RICK SWAGGER®

- Short Background -
In late 1999 - RICK SWAGGER - entered one of the most competitive field called The Music Industry. Like alot of people, it's his passion. He went on to learn to be a Professional DJ at a worldwide established college. Since then, he's been an Internet/Pirate Radio Presenter, Club/House Party DJ, Radio Producer, Interviewer, Mash Up Producer, Studio Assistant, Record Company Executive Assistant, Music Distributor and a Writer, while networking and getting advice from established players, and learning the ins and outs of the Music Industry. He still needs to learn how the music and entertainment business model works, because things have drastically switched gear since the 1980s and 1990s. Publishing, Licensing, Presenting, Performing as a rapper, Writing, Producing, Learning and Playing his Favourite Timeless Classic Sounding Popular music, is what interests him. All types of music from all around the globe interests him. He likes exceptional unsigned talented people, who are doing music. His main specific interests and objective, is, making Timeless Classic Popular Sounding Music. He's artistic, and creative, and has got alot of great ideas.
He's fully aware of 'The Business Side Of The Music' which he
embraces. He likes using business ideas, and combining them with the
music. He knows what music he likes, and doesn't like. He sees music
as a way of life, therapy, and a motivational tool. He likes individuality and originality. He's great with people. His philosophy and mentality is at opposite ends of the spectrum, compared to the majority of the population. He has his own unique voice, style and identity. He's experienced, wise, knowledgeable and confident in what he does. He's diplomatic and tactful, and has a corporate mindset, with a keen interest in Capitalism, and is very much wanting to find his own niche in the music and entertainment business.
Above is just his own work which is at DEMO stage. He can also breakdance.
Due to tragedy that struck in early 2000, he had to give it all up, and
concentrate on what was more important. In the beginning of 2004, he
slowly picked up the pace, and learned to play acoustic guitar from an
expert guitar tutor who plays many styles. He's got a pair of industry
standard decks, with a professional scratch mixer, an electro/acoustic
guitar, a synth keyboard, a sampler/sequencer/drum machine, along
with semi-professional studio equipment, which he'll be using as part of
his music production work. He's a huge fan of a selection of timeless
classic pop songs, aswell as many other timeless classic tunes. He
doesn't categorize music.
He's educated himself on Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Rap, Rock'n'Roll, Reggae, Spoken Word, Dance.
He feels there's still currently a gap in the UK Music Market that should be filled. It's this :
ALL Singers/Rappers/MCs/B-Boys & Girls/Scratch DJ's/Beatboxers/Graffiti Artists/Musicians/Producers should come together and make 5 different and timeless commercially viable albums.
Can that be accomplished? We'll all have to wait and see.
What is the next challenge? Let - RICK SWAGGER - know....
- RICK SWAGGER - has acquired ALOT of knowledge and experience in successful profitable enviroments, aswell as getting ALOT of great advice, from watching, listening to, and reading interviews with established players, interviewing a few of them, talking to a variety of people in the Industry, making observation, picking up ALL the relevant information and doing extensive research into the Music Industry. He'd kindly like to share this information to anybody who has little knowledge, and who'd like to kick start a successful career in the business.
NOTE : These are the facts, as we should know.
:::::::IMPORTANT FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE & FACTS ABOUT::::::
:::::::CREATING & PERFORMING MUSIC SUCCESSFULLY, ON A:::::::
:::::::TIMELESS COMMERCIAL SCALE::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
1. Sampling, Copying, Covering & Borrowing Music is essential to all musicians/singers/producers/rappers/performers. The way they enjoy/love listening to their favourite music, is the same way they feel when they make their own music.
2. The talent comes in when they can interpret that piece of music in their own way, expressing their own feelings, putting their own stamp on it, making their own verson out of it. This means, finding their own voice, style and identity within the song they use as their influence, to make their own song. This is absolutely imperative as an artist. It is what is going to make the artist unique. And that is what Record Companies are looking for. Being Unique. If the artist really feels the song he/she is going to use as an influence to their song, they might hear other melodies, rhythms, and basslines within that song, to insert in their own song. This is whats called, adding your own style, which is what humanity have been doing since they've first been here on this planet.
3. The money starts generating and will always be generating when they can express their "True Soul" on a commercial level, making and performing music that the world can sing along to and that it will last forever. And that means, using Timeless Classic Pop Songs throughout history, as your NUMBER ONE influence. This is what is going to connect with people. Having the connection with people is vital, aswell as being as interactive as you can.
