2 new signed artists to Mindset Entertainment

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Mindset

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I just signed 2 new artists, Kaos & Weatherman. I think they both got commercial potential, anyways, here's 2 tracks we recorded so far. Upcoming Weatherman album is called Hurrican Season, and Kaos has yet to get an album lined up (probably by next october some time). Anyways check em out

You Neva Gona Cuff Em - Kaos & Weatherman
lo-fi URL: http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=4682917&q=lo
hi-fi URL: http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=4682917&q=hi

Texas Made - Weatherman
lo-fi URL: http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=4682902&q=lo
hi-fi URL: http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=4682902&q=hi

Texas Made is a clip of the song. The volume levels are a little bit too low also. Plus I cut the original chorus out from the first recording, and pasted it onto the studio recording. So the verse was basically recorded in the studio & the chorus was recorded at home. I only mixed down the studio part of it, but that's the main part that needs to be gained up. (the start of the song is louder than whenever the chorus & verse kicks in. Tell me what ya think

The Neva gonna cuff em song needs to be remixed down, the beat needs to be accompany the vocals. The vocals sound too upfront to the beat so they don't fit very well together in the stereo spectrum.

BTW, You nEva gonna cuff em needs a 3rd verse if n e body's interested lol

I signed these 2 cats cause they bring some commercial type music to us.
 
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I think that you may have done the right thing by signing them 2 but the weatherman beat is not good, i'm not tryin to be rude but it just sounds bad to me i'm not feelin the beat at all they both have good vocal presense though so i think you did good. by the way how much u sign them for?
 
I beg to differ D...The Texas made beat is koo...in its own way...the artists rapped that joint up nicely
 
DesertEase said:
I think that you may have done the right thing by signing them 2 but the weatherman beat is not good, i'm not tryin to be rude but it just sounds bad to me i'm not feelin the beat at all they both have good vocal presense though so i think you did good. by the way how much u sign them for?

Thanks 4 your input, I know it ain't the best beat out there, but they liked that beat so I let em get on it lol. The $$ is confidential, but they will be having to pull 3 albums, 3 singles, 4 music videos, and log in 380 hours studio time in 2 years. I can tell you that the cost of recoups are going to be somewhat low, since most of the studio time is free anyways. 4% on the CD's, and then a yearly "gift".
 
the only reason i knocked the beat was cuz the drums don't hit hard thas the only thing on it that gets to me other than that it's an ight beat and i was wonderin about signin artists cuz i am about ready to start takin demo's from people and was wondering what you sign em for cost wise a lil help would be appreciated
 
Good looking with the artists.

So far, I just got myself and my homegirl in the Ham but we'll expand soon enough. I'll keep y'all posted.
 
DesertEase said:
the only reason i knocked the beat was cuz the drums don't hit hard thas the only thing on it that gets to me other than that it's an ight beat and i was wonderin about signin artists cuz i am about ready to start takin demo's from people and was wondering what you sign em for cost wise a lil help would be appreciated

Just to help you out on costs, usually everyone thinks that the music industry REALLY FUCKS YOU. But little does these people know that this is the hardest industry to play in... Anyways, that said, when your talking contracts, most unestablished individuals will sign anything really, just to be in a record label. Then there are the ones who think they are the smartest people in the world. Those are the ones you have to watch out for, those are the ones that think your fucking them & start asking for more when we can't dish out millions of dollars... I'll tell you this, the contract signed was each for less than $100,000, just because we are not a big time label etc... For your costs, that depends on how much your pulling in. Don't go bankrupted trying to sign someone lol. Of course basic business in this industry is where the label pays upfront, and the artist pays them back through royalties and other stuff. I don't use this method THAT much... Mainly cause I'm still realitivily new (vs people like interscope, black market, etc). I don't have $100,000 to dish out to some teenager who might just run lol (of course you pick your people wisely). Think long term, what is this artist going to bring to the table. I usually think of it as pieces to a puzzle really... I have my battle cat Vyrous (one of the illest cats in the west), then I have my str8 up hip hop artists, then i have my story telling & deep type artists, and now I have my krunk/dirty south type artists, along with the gangsta artists. Anyways, back to $$, the range I signed them for was no less than $20K, no more than $50K (a number inbetween there), realtivily low in the major standard, but average in the indie label side of things. Also, before we get into that, I sat down with the artists, and talked to them about the future. You have to reassure them that things will turn out REAL good.. Don't lie to them, but tell them what you see. This will help writing a good contract. Some people will see through your glasses, and willing to take the average contract, in turn, when everything "blows up", a bigger better contract will be offered. Which I think is smart thinkin'... I use the word "Potential" to my artists a lot. IF THEY GOT IT.... When you bring a deal to the table, you don't want to have to revise it a million times (unless you can afford it), I usually bring something to the table for the artists that's not too shallow, but won't make them rich. You COULD sign them to $300,000 (150,000/yr), but then you gotta put these costs for you on the table. Lets break it down.... A CD sold for $10 bucks, costs PER cd sold will give you X profits....

