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" )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.

1

Some pics:









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

__________________