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

00:02
Hey, thank you so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer Achickwitbeatz, and I'm thrilled that you're here with me. Today's episode has music industry news, instrumentals by me for your inspiration, and later I'll be joined by my special guest, The Glue, founder of TGPR. We're gonna talk a little bit about breaking down PR management and data-driven strategy and so much more, so it's going to be a great time.

00:26
Before I go ahead and drop that first beat, I want to give a shout out to my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And with that, let's go.

00:33
[BEAT BREAK]

10:34
Hey, this is music producer Achickwitbeatz, and you're listening to my podcast Instrumental Intel.

[BEAT BREAK]

16:12
Alright, I'm back with the music biz brief. First up, Universal Music Group's $775 million deal to acquire Downtown Music via Virgin Music Group is moving toward a deeper four-month investigation after Virgin declined to offer remedies during the initial review. Independent music groups across Europe have raised concerns that the merger would give Universal even more control over market access, potentially squeezing out smaller players. The European Commission's full-scale antitrust investigation will begin after July 22nd,

16:41
with the deal still expected to close late this year. Next, over 30 European music creators have launched a campaign urging the EU to enforce strong transparency rules in its AI Act. Passed in 2024, it requires companies to disclose training data and follow copyright law, but creators fear the law's implementation is being watered down. Through the Stay True to the Act website, artists warn that generative AI developers are using their music without consent to train models that mimic their style.

17:09
without compensation or notice. Music trade groups are back in the campaign calling for the EU to uphold its original promise to protect artists' rights. Also, licensing tech company Chordal has launched InstantClear as an API allowing brands and platforms to instantly clear sync licenses without managing rights or legal work. The tool offers three tiers, including a free revenue share option and higher tiers with AI-powered metadata, STEM support, and white labeling.

17:37
The aim is to help more businesses license music properly for social media, as copyright lawsuits like the one facing DSW Shoe Warehouse continue to arise. Next, a new report from investment bank TD Cohen suggests music rights holders may soon have more leverage over Spotify. While Spotify is now worth more than the entire global music rights industry, and that's $177 billion versus $169 billion,

18:02
The analysts argue that this imbalance doesn't make sense since Spotify doesn't own any content. With the platform finally turning a profit, TD Cowen believes major labels like Universal and Warner are now in a stronger position to demand better licensing terms, including guaranteed revenue increases and fewer discounts on publishing payouts. Also, an unredacted version of LyricFind's lawsuit now alleges that Musixmatch and its investor, TPG

18:27
After trying to acquire Lyric Fine in 2023 under an NDA, leaked confidential information to Spotify to gain an edge in pricing and quality. Musixmatch is seeking to dismiss the case, calling it baseless and outside of the California court's jurisdiction, especially regarding its deal with Warner Chappell. LyricFind is challenging that dismissal. And finally, the DOJ's antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster may have gained new momentum with the discovery of the kickback arrangement

18:57
between venue giant Oakview Group and a major ticketing company identified by multiple sources as Ticketmaster. According to a non-prosecution agreement, OVG received $20 million upfront and $7.5 million annually tied to ticket sales in exchange for promoting that ticketing company to venues it managed without disclosing the deal to venue owners. These revelations, uncovered during a broader bid-rigging probe,

19:22
could strengthen the DOJ's argument that Live Nation's influence extends through financial arrangements that limit fair competition in the live music industry. Alright, that's a wrap for this week's music biz brief. I'm gonna take a quick pause for the cause, and then I'll be back with my special guest, The Glue, right after this. Keep it locked!

19:39
[BEAT BREAK]

28:22
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, vlogs, 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.

28:52
Thank you so much for tuning in to instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm thrilled to say that today I have on the line with me, the glue founder of TGPR. If you could please just kind of give everybody an introduction as to who you are and how you got involved with PR, especially for music. Oh man. Thank you so much for having me on your show. You already know I've been a fan of yours for a minute.

29:21
You got a dope thing going on. Salute black sisters doing something positive and actually being kind of innovative and creative and not doing what's really so. Give you back the flowers. Thank you. I've actually only been in PR as a publicist for the last two years. That was just an elevation from kind of being a promo king.

