Founder's Story - Clinton Sparks: From Beats to Business - Music, Success, and Entrepreneurship | S2:E56

Episode Date: August 31, 2024

In this episode of "Founder's Story," Daniel Robbins interviews Clinton Sparks, a renowned DJ, producer, and entrepreneur who has made a significant impact in the music and entertainment industry. Clinton shares his journey from growing up in a challenging environment to becoming a Grammy-nominated producer and a successful entrepreneur. He delves into the importance of perseverance, creativity, and seizing opportunities in building a career that spans various facets of the entertainment world.Clinton discusses his experiences working with some of the biggest names in music, his transition into entrepreneurship, and how he’s helping others succeed through his ventures. He emphasizes the value of staying authentic, continuously evolving, and giving back to the community. Clinton’s story is one of resilience, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.Key Points Discussed:Clinton’s early life and the challenges he overcame to pursue a career in music.The journey from being a DJ to becoming a Grammy-nominated producer.Key collaborations with major artists and how they shaped his career.Transitioning from music production to entrepreneurship and business ventures.The importance of creativity and staying ahead of industry trends.Building a personal brand and leveraging it for long-term success.Clinton’s approach to mentoring and helping others achieve their dreams.The impact of staying authentic and true to oneself in a competitive industry.Insights into the future of the music and entertainment industry.How to connect with Clinton Sparks and learn more about his work.Relevant Links:Clinton Sparks Our Sponsors:* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacyOur Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hey, what's up you guys? This is Jay Daredevil, aka Jared Dillinger. I am your co-host with my friend Dan Robbins. We are at Creating the Future. We are with a special guest today, no other than Clinton Sparks. What's up guys? My friend, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Yes, sir. In the most platonic way. I remember, man, all through the 2000s, I was listening to music and clinton sparks the name kept popping up

okay so i remember the incredible music that you produced uh what hundreds of millions of records how many records do you think you've like you've sold impacted do you know is there a number to that billions well i i still run with 75 million but that also was from like years ago so it could be like over 100 million now i have to do my due diligence guys all right i mean busy tallying up sales it's insane over 75 million records so talk to us through the transition from music producing to now gaming and esports uh well you, I have a theory that everything is the same. Every industry, every business is the same. You just need to understand different jargon, different rules,

different players in there. But the concept of like understanding how to build businesses, how to market, build audiences, treat people well, connect, it's all the same. And once you understand that you're not selling a product, you're not selling a service, what are you selling? If it's not a product,'re not selling a service what are you selling if it's not a product it's not a service what is it people you're selling a feeling you're selling a emotions once you understand what people need to feel or what they do feel you can sell anything to anybody right but there's a danger to that because that means you can also manipulate people but

manipulation is also looked at as a negative word because a lot of times you have to manipulate people to make them understand what they don't understand or to get them to do what they don't know they need to do to get to where they want to get to so I know that was a lot I was incredible but my point is it's that kind of theory in the concept of like kind of moving in business and personal relationships that have allowed me to step in a different worlds and be successful and win and repeat, win, repeat, win, repeat, because it's understanding those values and those principles and concepts of everything being the same. A lot of times people are like, well, man, I'm good at music, but I don't really understand

real estate. Or man, I'm good at esports, but I don't understand music. And it's like, yeah, you do. You're just not understanding it because you think that you only know what you know And it's really all the same if you take the time to understand the common principles that you know a threaded throughout them all Did I answer the question? I kind of know no no it's great. No I gave Yeah, I think you'd rather hear that than I who you might not even know I think When I was listening like no no

I think it's amazing because i've i've seen some of the stuff that you do around teaching people how they can be producers and how they can sell albums you know in the past i've seen some of the things that you've done there which is amazing if you're a music artist or an independent artist i have free books at clintonsparks.com i have a whole course with over 65 videos free workshops products all free 20 years of game and hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in me building this for you guys because if i want the world to be a better place it starts making people better and if i can make people better and help them live out their dreams or get access to information that they don't know so they can better their life that

inadvertently in turn helps the world become better and that's my ultimate goal is making the world better so that's why everything is free i'll never charge for anything because it's kind of a dick move to charge for stuff when if i have the blueprint if i if i know you're about to touch that and burn your hand and i'm like yo pay me 10 bucks i'm about to tell you something how whack is that i'm just like yo don't do that because you're going to get hurt yeah so if i can do that to like, you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of people and show them how to be less whack and more dope or how to make better decisions and not make the mistakes that I've seen happen to so many people over and over again, why would I not do that? And I have the platform, the opportunity to do that. So that's why I do it. But back to your

