MAKIN' n SLANGIN' MIXTAPES/DEMO's... "THE SCRIPT"
 

A few cats read my post in Tha Q's thread about slanging and said they should sticky it, so I thought I'd just make my own thread here.



.....comin from a kid who hasn't done one show, and hasn't sold more than 3 cds. I sold 2000 of my mixtapes this year, and did between 30-40 shows. Me and Dooms talked about this, cause we both BEEN slangin, and know what works, what doesn't.

EDIT* - THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. IF YOU'RE DOING SHOWS AND HAVE MAD CONNECTS - CONGRATS, YOU'RE 2 STEPS AHEAD OF MOST CATS ON THIS SITE. BUT, FOR MOST OF YOU, THIS WILL BE A FAIRLY HELPFUL 'START FROM SCRATCH' MIXTAPE/DEMO HELPER ON WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN'T.


What works: (keep in mind - all $ figures are CDN. Adjust when necessary)

Step 1: Buy your cds you plan on burnin in LARGE stacks. They're WAY cheaper. I buy the hundred cases, and usually try and burn 30-50 in a sittin. Its usually $1 a cd, but if you buy in 100's, it drops to like $0.40-$0.60/per disc. Also, when you print a cover, do it on basic paper to save on cost, and just cut out a basic one-sided, two page cd cover case sized print out. For cases - I buy the slim cases, cause 1) They slimmer. lol, Hence lighter weight, and 2) they fill a smaller capacity in something like a box or backpack. Also bulk buy your cases - I found some DOPE clear ones at Best Buy for like 60 for $29.99.

OR



Step 2: Get someone to design a decent cover for free. DON'T WASTE MONEY ON THIS. It takes like 5 minutes for a decent graphix head to throw one together with your pic, a track listing, and your contact info on there. And YES, include your email, website (if available) & phone #, cause I find all kinds of contacts through sales. Colab artists, producers who want to help out or are unknown and CHEAP, etc. Don't be narrow minded thinking that ONLY a A&R gon pick this up, but look at all the possible outlets.

Step 3: Get a decent product. - You prolly gon end up demo'ing a few songs for most cats before they buy, and if your stuffs weak, they aint gon buy a thing. So if you HAVE to use your $5 cpu mic (which I did before I got with RRR) make sure you spend time on learning some decent recording techniques, and mixing techniques.

STEP 4: Mass produce. Ain't nothin worse, then hitting a hot spot for selling, and having like 3 cds on you. Backpacks work good. Their mobile, and you can fit 100-130 cds in there. I stack mine in 10's, with a elastic band around em, so I can keep track of how many I'm moving. (And their easier to pack, carry, stack, etc)

STEP 5: Price your stuff. Know that it cost you like $1/each TOPS to make this thing, case, cd, & cover. Its a basic demo. Everything above that is profit. If it was a slow sellin area/time - I'd lower the price to $5, or $7. Most cats will blow $5 easy, but remember - if you up it to $7, thats 2 extra discs you can re-up. If its a hot spot, you better be sellin at $10 to maximize opportunity. Every extra dollar counts, but don't over price your product.

STEP 6: Hit the streets... HARD. I found the first couple of times out - I sold like 2, 3, maybe 4 cds. Got me discouraged until I found a hotspot and sold like 25. Stay tryin to find new places, or goin to hot spots at different times to find the right crowd. Right place, right time = $$$.

STEP 7: Basic Marketing. I used my old discman, and headphones, and let cats peep a track or two. (Don't waste time on some cat peepin the whole album, only to hear him/her say "I ain't got no money" :cussing: )Dooms used a boombox, and thats jus as good, i jus find it less mobile. I hit malls, the movies, hip hop shows, arcades, theme parks, and any event that relates. (For me - any aboriginal function works - they'll support any native hustlin... I got 40 yr old ladies buyin my mixtape for they kids lol) For most cats - any hip hop related event is good. Make sure you slang before the event, cause cats come with mad cash to blow on chicks or drinks, and a extra $5-10 ain't no thing. After the shows - half the cats are broke. lol. Any place where people are spendin money is good. I usually end up jus walkin around sayin "Support local hip hop" and all kinds of people come up to me wantin to know whats goin on. They peep a track or two, I tell em who I am and what I do, and then get em on the sale pitch. (Smooth talkin ladies DOES work, don't forget ugly chicks never get attention LOL)

