Achickwitbeatz presents ⁠the Instrumental Intel podcast⁠, bringing you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news & tips, insights & interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm EST on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠.
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Instrumental Intel Podcast

Achickwitbeatz brings you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news, insights, interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm ET on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio,⁠⁠⁠ Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠, and your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript Generated by Riverside

00:00
Hey, thank you so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz, and I'm glad that you've joined me today. I got another episode that's got music industry news, instrumentals by me for your inspiration, and later my special guests, Fabian James of Going In Radio is coming to join me. We're gonna talk about amplifying indie artists via creative network strategies, radio exposure, and more. So it's going to be a great time. I'm really excited to be bringing this to you.

00:28
And of course, before I go ahead and drop this first beat, I gotta give a shout out to my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And with that, let's go.

[BEAT BREAK]

10:50
Alright, I'm back with the music biz brief as promised. First up, a US federal court has denied Musi's request to force Apple to reinstate its app on the App Store, ruling that Apple acted within its rights when removing it. Musi was delisted following complaints from YouTube and music industry groups who accused it of scurrying copyright rules. While existing users can still access the app, new downloads will remain blocked, putting Musi's future at risk.

11:16
The case is ongoing with Apple expected to seek dismissal of Musi's claims. And I'll be sure to keep you posted on that. If you do recall, Musi was actually providing a way for people to be able to listen to music across YouTube and other platforms for free. And of course, creators need to get paid for their work, so we'll see what happens with that. Alright, next up, Save the Music is officially going independent as Paramount Global ends its financial support after nearly 30 years.

11:44
The non-profit was known for its efforts to fund music education in public schools, and it has now launched a $10 million endowment to sustain its mission. While Save the Music once relied on high-profile TV moments, it now focuses on long-term community investments. With major donors like Amazon, TikTok, and Mackenzie Scott, nearly $4 million has already been raised.

12:06
Next, HYBE's fan platform Weverse hit 150 million downloads in 2024, with artist communities growing 30% year over year. The platform saw global user growth of 19%, fueled by new artist additions like Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa. Fans posted 370 million times, and Weverse livestreams amassed 426 million views, with Jungkook's broadcast leading at 23 million real-time views.

12:33
Merchandise sales rose 13% to 20.6 million items, while Weverse introduced new digital membership tiers priced at $2-4 per month. Hive sees growing competition in the superfan space as a positive for expanding the market. Okay and a new report from the Canadian Live Music Association highlights a concerning trend for the industry. Budget conscious fans are becoming more selective about shows and spending less at venues.

13:00
Rising ticket prices for major acts are leaving less room for smaller events, while younger audiences are drinking less, which is cutting into venue revenues. Last-minute ticket buying also adds unpredictability. Despite these challenges, Canada hosted nearly 19,000 live music events in 2023, contributing $10.92 billion to GDP. Some independent artists are adapting by scaling down touring costs, emphasizing the need for industry-wide collaboration and support.

13:29
Music tech startup Even is making waves in the super fan space, helping artists blend chat, commerce, and content. The CEO shared insights from J. Cole's recent campaign on the platform, which let fans pay at least $10 for access to his inevitable podcast and exclusive chat rooms where Cole himself occasionally joined the conversation. The platform also powered a presale for his Madison Square Garden show.

13:53
selling out 150,000 tickets in 15 minutes and hosted a live stream for over 70,000 fans. Even partnered with Interscope for a 10th anniversary edition of Forrest Hills Drive, giving fans a direct buying experience while leveraging traditional distribution channels. The CEO also emphasized that direct-to-fan engagement isn't replacing streaming, but complementing it, building stronger artist-fan connections while boosting overall consumption.

14:20
Alright next, Spotify's campaign kit is a new set of tools designed to help artists grow, reactivate, and engage listeners.

14:27
but it also serves to keep independent artists fueling the platform's economy. Features like Playlist, Pitching, Discovery Mode, Marquee, and Showcase are marketed as ways to deepen fan connections, boost streams, and increase album sales. While it offers valuable resources to increase visibility, it's important to note that these tools further integrate artists into Spotify's ecosystem, ensuring continuous content and revenue flow for the platform.

14:52
So it's just something to consider while you're making your choices for what you choose to put your money in as far as Spotify is concerned. And speaking of their revenue, their fourth quarter of 2024 results show significant growth with its global premium subscriber base hitting 263 million, a rise of 11% year over year. The company also reported its first full year of operating profit reaching 1.4 billion euros, which is 1.5 billion dollars.

15:21
Monthly active users grew by 12% year-over-year to 675 million, fueled by competition shifts and regional growth, especially in Latin America. Premium revenue rose 19% year-over-year to 3.7 billion euros, driven by both subscriber growth and increased average revenue per user, or ARPU for short. Despite ad-supported revenue growing 6%, Spotify's profitability is still closely tied to its premium subscription model.

