Life Wide Open with CboysTV - Viral Rapper Connor Price Doesn’t Need A Label

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

In today's podcast we sit down with viral rapper Connor Price and he thanks us for using his music, tells YOU how to make music, and reveals how he came up with the spin the globe challenge (fake??). Connor is revolutionizing how artists promote themselves with no label, if you haven’t heard of him yet, you will be hearing much more of him soon! Thanks to our sponsors! Get a 60-day free trial at https://www.shipstation.com/wideopen. Thanks to ShipStation for sponsoring the show! Follow us on Instagram @cboystv and @lifewideopenpodcast To watch the podcast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/LifeWideOpenYT Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: https://bit.ly/LifeWideOpenWithCboysTV If you like the show, telling a friend about it would be amazing! You can text, email, Tweet, or send this link to a friend: https://bit.ly/LifeWideOpenWithCboysTV You can also check out our main YouTube channel CboysTV: https://www.youtube.com/c/CboysTV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. Do you want to be in my interview, Ben? No. Oh, okay. Well, I'm going around interviewing guys that wear shirts too small for them because they don't work out, but they still want to look jacked. Is it working?

Is that? Kind of. Is that a medium? No, I think it's a lot. Mark, do you want to be in my interview? Sure. Okay, cool, because I'm just interviewing guys that run around the hotel blacked out by themselves at 4 in the morning and pass out in the alley. Or the, what is it?

The hallway? The hallway. The alley. You know, the room alley. Mike, that's a good way to end up in the clink. Yeah. Well, should we run it? That's for sure.

Just run it. I legit can't believe that we're doing it. doing this right now. It's just, it's cool to meet you. It's cool to meet you. We're big fans. We're big fans. Yeah, for sure. Did we start? We're rolling. Who do I think for putting my music in your videos? I mean, yeah, I think all of us. For sure, these guys, but dude. Okay, awesome. Yeah, yeah. All right guys, today's guest is a rapper and a songwriter. If you've watched a single C-Boys TV, YouTube video or been on TikTok or Instagram, you've definitely heard one of his viral songs. Welcome on the podcast.

Connor Price. Thank you so much, you guys. Thank you for having me. Thank you. I suppose you've probably never been in a studio this nice before, huh? You know what's funny? I have recorded every single one of my songs with a sure SM7B this exact. These are the best mic.

It's going to be my next question, yeah. I love this microphone. Yeah, these have been around for a long time, too. These are just the industry standard. It kind of seems like. I remember I saw a video of Logic on a tour bus recording all his songs for a project off of this mic, and then he had like a Apollo twin. interface the silver square thing and i was like i need that and i got that and this microphone and i've

recorded all my music with those two they're the best they're the best when we first started making or when we were looking at getting into podcasting we're like well i mean let's just look and see what like jo rogan uses and we just would like screenshot the biggest podcasters and send it in the group chat and like we got to order this yeah no so many podcasts use this mic if not all of them like it seems like every clip you see it's this microphone yeah yeah yeah well anyways we're we're in the uh beautiful planet Hollywood room i've never been in this hotel for you probably for good reason so uh you live in las Vegas i do so i live in henderson which is a suburb like 20 minutes out um i've lived here for about three years now really so how'd you end up here yeah yeah so born and

raised in markham which is a little town about 25 minutes northeast of toronto so grew up in canada um live there my whole life and i started acting when i was really young when i was six years old which we could probably get into later. But because of that career, I spent a lot of time in L.A. And so I would split my time between Canada and L.A. And then I got married young. I was engaged at 21, got married at 22. And my wife, Brianna, she has family that lives in Vegas.

And her little sister, Chloe, used to be a child actor. And so when I was young acting, I would come to L.A. And I used to stay at this apartment complex called the Oakwood Apartments, which was known for having a bunch of, like, Actors stay there who were like pursuing a career in acting and families would come there with their kids. And that's actually how I met my wife. When I was 10 years old, she was 11. We were staying at this apartment complex. We stayed in the same spot. Fast forward a bunch of years and we're married now. But Brianna had, my wife Brianna had family that lives out here. And so when we lived in L.A., we would take the drive, like three and a half hour drive or so from L.A. to Vegas, like almost every weekend just to visit. And I just, we just fell in love with the area. And L.A. is really fun. to visit but living there is tough i find um just the kind of energy of the space and the traffic and the smog and the air we've never been we're actually we have a we have a shoot there in a week

from now so we are making our way we've been on a two week well we're on a two week long RV trip wow see boys tv across america second annual so that's what's happening okay cool i was going to ask what you guys were doing out here yeah no so we just been been cruising around making youtube vids obviously and then i love it i love podcast so uh but yes so so los vegas like what do you what do you You participate in all of the activities around here? No, I'm like rarely on the strip. Yeah, people assume that... I feel like if you live here, it's like you don't...

Not really, no, it's so touristy. It's like there's incredible restaurants, so I'll come here probably like twice a month just for like a nice, like my favorite restaurant, Zuma is in the Cosmo, the top floor of the Cosmo, if you guys are looking for a place tonight. You might have to check that out. Zuma is my favorite restaurant in the world. It's incredible. I've never gambled a day in my life.

Yeah, so you're a very clean guy. Yeah. As far as, like, you don't swear in your songs. Right. Yeah, no, I don't really drink. It just seems like Las Vegas is like a strange place to. You'd think, yeah. And if it weren't for having family out here and visiting and falling in love with the area

and now, because it was also like, it's, so it's close enough to L.A. That if I do need to be there for acting stuff or whatever, I can, I can take the 40-minute flight and stay with some friends there. But the cost of living out here is so much better. I find the quality of life out here is way better than California. when I think about raising a kid, which Brianna and I have now, we have our son Jude. Congrats on that, by the way.

Yeah, you got a whole song about him. He's 11 months, I do, yeah. And so when I thought about raising a family, I never saw L.A. as that place. Yeah. But when we came to visit here, it's just incredible. So Henderson, the area I live, I recently learned, is the fourth fastest growing city in the U.S.

and the second safest, which is kind of interesting. But yeah, it's like it's growing so quick. In between, like, the Raiders and the Golden Knights, there's now all this, like, sports fandom that's coming to the town, and it's just exploding. It's really exciting to see. This is the best place to live for taxis. Yeah, it's one of them.

Yeah, the zero income, yeah, state tax, yeah. It's fantastic. So you were a child actor. What was that like? So, yeah, I started when I was six years old. The way that that happened. So I'm one of five kids in my family, so I've got a bunch of siblings. I'm right in the middle, two younger, two older.

And the younger two are twins. And my mom was friends with this woman in Canada who started twins talent agency. and no one in my family had ever been in entertainment at all. So this was all just like... Was this your choice or did they kind of push you into it? It was definitely my choice. So the way that it happened was my mom, who was friends with this woman, Cindy, who started Twins Talent.

So this woman was like, hey, you know, you have twins. You should consider them, consider putting them into, you know, into the acting world, especially kids, you know, the whole Colin Dill and Sprouse thing. The reason that works so well, if you're identical, especially, is two actors can play the same. character rotate, you get more hours out of them. Yeah, they did that on full. No, what was it? No, full house with Mary Kay Nationally. Yeah, exactly. Good example. So they were only hiring twins.

A lot of times, yeah, producers would prefer twins because kids under a certain age can only work a certain amount of hours. So if you have two, you can like get, it's a little exploitative, but So you really didn't have a normal childhood then? I guess not, but it, yeah, so they started first and then I saw how much fun they were having and I was like, mom, I want to try this too. And so when I was six, I jumped in, started with commercials. And when I was 10, I did a movie called Cinderella Man where I played the son of Russell Crow. And that was like the first kind of...

That's insane. Yeah, like huge project that I was a part of. That was the first time I went to L.A. for the premiere. And then I signed with a U.S. agent. And I've just been doing TV and film ever since. You were in normal school then? I was, yeah. Oh, so you still managed to be in just normal?

I was. That was important to me. So went to public elementary school, went to high school in the States, did two years in the States, two years in Canada, but was always in public school, yeah. What do you think is the reason for all of these child actors growing up to become like absolute shitbags.

You can't say all of them. He's great. He turned out great. No, no, it's a large majority question. Well, I mean, especially the Disney actors. Like, you got McCulley Calkin? Like, that'd be the number one turned into a shitbag. Did he?

I don't think he did, dude. I thought he got into, like, some mad drugs. No, I think that was because of Michael Jackson. You're thinking of Aaron Carter. I'm pretty sure. There may have been a drug situation, but I think now he seems to be done off. Yeah, he's doing it. Doing very well, yeah. That's good, that's good. But I don't know. You know, I never had anywhere near the fandom of someone like, you know, Kevin McAllister from Home Alone like that. I can't imagine what what that was like for a kid. Like I've pretty...

