SOUNDCLOUD X NEXTWAV
- Smoove The Source.
- Aug 16, 2022
- 9 min read
By: Smoove.
On a Thursday in June, SoundCloud gathered New York, Philly, and CT together to learn, connect, take pics, and freestyle.
SoundCloud as we all know is the ultimate & unlimited of the up and coming music scene. SoundCloud has developed so much since I first got on the platform back in 2012. SoundCloud is the starting point for all music artists to get their music on a platform. I was geeked to hear they were having an event and made sure I pulled up.
SoundCloud NEXTWAV was a two- part event hosted in Brooklyn, New York. First part of the day was filled with panels, activations, finger foods, & freestyles. Walking into the event, there were four game conceals from the 90s like Mortal Combat and Super Mario Bros. To the right of that was, The Soundbooth.
The Soundbooth gave the opportunity for artists to link with a producer & make a song on the spot. Producer, Buda Da Future was moderating the line and making sure everyone got their turn. The line for that was long & it was fire to watch artists create on the spot. Shows creativity, leverage, and of course skill. Although I dont make music, it was smoove to see something like that be incorporated in an event as such. Gives an opportunity for other artists, producers, A&R’s, and management to see true talent at its peak. Great way to get “scouted”.
Once you leave that section, there were two areas to take photos. One was the portrait studio for professional headshots to be taken. Which is something I took advantage of. I love the camera as much as it loves me lol. Besides that, who doesnt want free headshots?! During the day was a more professional setting so I was delighted to see this station. I absolutely love my photos. The photographer wasnt pushy nor made me feel uncomfortable. Assisted with telling me which way to turn as well as facial expressions. Seriously, slight smile, big smile. My photos are beautiful. Salutations to the photographer. The man behind the computer was like, “There are the best ones I’ve seen all day. So pretty.”
To the left of the headshot station was the bar that was filled with Snapple’s and water. Then GOODIE BAGS! SoundCloud partnered with Acura for this event. The goodie bags had a notebook, given by Acura. SoundCloud socks, which I thought was THEE best goodie bc who doesnt need socks!? (The branding baddie in my tells all my clients to invest in socks for this reason. No one thinks about them, everyone needs em.) A SoundCloud mask, because yes my people.. we are STILL in a pannaramy. Lastly, NEW WAV shirts. So cozy. So cute. Of course, inside a branded tote.
Last activation of that floor plan was a customized set by the one and only, Uzumaki Cepeda. This pretty faux fur layout was something I recognized on the walk in. I was doing my research on the creator at the end of May as I discovered her set in Rice Studios in Brooklyn, NY. There was a cute bedroom layout. Gave teenage dream vibes. A photographer was snapping photos on a polaroid camera Our photos were then left to be tapped on the wall throughout the event & at the end of the night the wall was filllllllllled with beautiful faces!
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Now lets get into the PANELS.
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There were 3 panels provided during the New Wav day event.
First being —- Power of Programming w/ Ron Mills, Manny Toro, Midwxst, Swaggy Sie.
Second — In Conversation w/ Winners Circle Ent.
Final panel — "CLOUDS OF COLOR PRESENTS: THE JOURNEY LIVE" w/ Brooklyn Johnny.
I was entering the event as the first panel was taking place. So I missed most of it but, I was able to ask a question. Swaggy Sie selected me from the way back & I was super grateful. Question I asked was regarding audio creators like myself. — is SoundCloud going to be making space for us non-musical creators? How are we going to be incorporated on the platform?
Manny Toro, Soundcloud's programming manager answered and stated that, SoundCloud is currently working on the making space for us podcasters and other audio creators.
Listen to the panel here. My Question starts at(37:58).
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In Conversation w/ Winner’s Circle Ent.
Moderated By:
Drea Jackson - Artists Partnerships Manager, SoundCloud.
Yazid Britt - A&R, SoundCloud.
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The Winner’s Circle is the home of some of our household artists like Sleepy Hallow & Sheff G.
New York winners Jeremy Soto, Claudia Rezir, EA Thomas took on SoundCloud’s stage to provide us with game & a background as to who The Winner’s Circle was.
