WEBVTT - Study Hall: Music Business & Brand Building with Ryan Leslie 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:04.280 You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:09.520 How can you find amazing candidates fast easy? Just use Indeed. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.680 Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.439 job sites. With Indeed sponsored jobs, your post jumps to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.000 the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.119 you can reach the people you want faster. According to 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.120 Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have forty 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.040 five percent more applications than non sponsored jobs. Don't wait 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.519 any longer. 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EYL University is 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:08.840 the biggest institution when it comes to business online period. 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.720 We have ramped up things in twenty twenty one with 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:16.240 over in twenty Infinity groups including our Breakout Crypto Club, 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.240 which is fastly becoming one of the top online communities 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:23.720 for cryptocurrency information. It also includes MG the Mortgage Guy's 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.480 Home Buyers Blueprint Volume one. It also includes monthly financial 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.000 planning clause with yours Truly. It also includes our book Club, 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.240 our Movie Club, access to our private Facebook group with 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.040 over six thousand members, access to over one hundred past webinars, 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:42.360 and access to weekly webinars from industry experts. All that 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:47.200 and more for a limited offer of sixty percent off. 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.240 That's right, sixty percent off of the annual tuition. Go 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.720 to eyluniversity dot com right now and become an earner 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:02.000 my graduates from my school being forced bad drop Drop, 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:17.040 Mike drop, Bad Drop drop. As far as you get 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.960 in the game, how did how did your career path 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.960 takes as a producer first and even figuring out as 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:28.120 far as like points on an album, man, negotiating royalties 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:29.040 and things of that nature. 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:31.919 Yeah, I mean, I think now more than ever it's 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.720 important to know your math on that. I think really 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.600 when I when I was getting started the the going, 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.120 I think actually, in a lot of ways, when people 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.600 start getting into music, they just say, look, I just 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.000 want to have the biggest hits possible, and you know, 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.120 it's inevitable if I have a really big hit that 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:53.120 I'm I'm gonna get paid, you know, And uh, there's 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.120 a lot of there are a great number of revenue streams, 0:02:57.600 --> 0:02:59.600 and there are a great number of revenue streams that 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:03.040 are potentially overlooked. And so you know, for me coming 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.119 up in a game, I was very fortunate to have 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:10.440 really great mentors and folks that were working with me 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.639 had signed me management all of that, and so they 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.600 really helped me to sit down and understand not only 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:19.880 just my paperwork and my contrast, but what all the 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.720 actual revenue streams are. So with music, I mean, first 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:28.960 of all, I would say, look, information is so readily 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.480 available online. It's just about knowing what to search and 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.800 then also knowing what's reliable and so listen, you know, 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:40.800 for me even still today, there's your performance rights organizations, 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.920 which is like your askhap your being mine, and then 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:49.440 you have your actual publishing, so whoever's actually administering your publishing. 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.400 So I know there's a ton of folks that are 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.920 putting music up on Spotify and you know, distributing their 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.200 music through an aggregator like a CD baby, distro kid 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:02.160 whatever it is. Yeah, and they completely overlook the actual 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.520 other side of the publishing and so you still need 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.440 an administrator on that publishing side. And that's and so 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.280 you know, I just had a great meeting with Downtown 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.440 Music Holdings and they've got probably one of the leading 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:21.400 from a technology standpoint platforms for that publishing administration. It's 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.600 called song Trust. And so you know, I think nowadays 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.839 everything is basically self service, and software really has been 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:32.640 that equalizer, I would say. And for me, I just 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.159 like to be in control of my revenue stream. So 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.920 I like to be able to look at be able 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.400 to just log into my accounts and see them all, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.440 even if that means that you know, they may be delayed. 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:46.800 I just want to be one on top of them. 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.040 So I mean, I'm not sure if I'm even answering 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.280 your question per se. When I first got started, I 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.960 would just say, look, I was very much concerned with 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:56.920 in advance, and I think a lot of folks when 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.760 they first get started, you've been living in the basement, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.520 you've been you know, living out the trap wherever you living. 