That's got to fuck you up. Yeah, it's hard for me to speak on that because I've never really had that level of fame as a child. And I can only imagine what kind of rooms there, what kind of parties they're around. And then, you know, drugs could be rampant and you're young and you're impressionable. And maybe it's a parent. thing like I'm very fortunate because I have like incredible parents who always kept me grounded and level-headed and made sure I wasn't being stupid so it it seems like a lot of those people like you look at like Britney Spears or like Lindsay Lohan or um you know a lot of the ones that kind of went off the rails it seems like their parents didn't have much of a grasp on them and then also I mean you're getting so much fame and money at a young age you just like have no sense of reality I would imagine by the time you're 18 you know yeah yeah how does that work Do they set up like a bank account for the kid, but it's still all managed by the parents?

So in the U.S., it's called a Coogan account, which was named after a famous child actor. Do you know about this? Yeah, you keep going, sorry. No, no, no, it's good. You're like, not enough. Finally, someone knows it because I talked about this story. Yeah, I've never heard of it. Okay, so there's this famous child actor named Jackie Coogan, who I believe was like very famous in, like, the 20s and made a lot of money as a kid.

But there were no rules set up about putting money aside for kids that his parents. parents spent it all. And he was broke by the time he was 18 or whatever. And so they set up a Coogan account named after this child actor where I believe it's 25%. And in Canada, it's 15%. But in the U.S., I believe it's 25% of every dollar that a minor makes goes into an account that no one can touch until that minor turns 18. And then they have to go into the bank and take it out. Oh, really? So it's completely protected. Yeah, in Canada, it's called a Miner's Trust Fund. And then in the U.S. is called a Coogan account. And no one can touch that until that kid turns 18 and then he gets all of it.

I've heard countless stories just from growing up as a child actor and knowing other child actors who have grown up. And there's a lot of that of, because even then, even, you know, 25% is put aside. There's still the other chunk that kids might not ever see. And, yeah, I don't know. It can get messy. It seems like some of these parents, like, they were just like putting them trying to make them actors.

And it, yeah, it almost seems like the parents weren't even working. And they were just like, you make the money. Like, they were working the kids. Yeah, I don't know that specific situation. So it's hard for me to speak about that. But I'm sure I'm sure that that happens. That, yeah, parents can definitely like kind of live vicariously through their children and exploit that in a sense. Talk about a switched rule.

I even think about that with like Addison Ray or Charlie DeMilio when they were like blowing up on TikTok and then their parents were blowing up because they were getting famous. Like, dude, what a weird scenario. You imagine your mom becoming a TikTok? Or even worse, your dad becoming a tic-tokker. Just because their kid is such a big tic-tokker? Yeah. And they're like 50. I have seen like, you know, this whole like stage mom thing, not that this

situation we're talking about it is, but I have seen in many scenarios, child actors whose parents are just absolute stage parents in there. It's very clear that this dream is theirs and not the kids. And I've even seen to the point of a child actor being fired off of a show because of the mom being so difficult on set. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

My, my sister's boyfriend. used to work for dance moms. And he has plenty of stories about that whole world. That's a whole other world, isn't it? Yeah, because dance moms just in general without this. That show is crazy. Yeah, yeah. I see.

I'm like, God, damn. Yeah, and I was like, how real is that? My girlfriend's totally into it asking every question. And he knows all the names of the moms. And he's like, oh, no, it's real. I believe it. Dance moms are crazy. I believe it.

And they just get amped up with the cameras because then they just, like, drama gets involved. And then the producers are, like, trying to twist it. Oh, totally. And when it's a reality show, too, they're going to make it worse. And, like, they want that drama. They feed off that. So, yeah. How do your peers, like, react to you being in movies and stuff, being that you're still in school? They, they like it. They make fun of you. Like, what was it? Weirdly enough, it was very normal. I don't know. You know, it's interesting. One of my best friends also growing up was also an actor. And so the two of us

were doing it. And then my little brothers were doing it. And then my two older siblings were doing it too and we were all in the same school so it was sort like it wasn't like i was the one kid that was doing it there was weirdly like a like a lot of actors in the in the school and it was just sort of like it very quickly became normal i was never it's pretty cool i never felt like a like a outsider because of it i was never made fun of luckily it was just like oh yeah that's connor he's the actor guy like yeah whatever did you know how to spit bars back then or when did you come come into this i've always loved hip-hop music i shared a room with my older brother my whole childhood, he's two years older than me, and he loved hip hop and was like always playing it in our

room. So I was just, I was always listening to it, whether it was like early M&M, Lupe Fiasco, MF Doom, stuff like that. And I just always loved it. But I had never thought about doing it myself until around high school when I really started becoming obsessed with like the underground like YouTube hip hop kind of scene and like all these artists doing like ciphers and and even like rap battles I would watch all that. And yeah, that was hot back in the day. Oh, totally. 2012 like king of the dot and all that kind of stuff oh man um and so i just kind of became obsessed with that and watching artists like especially on youtube who were like because i always viewed this music as like oh these like huge production values and they must have these massive studios

and the music videos are crazy and it just always felt something that was out of reach for for me and then seeing like a lot of artists on youtube just like doing it in the room and like filming videos on their phone and i was like oh this is this is doable like Maybe I could try this. And that was the first kind of like, I remember a moment in my head where I was like, maybe I should do something with this. Because I do sometimes freestyle with friends for fun. And sometimes I get a good reaction and people say, you sound like you know what you're doing.

And so it's like, oh, maybe I should try this. And so the first thing that I did was I bought like this USB microphone off Amazon. And I started uploading music to YouTube anonymously. Like I would enter rap contests and not tell anybody, not even my family. What year was this? That would have been like 2000. 2012, maybe, 2012, 2013, I think. And I entered a few competitions.

I, like, won two of them. That was the start of something. I won two of them. And then that really just kind of gave me the confidence to be like, okay, maybe I am good at this. Maybe I should explore this more. And then I didn't end up taking it serious until years later, just because acting was kind of the main priority for me.

But then it switched around COVID when acting completely stopped. all the production stopped and I was like okay I need to go all in on something and I always had this music thing so I decided to just go for it and it's it's dope that you went all in on it but I love that you approached it like well so you you were like reading everything social media is there I can make something happen and then you did like I'm not saying you you had a lot of the basis and like growing up listening to hip hop but like you're just like I think I can like we'll get into it later but like your angles on TikTok are just brilliant thank you it's just it's it's it's too good. I have to give like so much credit to my wife, Brianna, because she was the one. So early on,

I remember in like 2015, 2016, this is when we were just dating. She was one of the first people I decided to like show my music to. I was like, I do this thing anonymously on YouTube. I normally don't tell me. Why were you doing it anonymous? Well, the reason I was doing it anonymously was because, and this is like my number one regret in life is, is I genuinely was worried about what people would think. I was worried about what my friends would think. I was worried about what my peers would think and I'm already like the actor kid so it's like if I want to start rapping I just knew all the eyes would roll and rightfully so and they did but you know ultimately you just kind of kept going to a point where they're like oh wow this is actually working out for him I had a friend

in high school that it was similar he was a producer and he was selling beats to like kid ink um like rappers at the time uh he actually he actually did pop out with polo g so he's iceberg oh wow okay but uh anyways he was the same thing he he he never would tell anyone I was like bro this is so cool I want you tell like this is the coolest thing like you're making money off this like but it was the same yeah same thing he was just worried about what other people would think yeah a small part of it too is I wanted to prove to myself that um like especially doing the whole anonymously on the contest and stuff like if I did put it out as Connor price and was using like again not that I was like really had a crazy amount of fame as an actor

but there was an element of that that I could see like if I did win a contest people would be like oh, he just won because he's the actor guy, whatever. So I wanted to prove that, like, if nobody knew who I was and what the face was, and I didn't use my real name, I just uploaded it completely anonymously, to still win those competitions, I was like, okay, this is, you know, people are liking what I'm doing. There must be something here that I should explore. What was the name under your anonymous name? It was awful.

