Latest / Clone Wars: The Spinoff / Rob Base, Split Sheets, and the Real Hip-Hop Money Game

Transcript

Rob Base, Split Sheets, and the Real Hip-Hop Money Game · Clone Wars: The Spinoff

• 0:00
  Welcome to the show, everybody!
• 0:01
  I'm Dangerous Zygos, here with DJ Universe, Calvin Blingwell,
• 0:04
  and Dandy Market.
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  And look, we gotta start with a date that should make every creator in this culture
• 0:09
  freeze.
• 0:10
  On May 22nd, Rob Base passed away at age 59.
• 0:14
  And while everyone is celebrating "It Takes Two" as one of the most sampled,
• 0:18
  most recognizable tracks in the entire history of hip-hop, the real conversation
• 0:23
  behind closed doors is about publishing control.
• 0:26
  Or rather, the lack of it.
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  Man, that hits crazy hard.
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  Because look, "It Takes Two" dropped in 1988, went multi-platinum,
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  and literally changed how DJs rock parties globally.
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  But what people don't know is Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock were getting sampled by
• 0:45
  everyone from Snoop Dogg to Ciara, and yet, because of how those early Profile
• 0:51
  Records contracts were structured, the guys who actually laid down the vocals and
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  the beats weren't seeing the majority of that backend.
• 0:59
  See, coming from Baton Rouge to LSU and then out here to Calabasas,
• 1:03
  this is the first thing they don't teach you in creative spaces.
• 1:06
  You think "making it" is just about getting your song in the club.
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  But the industry operates on a completely different language.
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  You got the master rights, which is the actual physical sound recording,
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  and then you got the publishing rights, which is the underlying composition,
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  the lyrics, the melody.
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  If you don't control both, or at least have a clean split sheet,
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  you're basically giving away your house and renting a room back from the landlord.
• 1:34
  Man, you had to stay lit to survive in those early days, but being lit don't pay the
• 1:38
  taxman if the paperwork is trash.
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  To me, this connects directly to the Supreme Mathematics of hip-hop.
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  Knowledge of self.
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  If you don't know your numbers, you don't know yourself.
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  You see a hundred-thousand-dollar advance check and you think you're rich,
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  but you don't realize that's just a high-interest loan you gotta pay back before you
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  see a single dime of royalties.
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  That's the ultimate trap.
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  As a CEO of currency development, I look at an advance and I see a liability on a
• 2:08
  balance sheet.
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  It's not income!
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  It's recoupable.
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  Meaning if the label spends two hundred grand marketing your record,
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  and you got a fifty-thousand-dollar advance, you are two hundred and fifty thousand
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  dollars in the hole.
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  You don't get a royalty check until that entire balance is zeroed out.
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  And back in Rob Base's era, in '88, these guys didn't have lawyers who actually
• 2:29
  represented *their* interests.
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  They had the label's lawyer saying, "Sign here, we'll get you on the radio."
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  But today?
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  Bro, if you are an independent artist in 2024 and you are sending WAV files to
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  producers without a split sheet signed before you leave the studio,
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  you're playing yourself.
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  There's no excuse now.
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  Exactly, DJ Universe.
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  I don't care how good the vibe is in the room.
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  Before we bounce the rough mix to email, we are filling out the split sheet.
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  Who wrote the hook?
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  Who did the drums?
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  What's the percentage?
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  Because once that song hits the algorithms, nobody remembers the verbal agreements.
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  They only remember what's registered with the performance rights organizations.
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  So let's break down how this actually works today, because the game has shifted.
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  You got three distinct buckets of money you gotta master if you wanna survive in
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  this industry.
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  First is the advance money, which like Dangerous Zygos said,
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  is a budget, not a salary.
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  Second is your royalty streams, which covers your master royalties,
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  your publishing, and your digital performance royalties through places like
• 3:32
  SoundExchange.
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  And third is your active income, your shows, your merch, and your direct-to-fan
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  sales.
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  Look at how those buckets play out in real time.
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  On May 15th, Drake drops *Iceman* as a surprise release.
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  No massive three-month marketing campaign, no traditional radio rollout.
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  Just boom, here it is.
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  That high-velocity strategy works because his backend business is already a
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  well-oiled machine.
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  He has the infrastructure to capture every single micro-penny of streaming royalty
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  the second that track hits the server.
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  But see, Drake is at a level where he can do that.
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  For most artists, you need the structure.
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  Look at Latto's campaign for her May album.
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  That was a textbook masterclass in a planned rollout.
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  You got the lead singles, the press runs, the pre-saves, the tour dates announced
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  simultaneously, and the brand partnerships.
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  She's driving traffic to all three buckets at the exact same time.
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  The streaming feeds the tour, the tour sells the merch, and the merch keeps the cash
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  flow liquid while she waits for the streaming royalties to clear three to six months
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  from now.
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  And that delay is what kills artists!
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  They think because they got a million streams today, they can buy a chain tomorrow.
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  Nah, Spotify and Apple Music aren't paying you tomorrow.
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  That money goes through a distributor, then through your publisher,
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  and by the time it hits your bank account, it's next quarter.
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  That's why SoundExchange is so critical.
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  If you're an artist and you aren't registered with SoundExchange,
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  you are literally leaving non-interactive digital radio money on the table from
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  Pandora, SiriusXM, and webcasts.
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  It's free money sitting in a vault with your name on it.
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  So let's give them the actual checklist.
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  No more vague advice.
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  Number one: register with ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC immediately.
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  Number two: open that SoundExchange account.
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  Number three: write down the splits on a piece of paper and sign it before you leave
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  the studio.
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  Number four: take thirty percent of every single performance check and put it in a
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  separate account for taxes.
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  Do not touch it.
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  And number five: hire your own entertainment lawyer.
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  If the label offers to pay for your lawyer, find a different one.
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  That thirty percent tax rule is the difference between a career and a bankruptcy.
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  The IRS does not care about your aesthetic.
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  They want their cut.
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  So we gotta leave the listeners with one final, sharp question to chew on.
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  When you look at your next release, are you actually building a catalog that's going
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  to pay you and your family for the next thirty years, or are you just chasing a
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  fleeting moment on a playlist that's going to disappear by next Friday?
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  That's the real test.
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  Rob Base showed us the power of the record, but the business shows us how to keep
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  it.
• 6:27
  Appreciate y'all rocking with us.
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  We're out.