29:51
But I am on my six-year journey of in and out of managing artists, promoting artists, marketing artists. Being an A&R and understanding my career core value of myself is to sympathize with people, and being a

30:21
former promotion, know, co-aligned to me being me and not having to fight or trying to do something that isn't within me. And I think that's one of the reasons why my PR works, because I actually love it. But yeah.

30:40
It's been a journey, but like I said, I've been doing it for going on six years in total, but PR publishing has only been out about two years. And I think I'm actually flourishing, but you know, I'm up and coming at it. I ain't going to be the one to tell you I know everything because I don't. I actually just made an itinerary for all my artists for next year.

31:09
You know, trying to re-evaluate my Instagram form of promotion, even though it's already kind of like not heard of, but also unorthodox. I always try to make it, find different ways to make it fresh and vibrant. But I just found out a different way to kind of up it up a notch. Okay. Wow.

31:37
You kind of shared a whole bunch of knowledge, and I have so many questions. I'm just trying to pick the first one to ask. I think I'd like to start with how you started in promotion before transitioning into PR. And so I'd like to know, basically, what do you think some of the distinct differences are, even though they're so closely aligned?

32:03
Yes, I get that question a lot when I'm focused on promotions. So when I first got into just the thing, I think I was maybe like two years in and at that time I was running a label, running the artist from the marketing promotion and stuff. And I kind of just hated the fact that I had to outsource. So

32:32
It was just like, man, am I going to spend my money on other people, or am I going to figure out how to do this s*** myself? So I figured it out how to do it myself, and trust me, like I can go back to my early promotions, and that's s*** looks cringy, but I was in the process of figuring it out, and I figured it out. Um, yeah, it was just that, man. I feel like…

33:01
trusting people with my money to do things that they probably won't do. And I think that's pretty much how that transferred into my PR. But just to answer your question about promotion, I got into it because I was dealing with artists, and I care about my clients and my artists. So I'm always finding or thinking of a way to,

33:31
use a dollar, but make it look like it's a hundred. And I just got tired of all these janky promotion services. So I was like, man, like I just said, they give me like six months and I'm gonna figure it out. I figured it out. That's what's up. You know, I think a lot of times people get frustrated instead of trying to figure it out. They just kind of give up.

33:58
And so, know, kudos to you for, you know, sticking with it, figuring out yourself and, you know, making it happen. So the next thing I wanted to ask about was your time with A &R. I feel like that's something that some of us that are a little more seasoned in years kind of know a little bit about, but I feel like you don't really see it that much. Can you talk a little bit about how important that is and what that was like for you when you were doing it?

34:27
I'm actually still doing it. Like I said, I'm never going to claim to say I know it all because I am still learning the end, and also what it really means to be in AR. Actually understanding data, you know, the data, the fan transition, the proper engagement. But all that is exciting. But get to your.

34:56
question about A&R. So, you know, I throw my age out there, I'm 38, and I'm assuming how you started off your kinda in my age range, or if you grew up in the 90s, I understand 90s music, where there was a lot of A&R work. A&R is a dinosaur today.

35:19
And the reason why, in my opinion, most labels consolidated, figured out, right, what can we go without, but still make the bottom line. So A &R's went out. With my label, GYDO Management, they understand artist development, but I think this is...

35:48
their own way of teaching me the ropes as well. Giving me a certain level, work that level out, you know, and you know, I–the more I put in, the more I put on the table. Even when they gave me that A&R job, I was kind of surprised because it's not that I don’t think I deserved it. It's just that I wasn't asking for it. And I think that's

36:19
the best gifts in life. You want to say it like that, or the best opportunities are the ones where people just see you working your ass off, and it just, you know, it puts you in a position. And that's pretty much been my whole experience with GYDO management and Fresh Song TV. I tell you myself, I know I'm a workhorse and everything I do, but to speak for them and what they see in me, kind of gotta ask them.

36:50
Gotcha. So yeah, it's one of those things that I've also noticed that it's kind of an easy way to prey on up-and-coming artists. So like I see, you know, how you get the DMs like, oh, I'm with so and so A&R, and you know, we want you to come on. All you've got to do is put $300 down, and then, you know, so like it's one of those things that feel like a lot of labels aren't doing very well, but the scammers kind of picked up on it.