15:51
The National Music Publishers Association, or the NMPA for short, has launched a major takedown action against Spotify, accusing the platform of ignoring widespread copyright violations in its hosted podcasts. The initial wave targets over 2,500 infringements, with more takedowns to follow.

16:10
The NMPA claims Spotify has long been aware of unlicensed music in podcasts, but failed to act. Spotify dismissed the move as a press stunt and said it will remove content where appropriate. So this latest dispute adds to the ongoing tensions between Spotify and publishers over songwriter compensation and licensing practices. And there's a little bit more on that coming later. Alright, next up, a recent US court ruling could have major implications for songwriters reclaiming rights to their music.

16:39
A Louisiana judge ruled that songwriter Cyril E. Vetter fully regained worldwide rights to his 1962 song, Double Shot of My Baby's Love, after exercising his termination rights under U.S. copyright law. Traditionally, industry convention held that termination rights only applied within the U.S., allowing publishers to retain control elsewhere. If upheld, this ruling could allow songwriters to reclaim global rights.

17:04
disrupting long-standing publishing practices and potentially shifting significant revenue back to creators, which is always a good thing. Alright, these final bits of news all have to do with Warner Music Group. First up, they acquired a controlling stake in Temple Music Investments, valuing the catalog focus company at over $450 million. Former owner Providence Equity Partners retains a minority stake.

17:29
Tempo's catalog includes works tied to artists like Wiz Khalifa, with many songwriters also signed to Warner Chappell. This marks Warner's largest acquisition under CEO Robert Kinkel and signals a focus on music IP ownership. Warner sees the deal as a strategic expansion of its administration and distribution reach, boosting long-term revenue. Also, as promised, the more on that later, is Warner Music Group and Spotify have signed a new multi-year licensing deal.

17:57
that overrides Spotify's controversial bundling payment structure, which previously cut mechanical royalties for songwriters in the US. This follows a similar agreement between Universal Music Group and Spotify last month. The deal includes expanded direct licensing with Warner Chappell Music and promises new fan experiences, subscription tiers, and content bundles. Warner says the agreement is a step toward better alignment with rights holders and streaming platforms aiming to increase music's value and industry innovation.

18:26
And finally, Warner Music Group and Audio Mac have expanded their licensing deal to 47 new countries, including parts of Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. Originally covering the U.S., Canada, and select African nations, the deal now extends to markets like the UK, Germany, Mexico, and the UAE. Audio Mac, a key player in the Afrobeats rise, aims to boost global music discovery while Warner Music Group sees the partnership as a way to connect artists with fans worldwide.

18:54
Alright and that's all for the music biz brief. I'm gonna take a quick pause for the cause and then I'll be back with my special guest, Fabian James, right after this. Keep it locked.

[BEAT BREAK]

24:36
Hey, I'm Achickwitbeatz, multi-genre music producer and strategist to indie artists and labels. Visit achickwitbeatz.com for resources for artists and instrumentals in various genres available for songs, blogs, blogs, podcasts, themes, TV, film, commercials, and more. Once again, that's achickwitbeatz.com. That's A-C-H-I-C-K-W-I-T-B-E-A-T-Z.com Let's make something happen.

25:28
Thank you so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm excited, thrilled, and delighted to say that I have back with me in the virtual building today, Fabian James. I need to say, like we already had this conversation and something went terribly wrong. So we're about to do it again, but this man is so gracious that he let me go ahead and run it back.

25:53
So if you could, real quick, just kind of give the people who may have missed you the first time around on Instrumental Intel, but give them a little bit of background as to who you are and what it is you do. Yes, ma'am. First off, salutations and good afternoon to all the kings and queens out there. Happy Black History Month. Want to give a shout out of that first. We're in the first day of this month. A lot of our...

26:19
you know, ancestors and you know what I'm saying, people of color have done such amazing things and this is the whole month for us to celebrate that. So I want to definitely do that first. But yeah, Grammy nominated, billboard charted singer, songwriter, producer, arranger. I'm kind of scared to say producer cause I'm being interviewed by, you know what I'm saying, the first player producer. So I don't want to, you know what I'm saying, I don't want to act like I'm competing with her cause I'm actually not when it comes to that, but yeah, absolutely.

26:45
uh, manager extraordinaire, uh, DDS management, and also the co-owner of a new radio station that's, uh, that's been going on for about a month now, uh, Going In Radio, uh, which I co-owned with, uh, my business partner, Tiggs Maddie. Oh, right. Well, you know, since that's the most recent thing that's kind of new since we've talked, um, specifically that people might know about, could you kind of give a little bit of background as into Going In Radio, how you got started with it and what you're trying to accomplish?

