The Goods On Music With Tina Cole

Tina Cole has been driving and inspiring a standard of excellence in business for over 25 years. Now as a business leader and visionary, she brings her tenured success to the Entertainment Industry. Her entrepreneurial drive and wealth of insights as to what really creates success and profitability has now been infused into one of her greatest passions - music. Her goal is to bring business discipline and strategies to the music scene with a grass roots approach. As the CEO and Co-founder of Alaeze Group International (AGI) – a premier Talent and Lifestyle Marketing Company, Tina and her team focus is on developing market-leading positions in Talent Management & Development, Live Events, and Recorded Music Promotion.

We had the honour of sitting down with mover and shaker Tina, AKA Mama Swag, to talk about the industry and her passion for developing and educating young artists.

How did you get into artist development?

This is a business before its an art. To survive in the industry you need to become a profitable company, create strategies and tactics. This is what I know, and know how to do it well. I can’t tell you how many young people I talk to who have no idea how to create a revenue stream from what they do and its sad. So many talented artists who fall through the cracks because they don’t know how to turn what they do into a profitable business. This is why I decided to focus on the development, because there is a huge need to educate artists and this is why I started The Goods On Music; to help empower and educate young artists so they have a fighting chance in the industry.

As part of your passion for educating and developing artists you recently created a new workshop program called 'The Goods On Music', can you tell us more about it ?

The Goods On Music is an online workshop where we literally talk everything A-Z about the entertainment industry. We have guest speakers who shed light various aspects of the industry and interactive discussions where participants can directly ask their questions to industry professionals. My job isn’t to feed artists dreams, its to feed their brains. I came up with the acronym EGO - Educate. Grow. Opportunity ; Through Education I can empower young artists to help create opportunities that grow their careers.

Is there something you see young artists, or artists who are just starting out doing thats a common ‘mistake’?

I think the biggest ‘mistake’ many young artists have is a common misconception of what it really takes to have a commercial career and an unrealistic perception of the music industry. I don’t think many artists understand what it really takes and the team involved in releasing music - And by the way, theres a difference between posting music and actually releasing music. If you put your song on SoundCloud or send it to CD Baby, TuneCore or wherever, thats not releasing a song, you've only posted it. Actually releasing a song takes serious strategy. Getting your song placed on trending playlists, seen and heard by your targeted audience, featured in music blogs and radio doesn't just happen by accident, this takes a team; You’ve got a PR Team, Marketing Team, Producer, production team, then a photoshoot, possibly a stylist? And coupled with that comes the second misconception that you can do it all without a budget. You can’t expect to hire all these people without a proper budget. Music is a business and when you start a business- any business, it always takes an investment and music is no different.

Whats your biggest pet peeve within the music industry?

I think one thing that really bugs me is what people call an artists an “over night success”. Overnight for who? you may not have known about that artist but don’t kid yourself, anyone who steps into the spotlight has sacrificed a lot to be where they are, whether its time, money, blood, sweat or tears.

Do you have any advice for emerging and or young artists?

Make sure you do your homework. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what you want. Make sure you have a clear understanding of the industry and LEARN. Learning will empower you to succeed in whatever it is you want to do. To be a lawyer, doctor - you name it, they go to university and school for hours, years. What makes you think the music industry is any different? I see people wanting to have a career on a global platform but don’t have the skillset to make it. They want to be a superstar but they don’t want to sit down a learn the business. Do yourself a favour, if you want to succeed in the industry, empower yourself. Educate yourself. And learn. There’s no cutting corners, you just got to do the work.

We really appreciate your time and great insight into the industry. Thank you so much Tina for sitting down with us. If artists are interested in joining a workshop on The Goods On Music, how can one sign up or get on your mailing list?

Of Course! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook to keep updated to contact us directly

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@thegoodsonmusic

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