Is this the first time I'm saying it? Yeah, you don't have to. No, I will. It's an awful name. It's like the cringest thing ever. But I just went by unidentified, but I spelled, but, no, it gets worse. but I spelled it un like E-Y-E unidentified and then the logo was an I I'm like what I like it I was stupid yeah at the time like this is brilliant yeah stupid but yeah that was the name I went by I was just looking up

when we found you March 11th 2021 so about two years ago okay and the first song was typical rapper and dude I remember I remember coming into your office and being like dude you got to check this guy out yeah because we're always his his songs aren't at the time copyrighted and then from there yeah bro because we're always looking for music on soundcloud yeah yeah still even though like we have like 15 different paid subscription for uncopywritten music yeah um but sound cloud you just find way i think way higher quality like rap songs and stuff like that so it's still scouring so that that was how you guys first found me was on sound cloud yeah yeah i don't i don't yeah it was i i saw a ticot and And then I immediately, for me, most of mine is just, it's music.

And then I just quickly dip over to SoundCloud, send it to Ben. Yeah. And it was like, it was too good. I do, I do want to say thank you that, you know, you guys using my songs and your videos have an impact on my streaming and my audience. Like, I always know when you guys are using one of my songs, because my YouTube gets flooded with, I'm here from the Seaboys. I'm here from the Seaboys. Oh, yeah. No, it's crazy.

And I have had a lot of people like DM me being like, yeah, ever since I heard your song in the Seaboy's video, I've been a fan. So I just want to say thank you because it really does make a difference. We've probably used like 20 songs. I know. No, I know. And in the montages and stuff, I'm like, this is awesome. It's really cool. It's been so cool for us, especially when you made it on the top 100 billboard.

We were pumped. Yeah. We were pumped. Well, bro. I've actually, I've never made Hot 100. I wish I did. I thought you had 15. 15.

Last time I saw you were on, wasn't he? I mean, there's like Spotify charts that I'm on, whether it's like viral charts, but the actual official billboard I have. I was looking at the wrong thing. I guess we keep bringing on until then. We're manifesting. No, it'll happen for sure. Yeah, dude.

And I've been DMing you on Instagram too. Because I think you were like, hey, bro, thanks for using my song. And I was like, dude, you're killing it. And I guarantee one day you're going to be massive. And we're going to look back at it. And then, yeah, that was two years ago. And I'd say it's definitely coming into fruition.

Well, thank you. I'm sure time's been flying for you. I remember when you dropped the space. The Globe challenge, and that was like the first video that went like viral, viral, right? Like 70 million on TikTok, 60 million on YouTube shorts at the moment. Yeah, crazy. And once that happened, I was like, called it, called it. Yeah, that was a huge moment. That changed everything. And again, credit to my wife, that Spend the Globe was all her idea. So she's the one who like, whenever I'm done with a song,

I'll sit with her because her background is in, you know, just figuring out how to market something. She used to be the creative director at this pet company and she would have to market these products. Now she pretty much does the same thing, but treats my songs as the products. And so she's full-time my manager. We work together. And that's all I have in my team. I'm independent. No label is just me and her. Run and lean. Yeah, I edit all my TikToks. I film all my TikToks. And so we're just completely DIY. Yeah. And so when I finish a song, I'll sit with her and I'll be like, all right, how do we market this? What's the, what's the standout element of the song, whether it's the, you know, the beat, the flute. It's like, oh, what if we make a

flute out of a carrot? And the carrot flute skit was born like that. Or for the, This one, it was I had this song with this artist from Zambia, and we were like, how do we market that? Because that's such a cool angle. You're from Canada, he's from Zambia, this country in Africa that most people don't even know where it is on a map. I didn't. Oh, hold up.

Yeah. Are you telling me that you didn't spin the globe? That's what I'm telling you. Oh, my gosh. No, no, no, but here, hear me out. The internet is fake. Hear me out. Okay, well, let me tell you the whole story of how this happened.

All right, so the song, the first one, which is called Violet, the song with Killa, which was the first spin the globe. So I was making that song. for the new Fast and Furious movie. They wanted me to make a song that they were going to place in the film, which I was like over the moon about. That's so sick.

They wanted a hip-hop song for a heist sequence in Europe in the next film, which is why that song has like these Euro house drums that come in randomly because they're like, we need to add some Euro element.

And so I was working on the song with them and then at the last minute they decided to go a different route. So they're like, we're not going to use the song. I'm like, damn. But at least now I have this awesome song. It's like a chorus and a verse. And what should I do with it?

Like, should I finish it? Should I put it out? And then Brianna was like, what if we get kill on it? Who was this artist that I connected with earlier that year? Who was from Zambia, who's like this incredible rapper, super underrated. At the time we did the song, he had under 1,000 monthly listeners. Now he has close to 2 million. Yeah.

And so we put him on the song. And then we were like, all right, how do we market this? And then we had the idea. She was like, what if you spin a globe and land on Zambia? And I was like, okay, whatever. Like, we really were like, it's a throwaway piece of content. It's not a skit. It might not do well.

because all my content that was converting while were my skits. And so we put it up and it was just one of those things. We're like in the first hour. It was like, 800,000 views or whatever. And the like to view ratio was higher than anything I posted. I was like, oh, no, this is going to go crazy. Woke up in the morning. It was like three million an hour later, four by the end of the day, 10.

And it just like kept going and all the comments were like, do more. Spin the globe again. Spin the globe again. And so it started as like a fluke. It was just like, I have the song with this artist from Zambia, let's spin the globe. And then it was like, oh, we need to turn this into a series ASAP. Like the whole thing for this series that I wanted to maintain was finding underrated, independent, up-and-coming artists from other countries and giving them a platform that they didn't have it, that I luckily had through TikTok. And so all seven of the artists, none of them were with labels.

They were all independent. They were all, I tried to keep them under 30,000 monthly listeners. Like the second guy from the Netherlands, Ben's, when we put out Spinning, which is now my number one song. He had 30,000 monthly listeners, and now he has close to 3 million. He's the second most listened to artist on Spotify in the Netherlands right now. Dude, that's crazy. Because of that song. Isn't that?

I mean, that's the power of the internet. Like, that's the power of social media right now. That you curated that, though, that you were like, well, let's, like, you could pick anybody up probably at this point. And you would be amazed to see how many emails I got from labels, like universal Australian, being like, hey, how much money do you want for us to put our Australian artists on your next spin the globe? I was like, no, this is not how this is going to work. Like, I need these artists to, like, that's not the point. If I'm just going to put on artists that are already on labels, like who are we really helping here, the label?

Right. And that's not the point. It's got to be like an easy no, but also a tough no. No, it's an easy no. Because I'm like, look, the artist you're talking about is already with the label, all the power to them. They're doing great. But I want to give a platform to artists who don't have that platform.

And so that was important to me. And also being independent, I own the masters. And so I'm giving all these artists a percentage of the song. and they're all earning off of the song. That's so sick, dude. Yeah, dude, I remember when you first released it, though, and seeing that the Instagram, I'm not super big on TikTok,

but the Instagram reel was going hella viral on Instagram, but your Instagram was growing like 100K a day. Yeah, it was crazy. It's amazing how much the globe content converted, and I think the reason it did was because it was a series. So people were like, like one video would go viral, and they're like, I wonder where he's going to spin next.

I'm going to follow him so I see his next video. And so because it was like a series and like episode two, episode three, episode four, where am I going to spin next? It like converted to followers so well. Amazingly, too, on YouTube shorts. When I first started posting the Globe series on YouTube, for the month of November, I found out from YouTube that I was the most subscribed to music artists in the world for that month. I got 760,000 subscribers in that month. Wow. And I got almost 95,000 just in one day.

and so it just completely blew up on YouTube and you cracked the algorithm it felt like that it felt like that it was like yeah this globe series like anywhere i posted it converts really well it's getting the song streams i get a lot of followers the artists that i connect with like when i would post it on instagram i do a collab post so now they're getting a bunch of attention when i post the song on spotify make them a primary artist not a featured artist because if they were a featured artist they wouldn't get the monthly listeners it would show on their thing as getting streams but they won't get the monthly listeners but because because I made them a primary artist.

So instead of Connor Price featuring Killa, it's Connor Price and Killa, they'd get the monthly listeners. So everybody was just like, winning and profiting off this content doing so well. It's got to mean so much to these guys that are getting a couple thousand listeners and then you come in there, give them that opportunity and then you basically gave them a career. Well, but also they capitalized. Like I would reach out to these artists. I was on such a time crunch because it was going viral so quickly.

And I knew, like, if I wait a month for episode two, no one's going to care. And so I was like, I need to get the second episode out fast. And so when I reached out to the guy from the Netherlands, he sent me his verse and his video in 48 hours. And then I uploaded it to Distro Kid the next day. It went live that Friday. And then I did all the globe content. He sent me his stuff. We were working quick.