37:16
and they're kind of using that to their benefit, if you will. Yes. And I was just talking to him, and he's not an artist, he's one of my motivational speakers that's out of my PR. And I was just trying to school him on like parameters that he's going to face where there's going to be creditorial advances where he would have to, you know,

37:48
walk away right there and then, and not, know, yuck, and jump, like, kind of stand your ground right there and then so people understand how you move. But, um, think all forms of industry is predatory. But when you've got guys like me, you know, for example, one of the artists I manage, Artinka Tierra, she's an R&B artist, rap artist. And

38:18
people don't follow the chain of command. So when you go on her page, it's the first line says, for inquiries, contact the glue, my management. What the predatory people will do, well, obviously they're not gonna follow the chain of command or hand look over her Instagram page, so they're just gonna shoot her a DM. And that's what I see a lot. People not following the chain of command

38:48
whether it is a good source or not, your opportunity is going to be missed because you don't want to hit me up. That don't make any sense. Right. Yeah. So, okay. With that being said, I definitely see that as one of the benefits of having management. So could you talk about like for artists that are out there listening right now that might be contemplating, know, do I need a manager? Should I get one? What advice do you have to offer for that?

39:17
I wouldn't even say a manager, but I tell you this, you can't do it by yourself. You cannot do it by yourself. If you think that you're going to be the next superstar by yourself, just call Sleep Forever my guy. You need somebody, whether that could just be a personal DJ, whether that could just be a personal stylist. You're to have

39:45
You know, the big people, the big names, got a team. Yes, yes, yes. I was talking to somebody. So let's use Lil Baby as an example. He came up in the industry. It might be pain at first. I didn't like him this first year, but then I had to understand what he was talking about. So I started to get a good air on it. Say, two years after that, you can hear.

40:14
from kind of stepping out of his lanes, broadening his horizon. He really getting in the mix. He's got a team around him. He's got a good team around him. mean, management is... Well, first of all, you've got to have something to manage. Let's start with that. You cannot just be an up-and-coming artist and one of the managers.

40:44
Unless you kind of grew up with that person, unless you guys just go together. But in all the cases, and the two artists that I manage, they had a body of work, and they had a drive before I came along. So I would say you would have something to manage first. Gotcha.

41:11
I guess to kind of dig a little bit deeper into that and not telling you to give all your secret sauce away or anything, but. Oh no, I'm a guy. I–I get free games all the time. Oh, that's what's up. Yeah. So, could you maybe point out some of the things that managers actually do? So you're wearing all these different hats, and a lot of times I'll see artists talk about things like, okay, well, I need a manager cause.

41:38
I need more bookings. It's like, well, maybe you need a booking agent. You know what I mean? Like, if you could kind of break down like what those tasks are, so people know before they even try to pursue it. Well, um, and I'm just saying this for shits-and-giggles, he gives them laughs. But on a real context, um, a lot of it is babysitting. A lot of it is being a therapist. Um, now, however you look at that, like I can go with it because I understand.

42:09
That goes with having hard to hard conversations. Actually having conversations that probably won't even be about business. Because if you're managing an artist, you kind of want to have somewhat of a personal level. So you guys are walking along with each other step by step. That's important for me. Second thing is you're managing your assets, whether it can be

42:40
music, whether they got businesses, whether they had sponsorships.

42:51
And then the other part is how you want to say it, it's individualized. Because with me, I have a whole bunch of other assets that I incorporate with that management. If I manage you as an artist, you know you're getting all the management skills. You're getting marketing skills from me. You're getting advertising skills from me.

43:20
You get promotion and skills, and then you know I'm an A&R and the artist that I manage distributes the music through my label that I work for.

43:34
I don't know, it's individualized today. I guess back in the day in the 90s, it was real of a structure.

43:46
kind of next in line scenario but nowadays it's kind of like mom and pop stories, and I'm not saying I'm but it's kind of just individualized like this Western culture is.

44:05
Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. So yeah, that's one of the things that I noticed. A lot of times, people get kind of confused as to who does what and who should be involved in X, Y, and Z. And so yeah, I appreciate you kind of taking the time to explain that, break it down a little bit. So, back to public relations specifically. What could you say some of the benefits are for anybody that might be kind of contemplating it? I'll say this.

44:34
Before you even get started, I love going through PR reps. That's, know, especially people like you who've been in the game, that's less vetting for me to have to do. But so yeah, that's just my little plug for anybody listening that might be considering it. Like, yeah, I love dealing with PR reps, but go ahead though. So you just kind of want me to kind of describe. Yeah. Now I'm looking back on it.

