker 3: of my life. So the rest of it I want

453
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 3: to actually and in terms of time as well the

454
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:40,720
Speaker 3: rest of it. I want to be able to pour

455
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 3: into folks that actually want to reduce the time that

456
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 3: it takes for them to realize some of that same success.

457
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 2: So that's the way that I that I pay it forward.

458
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,760
Speaker 1: I've been a fan of yours obviously follows your story,

459
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 1: you know, about twenty years now, and one thing I'm

460
00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 1: have been I've always always thought it was remarkable is

461
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 1: how you built an international presence. And I wonder, because

462
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,680
Speaker 1: you were talking about going to Switzerland and Belgium before

463
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 1: I saw our stars, you know, on stage in these countries.

464
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 1: How did you grow that or was it something about

465
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,479
Speaker 1: the music that just spoke to that those audiences over there.

466
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 2: I believe it was really a combination.

467
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 3: And also I believe that, you know, very early on,

468
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 3: I was using technology to identify and pinpoint where the

469
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 3: audiences were, and so when I realized that my listeners

470
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 3: were in a specific locale, I wanted to make sure

471
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,800
Speaker 3: that I was providing even higher level of service by saying, hey,

472
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,000
Speaker 3: I see that there is an appreciation and enjoyment of

473
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 3: the music, let's step it up to the live experience.

474
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:50,960
Speaker 3: And then I would go and do sort of that

475
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 3: research there and say, okay, what is it that you

476
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 3: love when an artist comes from another country to come

477
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 3: and perform. Well, they said, well, we don't know exactly

478
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 3: what we love. Also, we love the music, but we

479
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 3: can tell you what we don't love. I said, okay,

480
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 3: well tell me and they said, well, you know they'll

481
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 3: come on, they'll just you know, have a track playing,

482
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,120
Speaker 3: and then you know they'll do thirty minutes and act

483
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 3: like you know, it was such a pleasure and privilege

484
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:15,200
Speaker 3: for them to come over and be on stage. And

485
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 3: I said, okay, I'm gonna do you one better. We

486
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,240
Speaker 3: ain't gonna just do the track with the DJ if

487
00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 3: I have to pay for it, I'll bring the band

488
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:23,920
Speaker 3: out and we're going to do two and a half

489
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:24,720
Speaker 3: hour sessions.

490
00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:26,320
Speaker 2: Why because it's music.

491
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 3: Music is so beautiful that you know, you can the

492
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 3: record might only be three minutes, but when you do

493
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:33,680
Speaker 3: it on stage, you could do it for ten minutes

494
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 3: and people love it and they're rocking with you, and

495
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:41,240
Speaker 3: so you know, I really just look to, in any

496
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 3: area of my life, deliver the highest level of service.

497
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 3: So if as a music producer, look what is it

498
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 3: that folks need? If folks need x number of tracks

499
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 3: per day they need too, I try to give them nine.

500
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 3: If people say, well, you know what, it's not enough

501
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 3: to just do the tracks, I need a top line too,

502
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 3: where we'll record a top line four year as well. Well,

503
00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:00,679
Speaker 3: you know, somebody will come to you and say, well,

504
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:02,439
Speaker 3: you know, I also want to think about a rollout

505
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,200
Speaker 3: strategy as well. We helped to devise that four you

506
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,640
Speaker 3: as well. And then when it came down to being

507
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 3: of service to my fans, my community, the ability for

508
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 3: them to come have a great experience, have it curated

509
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 3: for them, have them be able to you know, write

510
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,080
Speaker 3: in the set list and choose all of those kinds

511
00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:23,160
Speaker 3: of different elements of the show. I think really all

512
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,480
Speaker 3: of that lent itself to the relationship that I have

513
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,679
Speaker 3: to this day, where you know, my last record per

514
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 3: se may have been years ago, and we'll still fly

515
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 3: across on July to eighth, and we'll fill out a

516
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 3: three thousand person venue in Cologne, Germany of all places.

517
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 3: So I believe that, you know, technology nowadays gives you

518
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 3: the ability to actually pinpoint the audience, the supporters, where

519
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 3: the listeners.

520
00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:50,160
Speaker 2: Are coming from, where the supporters coming.

