Instrumental Intel - Ep 91 From Artist to Architect: Building Brands, Revenue Streams, & Creative Control with Admiral (1-24-26)

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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.

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Transcript Generated by Riverside

00:00

Hey, thank you so much for tuning into instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm glad that you're here with me. Today's episode has instrumentals by me for your inspiration, music industry news, and later, I'll be joined by my special guest, Admiral. And we're going to talk about his journey as an artist, building brands, revenue streams, and creative control. So it's going to be a great time. I'm excited to be bringing this episode to you.  And before I go ahead and drop that first beat.

00:29

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]

15:15

Alright, I'm music producer Achickwitbeatz, back with the Music Biz Brief. First up, YouTube plans to expand access to AI tools that let creators experiment with music later this year. This is according to the CEO Neal Mohan's 2026 Priorities memo. The platform says its approach will balance experimentation with safeguards as YouTube continues efforts to limit the spread of low-quality AI content.

15:39

The company also plans updates to shorts and new music discovery features aimed at making it easier for audiences to find and engage with new releases. Audiomack says it's reached 50 million monthly active users, up 31% year-over-year, with mobile app downloads driving a lot of the growth. It continues to see strong traction in Africa, where its app regularly ranks among the top downloads in more than 20 countries, and is preparing to launch Audiomack Pro, a paid artist tier offer in verification.

16:07

deeper analytics, and faster access to royalties. AI music platform Udio has signed a licensing deal with Merlin, giving indie labels and distributors the option to participate in Udio's relaunch as a licensed, industry-approved AI service. So this comes after securing deals with major labels, as Udio is changing its tune from its prior stance that it didn't need permission to train on music. So we'll see how this unfolds.

16:32

Sources say Universal Music's $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings is expected to be approved by the European Commission. The deal was delayed last year over concerns about sensitive royalty and rights management data, but Universal proposed removing Downtown’s Curve division to address those issues. Independent labels still oppose the acquisition and warn that it could reduce competition and limit opportunities for new and diverse music in Europe. They're not wrong.

16:59

And finally, AXS has sued SecureMyPass, a tool that lets ticket resellers bypass transfer restrictions and sell clone tickets outside the AXS platform. The lawsuit says it infringes trademarks, breaches AXS's terms, and can harm consumers through incorrect seat assignments or repeated ticket sales. SecureMyPass disputes the claims, saying tickets scan correctly, but AXS says the tool undermines ticket security and fan protections, while also cutting into its resale revenue.

17:28

Alright, that's it 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, Admiral, right after this. Keep it locked!

[BEAT BREAK]

30:25

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.

30:55

Thank you so much for tuning in to instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm so glad to say that I have back in my virtual building with me again, Admiral, if you could just let everybody know a little bit about who you are. This is not your first time on the show, but some listeners who may have missed it the first time around, if you could give a little bit of background as to who you are and how you got involved with music and everything else that you do. Sounds great. Happy to be back.

31:24

First and foremost.  So I'll go by the name Admiral. I'm an MC/Entrepreneur representing Bronx, New York. Uh know, been a veteran in the game with um lots of projects and other things that's um going on. Really just excited. Obviously, you know, when we had our first interview, one of my favorites, I wanted to put that out there too, just really, um, it's always cool to have some real...

31:53

cool hip hop intellectual conversation and dialogue. always love that too. So just happy to be back. Yeah. So glad to have you back. Uh for the people who may not know, this man is one of the busiest people out there. If you could let them know what's about to be hitting uh digital platforms pretty soon. I understand you had like the exclusive release on your website, but now,  yeah, you got something about to hit the platforms. uh

32:23

this upcoming week? So, yeah, so we got a new project. I'm getting ready to drop on next Monday.  Um, the 26th, so, called A King's Calling that's my, so that's my new album. Um, like you just mentioned, I did an exclusive release just for the, know, just for the fans and supporters. I kind of just thought about something, um, in terms of just how I want to release music, just going forward to. So I will always make sure that, you know, I get the, um,

32:51

supporters first dibs on my music going forward. So that's just something that I  decided to do.  As we all know, how the  DSPs work, right? And we talk about um how the challenges of how hard it is to obviously drive revenue,  strictly from m streaming platforms, is next to impossible without a real marketing machine behind your project. So obviously with me being an independent,

33:20

I'm really doing a lot to just go straight to consumer. So that was kind of the motivation about how I released it, released this project. So I'm very pleased with the results from the early release too. that is just gives me more motivation just to continue to make sure that I do more um direct to um direct to consumer work.  So a lot of my releases  going forward, you'll see a lot of them will have  early releases probably with some

33:48

with some incentives that we're going to build in as well, just to show the fans some love for supporting. Obviously we know this isn't an easy game to thrive in. So that's kind of what we're going to be doing. Okay. I mean, that's an incredibly smart strategy. Looking at some of the independent artists who have had success that they've been kind of working towards and gearing up for.

