IMMITTER meets with Capitol / Motown
IMMITTER was never built as a storage locker for you music. Our intention is to help you become more powerful as an artist by either directly consulting you on the correct market tools for your music or opening up opportunities exclusively to your music. Our dream was to always have real people making moves behind real scenes for you. Or as i like to say, working on your behalf.
Below is another story of us making that happen.
Recently, i was invited by Motown Records to share what team IMMITTER has been up to lately. I won’t bore you with the elaborate details of how i was able to sneak into such an awesome opportunity, but i will tell you this, when these things come, you need to be prepared. Nothing should catch you off guard! FFWD to meeting: The big day was finally here. I've never had a meeting at the Capitol building before so the Wifi situation was bugging the crap out of me all morning. Would i be able to access the Immitter? Two things i couldn't risk, a chance of not having internet connectivity or a loud enough bump from our music. I packed the bluetooth speakers i charged the previous night and made sure there were no surprises with the hotspot functionality on my cell phone. My backpack was pretty full but success is heavy, so i wasn't tripping. Time was running. If i was going to be there on time i would have to leave now. As i approached the building the cylindric white tower sky-rocketed above me, i caught myself thinking, am i really walking in to this building right now? Relax killa, i assured myself. It’s just another building. Capitol records was very quiet walking in, which was a little disappointing considering it’s a giant record label notorious for housing such musical stars such as Sam Smith, Katy Perry and Mary J Blige? I had some hype up hype up music running in my headphones so the anticipation before I hit the door was crazy! Walking at my usual faster than normal clip I made a B-line for the entrance and completely spaced the security guarding the door. THE GATEKEEPER, himself !!!!!! It's funny, you think the gatekeeper is the Chief execs pressing red and green lights in some dimly lit room, ACCESS. DENIED. DENIED. DENIED. ACCESS. In actuality it's the security at the door. A small pale faced man in a white button down shirt, black pants and a pen in his hand. No one gets in unless you're INVITED! Once inside, I signed in at the front desk and then made my way down the elevator. My meeting was in the basement where the Motown offices were located. Arriving in the basement, I was greeted by the Motown logo. Helloo Motown, my name is Jermaine Kelly. One of the receptionists were nice enough to show me a conference room. I followed her around the circular hallway. Which is an interesting side note because, yes, i know the building is round on the outside but the inside too? It’s like you're literally walking through the grooves of a record. The conference room was a decent size, with awesome lighting. I took my back pack off, removed my laptop case and went to work setting up my mobile Immitter work station.
With my laptop out and on the desk. It was time to get connected. I used the hotspot on my iPhone 4s to get the internet up and running. Immitter, up, ✔️. You see, lately the system has been going down, especially at the most inconvenient of times. Crashes due to overloads on the server. Aka too much traffic!! Which is a good thing when you're swaggin off, but a bad thing when you're put on the spot. IS THE WEBSITE UP? Will I have to call Godaddy right now to request a powercycle? Those things can take up to 30 minutes for a full reset of the system. How would I solve this problem, right now... Thankfully, we were online, waiting to make moves. Next, I paired my computer to my portable bluetooth Hdmx hangtime speakers. There were speakers already in the room. In every room actually. I couldn't wait to have it figured out when the meeting began. WHAT IF THERES A PROBLEM? The evening before I made a playlist of songs that kind of told the Immitter story, artists we've built relationships with spanning various genres. I grabbed a sick Motown label from google images and made a quick playlist. Internet, up ✔️ Immitter, up✔️. Speakers, up✔️. Playlist, up✔️. Youu knoow betta🔊...We're ready to start taking names. The receptionist was cool. She brought me some water and informed me that the meeting was running a little behind schedule. I was chill with it, gave me more time to take pictures.
