Napoleon Hill mentioned something about the Mastermind Group in his book, “Think and Grow Rich,” and I am mentioning it in this article because the statement that stood out to me was “You can do more in one year with a Mastermind Group than you can in a lifetime on your own.” In my recent review of Straight out of Compton I mentioned the synergy between Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, both of which wouldn’t be where they are now without each other. Dre made Beats, recruited Eminem & 50 Cent (both of them had their own movies as well), and Ice Cube has made more than a handful himself. Without the capital, the name, the group, the team, Dre could have in no way achieved the success he has currently.
First of all, the common and most traveled path of networking involves meeting people… Perhaps someone who may be in your social circle, someone you meet at an event, someone you think looks interesting.
Second of all, building lists is absolutely key – sending a newsletter each week is mandatory. Getting feedback from your fans is a must – give them something to forward to their friends easily, give them new songs to buy, tell them about your kickstarter, share YouTube videos, have an app on the App Store, make sure you have cool merchandise.* Build lists of producers you want to get in contact with, with rappers or singers you want to collaborate with… Talk with people on Outsourcing sites like Fiverr – just look up “Rap” and you’ll have thousands of new people you can easily send a message to in order to find someone you can create synergy with like Ice Cube and Dr Dre. What I like to do after I’ve built a list – is, using “Sidekick” (a service that tells you when your email is opened) – I send a video message – then when I’m alerted that they’ve read it… I give it a half hour and then call them. Understanding that people are not always available for a phone call is necessary and leveraging today’s technology is essential because once they’ve opened the email you know they are in the right frame of mind for your phone call. Send video messages to people who can change your life overnight every single day, just do it, trust me, you’ll thank me later.
Third of all, let your product speak for yourself and put yourself out there making it easy for people to contact you. Submit your songs to radio stations every single day – whether it’s online or on the air, people will listen to your songs. Get on Pandora – yes, it’s a process, yes it costs some money, but you choose your best track and you submit it after mastering it and you park yourself in your niche and genre and continue to make songs that people are gonna like. I’ve been told over and over that many rappers have had quite a lot of success with Twitter. Be on your Twitter and let people know that you WILL respond to your Twitter @’s – as well as sharing your email and your phone number. If you are worri about people having your number get two phones – one for your music contacts and a personal one, or hire a secretary/assistant to answer your calls for you – not a hard thing once you’ve got a product selling or if you utilize an outsourcing service. Alternatively you can use an app called “Burner,” available on the Play & App stores.
Fourthly, you must be persistent. According to several sources, Lil Wayne called Birdman’s label everyday for almost a year before they let him into the studio to record. Humorously I mention to people you need to send video messages and call everyday until you get the response you want or they start to take legal action against you… Don’t take no for an answer and don’t rely on your natural charisma and charm to win them over – apply proven principles of persuasion, use formulas like “Outcome Based Thinking,” apply principles from Jack Canfield’s book “Aladdin Factor” (a book about the power and art of asking effectively), and make sure you find out things about the person – talk to people who know them, send a written letter, send a gift, send a USB stick with your video message on it, send a bottle of Dom Perigon, send SOMETHING, stand out from all of the people asking for help.
In summary, NWA was a band. Each person in the band had an essential role; Ice Cube leaving the group opened up the door for each person to make the decision to move forward and instilled early on the courage Dre would need to walk away from Death Row Records to start Aftermath. Still yet, Dre made the beats, Eazy E provided the initial capital, MC Ren laid down lyrics as a supporting role and helped add to the groups ability to hold their own in a fight, DJ Yella also added value by bringing in new ideas, sounds, and helped with the equipment, making the group a pristine example of a Mastermind Group. If you’re a producer… you need an artist, a DJ (to play your music at their gigs), salesmen to market your beats, and an entertainment lawyer to help you with submitting your music copyrights to all of the right places (mentioned in our 42 Legal Ways for Rappers to Make Money article) and protecting yourself with a contract. I’ve seen too many producers lose money because they didn’t protect their beats for me not to mention it here. Videographers are also vital because music videos make or break an artist. My suggestion for connecting with videographers is using Craigslist (searching under the talent gig or musician section) or using Model Mayhem and connecting with Photographers. I also approach any camera crew I see and talk with them because having multiple videographer friends means cheaper rates and if someone can’t make it another group can take their place. At Rap.com we are working towards bridging the gap between these essential roles by giving you a chance to sign up under different categories in our social network, giving you the ability to build crews, have group chat, share your album ideas, submit your music to the Grammys, and open you up to the big world of distribution. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.
*A good idea for merchandise is having custom made shirts – it can be an artist drawing your logo on the shirt and coloring it or having autographed articles of clothing like hats and such – many artists don’t put merchandise up however if you solicit help from graphic artists or street artists in your area who can do airbrush or draw on shirts then you can take a picture and put it on your website under merchandise, have it at shows, or sell it out of a backpack along with your mix tapes.