34:15

Those are the routes that they've gone. And, you know, I kind of wish that we'd see more independent artists doing, you know, what you're doing and the way that that's working out. So for somebody that might be kind of considering that, like, let's say, listening now, like, you know what I heard about artists that did this. Do you have any tips or advice for them to kind of get rolling in that motion? Yeah, I think the main thing too, and this is something I had to learn myself too. Right. Obviously, as creatives, you know, we, we.

34:44

tend to put a lot of our energy in just the work and the art itself too, right? But obviously it's not an inexpensive business, right? So at the end of the day, you need to really uh strategize and have a plan when you're preparing your project, right? So you don't wanna wait until after everything's done and you're ready to release.  honestly wanna have a plan ahead of how you wanna attack it.

35:15

And there's different avenues that you want to tap into to just draw attention to your work.  Obviously, with us being in a virtual world, it's been a little bit difficult. You don't have a lot of as much human interaction in terms of just how people go about it. And you think about those waves, it's so saturated with different content that's flowing nonstop. So you have to kind of come up with certain things to get closer. um

35:44

closer to your audience.  This is why I think I'm kind of going exclusive. What releases  is allowed you to build that personal relationship with your fan base and kind of organically build it that way too. So it's something that I wish I would have done a lot sooner. Obviously, I have a lot of uh material out in the world, but I would have really... uh

36:13

been able to benefit a lot sooner from that approach. think there are,  like you mentioned, there are people that do operate in that lane,  but we should see a lot more of it.  I think this is how artists can take their power back in the grand scheme of things.  Take their power back. Yeah,  that's something.

36:35

Man, that's like a whole nother episode in itself, though. I'm try not to go down there. I I hear you. But you're right, though, because, you pour all your energy, your talent, your time into your And so much. then, yeah, for somebody else to just be taking a huge chunk of it before it even comes to you. Right. I know I used to see a lot when the complaints kind of first started coming out about Spotify. And you're like, man, you know, they only

37:04

take 30 % and I'm like, well, you know, if your manager was taking 30 % and not even promote you or like doing management-type things, you wouldn't be okay with that. Exactly.  Yeah, like I wholeheartedly hear you in support, everything that you've said and what you're doing. And like the things that we have, you know, we're in the information era now too, right? So like I said, if you really want to um learn about this, it's just an effort.

37:31

You know, it's effort at that point to really just kind of unpack some of these things. But like I said, um the splits, you know, from the DSPs is public knowledge, right? You can Google that,  you know, to really see what that is. So it's not even something that is um secret anymore. You know, so if you want, you think about how much it costs, you know, between studio costs, production, you know, time,  know, marketing, all of that, that you have to...

37:59

to spend and see you fractions of a cent, you know, for your streams. Like, it's not sustainable. really? Right. It's not even, it's not sustainable. Like, and this is where a lot of the frustration you see come from a lot of people. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, um, with Fluminate recently released in their year-end report, I mean, just the fact that you got like 106,000 tracks. So the, the, um, the

38:27

What you call it? Those ISRC numbers are. Yeah. Like that's a lot to be hitting every single day. Like, so yeah. And to think about how many of those aren't actually generating enough streams to even reach the threshold to get monetize the percentage of a cent. Like you can't get that fraction. Like, yeah, it's insane. Right. So that's ultimately why, like I said, I'm.

38:54

Because I love making music, right? But at the same token, To really... um

39:01

keep my sanity and my focus on really being able to be creative and continue to do that and sustain a business like you just have to,  first, think you need some revenue streams to sustain you.  And also keep your energy in the right place, right? Because ultimately, like I said, that frustration could consume you.

39:29

You know, so for me, I really learned just over the years, like I've been doing this a long time. And like I said, I've been in situations with bad deals and things like that too. uh just, I  love being independent. I just think like you just have to have the right work ethic and kind of be your own boss in terms of just planning on how you want to execute.  Right.