27:15
Yes, absolutely. Well, Going In Radio was, it was a brainchild that was brought upon by my business partner, Tigmatic. Me and him was both with a situation with another radio station. I don't want to mention the name, but they kind of played us, you know, so to speak, on some things and whatnot. They sold us some dreams and and it came out to be something other than that. So when we got from up under that situation, Tigmatic brought it to my attention that, you know,

27:44
He came up with this idea, like, you know, Fabe, you know, with your connections and the people that you know, the people that you talk to on a daily and the people that I talk to and the people that I've met in my time of doing my podcast show, why don't we just put our heads together, pause, and start a radio station? So I was like, you know, I got to sleep on a little bit. I got to, you know, kind of, cause I got a lot going on, you know what I'm saying? I'm not trying to brag, you know, I'm blessed, but at the same time, you know, radio station is a big responsibility and I wanted to be sure that

28:14
That was a weight I could carry. So I told him, you know, I'll sleep on it, meditate on it, pray on it, which is what I do with everything that I do. And of course talk to my wife about it before I make the decision. Because you know, she's the ultimate boss lady, you know what I'm saying? So I gotta run things past her before I say yeah or anything, yeah. I would say, roughly like the next day, like four in the morning, I called him and told him let's do it. So we started putting the progress through.

28:40
You know, got the logo and everything, kind of set everything up. Like I say, this has been going on for about a month now. So we're doing pretty good with it. We're doing pretty good. Where our listeners is going. Uh, as of the last time I checked analytics on Thursday, uh, our listeners has went up 444%. Ooh, that's incredible. Congratulations. And also we have a listeners that's coming in from Alaska and Canada.

29:06
Uh, and you know other places too, but of course being where Alaska is and Canada is That's kind of big for us because that means that You know, it's our our reach is kind of expanding a little bit. So We're kind of uh, you know, we're definitely proud about that all the other places in cities and you know states within the united states is listening to us we appreciate you salute to each and every one of y'all, but

29:29
When you hear about certain places that didn't tune into our show, even as far as song or two, that's huge for us. Because that shows progress. And for us to be about 30, 31 days into it, that's a lot of progress. So when you're a child of God, he protects his children. So that's what that's all about. Yeah, that is incredible. So okay, as you know, most of the people that listen to the podcast are involved with music in some way, shape or form, some form of creators. And so-

29:58
for anybody that's thinking, okay, how can I be on? Are you accepting any submissions? What advice do you have for them and how can they possibly do that? Absolutely. As of right now, and I don't know how long we're gonna be doing this, Queen. I can't lie to you, so I don't wanna give you a date and then have to fall back on it because I hate to give out false dates and stuff like that. But right now we're doing free submissions.

30:25
For any music, either clean or dirty, you can send it in to our email address. Going in radio365 at gmail.com and also in the caption because of the fact I like to give credit to what creditors do. If you're sending your music in because of the fact you listened to this podcast and you heard this interview, please put that in the caption so I can know, so I can let Queen know that you know, okay, it's because of you that this artist is on and they had this excellent music that's on the radio station and we're playing it right now. We got a regular rotation.

30:53
Also, I would strongly advise for everybody to send their music in. Make sure all your music is registered. So that way you can get, you know what I'm saying, what you need from the, from the spans and stuff like that, because it's not just about people hearing your music, you also want to collect what you need to collect off of, off your creativity. So you don't want to do anything unless you're agreeing to do something for charity purposes or what have you.

31:15
And in a lot of cases, a lot of people take advantage of that, but that's a different story for a different day. But, you know, whenever you're doing something creative or whenever you're doing anything, you want to be properly compensated for it. So just make sure it's that. But definitely sing your music in. We'll listen to it. We'll let you know what we think about it. We'll spin it. And like I said, we're not quite sure how long we're going to be doing it free, but we're doing it right now. So that's also our way of introducing ourselves, but also saying thank you to the artists for trusting us to sing your music to us for us to play.

31:43
So that's the reason why we're doing it right now. Yes. Are there specific genres that you're kind of highlighting right now? We're looking for everything. Gospel music, jazz music. I had to kind of go back and forth a little bit with my business partner about it because I'm a big rock fan as well. My favorite all time rock group is Queen. So you know, anything that got Freddie Mercury on it, I'm playing it. I had no idea. That's awesome. Yeah, I love Queen. I...

32:12
Queen, when Bohemian Rhapsody dropped in the movies, I was the first one there. I had my popcorn and my cherry Pepsi. I was ready. Because I already knew that was gonna be an excellent movie. When they won the award, my wife thought I was going crazy when they named my man to win the award for the film.

