The answer? Not a damn thing. But way too often artists expect people to “show them love” based on their “talent” (mark you, some of them ain’t even talented). Face the facts: you are in the BUSINESS of MAKING MUSIC so you can MAKE MONEY doing it and have a CAREER. Key words: BUSINESS, MONEY & CAREER.
What’s Love Got To Do With Business?
Not a damn thing. You get what you pay for. You get what you put in. Work hard, invest in yourself and then, only then, will you start seeing results. People who believe in your talent may tell you so, but you look like a crazy person expecting them to prove it by doing you favors or providing services for which other people PAY them. It just don’t work like that. What you should do is find the people that can help you get where you’re trying to go that also believe in your talent and pay them to help you build your brand and grow your reach. There are a lot of people out there that will just take your money for a service, but when they actually believe in what you’re trying to do, they’ll promote you with extra confidence.
What’s Love Got To Do With Your Career?
Again, not a damn thing. People fall in and out of love daily. Today they love you, tomorrow they hate you, a next day they might be indifferent and ignore you altogether. Are you really gonna leave your career up to people’s emotions? Just think bout that question. Fans may love you, but even they will turn their backs on you at a moment’s notice if you fuck up. You remember when Chris Brown went from dancing at the front of the bus to dancing out of the way so he doesn’t get run over by the bus the world threw him under? Yeah. Love ain’t consistent. It’s not dependable. If you take your career seriously, you’ll pay for the services you need and stop leaving things up to chance and the emotional connection called “love”, cause people who are in the business of helping artists grow and keep a buzz got no loyalty based on emotion – their loyalty is to a check. Cold. Hard. Cash. I encourage you to stop looking for people in the business of pushing artists to “fuck with you”, and, instead, look for the ones that do good business and will show you results for the money you pay them, which is a direct investment in your own career.
Love Don’t Cost A Thing, But Good Service Is Priceless
Love is free – anyone can give it. Love is not guaranteed – in an instant, people can pull that warm love rug from under your feet and you’ll be left on the cold turf to fend for yourself all over again. However, if you do your research to find people that provide good service, whether it be promotion, marketing, public relations, spins….whatever it is you need to grow your fanbase, build your career and earn you money, if you pay these people to provide a service, there’s one thing they will provide that someone that loves you can’t: accountability. You want people to be accountable for whatever they say they will do for you. If a DJ says “Imma fuck wit you, dawg..just send me your track”, that really means “I won’t fuck with you dawg, but send me your track so I can get you off my back”. That’s just a cold hard fact for most DJs – most, not all. They all got their own agenda. Either they don’t really break records, or they got their own artist(s) in house, or they got people that are already paying them to promote so no way are they going to consider you a priority if you don’t make yourself one by breakin bread with ‘em.
Change Your Expectations
Finally, I want y’all to realize that the problem is not really that people won’t fuck with you, it’s that you won’t be a priority until you cut the check. Change your expectations. You CANNOT….I repeat, you CANNOT expect people to make you a priority unless you’re coming out of pocket and you’d be foolish to get mad at them for not helping you, even after saying they would. I don’t care how well you think you know that person or how far y’all go back. You can only expect true results when you pay someone for their service. This should be common sense, but I see a lot of artists sitting back waiting on people to “love” them enough to propel their career forward – even artists who CAN afford to spend money on themselves. The industry just doesn’t work like that. Tighten up! Noone is going to take you seriously until you take yourself seriously by invested in you. You are your best asset – put your money where your mouth is.
Previously: How To Build Your Fanbase The Right Way