So to that point, I was lucky enough to have a platform to give them, but they all just like capitalized off the opportunity. they killed their verses they made amazing content to help it grow so all the power to them because they they really they could have dropped the ball but they didn't and they they all really kind of capitalized off of it and made the song way better than i could have on my own seem like spinning especially in like the motorsports world that we're in went like super viral on instagram because everyone was just using it then for their own they were just stitching it on their own can you just like wrap a little bit of it just so like everyone watching is like I think I know what he's talking about and then as soon as you do it. They said that I couldn't do it so I went

did it. Yeah. Yeah, dude. Everyone's like, right. Yep. Got it. Yeah. I think it was like the perfect lyric for like a, like a, what's the word? I guess like a transition moment. Like they said that I couldn't do it so I went and did it. So it's like the first part is like they underestimated me and then here's my achievement on the drop. It was like the perfect like sound bite. And I don't know how I didn't think about that. But the first time I saw someone do it, I'm like, oh, this is perfect. I really hoped this catches on. And then specifically on reels, it was like, I felt like one day, every reel I was looking at was using the song and it just, it was amazing. How many reels have used that song spinning? Can one of you guys look that up? Yeah, Evans, Evans used it. We've used it. I love it.

Thank you. Yeah. It's somewhere between 250 and 300,000, I think. That's crazy, man. That's just like, and then that's just organic people marketing your song. Yeah. You know what's amazing? I have not paid $1 on advertising my music. Everything is completely organic. I create vertical content. I posted on shorts. I posted on TikTok, I posted on Reels. I just started posting on Snapchat. I post music videos on YouTube, obviously, Facebook, stuff like that. But I don't pay, I don't pay for ads. I just let it go organically.

So you've always been anti-label, right? And you rep that. Because we've done a podcast talking about how, like, you know, people are using social media to build all these careers and especially the music career and we use you as an example of it. But yeah, so you were just always don't want a label, never going to conform to that. that they what was the reasoning behind that i do want to say i'm not necessarily like all all labels are

evil stuff like that there's obviously deals that are just awful but there's a lot of artists who really work well with labels um some artists truly are such masters at their craft of songwriting they have no idea how to market they have no idea how to create content which is totally fine and so they need a label to give that push for for me specifically i i love making content i love editing. I'm at the moment trying to, because I'm realizing I spend so much time editing my content that I should probably hand that off to someone else. I'm in the process of working with an editor. Yeah, but I just, I'm kind of where we're at too. But I love it. Sometimes I love editing the content more than making the song. I just, I love seeing it come together. I love

doing the skits, all that. You want to be our editor? We use your songs already. Yeah, that'll just mark it up. It's just a win-win. Yeah, I mean, you guys could speak more on it, but like, you have what you create and you don't want to hand it off, but like, you maybe shit. Like, that's what I'm saying. Like, if you're editing your stuff, like, it is clearly top tier. It's your own thing. Well, it's your own touch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so, yeah, working with another editor, obviously, there's going to be things he does differently. But it's just working with them and you figure out, he'll figure out what I like and we'll figure out that pathway there. Yeah. But so for me, it's like I love doing, you know, with Brianna, with my wife, we love doing the marketing. We love coming up with the ideas, the content. I record everything with this microphone in my room. I send it to my brother-in-law who mixes in masters. like we keep mixes and masters the music so we keep everything in house our overhead is really

low and when we have because i've had zoom calls with every label i'm always open to hearing like i'm not just going to be like i'm not talking to you you're all evil it's not that at all i'm just um every conversation i've had with them i've left the zoom calls just being like i don't think they could do anything for me that i can't already do on my own um and for the thing they're gonna be offering a bag though at this point yeah but but it's that's the thing the way that advances work is it's it's recoupable so it's technically alone So to like, because people don't really necessarily know how this work, but let's say a label gives you a million dollars, but on average they're also going to take 80% of the mastered. So they're going to take 80% of the song. So you're left with 20% assuming you own 100% of it. But normally there's producers, there's other stuff. So it's not 20%. But let's say, let's say you do own all of it and you have 20%. If a label is advancing you a million dollars, what's going to happen is they're going to profit 80% off of your music on the side and on you. your 20%, the first million you make off of your 20% goes to them because the loan is recoupable.

So they're making 80% on the side and also getting back their million dollars. And so people just think like, oh, wow, you got a million bucks. It's like, no, it's a recoupable, it's technically a loan. And then obviously you take taxes into account and then, you know, managers and this and that. It's like you're not left with much. And then you just spend, you spend your whole career paying back a label. How many rappers do you think realize that? that like sign with the label they get the million bucks advanced that's why you hear

horror stories like this all the time um about artists just getting screwed over in label deals and and now they have to especially in rap you know you have to kind of a lot of artists who are making it and rap like put out this facade and this lifestyle of like you know the fancy cars and all this kind of stuff and then and then COVID hits and the real way that they can make money because they're not making it off streaming music is shows and merch now they can't do shows and merch and now they're struggling but they have to maintain this lifestyle of like fancy cars and they're going in a debt. It's like I've heard I've heard awful stories and I feel really sorry for those artists because they've just put themselves in a deal and they just didn't have the right entertainment lawyer

or someone looking over their stuff to say, hey, this isn't good. And I feel for those artists because that that's a crappy position to be in. One other thing I'll add to of a mindset that I brought into music that makes me, that makes me personally anti-label is on the acting side, there are so many people that are gatekeepers and so many doors that have to open for you to get apart. There's like you need an agent, you need a manager, you need a casting director to like you enough to have you come into the room,

the producer has to like you, the director has to like you. All these stars have to align, and all these people have to say yes just for you to get the opportunity to work. And that's like my least favorite part is because as an actor you really have such little control and so much of it is luck, just like the right part being written at the right time and you being there and it being a good

audition and there's just there's so many stars that have to align so many people who are in the way and it's very frustrating so on music i have full control as an independent artist i can say what i want i can work with the producers i want i can upload it when i want i use this website called distro kid that allows me to upload unlimited amount of music um for like 35 dollars a year 35 a year unlimited music um and they put it on spotify apple music these are everywhere and then They're the ones that, you know, when the streaming numbers are released every month, you get paid through Distro Kid. And so I can upload and put music out when I want. I can market it how I want through my social media.

Like, no one can tell me no. No one can say, hey, you can't put this out this week because you're competing with our label artist or whatever. And so I can, I have full control. And that's so important to me because I feel like in acting, I have very little control. So in this part of my career, I want to maintain as much control as I can. And being independent is by far the best way to do that. How is streaming money? If you're streaming a lot, very good.

to put it in a perspective, on average, one million streams on Spotify is $4,000. Let's see. So Spotify for artists will tell me how many streams I got in the last month. And assuming that you're independent and you own, so because I'm independent, I own anywhere between 80 to 100% of my songs, depending on if there's a featured artist, et cetera. So let's see, the last 28 days, my catalog has done 60 million streams. So making a bag. I mean, let's go, if you are streaming a lot, there's a lot of money, yeah.

That's when people ask like, how is the YouTube ad revenue? It's like, well, if you get a lot of views on YouTube monthly, pretty good. Yeah. If you don't, not very good. What would you say is like, like, for a million views on YouTube, what's the average payout? It kind of depends on the time of the year. But like right now, right now it's low. I'd say 10,000 bucks.

So like one million views is $10,000. Oh, wow. Okay. That sounds high to me. And I also find maybe it's just music, but my like, uh, it depends how long. It depends how long it is. And also, uh, depending what kind of category you're posting to, like, like if you're in the financial space, they have like a higher CPM.

And then like, I think being that we're in the off road space, we're, we're above average, honestly, because there's a lot of just manufacturers trying to, you know, push products and ads. And hit the audience that you attract. Yeah, and then, I mean, maybe why it sounds high to you is because I'm sure, you know, a song is three minutes long where if we're posting a 20-minute YouTube vid, it can have way more ads in the middle. So you got to think about that as well. Good point. Yeah, I've never posted anything longer than like, yeah, two and a half minute music video.

Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. It is. What technology and social media has done. I mean, you can do it on your own right out your, right out of your house, like you said. Yeah. I mean, and that's what we've done too. Like, you would never be able to, I mean, have a platform or have people know you 10 years ago or, I should say 20 years ago, you know, without knowing the right people.

No, it's the world that I live in now, I couldn't be more lucky. Like, especially with TikTok, it's like this, the organic reach of TikTok is just ridiculous. There hasn't been anything like it. And I don't know if there will be anything like it in the future. But, yeah, I just, I was so lucky to hit TikTok. TikTok at that perfect time and just be creating the type of content that just seemed to connect and be able to then convert that to real listeners and real streams it was it's just it's worked out incredibly well for me yeah it's all about timing yeah I always I always find it interesting

like uh we've we've met we ran into a few TikTokers like that we didn't know who they were but they were like oh you guys filmed for your YouTube video and oh we do TikTok and then I'm like these guys are TikTokers and then when let's say you had to describe yourself as a TikToker yeah I know you're a rapper and songwriter, first and foremost. You're the person I would describe is actually making it as a TikToker. Well, thank you. Yeah, I've always, I've always, it's funny. It's just like, yeah, if you're like, yeah, I'm a TikToker.

