Episode 24: How to Make Money in the Music Industry

Chlon Rogers 0:00

We got our big break with Trinidad James in about 2012 when we did the multimillion dollar joint venture with Def Jam, and so once that happened with Trinidad James it went Trinidad James, Rich Homie Quan, YFN Lucci, Q Money. And and so I was working there and it was, you know, like a junior business manager to the business manager of the company. I was kind of overseeing the business manager and the financials of the company. And I transitioned out at a few years and I started my own business management company because I'm like, you know what these business managers like I can do what they're doing. You know, I'm always kind of picking through a lot of different things that I feel like they can do better or small errors that they're making. And I'm like, you're not as good as me. So I know I can do this. So, you know, the company was very supportive. In my decision to transition out and actually, my first client was an artist that was on the label. And so as I transitioned out, I was able to transition out with my first client that was my own.

Acquania Escarne 1:08

You are listening to the Purpose of Money Podcast, a podcast where we talk about ways to build wealth and create more freedom in your life today. I am your host Acquania Escarne.

I just wanted to take a break and share a story about an amazing woman who has created freedom and wealth in her life. I promised I'd share these kinds of stories on the podcast, and this week I'm highlighting Teri Ijeoma of Trade and Travel. Teri has an amazing story about how she went from being an assistant principal, making $40,000 a year to a swing trader making $100,000 a day in quarantine. Teri started out investing just a little bit of her money and had a goal to make $300 a day. She just wanted to replace her income so she could travel more and work less. Well let's just say she mastered investing in the stock market and is now teaching others how to trade too. Check out my website thepurposeofmoney.com/invest. To learn more about how Teri accomplished financial freedom through investing. Remember check out thepurposeofmoney.com/invest. To learn more about Teri Ijeoma and her course Trade and Travel.

Hey guys, welcome back to the Purpose of Money Podcast. I'm super excited. Today we have a special guest Chlon who is a maven in the music industry. Chlon was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 20 years old with a determination to achieve success. As an entrepreneur she founded Checkmate Business Management. Then recognizing her and comparable work ethic and unparalleled skill set, multi-Platinum producing record label, Think It's A Game Records quickly appointed her to the position of COO. After years of navigating through the ins and outs of the entertainment industry, building a strong client roster and successfully overcoming every obstacle in her path. Chlon has mastered this industry in a manner of true music business maven, her journey has afforded her the opportunity to work with an eclectic range of talented artists, multiple independent record labels and diverse portfolio of projects.

Chlon, welcome to the podcast. I'm so glad to have you.

Chlon Rogers 3:34

Thanks for having me. I'm actually very happy to be here.

Acquania Escarne 3:37

Awesome. So I want to talk about the first leap that you made by moving to Georgia at 20. I'm from Atlanta, so I'm super excited, but I want to know like what encouraged you to make that leap and why Atlanta? Why was that the market where you decided to start your entrepreneur journey?

Chlon Rogers 3:53

Well, Atlanta, you know, I actually didn't come here with entrepreneurial goals. I didn't say know what I was going I end up doing. But when I went to college, I was supposed to go to Georgia State and I had come down, I went to orientation. I had my dorm room and everything. But my dad ended up going to prison. And so I didn't want to be so far away from home knowing that my mom, would it be as financially stable without my bed. So I ended up you know, going to the University of South Carolina, which is much closer to home. So when that time came for me to move, you know, I still wanted to go to Atlanta, I had that experience there when I was there for orientation. And it was just a place that I wanted to be that was very different and much bigger from home, but not too far away. And my mom actually gave me the encouragement that I needed by just telling me that, you know, if things don't work out, you always have a place to come home to, but you have to at least try.

Acquania Escarne 4:49

I love that.

Chlon Rogers 4:50

And, you know, I spread my wings and I flew.

Acquania Escarne 4:54

I like that. And so what happened next? What was your first client? How did you discover your first artist or that you wanted to be a manager?

Chlon Rogers 5:03

Man. When I first came here entertainment wasn't the first thing, the entertainment industry wasn't the first thing that I did. You know, I drove around every single day looking for a job for hours. And I worked as a customer service rep Allied Waste while I was doing school. And I actually met this team who were doing like promotions in the in Atlanta, and it was called Think As A Game Entertainment at the time. It was a promotions company, a small promotion company, and so I was in school for accounting. So what I did was, you know, I would be the one once I teamed up with Think It's a A Game Entertainment, I was the one who was always handling all the money on the door money, the bar money, the artist money and everything. And because we have such a small team, we each had to play multiple roles to fill the pieces in the voice that we didn't have. And we have some artists at the time, but we weren't officially in the music business and then it definitely didn't understand the much business yet. So that was probably like in around 2008.

