DIY Conference 2017

This year, I got the opportunity to attend the CD Baby DIY Conference. This was my first year, so I shared my first impression of the conference. Below, you'll find the highlights and the lessons I learned while spending a weekend with people like me.

DAY 1

The conference is conveniently in Nashville, but parking is always gonna be shit. Beautiful hotel and super friendly staff. I’m unconcerned about racial issues because musicians are open minded, but yet and still, I’d like to see some more people of color in the future. Make sure you pay attention to session topics before going in. I ended up going to one session I didn’t really understand at all. I didn’t wanna be one of those people who get up in the middle though, so I toughed it out. LOL. You can definitely tell the creative speakers different from the business side ones and outside of the panels and workshops, there’s plenty of cool side stuff like the Hip hop game. The biggest similarity is most of

us are here for the love of music. We just wanna be able to live too.

I met a ton of people. JC Carter who is a rapper/producer from Florida. Azara (whose name I’ll never pronounce right lol) came all the way from Detroit and she’s singing in the videos for Day 2. Jessica Rose is a singer/songwriter from Nashville and she actually missed a lot of the panels on the first day because of a show. I still need to check out her stuff. Finally, I met a lawyer dude, Steven Wolfe, who put me on game about some of this law stuff. I definitely plan to connect with him in the near future.

I originally said I needed to bold up and pass out my more cards, but eventually, I ending up meeting some more people and actually doing it. Talking to Tyke T, I was explaining my ideas for my project and he called me the producer version of DJ Khalid. It’s funny, but it spoke to me. Another one.

During the showcase, people were super rude to the artists. It was kind of interesting because as artists, we want respect. But many of us were talking and not even just because it was boring. We need to become a better audience. I did feel like the randomly picked artists were more interesting. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for long, but I did see 4 of the artists before rolling out.

What I Learned:

-engage the audience by removing the song elements or emphasizing them

shopify and zendesk is used by artists

-Who Ari Herstand is lol

What I still need:

-description of what JWR is

-clear understanding of how to register and recoup from all streams

DAY 2

Twas a quiet morning. I intended to sign up for the photoshoot because, who doesn’t like a good picture? Unfortunately, sign ups are dumb early and there was no chance of that. I did get another shirt and another drumstick pen because my fat ass dog ate my first one. I got it from the lawyers table. I think it was Brooks and Cole or something. Anyway, I wanted to learn from them, but it costs so much for these types of things. I went to one panel and then I had to dip out for womens’ football. See the video for more on that. Before I left, I learned YouTube had a ton of tools I had no idea about that are very customizable. I had no idea.

I dipped in at How To Get Booked Locally because I got there late. They mentioned Cafe Coco as great place to start booking shows locally in Nashville. They are also receptive to hip-hop, which is hard to find sometimes. It was run by a local promoter and the owner of Exit/In. I just remember a bunch of name dropping (Big Boi, who is in town in a few weeks). The promoter did give us his address to get in touch which was cool. Lovenoise.net

So Shannon Sanders is a badass who said a lot things I've been doing or I’ve already known. Listening to him confirmed my opinions about what it takes to produce and how. The story on the video at the very end is about a song called “Good Mourning” by India Arie that he produced. He also showed us how he gets his samples, from something simple as a group yelling “hey”. He was super approachable at the end for answering questions. I guess because I liked his panel so much (and because the room was smaller) I noticed every person leaving. It was rude in my opinion. I met Donte Fance who is now my friend lol. He was as juiced about Shannon as I was and now I am following his whole page. He’s from “The Zoo” Kalamazoo, MI and he made his sister wait in the hotel while he pursued his dreams. Big ups to sis. Lol. Unfortunately, I could not register for the band makeover either, so instead, I became a groupie and sat and listened to Shannon answer questions. But before I left, I definitely got another drumstick pen lol.

Check Out The Track "Good Mourning" by India Arie. Listen for the pencil scratches.

What I learned:

-I know what I'm doing more than I think I am

-80/20/250 rule in Nash. House gets $250 off top. Then, artist get 80% of the door, house gets 20%

What I want to learn:

-How to get in that radio station with Shannon lol

-how to catch while running (Ya’ll shoulda seen it. I had an interception with my name on it. Bobbled it. lol)

-More about booking at Hip hop scenes

DAY 3

It was the last day, so of course I was late. It was also a shorter day, so there won’t be as much to write here. I came in halfway through the authentic hip-hop marketing panel and there were a lot more white people in there than I expected lol. To be honest though, I pretty much knew a lot of the information that I did get. After that, the fellow MTSU alum Tyke T got to speak for an interview. He was mad funny and humble which felt very nice in a place where you seem celebrity to us. I’ve seen a few of his shows and he always does a great job of grabbing a crowd. But since I wanted to learn about copyright, I left him and went to copyright registration.Overall, it seems easier than people make it. Nonetheless, I’m getting an admin. Funny note: this old man had raised his hand like the whole time we were there. We finally got the speaker to get to him and he couldn't get the damn thing answered. It was tragic man.

After that, I went and saw Pokey Lafarge. He seems like he’s too cool for himself, hell. He’s super humble and soft spoken, but full of this mystery shit too. Even the songs were plain in ways, but I was still drawn to listen to them. His story is amazing and he's just a talented dude. I have so many videos of him dropping these inspirational quotes that seemed like an accident. I don’t. They picked the perfect person to close out.

What I learned:

How to finesse the billboard charts

What I missed out on:

-more of the ideas for hip-hop marketing

-what I need to do to register these samples

All in All

I definitely got this. That’s the feeling I had when I left. All it takes is a matter of planning it out, meeting the goals, and keeping a grind so strong you don’t know how you do it. And I already have that man. Shannon said it take more than making beats to be a producer. I’ve known that. They suggested producers to make albums of their music, have an artist perform on it, and release that album. I’ve been planning that. They said create behind the scenes content, engage the audience, and remain humble. I’ve KNOWN that.

Don’t get me wrong. I definitely learned a bunch of ins and outs I’d never heard of and wrote down ideas I’ve never considered. I would say the biggest part for me was networking and building confidence. I feel like this was a great stepping stone for me to prove to myself this can be real. I don’t even care to prove it to others. I think that’s why Tyke being so humble about his progress is so motivational. He said he had to go to work the next day and so did I. Why wouldn’t I support him? So why wouldn’t yall support me? All in all, I had a great time and I can’t wait till next year. Hopefully I’ll get to perform and meet even more people I can connect with. Also, I’m definitely going to be arriving hella early. Till next time. Peace.

More BTS

Day 1 Day 2

Day 3

For CD Baby's Recap of the Conference, click HERE

Also, check out these mini videos created with content from the conference below