question, how I went from music to gaming. a friend of mine hit me one day and said come to the office and we're gonna start this we're gonna be part of this new gaming company it's called phase clan and phase clan wasn't a business yet they were just popular kids online for trick shooting you know so they didn't have a business model or any revenue yet so we went in there and turned that into a billion dollar IPO company I brought in all in his way everything's the same what do you need to do to build a brand bring excitement bring different cultures get people educated on it that don't know about it or don't know that they should know about it so that right away I'm like all right

cool this is exactly what my mind's been built for it's limitless let me connect all these other worlds from fashion music sports into the gaming space so I knew that I had a bunch of knowledge of connecting so I just connected things to music to gaming that wasn't I brought an offset Pitbull Sway Lee T Grizzly like Yo Gotti DJ Paul Ray J like all these people into the gaming space that were never into that space and now they are so I've kind of been one of the guys here leading the intersecting of all these cultures together because of my experience and knowledge of people psychology marketing and that everything's the same so V con

Gary Vee who talks a lot about the intersection of pop culture, music, technology, which to me sounds like you're looking at the same thing. It's not like, it almost seemed like before it used to be, okay, if you're going to target a person demographic, you have to target them with one specific thing. But I think we know people like a lot of different things. Like you're saying, like he's a gamer who loves sports, who also like music, right? So it's like you can bring people into this ecosystem now,

and they can be happy with multiple different products and services. So is that what you're seeing now with eSports, where it's not just about playing a game, it's bigger than that? I mean, I've seen that from the minute I walked in the door the first time at Faze, and I was like, wow, you guys are totally not getting what this could be or where it should go and who should be connected for instance one of the things that that I care the most about is the non-endemic audience right and like when you think about so I'm from the hood so when you think about getting out of the hood it's music and sports it's always been that you have dreams of being a hooper or being a rapper or a singer and that's your goal right gaming is a whole nother vertical the hood

doesn't know about the streets aren't talking about how do you make money in gaming they don't even know that eSports is a thing nobody what you gaming I'm like no dude like they don't know the stadiums full of people that are getting paid they also don't know that you know there's billions of gamers around the world making hundreds of billions of dollars and there's opportunities to build careers even if you look you don't have to rap to be in the rap industry you know what I mean you have to be a rapper to be in the hip-hop or own a label you don't have to be a gamer to be in the gaming industry or build ancillary businesses within

gaming or touching the culture so I'm a big advocate for introducing gaming and the opportunities and the possibilities for the streets. You don't have to dribble a basketball for 16 years. You don't have to be out in the streets doing something that you might get hurt from doing. You know, you might get carpal tunnel one day, but you know, by that time we'll have medicine for that. You know what I mean?

But like, but yeah, man, like I just, I feel like it's so big and like, when I go to these conferences, like so many conferences I go to, people are in echo chambers, right?

Where people are just talking to other people that already feel the same way that you do, right? And it's like, whether it's, you know,

whether it's crypto or finance or whatever conferences I go and speak to, it's always like, yeah, we already know this shit. How do we tell everybody else

like what we're doing I'll get them familiar with it and you can't stand for culture if you never stood in culture right so when you're trying to connect culture to what you're doing it's not real it's not authentic and people that are real can smell and see that so they're just like ah they're just trying to sell me some shit when you have it in the DNA with people that really understand it, like when you were just saying like bringing these worlds together, that's just who I am. Like diversity, inclusion, it's in my DNA from since I was a kid, from the way that I grew up. So not everybody has that and that's fine. You don't have to frown on someone because they weren't part of culture.

But if you're not part of culture, you're trying to build something that's cultural, you need to, one, educate yourself on culture. Two, really understand what culture means. It doesn't mean the hottest new sneaker drop or the popping meme. It's way deeper than that. It doesn't just mean different color people. It means it's deeper than that. You really understand culture.