39:56

Because if you can, you can do that, then you can make it work, work for your while. I understand like a lot of these artists frustration in terms of just like the return, you know, return on what they, what they put in. get it. Yeah. Yeah. But you mentioned something that, um, I think I kind of want to highlight a little bit because you said that you understand the frustration, but you've been doing it a while and you finally understand, know, like, okay, this is part of it, but I know what I need to do in order to maintain. Yeah.

40:26

And that's the part of it too.  And that's what you pull that from experience though too, right? Because like I said, life is adjustments, right? You make adjustments in anything that you do. If  it's something that you're really passionate about too, right? So for myself, I want to continue to make music, but like I said, I just have to keep my eyes open to...

40:50

And be honest. Like, I think this is the other part I think a lot of artists struggle with too, just being honest with themselves in terms of what they're doing, right? Because some people may think they're, you know, they're putting in a lot of work and they're hustling, but are you really at the end of the day?  Right? Right. You got to be honest with yourself, right? At the end of the day, because that is what will keep you level-headed as well and not frustrate yourself unnecessarily. So true.  All right. Yeah.

41:18

And you mentioned, you know, making sure that you still have revenue streams come in. Yeah. That kind of reminds me a little bit about talking about your clothing line. Absolutely. Glory Ave Signature that you got going. You know, I love my hoodie, by the way. Other people have seen me in my purple one. Probably going to post another pic pretty soon, too. Yeah, but I guess something else coming your way, too. So I just.

41:43

All right. So yeah, if you could maybe talk a little bit about that and kind of give us some insight as to uh actually even how you got started with that little background.  Because I found that fascinating. I believe the listeners will too. Yeah, I think, yeah, and this is a uh really um good story to kind of ties in what we've already been talking about too.  So just um prior to um COVID kind of shutting down. um

42:10

people being able to move around, typically as an artist, how you, you know, you're running around doing, doing shows and performing and doing things of that nature. You know, it was, um, I, that was something that I was big in, terms of just, um, events and, and, and that was a, um, portion of my business that, drove was the one of the biggest revenue drivers of, of, my brand. So when I lost that, the ability to kind of move around for that, that time period,

42:40

Um, I was looking at, um like what else could I do to, continue to keep the brand awareness up and also, um, drive some revenue. So,  um, I had already been kind of creating, um,  um,  pieces from my, from my label and my, you know, in my team. So at  that point,  um, I just started doing it, you know,  doing a little bit more of that and kind of, um, interacting with folks and then, um,

43:07

Testing, I'm kind of testing out if this could be something that we could use as another avenue to kind of just drive the business. And it started to work. So I started with like t-shirts. Initially, it was just a plain basic logo tee that, when I was out and about,  people would see and always have.

43:33

because like I said, know, my brand is Glory Ave, right?  So um for the people, no one really knew it. No one knew what it was, right? So obviously just in passing, right? It just looks,  the logo pops to a lot of people. So a lot of people would just ask about it too. And then I would kind of tell them it was my brand and it allowed me to kind um of share my story in terms of just um how it came about. it started with just with that piece, right? So obviously,

44:03

I experimented with some more pieces  and um ultimately it turned out being that something I think helped um from two avenues, right? Obviously it was something that was an extension of the brand and something that I could use consistently to keep the awareness up and also drive  some business to finance some of the other parts of the brand too at the same token.

44:32

I'm really excited to kind of wear um what it's grown to. You know, the awareness is gaining traction too. And the feedback that I get about the pieces is usually very, very, very positive, you know, and definitely something I'm looking forward to continue to drive. Awesome. Yeah. I mean, that's an incredible story.  One thing I kind of want to  ask

45:00

I wasn't actually planning on asking you this, but you know, and listening to you talk and the terminology and everything that you use, you are very business-minded. So you got a lot of left brain and right-brain stuff going on. How do you balance all these thoughts to be so creative, but still be so knowledgeable about the business side of everything? It's funny that you mentioned that too, because I remember when I, um, when I got involved with just the music industry in general, right? I was, um,

45:30

I was a kid and I got involved with a group. So that's how I started. And it was so easy for me because it was basically like just showing up to the studio, show up to the studio with your work and then show up at the shows and perform. But it was a big group of us. I wasn't very knowledgeable about the business at all.

45:58

Right. But, you know, as time passed, right. And then as the um game went more into the independent lane, right.  That is where I found out this is where I belong in that too, because I've always kind of somewhat business knowledgeable.  But when it came to something that I was  personally invested in, I think  that's flipped the switch at that point too, because

46:27

Then now you force yourself to learn things to grow your brand. And that was kind of switched things for me. So once I got out of the group situation, and that's when I started the Glory Ave brand, like literally right after that situation and just piece by piece. And I was a student at the same time while I was running a company at the same time. And I still do it to this day.