That term has always, like, rubbed me the wrong way. Yeah, if people are like, oh, he's a TikTok rapper. And I was like, yeah, I don't like the way that sounds. But then also I'm like, but also that's how 95% of people know about me. So can I really be upset about that? Right. And then it's also like, well, at one point, um, are you? Gianna Grande was the Nickelodeon actress Zendaya was the Disney actor

Selena Gomez that's very true so it's like people will label you for what they know you as I even now because my shorts are going so popular people refer to me as a YouTube rapper now so I'm like oh okay so I am people are going to attach to me what they know me from which is totally fine because I feel confident knowing sort of like Zendaya situation that Ariana Grande that they were able to like elevate beyond that and so that's what I hope for myself and have confidence in is that I will, sure, I'm using TikTok to market myself, but I will make people see me and hear my music in a way that's more serious than just like, oh, wow, he's more than just like a TikTok rapper.

He's really doing this thing and touring and blah, blah, blah. All that's needed, I think, is that mindset right there. So that doesn't bother me now. It's like, yeah, you can, you can comment whatever you want. I'm totally fine with it, and I understand it. Like, I even, since Will Smith, you know, started putting YouTube stuff out, there's now all these kids who are like, oh, that's the YouTuber. I'm like, crazy.

All right. If they can call Wilson with a YouTuber, call me whatever you want. Because, yeah, it's not affecting, you know, my streams and my listeners and people discovering my music. So it's all good. I'm at peace with it. I feel like YouTube used to kind of be the same way, though. Like it was a little bit more of a derog, you know, I shouldn't say derogator. Yeah, it's like, YouTube.

It was more negative connotation. But now it's like, I mean, everyone kind of gets it. It's pop culture. Yeah. The kids want to be YouTube. Yeah. It's like, that was the statistic? Yeah, it was like, 70% of 12 to 18-year-olds.

That's crazy. Well, it makes sense, though. I'm sure they just see it, and they're like, and it is honestly the best job in the world, I think, personally. But it's crazy. I mean, look what you guys are doing. It's incredible. You're hanging out with your friends.

You're making videos. Everybody's winning. I'm sure you get to a point where you're growing it so much that you're like hiring your friends to do stuff. And, like, it's incredible. Yeah. It's amazing, though. It just goes back.

I mean, the world we live in, you can seriously do make anything happen if you want it bad enough. I mean, you got the power of Google at your fingertips. You can teach yourself how to do anything. thing you can learn oh what kind of mic do i need to start a podcast and i mean just if you want to do it you can you can make it happen nowadays i agree yeah one of my good friends nick d who i don't know if you yeah we use the songs too yeah awesome so he's incredible and so much of what i've learned about being independent and especially on ticot because he he was like when he was first popping off with

fine apple and all that kind of stuff he really kind of wrote a blueprint of how to market yourself on ticot and i've learned a lot from him where is he from he's from virginia okay yeah um we're actually going to work on a collab project together very soon so that's that's going to be exciting but he's working on a book for independent artists and the title of the book is you don't want it bad enough because that's what he finds is the most common mistake is you can look up all this stuff you can you can look at other artists and how they're promoting their music you can follow what they're doing but if you don't want it bad enough you're not going to do it every day to be consistent like you have to be you're not going to learn how to if you can't afford a mixing and mastering engineer you have to learn

how to do it yourself and there's ways to do that on YouTube all my early stuff on YouTube, the remixes and stuff. You can read in the description. It says, Mix and Master by Connor Price. It doesn't sound great, but I learned enough from YouTube on how to do it. And you just, yeah, you got to want it better enough. We're the same way, man. Just everything, our whole operation is done within the group.

And, you know, it's been seven years now, but it's just slowly gotten a little better. If you go back and watch our videos, you know, in the earlier days, it's pretty rough. But you got to start somewhere. Totally. And, I mean, that's the one thing that I think is really. contribute to the little bit of success we have is that we're just consistent we always show up I mean it's just every week it's awesome and I mean you have the same thing you know obviously you just consistency is key it's very important and and having the focus to create what you're creating

let's say on TikTok the the vertical but then the focus to change it up I would like your last skit let's say with baby no money so good because like spin the globe and he's like Canada Just like switching it up is super important and you do that very well. Thank you. Yeah, that's the one thing I keep trying to figure out how to do is like innovating new like formulas, if you will. Like the globe thing worked really well. And every time I posted a globe video, it would always do like at least 10 million views, whatever. But then it gets to a point where it's like, okay, one, I don't want to just keep recycling the same content.

Two, so many other artists are copying this idea and watering it down. so I don't want to kind of keep doing it. And yeah, number three, I just, I want to be known as, like, a content creator that's innovating and doing new things. So whether it's like the podcast set up where I kind of make it look like I'm on a podcast and then I go into a rap, that works well. Obviously, the skits work well with the weird brother and all that kind of stuff. So now at the moment, I'm actually right now trying to figure out, like, what's the next series?

Like, what's the next thing I can do? Everybody wants a Globe part two, but I also just don't want to be the Globe guy. I feel like if I do this too much, it's like, oh, that's the Globe guy. And I want to be more than that. So I want to figure out, okay, what's the next series I can do? One idea I had was like getting a map of the U.S. and throwing a dart and whatever state it lands in, go to that state, find an artist, do a music video with them, blah, blah, blah.

Maybe I'll do that. I don't know. So our first video that ever blew up, we were driving a shifter cart, like a really fast go cart, and we were so stoked that it got views and we're like, we made it. And then CJ said some of the most important words for our YouTube channel ever, He goes, let's hold off on posting another shifter cart video because we don't want to be known as the Shifter Cart channel. And it was like, it truly is one of the most important things we ever did back.

So it's like, I get that. Like you don't want to ever be known. You don't want to put yourself in a box, man. Oh, let me speak on that real quick. Because I have another really good example that I think if anybody who's watching this is an independent artist trying to pursue this, it's like really valuable information because it was like a decision I made that changed a lot for me. So when I first started popping off on TikTok, it was for remixes. It was for, like, like, if I had a verse on so-and-so Drake song,

if I went into the studio and G.Easy was working on, and I do the back-and-forth remixes. And those would always go viral, but I was then becoming known as the remix guy and, like, the freestyle guy. And when I would post an original song, all the comments were like, post another remix, post another remix. I'm like, damn. So I'm sort of cultivating this audience to expect remixes,

how you, good advice to, like, you could have been cultivating an audience who only wanted, what was it called? The shifter cards, which sound really cool. I got to see what those are like like. We'll put you in one one day. I'd love to. I'd love to. Yeah, I'd shoot a music video with it.

Dude, I was going to say, we should be in a music video at this point. That'd be awesome. Wait, we got to talk more about that. That would be sick. Yeah, wow. That'd be sweet. Like, even if I'm like, like, premiering part of a music video, like, halfway through one of your videos or something like that.

Oh, my goodness. And it just, like, it just goes into a music video for, like, one verse or something. We should do something fun like that. Some dirt bikes or whatever. totally cool shit dude can you put like man this is a lot to ask but if you ever put like C-Boys TV into a rap and we use it bro that would be the most legit thing ever everyone listening that knows that we use all of your songs would be like yo I'm gonna write that down before they've elevated hold up I like to think they do listen I like to drop C-boys yeah can you freestyle like like do you

come up like with all these songs off the cuff or do you sit down and write them out so my my writing process is and real quick just to finish my last thought about the not being the remix guy so when i first connected with nick d the biggest advice he gave me was stop posting remixes he's like you need to pursue your original music because you can't profit off remixes even if you post it on youtube you can't you know copyright blah blah so because of that i stopped posting remixes just cold cold turkey and in the midst of posting one a day and them each getting five million views i just stopped and i only started promoting my original music and for a long time it just didn't connect and i was losing followers but i just stuck with

it and soon enough um the content ended up working but yeah definitely go go all the in on your original music. I think it's important to do stuff like that, like the remixes, stuff that you know might convert well to get the initial audience, but don't do it too much or else you get put in that box. Yeah. Okay, so my creative process is the beat always comes first. So there's one producer I work with for like 95% of my stuff, Graham, who's like the beat tag at the start of all my songs, Honey, Graham. He does a lot of Nick Dee's stuff. So he'll send me the beats. I'll put it into my session. And then I will just record myself, free styling gibberish to try to find a melody, a tone, a flow, a word.

