Anyways, back to the grind, when I leave work, I usually take the opportunity to get a lot of my writing done while I am driving home. I wrote most of my last mixtape and my first album in my truck because it saves me time to work on business projects when I get home. When I get back to Baltimore, I go to staples and spend $47 on 150 mixtape covers and proceed to go through sheet after sheet of cutting each cover out. Next, I usually go to Best Buy and buy two packs of jewel cases for all the CDís I burnt at work. Then, I have to put actual covers on my product, so I have to go CD by CD and send it through my printer, which takes 3 to 4 min to print. The final step is checking out my schedule and database to see what shows I can attend for the week to hand out CD's. I am working on servicing regular Gas Stations, Malls, and stores with my product as well, so I have my by Kontact making me spreadsheets that will allow me to document where, when and how many CD's I leave at each location. Everything I do is down to a science and very professional, so I don't care about making people pay for a mixtape of mine; I rather just give it to you for free, so you can enjoy the music. See, the price I go through to make 100 copies of my mixtape or a single is tedious and time consuming, but that is the stuff the consumer doesn't know about. They donít know that if they throw a CD of mine away or it collects dust, I just wasted 5 min. out of my day. Believe me, I am not griping because I think its well worth the chance.
The next phase of guerilla marketing is something that most artists donít think about at the independent level and that's your image. You have to market yourself like you're already signed, so I push my self to be in great shape for three reasons. One, I travel a lot on the show tip, so itís important to stay healthy while your on the move. Two, I have a very energetic show that involves consistent quick movements and the use of props you would only see in a theater setting. Three, I want to look like a superstar and present myself as very professional when I am out and about. To make this happen, I run 3 to 4 times a week varying from a mile to 2 miles each time. That is followed by 100 sit ups/ push ups and then an hour to two hour rehearsal with my Deejay DJ Dublee and Kontact. Depending on what time it is, I usually cap my night off doing some more writing and recording. Itís funny because I feel like I am a machine at times or an annoying admin assistant with my schedules. Hey, what can I say, I am trying to make it in this music industry and I am willing to do as much work as possible to make it happen.
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