2018-9-25 Dark Star Films - How to become an entrepreneur in music

[0:00 - 0:17] What's up guys, it's your boy Chance and today I'm here to talk about something that a lot of people have a misconception about and that is the truth of the music industry and how it really works.
[0:17 - 0:34] But I'm also here to tell you about why you should not assign to any mainstream record label and why you should do everything on your own and how to virtually do it with very little to ultimately no money.
[0:34 - 0:47] I know what you guys are probably thinking already. Yo, this guy's crazy. He doesn't know what he's talking about like this guy is a professional truth is I am professional.
[0:47 - 0:57] You guys can find all my music down below at the links in the description as well as everything that I'm going to be speaking about.
[0:57 - 1:05] You see, I was at the record label here in Akron for about a little over two to three years.
[1:05 - 1:13] And in that time during that time period, I learned quite a bit. Like I learned a lot of good stuff.
[1:13 - 1:24] You know, like how to mix, how to master, you know, all that stuff. You know, how to make my vocals sound right, how to make, you know, sounds that nobody's heard.
[1:24 - 1:30] But I also learned the darker side of things.
[1:30 - 1:39] What really goes on with these mainstream record labels and these labels that, you know, won't be able to assign to them.
[1:39 - 1:43] The truth is they don't care about the artist.
[1:43 - 1:47] I know it's hard to hear, but that's the truth of it.
[1:47 - 1:51] They don't care about you or your money.
[1:51 - 1:56] All they care about is you doing what they want you to do.
[1:56 - 2:06] You think you own that car? You think you own that mansion? You don't own any of that. The labels do.
[2:06 - 2:13] And before you get all pissed off and say, I don't know what I'm talking about, think about this.
[2:13 - 2:17] I want you to really think about this.
[2:17 - 2:24] Do you really think that they care about you as an artist? They say they do, but do they really?
[2:24 - 2:36] And I challenge any artist out there, any artist at all, to ask their label this.
[2:36 - 2:44] You know, whatever money is being that you're putting into it, where's that? Where's my thing out?
[2:44 - 2:52] And 9 times out of 10, I guarantee you, they're going to tell you that it's going a lot of it, it's going right back into the label.
[2:52 - 2:55] Why? Because they want to own you.
[2:55 - 3:01] You think you own those songs you write? No. They're buying them off of you.
[3:01 - 3:09] They're taking that little bit of money and they're owning the rights to your music, to your work, and ultimately to you.
[3:09 - 3:15] They basically own you. Once you sign that contract, you are basically signing your life away.
[3:15 - 3:20] You are basically making a deal with the devil and signing your life away.
[3:20 - 3:29] And I'm lucky I was able to escape it after my 2 year contract.
[3:29 - 3:37] But in that time, I sold very little to no money. Why?
[3:37 - 3:45] Because I wasn't doing what they wanted me to do. I was doing my style of music the way I wanted.
[3:45 - 3:50] They didn't care about me. They didn't care about what new style I had out.
[3:50 - 3:56] All they cared about was what was hot and what's trending. That's all they cared about.
[3:56 - 4:02] And that rings true for every mainstream record label out there today.
[4:02 - 4:10] They do not care about you. They do not care about what new sound, what new hot sound you got.
[4:10 - 4:15] You can have a brand new genre of music, like I do.
[4:15 - 4:21] And you can make it huge all you want, but ultimately that's not what they want.
[4:21 - 4:28] They want you to do what's trending. They want you to follow what these artists are doing or what these artists are doing.
[4:28 - 4:33] They don't care about what you want. It's all about the trends for them.
[4:33 - 4:38] It's all about making that money and what you can bring them.
[4:38 - 4:44] Because like I said, you think you own that Lamborghini? You think you own that $50 million dollar house?
[4:44 - 4:49] No, you don't own it. The record labels do.
[4:49 - 4:54] And this is the harsh truth I had to learn the hard way myself.
[4:54 - 5:01] Because I had a few things that I was getting that ultimately got taken from me as an artist, and I hated it.
[5:01 - 5:04] But that's just the truth of it.
[5:04 - 5:10] But in that truth, I found out how to make it on my own.
[5:10 - 5:15] And a lot of you guys are probably thinking, you know, you're stupid, you don't know what you're talking about.
[5:15 - 5:27] Well, you know, hear me out. Because I am going to tell you and reveal to you how to make it in the music industry on your own with very little to ultimately no money.