32:32
Oscar award for that because I I knew how beautiful that movie is and I got extra excited when I heard that they're making a sequel to That movie. Oh, no, I didn't hear that. Yeah, it's gonna be following Freddie Mercury's last days Basically directly after the move the first one Yeah, basically his his last few days and when he succumbed to uh, you know to the disease that he had or whatever Yeah, so they're working on that now. Okay. No, I didn't know that and yeah, that was a phenomenal film

32:59
Great movie, great movie, great movie. Phenomenal band. So yeah, I feel you on that. So talented. Yeah. So you accept the sum of everything right now. That's awesome because it's a lot of the listeners kind of do a little bit of everything. You know, kind of eclectic. So yeah, even I guess in general, even if it's not specifically for your station, but since you now own a station, do you have some advice on some do's and don'ts when artists submit music in general?

33:29
Well, we're only doing it because as of right now, we're not affiliated with anybody, but within the next, like, I would say like within the next 90 days, we'll be affiliated with our radio, so we won't be able to accept any music with any profanity on it. But that's bringing me exactly to my point. When you submit music to radio stations, you don't wanna have any kind of profanity in it at any point in time. They will not listen to your music.

33:54
If they hear it, they're going to stop it. They're not going to play it. And a lot of them not even let you know the reason why they're not playing it. They're just not going to play it. So you want to make sure that all your music is clean. You want to when you go into the studio or you record. And I know and I tell my artists this. So trust me, this isn't, you know, something I'm just telling you. I tell my artists to when you go into the studio or record something. I get it. You want to get everything off your brain on the record. But at the same time, have that engineer figure out some some alternative words for them curse words or.

34:21
figure out some creative way for it to be kind of hedged out or whatnot. Just make sure that you have a radio edit before you leave out of that studio. After the mixing and mastering is done, make sure you have radio edits for it. And also for those artists, me and Queen kind of talked about this off, you know, off the interview, but how people feel like that the DJs is a dying art. And I want to say to that, I don't know what fool told y'all that. Because the DJs are still the medium between

34:50
are artists in the industry. Because DJ's still breaking records out here. I managed a DJ for six years. DJ Reese, shout out to my boy DJ Reese, the official DJ for Lil Durk and Tink. He broke Lil Durk's record. L's up, you know what I'm saying? So he broke his record in the club. And you know, I'm not gonna necessarily say he was 1000% directly.

35:16
the reason why Dirk broke, you know what I'm saying, became the artist that he became. And you know what I'm saying, free little Dirk till his backwards. I know he going through some time right now, he's definitely in my thoughts and prayers. I met that brother a couple of times. Very good brother, very good brother. But at the same time, if it wasn't for Reese playing his music, a lot of people wouldn't have got up on it. And he wouldn't have gained the momentum that he gained. So a DJ is a vessel. Anything that deals with the music, you have to, the DJs, the podcast, the radio.

35:45
Hosted radio station stuff like that. All of those are what you call a voltron. It all creates one big thing So you have to utilize those to example now Just hate this this microwave age that we in where people want to just go straight to something They don't want to fit in the work. I share a person that says that the DJ isn't Is a dying art form. That's because the fact that y'all lazy and y'all don't want to do the footwork Because that's that's what it's all about. You know ingratiate yourselves with the DJs go to these places

36:12
where you know your favorite DJ is gonna be at. Introduce yourself to them and grace yourself to them. Because one thing I know for a fact about a DJ, because I manage one, they don't like when you just run up on them and just push music in their face. Because that makes them feel like they're a machine. Play my record. And that DJs, you gotta, I know this is gonna sound kind of crazy, but it's kind of right on time, given the fact we're in the month of Valentine's Day.

36:36
You gotta, you know, you gotta date him a little bit. You gotta talk to him a little bit. You know how you're doing, DJ? How's it going? You again? Yeah, you saw me the last three places you was at. Yeah, how you doing? I'm actually an artist. I actually have some music to submit to you. Do you mind giving me your email address or your social media or your IG? You know what I'm saying? So you gotta do that. You gotta put the work in. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience. I know how this works.

37:04
Because the DJ will take your music from them and they won't play it. So that's what I'm saying. Like you're kind of at the mercy of the DJ, but you ingratiate yourself with them. They understand how this goes. They understand what this is about. But if you're showing gratitude and appreciation to them, a lot of them will do more good for you than bad. So never eliminate anything in the conquest of you getting to the Grammys. Cause that's what a lot of people want to do. Uh, they want to be there. They want their music to be heard. They want the music to be.

37:29
you know, uh, move to that, you know, they, they, they want their music to be touched by in order for you to do that, you have to follow the proper steps in order to do that. Yeah. I mean, that's an excellent point. DJs are so important to music culture. And I think that the people who feel like it's a dying art form, they're only watching what they've seen, like on mainstream where they show, um,

37:52
You know, I don't want to call anybody out in particular, but the person who messed up at Coachella that one time was like one of those major festivals. So yeah, if you just see somebody with their hands up in the air and you think that that's what everybody's doing, then of course you're going to think that. But like you said, you got to get out there. Um, there's so much more than on social media. So to actually be making those contacts in person, you can actually see how rich that is. And yeah.