While explaining the start of The Winner’s we learned that Jerm and Claudia, General Manager, grew up on the same street their entire childhood. They both were invested and interested in the music scene and wanted to bring artists to the top.
Sheff was the first artist in The Winner’s Circle roster. In 2017 is when Sheff broke through the surface. In 2020, Sleepy Hallow was added to the Winners Circle.
CEO, Jerm stated that, Sheff & Sleepy wanted to “change their lives”. Continuing to say that that were already releasing music but now were at a point where they wanted to change their lives bc they were bringing in music money. Jerm made Sheff & Sleepy CEO’s of the label. Making sure they get a cut of the earnings they and the label bring in.
Someone asked The Winners Circle how are you selecting the artists to work with next? The Circle expressed that it’s a collective decision. “What do we like, dont like? Mainly be brought up via a family connection.” You definitely have to have someone else’s foot in the door in order for you to get in the building. Main thing that The Circle looks for is numbers & aura.
Following up that conversation, The Winners started discussing their milestones up to their partnership with RCA.
“What made that perfect marriage?”
Hard working. Put up 1B views independently. Claudia directed the video for Sheff G’s single, Run it Up. That video, once it was put on YouTube, hit a million views within the same day. Strategy. Community. Engagement. All matters.
One of the SoundCloud Next Wav panel moderators asked, “How did soundcloud be a leverage?”
“SoundCloud is an incubator. Gives an opportunity to the portal of new listeners, new artists, new producers.. etc. New artists to have their moment on SoundCloud. You have to make sure that you make the moment. Utilize the platform given. Its deeper than just a timeline where your music goes.
Experimentation is important. Youre not going to get anything on your first posting. Stay consistent. SoundCloud is useful for Having a system these artists can flourish in.”
I had another opportunity to ask a question to the panel. My question was, “When presented with new artists, what do you notice that these artists are lacking? Why The Winners Circle?” Claudia spoke on the fact that these artists are coming to a label with a team & being offered the services they provide as a collective. With everyone doing completely different things, you are legit walking into a Winners Circle.
Listen to this panel here. My Question is at 26:40
Clouds of color: live w/ Brooklyn Johnny.
Moderators:
Erika Montes - Global Head of Artist & Label Partnerships at Soundcloud.
Jasmine Edward - Director of Workplace at SoundCloud.
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Johnny is from East Flatbush. The name came about Clark Kent, “No more Johnny from Brooklyn as an introduction, lets make it Brooklyn Johnny.”
Starting off the panel with Johnny’s musical influences, he states that they’re Caribbean based. He shares with the audience that his parents are from Barbados & St Lucia, so he grew up listening to dancehall music. Going to places like Warehouse and The Arc. Speaking upon a Hip-Hop sense, of course listening to hot97, EXTRA heavy on Jay Z. Especially being a Brooklyn native. Johnny says hes also loved down south music. A timestamp for him & first exposure to the South was, Juvenile. To follow up with Lil Wayne. “They embrace themselves in a different ways.”
Following the post of how the South embrace themselves & those around them, Johnny feels like in Brooklyn people have to do some astronomical shit to get attention from the outside. “Most artists are getting attention right now in Brooklyn due to some wild shit.” People from Brooklyn make that wildin aka drill music. People expect that from us in the borough. In Harlem, they’re known for getting dressed & swaggy. So they make smooth ass music. Its just an expectation for us all.
Erika Montes, Global VP if Artist and Label Relations, leads into asking Johnny about the moment that he knew he wanted to be in music industry. Johnny quickly answers with, “never wanted to”. Following up to explain that he grew up in a construction family. “This simply just wasnt in the plans.” District 18’s CEO shares that he actually to school for architecture. He wasnt to into it, so went to move around the city and dabbled into the music scene.
During his school days, Johnny has attended school with producer. The producer had contacted Johnny because Johnny’s known for being outside with the hottest in and around music. The producer has provided Johnny with some music that he created. Johnny then played this music for Clark Kent. Clark put him on game as to what to do with the music & then shit picked up. After getting comfortable in the scene, building relationships, and watching music constantly be made in other studios, Johnny purchased the top floor of warehouse in Prospect Heights in 2008. Built the studio from top to bottom. Thats where he fell inlove with music. He owned for 2 years then opened a studio on Broadway.