46:55

You know, it's still a learning process because obviously everything moves so quickly, right? You just have to always be a student because there's always something new to learn. Man,  you ain't never lied. uh For me,  I don't want to date myself, so I'm not going to give specific years, but I did get a degree in marketing.

47:17

many, many years ago and things are so much different now. Absolutely. And then, so it's like,  if I don't keep studying  and learning, but yeah,  imagine me being stuck in the,  I'll just go ahead and say it was early 2000s. so yeah, imagine like not evolving, like no matter how confident you are or how much you think you know about something, like things are always changing. So I love what you said about always being a student because yeah, there's always more room to grow and learn.

47:46

And especially in this day and time, right? When we look at it to this, just think of technology. I always use that as a reference point when I talk about this, because think about when the first cell phones came out, right? Yeah. When you think about that, right? It was like monumental, right? Yeah. When that happened, right? Now think about, fast forward the last 15, 20 years, right?

48:16

You have to like  Apple, for example, yeah. How often do they update their phones a year now? about that from,  just think about the speed and advancement of technology in that timeframe. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point.  You know, now we have the whole co-pilot era and ChatGPT and all this stuff now, right? So. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

48:43

Like it's just the speed at which everything has the of everything has developed exactly. it's only going to be – get faster. Yeah. You know, until it crashes. Right. Exactly. So at that point in this,  what I'm saying is like, you have to be able to, use that as a reference just to say, you have to be able to evolve. Right. Yeah. And there's no shame. Like I said, if you want to do certain things  and kind of keep them, keep certain things traditional.

49:12

Yes, you always have the power to do that, but you have to understand what comes with that too, right? So at the end of the day, has to be about what do you want for yourself?  Yeah,  that's a great way to kind of sum that up. So, Ray, you mentioned when you had left the group, you know, that's when you launched your brand and all that stuff. How?  OK.

49:37

Let me see.  I want to make sure that I word this the right way so that my question makes sense.  But how  would you say you approach things differently, I guess, between handling something on your own and when you're collaborating with other individuals? Like, do you have to kind of have the same mindset with whoever you collaborate with or do you just kind of take some of your own experience into the situation or a little bit of both? Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. think, um,

50:06

I learned a lot from the room situation that I was in because obviously, like I said, I was a total newcomer to it. Music was a hobby to me prior to that situation. It was just something that we did on the block. It was something that was fun. And once I started to...

50:29

get involved with certain things and understand the process of creating and then how music is sold and actually learning that whole process, right? It was something that I took with me after  that situation was done. And I had an understanding of what I wanted, and one thing I definitely wanted to have was more say so and control of my art.

50:59

That was huge, huge for me.  Because I learned,  just like when you're working with a lot of  different people too, there's agendas involved, right?  And a lot of times there's selfish agendas. And it's not by, um I don't think it's malicious at all. I think it's more of a situation where I know where I come from, right? And I know the situation where I came from and a lot of people that I was working with too, right?  We didn't have it,  we was grinding.

51:28

You know,  and just people, when people just want to get themselves out of a situation and they think this is the meal ticket to do it, right? You know, a lot of people want shortcuts. A lot of people want to just do things to kind of position themselves, right? But it really wasn't about the collective.  Right. Yeah.  And that's kind of what broke that situation apart. Ultimately,  like I said, it was great when it was about the art, right? But the more I got in into the business,

51:58

that was what started showing the cracks, the cracks in what was going on. So coming out of that situation, I had to make a decision, right? I knew that I still wanted to um make music and I didn't really know um what next looked like too, right? So,  but I definitely know that I wanted to have... um

52:19

more control of it too. I said, you know what, I'm going to do this independent, right? Didn't know a whole lot, right? But I said, I'll just do it slowly, right? Because it's mine, right? So I can kind of pace myself and learn step by step. So my first, my very first project I released under my brand. And then that is when I started really networking and doing business for myself at that point. So I learned a lot like

52:46

It fast-forwarded my learning process at that point because it was my imprint.  So obviously when you're out there and it's trying to establish it, right. It takes a lot more, you know, than when you're working with a bunch of people and everyone kind of has shared responsibility. Right. Hey, that makes sense. So now when you approach collaborations, are there certain things that you look for,  you know, when you're choosing who to work with?