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.560 You want that advance because that advance is that first 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:08.640 way that you're going to pay for all those years 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:10.200 of starvation, if you will. 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.200 So the advance is the money that the record label's 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.360 given to you, saying like, here's the money that you 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:15.680 get to do the project. 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.320 Yeah, and I mean it's actually an advance against your royalties. Right. 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.640 So on the artist's side, depends on the type of 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.800 deal you make. And I mean, listen, business is really 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.800 just business, and whatever you sign is whatever you sign. 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.880 I know, there's definitely always been a lot to talk about, like, hey, 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.320 you know, people are you know, they got they got 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.760 into slave deals and you know, you hit these kinds 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:43.280 of overtones. At the end of the day, I think, 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.520 you know, as long as you've got good legal counsel 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.000 and you're sitting down and you're looking at your contracts, 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:54.680 you're definitely the final arbiter of what deal you get into. 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.359 And so it's important for you just to just know 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:01.440 and be informed. So for me, my Bible level primer 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.600 for the music industry, and this is an age old primer. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:06.760 It's a Donald Passman book all you need to know 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.520 about the music business. It's updated all the time, and 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.839 you know, I always recommend look, somebody really wants to know. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.480 They could start there and it's updated and it was 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.120 written by an attorney who definitely just understands just the 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:24.400 nuances of the business. And then you know, no matter 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.040 what's actually written in the books, it's different when you're 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.040 actually sitting across the negotiation table and you're going to 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.479 negotiate whatever deal is best for you at that time. 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.280 And so, you know, I find that there are a 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.840 lot of folks that when they're sitting at there at 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.600 that negotiation table and they've never seen five thousan ten 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.359 th twenty thousand, one hundred thousand at one time in 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.120 their bank account, much less five hundred thousand or a 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.200 million dollars, and those situations, they say, oh yeah, definitely 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.040 sign me up for that, without actually looking at what 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:59.760 the actual what the contractual obligations are that are associated 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.479 with those deals. The end of the day, though, you know, 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.000 life just goes on. And I was just having a 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:10.000 conversation today. Life is really like water. It is fluid, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.120 and basically the time that you have takes on the 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.600 shape of whatever container that you put around your life. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.680 And so if you put a container around your life 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.400 where you get that upfront advance, and it's a big 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.960 upfront advance and you're able to do in a smart 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.160 way what you should do with that, and you're keeping 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.880 track of your accounting and when that advance is recouped, etc. 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.520 Then that may be the right pathway for you as 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:40.720 opposed to delaying the gratification and waiting eighteen months to 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.200 actually let the publishing or the royalties trickle in. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:45.880 So let me ask you this because a lot of times, 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.320 especially with producers, there's been a lot of record lab 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.240 won't name any recor labels, but there's a lot of 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.000 record labels where producers say that they don't get paid. Right, 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.040 It's like a it happens all the time. So why 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:00.400 is it such an epidemic with producers, specifically producers making 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.760 beats and getting delayed on their payments or not getting 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.720 paid because you hear about that all the time, and 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.040 even like big name producers and they go on social 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:10.440 media and they make a big deal about it. 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.440 And so it's like, yo, I have a relationship with you, 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:13.880 and you'll give me on the back end, and it 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:14.440 never happens. 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.640 That happens all Tom, Yeah, I mean listen, like I said, 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.920 all of all of those situations are directly correlated to 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:29.880 what you negotiate upfront, and would I would just say that, 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:35.080 in many cases one of the most uncomfortable conversations to have, 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.840 and unless you have an advocate or you have the 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.720 wherewithal to have that conversation right there in the session, 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.160 that uncomfortable conversation is Hey, what part of this record 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.960 do I own? When do we get paid? How is 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.040 it all going to be broken down? And where's the 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:55.440 paperwork for it? It almost seems that antithetical to the 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.360 creative process, right, because the creative process