Rodski is currently the Director of A&R at Global Music Group. Read on to see what advice he has for those looking to get into the music business.
Handle Your Business
“You wanna be a business man first in this business because…if you don’t have business sense, you gonna get screwed around." says Rodski. "It's all about blunts and bling right now, and when you're so caught up and comatose because you been smoking and you been partying, you miss out." He continues, “A lot of artists I know, they don’t handle their business. They’re not where they’re supposed to be on time, they’re not professional, they come drunk, they come high and that’s not what it’s about. Those are the ones that normally…have a short career span,” he says. “Business [has] got to come first...Business before pleasure - that’s the golden rule in this business.”
One of the basic rules of being about your business is to make sure you have experienced management. “Oftentimes we get it kind of screwed up where we get our family members, our uncles and our cousins to be our management and they don’t have no knowledge of the industry and then they get screwed around because they just do not know.
“If you don’t know about publishing, then you need to know about it because oftentimes [artists] wanna get some advance money. I think that’s the worst thing you can do…’cause if you get $160,000 or $75,000 or whatever, you won’t see any money at all until the company recoups that.” That's because an advance is a loan from the record company. Add to your advance all the other costs that the record label fronted on your behalf (another way of saying loaned to you) and you’re in for a long wait. “They gon’ have to get their money [first], so if you not doing shows off the top, guess what? It’s gon’ be about a year or a year and a half, and that’s if your song does well, before you even see a check.” If you’re going to get some advance money, Rodski recommends getting a small amount, like 5 or 10 thousand dollars, “but as far as getting a whole bunch of money, I wouldn’t advise that at all.”
An advance is a cash loan from the record company. Real World Example: "Loan me $100 for this pair of sneakers, and I'll pay you back when I get paid.
The money the label spends on things like promotion and videos can be seen as indirect loans because even though you received no cash, the money was spent on your behalf. Real World Example: "Buy me this pair of sneakers, and I'll pay you for them when I get paid.
You have to pay back both types of loans from the proceeds from your album sales.
Get Up Off Your Ass
Rodski feels that one of the reasons the industry is suffering is because it has forgotten the concept of using guerrilla tactics to market new artists. Artists need to be ready and willing to go to other cities and states to do shows, put up posters and hand out fliers. “I'm a Guerilla tactics kinda’ dude,” he says. “We hit the streets. We got CD's and everything. We'll pack up, we'll wrap the van and we'll head up all the way through Alabama (‘cause we need to brand our artists first in Alabama). Then we go to Mississippi. Then we go … to other places.” He continues, “Nobody’s gon’ put into your project what you put into it. I don’t care who it is - unless they have a vested interest in it.” But what about street teams? “Yeah; That’s cool.” He says. “But at the same time, if you’re not paying them and you think you gon’ get somebody to waste their gas and do this for free then you’re sadly mistaken.” He continues, “If you don’t have somebody watching them...you gon’ come up short. Your stuff will wind up in somebody’s trunk and it’ll stay there. I think we really have to get back to the grind…We really have to get back to where it started at and that’s one city at a time, one person at a time, one fan at a time.”
Side-Businesses
I’m curious to know whether Rodski thinks new artists jump into their own businesses too soon after they get into the music game. “I think it all depends on the artist or the maturity of the artist. I think they should establish themselves as gold or even as platinum artists. After they establish themselves and they have that kind of maturity and think they can do two or three things at one time, then that’s good.”
Read a Book
One of the best ways to protect yourself from unscrupulous business people is to educate yourself. And one of the best (not to mention cheapest, easiest and most effective) ways to educate yourself is to read. "One of the things I tell all my artists to do is go get books. Read. Go find books on the music industry. It’s so many books out there…that can really save you from getting screwed around.”
Have Great Stage Presence
“Work on your stage presence,” says Rodski. “Don’t nobody wanna’ see you up there rappin’ and holding your crotch all night…Have some energy…Entertain me. Don’t just give me you going back and forth across the stage.” And please, maintain eye-contact with the audience. Rodski says he’s amazed at the number of rappers who turn their backs on the crowds and rap to their crew. Once you do that, “you done lost it right there!” he says. “One thing I tell artists is to find somebody in the crowd that you can maintain eye-contact with, and just keep looking at that person - but at the same time keep focusing on the crowd. You want people to come into your world, but they ain’t gon’ come into your world if you looking at your homeboy, rapping to your homeboy. You got to be able to have stage presence.”