We got our big break with Trinidad James in about 2012 when we did the multimillion dollar joint venture with Def Jam, and so once that happened with Trinidad James it went Trinidad James, Rich Homie Quan, YFN Lucci, Q Money. And and so I was working there and it was, you know, like a junior business manager to the business manager of the company. I was kind of overseeing the business manager and the financials of the company. And I transitioned out at a few years and I started my own business management company because I'm like, you know what these business managers like I can do what they're doing. You know, I'm always kind of picking through a lot of different things that I feel like they can do better or small errors that they're making. And I'm like, you're not as good as me. So I know I can do this. So, you know, the company was very supportive in my decision to transition out and actually, my first client was an artist that was on the label. And so as I transitioned out, I was able to transition out with my first client that was my own. And from there, I started to acquire new clients outside of the label built my company. And you know, this, the CEO ended up asking me to come back as the COO. So, you know, that's how I ended up back here today. So I scaled down on my independent clients to focus on and rebuild them back at home where I started. And so that's how I ended up you know, here as the COO.

Acquania Escarne 7:33

That sounds like a story of success is sort of like Steve Jobs, working in the company, leaving the company and then coming back to run the company, right?

Chlon Rogers 7:41

I was like, I've never even thought of it like that.

Acquania Escarne 7:45

That's so dope.

Chlon Rogers 7:46

I never thought about it like that, but that's a nice comparison.

Acquania Escarne 7:49

Keep going, keep going. So tell us more about the challenges though. Again, you're a woman in the entertainment industry, and even some of the artists you name were mostly men. Like what Is that like? What are some of the things you learned that helped you succeed?

Chlon Rogers 8:04

Some of the things that I've learned was, you know, you have to be confident in yourself. And you have to be very, very, you have to be confident in yourself, confident in your knowledge and confident in your work. Because as a woman of power in a male dominated industry, you're always going to be challenged by, you know, because of your sex and because of who you are. But you just have to understand that that's something that kind of just comes with it. Two things people that can't take from you one, they cannot take knowledge from you too, they can't deny results. And so, one of the things that I learned that you know, no matter what people no matter how people feel, or what they say, make sure you always produce make sure you execute get results, because that's undeniable. It's like you can say what you want to say but you cannot deny what I've accomplished. You cannot deny the results that are you know, that I've gotten that I've had, that I've had done, you just can't do it. You know what else is there say? So I learned pretty quickly, to just focus on achieving my goals and focusing on an overall goal and not allowing the distractions to discourage me and those things. And just, you know, over the years, I've learned to be more confident, you know, my own success and my own ability to produce has given me a lot of confidence. It's like I say, you can't take those things away from me, and it is what it is.

Acquania Escarne 9:24

That's true, undeniable, so nothing but results. I love that.

Chlon Rogers 9:27

Right.

Acquania Escarne 9:28

And I think it's true. Like when you have the proof in the pudding or other sayings that they have, no one can deny, especially when they saw you grind, and they saw you do the work. So they can't attribute it to anyone else, or anything.

Chlon Rogers 9:42

Right.

Acquania Escarne 9:43

So that's really good. So I want to ask you specifically for anyone who's interested in getting into the entertainment industry, as an artist, and then secondly, as a manager, like how do you do that? How do you strategically and intentionally get into the music industry.

Chlon Rogers 10:02

Um, as an artist, I think the first thing you should do is know, you need to write down all of the different things that are going on locally around you in your city. Like all of the different events, you need to try to get a list of the DJs the radio stations and other artists in your city you need to strategically write down how you're going to connect with these people. How am I going to link because the you know, the the everybody's favorite saying is your network determines your net worth. And so you need to try to connect with as many people that you can in this industry and that not only goes for the artists but also for the manager is building out your network knowing who's around you and what's around you knowing what's going on and being in the building. Shaking hands and kissing babies you know?

Let it be known to people that this is what you're doing. You know being very consistent because sometimes it can be discouraging, but you just have to be consistent. So um, I would say establish your own Rolodex. Make sure you...any information that you need is out there, you can Google it, you can YouTube it or whatever the case may be self educate on, you know, people who are in the position where you wish to be, you know, and look at their backstory and see how they've gotten there and adopt some of the strategies that they've done. You know, you can adopt some of those strategies and customize it to fit your particular situation. But it is going to take a lot of research and a lot and a lot of being active and moving around. So I definitely would say, work on building out your network for sure. And knowing what's going around knowing knowing what's going on around you, with everything dealing with entertainment, and then also building relationships with the who's who.

