Music is art but it must also be treated like a business. Beatie Wolfe is one of the leading figures in the industry of song writing and she has set the pace for innovation and entrepreneurship and the fusion of music and technology to embody the unique album listening experience. In a recent interview with a reporter, Wolfe revealed three lessons she had to learn in the course of her own career that can be of help to fellow entrepreneurs like herself when starting their own business. Look after your own Pigs Wolfe’s father use to tell her when she was growing up: “The eye of the farmer fattens the pig.” What does this folksy phrase mean? Whatever you watch, or pay attention to, will grow. “The idea is that if it’s your pig and you’re the farmer, even just watching the pig will ensure its growth,” Wolfe said, “because you’ll see things no one else will see. And no one else will watch your pig like you.” As you start to expand your business, it is vital to have it at the back of your mind that nobody will care as much as you do about your business. Neither will they be as bothered about your bottom line, your successes r your failures. If you wish to be successful you need to pay the most attention to your own pig regardless of what it looks like. Work with people If you want to be successful in any business, you must be able to work with the right people. Who are these people and how can you find them? These are some of the best criteria to factor in when searching: Mutual respect and admiration Mutual profits and gains for both parties “Everyone I’ve worked with has been such a pleasure to work with,” Wolfe said. “And not just from a business perspective. I collaborated purely from the standpoint of I really like these guys, they inspire me and we’re on the same page.” Wolfe cited her recent partnership with Bell Labs, through their EAT Program, as an example. It is also critical to understand that working with people in the beginning stages of your business can transcend into lifelong partnerships and relationships. So do this wisely. 3. Speak Up When re you most required to say what’s on your mind? When are you expected to remain silent? Sometimes when you hire people or seek people with whom you can work with that are not in your industry, it can be very tempting to just go with whatever the expert is saying as you are not so conversant with that line but when you have a gut feeling about something that needs to be done, please speak out. “You’re going to add so much value to even the areas you’re not supremely qualified for, just if you have that vision,” Wolfe said. Even if what you have to say creates some tension, highlighting your own point of view and perspective will foster in discussions and debates that will hopefully drive you to the desired goal. Speak up and speak out for your business.

A lot of the popular rappers in the game today like Jay-Z, Dr. Dre and Nipsey Hussle are making us understand that they are a lot more than just bars and hooks.
Hip Hop has done a lot to the new outlook of our culture and from the NWA to 2Pac and Jay-Z, we have seen hip hop artists who are pushing the frontiers and reinventing the culture. What is most intriguing is that these guys aren’t sticking to only music all the time but they are now venturing into businesses and start ups and the outcome is artists now fully invested in industries such as fashion, sports, technology etc. Artists on the scale of Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, and Diddy have now entered into collaborations with major companies. Jay Z once released an album called the Magna Carta album in collaboration with Samsung. Diddy is in joint ventures with Cîroc and Dr.Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s headset company have struck a major deal with Apple. There are lessons you can take away from hip hop and its engagement of the business world. Here are a few lessons that you might want to learn.

1. Root for yourself and keep pushing (Nipsey Hussle)
Nispey Hussle is a popular rap artists and you can easily be fooled by his laid back demeanor but he is a man of many layers. Not only is he making records that are topping charts, he is also engaged in a lot of businesses that have been profitable. He is a man with a vision and this has translated in excellent business moves. He has multiple business partnerships such as that of his clothing company, The Marathon Clothing which is based in Henshaw, his record label, all money in and he has also delved into the world of cryptocurrency. One popular move he made early in his career that sticks out as someone who bets on himself was selling his mixtape at $100 a copy and this news went viral and also caught the attention of music mogul Jay-Z who went on to get 100 copies for $10,000. Hussle was able to create a buzz around himself and his product and he bet on himself to succeed.

2. Build your own brand by working with people (Jay-Z)
Jay-Z was brought up in the projects of Brooklyn and this was the time when crack cocaine flooded the streets and crime was at a zenith. If you watched Jay-Z growing up, you could never imagine him in the success that he has created for himself now. He is now a household name but it wasn’t always rosy for him. In the late 80s and early 90s he worked with a lot of people to feature as a guest rapper on their albums. When he went out looking for a record deal and he couldn’t land one, he ended up creating his own label and selling his records out of his car trunk. He used to sleep on studio floors and open for other artists and the relationships he built then on his way up are critical to the success that he has now. He used those relationships as a medium to build a name for himself and he would always try to make his mark and establish his brand when opening for other artists. He worked tirelessly with other artists within and outside of his genre.

There are countless other stories of hip hop entrepreneurs who have paved the way for a new entrepreneurial mindset among musicians and this is a great thing for the world of music.

The music industry is a lot different from what it once was. When you think about it, it wasn’t too long ago that we said our goodbyes to cassettes and welcomed in a new era of digital libraries of mp3s. With the internet making music more accessible than it has ever been, the way in which we distribute, buy and sell music has changed dramatically. What does this all translate to for the industry? The online playing platform for music has given artists a myriad of avenues with which they can self-promote on their own terms and drop the content that sits well with them. Big names like Wix music artists Karmin and Lil Dicky have totally embraced the digital landscape and they have achieved so much success and recognition just from selling their own content on their own websites, sometimes even giving it away for free. The advent of the digital world does not translate to the death of making a living as a musician but rather it has brought a new lease of life for those who are ready to exploit it. Artist no longer need big labels to put food on their table. If you asked any artists a few years ago what their main aim of being into music was, they will all tell you that they dream of one day being signed with a record label that will help them achieve the success they dream of. But today you do not really need the record labels to be known and get recognition. We have seen independent artists like Macklemore, Karmin, and Tekashi 69 all doing it on their own and all they need is a beautiful website and some creative marketing. When you have the talent and you let your music do most of the talking, you are on course to attaining the success and recognition you desire. If you have a website where you promote your content, you should include a music player visibly on the site and this app should allow users click and listen to your content without hassles. When you build a reasonable fan base, you can then decide whether or not you want to charge for content going forward or you just want to continue building the audience. There are so many ways to eventually make money from music even after giving it away for free for the longest time. Once you have a community of loyal fans, you can go on tours and you can sell merchandise in the way that Chance the Rapper has done and achieved great success. You just have to be patient and keep putting in the work and in no time you will be on the path to total domination.