In 2015, Johnny being a multi-hyphenate in the music industry, got icons like Cardi B & Kodak Black to Atlantic Records. Johnny putting his skill set of Artist Management, A&R, Production, Songwriting, Engineering, and Tour Management to use , literally paid off.
A lot of people wonder really how Kodak Black got into the industry. How did this kid hit mainstream? Johnny had seen Kodak on YouTube. Someone had showed him a video of Kodak doing some mischievous things and Johnny had said it resonated with him. Now I’m sure you’re asking what Kodak was doing in the video.. “Dennis The Menace type. He was climbing in windows & hop in peoples cars while theyre in store.” Is what Johnny had said he watched while chuckling. After that video, the automatic follow up step was to contact his manager. Got things moving almost immediately. Kodak was in Juvie when his manager was contacted.
Now the Cardi story was a little different. Cardi & Johnny had met in passing at a Radio Station. This was around the time Cardi was first getting on Love and Hip Hop. During one of her first press runs. Johnny noticed she knew how to work a room. Which spoke volumes within itself. Noticed she needed some guidance along with some coaching and got her right to District 18. A lot of Johnnys favorite moments and biggest accomplishments from from working with Cardi.
Johnny shares outside out receiving a proclamation in Brooklyn, winning a Grammy for Best Rap Album with Cardi for Invasion of Privacy was his proudest milestone. Following up with the most special record he’s worked on being WAP.
WAP was created in Johnny’s house in LA during the beginning of the pandemic. Johnny had bought the home in California due to all the traveling he was doing between there and New York. It was a smart investment mainly due to Cardi being on the West Cost. If you’ve ever seen the video of Cardi climbing janga blocks, that was taken at Johnny’s LA home. Building a studio in the home was a no-brainer as well. WAP was actually the first some created in the hime studio. As smooth as it was creating it once the space was provided, the executives were giving the team a hard time on releasing it. Saying the song was “too raunchy”. After finally getting the song released, the song WAP ft Megan Thee Stallion is now Diamond. WAP is Cardi’s fourth Diamond record.
Jasmine followed up on the team’s achievements asking upon advice to those who are looking to break industry as an executives..
“Use platforms like soundcloud. Understand difference between hype and with whats really making money. Tiktok has gotten consumer scomfy with judt listening to 15-30seconds of the song. Drill doesnt give that much streams but is big on YouTube.”
Closing off the panel with the question we’ve all been waiting for, District 18 — whats next? “New artists. Tallaban. Just had dreamdoll. Sleeze new world. New Cardi album. Transferring from sony to warner.” says Brooklyn Johnny.
Finishing off the panel with q&a, I was selected to ask a question. I asked my question(s) based off being a multi-hypha ate who is also a woman. My question(s) were: what is the most important role on a team of winners & how important is it to Johnny to work with women.
Johnny answered quickly, expressing that everyone plays an impactful role on the team. Everyone should be working at the same level rather than who is above who. If we all play our part, we are guaranteed to success. Now working with women, was something that peaked all of our interest. Johnny explained to us that his team is actually made up of majority of women. His assistant is a woman. Most of his artist are women. Women rule the world is what Johnny summed up for us. It’s important to incorporate women because they have the best judgment.
Listen to this panel here. My question is at (38:42).
SoundCloud Next Wav was a good one. I bumped into my folks from South Philly, Miles Chancellor who I had met at Foxtail Fest back in May. I got to meet, Fatima "Young Oprah" Sesay who is the founder of Inside The Dysphoria. The night event began at 7PM. So we left to get tacos & just kick it.
At 7PM, there were performances. I came back just in time to see my favorite girlls. Due to my late return, I had to watch from the middle of the crowd but everyone around me was geeked over The Girll Codee’s performance. Complimenting their dancing, their syntonization, their breath work, outfits, & most importantly their music. Brooklyn’s finest yet again took over the spot. Opening right before Fivio Foreign, yet again. Same week after Summer Jam.
Seeing Fivio perform was amazing. For free too? I cherished every single second of that day but specifically that performance. Fivio currently is the walking ticket in the music industry.
Thank you so much to SoundCloud for the event. Salutations to all the people I had met that day. It was great day in Brooklyn.
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