So I'm literally just like, I got a deal in the brands. They told me to brick into the band. Like, I'm not saying anything, but I'll just record a bunch of ideas. I'll maybe kind of go a bit shoutier. Now I'll go more low key and monotone. I'll go quick. I'll go slow. And I'll just record it all, like just my first instincts.

And then I'll play it back. And I'll listen for the stuff that catches my ear. Ooh, that melody was good. That'd be good for the chorus. Ooh, that flow is sick. I'm going to put that in the verse. And then I'm sort of structuring out, copy and pacing, moving stuff around and now I have like a skeleton of gibberish.

So the melodies and the flows and the feeling always comes first and then I figure out how to put words and how to fill in the syllables and that's the that's the second part. Something I love about your music is that it's all upbeat and like happy. Like you're in a good mood listening to it. Something that I'm very cautious about is I don't like listening to like sad songs or like songs that are, you know, can make make you feel like, oh, like depressed. or anything like that just because I don't know I'm just very careful about what I put into my ears are you do you deliberately do that then not really no you're just in I mean obviously you're

very happy energetic person yeah yeah like yeah goes into the music but I'm sort of I sort of make what what I'm feeling in that moment and just luckily for me over these last two years yeah I've been like in a good place and and so that's reflected in the music but I do have older songs like gosh I've I've too many songs I'm what is it called why I'm forgetting the name my own song But I do have sad songs, but just the stuff I've been making over the last like two years or so have, yeah, just been naturally upbeat and happier because that's just kind of how I've been feeling. And I'm also thinking about like the content to make for it.

And yeah, it's just it's fun to make fun, upbeat stuff because then the content's fun and upbeat and there's some playful moments we can throw in there and all that kind of stuff. You don't really ever, I don't think you've ever sworn in any of the songs I've listened to. No. You do that obviously deliberately or just naturally? So the way it started was so early on when I was just, just putting remixes on YouTube. I was swearing in my music.

But I, and I also, I don't even swear that much in my normal day-to-day life. So I think I was doing it in the music because it's like expected in this genre. And I was almost kind of putting on this character and it didn't really feel like me.

And interestingly enough, it was my mother-in-law. So my wife's mother, Maria, uh, is, it doesn't listen to music with swearing in it. And I remember one time, um,

because she's such a huge supporter of me, like with the acting stuff. And she's a professional photographer. She does all my head shots. She's just, she's very involved. and I love her a lot. We get along really well.

But she never talked about my music when I started doing music. And I was like, just that curiosity, like, I know maybe hip hop isn't your thing, but like, have you ever heard my songs? She's like, I tried listening to one, but you swear in it, and I don't listen to that. I was like, whoa, it had never crossed my mind that there's so many people out there who don't listen to music that have swear words in it.

And I was like, I might be losing out on a massive audience because I'm doing something that I don't even feel like is natural anyways. so I just sort of tested myself and challenged myself to write a few songs that didn't have any swear words in it and then that was interesting too because I started to realize that I swear as like a crutch like a word to fill in something like it's like it's easy so I'm like oh now writing's more difficult which is fun because now I'm challenging myself and then I just started putting out music like that just to try it and now all of a sudden it's like I'm getting messages from like dads who are like dude I love your music and now I listen to your stuff on the way to school with my kid and I'm like oh that's so cool and so now there's like this whole other audience that I'm tapping into because I'm not swearing in my music and I don't feel like it's changing my music at all it's so I was like oh I'm just going to stick with this thing I think that that's the cherry on top if it's not already amazing the cherry on top is that anyone can listen to it the dad could listen to it on the way to school with the kid yeah and I also want to reiterate that I have no issue issue with people who do swear in their music I listen to explicit music all the time I have songs out right now that are explicit because the featured are artist swears in their verse. I'm not going to tell them what to do. And I think people should

rap how they speak and if that comes out naturally, all the power to you. So I'm not like anti, all my music has to be clean because I have songs that are explicit because of the featured artist. I just personally choose to not swear and it's challenging and fun. And I connect with a bigger audience because of it. So I'm going to stick with it. Hip hop music nowadays, a good portion of it is just drugs, money, and girls. Or sex, it seems like but yeah someone are so aggressive and then and then country music is about a truck here and a girl hey man sometimes artists just have to speak on what what they're around and what their lifestyle is and for a lot of hip hop artists it is that and so all the power to them to to rap about that you know

and it's up to the listener to decide if that's something they want to listen to or not i have nothing against whatever people want to say in their music if it's authentic to them if they're rapping about oh cars chains and girls and they're not about that life but they're just projecting it because they think that's what they have to do then i don't think that's cool but if that really is the light they're living then all the power to you because that's organic and authentic to you so yeah it's tough to keep it going if you got a front you know right right especially in today's age with everyone's got a camera and yeah yeah there's definitely artists who are who are putting on a front and yeah the truth always comes to light and I find if if music isn't

authentic it it rarely connects anyways so that's why I feel like all the best and most popular artists in the world are like are really living the things that they're saying and you're the best at being yourself. That's another thing I always tell. Like kids will ask like, I want to be a YouTuber and like they got their channel name as like, like, uh, like, be boys TV. Like they like, yeah, even copy the name. I'm like, you got to just be yourself. Don't try to like copy us because, you know, you'll never be able to be as good as who you really are. Yeah. And that's exactly what you're doing. Yeah, it's like that kind of cheesy thing where it's like like, like you have to be yourself. Everyone else is taken. Exactly.

But there's really true to that. Yeah, I've, I've been experiencing that a little bit too. I see artists like who are like hey I was inspired by your globe video so I made this and then I go check it out and it's but it's just a rip of my globe video it's the same edits it's the same sound effects I'm like there's a there's a fine line between being inspired and doing your own spin and just stealing it word for word yeah and so we have people doing the same thing they copy our thumbnails like literally copy our ideas and then they just do it poorly and it doesn't work well there you go so so that doesn't bother you to a point where you've ever felt like you have to reach out or do something about it like how do you guys deal with that it's

You know, it's flattering, but it's really annoying. Sure. But rarely, rarely threatening, which is a good thing. Yeah, but it's like if a bunch of people are doing the same thing that you're doing, it dilutes what you're doing. So that's my issue because I, like, there are some very large artists right now that are doing the globe videos and completely stealing it, shot for shot, word for word, and then just putting their own song. Dude, that would, yeah, I mean, it's, it's like, it's flattering. And then you're just like, well, shit, I don't want to do this. One of the artists is bigger than me.

Dude, we've had, it's frustrating. We, I'm not going to say names, but, because I, we honestly have no beef. Like, we love every YouTuber we meet and whatever, but there's, like, one bigger YouTuber or a couple bigger YouTubers that will, like, sometimes basically redo a bit. We already did. And then people say that we copied them. I'm like, bro, I did this two years ago. I'm getting the same.

It's so annoying. And the other thing about, like, for instance, like thumbnails, a lot of people have been, kind of copying our thumbnail um what is what what is your like branded it's just like like the way that it's set up they copy like our sky will cut out and put a a better blue sky and like with nice clouds they'll use the exact same arrow the way they set it up they blur the background all that and i i mean they see it works yeah exactly and i don't blame them because like you're trying to fucking make something happen yeah um excuse my language but uh now we're like yeah i can't promote this now but the thing that i'm sorry Maria Maria yeah yes

Maria. I'm sorry. Keep watching. I promise. It's a one-time thing. Clicked off. But yeah, just like, she's gone. Yeah, she's gone. People see that and I don't want them to click it and then it's a terrible video and they're like, wow, that video sucked. And then they see our thumbnail gets suggested and it looks very similar. Like, oh, I've already watched this guy. See, that's a great point. They suck. It really could be hurting your business. They stop looking at ours. Yeah. And so that is one thing that actually does bug me. Yeah. And it's so, it's so frustrating because like in music, if someone were to copy my verse, word for word, I could get that taken down

no problem. If you copy someone's film shot for shot, it's like you get sued for that but with content, there's no specific rule set up. Like someone can post a globe video with the exact same scripting editing as mine put in their own song at the end. It'll do well because the formula works and I can't I can't do anything about it. It sucks because I think

we've spent seven years like building and creating this formula and then it's like now you just rip our formula. That's the thing that's actually annoying but what are you going to do? I think that's why it's also important to keep innovating. And that's why I'm, like, thinking of instead of just, you know, doing the globe thing again, I want to do something different and something new so that people are always playing catch-up with me.