38:20
Cause I owe a lot to a lot of DJs who have spun my music in places that I've never been. So that's not the reason why I've been in those places where I can see, okay, my son's been Shazam in South Africa or, but that's because of the DJs. I don't know anybody there personally, but the DJs are doing it. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And like you said, DJs go everywhere. DJs get booked everywhere. Like.

38:46
You know, Sean Mack, you know, which is a very good friend of mine here in Chicago, he's world renowned at this point. DJ Sean Mack, he, he get booked to go to Puerto Rico, Cancun. You know, he goes all kinds of different places in DJ. And he, if he plays a lot of his, especially a Chicago artist, he plays a lot of his Chicago artists music while he's all in all these different places. So just like Queen said, can you imagine somebody in a country you've never been?

39:12
people you've never met before, you've never laid eyes on, is hearing something that you created on your own. That's a beautiful feeling, trust me. Trust me, trust me, trust me. I got a Grammy nomination and everybody, I walk past people, walk around people, and I hear certain songs that, you know what I'm saying, that they listen to, that I had a part in being created. And I get emotional sometimes, I'm not gonna lie to you. You know, I'm...

39:37
I'm tougher than tough, but I still have a soft part to me. So I get a little emotional sometimes because it's like, you know, I was part of that process. I still remember being in the studio. I still remember us joking. I still remember us being tired, but we couldn't go to sleep because he wouldn't let us get out of the studio until the song was completed. You know what I'm saying? I, that process, you know, putting the grind in work in and it didn't come overnight. You know, like I said, I'm not going to minister, mention the artist's name on the show, but Queen know who's it is and what not.

40:07
you know he was when it came to music he was very very strict. He was very very strict. A lot of people throw a lot of different names out and all. He was passionate about his music. Very passionate about his music and his music had to be as close to perfect as he possibly could before he would even consider putting it on his record. So imagine the type of hours and the type of

40:31
you know, take one, take 52. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm gonna throw all of y'all outta here, because you know what I'm saying? So you had to go through that, but it's cool if, you know what I'm saying, if you're built for it, you can take it. You know what I'm saying? And you have to understand that it's hard working to it. I'm on a podcast with one of the premier producers that I've ever ran across. And I know for a fact that it took time for her to perfect her craft in order for her to be the type of producer that she is. She didn't just wake up one day. You know what?

41:00
I'm gonna be a producer." Now she had to put work into it. Yeah. That means looking into things, researching things, practicing things. That didn't sound right. Let me do it again. So you gotta put the work in. It's not gonna come overnight. Trust me, this stuff y'all see on social media, it's a facade. Right. And I know a lot of people ain't gonna tell you this. Let me, let Uncle Fay be the people for a thousand with y'all. It's a facade. Well, a lot of stuff that y'all see,

41:27
is a product of a lot of hard work. We just make it look easy. Right. You know, it's so funny that you actually mentioned research because not a lot of people think about that, especially when it comes to production. But that's what I had to do. Like, because I didn't know how to operate a lot of stuff. But I mean, of course, I like pressing buttons and whatnot. So I could figure some stuff out. But most of it, I had to go find it. And yeah, it's, it's, you're right. A lot of people see stuff one way and they

41:57
recognize that they actually have to work to get to the position that they want to be. And that's another reason why I think jealousy is so weird because it's like you can't be mad at somebody for doing the work that you didn't want to do if they're getting the results that you want. You got to go after it and do it. Yeah, it's the jealousy thing because this industry is so... I love it with everything in me, but I love it because of the fact that I love music first and foremost.

42:25
Like, you know, music is, I know a lot of people talk about music, but, and I feel like Queen is like this as well. Music is in me. Like, everything that I do, I have to implement music in it. If I'm cleaning the house, there has to be music on. You know, if I'm going over my emails and text messages, there has to be some music on. You know, when I'm doing this, when I'm doing that, I have to be listening to music. And if music isn't playing, music is in my head. I'm always thinking about ideas, things to write, things to arrange, and stuff like that, which is...

42:53
You know, to some people be like, be like, yeah, you a nerd and stuff like that. But it's like when it's in you, it never leaves you. It's always there with you. But you know, it's also something that has to be developed as well. You know, I graduated from Columbia college, you know, uh, uh, vocal performance and, and, and business management, you know, I had a pit in a lot of groundwork. That was a lot of shows that I did that I didn't get paid for. Uh, there was a lot of background gigs that I didn't do that. I didn't get compensated for it, but, but just the exposure purpose and just meeting people. You know, so.

