Team Building

It’s important to build a good team, no matter what industry you plan on entering.

In the music industry, an artists team usually consists of

• Manager – managers usually have people to handle everything for you.

You can manage yourself if you know what you need to do, but most people don’t so hear is a run down of what you need to do.

• Press Agent/Publicist – raise awarness through media exposure
• Booking Agent – handle your bookings – negotiate fees/rider/accomodation/transportation

Then once you get to a certain level:

• Entertainment Lawyer – to negotiate contract terms & bare witness to any contracts signed
• Accountant – to deal with accounts payable & receivable- invest in ventures – ensure you dont get into debt
• Video/Radio plugger – promote your video or song to local or national stations

In my opinion, if you’re a CEO or Chairman of a company, you should be as low profile as possible. It stops you from getting distracted by other activities such as trying to maintain your own career as an artist or putting yourself before the business, as we saw with No Limit Records & to a certain extent Bad Boy Records.

Jimmy Iovine doesn’t rap. Dame Dash doesn’t rap. Tommy Mottola didn’t rap. In my opinion, I think thats best for the company. If you think about it, only a handful of artist/CEO’s have had success in doing both at the same time.

The CEO should stay away from the camera – that’s how problems occur e.g Murder Inc, Death Row

Examples of successful low profile CEO’s include -

• Ronald Slim Willams of Cash Money
• Bu Thiam of Konvict Musik
• JR Rotem of Beluga Heights
• Demetrius Ellerbee of CTE