Kicking off our interviews here on BeatStatus.com we have the talented newcomer to the game who managed to ink a deal with JD’s So So Def just off the strength of his beatmaking videos. Bigg Vic is a name a lot of people may not know…YET. BeatStatus’ own M. Griffin of HottHouse Sound lent his time to sit down with Bigg Vic and find out a little bit about how he got in the game, what he’s working on now and what kind of insight he can provide to those trying to get into the game.

MG: Tell me about yourself.  Your story in the music game.

Bigg Vic: I started out back in 92 after I graduated high school managing and producing  a local hip hop artist in 1993 by the name of Crime. I landed a  small production deal with 3 Gems Records and Carolina Record Distributors. We moved a few units and really didn’t go too far with that deal. 97 I decided to pick up the microphone and release an album myself on my own indie label Phatt Pocket Entertainment. I wrote and produced the entire album, through that album I was able to get another production deal with Big East Entertainment/B Boy Records towards 4th quarter of 97. Another deal that had distribution problems with EMI during the year I signed with them. During this time I signed another local act and released their single and had a video produced to stay active in the game. That single I produced for the group hit number one on the local radio stations rotation list with A class artist. Funds evaporated with investors and I shortly shut the label down and sold my studio. Came back  6yrs later when the production bug bit me again…in 2006..lol

MG: How was it that you got affiliated with So So Def?

Bigg Vic: I got affiliated with So So Def Nov. 2008 about 2 years after I decided to create my Youtube account and make videos of myself producing tracks from scratch. I had made a decision that I would have the most beatmaking videos on youtube if I did nothing else in the music industry..lol  Well I happen to come across JD’s youtube channel and watched a video of him and Q Da Kid in the studio speaking of a mixtape that Q was working on and that they were looking for production for the project. At the end of the video they left an email address for people to submit beats, but I wanted to have one up on everyone else so instead of emailing the tracks to them I decided to leave JD a video response on his youtube channel and selected one of my beatmaking videos and hit the submit button.

I hit the button and went on about my business, 2 weeks after that a couple of my youtube subscribers told me congratulations on the JD deal, I had no clue what they were talking about so I actually ignored the first email but after the next few people hit me I went to JD’s channel to see what they were talking about, JD had made a video announcing who he selected. He chose 2 producers myself and another producer from NY he offered us both a publishing and production deal.. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing..lol It was totally unexpected.

MG: Are you working on any projects at this time?

Bigg Vic: Yes currently working on Dondria’s project as well as Johnta Austin’s project. Both are artists signed to So So Def.

MG: What was the biggest placement you ever had?

Bigg Vic: So far the biggest paying placement I had was a track I did for Muggsy Malone called “Guardian Angel” featuring the famous Ms. Mary Brown – Warpath/Fontana/Universal. I secured that placement a couple months before signing with So So Def through the PMP Worldwide website.

MG: If you could work with any artist, who would it be?

Bigg Vic: It would definitely have to be an artist with serious lyrical skills, I would have to say Jay Z or Nas either one.

MG: Tell me a good studio story.

Bigg Vic: I remember one time when things first started going digital I was recording my album on a Roland VS880 hard disk recorder. Actually I was done recording my second album and for the first time I let a new producer I was working with at the time work on some tracks with some of the artist we had on the label. I can vividly remember getting that dreadful call that my hard disk recorder wasn’t working. I tried to walk them through some steps to get the recorder working… nothing worked. That night I lost an entire album plus several other artists projects I was working on, I was so sick to my stomach…lol  Nevertheless I bought a back up floppy drive and started backing all songs… we live and we learn I guess!!

MG: What production gear do you use?

Bigg Vic: I have been using Reason 3.0, now Reason 4.0 for the past 5 maybe 6 yrs now. I also have Pro Tools 8 MBox2 Pro, I also have Cubase 5, and Cakewalk Sonar for recording reference tracks when I write songs for projects. Monitors I have M-Audio BX8a which I saw 9th Wonder using and I decided to grab a pair and the Yamaha hs 50’s. I use to own a pair of Yamaha NS 10m’s back in the day.. boy do I miss those monitors. And I also have an Akai MPK49 Midi Performance Keyboard

MG: Where do you stand in the battle of software VS hardware?

Bigg Vic: To be quite honest when I decided to get back in the game and give it another swing it was because of the demo I saw of Reason 3.0 at the time. I couldn’t believe that software could sound so great. I would not be back in the game if I had to go out there and purchase all of my old hardware all over again. Your always going to have people that use hardware that love it but hardware gets expensive. Software has really made the production game affordable for alot of up and coming producers. I love it by all means whatever you can do in a MPC I can do in Reason of course with the Akai MPK49 Midi controller that I use!!!

