Shit I've been talkin bout for years.....check this post out from my website
The Problem with Unknown Producers
Well, welcome to the first Monthly Column. The topic is above so no need to repeat it. That’s right, I think there is a huge problem with these people. I come onto to the internet often to listen to music. (1) Beacause I think there is a lot of unknown talent out there (2) Because radio sux and plays the same 15 songs over and over – not to mention 20 minutes of commercial every hour and (3) I won’t pay $20 for a major artist’s record for 1 good song. This all leads me listening to hours of music and networking with different artists and producers. One thing that shocks me is how locked up these producers keep their music. In other words they will do just about anything to make sure their music isn’t ripped off. I’ve had discussions with people who put annoying sounds in their music intentionally so no-one could recreate it, which uiltimately ruins a hot instrumental anyway. One producer would only post sound clips of the original, and yet another told me no unsigned artist was worthy of representing his beats. Well, excuse fuckin me. While reading this you will probably be able to think of yourself doing these things or have come into one of these types in the past. I break them into three categories – The Dumb, The Dumber, and The Fuckin Idiot.
The Dumb
These people often make incredible instrumentals. They are real consistent with producing good quality commercial tracks. Most understand music and the business associated with it. Although it may be just general knowledge they get the concept of business pertaining to music. You will find they are tidous about making sure beats are copyrighted. In addition, they usually will offer the beat to the highest bidder or for a flat rate. They’ve got the music ability to make it big, but never will for a few reasons.
(1) They have tight instrumentals that have no vocals. There are literally 1000’s of great producers out there. What seperates the ones you know (commercially) are the artists that sing on their tracks. It’s a two way street. A good producer needs a good artist. However, “The Dumb” would rather let the music sit in cyberspace and wait for someone who has no vocal ability to come along and pay them a couple hundred bucks then to go out and find talented unsigned artists. Believe me there is plenty of talented artist’s out their dying to find a good producer.
(2) They lack the ability or drive to do anything with their music. A major obstacle holding them back. They want to make it big, but don’t understand that posting music for 20-100 or so people to listen to will not get them famous. Promoting music is all a numbers game. A ratio if you will. Listeners to buyers. For example, if I put my music in front of 1 million listeners chances are 200k will like it. Another 25k will like it enough to buy it. Whats your ratio with 20-100 listeners?
(3) No diversity. We see this all the time. They are great in one genre of music. I see this often especially in hip hop producers. Some will venture into R&B but that’s it. Again, The Dumb are extrodinary producers, but get stuck in one area. A good producer can make quality tracks in any genre. When you do this the artist pool to pick from increases massively. Music is trendy. What’s hot today may not be tomorrow. It is much better to be a producer than artist for many reasons. (maybe next months topic can be that), but the main reason is you don’t have to worry about trends. A producer has the ability to create tracks around what is in at the moment and can adapt at anytime.
The Dumber
These are my favorite people. They often possess a lot of good music ability but are never consistent. They will have 1 or 2 tight commercial ready instrumentals per 20. Most of them consider themselves an average producer. They realize there is better and worse out their, but are fueled drastically by their feedback. Dumber’s don’t take criticism well and usually become offensive if you point out the smallest flaw in a recording. You hear them talk all the time “the no it all” type personality. Do not try to argue with these people. When it comes to using an instrumental the answer is usually no. They also try to sell their beats and unlike “The Dumb” they will actually look for people to use their music. Because they know there are better out their, they will seek other avenues to get their music heard. You will find that they have a fancy website that’s all about how great they are. Dumber’s are really cocky and into themselves and although they know there are better producers out their, they will never admit it. A dumber will put out all sorts of cd’s, from beats to samples, they’ve got everything. Problem is they never sell enough to make a good amount of money from it. For example, if you sold an instrumental for $200 to one person then wouldn’t it make sense that on a CD with 20 songs you should at least gross 4K? None of them do. They spend and spend money but never make any. This is their biggest downfall. They do not understand business. They can probably tell you everything you wanna know about music and will even be well versed in music business terms and practices, but they don’t know BUSINESS and how one operates.
If this is you ^ you are stongly denying it and very pissed at me right now. You will be the first person to challenge me on everything I just wrote.
The Fuckin Idiot
The “No Fuckin Clue” people or the NFC’s. They possess no music ability what so ever and revert to sampling only. Ask them to do a song in the C key and the response will be “I don’t know keys”. WHAT!!!! This form of producer is really only found in hip hop where singing doesn’t matter. Rap music is obviously the easiest to produce. There are no concerns with vocalist, harmonies, bridges…etc. They make tracks consistently but really don’t undertsand the lingo. Simple terms like feedback, limiters, and clipping are heard but not understood. You can usually tell these people the minute their music starts playing. The term NFC is not directed towards beginners. I mean really no-one is when the first start out. Beginners usually take a full year of work to develop into a low intermediate. I am talking about people that continually make tracks and never take the step from beginner to intermediate. They learned one way to make “noise” (not music) and never progressed into other areas. They do a lot more talking then making music. When they do sit down to create tracks they really just want to put sounds together. Clarity and proper mix downs are never a part of their routine. When it comes to the music industry these people are the first to know all the gossip. Who’s fuckin who, who got arrested, who did what to who when and where. They would make a better journalist than a producer. In short, they are a glorified fan and a wanna-be producer.
That is my breakdown. Now of course there is the opposite. I call them the “Scholars”. They are talented in every aspect and although they are unknown they actively keep trying to break in. These people are strong producers as well as good business people. They almost always have a good personality and are often funny. You can spot one of these people from a mile away. They will help or mentor someone who has much less ability. Although they know there skills are way above others they are always willing to lend a helping hand. Ask to use one of their tracks and the answer is sure. They understand an important aspect of music – the listeners to buyers. For example, a scholar makes a beat entitled XYZ. This beat is phenomenal. The scholar knows that every artist that hears it will want it. Instead of selling this beat or hoarding it to himself, he will turn around and let everyone use it. He is massively increasing his audience and his chances of becoming known. Think about it. He posts it on the internet and 20 artists decide to write something to it. That has just yielded him based on the low end of listeners (20) a base of 400 listeners. I laugh sometimes as I go onto mp3.com. There are producers on there receiving 100-500 and more listens a day and are happy. With that size audience they could easily receive 10 times that a day if they were willing to open up.
The Womb