43:22
You gotta put in a lot of work and you know, everything ain't gonna be all ain't gonna be an automatic You know gratitude or compensation for but you have to understand that you're always taking steps forward no matter what you do You just have to continue to do it and you can't you can't give up on you Can't be i'm tired of doing this and stuff like that. It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be a lot of dark days Yeah, and there's gonna be a lot of lonely nights, but trust me, you know you get out of this what you put into it. So Yeah

43:52
Speaking of advice, so you mentioned that you're accepting all types of genres, but as far as songs go, you know, we kind of talked about this ahead of the interview. But for people who are thinking maybe you're looking for a trending sound or what's popular in mainstream music, what do you have to say to that? The best advice I can give you is, and this isn't a flex.

44:19
I just want to put that out there as the caveat before I go into this. I had a conversation with a young lady who some of y'all may know, y'all may not know, but she may not be all that big to some of y'all, but Ms. Sylvia Rome, who is the CEO and owner of RCA Records. She's a legend in the music industry. And she told me when I submitted some information to her about one of the artists that I was plugging, she was like, you know, Fabe, this sounds pretty good. I like what you're doing. I like how you go about doing it.

44:49
Uh, you know, you come very highly recommended from the person that introduced me to you. So you're doing a good thing, but to be dead honest with you, I have tunnel vision right now, so right now, my only focus is on Travis Scott and the reason why my focus is on Travis Scott, even though I have a lot of other artists on this record label is because not only is he a multi-talented, you know, saying lyricist and producer, he don't sound like nobody else that I hear out here. So I know everybody come out here and that, you know,

45:18
Chris Brown is killing it right now. He's doing his thing. That residuals album, that residuals single that he has is phenomenal. You know, you hear a lot of these different artists that's out here doing something, but I'll tell you something. The record labels isn't looking for the next. They're looking for the first. They're still looking for the first. So you trying to sound like him, you trying to, you know, sound like Trey Songz, you trying to sound like Summer Walker, that's not gonna work for you. They already have them.

45:47
So what they're looking for is a first version of you. So here's a few things that Uncle Faye will pass on to y'all. And like I say, usually I charge for this type of advice, but because of the fact I'm on my family show, I love her so much. I appreciate it. Much gratitude to her having me back on. This is my second time on this show. Hopefully the second of many other times that I'll be back on the show, because I got a lot of stuff to say. But we'll just keep it in this pocket right now. I've had labels tell me this as well. It's always best for you. When you're writing,

46:17
to have multiple songwriters in a room together, create with other people. So instead of just one songwriter, let it be a group of songwriters, let it be a creative. And by me being an old school guy, what I relate that to when a person from the label told me that was, and of course I'm showing my age in this because this was back in the early 90s, the swing mob. A lot of people not familiar with the swing mob, but the swing mob consisted of DeVante Swing, Timbaland, Missy Elliott, Ginuine.

46:47
Now you notice all the names that I say, you like, oh, yeah, I know them. They was good solo artists. Yeah. But they came out as a group. DeVante Swing went off and got with Jodeci. You know what I'm saying? Him and his brother got with, with Casey and Jojo and they created Jodeci. G1 went off and did the things he was doing. Missy Elliott. Yeah. She was, you know what I'm saying? All the way. Exactly. Doing features and stuff with people and stuff like that. But then she went off and did her own thing. And we all know what Timmy is doing cause he's still doing it.

47:14
But it all started out as creative and it wasn't necessarily a group. It was just a bunch of creators in a room together making dope hot music. So that's where it comes from. So that's a lot of things that labels would recommend that artists do. Just be a group of y'all in a room together, sitting down and writing things. I have artists that I manage reach out to me for advice on certain things like, you know, how does this note sound with this?

47:41
How does this word play a sign of what it is I'm saying right there? And it gets kind of inconvenient at times because of the fact that I'm so busy doing so many things, but I appreciate the fact that they're doing that because that's what I'm here for. I, you know, I don't do this for personal gratification. I do this because I feel like this is what I was put here to do. I feel like God placed me in these positions. I'm going to get a little religious for a minute, so for those that don't necessarily rock with my creative whatnot, I, you know, I'm not going to be on it too long, but...

48:10
I just feel like this is something I was meant to do. I felt like I was brought here to be a sounding board for the people that don't necessarily know exactly what to do in this industry, know how to do it and know how to be a part of it. So that's my mission here. So it may come across as an inconvenience from time to time because I have so many things going on with me, but at the same time, like I told Queen before we went into this interview, I can't ask the Lord to bless me and then complain about my cup front of home.

48:36
And if you have me as one of your soldiers down here fighting your battle for you, then that's what comes with it. Because at the end of the day, regardless of how tired I get, I'll never get as tired as him and what he had to go through in order for me to be here. So that's, you know. Yeah. And to recognize like he gave you the talents for a reason. Absolutely. Yeah. Accept it. I just saw somebody say earlier, like, you know, I got this. I want to make sure that when I leave, I leave empty.