you want to 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:00.640 be open, you want to be open is people want 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.080 to be sharing back and forth and the last element 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.480 of that process is to be sitting back and saying, Okay, 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:12.000 what percentage of the sung line? It's it's but it's 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:16.920 I just believe you you get what you negotiate, and 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:18.679 you may not even get what you deserve, you get 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.640 what you negotiate, right, And so for me, I think 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:26.079 that you know, we just have to get more comfortable 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:30.560 with the discomfort and it that just needs to be 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.760 a requisite of doing business. And once you're at that 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.640 level and you understand and folks that work with you 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.400 understand that a requisite of doing business is to just 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:46.840 have that upfront, transparent conversation. Then once both sides agreed, 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.080 then you allowed to run down on people for the 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:55.640 money that's owed because there is no confusion in terms 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.559 of having some sort of like you know, fugazy conversation 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.560 as opposed to have whatever you need to have in writing, 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.680 and so you get what you negotiate. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.600 Yeah, so I'm imagine you know when you walk into 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.240 these tables, obviously you come from a highly educated background. 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:10.400 I think you said your dad wanted you to study law. 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:11.000 Is that true? 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:16.880 Law, medicine, you know, whatever was guaranteed pathway that somebody 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:17.439 was going to get. 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:19.920 Did you feel when you sit at these tables, Obviously 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:23.080 you have a distinct advantage knowing that you know what 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.439 they're not talking to somebody who's under educated in this game. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:31.760 Listen, I would say that baby and Slim sitting at 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.360 these tables, they also had an advantage because they were 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:40.600 moving one hundred thousand mixtapes a week. So the education is, 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:47.000 the education comes in whatever format that you achieve or 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.480 accumulate the education, right, So it's really up to you 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.480 to educate yourself. You know, you don't. I mean, I 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.239 didn't go to Harvard for music business. I read it myself. 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.920 And so I think probably some of the most astute 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:08.559 business people in the music business they learn from being observant, 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:12.920 They learned from having great relationships, They learned from deciding 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.679 that they wanted to be mentored by the best attorneys, 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.760 the best managers, and they you know, they had the 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:23.319 transparency into the deals. And so I think that you know, nowadays, 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.080 like I said, with the with the amount of information 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:32.920 that's readily accessible, there's really no excuse for someone to 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:38.840 enter into a deal blindly unless they intentionally just want 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.400 to be ignorant about the deal. And so I think 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:43.559 that you know, we live in an age of media 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.040 where you could find anybody, You can connect with anyone. 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.400 They may or may not respond, but you can at 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.040 least reach out. You can ask for an introduction, you 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.280 can ask for a referral, you can ask for a recommendation, 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.160 and you can go get the knowledge. And so you 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.800 want to be great, just be around the greatest UH 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.440 and UH and absorbed as much knowledge as possible. And 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:09.600 before you sit down at the table, make sure that 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.000 you you've done your homework and your research, so that 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.319 even in the absence of knowing what you need to discuss, 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.200 you can ask the right questions so that people understand 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.200 that you you know, you know slotch when you come 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.080 to the new when you come to the negotiation table. 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:28.200 So what is the you said the royalty administrative company 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.240 song Trust? Can you explain that I've never heard that before. 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.719 Yeah, So basically, you know, you're you're getting whatever the 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.720 streaming services are paying you. And at the same time, 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.920 you're also indited to a royalty as a publisher of 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.480 the music and a writer of the music, and so 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.960 those publishing and writing royalties have to be collected and 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:55.600 administrated by UH. For for me, the beauty of song 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.960 Trust is that those royalties are actually collected and administered 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.360 traded on your behalf in all of the countries and 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.840 territories around the world. So that includes like, okay, you 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.720 know what happens you know you yeah, you get paper, 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.720 your Spotify streams, what happens when your record makes it 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.680 onto the radio in some obscure country, or what happens 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.720 when your record is actually being used in a video game. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.560 What happens when your record is actually being played in 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.480 the nightclubs in you know, some overseas country, all of 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.080 that is actually being tracked, and there's a there are 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:33.760 a massive number of artists who completely overlook that as 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.319 a revenue stream. And so I think one of the 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:40.280 greatest takeaways from my meeting recently, like I said with 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.480 Downtown Music Holdings, was that you know, there are a 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:48.120 number of creators who once they put their music through 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:52.040 distro kid or tune Corps, they they get those checks 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.160 and they think that's it, when really there's an entire 0:13:55.280 --> 0:14:00.240 other world of publishing royalties that can be connected. Just 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:01.960 needs to hire an agency to do it. You give 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:04.280 them a commission for doing it, and that becomes an 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:05.720 additional income stream for you. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:07.880 So when you're talking about I kind of think, like 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.040 when streaming, I can get how they track the data 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:13.520 when it's played on the radio, honestly, on how to 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.280 contract the data? How does that happen in a nightclub? 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:17.800 Like I'm not you just turn. 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.960 It like really for me, every time I every time 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:25.120 I perform overseas, they they are keeping track of the 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.600 set list. So I even get paid to perform my 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:28.200 own music. 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.000 So like a DJ has to give the set list 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:31.320 to the venue. 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.280 They give the set list and you know in Europe, 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:38.760 I think it's called Geema Gema, and yeah, they track 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.520 it the best that they can. You know, bottom line 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.320 is it's just an additional revenue stream, and I think 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:50.240 with the advancements in technology that may or inevitably that 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:52.280 will improve. It's just going to get better. 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.480 So like you can literally get booked for a nightclub, 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:56.640 get paid to go to the nightclub, and then if 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.760 the DJ starts, oh, Ryan Leslie's in the house and 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:00.360 starts playing your record, you get pay that too. 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.560 Absolutely. Now obviously it's pennies on the dollar. Once you 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.040 do that, once you do that at scale, it starts 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.440 to begin to become material and significant. 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.480 So as far as the new age that we're in with, 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:17.640 because we're gonna talk about that the next segment with 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:21.920 the director consuming all of that, but for new new musicians, artists, 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.120 producers specifically where they're not going to traditional route of 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:27.720 going to a record label, because now I've seen it 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.520 from both sides where a lot of producers are mad 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:33.720 at producers that's like selling beats for one hundred dollars, like, 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.760 but they're getting their music out and then you know, 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.360 it's it's an easier route. So what is what's your 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.800 take on that for art for producers specifically, that might 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.880 be I guess maybe devaluing there. 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.840 We happened with the Old Town Road, right, like the 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:51.520 do sold the beat and he gave it to him 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:52.760 for like two thousand dollars. 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.840 Or even what's the kid Bobby's Murder? That was Lloyd 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.560 Banks beat? Right? Originally who is that beats? 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:00.280 Right? Thing? 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.480 But that record, like that biggest record of the year, right, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.000 those ten twelve million times platinum. 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:10.880 Trust me those producers as long as they retain their 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.840 copyright ownership of those beats. And you know, I also 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.920 know ab over at Beat Stars, those beasts are actually 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.600 being licensed and at least to my knowledge, they being licensed. 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.720 And yeah, you give the license for some low barrier 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.440 to entry costs so that you know, some artists that 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.960 doesn't have a lot of money, but it's very creative 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:35.040 and could create the next Panda, the next Old Town Road, 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:41.760 the next you know, Bobby Schmurder smash. You license those beats, 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.400 you retain the ownership though of the copyright, and that's 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.480 that's where that song trust relationship comes into play, because 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:53.320 you're definitely going to get paid based on your ownership 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:55.240 of that intellectual property. 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:55.600 I mean. 