Clinton Sparks: What a Successful Music Marketing Mentality Looks Like

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Unfortunately, having great music is just part, one component, of building a successful career.

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And if you don't know the other stuff, you're not willing to understand or learn or invest

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to find out these other things, then you'll always just be a great dude that's got great

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music sitting in his bedroom or at his house or sitting in his laptop. You know how many great

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producers and great rappers and great singers have tons of great music that just fucking sits

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in their computer and doesn't see the light of day? Way more than those that are on the charts

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that you're hearing about on Spotify or anywhere else. Because talent is more than just being able

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to rap, to sing, to DJ, to produce. There's a lot more that needs to be in that bucket of talent

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that a lot of people ignore and they're not paying attention to. What's going on everybody? This is

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the Cutting Through Podcast where we help entrepreneurs and entertainers cut through the

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noise and more importantly, cut through the bullshit that they see online. My name is Elliot

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Towsley and I am your host. I grew up in the Boston area so today's guest is a bit of a local

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legend. His name is Clinton Sparks and he has been in the music business for something like 20 years

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now and I'm really excited to have a fellow Boston area native on today's show of the Cutting Through

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Podcast. So thank you for joining. Let's sit back and relax and listen to Clinton Sparks go off

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about the music business. Everybody, we've got Clinton Sparks here. I've had the pleasure of

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talking with Clinton and getting to know him a little bit. Born and raised Boston Mass, Dorchester,

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let's go. That's awesome. For anyone who might be watching this video who doesn't know who

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Clinton Sparks is, can you give them a quick elevator pitch of, clearly you've got a bunch

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of plaques on the wall there, like what it is that you have done and you've had your hand in

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many different things. Yeah, well this will have to be a tall building for this elevator pitch so

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we start on the first floor okay. Grammy nominated, multi-platinum producer, songwriter, DJ,

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artist, sold over 75 million records, worked with everybody from Rick Ross to Big Sean to T.I. to

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Two Chains to T-Pain to Snoop Dogg to Akon, Ludacris, Eminem, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Beyonce

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to name a few. I discovered and signed DJ Snake, introduced him to Little John, we may turn down

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for what. Launched my first e-commerce website in 2004, it's called mixunit.com, it's the biggest

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mixtape and urban apparel website. At the time we did five million the first year. For those people

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that know how hard it is to make money your first year of business. Helped conceive a website called

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world star hip-hop, my buddy Q. I helped Eminem launch Shade 45. Brought K-Slay, Stax Select,

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there are a bunch of people over there. Angela Yee, I was P. Diddy's tour DJ. Helped with all

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the marketing with Sirak. I was a host on e-news for five years. Really introduced hip-hop in the

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culture to e-news and changed kind of the format of that global network. Then I brought it over

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to Las Vegas. I was the first resident DJ in Las Vegas to have billboards on the back of taxis.

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I was a vice president, vice president of Dash radio. Helped build a bunch of IP there from

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Too Short, to DJ Paul, to the billion dollar company Build-A-Bear. Built their radio initiative,

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they're now thriving on iHeart. Most recently I helped build one of the biggest gaming brands

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in the world, they're called FaZe Clan. Helped take them from a zero, zero valuation to a billion

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dollar valuation. Bringing all the biggest, you know, rap investors in from Offset, to Swae Lee,

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to Pitbull, to DJ Paul, Yo Gotti, Ray J, all those people. And a bunch of big brands. And most

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recently I launched, I now own the fastest growing and most diverse e-sports and gaming

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lifestyle on the brand. Signed everyone from Ozuna, to Ezekiel Elliott, to Tee Grizzly,

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quality control music. And I also just launched a VC back tech company called Five, which allowed

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to experts to monetize their expertise five minutes at a time with no scheduling, no content

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to create, and no live calls or video. So it's going to be a game-changing app that I'm proud

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and happy to say that you're on. If people want to talk to you and ask you direct questions, get

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feedback, they can hit you at 5.me forward slash Elliott Towsley. They can hit you direct. So

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anybody watching this, if you're like, man, I want to ask Elliott a quick question or

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I want to get feedback, I want to send them a sauna review or whatever it is,

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hit them at 5.me forward slash Elliott Towsley. Get familiar.

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Who would have thought the DJ from Dorchester would end up getting involved with so many

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different musicians and so many different companies? One of the things that I thought

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was really interesting about my conversation with Clinton was how he views and how he tries to get

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musicians to view expertise as a cost of doing business that is worth investing in.

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I am not a famous celebrity, but I know something about a niche topic that someone might be willing

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to pay to have a quick personal conversation. If they're serious about moving forward and

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getting the education that they need, then they shouldn't maybe want to pay. They should be willing

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to pay because they should be investing in themselves. Anybody that's trying to excel in

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life and wants to become extremely successful needs to know that they need to invest in themselves,

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whether it's money and or time. Think about how many people go to college. You're spending

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tens of thousands of dollars because you're investing in your future and your career.

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If you're not going to college, you want to make it in the music business or anything else for that

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matter, a platform like 5.me is a place where you can go learn and get the knowledge exchanged from

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people that have done the things that you're trying to do, that have made great strides and

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have big success stories and can give you the information you need to not make the mistakes

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that they may have made or to show you the right way or give you an advantage by having information

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you otherwise wouldn't have without a platform like 5. So it baffles me when people, so many

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people, you and I both deal with a lot of people in the music business. It baffles me when people

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get upset that you're charging them $20, $50, $100, even $500, even $1,000 to give them invaluable

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gain that's been accrued over 20 years of experience and success to be able to talk to somebody that

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sold millions of records, worked with the biggest artists in the world, traveled the world, made

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millions of dollars, made a bunch of mistakes, had plenty of deals, helped break other artists

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and to not say, please, can I pay you more? You know what I mean? It just baffles me because

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all I did when I was a broke, homeless kid with no money, no connections and nothing in Boston,

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I knew I needed money to get myself out there. I'd go shovel snow, I'd go do odd jobs to go

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scrape up money to give to somebody else, to get information or to get access that I knew that I

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needed. But people out here that are like, you know, I'll tell you one thing I hear that's really

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like, these are the people that won't make it. The people that say, if you're so successful and

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you've done all these things, one, why are you helping other people if you're so rich, which is

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like just a stupid mentality. So everybody that has money should never help other people. That

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doesn't make any sense. And then two, well, why don't you just do it for free? And it's like,

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dude, that's a loser's mentality. Like looking for handouts, and for people to just like lift

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you up. I don't know you, you could be the biggest shit bag in the world. Why would I even help you

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ever? You could be a deadbeat dad. You could be shitty to your girl. Like, why would I help you,

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first of all, without even knowing you? And then second of all, I've got a staff to pay.

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Like I'm spending 20, $30,000 a month on ads to promote to you in the first place,

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the products that I had to spend time to build it, the people that need to be paid

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to run it and operate it. And this is the exact reason why you need my course or a book. Because

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you don't even understand these things. Because if you did, you wouldn't say asinine things like,

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why don't you do it for free? Because it's not free. I'm paying tens of thousands of dollars

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to create these things to provide for you at such a minimal discounted cost, $20

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for an audio book with free products, $1,000 with a 66 video course that's going to teach you

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everything you need to know, or a free book. All you pay is for shipping. You're a jackass

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if you have a problem with that. And no one's going to take you serious. And you should

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probably change what you plan on doing with your career. Because this ain't it, bro. If

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you ain't willing to invest in your time, and you don't respect or value people like Elliot

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or my time and the stuff that we can provide for you and aren't willing to pay, we're not even,

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I could literally charge you $10,000 or $100,000 for the game that I'm giving you.

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And it's ridiculous that people get upset about that, because they're so used to the internet

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of cheap prices of giving $300 for a million streams. Well, it's fucking fake. You know what

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I'm saying? Like, it's not going to work. That's not real. You see, you see people in the banking

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industry, it's like, yo, let me pay this marketing agency to make it seem like we really have,

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you know, this much money in our account. Or like, it's real. It's real. Let me, you see LeBron,

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like, yo, let me pay somebody to make it seem like I got more baskets than I do. No, bro,

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you see them on the fucking court, getting those fucking baskets. You can be a cornball and think

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that you need to fake it so you make it, but it's hurting you. We all know it's fake. You're not real.

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We know it. And the people that need to know, the people you're trying to get deals from,

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the people that you're trying to impress, they know, and then it hurts you. So, you know,

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you've got to understand, but you wouldn't know these things unless you listen to and are willing

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to invest in somebody like Elliot or somebody like Clinton, who have done all of these things

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that can teach you and show you and give you an advantage over those people that aren't willing

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to invest in themselves. I think it's clear that Clinton is passionate about how he wants to help

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not only musicians, but any sort of entrepreneur. And he has his opinion on how those entrepreneurs

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should be investing into their business and into the knowledge of particular experts in the field

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that you might be trying to grow in. And one of the things that we started talking about was how

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musicians and entrepreneurs can sometimes be gun shy when it comes to investing in marketing

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and how they can get over the mentality of, well, if it's good enough, it will sell itself.

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And how that might be true at some point, but if you don't have an audience to consume that product

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in the first place, to start talking about that good product, it can't sell itself if people don't

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know where it is or that it even exists. So here's Clinton talking about that.

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It's like if you ask them to build any other business outside of music, they would build in

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an expense to market and like research the business, find their customers. But for some

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reason, when they go into the music mentality, a lot of artists have the, well, my music's

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really good. I shouldn't have to market kind of like this. Well, guess what? Guess what?