MG: What makes your tracks stand out from the rest of the producers out there?

Bigg Vic: I would have to say my style and sound is alot different from alot of other producers out here. For one I don’t listen to alot of radio but i will listen to the top charters to see what direction the industry is moving toward. There is a certain method to my madness, and I believe every track you hear from me is going to have a mean bassline somewhere in that track just about everytime.

MG: Are there any tips you can give to producers just getting into the music biz?

Bigg Vic: To new producers just getting into the biz I would say keep creating and keep coming up with as much original material as possible because the music game is always changing. Stay consistent and persistant you have to stay humble and hungry, it will come if you keep swinging that bat.

MG: How should they go about getting their music heard?

Big Vicc: I started off using PMP wordwide to submit my music for possible placement on up coming projects, and hear of alot of producers having success using Dynamic Producer as a way to get their music into the hands of top A&r reps. If you have what it takes both of those sites cost between $35 to $50 per month but it’s worth it if you have fire.

MG: Is it necessary to have a lawyer or agent?

Bigg Vic: I don’t think it’s necessary to have a lawyer or agent in the beginning starting out but you will definitely need a good attorney once you start getting placements to make sure get every nickel owed to you for your work.

MG: How can an artist or label get in touch with you if they are interested in a beat?

Bigg Vic: If  you want to get in touch with me for production you can reach me directly at biggvicmusic@gmail.com

MG: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Bigg Vic: I’m currently putting a site together for upcoming producers called Reason Beat Club that should be fully up and running next month Feb 2010.  I also  just launched  my first set of Custom Drum Kits at http://www.the-resource-guide.com/Drumkits.htm

And I launched a book titled “Street Smart Guerilla Marketing Tactics” for aspiring Producers, Artists, and Managers. The complete guide to marketing your music empire online. http://www.the-resource-guide.com

That concludes our chat with So So Def’s Bigg Vic. Definitely keep an eye out for what he’s working on in the future, and stay tuned for A LOT more interviews with some up and coming artists and producers as well as a few more well-known surprises.

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Just send an e-mail over to beats@beatstatus.com

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2. A good pic (preferably with your gear)
3. A gear list
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So we’ve all been there as a producer – Trying to move some tracks while working towards major placements or working on your own project, but the same problem always crops up – No one wants to pay for tracks. We can blame as many different reasons as we want, but that doesn’t pay the bills or buy new gear does it? Here are 5 tried and true tips for selling more beats.

1. Get on Twitter! – Look at Twitter as the new myspace, so capitalize while you can. There’s a lot of clickback effect. Coming from a marketing perspective, twitter is one of the best ways to get quality visitors to your site and interact with artists who are really TRYING to be successful and not just messing around. Once you get on Twitter, check out Twellow to find artists.Twitter takes a good deal of time to really be effective, but that’s what seperates you from the millions of myspace producers now. (Follow us on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/beatstatus )

2. Get more involved locally – No matter where you are, there’s most likely a hip-hop scene nearby. Go to shows, bring snippet cd’s, business cards, and a humble approach. You need to make connections in order to make sales. Artists that are out performing are more likely to purchase beats in my experience. Why? Because they are really trying to do something, and if you have something they need, they’ll pay your price to get it.

3. Look for alternative payments – By “alternative” payments, I mean, buy me this, I’ll give you that. This is more for those people in your circle of family or friends that get freebies. Even if they are a project you are working on, ask them to pay up. Tell them you need that new peice of gear, a new harddrive, some new monitors, whatever you would spend the cash on. People are more likely to purchase something tangible that will benefit them and you, then just hand over cash. Just the way it is.

4. Package beats w/ free recording time – If you’ve got a decent home studio, package them together. This is the way a lot of independent producers really get their name out there.  If you sell beats locally, offer a free 2 hr session to record the track with the beat. If they like the product, they are likely to come back again and again because of the value.

5. Get your own Site – It’s gotten to the point where having a myspace page isn’t enough anymore, you need to show your professionalism with your own domain and site. It’s not that expensive, our friends over at http://www.guerrillaRed.com can build you a wordpress site for as low as $350. They built this one!

6. Offer “Finders Fee” - Every artist knows a million other artists. Good artists even know a bunch of other artists that look up to them. Offer a 25% finders fee, or free services for every client that an artist brings you.  The allure of $ will help turn them all into your own promo squad out in their circles. Give them business cards or snippet CD’s to take with them.

The most important thing to remember is that our economy sucks right now.  You’re going to have to sell for a little less than you’d like to, but any serious artist will still find some money to pay for QUALITY tracks.

Hopefully these tips have been helpful, now get out there and move some tracks!

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