4. It is important that artists invent new sounds, and new images of themselves, and carry on re-inventing themselves continuously in the forever changing world of the music/entertainment business. Being fresh and innovative is the key. This means, being open to a huge variety and styles of music. This'll give them the opportunity to explore new ideas, and make/perform exciting new music, which will always interest the public who attend their shows/buy into their music. That will also demonstrate that artists have great knowledge and appreciation of every type of music thats out there. And thats VERY important. Artists can stick to the same sound if they wish, as there are many that do, in the independent scene. But there are artists, that are going to be bored, just sticking with that one sound, and will inevitably refresh themselves with new sounds they haven't heard before.
5. It can be a daunting life for up and coming artists, who feel that they are against all odds. It doesn't have to be like that. Aslong as they learn, follow and stick to, "THE POP FORMULA", protect their work, stay consistent, and persistent, and re-invent themselves continually, they will get the opportunity to carve out a good career in the business. To have all of your work and ideas protected, once they've been laid down, you will need to speak to a FULLY QUALIFIED lawyer with a PROVEN TRACK RECORD. They will be able to guide you through the legal information. When you sign any kind of deal, where, money will be coming in and out, you won't have any time dealing with that, as you'll be too busy doing the music. So, you'll need to speak with a FULLY QUALIFIED Chartered Account, also with a proven track record. The same applies when looking for a manager.
6. VITAL POINT : [It's :NOT: About Who You Know, It's :WHAT: You Know]. KNOWLEDGE is the key. If you know your game in the first place you wouldn't be wasting precious time barking up the wrong tree. Getting in touch with the RIGHT people, and building EFFECTIVE relationships with them will help you get steps up the ladder. BUT ALOT of THOROUGH and EXTENSIVE research needs to be done, into "The Business Of Music". Anybody starting out should read in between the lines of the fame and the glamour, and see the industry for what it REALLY is, and use their THOROUGH and EXTENSIVE knowledge, and make WISE and SUCCESSFUL decisions, based on projections, global appeal and profits/net profits. When you acquire that knowledge, it will be absolutely invaluable to you, and will help lead you to make as few mistakes as possible. KNOWING EXACTLY what you want from the business is EQUALLY IMPORTANT, and will help you to know exactly where you stand in the business, and where you want to be heading. There's no point in getting into any business, if you don't know what you want to achieve, from it. Like any other business, money needs to be generated. Whether it is substantial, or not, or maybe there isn't a penny being generated, it will be entirely up to the individual and on what he/she is trying to achieve.
(Conclusion) : Successful artists really love what they do, and really enjoy what they do, but they sacrifice ALOT of things in their life, in order to successfully achieve their goals. They have alot of appreciation of life, too, and show that they have a love for many things. They're open-minded and think outside the box. And have great knowledge of how "The Business Of Music", works.
A similar approach needs to be taken, when one wants to embark on a career in DJ'ing. To create several opportunities, the individual needs to have knowledge in his/her music selection, and be able to play a wide variety of music from all across the spectrum, from Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Soul, Funk, any type of dance related music, and any type of other music, from all across the world. They need to be able to know how to tailor their style accordingly, to different enviroments, and different surroundings, and know precisely, what gets the crowd going, and how to control them. A sign of a great DJ, who knows his stuff, is someone who stands out from the crowd and can spin great records the crowd has never heard of before, and can get them into the mood and into the vibe, whether their dancing or relaxing, or enjoying themselves, in any other way. Knowing your records is imperative, as that will help you to know where to start and stop the mix, and where the tune starts, and ends. You will then be confident in knowing what tunes to use to mix, and how to mix them. There are DJ's that play a particular style of music, catering to a particular market. If they're established in anyway, it means they have found a niche in that market. And thats what you need to do. But before you do that, you need to know that particular market, and how much it's worth. The fact of the matter is, the wider the market, you choose to play your music to, the greater the opportunities will be. It's just going to be up to you to decide where you want to take your career, and how successful you want to be. Again, know what you want to achieve from it first, study the market, then get straight into it. At the end of the day, a job of a DJ is to entertain, interact and connect with, the crowd. And obviously you need to be looking to get paid from it too, in the later stages. Just be determined, strong, focused, committed, happy (because you HAVE to enjoy doing it), dedicated, consistent, passionate, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, experienced, open-minded, persistent, and just keep on learning, and adapting. These are many of the key ingredients to have, that will determine your success. If you decide you want to fast forward and learn quite alot in a short space of time, you should take up a course. But make sure you try and find the right one, for you, as there are so many to choose from.
GOOD LUCK!
RICK SWAGGERS' new myspace page coming soon....
Copyright ©2008 RICK SWAGGER®. All Rights Reserved.