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LeBron's really good, right? But he has to market himself to who? To recruiters, to teams,

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even to his audience right now. People will turn their back on you if you're not good to them or

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if you're not a good human being. So he has to be mindful and care about how he markets himself,

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the actions that he takes, the things that he says, because it's all part of his brand

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and how he markets his brand. So he knows that. And artists that go out there and just say,

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my music is good enough, that just shows right there you know nothing about business. Because

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unfortunately, having great music is just part one component of building a successful career.

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And if you don't know the other stuff, you're not willing to understand or learn or invest

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to find out these other things, then you'll always just be a great dude that's got great music

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sitting in his bedroom or at his house or sitting in his laptop. You know how many great producers

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and great rappers and great singers have tons of great music that just fucking sits in their

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computer and doesn't see the light of day? Way more than those that are on the charts or that

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you're hearing about on Spotify or anywhere else. Because they don't know how to brand,

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they don't know how to market, they don't know how to communicate, they don't know how to network,

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they don't know how to build a powerful network to collaborate with or use as resources. They

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don't understand the information that's available for them if they're willing to invest in themselves,

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but they think because they're paying for studio or they're in the studio two, three,

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four times a week. I'm out here killing it, bro. It should just organically grow. I should just

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put it on the biggest warehouse in the world full of songs, which is Spotify with tens of

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millions of songs and people are just going to stumble upon it. Imagine a giant, the biggest

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warehouse in the world, right? Filled with tiny little like widgets in every shelf. Every shelf

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in that warehouse is full of widgets. The same widget, the same widget, right? It's the same

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widget, a song, right? But it's like, what's going to make me pick that widget? How do I even know

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what shelf that widget's on? How do I know that on the top shelf on the 346 fucking shelf back

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there in the back on the top is this dope ass widget, AKA song that I should get familiar with?

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You don't know. You just think if I put all my stuff is on DSPs available on DSPs right now,

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that people are just going to, oh my God, oh my God, I got to go run and listen to Elliot's song.

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No, you got to compel them to want to go listen to it. You got to market to them. You got to make

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them want to go out of their way. For people to give you three minutes of their life and you take

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that for granted is a real dickhead thing to do, man, because like you got to put in 300 hours to

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hope that someone gives you three minutes to listen to your song. And by the way, people will see that

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you're putting in the work. People want to root for you. People want to support you. People want

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you to win if they see that you're putting in the work. People don't people like us,

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winners don't care about people that don't have winning mentalities and aren't putting out winning

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output. I don't care. I don't want to talk to someone that's not thinking about how to win.

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I don't want someone that wants to cheat their way to the top or feel their way to the top.

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You know who I would talk to for free? Someone that I keep fucking seeing putting work out

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and I keep seeing that doing dope shit. They keep doing it. They keep marketing themselves.

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I keep seeing them in different places. That's the type of person that I would say,

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let me talk to you for a minute. You know what I mean? So just do this. Right. Right. And like,

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I think one of the big things is with music in particular, a lot of artists think that what

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they're selling either to a radio, I'm sorry, to a label, to a radio, to a venue, they think they're

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selling their talent. And like, your talent can help you get an audience, but you're selling

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an audience. You could come up and play a dial tone on a microphone, but if you sold out every

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ticket, the venue is going to be very happy with you. Or you could be the most talented band ever.

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And if you sell seven tickets, the venue is not going to be pumped. They don't necessarily care

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how talented you are. Right. Well, I think the mistake here, by the way, my answer and your

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question, this is the part I want you to send me about the talent thing. Right. Well, here's the

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thing. Talent is more than just being able to rap, to sing, to DJ, to produce. There's a lot more

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that needs to be in that bucket of talent that a lot of people ignore and they're not paying

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attention to. It's the talent of knowing how to communicate with people, people you want to do

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business with, how to communicate and engage with your fans. It's the talent of treating people well.

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It's the talent of following up. It's the talent of being consistent and putting in hard work.

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It's the talent of putting together a great show when you do go perform that even if people don't

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know who you are, they want to know who you are because you did something so fantastic.

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They want to get familiar with who this person is. It's the talent of meaning what you say,

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saying what you mean. It's the talent of communicating and building a good network of

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people that you can use as resources to help you and leverage those resources to help you make

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further steps in elevating your career. So it's a lot more than just the talent of being the artist

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themselves. There's a lot more talent that people ignore and neglect. And I'll give you an example.

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There's a lot of times an artist will look at another artist that's on a chart and compare

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themselves to them and they'll say, man, my music is just as dope. Why isn't it getting the kind of

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streams they're getting it? Why aren't labels hollering at me the way that they talk to those

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people? Why aren't I building fan base like them? Why aren't I getting shows? Why is that? Why

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am I not getting what these people are getting? Why am I not yielding the same success that they

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are? Because you're comparing yourself to the one talent of their song, not recognizing all of the

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other talents that they may have. They may have the talent of communicating and talking and

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understanding how to communicate and talk to the right people on how to get their song put on there.