[5:27 - 5:31] And this is something I found out on my own.
[5:31 - 5:38] You guys are probably thinking that this is another scam, but truthfully and honestly, it's not.
[5:38 - 5:44] See, I'm like you. I'm just a normal 28 year old guy looking to make a living in his music.
[5:44 - 5:53] You know, I'm just a 20 year old guy who, you know, wants to make a living doing what he loves to do, which is making music.
[5:53 - 6:03] And what I have here with me is my Kindle Fire, my Generation 7 Kindle Fire.
[6:03 - 6:18] Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to reveal to you guys a few apps that you can use to get started on your journey into the music industry on your own with very little to no money.
[6:18 - 6:32] And anymore, you don't even need to spend money on a music studio, which is completely true. You need no money for a music studio at all.
[6:32 - 6:37] And yes, I have Google Play store on here because I did hack and you got Google Play out here.
[6:37 - 6:41] So thank you to everybody that showed me that hack. You guys are awesome.
[6:41 - 6:52] But I'm going to introduce you guys to a couple of apps first that are going to require you to record that's going to allow you to record your music.
[6:52 - 6:58] Yes, it will require a free sign up and I'll go over some of the similarities and some of the differences as well.
[6:58 - 7:03] But these are two apps that you want to get.
[7:03 - 7:10] First up is one of my personal favorites. I use it for a lot of classical work.
[7:10 - 7:13] I use it for a lot of recording whenever I can.
[7:13 - 7:16] When everyone is not working, I'll use this one.
[7:16 - 7:25] And the first app you want to get your hands on and this does work for both Android and iOS because I used to have an iPhone.
[7:25 - 7:31] So, you know, the first app you want to get your hands on is BandLab.
[7:31 - 7:43] And like I said, BandLab is free to sign up. You can get it in the Google Play store, iTunes, and everything like that.
[7:43 - 7:54] And you can get one or both of these. It obviously doesn't matter, but I have both on my Chromebook.
[7:55 - 8:09] And I will leave the links to both of these apps in the description for you guys.
[8:09 - 8:12] So you guys can get your hands on these.
[8:18 - 8:27] Next app on the list is this. Soundtrap.
[8:27 - 8:39] It's just like BandLab. It is a mobile, you know, music studio that you can access both via mobile device and PC.
[8:39 - 8:45] So if you have a PC or if you have a Chromebook like I have, you are able to access it.
[8:45 - 8:51] And don't you think that probably, oh, you know, even if I were to get those, I don't have a mic.
[8:51 - 9:00] That's not true. You do have a mic. I hear this excuse all the time from people. All the time.
[9:00 - 9:09] And that is, you know, they're saying, you know, I don't have a music studio and, you know, I don't have a microphone.
[9:09 - 9:23] Yes, you do. I hear that excuse all the time. The truth is, if you have one of these or if you have like a phone or whatever you record with like your cell phone, you have a microphone.
[9:23 - 9:32] Because every phone comes with a built in microphone. Your phone is going to be your microphone, your studio, all that.
[9:32 - 9:39] Or if you like me and you like to use mobile device to record and then do it on PC, that's cool too.
[9:39 - 9:45] But I'm going to go over some of the differences and similarities with Soundtrap and BandLab.
[9:45 - 9:53] Now Soundtrap, they give you one month free trial premium. You get access to everything.
[9:53 - 10:02] You get unlimited, you know, amounts of spaces for recording.
[10:02 - 10:10] You get access to all the premium membership instruments that they allow you to use.
[10:10 - 10:16] Just basically everything premium membership that they allow you. And that goes on for about a month.
[10:16 - 10:25] Depending on what month you started in, like if you started in October, you get from October 1st to the 31st.
[10:25 - 10:35] You know, it depends on what month really. But, you know, you're able to record there.
[10:35 - 10:41] The quality with Soundtrap is very good. I use it all the time.
[10:41 - 10:49] A lot of the artists that I work with on my little brother, Bradley's record label, Bloodshot Records,
[10:49 - 10:58] we all use it as the main studio that we use. It's very good and very high quality.
[10:58 - 11:10] Now the difference between that and BandLab is that with BandLab you have real people reacting to your music.
[11:10 - 11:21] And also with BandLab you don't have any limited space. You can use BandLab just like you can with Soundtrap.
[11:21 - 11:28] But the difference is, like I said, with Soundtrap and BandLab is, BandLab you have unlimited space for music
[11:28 - 11:34] and you actually get real reactions from very real people in real time.