Granted: I prolly moved half those mixtapes at shows, BUT - the other 1000 were jus me slangin at those spots on my free time. (Which I don't have alot)

what DOESN'T work:

1) Wasting mad money on design work, that cats dont care about. Honestly - when I see a cat in the mall hustlin - I usually always support em, given they have a good sound. When I buy one - I already know I jus dropped $5-10 for a BURNED cd, so it doesn't matter how flossy that sheet of paper with the track listing is, its how good or weak the product inside is.

2) Wasting money on recording in a pro studio. PLEASE. Most studios are like $50-$100/hr, and I would say - if you record like me, you gon need between 15-20 hours to put together a 10-15 track demo/LP/mixtape. DO IT YOUR DAMN SELF - IT AINT HARD. I would recommend upgrading to a decent mic and preamp for max $250 off the top. Use some jacked program like Cool Edit, and learn the features of it even tho its basic.

3) Thinking that you don't need to spend HOURS slanging. It doesn't all come in a rush, and if you gotta waste a Saturday afternoon and night slanging product, realize - 15 minutes in the parking lot will NOT get you mad dough.

There's prolly mad more tips, and I might edit this, but thats it off the top. Your basic DO's and DON'T's to makin n slangin a demo. word.

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Some pics:









Good luck slangin', I'll edit this if I missed anything.

nice Phenom

shud be stickied




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ok
so, I got my own mixtape comin out
its not just me on it though

but anyway, my question is
I shouldnt waste my money on gettin the disc specifially made?
I just stick to the sharpie?

it IS sharpied.... I bought those discs with the white background for $49.99 for a 100 pack at Best Buy.

Im sayin
should I do that too?
cos I want the disc specifically made, but I dont know how much that shit goin cost

If you press a cd in Canada - its about $1200 for your first 500, and the prices usually get cheaper the more you press. (I have a connection at that price through our distribution company - I have no idea what it costs if you just call them up, probably $2000+). Ours come with a 4 pg colour insert.

OR - burn your own @ $250-$500 for 500 copies.

I dunno if that helps...

Imma def. use that blade to cut out those labels cuz scissors are NOT happening

DAYUM!
I dont have the much money to waste.
what you mean by "burn your own"?

regardless though, now that you've told me that, I might as well just take a sharpie to my shit too
even though I really DIDNT WANT TO DO THAT..

Word...

I was spendin mad cash on that fuckin disc stomper shit...this looks way cheaper.

A'yo, Phenom, I'll get some CD's and we'll go slangin when I come down. :D

and that "blade" is called an X-Acto knife

I don't think mine looks that bad. And if its burnt - its burnt. Not much you can do to gloss it up LOL. But at 1/8th the cost, it worked for me. I can afford to press NOW, but most people can't when they start out, or are simply looking for the cheapest way to do things.

ps - q - that razor pen is like the SHIZ. I can cut soooo fast, and so clean with that compared to scizzors, it aint even funny.

xacto-knife, yea man. Staples in Canada has a name brand called "Razor Pen", so thats what I call em.... :\

that razor pen is the shit...imma jack sum from the art department at my school..and thanks for the help...I apreciate that...werd...

.........................................

updated with Dooms' comment....

good stuff man....im DEFINITELY gonna use these tips when mine and black magiks mixtape is done...thanks a lot

This will help me out, but I got lots of time before I start slangin ya know.

props

damn, that's some good shit yo. props on that..