There's a commotion in the hallway! Through the large glass conference room pane, I notice all three employees working stand up as if it was time for an ovation. There he was, the man I came to see. Rex Rideout had arrived. SR. VP. of A&R-ing at Motown/Capitol. Daddy's home. I took my glasses off and put my game face on. It was time to be myself. You see, we are apt to want to imitate behaviors we think are successful. Images, figures, role models. When you're playing at your highest level, you start to think you’re Michael Jordan. Until you miss the fukn shot. You land opportunities when your doing the best impression of yourself. Don't lose that advantage. Rex was wearing a dark blue sweater, blue jeans a black beanie and black and grey Nike AirMax Tavas. He met me in the conference room, we exchanged greetings and he apologized for being late, then we got to business. His first question. What's this project I've been working on that somehow piqued his interest earlier in the week. My rebuttal. I'm bringing you an AnRing tool that does the work of 100 men! First thought. Did I come on too strong... Second thought...Fuck it keep going. Before I went any further into the technology behind Immitter, I started with my story. We took it back, waay back, back into time, beginning with Track and Field. We talked about schools I went to and events I ran. He thought I was a hurdler y'all. However, I only hurdle real life obstacles... Then we talked about my CS degree. If I graduated or not. That was a focal point. They want to know if you've finished something! Gladly, I could say yes! Then I told him about the companies I worked for and how the path has lead to the creation of the Immitter. He pulled the computer forward, leaned in and began to sift through Immitter as if it was a new gaming system he got for Christmas. We've been busy behind the scenes installing shopping cart functionality, so I must admit I was cringing everytime he clicked something. But so far so good. Once Rex was done poking around, he looks at me and says, I guess the real question is...is there any good music on this thing? Of course there is! I said, excited to start.
I took the liberty of creating a Motown playlist spanning some of the genres that they represents. I could tell he was impressed by my preparedness. We started playing tracks, i stood up and got beside rex to point out key features and shortly explain the story behind some of the play-listed artists. With the computer directly facing him, he had control of the steering wheel. First track he played, MelodiousFly's Rapture. The drum beat dancing at the beginning of the song seemed to have caught his attention, he was in slight head-bob mode ! Then he clicked on one of the 3 YouTube videos we neatly embedded into the body of her album a couple weeks prior. He was now getting lost into the story of her visuals & the sound of her recordings. You see, Immitter can grab all of your media scattered around the web and place them seamlessly into one unique location. Our goal is to tell your entire musical story right from your profile or album and drive views to all your media AT ONCE. The press kit reinvented. So J.mitchell, if you see one more play on your Lights and Crystals music video on YouTube, just know, that was VP AnR at Motown Records. Wait! he said rhetorically, as if he was surprised that he could hear the sound of speakers but not at the same level of bump🔊 he was used to experiencing. I explained the use of my portable bluetooth speakers for sound and after a quick vote got those got vetoed real quick. He pulled a cord from the middle of the table and said plug this in. Conference room speakers up ✔️. Now I feel like a real AnR, not just some schmuck in a meeting. Next up was Ro King Of Orlando's chopped and screwed version of Ducking Feds, that song never got to the verse cause that track is really slowed down. As we were going through songs, he told me that having a consistent social is everything and that's what they are looking for. Artists and bands with an online push! A reason for the labels to not only sign but release an album. How can we create virality out of the artists here at Motown? Rex was talking to himself, aloud. Some artists will have a great social push before the deal and then after they've signed it's as if they get lazy...We need a digital person who understands that kinda stuff in our department. Translation, the labels were clueless. I can do that! I said. Not being the one to miss an opportunity. I understand how the net works and the core principles of digital music marketing, I continued. If I could have one foot in Capitol and the other foot in the streets, i could bridge the unsigned with the signees. Suddenly, the sound of a cello cut through the speakers. The next song was beginning to stream. Inner Ecstasy's Aperture had just started oozing through the airwaves. I love that song! I exclaimed. It was one of the songs I made sure I added to the Bobs Espresso Bar in shop playlist. We used to deliver music monthly to that coffee shop. It was also one of the songs I needed to have on the Motown playlist. I started explaining how different the sound was and how this is a prime example of the type of submissions that Immitter gets. After an hour of chopping it up, reviewing tracks and discussing the future of music. Particularly, how artists prefer to stay uneducated about online marketing. The meeting was over. Rex took the last minute to sign up for Immitter. So, please believe me when I say, we have that email on file and we will be using it. Post meeting, we came to the decision to keep building the Immitter / Motown relationship and I was given the green light to come back and regularly pitch submissions. So, for all of you artists who have signed up for Immitter, do you know how close you are? You are only one degree of separation away from Mr. Rex Rideout and the team at Motown. Not to mention the Capitol records marketing muscle. My challenge to you is to create create create. 2015 is your turn to be different. Your sound quality must be higher! Your writing skills honed! Your recording process consistent!!!!! Your media plentiful!! Go out and get-et-done! Then, submit them to me via Immitter.com. We'll get you that look!
SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC TODAY!