[11:34 - 11:47] So like if you throw down a song and you record a BandLab and release it through BandLab and you publish it within 5-10 minutes, you'll get a reaction.
[11:47 - 11:55] There is no premium membership. You don't have to sign up. I mean you can upgrade if you want, but you don't have to.
[11:55 - 12:06] Because there's a lot of ways around that. And one more thing that I will share with you guys, if you are using Soundtrap and your premium membership is up,
[12:06 - 12:13] whenever you're done with a song and you're done posting it to SoundCloud, YouTube or downloading or whatever you're going to do with it,
[12:13 - 12:19] wherever you're going to post it, go back and delete it. Because that saves space.
[12:19 - 12:25] You only get a maximum of like 5 slots with non-premium membership.
[12:25 - 12:32] So just a little tip for you guys. If you're using the non-membership and your time is up, delete a song after you're done posting it.
[12:32 - 12:42] Like it saves space and everything. It's a really good trick. I actually learned that not that long ago.
[12:42 - 12:54] And like you're probably thinking, well what about distribution? How am I going to get my stuff out there? And this and that while you're about to find out.
[12:54 - 13:04] I'm about to pull up the app right now and show you guys how I made a career out of nothing.
[13:04 - 13:13] Which as you guys can tell, I already have it downloaded and it says it doesn't work on my phone, on my Kindle but it actually does. It's weird like that.
[13:13 - 13:26] So we see that message and it says it might not work. Ignore it because it does work. And that is Amuse.
[13:26 - 13:34] Now what Amuse is, is it's a free distribution platform.
[13:34 - 13:44] What you do is you upload your music and your cover art. Now we all know with your cover art, you do have to have it.
[13:44 - 13:58] The dimensions for your cover art have to be 1400 by 1400. You cannot have any branded stuff, anything like that.
[13:58 - 14:05] You just have to have your name, a really cool texture and then the name of the album, like your artist's name.
[14:05 - 14:11] A really cool texture background or whatever image you want to use. And then the name of the album.
[14:11 - 14:15] Now what you're going to do is once you're done uploading the album,
[14:15 - 14:22] and I know a lot of people criticize me on this but Amuse will release, you have to wait about a week.
[14:22 - 14:27] Once you've uploaded it, you wait about a week for the review.
[14:27 - 14:37] And then once that review is done, they then release it to legitimately every store in the entire world.
[14:37 - 14:52] Like every store you can think of like iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon, Napster.
[14:52 - 15:00] Like every major branding shop in the world, they deliver it too.
[15:00 - 15:03] And you have to probably think, well, how do you know it works?
[15:03 - 15:17] I'm about to show you because I do have Spotify.
[15:17 - 15:29] So I'm going to go here to my stuff here.
[15:29 - 15:35] What I'm going to do is I'm going to bring up all my web browser so you guys can actually see it.
[15:35 - 15:53] Ignore that thing, that was just a message from a friend.
[15:53 - 16:13] I got to wait for it to come up because it is kind of iffy.
[16:13 - 16:18] I'm going to bring it up here in a minute because it's bringing up this straight talk thing.
[16:18 - 16:21] I don't use straight talk at all.
[16:21 - 16:50] I actually save myself money and I use Google Voice.
[16:50 - 17:10] All right, so if you go here, I don't know if you guys can tell, but it is kind of raining out.
[17:10 - 17:20] I'm going to put up here if you typed in the wrong keywords.
[17:20 - 17:24] I am going to show you guys my Spotify right now.
[17:24 - 17:39] As you can see right here, I'm going to go here to my stuff and show you guys all my music.
[17:39 - 17:48] Right here is all my music on Spotify.
[17:48 - 18:05] As you guys can tell, I have two albums and then three singles.
[18:05 - 18:09] I currently have nine listeners, that's because I haven't put out anything in a while.
[18:09 - 18:11] Then I got one follower.
[18:11 - 18:14] These are all over the US.
[18:14 - 18:17] My music on there is on there.
[18:17 - 18:25] This is actually my latest release right here.
[18:25 - 18:29] Let's see if I can bring up the art.
[18:29 - 18:36] Oh, maybe it will.
[18:36 - 18:43] It's going to try to make me go to there, but my music is on Spotify.
[18:43 - 18:46] This is actually my newest release.
[18:46 - 18:53] It's actually, ironically, just released tonight at midnight.
[18:53 - 18:59] What about Google Play Store and all that?
[18:59 - 19:02] I got you covered.
[19:02 - 19:11] As I said, when Amuse releases their music, they release it to every shop in the world.
[19:11 - 19:15] Every major platform in the world, they send it to.
[19:15 - 19:22] I just started this back in June, so I'm not too big with the money yet.
[19:22 - 19:51] I haven't really gotten the big dollars in money, but I have gotten a little bit here and there to start.
[19:51 - 19:59] You can see my latest album, which I actually just dropped on Friday.
[19:59 - 20:07] First, actually, after my birthday is Evolution.
[20:07 - 20:09] That's my latest album that I dropped.
[20:09 - 20:15] It's a seven-track album.
[20:15 - 20:23] This is actually my latest single release, which I dropped last night called Phantom Stuff,
[20:23 - 20:29] which is the new genre of music I created.
[20:29 - 20:35] You're probably thinking, "What about payouts? What if somebody buys the money?"
[20:35 - 20:39] Or not buys the money, but what did they take?
[20:39 - 20:42] If you only bought the album, how do I get paid?
[20:42 - 20:45] Well, it's going to suck, but this is the sucky part about Amuse.
[20:45 - 20:53] There is a six-week to six-month waiting period.
[20:53 - 21:03] It takes roughly six weeks for the payout for live streams through Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Red,
[21:03 - 21:07] Apple Music, Google Play, all that.
[21:07 - 21:18] But in streams alone, and this is over the time here between June and now,
[21:18 - 21:22] and this is over 100 streams in total.
[21:22 - 21:32] I currently have, in streaming, $1.13, as you guys can see.
[21:32 - 21:40] Now, I do have to make $10 in live streams to be able to take out the live stream money, but that's fine.
[21:40 - 21:44] That's money I can get here and there.
[21:44 - 21:52] What about the money from people that buy the albums or buy my music from iTunes or Google Play or wherever?
[21:52 - 21:57] Well, you have to wait six months from now.
[21:57 - 22:05] So, say you release your album, say, today, right?
[22:05 - 22:12] And today is September 25th, so six months from today.
[22:12 - 22:28] So, September, November, December, January, so February 25th, you would get your money from those that buy your album.
[22:28 - 22:34] I know it sucks to have to wait that long, but think about this.
[22:34 - 22:39] Think about everything you could do within that six-month time span.
[22:39 - 22:48] In that six-month time span, you could be promoting, you could be playing shows, you could be working on new stuff,
[22:48 - 22:57] you could be getting people to buy the album, you could be getting people to stream the album.
[22:57 - 23:04] And I know what you're thinking, you know, like, the wait isn't really worth it, it sucks and blah, blah, blah.
[23:04 - 23:09] Yeah, that may be true, it might suck, but it's very real and it is legitimate.
[23:09 - 23:17] It is actually backed, Amuse is actually backed by major music arts and Grammy nominee Will.i.am.
[23:17 - 23:24] He actually helped to fund this project.
[23:24 - 23:29] Now, I know what you're thinking, "Well, I don't, you know, have time to just sit around and not get paid for my stuff."
[23:29 - 23:31] That's not true.
[23:31 - 23:37] For those of you that are willing to work hard and put in the effort, like I did and like I do every day,
[23:37 - 23:41] you can and will make it in the music industry.
[23:41 - 23:44] And that's what the mainstream doesn't like.
[23:44 - 23:49] They don't like people that make it on their own because they want people to depend on them.
[23:49 - 23:56] They want to own people, they want to, you know, bring in all this money.
[23:56 - 24:05] And the truth is, you can make your own money just with a few simple apps that I showed you.
[24:05 - 24:17] And with the right marketing, you can become a successful independent music artist just like I am.
[24:17 - 24:27] And like I said, the truth is, these mainstream record labels, they don't care about you or what you can or can't do.
[24:27 - 24:33] What they care about is turning you into somebody that you don't want to be, and I almost fell for that.
[24:33 - 24:42] I almost, almost became somebody that I didn't know who I was.
[24:42 - 24:46] I almost became that person.
[24:46 - 24:55] And let me tell you, with the Muse and with those two apps for a recording that I showed you
[24:55 - 25:07] and a couple editing apps for making your stuff for your album covers, you can own 100% of what you make.
[25:07 - 25:17] You keep 100% of everything, your music, your money, all your rights, you keep all of that.
[25:17 - 25:22] I am living proof that you can make it on your own in the music industry.