Acquania Escarne 11:46

That's really good and it's true, a lot of people end up getting breaks or opportunities because their network provides it to them or they're looking out for each other right so they get you to perform and then they invite friends too. Or they have a show and the show needs more people. And then you tell someone that you know, like, Hey, you should get in with the show. So I like that advice. And thank you for sharing it. I want to talk more about your latest project. So you've been in the music industry I've seen that you're even in a couple of films, like behind the scenes and in everything. But what about your new book, tell our listeners, what is it called? And who is it for? Why did you write this story?

Chlon Rogers 12:29

So I have this new book, I'm so excited about it. It's something that I've always wanted to do. And I'm, you know, quarantine provided me the time to actually sit down and get it done. Finally, but the book is called Music Money. This book is for not just artists, but anybody in the music industry, because anybody can take something from this book and be able to utilize it in within their own particular lane. And you know, what inspired me to write this book was some the things that I went through or some of the things that I saw along the journey of my career with artists as far as them coming in in the beginning, and then watching where they are three to four years from when they first started, because when artists come in most of the time, they're not as educated on the music business. And, you know, for the most part, they may be knowledgeable about advances and show money, but they're not knowledgeable about royalties, which is your forever money, which is the most important part you need to know about. So I've seen artists come in, they have attorneys, they sign deals, and they agree to the things in their contractual agreements for three to four years down the line, once they've gotten a little experience become more knowledgeable about their music money. They, they, at some point, don't agree with what they once agreed with three or four years ago because they didn't understand it at the time. And so music money just allows you the ability and the power to be able to have a basic understanding of some of those themes to provoke you mentally to be able to ask the right questions to make the right business decisions.

Granted you will have a team and advisors around you. But you don't always want to be in a position where you're relying on someone else's understanding. You want to at least be able to have an understanding for yourself so that you can make decisions that are fit for you. Because it's going to be very important those three to five years from now, you know, how you feel and where you are in your career. So Music Money just gives you that information. I feel like it's it's super, super dope, and I'm extremely excited about it. It's part one of a three part series. I work with these guys in hip hop, I know a lot of them don't necessarily like to read. So I went back and forth with myself and trying to establish something that wouldn't be overwhelming, you know, because sometimes some of these music books can be so complex that once you read them, it leaves you even more confused than you were before.

So I wanted to make it very very simple and reader friendly. And also I added some notes pages in there. So they can take notes, they can take it to a meeting with them. It's like a guide or a notebook. You know, and whenever they have questions, or whenever they hear some of these terms, they can just flip to the section in the book. And then they can write down questions that they that they had written down from reading it in those particular sections in these meetings. So it's a guide to help you kind of maneuver through a lot of different things as a new artist, as a new manager or business manager, you know, a new publicist, someone who's dealing with endorsements, or even merchandise or anything like that. So it touches on a lot of those different things. And that was really, really dope. I'm really proud of it.

Acquania Escarne 15:42

I'm excited to and I don't have any interest in joining the music industry. But I want to read it because I'm all about money. I love workbooks and guides that help you understand how to handle your future money, like you said, and that forever money, which I think in the beginning some people are so worried about getting into the industry and getting that music deal that they're not thinking through? That they have the power to ask questions, let alone to make some demands? I don't know is that right? Like, do you really have the power as a new artist to make demands? Or...

Chlon Rogers 16:16

You know you really do it depends on um, it does also depend your negotiating power is also determined by what you bring to the table. But obviously if you're going to partner with a label that truly cares about your career and understands they will allow you you know, some sort of leisure to a certain extent, but you still want to be able to vocalize a lot of these things so they understand what you need and what you want and what your goals are. You do have a voice in the beginning is may not be as big initially coming in, but you may want to set yourself up a set make sure your situation is set up accordingly. So when you do get that big boys, you're a you know is able to come across something where you can make these changes and make these demands. Because these contractual agreements can prohibit you from doing certain things that you may want to do. Once you are a lot more established.

Acquania Escarne 17:13

That's so true. But let's all aspire for Beyonce money so we can have more demand and power. Right?

Chlon Rogers 17:20

Right.

Acquania Escarne 17:20

So the name of the podcast is called The Purpose of Money. And I asked all of my guests this, what is your purpose for money?