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They may understand outreach better than you. Marketing, branding, following up, being consistent.

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They may understand timing. They may understand how to talk to them in a better way. They may

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understand what it takes to go see them and get a relationship with them is more than just hitting

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them on a DM. You know what I'm saying? It's not just like, yo, I've hit them seven times on a DM.

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Well, so does 700 other people. You know what I'm saying? You need to understand how to become a

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value add. You need to understand how to connect with people. You need to understand how to talk

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to them the right way that's going to make you stand out from everybody else that just wants

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something from them. So talent is a lot more than just being able to rap, sing, produce, DJ, write.

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You need to understand all of the elements of what being a true talent is. Beyonce isn't just

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a singer. She's a dancer. She sells empowerment. She sells hard work. She sells beauty. There's a

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lot of talent within this one person. It's not just she sings well. You need to understand where

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all of your talents are and how to curate them all together and be able to use that to build a

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successful career. And that is when people recognize a real talent and that's when you

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will be a real talent. When you think of the most successful musicians in the world,

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you have to eventually see that those folks who are the most successful musicians on the planet

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aren't there only because of their musical talent. They have an entire cocktail of separate

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ingredients of talents that are all working together simultaneously to take not only their

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music and their platform, but their business to the top. Successful musicians, very successful

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entrepreneurs don't just have one skill. The music industry and business in general is a game

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where networking is involved and schmoozing is involved and knowing the rules of the game,

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whether they're right or wrong, they're there and knowing how to navigate the game that is being

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played and those who know how to play the game the best and have talent to back it up are the

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ones who are the most successful, not the ones who are just the most talented and that's it.

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There's a game being played and you have to know the rules that are being used to officiate this

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game in order to succeed. I think a lot of people get stuck on like, oh I can do that,

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oh my music is just as good as theirs and in their opinion, by the way, that's the other thing,

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that's just your own opinion. The market will tell you if you're as dope as you think you are,

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so if you're as dope as you think you are, then you got to figure out how to make sure people hear

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that and can give you the feedback if they agree with that, if you're as dope as you think and it

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will show by streaming, it'll show by views, it'll show by showing up at your shows, it'll show by

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the engagement on your social media, it'll show by people wanting to buy your merch,

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it'll show by their interest in you and by the way, you're not just selling a song,

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you're selling yourself and by the way, you're not even just selling yourself and your song.

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When people are out here trying to sell a product or a service or a song,

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that's not really what you're selling. What you're selling is a feeling and if you're able

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to understand what the audience is that you're trying to capture needs to feel, then you'll be

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able to, that'll help you dictate the kind of approach you need to take when making your music,

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when marketing your music and whatnot. So you need to understand your selling a feeling. What

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do people want to feel? Are you an artist that people turn to when they want to let some emotions

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out? Are you an artist people turn to when they want to celebrate and party? Are you an artist

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that people turn to when they want to feel triumphant or be motivated or inspire? Who are you?

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What kind of an artist are you? What do I expect when I hear you? And that's a really important

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part of building your brand and who you are too. It's like, what do people expect? If you're a

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little bit of fucking everything, then it's hard to, what am I supposed to be a fucking fan of?

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We live in a generation now where everybody feels like they have to do 17 different things

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to be looked at as super talented or someone to pay attention to. And that same concept of you

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thinking that you need to do all those things for people to realize how great you are is the

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same thing that prevents you from excelling because you're focusing on too many things

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and people are confused. They don't know who you are. Do you have a weed company? Are you a rapper?

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Are you a promoter? Do you have this other thing? Are you speaking about politics? Then are you in

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the hood talking about getting money? It's just like, who the fuck are you, man? I don't even

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know what I'm supposed to be a fan of. So if you're really trying to focus on building a

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brand that you want people to fall in love with and become a dedicated fan to, then you have to

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be very focused and clear on what it is you represent and what it is you want people to

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think about when they think about you. Right. I think one of the best artists at branding

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themselves and being associated with a certain feeling and you know what to expect and what

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you're going to get is Wiz Khalifa. A lot of people like Wiz Khalifa because they like his

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personality and they think he's funny and they're like, oh, when I want to smoke a joint, I'm going

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to listen to Wiz. It's not necessarily because he's the most talented rapper. I don't think

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anybody, I don't think Wiz himself would be like, oh yeah, lyrically, I am one of the most talented

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rappers ever. It's like, no, he has a feeling. He has his parameters. He stays in his parameters

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every time and you know what to expect and you know what you're going to get.

