Day.com) Developing Relationships | By Wendy Day (www.Wendy
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ou’ve heard me stress the importance of team, over and over again. Just as Lebron James, who is inarguably one of the best basketball players in the world, could not take on and win against the worst team in the league by himself, even as talented as he is, no artist can succeed without a team of people propelling them forward. I just got back from spending 28 days on the road with BloodRaw, where we went to 26 different cities. He has an album dropping this Spring, and we felt it was best to get him back in front of his fans, and potential new fans, to connect with the new music and reconfirm all the work and grind that Raw has put in over the years that he was unsigned. It was time to take Mr. Florida regional, and then national. Since there is no money involved in the early stages of an artist’s career, it’s important for the team to be devoted and work harder than if there was actual payment involved. Getting people to do work on speculation (the promise of something in the future that may or may not actually happen) is extremely difficult. That dedication is based on the relationships that the artist has-someone who believes in the artist as a person and their ability to succeed, will put in hard work, dedication, and time. There were seven of us who went out on the road with Raw. Our individual relationships with Raw and/or CTE (Young Jeezy’s label) is what got us out on the road with him, and kept us there when times got tough. Not one of us was paid to be there. Not even Raw. We woke up every day in a different city, visited retail stores, radio stations, DJs, clubs, high schools, the ‘hood in every city, and malls. In some cities we even spent time on campuses at the black colleges. The key was to figure out who would buy a BloodRaw CD and reach them in the areas where they’d be hanging out. Performing at the clubs every night was also important to let folks see and hear the single, “Louie,” featuring Young Jeezy. Working a single is what spreads the word about an artist and the impending CD release. Relationships are what enabled us to find key people in each market to take us around and share their market with us. While an artist can infiltrate a market without someone from that market involved, it’s always easier when there is someone there who can roll with the team from point to point. It also gives the artist a local contact person so that if something is going on in that market, they can educate the artist, or easily reach out to the artist to bring him or her back for a show or an important event. So in a market like Mobile AL, where a key industry person like Dirty Dan was there to take us to all of the ‘hoods, the strip clubs, the radio clubs, the malls, high schools that mattered, and even to show us the best chicken wing shack and a local studio where the artists in Mobile record, it was invaluable to have that relationship that allowed Dan to do all that work as a favor to us. He was even able to get us into the radio station to appear on Nick@Nite’s show, and BloodRaw’s relationship with Nick kept us there most of the night. Relationships go further than money in the music business. While many people try to buy their way into the industry, the smart ones learn to leverage their relationships and trade favors. But the important aspect of trading favors is to actually remember what people have done for you in the past and repay their kindness when you can.
22 // OZONE MAG
As we visited with DJs along our promo tour, one resounding theme kept recurring. The DJs, both club and radio, could recount endless stories about artists they’ve helped in the past by showing love on a record, only to have gotten nothing in return but broken promises. One of the DJs in SC shared a story about helping an artist years ago who had no budget but had a hit record, and while this artist promised the moon to DJs throughout the south, once he became a star he changed all of his phone numbers and did nothing for any of the DJs. He hadn’t just burned one bridge, he’s burned many. This is a “who you know” business. Knowing the wrong people is just as detrimental to a career as knowing the right people and fucking them over. It may not even be the artist’s intention to fuck them over, it may just happen because it’s the circumstance the artist is in. Regardless, a burned bridge is a burned bridge. They are almost impossible to repair. There was a radio DJ of some importance who told me a story about an artist who always called him every few days when he had a record that was about to come out. He would stress to the DJ how much he needed him on the record because his label wasn’t fully behind him. He’d even pop into the market semi-regularly and stay at the DJ’s house, eat his food, and drink his booze. The artist would do free show after free show as he attempted to build his career—for everybody but the DJ who was helping him. Then, once the artist had some success, not only could the DJ no longer get in touch with the artist, but the artist stopped coming through his market to promote, bypassing this market for bigger markets where he could make more money. To add insult to injury, the label, not knowing there was once a relationship between the artist and the DJ, hired the competing DJ across town to do street team work for the project (the artist never stepped in to right this wrong). Do you imagine this key DJ will ever support anything this artist does? If this artist has artists coming up under him, do you suppose this DJ will ever support any of them? Probably not. After staying at this man’s house, and getting countless spins on a record that could have gone to another artist with a bigger budget, the least this artist could have done was arrange to come back once he was successful, and do a free show for the DJ. Most DJs have a night during the week where they have club access, and doing a show and letting the DJ have the door is a nice way to let everyone eat and repay a favor. Some artists are too short-sighted to see this. Sadly, the artists who’ve come before and done people wrong, are making it difficult for the new artists coming through now and need help. Many of the DJs, promoters, and street team guys have been burned so many times that they are reluctant to work with anyone new. It hurts everyone in the industry. Relationships are key to success in this business. It’s important to guard your relationships and connections as tightly as you guard your money—in fact, when the money is gone, all you’ll have left are your relationships. At the very least, call everyone that has helped you get to whatever level you are at right now, and tell them thank you! Maybe even ask them if there’s anything you can do for them…