Chlon Rogers 17:28

Money to me is a tool. I will I don't see money as necessarily a goal. You know, ultimately, what I want to do is like right now, I'm in a position where I'm working for money, obviously, but I want to be able to put myself in position where money is working for me, I never want to become a slave to it. I feel like it needs to be working for me you put money to work to work for more money, because ultimately what I want to do is be able to, you know, accomplish financial freedom and a lot of people may see financial freedom is an amount of money, but it's not an amount of money.

Financial Freedom is establishing a consistent cash flow, where you're not exchanging any of your time for money, where it covers, you know, whatever, if you have a guaranteed cash flow that covers your livelihood and your monthly overhead then you're financially free, it's not a million dollars or $2 million, if my livelihood is $10,000, and I make 20 to $25,000 a month, you know, without me having to do absolutely anything because I just have that cash flow coming in. I'm free financially, you know, I mean, I don't have any obligation to work because I've established my lifestyle and, you know, my money pays for as it's working itself. That's financial freedom. And so, you know, the purpose of my the purpose of money to me, like I said, it's just a tool is for me to utilize it to, for me to put it to work to work for more.

Acquania Escarne 18:56

That's my favorite answer.

Chlon Rogers 18:58

Yeah.

Acquania Escarne 18:58

I love it and it's true, a lot of people are aspiring financial freedom. And then they also want to retire early in some cases. But it's not always the case. Sometimes, like you said, having freedom to decide what you do in your day and how you spend it is more important. And if you're able to cover your overhead, it's a bonus. Right? So you know, I'm gonna ask this question or maybe you don't, but so how are you investing in other things so that you can have that freedom? What are some of the things that you're pursuing outside of music, if anything?

Chlon Rogers 19:32

Well, outside of music, obviously, I'm starting to now establish different products. My book is my first actual product that I've established. You know, I've invest in some different stocks, you know, I have a stock portfolio that I've invested in, and obviously I want to establish more products like my ultimate goal is to be able to in and also working in real estate as well.

Acquania Escarne 19:55

Okay.

Chlon Rogers 19:56

So um, you know, ultimately, ultimately ,ultimately, what I would like to do is actually in a, you know, 10 year range is to be able to be spend more time on the real estate side of things, be well invested and in my stocks, and I also put money aside in compound interest paying accounts. So I don't what I do with my savings account, I don't use like regular banks, I do online banking, because they pay a much higher interest and you're able to, you know, once you leave your money in those accounts for years, it grows you, you put $1,000 in the bank at the beginning of the year at regular bank is going to be 900 and something dollars a year. You know what I mean? You put it, you put it in, you know, an online bank and the money is going to grow it is probably going to be 1100 1200 dollars by the end of the year. You know, in every year that you don't touch the money, the money just continues to grow. And so those are some of the things that I have began to establish and I've created different accounts for different things and I have a freedom fund.

I have a house fund and have a vacation fund. And so you know our kind of attribute, allocate small amounts, even if it's 20 to $50. Because over time, those things just add up and you know, it's continuously paying you interest. And so those are some of the things I try to establish for myself around the music entertainment industry. But right now, like, immediately right now, what I'm trying to do is develop more products.

Acquania Escarne 21:25

That is music to my ears. I try to tell people this all the time, high yield savings accounts, yield better returns on your money that you're saving. And then I always love to budget with bank accounts. I have a vacation fund as well. When we were saving for a house we had a house fund so I love everything you just said right now, I want everyone to take heed to this advice. You have really dropped some gems today on the podcast. Thank you so much for being here.

Chlon Rogers 21:52

Thank you for having me.

Acquania Escarne 21:53

Yes, of course. So before we say goodbye, can you please let my listeners know how can we connect with you and find you on social media?

Chlon Rogers 22:01

So you can connect with me on social media at bemycheckmate.com That's b e m y, checkmate ch e ck Mate like bemycheckmate. So, you can also purchase my book at bemycheckmate.com. It's available right now on my website and it's also available on amazon.com both the paperback book and the ebook. Also make sure you tune into my youtube channel checkmate business management. I have a short film is called Balling on a Budget starring YFN Lucci and DC Young Fly. And there are also some tutorial videos on there where I actually talk about some of the sources of income that are in the book music money so music money make sure you go out and get that be my check that make comm and amazon.com and make sure y'all come stay stay in touch with me on Instagram at be my check me. Yes, thank you so much. Don't worry guys. I'm gonna leave links to all of that in the show notes. Make sure you check out

Acquania Escarne 23:00

Her film, YouTube channel and all social media platforms. Thank you for listening to the purpose of money podcast. For more resources and information, check out my website, the purpose of money COMM And while you're there, please sign up for our newsletter so you have the latest information on new episodes and blog posts. Until next time, keep creating freedom in your life today.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai