Industry Plants feat Psalm One

Do industry plants actually exist?

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We all know what industry rule number 4,080 is by now, right? Well, if you don't know, it's this industry, rule number 4,080 record company. People are shady. Thanks. But what about industry rule number 4,081? It's a silly question that doesn't even really need an answer, which means that I absolutely had to ask Jean Grae, Phonte, Rob Cave, Paul Barman, and Psalm one what they thought it was, and here's what they had to say.

Um, and record company people are shady and so are the people signed to the record label. Sometimes shadier.
- Jean Grae

Record industry rule number 4,081. Record companies are shady. Yeah, but you are the record company. Every label that I'm on my work was still the same. You know what I'm saying? Whether it was indie major, big indie, little indie, small indie, my work is still the same. So do it yourself, shady. If I'm gonna do all the work, I want all my goddamn damn money.
- Phonte

Don't let the studio write a check that your live performance can't cash
- Rob Cave

Chase money and not yummy lady bun.
- Paul Barman

Record. Industry Rule 4,081.Subtweeting is dumb and get out while you're young.
- Psalm One

The thing that everybody in that clip has in common is that they're all D IY artists. They bear the full weight of their careers, even when they have help from a label. And in some cases they are the label. I'm a DIY artist myself, and that ethos is at the heart of this show. I research. Record and edit each episode. (Shout out to Dana Walks on the mix engineering and sound design). I write the show descriptions, edit the artwork, and cut things up into content to be posted across multiple platforms. (Shout out to Allen Cole on the illustration and logo design). I update my personal website that services a hub for the series and send a newsletter out as well. I also make mistakes. Last week I sent a double new. The week before that, I didn't properly tag the video clips, and before that, I didn't even have a system at all. That's DIY in a nutshell, and a lot of times it feels like building the cars you drive.

This is something that I'm very familiar with, thanks to my career as a recording artist. This podcast isn't really about inside baseball, so I'll spare you the gory detail. But just know that for artists like us, if something goes right or wrong, all roads lead back to us, and half of the time the things that go right are supposed to go unnoticed and make things feel seamless so it's light on the thanks and praise, and heavy on the complaints from the peanut gallery. Companies have whole ass departments devoted to doing all the things that I just described. There are several artists who understand that building your own industry is key to survival.

Which brings us to the subject of industry plans. What's an industry plant? Basically an artist that moves like a DIY slash indie act that's secretly backed by a major. This can end up happening for several reasons, and like any other slang that's bubbled up and become mainstream vernacular, the definition has gotten a bit too broad for what the phrase is trying to capture.

But make no mistake, industry plants are a real thing! The concept in itself probably needs its own full series to be explained properly. So that basic definition will have to suffice for now. But it should come as no surprise that industry plants are very upsetting to members of the creative middle class. You can't just put on the costume of a starving artist and take it off when you want. That's appropriation. . It's also a deep breach of trust to anyone who's looking for a genuine story from artists they follow. And yeah, it can be fun to speculate on who might be one, but it's far more productive to focus on who's not one.

That genuine, authentic story is what makes artists like Doechii ring even more true. She leveraged her YouTube channel into a TDE E deal and you can trace the sweat equity all the way back to her first upload. It makes run the jewels a double success story. Killer Mike and LP teaming up to break boundaries of both age and label affiliation is one of the most inspiring rap stories of the past few years and watching what artists like La Russell is building out in the Bay Area is electric. I don't mean metaphorically building either, because while he built his good company brand from the ground up, he also built an actual stage in his backyard for small intimate performances, and that's what you call community building for real.

So you're probably wondering like, do we even need record labels anymore? And the answer is, yeah, I think so. Mainly cuz I've always dreamed of signing one. I mean the whining and dining, the bidding wars, the million dollar videos, the the Rock Nation brunches, the A&R who's a mountain climber and also plays the electric guitar (but he don't mean enough dope when he's looking for a super tire wrap that's cleaning in a more soap).

But I digress these days, there are so many ways to have a rap career that getting discovered and signed to a label seems quaint. I mean, sure it still happens all the time, but you know what else happens like a lot? Self-released songs. In October of this year, variety reported that 100,000 new songs are uploaded to streaming services daily. Spotify's about section boasts that the platform has over 80 million tracks, including 4.7 million podcasts. And just hearing those numbers gives me extreme anxiety. Like if you walk into a stadium full of people yelling, how do you even decide who to pay attention to? What if you've got something to say and no budget to rent out the jumbotron or perform at halftime?

Record labels are essentially creative partners who, among other things, help you identify or expand your audience. But these days a lot of 'em operate like venture capitalists. They invest in artists that they see profitability in or flat out buy 'em out. Y'all see what Elon doing? All money is not good money.

At the end of the day it's safe to say that every artist wants help, aka funding, but there is almost always a compromise to be made when you play in the majors. So what does a career as a self-funded working musician even look like? How do we fit into an industry that's not one size fits all? Spoiler alert. We don't, we just make our own micro industries. We stay adaptable and we focus on deep relationships with our fan bases.

My conversation with Psalm explores these concepts and more because for artists like us, you're not only ahead of the curve, but you're setting the curve. We also talk about industry plants making content and when book readings go wrong.

Donwill · Industry Plants Mix

TRACKLIST:

Anxious, Nervous and Imperfect feat. Afrokeys - Psalm One
Shark Fin Soup - Armand Hammer - RACE MUSIC
Force Majeure - Mach Hommy & DJ Muggs - Kill Em All
Tom Hanx - Von Pea & Aeon - Duly Noted 2
Iron Horse ft Dallas Penn - Rob Cave & Small Professor - Respect Wildlife
Goodbye - Dom Kennedy - The Original Dom Kennedy
Private Valet - Larry June - Spaceships on the Boulevard
Think of Things - Oddisee - People Hear What They See
Dirty Sheets - Vitamin D - FLIPS
Quantum Leap - Roc Marciano & The Alchemist - The Elephant Man’s Bones
1 Day In NY Feat DJ Skills - Rapper Big Pooh - To Dream In Color
A Little Love - Jermiside & The Expert - The Overview Effect
Good Enough (Dilla Tribute) - Swiff D - I Hear You
Good To U feat T3 - Full Crate - Good To U
Lazy Sunday - Kooley High - Lazy Sunday
Box of Wearies feat Denmark Vessey - Quelle Chris - Guns
Understanding - Elzhi & Georgia Anne Muldrow - Zhigeist
Name - Homeboy Sandman - Dusty
Rainforest - Noname
Old Derty Hazard - Theory Hazit
10Racks - Brainorchestra - Big Brain
Grandiose Patois - Che Grand - Grandiose Patois EP
WESTSIDE - AIR CREDITS - BROADCASTED
Either You Hear Or With God - SHIRT - RAP
Har Hanx - Tall Black Guy & Ozay
I’l Fight You - Open Mike Eagle - Component Stereo System
Cincinnatian - Donwill - One Word No Space