45:04
think that my PR service wouldn't have worked if I didn't already have the grounds of promotion and a trusted name. You know, I'm also a Spotify curator, and I've been doing that for as long as I've been doing everything. So that's going on six years. So it has a lot of trust that goes with it. You have to be a trusted name. And then I'm also aligned with

45:32
GYDO management, personal TV, which is the what is that? Number one music mixture showcase show on Twitch. We're actually going to be live tonight. You guys want to check this out on Twitch. Hear some good music and watch us laugh. What days are that, just in case somebody's listening, you know, a specific day? Yeah, we're live Thursday, Friday night, Sunday night.

46:01
And then between those days, there are other streamers that stream for Fresh On TV or in our label, and they're doing in real time or IRLs. So you will have to, you know, get the alert link to catch the IRLs. But Thursday, Friday, and Sunday are premiere nights. OK. But yeah, I think

46:30
it all starts showing up. You have a trusted name. And I have already built a network, you know, from podcasts.

46:44
Other platforms, mic drops.

46:51
I think I am the epitome of promotion and promoting for others. Just to give the audience that background of my reps. It's not just artists. I have podcasts, have models, have motivational speakers, have comedians. So I try to keep a broad light or keep my portfolio diverse.

47:21
But it starts with a trusted name, a network, and your pure, it's your ability to reach out to people. Having a different guide, how to be able to, in any situation, whether you don't know what they're talking about, or they won't come across as it. Being presentable.

47:55
being that guy that is willing to champion your image, your name, and then on the flip side is also promoting you in the best image. So if the audience were to go to my page, I am proud to say this, the people that I represent.

48:23
is a correlation or reflection of my life, whether it's a man or a female. There is nobody shooting up, gang banging, traditional mic set. I don't promote that.

48:42
So with the PR, I said is about trust, network, being able to rally for your clients, promote them in a best image, more or less be a good guy. It's a lot of theory out there. I'm lenient with my clients. I'm very hands-on.

49:10
I'm always studying. Data is my life.

49:16
And I'm always thinking of different ways to get better. So, it's not even two months ago I saw this video, I figured out how to organically, by the way. Double my views. And right now I'm at a half a million every 90 days. Nice.

49:43
And that's just so... Especially organically, that's really impressive. That's just off of form of music. Now, you know, I have my other people in my portfolio, like my family days in process and stuff like that. But that's just generally off my form of promotion. I was just kind of added up. I'm usually like 25 to 35 days used within the form of promotion.

50:13
Um, yeah, I think, I don't know, uh, I will incline the audience, especially if you're an artist or, uh, you're in a promotion business. Um, check out my page and see how I do it, and see why I say there is nobody else that does it like, cause if you can point them out, sure. But we can collaborate. So, okay. You gave some pros, and like you mentioned, you know, that's some.

50:41
scammers and some other stuff going on. What are some red flags for somebody that might be shopping around for PR, and like maybe they're considering somebody, but what would be a red flag that they might miss that they should probably pay attention to? Well, I always look at who you're attached to. First of all, the girl.

51:05
You go on my page, you'll see my A&R for JYP. You can see who my booking agent is. That's under my PR for my artist. I forgot to mention that. But we always look at who the person is attached to. And then see if their image platform collides with mine. example.

51:35
I don't do anything trendy for my artists. So I don't put my artists on those pages that have a whole bunch of artists on there and other things that you can pay. I'm not clouding my artists’ work with a whole bunch of bullsh*t. But I see a lot of people that do that. But I don't follow the trend. I try to do everything organic.

52:03
I think there's some other great slides. Oh, if they can't show you data. I've got data to back up everything I say.

52:16
That's probably the two things. Okay. Those are some, if they pass too and they can't show you any data on the services they're trying to provide you. Yeah. Yeah, those are great tips. And then I always, before I ask them to my PR, I send them all my clients, and then feel free to hit them up. Make your own decisions.

52:46
Okay. Transparency is like the only way I can work with somebody. That's a great rule of thumb. He brought up some very important stuff and I've always kind of wondered how, and specifically on Instagram, and I think like Twitter would have a lot too, but those accounts that are set up like, okay, we do your promotion, but that's all they do. So I'm like, who even wants to follow this? Like, I don't want to see just my timeline flooded. It's not like you like these people.