49:03
You know, you don't want to be sitting on no gifts. Absolutely. Lord, Lord, Lord, you got to, you got to, I want the gas tank to be up under the east side. You feel me? Right? I don't want to take nothing with me when I leave here, you know? So that's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. Reach one, teach one. Yes. And I was taught that in elementary school. So I'm not going to tell my age on here, but that was years, years and years ago. You know what I'm saying?

49:27
Yeah, so okay, you already dropped so many gems and yes, thank you for not charging everybody that you gave. Right, right, right. So yeah, but I also want to say, you know, you had mentioned that about collaborating with songwriters, as far as just writing a song and seeking out collaborators, that's not something that has ever occurred to me. So it's different if like maybe I got a song.

49:54
and I write a little something, then I might say, hey, do you want to hop on this? But as far as actually sitting down writing with someone, that did not occur to me before you said it. And so it's kind of interesting to know that that's what some of the labels are looking for, but it kind of makes sense to have multiple perspectives. So do you have any advice for anybody that might want to take you up on that in how they can seek out collaborators to kind of come up with something different and shake them out of their routine?

50:22
What I would strongly advise is, it sounds a little bit creepy when I first said it, but let me articulate behind it. Stalk people's pages. Stalk other singers and rappers' pages and just kind of... People do it anyway. Exactly. So you might as well have purpose for doing it instead of doing it without no purpose involved with it at all. But yeah, just look at other singers and other people that's kind of in your thing and just kind of hit that DM like, hey look.

50:48
You know, I'm doing this. I see that you're doing that. First of all, man, respect what it is you got going on. Of course, always ingratiate yourself with the people that you're reaching out to. You don't want to come across, you know, because, you know, you, you, you have to be a people person when you're dealing with people. So you have to always keep that in mind. You don't want to just bum rush somebody's DM like somebody DM me early today. Can you manage me? OK, first off, what do you do? You know what I'm saying? So it's like. I'm not necessarily what you would call a people person.

51:17
I'll admit that. I'm a queen already know that, but I'm telling y'all. I'll admit that, but at the same time, I do understand that that has to be part of what it is that I do because of the fact of I'm dealing with a lot of different things. So I have to talk to people. I have to deal with people. I have to answer phone calls. I have to take phone calls. I have to make phone calls, stuff like that. So you just have to just learn how to you have to learn how to read the room. You have to learn how to deal with people. So it's all about your presentation to them, but just, just, you know, just sit down and work with people. And the best advice I can give from it is

51:45
You don't want to necessarily have somebody that you're sitting down writing music with that sounds exactly like you. You want it to be something a little bit different that you're adding to the table. And the example that I would make is, I can't say the name of the album because I don't want to curse on here, but Jacquees and Daze Loaf have their second album that they're working on together. And it's phenomenal. I heard I'm affiliated with Jacquees' management team and I've known Daze Loaf since she first came out. So I was able to get a...

52:14
Again, this isn't a flex. I don't want, because I don't want people to... This dude was on an Instrumental Intel bragging, you know what I'm saying? I don't want it to be that. I'm just blessed. I just... People send me things all the time. You know, music and all kinds of stuff like that. But, shout out to my Scorpio sister, Nicole Carruthers, who's on the management staff with Jacque. So, I'm able to get a lot of his music before it's released.

52:38
i'm able to hear a lot of things he has going on we're going to be a concert like that so that just a connection to the industry whatever but i got all the album and it's phenomenal one of the reasons why i feel like it's phenomenal is because everybody knows who jack we see it they know the type of voice he has he he he's an amazing artist uh... wouldn't give him a moniker king of king are being i think that i was still reserved for somebody else but i do feel like he's definitely making a name for himself in the industry definitely

53:06
What makes the album so phenomenal is the fact that he's bringing what he brings to the table. But Dej Loaf ain't running, she ain't backing, you can tell she didn't back up from him in the studio either. And she's bringing her own spice to it. And she's a dope artist in and of herself. You know what I'm saying? But because of the fact they're so different from each other in the way they bring across the music, that's what makes the music so phenomenal. You know what I'm saying? So I just feel like something like that now.

53:31
Are you a Jacquees that's gonna find a day's loaf out there to do a collaboration with? Probably not. But still, I would not close off the opportunity to work with somebody just because you may feel like they may not necessarily be on the level as you, or you may not necessarily be on the level as them. You never know that. You never know, unless you try. So just work. Just work. Just work on things. Just always put things together. And never just shut things off. If you're writing something...