[25:22 - 25:31] You do not need a major record label telling you what you can and can't do, who you can and can't work with.
[25:31 - 25:37] I am living proof that you can make money from nothing, that you can make a living in music.
[25:37 - 25:41] If you really want to make a living in music, do it.
[25:41 - 25:46] Download these three apps and get to recording because they are all free.
[25:46 - 25:52] And they are available for every platform, for both Android and iOS.
[25:52 - 26:04] Now, if you would like to hear my music, like I said, I will drop my stuff below.
[26:04 - 26:09] Also, if you guys do want to, like I said, check out my music, click some of the links below.
[26:09 - 26:25] I will leave links to my Google Play, where my music is at, my Spotify, my YouTube channel, for my music, where my music is at.
[26:25 - 26:29] So you guys can check all of that out.
[26:29 - 26:36] But I do hope that this is an eye opener for you guys because I do not want any music artists out there to get screwed over.
[26:36 - 26:39] Because I know what it's like to get screwed over.
[26:39 - 26:44] I went through it for two to three years and it was the worst.
[26:44 - 26:51] I hated it.
[26:51 - 26:57] And now I say, now I do hope that this video wasn't, you know, was very informative for you guys.
[26:57 - 27:02] And I hope that it opens your guys' eyes and shows you that you don't need money to make any music.
[27:02 - 27:05] You don't need record labels.
[27:05 - 27:09] Record labels, like they're overrated.
[27:09 - 27:13] A lot of these mainstream labels are overrated.
[27:13 - 27:18] Nowadays, digital music, digital distribution, that's the way to go.
[27:18 - 27:34] And also another thing I will add that if you do not have Spotify, you need to get Spotify as well as this app right here, which is Spotify for Artists.
[27:34 - 27:40] Now what you're going to do is you're going to claim your stuff, right?
[27:40 - 27:47] You're going to go in and you are going to claim your artist's name, all that stuff.
[27:47 - 27:57] So be sure to pick up Spotify and Spotify for Artists because that's how you're going to get your money through your streams and stuff like that.
[27:57 - 28:03] Because Spotify is one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world today.
[28:03 - 28:06] So be sure to pick up all the apps that I say.
[28:06 - 28:09] And to cover it all, I'm going to go over it one last time.
[28:09 - 28:13] You need to get either Spotify, or not Spotify.
[28:13 - 28:26] But yeah, Spotify, you do need Spotify, but you need to get either BandLab or Soundtrap, either one of them, of use.
[28:26 - 28:39] An image editing software that will allow you to do 1,400 by 1,400 images, and Spotify and Spotify for Artists.
[28:39 - 28:46] With those apps, you can make a very good living in music.
[28:46 - 28:53] Like I said, it might not be that much at first, but if you're willing to put the time in and promote yourself and do what you have to do,
[28:53 - 28:57] you don't need to invest in yourself to make it.
[28:57 - 29:04] Unless you want to go out and buy a professional microphone and stuff like that, that's all you really need.
[29:04 - 29:11] You don't need a professional studio to make good music.
[29:11 - 29:14] And that's the misconception a lot of people have.
[29:14 - 29:21] You don't need a lot of money to make it in the music industry, if any at all.
[29:21 - 29:24] And I hope that this shows you guys that.
[29:24 - 29:29] Because like you, I know what it's like to start out with nothing.
[29:29 - 29:32] I know what it's like to have nothing.
[29:32 - 29:35] My family now just barely gets by.
[29:35 - 29:39] I'm not rich.
[29:39 - 29:45] But I still make money doing what I love to do.
[29:45 - 29:50] And I hope you guys can do the same.
[29:50 - 29:56] Again, guys, I hope that this is very informative for you guys, and I hope that you enjoyed it.
[29:56 - 30:00] Again, guys, like I said, you don't need money to make your music.
[30:00 - 30:05] These mainstream industries, idiots, they're just using you.
[30:05 - 30:23] But anyways, guys, there's been your boy Chance with a look at how to make it in the music industry with no money and also what it's really like in the music industry and the truth behind it, what really goes on.
[30:23 - 30:35] But I hope you guys did enjoy this, and if you did, slide that like button down below, and also hit that subscribe button down below as it does help the channel out.
[30:35 - 30:43] So with that being said, stay tuned for next time because I will be posting more videos like this in the future.
[30:43 - 30:46] I'm your host, Chance, and I'll see you guys later.