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Every indie artist is supposed to know this. Being an independent entertainer is a sideways uphill battle. Even if you can afford the budget needed to record, promote and distribute a decent project, your costs still outweigh the profits in the end. Not to mention, that’s considering you actually do have some kind of talent to show for it. A business-minded indie artist and/or CEO has to be skillful and precise in when and where they spend their spare time and money. Then there are the haters who envy every bit of progress you make. Everyone wants to get paid off you but their prices are not considerate and to top it off, cops will put you on top of their raider once you make your initial breakthrough. There are only a few people who will indeed have your back when the going gets tough and trust me when I tell you, your so-called close friends will walk away and leave you in the cold when your star outshine theirs.
I’ve come to see thriving within the underground independent music industry as a success that comes with disappointment far too often than the coveted record deal. Radio DJs will know your songs are hot but won’t play them. Club DJs will be too busy to check out your new sound, Magazine and TV interviews will sometimes go unpublished without explanation and critics will deliberately misinterpret your message to taint your image. In my experience, one should never measure their goal or success by another artist’s progress. People tend to exaggerate and lie to make their movement seem better than it really is, so you should follow your own path and go where it leads you. This is why when I make significant progress like becoming a Grammy-nominated artist, I tend to stand on top of a mountain and shout it out loud for the world to hear.
Now, don’t get me wrong, every artist’s dream is to be signed by a major company, but there is some good in being somewhat independent in this business. You control your own puppet strings, dictate your own rules and retain almost 100% of your profit. However, right that is, always remember to calculate the cost spent on miscellaneous expenses like fast food for everyone in your posse’, gas, liquor, kush; your gear, jewelry, kicks, and whip maintenance or business meeting tabs at the bare minimum.
Plus, the game of making and selling Hip Hop music can somewhat be just like the game of drug dealing and gang banging. The competition is dense in the business and situations can get out of hand far easier than you can control them. It can get dangerous and cost you big if you don’t know how to steer away. Groupies will always make it seem worthwhile when you’re in a nightclub, and in our business, most of the best arrangements are formed in a nightclub. It takes a lot of level ‘headedness’ to maintain an independent career on a consistent basis.
You will need plenty of alone time to create new materials, and you will need a clear head to reinvent a new swagger after you get swagger jacked. So they ask us, why do we do this work? Why chose to be in the public eye? Why put yourself out there for cops and rival crews to notice you? It’s the love. It’s the fans. It’s the burning desire to make an impact in this world and stamp an unforgettable legacy in the history of this business. I do it for the love of Hip Hop because nothing else on earth makes me happier than bringing happiness to my fan. I use my art to put them in a state of mind that they can relate to and hope it numbs away their pain. You have to enjoy entertaining people to make the sacrifices it takes to be remembered.
So, when you see me pushing a final product, these are some of the challenges I deal with on a daily basis. I know I need to shoot slews of music videos, but at this moment video costs are not a profitable option for my company in the long run. It sucks your profit and yields nothing but show off which is not good business for an independent artist (in my opinion). I know my fans wanna see the videos to all their favorite Freddy Will songs and I promise them that when the time is right, I will film a video to all of them (even the old ones from 2006). Nevertheless, I have a youtube channel that should do for now.
At the moment, we (Freddy Will Industries) are concentrating our time and money on production, marketing, distribution, and manufacturing. We are looking to expand globally first and foremost. But pretty soon we are hoping to leap into a new stratosphere. A more prominent thank you goes out to everyone for your support, and please continue to believe in us!!!*
PHOTOGRAPHS BY: SAI KIT CHU
