In order to better understand what the business is really all about, one must dissect the word surviving.  The industry is designed on the premise of a fantasy that may or may not last forever or at least the logic question of ones life.  So, I think my responsibility in this article would be to enlighten or dispel that myth.  I’ll start with the basic ideology that the music and the business are two separate entities which makes and attempts to come together to find a happy medium and comfort zone but in reality they are two opposing forces; not to sound purely scientific but the artistic force of creativity seldom takes into consideration the deviant force behind the business.  Having said all that, I’ll now begin to shed some enlightenment on a few facts.

1. Surviving the industry is in many cases luck and not the result of an intelligent decision making process that one might take in the early stages of ones career but quite the contrary.  Those lucky breaks such as a string of hit records, a good business manager, a solid publishing catalog and a lucrative understanding of what makes the entire mechanics of the music industry work.
2. One of the second fundamental understandings one should acquire is a prophetic awareness that unless you have been particularly lucky, you should know that you will not survive the business beyond three years, potentially five years.  So. Let’s call that 3 to 5.

If, in your first year, it is presumed that you will have a hit record, the first year should garner you a recording contract, a budget that would lock you into terms for 3 to 5…that you are obligated to fulfill.  From the very beginning you should have the mind set to build a foundation that will empower you to become your own architect.  I know to some this might sound a bit too deep and too damn scientific, but it really isn’t too deep.  It’s very surface.  I wish I could write down every experience in my personal life that could give the reader a better understanding of why I choose to explain “Surviving the Industry” in this manner.  You might hear folks say, “Keep it real!” OK, Let’s keep it real!  The music industry, for a lack of a better analogy, is a pimp/hoe industry.  Whereas an artist is expected to develop his craft on his own, develop his skills on his own, polish his talent, -usually- in most cases on his own, find a presentable or acceptable format to present his or her talent on his own and then, after doing all that, deliver the goods to the pimp so that the pimp can exploit the talent of the “hoe” in exchange for nice jewelry, a little bling-bling, and maybe a car.  If the artist is half smart, he might get a house out of it.  All this, mind-you happens so quickly within 3-5 years.  I’m not trying to crap on anybody’s dreams or ambitions.  I just believe you can build a solid foundation for yourself if you know in advance what’s really jump’n off.  Now, all these elaborate gifts are laid out for the artist that he might be a diligent artist/hoe who will go out and get the money.  So that at the end of the day the pimp can fatten his wallet. There are independent alternatives to accomplishing the same means to an end I hope you’ll know.  Yeah it’s true that the industry can afford to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of loyal cohorts and employees.  That may be a good thing that salaried employees help to diminish the unemployment rate of society.  But whose house are you building?  Yours or Somebody else’s!  If you never really gave it much thought, just look around and ask yourself who owns all those big monstrosities you drive by or go into on the boulevards. We should all know by now “money don’t come with instructions”!  So I’ll propose a few minor instructions:

1.   Don’t believe any of the Hype!

1. Never tell on yourself with how much money you earned to anyone.
2. Stay under the radar.
3. Build a sovereign operation with order and that respects your leadership.
4. Always try to find a way to make your business associates feel good about working with you.
5. Everybody can learn something from anybody.
6. Beware of who you choose as a mate or who chooses you as a mate.
7. Invest in something that cannot be destroyed by Mother Nature.
8. And lastly, continue reading URBAN • MEDIA 360 articles.

Until next time….