Networking is possibly the single most important part of the music business. For producers like many of you it is important to network and build connections with as many other artists, other producers, A&R’s, managers, promoters, and anyone within the music business. This is very crucial because you never know when opportunity will arise. Managers are very important for networking and bring you opportunities, but before you ever get a manager you need to understand how to make your own connections. In order for someone else to take your music seriously such as a manager or A&R, you need to show that you take it seriously. You need attempt to build your own set of connects within the industry. So in this blog I would help show you how to network with artists and build connections starting from ground zero. Like me many of you were not born into the music industry. Many of you do not have an Uncle or an Aunt with major connections in the industry. So getting your music to the right people is very hard almost impossible. These are many of the same challenges I faced and I was able to overcome. I had to build my connections from scratch so I will explain the method in which I was able to build my connections. Like I said last blog I am in no way an expert in the manner and I am only supply you with information through my own experiences so take this information of leave it.

Submitting Beats is probably the first and most important step. When I say submitting beat I mean allowing artists to use your music for free and when I say artists I am not talking about A list artists like Akon or Kanye West, I am not even talking about B list artists such as Twista or Gucci Mane, I’m talking about C list artists the artists who are signed to sub-labels of the major artists. I am talking about the artists who are coming up in the music industry the artists you may or may not have heard of yet. This is because the chance of you getting your music to major artists in the game is very slim and then also the chance of your music being chosen over the top producers in the industry is very slim especially when you have a small discography or nothing at all. So the first thing you must do is research. Research is very important. Figuring out which artists and what type of beats they are looking for. You can do this by looking on these artists’s Myspace, Twitter, Facebook and many other promotional sites for artists. Many of these artist’s include emails in which to send beats to (Ex. Nicki Manaj of Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment Label see figure 1).

Figure 1


Send as many beats as you can to as many artists you can. Usually if they like the beats you send them they will contact you, or they will send someone to get into contact with you. They may or may not offer you money 9X out of 10X they will ask you to submit more music. These are great opportunities to build relationships with the artist and at the same time collect names for your potential discography. Always collect emails, phone numbers, and Instant messenger screen names of your contacts. Having multiple ways of contacting a person is always great to have. Also if possible always meet people in real life. Socializing with people in real life is very important in building trust and people are always going to remember you once you meet them in real life instead of just being an email or a screen name to them. Also go to shows and try submitting your music in real life. People are always more receptive in real life then they are over the internet. Make Beat CD’s and go to studios and hand them out to artists. Take advantage of every outlet into the music industry you can. Go to producer seminars and conferences (See Figure 2). Many of these are held all over the country and many important people within the music business go to them. Many A&R, Artists, and managers go to these conferences and it is built for making these specific types of connection building and networking. Make yourself available to connections, setup professional quality Myspaces, Facebook, and twitter accounts. Create mailing lists where you update people and link them to sites where you have put up new music on. Let everyone know you have new music and allow them to hear it. People will contact you if they are interested. All of these things are essential to creating a successful network of people within the music industry.

Figure 2


Once you have made connections with an artist or multiple artists, if you have what they need which is quality music they will usually return to you for projects and this is how opportunities will arise. You will have opportunities to work with various artists and make connections with many other people. Always take time to see what someone is about and never blow off anyone. Once you have obtained your first track with a lower level artists use it as leverage in your other beat submissions. Always mention you have worked with so and so on a couple of tracks. These types of things will get people’s heads turning. Once you have a good base set of connections you need to keep expanding and working up the ladder and expanding your network. You will be surprised about the crazy opportunities that will come up just by being in contact with the right people. Also remember that you will be able to do all the things that a manager can do by yourself. The good part of having a manager is that they come with a certain set of connections already and you are will hopefully be able to achieve more career wise faster and remember the earlyier you start building connections the better.