53:16
They paid you to promote it. So why would I even be interested? You know, like I've never understood how those are performing so well. Well, it's consistency. So, uh, I'll give you guys a free game of how I crack the code. Um, so one, I have 14 artists, right? So I have five male, I break it down into three sections. I promote the male, the artist.

53:46
Then I promote my female artists that are R&B, which are four. And then I support, I mean, promote the other four rap female artists, and that's four. So that's 14 artists, right? I don't mention them at all. Ain't no mention at all. I just use their hashtag. So I use the hashtag, not to mention, it boosts it up the algorithm.

54:15
When you mention somebody, it drags it kinda down. That's the game. So, my new form of promotion, each artist gets six wheels and three posts. So, for example, I started off with Artinko. So, you get three regular posts, and then my form of promotion is Spotify versus that somebody with Spotify Curator, I doubled down.

54:44
Spotify, so I just got done with Spotify versus YouTube music, so it'll be three reels of Spotify, then three reels of YouTube

54:59
I–everybody's form of emotion should be unique. But I think people love their music, know, music is the number one seller in a lot of things. You need music in everything.

55:18
Yeah, it's a soundtrack for like no matter what you're doing. I definitely agree with that. But yeah, so like, especially with what you just said, compared to how some of these promo pages are doing it, just kind of spamming people all the time. It's just yeah, I don't know. Maybe this is my personal plea to anybody out there listening, like don't do it, don't give them that five dollars, to… like nobody's gonna be that, nobody's gonna be watching that, and then that's gonna be of your face

55:48
I mean a fake people fake bot. Right. Now in my defense, I do move like a bot. But you don't really see my face on there. I can't. I mean, I just keep it about my client. Unless it's like a clip from my show or something. But yeah, I get that sometimes. People who can't see it's like there's three people in my PR, but there's just me.

56:18
You know, I don't really have that many pictures. It's kind of what I telling you the day. You know what mean? I have so much light from my label being at A &R and being on that Switch. That's enough light for me that I could take the rest of the time to everybody. Because I don't like the spotlight.

56:44
You know, and if you notice, I didn't give you a hard time about that. I'm kind of the same way, like I prefer to produce. I mean, I started making music just to let people know that I produced, and yeah, like I don't like being on camera. I do it because I have to, but like, for the most part, uh-uh. So I feel you on that. Yeah.

57:05
So I can't believe how quickly this time went by, but I want to make sure. Well, first of all, I want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule, for coming on and sharing your experience and wisdom, and those gems you dropped. But yeah, before I let you go, I want to make sure that everybody knows where to find you, follow you, contact if they want to check out any of your services to see if you are a good fit. Not you, but if they're a good fit for you, put it that way.

57:34
I ain't gonna hold no shade. I'm only working with label artists or people that I recognize to manage the company. No more indie artists. But you can find me at The Blue Trail on Instagram. If you want to check out my artists, you can go to my link to hit my playlist. I'm gonna go to my PG playlist.

58:04
My Spotify network is like 30 playlists. So if you click on my profile, you will see all my playlists of all the artists. Like I said, we'll be live tonight on Twitch. Twitch is a free app, you only gotta do it download it. And search for Fresh Zone TV Series. Hit that subscribe button if that's free too. And hit that alert, and we should be live sometime around 9.30 p.m.

58:33
We have decent times going. And we just usually take questions, yes, watch some label music. We take VIPs from indie artists or any artist. Yeah, we just be bullsh*tting. It keeps the vibe going. I just kind of take whatever that makes sense. And yeah, if you're on my Instagram, just make sure you check out my artist.s

59:02
This is a form of promotion.

59:08
That's about it. All right. Well, once again, I want to thank you, and I'm hoping this is just part one and we can do it again sometime soon. Oh, absolutely. I'm real low-key, so you might get my only interview next year. Gotcha. All right. Thank you. You're so welcome. I hope you have a good day. All right. That's a wrap for this episode of instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer Achickwitbeatz.

59:37
Once again, I want to thank you for tuning in. I want to thank my special guest, The Glue, founder of TGPR, for coming through and sharing his information, wisdom, and insight. Of course, I want to thank my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Make sure you come back next week. I got more goodness lined up for you. So, until next time, you know where to find me. Tune in, tell a friend, and I'll see you then. Peace.