So if you don't understand it like that, one, educate yourself. But two, get people a part of your company that do understand it and let them do their job because i see that happen in corporate america let's hire some people one so we look diverse or two that seems smart and can help us with culture but then you don't listen to them because you're the guy that built a hundred million dollar company before you know what you're talking about with business cool we'll listen to you with that you listen to us when it comes to cool shit or culture shit or how to connect the dots and i think a lot of companies fail because the leaders don't listen to the people that know what they're talking about well said so i'm curious these are long-winded answers no no no it's good no

no yeah it's good um so jared you, obviously, in the esports in Southeast Asia. And I've been recently, he had an event. I was at the event. And I was shocked, like you mentioned, about how many people were there and how many young people, how serious they take it. I mean, it's incredible. Like, it's not, I remember gaming. I was just playing a game.

I didn't even know, like, it could even be a job or, like, there can be, you know, competitive nature. I was just playing a game. I didn't even know it could even be a job or there can be a competitive nature. I was just playing a game. We could get rich playing Mario Brothers. That's true. So what are you seeing, Jared, and maybe that'll help. I think Clinton can chime in too, around Southeast Asia.

Hey, everyone. I'm not sure if you've heard, but our show Founders Story is now available on the iHeartRadio app. So check that out. iHeartRadio online or you grab the app. It's super easy. You can listen to all of our episodes wherever you enjoy your podcast, whether that's iHeartRadio, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many more. But check it out. Specific to how esports and gaming is out there. You want me to tell him?

We're not live recording. Say that again so I can make it... Yeah, like, speak on... I know, we're going to edit it. Because I think it'd be good for you guys to share about your insights. Like how it is in Southeast Asia. Yeah, and then I think maybe you can add in some info on what you're seeing. I keep going like this.

Yeah, no, no. You got it. I keep going like this getting ready to go. You got it. I'm so used to it. How do you think? Okay, I got you. I think it'd be good because I think obviously our audience is like

they might already be gamers. Like you said, a lot of them are not gamers but then they're also just because he's known so they might watch it

because they're gamers. You know what I mean? Now that I know that I have a different approach. Okay, you got it? Yeah. Okay, so I'll just start. We're going to I have a different approach. Okay. You got it? Yeah. Okay. So I'll just start.

And we're going to edit all this, so don't worry. It's not, yeah. Okay. You want to answer the question or should I just start going? I can ask you to ask it again? Yeah, just for the purposes.

Okay. Shoot. You know, when you get that question, though, it's like, now the questions go. Okay. I got it.

You got it? You got it? I got it. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. All right. Let's diverge here a little bit.

So, like Dan was saying earlier, I am an esports gamer at a capacity nothing compared to FaZe Clan at any sort of, like, I am not that guy. But out in the Philippines, esports, let alone Southeast Asia, it's bananas. Whether that be through the crypto gaming part of it, which was Axie Infinity, fast forward, now it's about Mobile Legends. Our country is just infected with playing Mobile Legends. And that's the game I play. Now, there are a lot of gamers there. Everyone is trying to make money out there by being a gamer, whether that's through mobile, console, esports, whatever it may be. Seeing that, and I understand that we

just talked earlier that you're coming to Southeast Asia, what advice can you give to gamers out there that are trying to make a living for themselves? What do you see out in Southeast Asia that attracts you, that wants to go there? Well, overall, I think that gamers and esports are put into a box, right? Especially from people that don't understand it, right? So there's two lanes right here that I can go down, and I'll go down one and come to the other. So one is the people that don't understand the lifestyle of a gamer, right? So they look at them as just like, that's all they do. They're gamers. Maybe they don't look at them as cool, or they look at them as like just like that's all they do they're gamers maybe they don't they don't look at them as cool or they look at them as like nerds act that game all day right and it's like dude they're human beings that

have a lifestyle what they drink what they listen to what they wear what they talk about what the jargon is what they watch like it's a lifestyle just like music yeah right so like if you go back to hip-hop you're a rapper you're not just like all he does is rap all day and does nothing else. There's so many other things that go with it, and I think a lot of people don't give credit to gamers or recognize a gamer or e-sports player's lifestyle and the things that are associated with it and what they like, so they don't tap into it

or look at it bigger than anything than someone who just sits here and games all day. And so a lot of people that are unfamiliar with how powerful gaming in the community is, they look at it, especially community is they look at it especially adults they look at it like it's a waste of time they'll say things like oh you're playing games all day waste and why don't you go outside or do something else and it's like this is a new way the same way you say your kids are piano lessons or the dancing or karate whether you're starting