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Well, an even stronger example of that is, just think about how many records come out that emulate

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this person I'm about to say and right away you're just like, oh, that's like a Drake vibe.

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Because Drake created a vibe. He created a feeling that legions of artists just try to emulate now

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but we all know that's a Drake vibe and that's what made him so great because he created his

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own lane and he was smart. He knew who to talk to. He knew to talk to girls. He knew how to mix up

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just enough street hard shit that dudes wanted to be like, hell yeah, I want to sing it too

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and just enough relatability and connecting with females that they're like, oh, this music's for us

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too. A lot of people go in the studio and just make what they think they're supposed to make

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Look, back in the day earlier in my career when I was coming up, the way that people described

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that somebody knew was dope is they would say, yo, I've met this new kid. He doesn't sound like

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nobody. Super original. You ain't never heard anything like this and that's what would get

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people excited. Today, now it's like, yo, this dude's dope. He sounds just like, but I already

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know what that, I'm already a fan of that. I don't want to hear another version of that.

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Even artists go in the studio now, they throw on auto-tune and they go in and go,

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and then they listen back and they're like, yo, this is lit because they're excited because it

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sounds like something they're a fan of already. It's like, why are you trying to emulate a copy

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or be exactly like somebody else? If you're going to take those same tools, do something different

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with it. Another thing too, don't let auto-tune do all the work. Let the power of your voice

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be the song. You're not even anything. It's auto-tune at that point. It's cool to use auto-tune.

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I'm not disrespecting him, but some people use it so blatantly that that's the only way you'd

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ever be able to be an artist. That's not being an artist. That's being lazy. It's taking something

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that's not cool, man. It's going to die soon. I'm telling you now, people are getting over

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of the copycat, same old, same old. All right, we heard that story a million times. There's only

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so many bitches to fuck, only so much drugs you can sell, so much money phones you can make,

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so many Lambos they manufacture. It's just like, bro, enough with the fucking fake facade lifestyle.

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This much of the world that cares about that. You know what the world really cares about?

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Heartache, missing somebody, getting over something, vulnerabilities, fears, goals,

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hopes. The world can relate to that. Not everybody relates to, I got bitches in my room.

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I got bitches in my room. I fuck every single bitch. I got us like, fuck, man. First of all,

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no, you don't. And then second of all, it's like, fuck, man. Is there any other substance to your

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life than this fake story that you're making about your world? And you can tell when something's real.

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When someone's giving you some real game about the street or some shit they're going through,

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even if we heard the story before or we've felt the feeling before, say it differently.

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Come from a different perspective. Don't use the same lines somebody else used or the same exact

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scenario. Tell us a story from your unique point of view. Yeah, your story shouldn't all be,

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I was there too. There's a song called All I Got is You by Ghostface Killer. I think you probably

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know it. And it's like, at that time, you would have had to have gone through that shit to

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connect with that song. That song makes me cry every time I hear it because I relate and connect

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because I went through the same type of shit. And it's like, today, no one's story is even real

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for the most part. They're just adopting somebody else's stories or taking in what they're learning

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on the internet. I think it's so fucked up that people almost don't even realize they're not being

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real anymore. They're so bombarded with the internet and stories and fake and documentaries

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on Netflix and Hulu. It's almost like you forget what really your past was because you start

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connecting and making it part of somebody else's that you start believing your own fucking lies.

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So it's just crazy, man. But that's not even just music. That's just humans.

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Yeah, my own girl one day was like, you know, because I grew up with roaches, like the kind of,

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you know, we've all heard this story now, because the internet and everyone's told their stories.

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But, you know, when you get to turn on the lights and wait for the roaches to scatter and,

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and make sure everything was cool, and you see, oh, that one went behind the sugar fucking thing,

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let me go get it. Or then when you're pouring your cereal, like they'd be in your cereal,

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you have to fucking pluck them out. Like as a kid, that was normal. You know, I mean,

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you didn't know about it. You weren't like, Oh, my God, I'm super broke. You're just like,

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this is part of life, right? And then like, you're doing that shit. My girl says to me one day,

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she goes, yeah, we were infested by roaches too. I was like, you were, you know, saying she was like,

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yeah, totally. I was like, man, you ain't never told me that before. Right. And then she's like,

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yeah, and her mom comes over one day. And I was like, were you guys infested with roaches? She

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goes, no. And I was like, you didn't have roaches in your apartment when you guys were young in New

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York. She's like, no. And I was like, Juliana told me you guys were infested. She's like, Juliana,

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and she calls it down. Right. And then Juliana's like, well, you know, we had like, you know,

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at one time we had roaches. And then she's like, yeah, there was a roach one time in our apartment.

