Whenever you are introduced to someone that you see yourself doing business with, whether it’s producing a record or doing a tour together, always keep the person who connected you with that person involved. It’s a sign of respect and shows gratitude. That person may not have any more involvement than just listening to a couple of records but it will make your relationship blossom. This is a people business and to accomplish anything major you will need to utilize your number one asset, the people.
Not too long ago I had introduced an artist that I have a longstanding relationship with and I wanted to see her grow. To do that would mean more records but also introducing her to more people. Keep in mind, I am no manager nor will I ever have the desire to be but if I see a way to get both the artist and our records more exposure I’m going to take it. During this time I had introduced her to someone that owned a publishing company and had a few wins under his belt. I setup a meeting at a studio and wanted him to hear the records we were working on. We must’ve left an impression because the next conversation was how we could work together. This of course was expected as I knew that she was indeed a great songwriter and artist. A little time had passed and I randomly got a phone call one night from the songwriter. Nothing unusual as I’m called at all times of the night with the artists and musicians I work with. On this particular phone call I was told about how the gentleman that owned the publishing company had reached out to her to shoot her music video and work on her EP. That’s odd, I remember me and him talking about it but I wanted things to settle a bit before we moved forward. I asked a couple more questions and was presented with enough evidence to suggest that this wasn’t a brainstorming session for the possible EP, this was a move to simply work with her and leave me out of the situation. I tried asking questions that would suggest a positive intent for the gentleman as I was only hearing one side of the story. However, as I have learned through my years on earth is that you always trust a woman’s intuition. The conversation ended with her talking about a few other things that I’ll leave out of this post in respect for both parties. I had heard enough. I called my business partner and the rest of my team and told them to fall back from communicating with the gentleman until further notice. He must’ve felt things were different as I reached out to him to sit down and pick his brain. I even offered to pay him for his time. His response, “I’ll have my assistant get back to you.” Unfortunate, as I was willing to look pass the slight transgression to further any opportunities.
The point of this is that everything would’ve fell into place for our situation if I had been included in the conversation. The songwriter even suggested during their phone call to reach out to me so that we could all work on laying out a plan for the EP and discuss marketing. That wasn’t just an honorable thing to do, it’s standard for business. How would you feel if you introduced one of your friends to another one night only to discover that they both went out to Cabo without from their instagram posts? Take the time to consider the person who connected you with the potential business opportunity. That goes a long way not only with the connector but with other people as they are always watching. It says something when people start to notice that the parties that you are involved with are elevating with you.
None of this would be possible without the plug.