Keep It Real
“What are you saying?” Rodski asks. “[Is] what you’re saying gonna’ keep my attention or is it just gonna be that same ol’ same ol’?” He gets plenty of artists claiming to be the newest, hottest thing around and asking him to check them out online. “’I got the new stuff. I'm the new stuff that's coming out.’” he mimics. “And soon as I go to their page, it's the same music.” His biggest piece of advice here is just to be yourself. “Don't be scared. Don't be worried about what anybody thinks. If your music… is coming from your heart, and if it's real to you, it's gon' be expressed through your music and people gon' be able to feel you. But if it ain't and you’re just being another hip-hop or rap clone, it’s gon' show. You gotta be yourself.”
Don't Harass the A&R!
While he maintains that “persistence is a good thing,” Rodski also feels that there is a point where it can become damaging for the artist. So stop “worrying the A&R [by] calling him everyday.” And “don't park outside the office and be waiting for ‘em,” he says. “You'll wind up annoying the A&R, and you won't ever hear from 'em.” For example, “I had a guy the other day. I mean this guy, I respect his grind. I respect his persistence, [but] homeboy, back up a little bit. I'ma check your stuff out. Just give me some time. I got like 7000 other CD's that came in before yours came in.”
According to Global’s website, it is the label’s policy to listen to all CD’s, and it's a policy that Rodski stands by. "I promise you. If it's one thing I do, and I'm honest about it, I'll listen to everybody's CD. Long as it's a good presentation and a good, presentable CD that doesn't have magic marker on it, I'll listen to everything. I got so many CD's on my desk that I listen to everyday, and I make it my business to make sure ‘cause you just never know where that hit's gon' be or where that superstar's gon' be. And I don't take it lightly.”
“But don't harass the A&R. Whatever you do, don't harass the A&R. If your music is good, if you feel like your music is dead on, then let your music talk for you.”
The A&R page on Global Music Group's website says it best:
"DO NOT chase the A&R department by phone." ...or by car...or on foot...or on a skateboard, plane, or train.
Boats, hovercrafts and military tanks are also prohibited.
(Okay. We're kidding. That last part's not really there...but maybe it should be.)
Electronic Press Kits
Press kits, which contain your demo, bio, contact info, and other information are very important, but if you haven't already, you might want to invest in an EPK, or Electronic Press Kit. As the name implies, an EPK is an electronic version of your press kit that can be sent as an email attachment, placed on a CD, DVD or other form of portable, removable storage or can be integrated into a website designed just for that purpose. Like many A&R's Rodski finds EPK's much easier and faster to work with. "You can send that press kit, and that's so much simpler for an A&R than to have to open your folder, see the CD, read the bio, [etc.]. If you have an EPK, I can just open my email [and] bam. All the stuff I need is right there.
One of Rodski’s biggest pet peeves when receiving press kits is CD’s with magic marker on them. “Do not send me no CD with no magic marker on it,” he says. “I mean, this is 2009! Take some of that money that you spend to buy you some purp or blunts or weed or whatever you do…and invest it on your CD's.” Of course he understands that not everyone can afford to have their CD’s printed professionally, but, he says, if you have a computer and a printer, you can always do it yourself. “I mean it's crazy. I'm still getting CD's in 2009 with Magic Marker.” And this is one situation where Rodski has no problem with suspending his policy of listening to every CD. If you send him a CD with magic marker on it, it will go straight to File 13 (translation: the trash can). “I'm being honest,” he says, matter-of-factly. “They go in the garbage. Because if you not willing to invest in yourself, then why should I be willing to invest in you? The time and the effort that it takes - I mean come on. It's just unacceptable now. If you can not get you a hundred CD's printed up, something is wrong.”
Note to all artists who have ever sent Rodski a CD with magic marker on it:
It was thrown away.
Send another.
Be Patient
"Hurry up and wait." It's one of the best-known sayings in the entertainment industry. And for good reason. In the music business, such legal necessities as copyrights and publishing can take a long time and can hold up the recording or release of a single or album, the filming of a video or the start of a tour. For instance, "When an artist submits his music - when we have release dates…we have to fill out crazy paperwork just to get one single through.” says Rodski. It can be frustrating, but sometimes - even much of the time - you’ll just have to wait. Even Rodski had to learn this little lesson. “When I first got into this, I thought, ‘Alright. We get an artist; we get a single; we put it out there; we shoot a video. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. And it's not like that.” he says. “You gotta be patient.”
Keep God First
Rodski's final piece of advice is also the most important...
"One of the things I tell rappers and whoever's trying to get in the game...is keep God first. That's the number one thing. If you keep God first in your life, and let him direct you, he'll lead you to where you need to be. But if he's not first in your life - if he's not the centerpoint - then it's useless. You might think you gon' get to where it is, but you [aren't] really where it's at."