On something like this, I factor things like how much Marketing will it take etc.. This is one of the most high $$ items (if you want to make it big).

I usually say like out of $10/cd, $3 goes to marketing, or 40%. $2 goes to manifacturing $2 dollars goes to say studio time or whatever. that'll leave you with $3 left, $1 to the artist, $2 to you (in the most simplist way I can put it). Sell a million copies, and you'll see how that adds up. Most major players made shit when it came to numbers.... 2pac made like no more than $1.50 per CD sold when it came down to it. Don't offer something to them that'll cost you more money then you'll be able to pull in. Anyways, to be precise, are you going to have enough money first off, to be able to successfully release a CD, and produce/manufacture it etc etc, before you make your money back? Are you going to up their % on revenue, and drop their base pay? Getting money back from royalties? etc. A lotta artists needa hit gold before being able to get money for themselves (usually). I'm not a big expert on this, but I know $$ lol... I have my side man usually deal wit this sorta stuff and the hr guy to do the rest. I make sure everything's to my liking at the end.

Our artist line up:

Xover (contract expiring 2007)
Vyrous (signed for life lol)
K-Lord (me)
PGT (signed for life)
Weatherman (2 years/2009)
Kaos (2 years/2009
High Society (3 years, expires 2008)
3rd Infantry (3 years, expires 2008)
Lindi Heart (about to resign for 5 years)
Neurotron 606 (about to resign for 5 years)
Jennessy (expires March 2007, probably resign for 1 more album/1 year)
Big Ko (signed for 6 years expires August 2007, won't resign)
Swoop D (signed for 6 years expires August 2007, won't resign)

Soon to sign (hopefully)

Noah Jones (whatever it takes lol)
Dope M (talkin' about 300/300 beats)
Kraylen (talking about 2 years, 3 CD's)
Noddy (for 20 years) ;) :D
 
all i can say is god damn thas a lot of info right there!!! and thats some really good info on that subjecti was gonna ask u more questions but i don't need to now so very good look on that response right there i appreciate it
 
im not trying to throw salt, im just a realistic dude who is doing the independant thing...and ive seen alot of people with unrealistic expectations take advantage of other artists with even more unrealistic expectations

But what can you do for these unknown artists? Really. other than take a cut from all of them. I know some of the dudes you listed, most of them dont use a studio, they home record. They are in various locations, do you have the capital to oversee the project of people on the east and west coast at the same time, plus pay these costs? Manufacturing costs should not be 2$ per cd unless you are manufacturing less than 1000, if you signing 20,000 dollar deals, manufacturing 10000 cd's should cost you like 80 cents or less per unit maximum.. . . And im just curious as to how any label, much less and independant, can successfully market that many artists who dont already have a built in national or international fanbase.. Have you met these artists in person? Do you have distribution channels in place?

And video's are like a major waste of money unless you get regular radio airplay, or there are heavilly viewed outlets for you video's to get regular airtime. Def jam didnt even do a video for method mans last album since meth didnt have a radio single.

Just the costs of maintaining a roster that thick and not digging yourself in a deep hole would need a million in upfront capital.

if you doing 20,000 plus deals for each person, thats 300,000 already invested before a dollar is made back.

Im just saying, i've learned alot by observing, and im putting myself out there now as an artist. We did everything from top to bottom on our project, and built ourselves a large fanbase, and accomplished alot of things., but its still a struggle to get the ball rolling. And i think we did things as efficiently as possible.

I just saw a dude who is on our album and has an already established fanbase sign a deal with a small upstart independant who i guess underestimated the capital it takes to run a label. They pushed him to the front, promoted him as their flagship artist. They built a relationship with Duck Down & Boot Camp Click, did a compilation featuring their artists and the boot camp artists, did a large scale tour....

the compilation sold, but they were still so deep in the hole, they now havent been able to release an album for the artist, which has been completed for 2 years now.

im just concerned for both you and the artists..numbers sound right, but its alot you arent accounting for. Especially if you seriously are trying to handle that deep of a roster at once as an upstart.
 