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:57.600 And so that's why, like I said, you just got 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.520 to be astute about it. And for or anyone that 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.240 has you know that has time to be hating on 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.760 how someone else is getting to their bag, I always 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:09.920 recommend like, look, that means you got too much time 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.040 on your hand. You should really just find another stream 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.760 of income that you could go chase, because you know, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.320 everyone needs to make money the way they feel is 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:26.040 best for them. And the impact overall that that creates 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.400 in the industry is is just creating more and more 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.880 opportunity for folks that want to make a living doing 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:36.159 what they love. They have the right and they have 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:41.320 the latitude to price that intellectual property however they want 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.840 from a licensing perspective. And you know, when I was 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.080 in when I was in undergrad at Harvard, I had 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.240 a business school professor and I used to say, oh, man, 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:51.879 you know I don't want any you don't want to 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:53.920 hold on to all my music? He said, look, Ryan, 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:56.239 just hold on to your copyrights because the best thing 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:58.280 that can ever happen to you is one of those songs. 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.760 Just go whether someone paid you up front for it 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.480 or not. As long as you own the copyright, you're 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.600 getting paid, and you're gonna get paid handsomely as long 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:09.840 as as you've done what you're supposed to do in 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.040 terms of owning that copyright. 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.080 So well, that was a lot with the music. So 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:16.800 now the next segment, we're going to go into what 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:18.880 you got going on now, all right, So now we're 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.119 gonna go into the deep dive on the tech side. 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.560 And this is something that we talked about a few 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:28.080 different times. So Derek Ferguson former bad Boy see oh 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:28.640 all right. 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:29.639 Yep, CFO. 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.040 CFO shout out to Derek good guest, and he was 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.399 the first one to actually bring this up. And then 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.600 I got Jabari from R and B only talked about 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.480 the data. And we had Danish Chanel and Prince Donelle 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:43.440 and they both spoke about the same thing. So it's 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.560 been a kind of recurrent theme on Ernalsia. 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:46.679 But but. 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:52.280 You have an actual platform in place. And so twenty 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:54.800 thirteen I was watching a breakfast club interview. So twenty thirteen, 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.440 you said you took your music off of streaming services, 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:00.480 right right, How did you do that? 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.480 Well, I needed to create an incentive for people to 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.919 really want to connect with me directly. So I mean, 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.400 now you can go listen to my records on streaming services. 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:14.520 At that time, though, I felt that that the the 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:22.840 most important I always say, most important factor or most 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:27.000 important attractor or incentive for someone to connect with me 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:32.639 directly would be through a conversation about music and new music. 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.119 And so in order to build the audience that I 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:39.720 wanted to build, and in order to attract the audience 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.280 that I wanted to attract, and in order to accumulate 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:45.440 the kind of data I wanted to accumulate, I needed 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:49.240 to make sure that that audience was communicating with me directly. 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:53.560 Because the convenience of iTunes, the convenience of Amazon, the 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:58.520 convenience of Spotify made it such that they really were 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:00.680 just like, oh, okay, well I can just go listen 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:02.600 to Runds music. Why I got to give him, Why 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:04.280 I got to give them my cell phone number to 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.400 listen to it, and so to take all the music 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:09.879 off the streaming services. It gave me a way to 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:15.560 differentiate between those that were passive interactions with me and 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.600 active interactions with me. And I knew that I could 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:24.360 convert the active interactions into into a relationship of support, 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:27.359 and that support, you know, came to the tune of 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:30.200 you know, a two million dollar independent album cycle at 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:34.320 that time, with no label, no management, no music videos, 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:38.320 just a short documentary around the project. And so it 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.000 was important to make sure that there was one exclusive 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:45.600 hub where they could get the product, and that the 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.080 gateway to that hub was for them to just simply 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:51.119 earnest what's up. 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.639 You ever walk into a small business and everything just 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.520 works like the checkout is fast, there are seats of 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:00.240 digital tipping is a breeze, and you're out the door 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.080 before the line even builds. Odds are they're using Square. 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.159 We love supporting businesses that run on Square because it 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.240 just feels seamless. Whether it's a local coffee shop, a 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:12.760 vendor at a pop up market, or even one of 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:15.879 our merch partners. 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