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So the point, the point of me saying is like, that's normal. The way that she acted, I'm not

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trying to call her out. That's normal. That's what most people do now. They like adopt stories and

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they exaggerate, they embellish the truth, or they take pieces of somebody else's story added to

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theirs, which by the way, when you're making compelling music and you're telling stories,

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that's great. But don't act like it's your story. Right. And that's the difference. Right. Big time.

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I think a great example of that is like, in hip hop in particular, it's hard to have a long career,

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because if for so long you kind of have this fake persona, eventually people find out and it like

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doesn't resonate with people anymore. Like a great example for like the emotional connection and good

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storytelling and things that everyone can relate to, Eminem. Eminem, Jay Z, Kanye West, Drake,

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all these people. People like people who aren't big fans might be like, I'm kind of sick and tired

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of hearing him talk about his breakup and his daughter. But like, you know, Trinidad James

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isn't making music anymore talking about gold chains. Like it's the emotion that people connect

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to is like what can sustain a career for 20 years. Yeah, it all doesn't have to be the same emotion.

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Look at Pusha. Like he's still out here now. He's selling a different feeling. You know what I mean?

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But it's authentic. And that's the point. He's still the same motherfucker that's talking about

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drugs and really slick fucking clever ways that nobody else is doing it. You know what I'm saying?

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By the way, his new album is fucking dope. So it's just be authentic and real. And by the way,

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another trend, all of a sudden like everybody's like 90s grunge emo in hip hop, which is totally

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fine because everything's, you know, circular and it comes back in waves. But like, bro, I don't

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want to be here anymore. Just like, come on, man. It's like, it's like, look, I understand people

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go through like, you know, bummed out times or bouts of depressions and shit like that. But it's

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like, if you're going to make a song about it, be fucking real about it, man. Don't just try to make

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it because you're like, it's the trendy topic to talk about. We don't believe you. You know what

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I'm saying? It's not fucking real. You know what I mean? And by the way, just like getting fake

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fucking streams, maybe you do feel that way. But the way that you're presenting it makes us not

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fucking believe that you're dope. Just like if you have fake streams, maybe you are dope. But when we

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see that the ratio is off, we automatically assume you're not fucking dope because you're lying.

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And don't tell me you're dope. Show me you're dope.

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I say that all the time. What's one of like, don't show me your resume. Show me results.

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A sad truth in both business and the music industry is that many players in the game

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have bought into the mentality that you can fake it till you make it. But sooner or later,

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the fakeness will catch up to you. And a shared mentality, at least in the music business,

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is that musicians at this level often think that enough talent is all you need. If you're the most

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talented person, someone will come and save you. The big record label will discover you and change

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your life because you're the most talented singer and you're the most talented guitar player. And

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unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. Same with like, say you're the best pitching prospect

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in the nation. But if you never go pitch and you never go do a showcase and no one can ever see you

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play, how are they going to know you're the best? So Clinton talks a little bit more about how to

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get over that mentality and go to work and get people to find you.

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People out there that get upset about scammers or being scammed only have themselves to blame.

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And I'll tell you why. Because the world is out to get you, right? It is your job to protect

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yourself. It is your job to do research. You wouldn't leave your front door wide open or your

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car unlocked, you know, in a busy, you know, bad neighborhood. You wouldn't like leave your money

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just sitting out on a table and leave your bank accounts and all your passwords open for anybody

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else to have. Why? Because you're protecting yourself because you're aware that people

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will take my shit. And that's exactly what the world does. It knocks you down and it takes shit

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from you. You need to be the one that equips yourself with the right skills and the education

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and the understanding of what is real and what is not. And the only way you can do that is by

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doing research and doing due diligence. There's no way that you can't do research on somebody now

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with the internet. You can look up somebody like me. If you see an ad from me and you're like,

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oh, this dude, he's all capping. And like, because you never heard of me, which is totally fine that

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you never heard of me, but you shouldn't just write a negative comment under me or somebody else.

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You should actually, because you actually sound like an idiot now when you write like this dude's

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a scammer. And it's like the people that know I'm not, you're an idiot, right? And then by the way,

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you look like an idiot by saying something for one of the good guys. That's not a scammer at all.

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And the complete opposite. So what you should have done or could have done, you know, because

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you got scammed before, because you fell for someone charged you fucking, hey, cash out me

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200 bucks and I'll get you this. That's your fucking, that's your fault for doing something

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that stupid. I would never tell you to send me a Venmo or a cash app. And anybody legit would

373
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never do that either. They're going to use proper payment processors. So that's what that's another

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telltale sign. If someone's a scammer or not, but that's not the only one. Cause someone could still

375
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:30,240
set that up and scam you. What you need to do is go do research. What is this person's history?

376
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What have they done? How long have they been around with? Who are they associated with? Who

377
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are other people that endorsed them? What are some great success stories that they have done?