Soon to sign (hopefully)

Noah Jones (whatever it takes lol)
Dope M (talkin' about 300/300 beats)
Kraylen (talking about 2 years, 3 CD's)
Noddy (for 20 years)

Fo Sho! :D As long as I have access to that Football field size Studio! Dont forget Im only begining and just gettin started...But Im Young ~N~ ReAdy :D :mad: :D
 
wargasms said:
im not trying to throw salt, im just a realistic dude who is doing the independant thing...and ive seen alot of people with unrealistic expectations take advantage of other artists with even more unrealistic expectations

But what can you do for these unknown artists? Really. other than take a cut from all of them. I know some of the dudes you listed, most of them dont use a studio, they home record. They are in various locations, do you have the capital to oversee the project of people on the east and west coast at the same time, plus pay these costs? Manufacturing costs should not be 2$ per cd unless you are manufacturing less than 1000, if you signing 20,000 dollar deals, manufacturing 10000 cd's should cost you like 80 cents or less per unit maximum.. . . And im just curious as to how any label, much less and independant, can successfully market that many artists who dont already have a built in national or international fanbase.. Have you met these artists in person? Do you have distribution channels in place?

And video's are like a major waste of money unless you get regular radio airplay, or there are heavilly viewed outlets for you video's to get regular airtime. Def jam didnt even do a video for method mans last album since meth didnt have a radio single.

Just the costs of maintaining a roster that thick and not digging yourself in a deep hole would need a million in upfront capital.

if you doing 20,000 plus deals for each person, thats 300,000 already invested before a dollar is made back.

Im just saying, i've learned alot by observing, and im putting myself out there now as an artist. We did everything from top to bottom on our project, and built ourselves a large fanbase, and accomplished alot of things., but its still a struggle to get the ball rolling. And i think we did things as efficiently as possible.

I just saw a dude who is on our album and has an already established fanbase sign a deal with a small upstart independant who i guess underestimated the capital it takes to run a label. They pushed him to the front, promoted him as their flagship artist. They built a relationship with Duck Down & Boot Camp Click, did a compilation featuring their artists and the boot camp artists, did a large scale tour....

the compilation sold, but they were still so deep in the hole, they now havent been able to release an album for the artist, which has been completed for 2 years now.

im just concerned for both you and the artists..numbers sound right, but its alot you arent accounting for. Especially if you seriously are trying to handle that deep of a roster at once as an upstart.

There is a lot that I did leave out, but I wasn't going to write a book so to speak on the subject, just helping someone else out.

Anyways, CD's costs are high on some projects, because of what we are manufacturing. I can get the 80 cents a CD without full color printing all around, without the 12-16 page booklets, or the reply cards, or the poster/booklet printings, etc. The more I add onto a CD, the more it costs. When I signed a couple of them a while back, they didn't have anything but a decent setup at the house, but now they are recording in studios. Also, I dont' understand why I wouldn't have met my own artists lol. Beyond just $$ there's a LOT more. I play smart. I know some of my artists are not the greatest as of yet. When I signed Vyrous, we was labeled Shotup Records, and he sucked ass. Now winner of various tourny's, and a name on the streets, more CD's can be manufactured. IF I had an artist like, The Game, I wouldn't be manufacturing less than 10K cd's, but for some of these artists, any more, and they'll be selling for a long while before inventory was up. For my own CD, I don't expect to manufacture any more than 5K copies at a time. For my own CD, I know I don't got the resources to sell a million copies. So why be big headed, and manufacture a million CD's? At the end, I'll have like 800,000 sitting around that I payed money for lol. We do have a fan base that could get rid of XX # of CD's depending on artist. I don't expect to sell 50K of my own CD, BUT that doesn't mean I think so low of myself, or anything, I'm just being realistic.

Beyond That.

3rd Infantry & Xover are the only 2 that don't record in full fledge multi-million dollar studios, they record in project studios. I do pay for the studio recording, but we have contracts & contacts with studios in each respected areas. Artists like High Society record in big facilities, music is usually done before we hit the studios, and they usually either drive or fly from NY to Dallas, and stay a month or so, hitting Harbor House studios up.

Beyond That

The artists that mean a big deal to me, are concentrating on releasing a great CD that I can start manufacturing in full production with world/national type distribution & hit em big. Also I do walk a thin wire, but I'm a business man willing to take risks ;) coming up with $$ isn't THAT hard.. it's keeping it flowing that's the hard part. Vyrous's Arch Enemy CD from start to right before press line cost me next to nothing. So did PGT's Playa City, bearly any $$ was out of pocket. My own CD, will cost just about nothing until it hits press lines. PGT, Vyrous, Xover, Lindi Heart & Neurotron 606 are good friends of mine, we all released albums so far that costs damn near nothing, but pulls in a decent amount of total $$ that keeps everything going. Neurotron 606, Lindi Heart, Vyrous, High Society, have had quite a few radio spots. And I, Myself, Lindi Heart, PGT, Vyrous, Neurtron 606 have performed live etc. I myself, opened up with Mo-World in 1996-97 @ Do Or Die/Twista concert before they went huge & platinum. So, anyways, bearly any $$ to put an album together = more $$ to keep moving forward. Some of these artists are binded to contract that's different than the other artists we have. Some of our artists dont' get $50K in the year, but they get XX$$ per CD sold, and are willing to move ahead with me. Anyways 2007 is the year of the Mind ;)