53:13

whether it's other artists or producers or anything like that. Absolutely. I'm glad you got to this point of it too, that's going to kind of lead into our next subject.  Yeah, I'm a lot more…I do a lot more research now. That's probably the biggest change too, right?  Because obviously you want to work with people that is on the same page, right? And you want to kind of understand it, and you don't want to waste your time. I think that's one of the most

53:43

the main things, right? So you want to do your homework first, right? Before even kind of approaching things like that. You know, so that's probably the biggest difference between how I approach things now and how I did in the past. I'm very selective with the people that I work with on any level, right? If it has to do with the music merchandise, whatever it is, right? I try and do my homework first. Such great advice.

54:12

So yeah, can you tell us about any collaborations you have coming up now? Yes. So I'm just in this, literally just started this this week. So I'm working on a collab album with a producer from Toronto named This is Hip Hop. So for us, we and this is kind of what I was just speaking to. This was an organic relationship that was just built. I originally featured on a

54:42

a record that he had with another artist. Right? Then they saw me out to do some more work. So, ultimately, you know, um did another collaboration record with him for his album. And then also, just as you know, a uh exchange, he did a feature on my, did a production feature on my album.  Actually on the

55:11

album that's we're getting ready to release too. That's, and it's called Insomniac. So you'll be able to catch that on the album once you check that out. it was really good to work with someone just off the love of the craft and the respect for the mutual work ethic. This guy's got tons of music working with artists around the world.

55:40

And just is very, very, very consistent, very clear in terms of just like how he wants to build his brand as well too. So I could relate a lot with it too. So definitely excited about this project. So literally, we're just starting. So I'll be in the studio probably this week to lay down the first record for this. So hopefully in the springtime we'll probably have that out.

56:10

out for the people, I'm really excited about that. Awesome. Maybe we can sneak you back in here to tell us a little bit more about it too. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, you know what? I can't believe how quickly this time just flew by. I like that for us. Yeah, every single time, even on the old podcast, you know. So, yeah, again, I thank you and definitely want to make sure that.

56:37

You know, you know that you're welcome to come back anytime and share with us what you've got going on. And before I close this out, I want to make sure one, that you get to make sure that you've mentioned everything that you want to talk about. Two,  everybody knows exactly where to find you, follow you, and listen to your music, your website, all that good stuff. And three, anything else that you kind of want to leave uh, thoughts for people to kind of marinate on.  Okay. So definitely we'll start with the, um

57:07

We'll start just with the context, obviously, so I don't forget.  So definitely you can find me.  I always like people to stop by the website. So that's admiral11.com. It definitely has all my content.  It's one stop shop for everything that I have musically there.  So definitely make sure you check that out. In terms of social media, which I know most people tend to track down, I'm @admiral11.

57:35

And my company is @GloryAveEnt, that's basically anything music-related. Those are the two handles. And in terms of the merchandise,  you can check out the line @GloryAveSignature um on social media and as well as GloryAveSignature.com for the website so you can see the full product line and previews and that whole bit. definitely that's how you can get in touch with me.

58:04

I'm definitely looking on here from folks. So definitely I'm a builder. So like I said, if anyone wants to build connect, I'm all about that. So definitely, um, feel free to reach out. In terms of just what's coming like when we talked about earlier We have the new album, A King's Calling, dropping on January 26th  on all streaming platforms So please make sure you check that out.  Um, drop your feedback share, you know that that

58:32

whole bit and like I said, you like what you hear, feel free to reach out and let's build.  And also be on the lookout this spring for War Paint. So that's the name of the new album. So that's the album that will be released with ThisIsHipHopp, my Canadian brother,  I'm there. So be on the lookout for that too. And I'm also looking to release two more projects for 2026. So definitely a lot more to come.

59:01

But as always, always, I'm happy to hop on the platform and build. So definitely let's, um, set up some more time and connect.  Absolutely. I'm excited and see, I started off, said, man, this may be working, and look at all the stuff you just said, you've got all these projects dropping, and all the stuff you're doing. So yeah, I wish you continued success.  And like I said, door is always open anytime you want to come back and share. So thank you so much.

59:28

Thank you so much for the time too. I appreciate you as always. I appreciate you too.  All right, and that's a wrap for this episode of Instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer, Chick with These. I want to thank you for tuning in. Again, I'd like to thank my special guest, Ad Morel, for coming through and sharing all of that knowledge and wisdom and dropping all those gems.  I'd like 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. Until next time, you know where to find me.

59:57

Tune in, tell a friend, and I'll see you then. Peace.