378
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:43,760
Are they still doing great things right now? These are the bare minimal things that you can look at,

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especially, and I'll just use me as an example, because I know who I am. I check all of those

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boxes. So it's easy to see, fuck, this guy's been killing it forever. He's still killing it now.

381
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Here's all the people he works with that are super credible. Here's the stuff that he's done. I can

382
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,760
look on Google. I can look on Wikipedia. I can look on his website, I can look at socials. And by the

383
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:06,480
way, I can also go ask some people that already got his course already. Cause guess what? They're

384
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:11,600
under my captions saying, I got this book. It changed my life. Oh word. Let me ask this person

385
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:17,680
how and what was good about it. That's you doing your job at doing research to make sure you're

386
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:21,360
not going to just go to some bum college that you never heard of. You're going to look at the

387
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:25,040
right college. It's going to give you the right education. You're not going to go work for somebody

388
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:29,760
that's a jerk off without finding out if this guy's a fucking federal crime breaking dick.

389
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,720
Let me go make sure I'm getting myself in the right situation. You're not going to just go

390
00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:38,720
start dating somebody, or maybe you would, but you shouldn't date somebody without doing any

391
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:44,960
research on their past. Do they got five restraining orders on them? Fuck. I didn't even know that.

392
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:49,840
Well, that's your fault. You should have done research. You know what I mean? So just in life,

393
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you got to protect yourself. Now I'm not saying, you know, to be rigid and like, fuck and always

394
00:35:55,200 --> 00:36:01,120
be on high alert for everything. But when you're, when you're working on building your career or,

395
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,880
you know, elevating yourself, these are the things that you have to, it's part of the job.

396
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:11,920
You can't say, I want to be in the NBA and not go to practice. You can't be like in the NFL and not

397
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:17,600
watch game films. You can't not do it. It's part of the job. It's what makes you better.

398
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:23,760
So if you want to be awesome, then you got to start with doing research and investing in yourself

399
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:28,640
and caring enough about your future that you're willing to put the time aside to do the research

400
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,600
on the right steps that you should be doing. Cause if you start taking wrong steps, you're

401
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,880
going to be jaded. You're going to get mad at yourself. You're going to have resentment.

402
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:38,240
You're going to look back at other people and think everybody's out here to get you.

403
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:42,480
And it's like that all snowballed because of you not taking the right steps from the beginning.

404
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:49,920
Yep. But I think with all of that being said on something like five for folks like us,

405
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:54,960
it's a great opportunity. If somebody does have a question to be like, Hey, I'm thinking about

406
00:36:54,960 --> 00:37:00,880
doing this. Like I know it's shady. Can you give me your take on like what this company is saying

407
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:05,440
or what this guy is saying? And it's like, I mean, there's a lot of value

408
00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:13,680
in knowing what not to do. Like when I was, the whole reason I'm in the music business here now

409
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:19,840
is like, I was an artist myself. I wasn't anything special. I kind of learned some things, but like,

410
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:26,400
I just now feel like I understand generally what is going on in this game. And I know how to like

411
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:31,440
explain it to another musician. Cause I was one or I don't know if you ever

412
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:37,360
Well, you also come from a different perspective as well. Being someone that specializes in a

413
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:42,560
different field that's connected to music, right? So you can help. So you can give a different

414
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:46,880
perspective. Look, everything's the same, right? Every, every business, every industry is the same.

415
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:50,880
It's just got different lingo, a couple of different rules, but it's all, it's all ran

416
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,640
kind of the same way. If you understand business, you just understand business, right?

417
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:59,840
And if you understand how to communicate and dealing with people and psychology and it's the

418
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:06,080
same across the board. So the great thing about the five platform is it's the only place in the

419
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:11,920
world where you can go and ask a quick question via text to an expert who's done the things that

420
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,880
you're trying to do, who has a bunch of success. Or you just like, you know, like Andrew White's,

421
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:21,040
who's Tom Brady's personal stylist, you know, there's a bunch of guys that wanted to,

422
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,000
you know, what to wear when they went to the Kentucky Derby. It's like, where would you go

423
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:27,600
find that? Just Google like what to wear a Kentucky Derby. And then even when you find

424
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:32,000
that information, it's like, is this person credible? Is the source credible? Like, do I

425
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,960
really listen to them? But when you can really ask someone who styles Tom Brady, who's dressed as

426
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:42,880
dope as shit, and then you're like, let me ask the guy that dresses him. Now you're asking somebody

427
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:47,760
real or you're like, yo, should I be doing this with my music career? And you can hit five dot

428
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:52,880
me forward slash Clinton sparks and just send me a quick text and ask me a question that that

429
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:58,400
will make a huge difference in your decision. That could be the difference between you succeeding

430
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:03,840
or not succeeding. Like, it's the first of its kind. I'm really excited about five. I'm glad

