Byan "Birdman" Williams is a multi millionaire right now, and the co-owner of one of the most successful labels in Hip Hop history (Cash Money Records), but there was a time in the mid 90s he and his brother (Ronald "Slim" Williams) were looking for a home for their record company. They got refused by Russell Simmons (Co-founder of Def Jam Records) and a host of other record label execs, before they got a deal with Universal Music Group.
He spoke about being refused by Russell Simmons during his recent Forbes interview. Read his words below...
"Before we even got with Universal right, we met with everybody. A lot of them refused us bro. Russell Simmons refused us. I met with him personally. Lyor (Cohen), all those guys. They refused us. But, we was already making a million dollars a month. We was making millions of dollars independently. We refused to allow structure deal where they take anything from us."
That's the thing with life. A lot of people don't see your vision and won't want to invest in you, but you have to believe in yourself and keep pushing. Like Birdman and his brother, they finally got with Universal Music Group, and signed one of the best deals in Hip Hop music history. Read his words on this below...
"We end up doing a distribution deal where it was 85/15. And we owned 100% our masters and 100% our company...The same people that refused us, today they wish they would have signed us."
If you don't understand what he said above, let me break it down for you. Cash Money was founded back in 1991, but back then, they were selling CDs out their trunk, and were restricted to just New Orleans. In 1998, they signed a distribution deal with Universal Music Group to expand their reach. The deal entailed that Universal would help market Cash Money artists CD's through Universal's already set structure, and they would split the profits 85/15; 85 for Birdman and bis brother (Slim), and 15% for Universal. And on top of that, Cash Money retains full ownership of their Masters/rights to their music. What a sweet deal. It was after the Universal deal that Cash Money artist, Juvenile was able to sell 4 million copies of his 400 Degreez album; still one of the highest selling Cash Money albums in their history.
I think I should speak a little about how the music industry works. So, let's pick a random artist. Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick was signed to Top Dawg Entertainment first. But, he went on to sign with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label. This helped him blow up quicker. He is still signed to Top Dawg like Ab-Soul, SZA and them. But unlike them, he is also under Aftermath. And Aftermath is under Jimmy Iovine's Interscope Records, and Interscope is under Universal Music Group. You see how long the chain is? That's how it is in the music business...some of the people you think own their labels are just really piggybacking off of a bigger label. Let's look at Drake. Although he has his own imprint, OVO Sound, and signs other artists, he is still signed to Cash Money through a deal with Republic Records. And guess who owns Republic Records? Universal Music Group. In the end, most of these rappers keep making money for Universal Music Group.
You can watch the full Birdman interview below.
He spoke about being refused by Russell Simmons during his recent Forbes interview. Read his words below...
That's the thing with life. A lot of people don't see your vision and won't want to invest in you, but you have to believe in yourself and keep pushing. Like Birdman and his brother, they finally got with Universal Music Group, and signed one of the best deals in Hip Hop music history. Read his words on this below...
"We end up doing a distribution deal where it was 85/15. And we owned 100% our masters and 100% our company...The same people that refused us, today they wish they would have signed us."
If you don't understand what he said above, let me break it down for you. Cash Money was founded back in 1991, but back then, they were selling CDs out their trunk, and were restricted to just New Orleans. In 1998, they signed a distribution deal with Universal Music Group to expand their reach. The deal entailed that Universal would help market Cash Money artists CD's through Universal's already set structure, and they would split the profits 85/15; 85 for Birdman and bis brother (Slim), and 15% for Universal. And on top of that, Cash Money retains full ownership of their Masters/rights to their music. What a sweet deal. It was after the Universal deal that Cash Money artist, Juvenile was able to sell 4 million copies of his 400 Degreez album; still one of the highest selling Cash Money albums in their history.
I think I should speak a little about how the music industry works. So, let's pick a random artist. Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick was signed to Top Dawg Entertainment first. But, he went on to sign with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label. This helped him blow up quicker. He is still signed to Top Dawg like Ab-Soul, SZA and them. But unlike them, he is also under Aftermath. And Aftermath is under Jimmy Iovine's Interscope Records, and Interscope is under Universal Music Group. You see how long the chain is? That's how it is in the music business...some of the people you think own their labels are just really piggybacking off of a bigger label. Let's look at Drake. Although he has his own imprint, OVO Sound, and signs other artists, he is still signed to Cash Money through a deal with Republic Records. And guess who owns Republic Records? Universal Music Group. In the end, most of these rappers keep making money for Universal Music Group.
You can watch the full Birdman interview below.
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