Yea man... Jus tryin to help cats out who finally got some music together and are like "Now what". More on the 'bring dough in' tip, then on the 'get me signed' tip. But, I hope this still helps.

ayo, ima soon have a mixtape out, its only gonna have 7 songs n im sellin it fo $5, im not all done it yet tho, ive bin takin a burnt cd of a couple o fmy songs 2 skool n lettin ppl listen 2 it, n i have so fucking many people that wanna buy my mixtape wen its dun. i got a 50 blank cd thingy fo christmas last year n i still got a bunch of those, so ima use them, n ima buy sum slim cases, at future shop here theyre like 100 fo $30 i think. n then wen im outta blank cds ima just buy a 50 or 100 pack of them. n plus christmas iz soon, so ima ask fo sum blank cds n all that shit. so it wont cost me az much. i bought a bunch them cd labels n frunt covers, got my spicca J-Moeny 2 design me a cover n shit, tried 2 keep alot of white 2 save ink. same wif tha cd label. 1 of tha best thangs fo me iz that im really popular, like pwoplw come up actin like they all koo wif me n shit n i dotn even knoe theyre name, LOL, so yeah, sooo many people want a copy, so ima prolly make a nice lil stack of green, u know. n im just burnin them off myself, n fo tha 1st lil wile ima prolly listen 2 each cd 2 make sho it burnt right n shit, u know. n its dope that im popular n shit cuz so many people i know want it, but they got frends that i dontknow that will hear it n prolly want a opy, so this iz gon b dope az fuck, werd

one this homo aint tell you nothing i aint already tell you and 2000 c.ds lmfao kid your a joke i sold 3000 of the a.i c.d alone.lastly this definatly should not be stickeyed for the simple fact the kid dont know what hes talking bout.you sold 2000 c.ds and did 40 shows meaning you sold 50 at every show meaning your shows are small and insignificant or you just suck id say both combined.at any show in nyc youll sell between 200-400 c.ds easy if you got a 1000 seat or better music hall rented out and make a good 5 dalllors a person as well.maybe thats why i got my own studio now and phenom is still recording in his no name labels studio:/anyways in nyc or d.c where q is from or any other big area if you walk around saying support local hip hop like a idiot you aint selling shit and doomsgay has to co sign that.theres a million people in our citys unlike the 20 in candas theres mad people for years now who been selling garbage ass music and noone is buying your shit without hearing it and noone is letting you put no damn headphones on them its too personal and strangers will be turned away by it not even saying the potential customers youll lose in the time.as for the radio thing also dont work people on every fucking corner in manhatten do that every day just walk down 42nd street.do either of those and expect to sell 100 c.ds in 10 hours.thats a whole 10 c.ds a hour!!!!idiots basically do what i said and youll be good aint no other good way to do it.the c.d buying shit is something anyone knows and aint say nothing slick that the averge 8 year old wouldnt figure out.

lol @ 12,000 posts listed as an accomplishment.

nice shiot phenom.. you helped me alot with this... so i can just burn cd's through my cd burner on the comp instead of getting em proffsionally done?

i love you phenom and dooms in a totally non-homosexual way.....this definitly should be stickied.

^^when people say shit like that, it makes me wonder just how NON-homosexual they really are...

go figure

Cali is officially on BLOCK...

nigga gonna IM me at 5:00AM on some hatin shit

I told him I was workin on my mixtape, to which he said "Oh ur serious huh; don't get ya hopes up; you won't be that successful"

^^NOW...call me crazy...BUT, wasn't he tryna give me "advice" in this thread?

pssf...

I see why I never liked the bitch


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^q you are a complete idiot if you didnt block me you wouldve got the rest of the sentence i was typing.i said you wont be successfull really quick it takes time to build a rep and name and thats how you sell c.ds.jesus fucking fags are so touchy since they got let in the army:/

i dont even got plans on recording AT THIS MOMENT
but this was so good i printed it out and should it to some co workers who rhyme too
good job on this

CALI.. on a serious note... you are retarded

renting a place out to do a show yourself e.t.c causes so many problems.

for starters, theres money to rent the place(that could cost alot, depends on size and what the owner/manager is like), then theres money for a DJ for the night and any other acts/entertainment u might put on to entertain the crowed.