521
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 3: From, and then it's up to the entrepreneur or the

522
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 3: business mind of your operation to actually know what to

523
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 3: do with that data. And you know, I think we're

524
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 3: talking obviously about it all being self contained, and yes,

525
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 3: that's great. The other piece of this puzzle is it's

526
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 3: also important to just understand when your special gift is

527
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 3: the creativity and someone else's special gift may be the

528
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 3: business acumen. And when those two minds, those two worlds combined,

529
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 3: you really have a scenario where one plus one may

530
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 3: equally leave it.

531
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I told you. I want to talk about

532
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 1: superphone just for one second. Many companies have recognized that

533
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 1: email just doesn't do what it used to do. They're

534
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 1: trying to get the phone numbers. Now, how does this work?

535
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 1: How the superphone particularly work to work. I may not know.

536
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 1: I can't put a call to action in every message,

537
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 1: you know, I may need to, you know, just actually

538
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 1: provide value. And it's easier to do. And so in

539
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,160
Speaker 1: the top of mind via email, maybe a little harder

540
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,720
Speaker 1: or maybe not. I'm gonna let you say that. In SMS.

541
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, I really look at SMS as a more inbound

542
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 3: versus outbound.

543
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 2: You know.

544
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 3: I find it a number of folks to say oh yeah,

545
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 3: I want to build a big list, and then I

546
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 3: want to, you know, broadcast. I think email lends itself

547
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:15,240
Speaker 3: to that kind of exchange.

548
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 2: I believe that the.

549
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 3: Communication channel of SMS is personal, it's intimate, it's the

550
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 3: most important real estate in everyone's phone, and it works

551
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 3: extremely well on the inbound side. So if I say,

552
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 3: and really this is how I launched Superphone. I said, look,

553
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 3: if you want my album, send me a text. So

554
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 3: that means the intent has already been captured. From the

555
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,080
Speaker 3: time they send a text, I already know where this

556
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,680
Speaker 3: is leading they're looking for the album. So at that

557
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 3: point I can say, okay, great, I want to provide

558
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 3: you the highest level of service. What's you're at, what's

559
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 3: your email address? And where can I ship it? If

560
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:52,840
Speaker 3: I'm going to give you something, if I'm going to

561
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 3: deliver you something that's physical, and so in that exchange,

562
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 3: the intent has already been captured and the ability to

563
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 3: actually have that communication. And also the beauty of a

564
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 3: phone is that it can vary very quickly sort of

565
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 3: upgrade to an actual real conversation. The beauty of thinking

566
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 3: about intimacy when you're thinking about your supporters, friends, family,

567
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 3: followers whoever.

568
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 2: It may be.

569
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 3: The beauty of thinking about intimacy and a pyramid is

570
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 3: that when you start with social media you can think

571
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 3: about the expected response time or expected response rate. So

572
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 3: when you post something on social media, people are I

573
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 3: guess the response is optional?

574
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 2: Right.

575
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 3: Then when you get to email and it's a broadcast,

576
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 3: once again response optional. And even in personal relationship, you

577
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 3: might spend an email and it's very easy to be

578
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 3: oh I and get that or within the spam e s.

579
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 3: Once you move up to text, the text is a

580
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 3: much more intimate and much more important real estate in

581
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,360
Speaker 3: someone's mobile device. And then the beauty of text is

582
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 3: that it can actually upgrade to that in person real

583
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 3: time conversation.

584
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 2: So if you send someone.

585
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 3: An email and they don't respond for a couple of days,

586
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 3: you might actually say, ah, it's all right. You send

587
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 3: someone a text, they don't respond for a couple of hours,

588
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 3: you start getting worried.

589
00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 2: You on the phone, and it's a live conversation.

590
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 3: Someone doesn't respond within moments, you might have to say, hey,

591
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:27,280
Speaker 3: you all right? Right, So you see that there's sort

592
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 3: of a pyramid in terms of expected response time. And

593
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 3: so with superphone we really want to unlock that SMSs

594
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 3: to voice because of how powerful that communication channel actually is.

595
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 1: I was reading an interview and you talked about this

596
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 1: is a quote from you. I'm fan funded. The people

597
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:47,840
Speaker 1: that come to my concerts and pay double and triple

598
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: the prices of an album to watch the music being

599
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,760
Speaker 1: performed live is the way that future albums, videos, and

600
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 1: tours are going to be funded. Talk about what you

601
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 1: see when you recognize startups and projects taking on a

602
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: lot of investment without that product market fit, you know,

603
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 1: and we've seen a lot of companies burn out because

604
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 1: they took a bunch of money and didn't have the

605
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:14,120
Speaker 1: revenue coming in. But just valuations are magical numbers, but

606
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 1: they thereby they give up so much because they don't

607
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 1: have the leverage.