431
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:07,600
you're a part of it. So you have a lot of game to give to people. I'm glad that I got a lot of

432
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:13,280
people on there just hung up with Gilly, the kid Lenny s who's DJ Khaled's manager, so many other

433
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:17,280
people that are on this platform. It's not even just music business. I mean, from marketing to

434
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:22,480
just regular business to crypto to eSports and gaming. If you have questions you want to ask

435
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:27,920
experts and people that have the game to give, this is the place to go. So you know, you can hit

436
00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:33,040
me anytime five dot me forward slash Clint Sparks, you want advice, you want game, you want answers

437
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:37,360
to questions, you want feedback, you can even send me a song to review and talk to you about what you

438
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:41,840
should add to it, how you should roll it out with your marketing plan or not. Well, I think it's a

439
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:50,160
great idea. And I mean, this kind of channel like of, I think cameo and honestly, in a way,

440
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:56,000
it's kind of like cameo meets only fans except for like the content you're the exclusive content

441
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:01,440
you're selling is advice. Well, it's like it's basically like it's basically like having a giant

442
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:07,680
Rolodex and contact list. You can WhatsApp them and ask them a quick question. So it's like WhatsApp

443
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:14,320
with a paywall and a stop clock. So you have five minutes to asynchronously to ask somebody. So if

444
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:18,560
you want to ask Damon John a question, Hey, man, here's my startup, I plan on doing this, here's

445
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:22,400
my plan to roll out. Is there anything that you would suggest that I should do better to make sure

446
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:27,520
that I hit the market more effectively? Bam, send them the text. Damon hits you back, like,

447
00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:31,360
I would probably do this or change this or have you heard of this company maybe hired like,

448
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:35,520
whatever the advice is, there's no place else where you could just get in touch with,

449
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:40,720
you know, the co founder of kayak or the CEO of PayPal and just ask them quick questions.

450
00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:44,480
I'm working right now on trying to get people from YouTube and Instagram and Twitter like

451
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:49,600
that all artists need have questions, Spotify, where it's like, now these people can go and

452
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:54,800
ask a question. And the great thing for these platforms is like they're monetizing that now,

453
00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:58,720
being able to put somebody in a position to answer all of these elaborate questions that people have.

454
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:05,920
I think that's a real bottleneck between platforms and artists. I mean, nobody understands like

455
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:12,080
the algorithms or if you're getting shadow banned or, you know, effective practices to,

456
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:16,800
you know, uplift your views and whatnot. So being able to get those kinds of people on

457
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:20,800
there is going to change the game for artists. Well, you make a great point. I mean,

458
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:26,080
the understanding of how social media platforms work and how YouTube and Spotify work,

459
00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:32,480
the understanding is so low that there's a whole nother industry like this to teach artists how

460
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:38,320
it works. Right. There's such a disconnect that people like me have been able to fill the void

461
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:42,960
because I just happen to know how algorithms generally work. And I'll tell you how it works

462
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:48,320
on Spotify. And that's why it's important. Right. So if you've got questions about Spotify

463
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:52,480
and you want to understand how to uplift your streams on Spotify, how to navigate it better,

464
00:41:52,480 --> 00:42:00,400
then you need to hit Elliot at 5.me forward slash Elliot Towsley, 5.me Elliot Towsley,

465
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:05,680
anytime, 24 hours a day, send him a text. He's there. He's waiting for you and he'll give you

466
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:10,320
the answers that you need. Absolutely. That's a dough five drop for you. That was boom. I'm

467
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:16,320
ready for the collab post anytime. Well, Clinton, thank you very much for your time. Is there one

468
00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:22,960
last piece of advice that you would give an independent artist who takes their music business

469
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:28,560
seriously? They have a good product, but they just now they're putting on their marketing hat

470
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:38,400
and they don't know what to do. Yeah. Go learn from people like me. Yeah. Take advantage of

471
00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:43,760
the value that's out there for you to take advantage of and don't be taken advantage of

472
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:49,520
from those that aren't giving you value. All right, Clinton, I gotta let you go, man. Thank

473
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:56,800
you so much for your time. Bye buddy. Be safe, buddy. Take care. All right, everybody. That does

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00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:04,000
it for this episode of the cut in through podcast. My name is Elliot Towsley. Thank you so much

475
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:10,800
for tuning in and supporting the show. Believe it or not, aside from sending me money, the best way

476
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:18,480
that you can support the show is by subscribing and rating the podcast on your favorite streaming

477
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:24,960
platform and send us your questions about what type of topics you would like us to cover next.

478
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:31,440
My name is Elliot Towsley. You can find me on Instagram at Elliot dot Towsley or check out my

479
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:36,960
company, Denovo Agency, where we can help entertainers and music businesses promote themselves

480
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:43,280
online. This has been the cut in through podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and we will see you next

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00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:49,600
time.