BTW. the lowest for a decent printed CD i got for over 10K was $1.09 per CD. When your talking about manufacturing 50,000 to 100,000 CD's, is when costs go down to .80c. If your a manufacturer, and it costs YOU $.30c to inject & mold the CD, print in full color, wrap everything, add UPC codes, advertise for the client, blah blah blah blah, no matter how much cd's are being asked to be manufactured (like 1,000,000) there would be no way to make a profit really, by doing .25c because they manufacturing a 'large' quanity if you get what i mean. Anyways I see your point, but I'm not manufacturing so many CD's lol, plus all the little extras' I get from manufacturing, like Radio (major & college) promotions, a thousand or so posters along with an order, brick & mortar promotions (in buildings type sales, not internet), along with internet promotions. For the cost of distribution/manufacturing, it's really not that bad of a deal. It's how you play your money & contacts right. You do make a valid point though. I'm not in the RED, but I am taking a lot less in for more artists under the belt. If I was to sign 3-4 new people, I'll probably go bankrupt, so i am running risks. but I'm willing to take it because I KNOW there's a brighter future.... Maybe it's my ignorance lol but I'm pretty sure there WILL be a tomorrow.....
 
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well, im not trying to discredit you, im just a dude concerned about things because i see too many things go sour.

a label who wanted to distribute us through warner music, and financed by the co-owner of essence magazine just went under before we even finished our album to negotiate the terms. They tried to spread themselves too thin too quickly.

I wasnt saying a million CD's i was saying a million dollars to finance a 13-17 artist roster and keep a label afloat.

but if you need any help with finding resources to save money...holla at me i have done my homework extensively, and have managed to pull off a financial miracle with our project.


replication, posters, promotional materials etc.


wargasms@gmail.com ...hit me anytime. If you looking for something, hit me cause i might be able to save you some time and money. Cause i spend the last few years doing the research.
 
real good info mind and wargasm...i believe mind has been doin this for awhile...and he is goin about it the right way...he isnt goin outside his means..he seams to know how many cd that his camp can push..and thats cool....

and i know war be puttin in work and they do have a nice album (i need to get my copy :D)

qood info ..and D...make a plan, do a budget and read a few books on setting up a record labels and running a label...and email mind for 1 on 1 for more info..and dont forget to hit up mind.....


mind lets us know if you need tracks for upcomin releases...
 
FYI...I own an indpdendent label with four artists. I pay 90 cents for full color, retail ready cd's.
 
adrianlatino said:
FYI...I own an indpdendent label with four artists. I pay 90 cents for full color, retail ready cd's.

What's all that's included in your CD's? Full color ok... Pressed? Duplicated?... This is what mine lists...

Replicated CDs (pressed, not “burned”) in jewel boxes with polywrap, 4
Professional color proofs and direct-to-plate printing 8 panel (up to 32 page booklets) full color printing.

Inclusion of a track from your CD distribution to the vast majority of (550) radio stations in the U.S. that specialize in your musical genre

National distribution directly through CD Baby, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Amazon.com, Fry's Electronics, Circuit City, Comp USA, and many more brick & mortor companies.

Our Tools of Promotion services, including electronic presskit
service/performance opportunities from Sonicbids, digital distribution including
The iTunes Music Store and more (Apple Computer reserves approval rights), direct upload to Soundscan, the Industry Contact Disc by Galaris and much more.

Top Spinal Stickers are also available, and reply cards, and posters, flyers, gifts, and all the other goodies.

Also gives you a website if you wanted it....

That's not all, and I pay like $1.09 per CD for 2000+ depending on extras...
 
oh man you pay 100,000$ for a startup label, thats alot! Id be happy with 1,000$ :) Im trying to get with a label to just produce beats, for startup i wouldnt even charge :) So if nay of you heavy hitters know any labels looking for a producer for madd hceap or free :p Anyways i like dteh firts songa lot it was hott, beat reminded me of some JMT song cant rem whihc, seocnd one was ok, not feelin it that much but still good job on the signings.
 
Actually I started out with a $40,000 loan from compass bank lmao... It used to be Shotup Records back in like 1999, and then whenever I got the loan, I paid and changed everything to Mindset Entertainment, with 3 of us there. Vyrous, me (K-Lord), and my homeboy PGT. There was a couple of others that got involved in like promotions, and all the rest of the departments, but Mindset itself is about to be 6 years old. Damn... to me that's like forever ago.
 
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