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Or whatever it is, this is the same thing setting your kid up with some kind of skill that he can build a long-term career with and i think adults and people that don't understand the concept or the energy around gaming don't see that at all would you feel that that as we're getting older like for us we're playing games when we were kids and it was kind of frowned upon now it's a little less and you have kids so we're a little bit more like play some games It's all good like it's not that bad like I have idols who are grown men playing video games like I'm a big doctor disrespect Yeah, that guy's cool shit like culturally web. I mean in the gaming aspect like that's my guy right yeah, so I know that Times are changing a little bit. I don't know if that's my guy right yeah so um i know that times are changing a little bit i don't know

if that's fast or slow i can't i don't have the data on that but like where do you see this going like well i see well thankfully i i play a big role uh in the gaming space and i am an advocate for elevation, innovation, communication, great relations. So doing what I do at FaZe Clan and then at XSET, my other gaming organization, it's having the vision to be able to connect these worlds and understand the mind of everybody that should be connected, including the gamers, and educating and being able to, in a simplified way, communicate to people that don't get it, to be able to put it in words that they'll understand.

So that's kind of what I've excelled with in my career, is being able to talk to different worlds and be able to translate and make them understand in a language that they're going to understand. See, the average, just going back to when we were talking about leaders, they don't understand the culture. Gamers also don't understand certain things about business. And business doesn't understand about gamers.

So there's nobody in between that can be able to translate or communicate. No, you need to do this because of that. No, trust me guys, if you do this, it's going to help this, which will then help that. So there's nobody that really knows how to put the pieces together like a chessboard. And I've been doing that really well, as you can see I did at phase you see what I did at exit and you

know what I'll do next continuing to help push the envelope and introduce and elevate the entire industry I honestly feel I'll be one of the guys that like disrupt the entire culture by introducing because I know one I trust my brain into I know that I'm gonna diligently keep working until it breaks through, even if I don't get the credit, which is fine, I haven't got credit for a lot of things I've done in my life, right? But I don't mind, because it's for the good of the culture.

It's for the good of the gaming industry, it's for the good of everybody to win and have more opportunities, even if I'm not the one that's recognized for doing it. Clinton, I was getting goosebumps when you were saying all that, to be honest, and I'm just praying and hoping, not to put you on the spot, please come to Southeast Asia and just connect all the people

and give them the information. Because it's just, out in those types of countries, trying to build generational wealth, people, we're all trying to make money out there. And it's tough. I can't say too much else elsewhere outside the world but like just the value that you could bring in that region would be so exponential well i think well going back to everything's the same all you have to do is look at a regular

athlete look at an artist look at anybody else that tries to build a brand and tries to market themselves and build ancillary businesses around what they've become successful at doing that's the model you need to do. I think people get stuck in their brain like, I'm a gamer. What should I do? How do I make money being a gamer? Stop thinking like a gamer. You're a gamer, but you need to think like a brand.

You need to think like a business. You need to think in different ways than just like, I'm playing games. I'm streaming. How come my numbers don't go up? How do I make more money? Why doesn't someone just discover me and endorse me and give me money like you're just sitting around waiting, right? And if you sit around waiting You're gonna lose to those that are actively and proactively going out and recognizing that you're a brand

You're a brand you build your own personal brand with your personality Whether it's your unique way of playing whether it's the way you dress where you're playing whether it's how you treat other people like there's So many ways to build your brand. It's crazy when people say to me like how do i build my personal brand well who are you first sit down and do an exercise about who you are what you like why should people care about you what are you doing that relates to people like what's your backstory like start asking yourself these questions then you can build a package of then you can start looking at the science of what has worked and what doesn't work right and what's special about you most people sit around waiting

and hoping hope is not part of a business plan right and if you're gonna build the business plan of building your brand then you have to sit down and realize what you're great at and equally what you're not great at and that's what a lot of people don't recognize. So they keep doing the wrong thing because they don't realize they're not great at that. And people are like, yeah, but people tell me if I'm consistent, inevitably it'll happen. Well, if you're consistently doing the wrong thing,

then that consistency doesn't work for you. Right? So you have to keep score of what's working and what's not working, and then what you should be doing more of. Building brands to me is like one of the simplest things I hear companies and people say all the time. How do we build our brand?

How do we connect? It starts with authenticity. It starts with recognizing what you're good at, what you're not good at. Then it starts with building the right proper plan and then keeping score and track of the progress of that plan. Amazing. And knowing when to pivot when things aren't. And by the way, not, not being afraid to throw away your first plan and scrap it and do a new plan because that wasn't working. Yes.

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