608
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think that every sort of business,

609
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:28,600
Speaker 3: and I believe that every sort of business has a.

610
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 2: Has a unique path.

611
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 3: And in the same way that so many businesses have

612
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 3: been successful, the ability to just apply a template and

613
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,120
Speaker 3: say this is going to work for someone else, I

614
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 3: believe sort of undermines the unique value proposition in each

615
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 3: product or service that a business innovates. And so I

616
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:56,880
Speaker 3: believe that it's just important to be almost machine level

617
00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 3: in your ability to analyze the data and allow the

618
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 3: data to tell the story and drive your decision making

619
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 3: in business.

620
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 2: And so you know, in some.

621
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 3: Cases, growth may be more important than revenue because to

622
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,400
Speaker 3: a mass a large audience is when you can then

623
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 3: monetize the audience with advertising, et cetera. So I believe

624
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:22,759
Speaker 3: that every business, every artist, every entrepreneur, really it really

625
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 3: makes sense to find an expert, find someone with some

626
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:29,839
Speaker 3: great experience, whether that may be a mentor a coach,

627
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,600
Speaker 3: or even whoever comes in as an investor. They need

628
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:38,399
Speaker 3: to be truly invested in not just a return from

629
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:45,120
Speaker 3: whatever the business may may yield, but also they must

630
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,240
Speaker 3: be committed to the growth not only of just the business,

631
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,560
Speaker 3: but the humans that run the business. You know, we

632
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:55,960
Speaker 3: can name off name brands across the board, and it

633
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 3: is those name brands that have leaders business minds that

634
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 3: we relate to on a human level that we sometimes

635
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 3: may remember more. And so in my businesses in you know,

636
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 3: some of the great businesses that I've invested in, these

637
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:17,240
Speaker 3: CEOs and founders have become synonymous with their businesses. Jeff Bezos,

638
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 3: Steve Jobs, you know, uh and Elon musk right a

639
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 3: jay z all right with rock Nation and many of

640
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 3: the other businesses. So at the end of the day,

641
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:30,800
Speaker 3: I believe that when we realize that, you know, product

642
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 3: market fit and just looking at data in and of

643
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:37,359
Speaker 3: itself can help to drive our decisions at the end

644
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 3: of the day. And I think the the theme of

645
00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 3: this interview even is just that we are looking to

646
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,400
Speaker 3: derive and provide value. That is what gives us purpose

647
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,440
Speaker 3: as humans. And so when we understand how to quantify

648
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 3: that in a real way, we can really find we

649
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:59,760
Speaker 3: could really find some extraordinary success.

650
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: All right, Less, it's an honor for me to talk

651
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:05,399
Speaker 1: to you, man, be if I'll even twenty five years

652
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:05,799
Speaker 1: So this is.

653
00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 3: A pleasure, Yes, sir, Yes, sir Man. Well look text

654
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 3: Ryan dot com man drop the number man. And literally

655
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,640
Speaker 3: I say this all the time. I say it on

656
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,600
Speaker 3: every podcast. I'm really interested in building real relationships, and

657
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 3: you know, folks have to show up for those relationships.

658
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 3: So for folks that I had people that sent me

659
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,719
Speaker 3: text messages before, and we've gone on to you know,

660
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,759
Speaker 3: co investing businesses together, we've gone on to you know,

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Speaker 3: take trips together. We've gone on to you know, build

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Speaker 3: businesses together, and so I'm very very committed to that

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Speaker 3: being My driving purpose in life is to be a

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Speaker 3: living example of everything I talk about, and really that's

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Speaker 3: about connecting on a human level.

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Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is the production of Blavity Afro

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Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast Networking Night Heart Media,

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00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas,

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Speaker 1: with additional production support by Sayah Ergan.

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Speaker 2: And Rose McLucas.

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Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis, Vanessa Surruno, and Maya Moldrew.

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Speaker 1: Learn more about my guests and other tech This rupt

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Speaker 1: is an innovators at afrotech dot com. Join Black Tech

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Speaker 1: Green Money, Share this with somebody, Go get your money,

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Speaker 1: piece and love