Every other person in Jacksonville seems to be rapping, producing, or making beats, so why hasn’t Duval had a major recording artist since the 90’s? What can independent artists do to get the radio to play their music? Why do some find success, only to end up bankrupt?
These questions are on the minds of many and I had a chance to ask them when I interviewed Thrill Da Playa recently. The Jacksonville artist found multi-platinum success as a part of the 69 Boyz, a homegrown group known for hits like “Tootsie Roll” and “Survival of the Fittest”. He is also an accomplished songwriter and producer, having worked on songs for movie soundtracks including Dangerous Minds, Bad Boys, Space Jam, and Sunset Park. Thrill has written for So-So Def, Lil John, and the Ying Yang Twins, among others.
In a previous blog post (see July 18), we talked about his radio show, GFL Live, his upcoming album, User Friendly, and what it felt like to be one of the biggest music artists to come out of Duval.
Those of us old enough to remember when 69 Boyz first came out can also remember Thrill’s godfather, Big Al of Big Al’s Records and Tapes in Gateway Mall. Thrill worked in the record store and he feels that the power of the independent record shops is what got a lot of artists around the country through to their big breaks. With the decline of these record shops came a loss of a vital outlet for aspiring musicians. This has left a void in the community in terms of jobs, opportunities, and even memories. I can remember going to Big Al’s with my sister to buy The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill the day that it dropped. There’s something about standing in line, buying that cd and taking the wrapping off, that downloading music off of the computer just can’t quite replace.
As we talked about his music career, Thrill mentioned that he doesn’t make his money from royalties from music sales, but rather, makes a living through being on tour, and writing and publishing songs. We got into a really deep conversation about this that gave me some new perspectives on the music industry.
He said “in the music industry…the record companies hold up your money, and by the time they give it back, they have made so much interest…..In the record business, you don’t sell to the consumer, you sell to warehouses. ….So they may order 10,000 records but if they don’t all sell, they will return them.” Basically, the record companies don’t pay the artists immediately in case they need to refund the warehouses.
“Also,” he went on, “when an artist is sued, no royalties are paid to them until the lawsuit is settled.” He then explained how 69 Boyz was sued by a female artist who had appeared on their 199QUAD album. What could have been a $20,000 settlement, ended up costing the group about $65,000 after legal fees.
When talking about how the music lifestyle, affects spending, especially for R&B and hip-hop artists, Thrill noted, “urban artists have a different journey to travel from rock n-roll artists. Rock n-roll artists will give their money to an accountant to keep in escrow, put their jeans back on, and go back out and make more music. With urban artists, if you don’t have on a chain around the neck, nice clothes, a nice car, young people don’t even want to hear anything from you.”
Some of his most unique opinions had to do with the mainstream radio stations. . Regarding the quality of the music, he said, “it’s no excuse for some of these radio stations to be like they are. For every four minutes of foolishness, there should be four minutes of progress.”
Many independent musicians here will doubtless find his next statement to be rather odd. “I don’t have a problem with radio not playing local artists’ music. That sounds crazy, but if radio had played my music in the beginning, it would have handicapped me.” Thrill explained that it forced him to go to the clubs and build relationships with the DJ’s and work his way up from there.
He closed the interview out with advice for the independent artists looking for their big break. “Go back to integrity-filled music…..people aren’t making integrity-filled music, so the people who are buying it, aren’t integrity-filled.”
Thrill got very personal and talked about how the things that helped him to succeed where the basic values instilled in him by family members and church. He went through a period where he dealt with prescription drug misuse and had to overcome that, and he urges everyone to make the necessary changes in their lives to open up the way for positive outcomes.
“When people get right on the inside, stuff gets right on the outside”.
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