And then at the end of the day, your legacy will be innovators. And people will know you as that and your YouTube channel. Like, like, real ones, no. They know when someone's ripping you guys off. You're the OGs of doing this certain style thing. So it is frustrating. Evolver die. I mean, that's literally what we've done our whole career.

I'm sure you get it too. How do I get into music? So we get, you know, emails, DMs, whatever. How do I? start a YouTube channel and I'm like to be honest with you less on the camera let like you you don't need to focus on having the best camera ever I tell them pick what you want to do and innovate it start like yeah but like you know I'm just saying like let's say random example unboxing videos I'm like do an unboxing video and do it different than anyone's ever done and

creative and like good obviously that's bad advice because they they still have to come up with the hardest thing the idea but I'm like yeah do it different and better than you got to do it you want though too because if you're like if let's say you're like oh unboxing videos are popping off i'm gonna do unboxing that's true but you actually don't like unboxing if you actually want to work because like yeah you can do that for 10 years but that's what i'm saying like so what do you want to do and then do it differently yeah and there's still elements that i'm inspired by it from other people like with the globe video i do the like one one word text at a time which is very mr beast and that's where i was inspired from that from and so there's definitely certain elements that again there's

that fine line between like being inspired by someone and then just ripping it off. So it's sort of like, yeah, look at what, if you want to do videos in the motocross world, look at videos that you like and that are working, ask yourself, why is that working? Okay, how can I put my own spin on that now? And then just start, just do it.

Like, people worry about the quality. What camera do I need? It's like, the fact you're asking that is a problem. Like, you have an iPhone in your pocket. Dude, we say the same thing. You have something in your pocket that can take videos, even if it's 720P, no one really cares about quality anymore. Like, I film all my skits with the front-facing iPhone camera.

Okay. I put it on a tripod. I hit record. You think the front facing is better? No, it's not necessarily better, but that's interesting. No, no, it's just, it's good for me because I just, I film by myself in my room so I can put it on the tripod and look at yourself. See, see where I'm framed, hit record and then talk to nobody and look crazy for a few minutes. And then turn the camera around and play the other character and then edit it together.

I also, all the audio I use is from the iPhone. So I'm in Premiere, like, gaining everything up 10 dB because I'm too far away. But it just works. And I think people specifically go to TikTok to find organic. feeling content if they want the professional stuff they'll watch netflix or they'll watch you know a documentary on youtube but they want something that feels authentic to the app which is very DIY and so don't overthink it like people overthink too much it's like a whole new style I mean like especially with music like you were saying like the what do they call it like drill

drill type music or whatever just like the sound cloud like you made it in your room and I don't know it's just a whole vibe yeah people's biggest mistake is just like not starting yeah or overthinking Like, even people who come to me are like, how do I get into the music business? I'm like, the fact you're asking that is crazy. Like, you have the internet. Like, I never once had to ask someone, like, how do I do it? Because the answers are there. Even if it's not written in the article, look at your favorite artists, look at what they're doing.

I think the best way to learn something that someone is doing is be close to them. So if you could, like, say, hey, I would love to for one month. I will fly to you. I will even just pick up your coffees for you. Like, I just want to shadow you and see how you work for a month. Like, you're offering value. You're coming to them to help them for, you know, offering. your work like i think doing that for a month to be around somebody that you look up to is so

you would learn so much when we were in moab the other day this kid pulls up and he's like dude i saw your stories i had to meet you guys and then he's like it's my it's been my dream to like be in one of your youtube videos and then i was like i mean i can't promise you anything man and then a lot of shit went down and we had to uh go pick up this those him That's what I'm saying. I said, like, I can't promise you anything. Like, you know, what are you going to say? Oh, here you are, Hester.

Shout out Hester. But he helped us out, getting the R6 out. And then I'm like, this is it. This is it. You're providing mad value. And then, like, it's just too good. So providing value. Wait, so will he be in the video?

Yeah. Hey, there we go. Wait, what's his name? Hester. Hester. He drove a big, big yellow diesel into the rocks of Moab and picked up our, our, our crotch rocket that Evan Yardied down the... And then he ran out of fuel coming back.

And look, now we're talking about him. That's what I'm saying, like, provide value. Don't just like... Because when you're asking question, how do I do this? You're now asking me or you... I guess in a sense you're being a burden. Sort of, but... And there's nothing wrong with that

because everyone has to start somewhere, but there's a way to get the answer. And it's either asking for it or providing value and like putting yourself in a position to figure out the answers because you're in the right spot at the right time. So if you join a label, is 95% of our YouTube video is going to get copywritten?

Probably. Yeah, probably. I won't, though. Please don't. Yeah, yeah, no, I won't. I won't. And even now, like, like, even when I, like, upload my music through DistroK, there's a thing that says, like, click the box here for YouTube ID,

and I never click it. Because I think it's way more important for my music to be used by content creators and giving it that natural awareness than making a few extra sense because I'm like charging you to use like I oh we appreciate that of course I appreciate you guys using it we're like man dude because honestly I stopped using yours for a while when you were really blown up off of the fear that that was going to happen no so I I have that Spotify playlist called like you know Connor Price and Nick D like whenever we have a song um that like because there's something like I did a song with Idris Elba called Courtney Cox and his label set up stuff that it's copyright so there are a few songs I have because of other artists that are on. it that oh yeah i know i've checked all of them okay great so but if you check out that that that playlist i'll keep updating it with all the songs that are completely copyright free and yeah i i don't see myself ever in a situation where i'm going to just all of a sudden turn it on it's what a genius genius strategy honestly and i don't know if there's really anyone else

doing it like there are kind of one of the early adapters no so i was kind of inspired there's this artist name nephix i hope i'm pronouncing it correct but he's an independent hip-hop artist have you heard of him i heard you nod on your head so he he he does that does that he uploads like a song every week he's been doing it for like three years his output is insane um and he's like an independent guy got that russ mentality of just like consistent releases independent and he doesn't copyright any of his stuff and he's very vocal about that like whenever he posts and and like whenever he even posts the youtube audio in brackets it'll say like copyright free like content creators use this and i was like that's genius i like that a lot

so that was a big inspiration for me so shout out to nefix it just seems weird that uh i get there's all angles it just seems weird to not do that almost i just love it obviously We appreciate it a ton. I mean, there's pros and cons of both. And from the label side, right, all they care about is, you know, making as much money off the songs as possible. So, of course, they're going to copyright ID. So if someone does use it, they're getting paid for it.

But then on, you know, the flip side, I have gotten so many listeners and fans because of you guys using the song in your videos that if I had, first of all, if I was copyrighting it, you wouldn't have used it in the first place, so it wouldn't have happened. But even if you did and I turned it on later, I would have made what, like a few extra hundred dollars or whatever but i but i'm now having like real fans these could be fans that show up to my shows and pay for merch like that that long-term gain of exposure through content creators using your music could be worth a hundred a million times more than just getting a few cents on the dollar like and and that to me is worth way more of the risk of not copyrighting it

for youtube i just can't believe i i guess i can believe but i did not know that you could make such a bag off of streaming. Dude, that streaming money is crazy. I've been thinking about the whole time, dude. No, it's like, shit, maybe we should just start streaming. Start rapping? No, no, it's really interesting because there is this, um, this headline conversation that happens around Spotify, like not paying the artists.

And a big reason that is, well, it's for two reasons. One, a lot of artists are with labels and they don't have ownership of their master. So they're making anywhere from, you know, zero to 20% of that percentage already, but most of the time it's just, it's not even close to 20. So, so they're getting a percentage of the, the percentage. Um, and then also it's, it's very difficult to get a million streams on a song. A lot of artists aren't doing that. I'm very fortunate to be in a place where over the last month my catalog has done 60 million streams. That's insane. Like I'm, I can't believe I'm at that point. Um, and it's, it's very difficult to get there.

So I understand why that conversation exists, but once you do start streaming a lot, and If you own the music, the money's crazy. So do you spend a lot of money? Are you a big, big spender? Not really. I just bought like a Mercedes. That was like my first kind of big purchase. Nice.

But yeah. What kind? An E350. When you're not content creating, not doing your job, what do you like to do for fun? Well, I'm a dad now, so that takes up a lot of my time. A lot of it. I'm up in the morning with Jude. We walk to Starbucks every morning.