then theres the fact, your totally un-known, so why wud ppl turn up?? therefore meaning you need to get a DJ or an act that is EXTREMELY HIGHLY respected in order to pull in the numbers(now your talking about a shit load of money that your not guaranteed to get back)

and thats before you get flyers and posters designed, and then printed.

then after all that.... you have to spend HOURS per day promoting it(whilst trying to get your CD's ready to sell e.t.c e.t.c).... this basically creates extra work piled on top of all the work you allready have to do in preperation for hustling your CD.

and whilst your spending all this un-necisary money and wasting all this time... your far from guaranteed to make ur money back nevermind any profit... and your wasting time promoting when ur far from guaranteed it will pay off when u could have spent that time doin sumthin way more constructive.

and dont come at me with "ive done this, ive done that, what do u do??" type shit.

cos for starters, ive done event promotion, ive had my own nights at night clubs, i am good friends with many people who promote for a living now...

but to put all this in short.

your best bet is approaching promoters n givin them demo's or spittin there n then for them or whatever and trying to get on the bill of an event thats allready respected.... C.A.L.I = RV's wackest and biggest wannabe.

he must be talkin shit bout his sales, cos i never knew people paid for music that was a million miles off beat

cali who? kid - you have never done ONE show, and you don't have a studio. I've never heard any, one, kid front as much as you, seriously. If you even rapped for one person - post a pic, or something dog. For real. If you sold 3000 cds, gimme a list of buyers who gave you feed on it. I can't believe you even gave 10 away, let alone sold 3000. For real kid, you are the FAKEST kid on the net. word.

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Damn. I'm not even nvolved and even MY feelings are hurt from reading that one, lmao

Damn, I love the simplicity of your mixtape cover so much I'm gonna rob it form the guy that robbed it fomr the guy that robbed it from someone else. Just on hard stock and a lil more :ahem: manly. >: D

I don't even like the cover of Vol. 2. haha. But my boy made it in a rush one night before we flew out of town for a show so I could burn a bunch of new mixtapes... I think he made it all white so I didn't waste his ink in his printer :( LMAO. But yea, i just stuck with it.... cause honestly... I can't do graphix at all :(

Good post Phenom, some good info for them backpackin hustlas...

When I was at Micheal's (which is a craft store lol) wit wifey I saw that mat, and got to thinkin...I decided to try it out, since like everyone else I'm sick of doin the scissors thing...lol

I ain't got that kinda time to sit there and burn and cut out covers...sheeeet

Well, glad the blade and mat worked for ya...And it wasn't too expensive either, altogether the mat and blade were about $20. Since I bought it at a craft store, prices are gon be a little higher...But worth it. When you think about it, when you slang a CD which is worth $1.00 or so in materials for $10.00 its all worth it. You could prolly get the same deal at a dollar store or somethin. An Exacto-Knife (box-cutter) and a smooth flat surface will do the same job too.

Remember its not what you earn, its what you keep. You gotta spend a little $ here and there to make things efficient for your hustle.

OTHER TIPS:
If you don't want to use a sharpie - print off small mailing labels from your inkjet printer. Those work great. You can include your contact info and album title on there. Not everyone has a CD burner with disc-printing capabilities, and this does a better job then a sharpie. Plus you get like 40-50 labels to a sheet so it ain't gonna kill your ink. Burn em ahead of time if that helps.

COVERS
Make the designs simple. The covers you see of Phenom's mixtape, I designed it with a purpose. Not to do a full color cover, but simple enough so that it ain't gonna use up all my ink to print them off. You know ink cartridges ain't cheap! Rock em til the wheels fall off....

What I do sometimes is design the cover the way I want it, then take it to a Staples and get crazy black n white copies made for cheap. Or take it into my work and photocopy em there. You can also buy glossy paper and print em off at home in full color, up to you. I do that for special occasions lol....

Hope that helps dudes....

ILL

Thats maaaad hate phenom...jk

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate that shit :thumbup:™

I print in "Economical" mode


uses less ink