Our FINAL episode: DJ Pain 1 shares who to avoid making beats for and why after a conversation about eliminating middle-men and sticking with the people you came up with. LaRussel claims middle-men should NOT be a part of your career. The MEC team responds. Dame, Erinn and Pain all share their gratitude for each other and the podcast's supporters and reveal how Raedio has taken over the Music Entrepreneur Club.

Russ recently tweeted that managers need to work harder for their commision and compared manager fees to equity. Erinn and Dame respond. Selling beats with exclusive rights comes with confusion for both rappers and beatmakers. Pain shares a story about a rapper demanding a buyout, what this says about the music business and how artists can do better.

AI beats are trash right now, but when the beats get better and AI-generated samples become usable, who will own those copyrights? We are already seeing AI content being flagged for copyright infringement. Will copyright laws change? Also, why would a rapper sign to a major label in 2023? We discuss why and what artists can do to best maximize on their success.

Is the music producer community embracing ignorance over music business knowledge? Is the music business really hard to learn? We explain why we believe the music business is easy-- certainly easier than many other professions. We also debate whether or not there are actual gatekeepers in the music business. The episode begins with a conversation of getting "put on" by other artists and whether signing to an artist or producer is a bad idea.

Do producers understand sampling and copyright law? Many producers believe sampling is "Fair Use" or that short samples/one-shots are automatically copyright-free. But these are myths that have been spread long enough. In today's episode, we talk copyright and IP law and why it's important. We also discuss whether managers should be paid for the money they save their artists. Erinn also asks what music industry professionals should do when they become burned out with the business. 

The producer community, rapper community and record label community all have their problems, and we discuss and debate these problems often, right here. In today's episode, we talk Spotify's new discovery mode-- which Erinn reveals she loves using, DJ Pain 1 being impersonated by scammers on YouTube, and whether all unsolicited opportunities are scams. Spoiler alert: There's a lot of disagreement. 

Is selling beats online-- or in general-- too saturated? A tweet by RA the Rugged Man about producers not correctly labeling their beats when they send them to artists inspires today's conversation on why some succeed and some don't when it comes to beat selling. Dame asks the team to name artists who work 40 hours and week and gives advice on structuring your life for music business success. We end with a conversation on Hip-Hop/RnB NFTs.

Taz Taylor revealed that even producers are the level of Internet Money aren't being paid their advances on time by labels and offers an explanation as to why this happens regularly. For some reason, there was a backlash to his honesty. Dame talks fake friends in the music business who switch up for clicks and likes and Young Guru is concerned about an AI-generated Kendrick Lamar voice clone.

Instagram is offering blue checks for sale. After Twitter Blue, is this a good idea? The Ghetto Boys are beefing over Scareface's solo Grammy performance. What went wrong? If you sell beats online, there are ups and downs. When sales are down, the impulse to vent about rappers or even treat reluctant beat buyers poorly becomes high. Resist that urge and instead try finding a community to vent to, as we discuss in today's episode.

Do real producers manage an artist's marketing campaign? If producers are selling beats, shouldn't marketing and promo services come with that? Let's get real about this rather odd narrative. Also, are managers the CEOs of their artists or is it the other way around? We discuss in today's episode of the MEC Podcast.