Then we get there, Bree and I kind of talk about what we want to do that day. We have the sitter comes at like between 9. and 10 a.m. And then that's my like four to five hours where I get to be in my studio. So yeah, it's really like work or hanging with my son now. Prior to that, I love video games. I'm like a big like Super Smash Bros fan. I actually used to compete. I used to go to tournaments. No way. Yeah, yeah. Like so video games was and kind of is still a big part of my life. I still like love watching Twitch and keeping up with the tournaments and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, now it's really just like music, content, editing. Luckily I can do everything in my room.

um from making the music to editing the skits filming the skits or i'm like hanging with my son or having a date night with brie like it's yeah it's i really i don't do too much other than work you just hang with family so no gambling though no zero never you know i rarely go out where brie and i are very much homebodies we're like like our date our perfect date night is like ordering sushi watching ted lasso you know it's just like just being in and enjoying some time to our son i'd probably be a lot better off i was like you what not not gambling i don't ever win Degenerate. CJ, you should have a kid.

I don't know if I'm ready for that either. I can barely take care of myself. How old are you? 26. Yeah, how old are you? 23? 28. 28, okay.

Yep, I'm 27. So you don't want to go hit the blackjack table after this? No, no. I've never gambled a day of my life. There's something I kind of want to. Well, I was crazy to me that you live in Las Vegas. You never gamble a day of your life. Everyone always assumes.

I'm just like, no, it's not. There's something I felt like, you know, you have to walk through the casinos all the time to get to restaurants and stuff like that. They were like in every lobby. They're in grocery stores. It's crazy. Yeah. I know.

You're not just sucked to the blackjack table. No. No, if anything, it's the opposite. I'm like, I feel so depressed, like seeing a lot of these people just like there,

and they just, they look so sad. And I'm like, oh, man. It like hurts me. The slot machine goes, yeah, just, yeah.

Oh, seriously. It like, it genuinely like depresses me that I know a lot of, and there, I don't know, without getting into too many detail.

There are people in my life who have gambling problems and I've seen what that has done to the people around them. It's not appealing at all. trait maybe addictive or obsessive that that scares me too especially with the video game thing i like would get you know obsessive about wanting to be the best at something and i'm afraid i could get addicted to it i feel like anybody who's like not anybody but most people that are like doing or really

good at their craft have that trait that kind of obsessive trait um you know where you just go all in on like one thing or whatever you just kind of have a tendency to overdo things so you're probably right on that you would like it a lot or you know it's interesting too is so i'm now good friends with hoody allen who was like growing up one of my favorite yeah and we just went on tour together in europe and he's actually coming to vegas is tomorrow saturday yeah he's coming what's it's friday i think yeah so he's coming tomorrow for like the world series poker tournament or whatever he's a he's a poker guy huge yeah so during covid um when things slowed down for him he went like all in on like just like and he's really good he was just he was at a

celebrity game last night with like Bryce Hall and these other TikTokers. He won 38 grand. He like came out on top. He's a really good poker player. So he's been trying to convince me to like, and I'm scared. I'm not going to do it now. Poker actually is, it's gambling, but it takes skill. Oh, oh, it takes skill versus like the slot machine is pure luck.

Blackjack is, it takes a little bit of skill, but it's still mostly luck. Like poker, if you're good, you can. To me, there's still that element of like, oh, I could lose money. And that's like my least favorite feeling. So I'm like, oh, dude, last night going home and. coming home with way less money than you started with. Yeah, a little bit of us.

I was just sick to my stomach. Yeah. So have, so have you ever like felt like, like it was worth it because it was fun? Or are you always like, yeah, honestly,

because I don't live here and I come here and you probably have a certain amount that you say, I bring a couple thousand bucks and it's like if I lose it all. That sounds very healthy. And honestly, I enjoy it. I have a really good time doing it. Maybe I'll,

I don't know. I'll never say never. Maybe I will, you know, at least try it. I think if I set, boundary of like especially with poker it's like oh there's like a five thousand dollar you know you know to get into the game so i know i'm spending that much i'm comfortable losing that much

because i'm aware that i probably will and it's more for like the fun elements like i'm sort of playing a game it's like you know you go to chucky cheese like you're paying a certain amount you're not going to have the opportunity to win there so i mean shit you're going home with like the uh chinese finger thing some some right yeah yeah you'll get something yeah um so yeah but my worry is that i get like addicted to it and i just like it yeah it is a slippery slope though and that's why when we go home then there's like these pole tabs at bars i don't even know if they have them here but it's like the only kind of gamming that you can do and evs a degenerate every single time we walk into a restaurant or a gas station this dude is getting these pull tabs 20 bucks

you might as well just throw it in the garbage so what does it do it's like it's like a pole tab and you might win like 50 bucks oh so it like tells you right away yeah it tells you right away it tells you right away it when i go yeah it tells you right away when you lose but when i go home i just i don't do that because I'm like, it's a slippery slope. And then I watch Evan. And you're chasing losses. Yeah. So I guess coming to Vegas is like, this is the only time. Yeah. Enjoy it. And then you go home. If you can set, if you can set a limit and you're, you're genuinely having fun and enjoying it, all the power to you. My thing is I don't have a debit card. So like, I can't go to the ATM. So the, the money I bring is the only money I could, I could withdraw or spend. You won't even be, yeah,

like. Tempted. Well, I did go to Ken last night. I went to my sugar daddy last night. Hey, Ken, come on. give me some of that moldy money i don't have a debit card can that's amazing so like circling back on like hoodie allen uh yeah we huge fans of him who is someone that you were super stoked to work with and who is someone that you want to work with that and haven't yet um everybody i've worked with has been awesome like all those globe video artists they're all so incredible and like whenever we would find someone we're like oh this is the perfect guy for netherlands oh this girl she's from india Perfect. And then it just kept getting better.

Yeah. And so we would get in a WhatsApp group chat. It would be me, that artist, and my wife, Brianna. We'd, like, plan everything. We'd send them the beat. Like, we'd, we would be very involved with them. And even to this day, we'll, like, check in or they'll, you know. So I've gotten close to a lot of them.

And I was just in Amsterdam because I did my first European tour, and I got to meet one of the artists in person. We shot a music video for spinning. It was like, the whole thing has been crazy. So, like, I haven't had really a bad experience working with an artist. I've done two songs with Idris Elba, who I've been a huge fan of because, you know, he's an actor he's a DJ he does a lot of things yeah that seems so random yeah right i know

because i just know him from acting right yeah yeah yeah from like the office or luther whatever um the wire um but he does so many things at such a high level and that that is really inspiring to me because that's something that i want to do and continue to to try to have a really solid acting career a great music career maybe getting to directing why not and so people like him and and childish gambino donald Glover that that to me would be my like it's like Drake Gambino and Russ those are like those are my three guys that I would love to have the opportunity to work with in any way I would from Toronto yeah yeah true I would love to see Gambino and you I mean I just I just I just would love to meet like he is yeah like he is an anomaly 100% acting alone oh dude dude he's man this guy I could

go on and on that guy I first started listening to or not listening to him watching him when he used to do a comedy skit on YouTube. He had this channel called Derek Comedy, where him and his guys from NYU would upload skits. And this was in 2006. This was the start of YouTube. And that's how I first discovered him. And then he was acting on community.

And then he was writing for 30 Rock. And then he started doing stand-up. And then I discovered he had music. He wraps. And now he created Atlanta. Oh, my gosh. This dude is just like he's one of the most talented people of our generation. Like the truest OG Gambino fan ever. 2006? I know. I feel like such a

yeah like a hipster when i'm like i've been listening since 2006 but i really have like yeah that youtube channel where he was just doing comedy stuff i'll never forget when i was young just like and showing all my friends and we just laugh our asses off these stupid skits that they and they're still on youtube derrick comedy it's like young childish gambino doing comedy it's really funny um but yeah so yeah idris elbow was awesome to work with i love whenever i work with nick we always have so much i always have so much fun recording songs with him like like all like in so many of our songs you'll hear us like laughing at the start or at the end and that really was just us in the booth just laughing or like throw that laugh at the end because that's really funny um yeah yeah

russ russ would be awesome he he recently followed me and dm me like showing me love which was like to me like it's such a huge moment um so yeah who knows what could happen there but that would be awesome that's sick bro thank you so much for coming on thank you guys and seriously thank you for using the music and uh i would love to figure out a way for us to like do some sort of fun collab because it seems like like like our audiences like like my like clearly the the people that watch your videos seem to like my music and that seems like a good marriage of, you know, creativeness. We'll fly up to Minnesota just for a couple days and just, hey, whatever, yeah.

I'm glad that we've been able to, I mean, maybe just tiny, a little tiny bit to be able to give back to you like you were saying with some people going over and showing love on your YouTube channel. So guys, seriously, go check out Connerpricis music. You haven't heard of them already. It's available everywhere, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. All streaming platforms, just my full name, Connor Price, C-O-N-N-O-R.

Follow them on Instagram. But thank you so much, dude. And thank you for listening, guys. We'll see you next week. Until next time, peace.