53:57
Like I have a few artists that reach out to me that's you know writing things They don't know the last bar of their verse because you help me with the idea for the last bar of verse stuff like that Okay, don't delete what you wrote. I can't necessarily come up with nothing for you now, but don't delete it Keep it in your phone So that way you never know why you're out somewhere or whatnot the last verse may come up to you and all of a sudden You have a song that's complete. So always keep notes Always continue to write always a committed continue to be creative and you can get ideas for songs from everywhere

54:26
Like there's I I did is like I did four songs in my mind right now while talking about the only spot But that's because that's all I really do. You know I'm saying I do a lot of other things But I'm an artist first but that's what I was first so, you know come from musical backgrounds all I know is music so I'm an artist first one always thinking of things but and Always jotting things down in my phone. Your iPhone is a handheld computer

54:50
You can always write things in there. It's a notepad in the settings. Write something in the notes, you know what I'm saying? Or one of the icons on your iPhone. Always write notes. That's what I do. I got like a long list of notes of songs from different songs. I just date them, write the lines down to them, close it out, go back to it when I think of something. If I don't, it's cool to steal that when I need to come back to it or doing something. So that's a bit of advice I can give y'all. That's awesome advice. Yeah, there's been times I've been out doing something and

55:19
had to hit the voice memo thing. And I know I probably look crazy in the cars next to me. Like, what is she doing? Like, if I don't get this melody out right now, I'm gonna forget it. So yeah. Man, I do that too. Like, man, oh, Jesus Christ. I know I ain't gonna remember this later on. Let me, I'm in the middle of Walmart too. Everybody looking at something. Da da da da da da. They like, what are you doing? Like, don't pay attention. I'm not crazy. I'm just a musician, okay. Right. Yeah, so yeah.

55:48
It's embarrassing, but trust me, it works in the long run. Trust me on that. Yes, that is excellent advice. And so yeah, once again, I just want to thank you. And before we go ahead and close things out, I want to make sure that people know everything that you've got coming up, where they can get in contact with you, any shout outs for the podcast between you and your partner, all that good stuff. You can share that now. I want to give a special shout out to my business partner, Tate Matic.

56:18
He has his two podcast shows, the Pop Podcast, which deals with mental health issues in the industry, in the music industry, the industry period, athletes. He's had everybody from Cornell West, which was a presidential candidate this past election on there. He's had actually something that we set up. He's actually gonna have Malcolm X's oldest daughter on his show for Black History Month coming up. I think the last week of February. So he has a range of-

56:48
people basically it's about people dealing with mental health some things that they went to it and how they survived it but he also has another podcast that's kind of like a show where you just kind of kick back and just talk your ish so to speak which is called Stirring the Pot and those shows on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Uncle Fabe will be doing a voiceover for the main character of an animated series that's coming to Hulu called Love and Hate

57:13
which is based off a published book by another one of my clients and also the program director of Going In Radio, Ms. Star Singletary. She's turning her book into an animated series. So I am the lead voice actor for a character by the name of Tyrone Robinson. I can't wait. Yeah, it's going to be crazy. So that's a good thing with that. And also, myself and Tigmatic will be introduced as

57:42
affiliates of Roc Nation next month. So that's a big deal. So there's other things with that, but y'all can reach me. Fabian James, DDS on Instagram, Fabo DDS on TikTok, Fabian James on Snapchat, Fabian R. James Senior on Facebook. Anything on social media. I also have a Google panel, so if you punch my name up, Fabian James, DDS, anything in that combination or whatnot, I'll come right up. Y'all can seek me on that.

58:12
Or I'm connected to the email address we're Going In Radio. So again, once again, that's Going In Radio 365 at gmail.com You can send me a message You can see you submit your music in if you want us to give you some comments or some input on it What have you in a caption? Let us know. How did you hear about this? The email address or what not so I like I said and get a credit with credit to do Once again queen. Thank you for having me on the show. Like I say whenever you need me for whatever reason

58:40
You're one of the few people to have my direct line. So feel free to call me, Fabe, you know, I got this going on. You know, I'm right there. Trust me, I'll be there. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. And I appreciate you. Thank you for coming on and sharing all these gems and dropping this free game. And congratulations on everything that you're doing. I mean, I see you grinding and you just always working. And it's really aspirational. So

59:10
It's good to see you doing what you do and helping people that need platforms. And yeah, just salute to you. Hats off, all that good stuff. So yeah, of course you're going to keep doing what you're doing. It's in you, but yeah, I see you and I salute you. Thank you so much, Queen. I appreciate you. Appreciate you. All right. And that's a wrap for this episode of Instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And once again, I'd like to thank you for tuning in. I'd like to thank my special guest.

59:39
Fabian James coming to share his wisdom, knowledge, and information. I'd like to thank my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And you know what? I'm already excited to be coming back next week. I got more goodness lined up for you, so do make sure that you come back. So till next time, you know where to find me. Tune in, tell a friend. I'll see you then. Peace.