Transcript
Use with ChatGPT / Claude Auto-scroll A
The conversation opens with the core problem: why upcoming artists get no traction on social media. The speakers introduce the idea that artists should market emotion and moments, not just music.
The reason why most upcoming artists are completely invisible on social media.
You want to know it?Let's go, Junior.
A and there's B.You're at A, no one knows you.There's B, everyone knows you.How do you get there?At Rapped or We Manage, 200 plus artist accounts.We're posting thousands of videos a month to see what's going viral.
If you've been stuck at 200 views for a long time and you've been consistent, just look for these no-gos.Probably the biggest sins of social media.
Okay.
Stop marketing your music.Market the moment.Market the emotion.That's how you market anything in the world.
God, he's good.
If you just want views, just buy bots.
People are like, "Oh, just clip the music video."
Yeah.Who are you?I paid thousands for this.
Who are you?
I'll add a text hook on it.
A text hook won't save you.
No!
Go to your Instagram and play your video on mute.Tell me the emotion that it shows.
Wow.The mute test.
on mute anyway.
Okay.Controversial question.
Okay.
Should they be changing the lyrics or changing their songs to work on social media?
Oh, no.
Junior, don't do it.Don't do it, Junior.
Junior explains why artists are invisible: they resist the new reality of content and try to do marketing alone. The discussion covers investing in content like any other part of music production and why old songs can still go viral through social media.
Well, I'll tell you.The reason why most upcoming artists are completely invisible on social media.And in the grand scheme of building a fan base, the reason why most are invisible right now is cuz they're just battling with gravity.They are so mad that the way to be an artist is no longer to have the correct vocals.They have not accepted this.Therefore, all of their actions in order to be a successful artist are driven towards someone who's a successful SoundCloud rapper.Someone that focuses on building in the bedroom, who doesn't get outside, doesn't create content, doesn't put their name out there cuz they're not happy with the fact that that is the new reality that we live in.The second reason is most artists try and do it themselves as if they were born with the skill of marketing.Most artists have a production team.
I mean, you're a producer, right, Henry?Most people hire a producer, hire a hire a mixer, master.Why is that?
Cuz they're skilled at what they do.
Exactly.They Someone else trained at this thing, and they've accepted, "I'm not an expert cuz I Well, I wasn't born an expert.I'm I'm great at singing.I'm great at rapping.I'm great at writing bars.But maybe I'm not so great at producing."Why is it that the best musicians in the world, some of their biggest hits weren't written by them?They gave away this sense of responsibility to somebody else who was more skilled at them at this specific thing.But for some reason, that mindset, that psychology doesn't really uh translate over to music marketing or content.Cuz they're like, "Oh, it's just content."You know, how how can there be a skill behind it?How can there be intelligence by somebody else?So, let me just keep doing this all by myself.
Okay, so you think that they don't take the same like investment approach that they do with some of the like music making stuff.Like they know they got to pay the engineer to record it.They know they got to pay the engineer to mix it and master it.They know they got to pay the producer for the beat, whatever.They don't necessarily take that same approach to the actual like how the gets heard, which is
It's a pretty big piece.
borderline like we we know tons of music that has been like recorded on like iPhone mics, like wired iPhone mic you know, mics.I mean,
Arden Jones had a millions of streams.
Millions of I think like 30 million streams on a song that he recorded on a
Insanity.
Yeah.
It doesn't make sense.And what's interesting is they separate content uh into a few different fields.Like YouTube content is music videos.
Yeah.
Short-form content is short-form content.They'll hire a videographer.They'll hire the creative directors.They'll spend thousands of dollars to make this music video look incredible.But when it comes to content, oh, just because the reasons for content to go viral are the hooks, the psychology, the trends, the the uh cinematicness of the content, they don't try and invest into that.But they will invest into music video to make it look All those other things, just miss out the hook.Miss out on that it's short-form content.It just doesn't make sense that people haven't accepted this yet.
I'm just thinking of the plight of the independent artist though, man.I'm hearing some of them screaming at their phones right now.It's like they're doing so many jobs.It's like how how do you navigate like what how do you split up all these different things that unless you have either the budget or you have the time to learn the skills to do these things you know,how do we know?
There is always budget.
Well, and I think what his point is and I actually haven't surprisingly haven't given this as much thought as I think I probably should have is that like they're spending in the wrong places maybe.
Yeah.
Like they they are still getting the music videos, bro.
You don't need a music video.
100% yeah.So like I think it's it's just a a mindset shift that hasn't really happened.
You don't even need another song.
Oh, okay.
You have eight songs out.
Let's exploit the catalog kind of deal.
even need another song.
Okay, what do you mean?
Most people's excuse to not creating content and not marketing and not building a fan base is I just need another song.So I'm going to keep investing in the mixing and mastering of another song, more studio sessions for another song.But you haven't even created 20 pieces of content for your last release.
Oh, they're giving it up.
Big one.
Exactly.People are like, "Oh, I'm not even spending on music videos cuz I understand that content's the investment."So, why are we still spending on songs and saying you can't invest in content?
Especially nowadays when songs are blowing up and people don't even know when they were released.Like in my opinion, release dates and you know, rollouts I think are still important but like you know, you got these old songs catching brand new winds blowing up like they never had before.People don't really care when a song came out if it's like if it's fire to them right now, it's fire to them right now but they're not going to know it's fire to them right now unless they maybescroll on a TikTok and hear it or something, right?
did content for G-Eazy.Same exact thing.A song from like the 2000s and whenever I was born, that song went super viral.It's called Trap Queen, I believe.
Okay.
Is it called Trap Queen?Or is that Fetty Wap?
That's that's a Fetty Wap song.
Fetty Wap.Well, we did Fetty Wap as well.Same thing.Trap Queen's going viral right now.
Yeah, but who cares when it came out?It's just a movement.It's a fashion sense.It's a world that they've got to build that they've that they've already got built around it.It's just reminding people of that world and people will still share that sense because well, psychology's been the same since we were we were created as human beings.
The hosts introduce Junior and Rap Ville, then dig into common mistakes artists make online. They focus on copying content, deleting underperforming posts, and not understanding why videos go viral.
Yeah, for sure.Well, guys, we got Junior from Rapville on the podcast.They are the biggest viral content production agency for musicians.They're doing what, like 100 shoots a month?
Yeah.
200 million views for their clients in the last 30 days.I mean, you guys are global in every freaking continent.I feel I mean, they might be doing an Antarctic shoot right now.I don't know.There's some shoots going on right now.
Yeah, but
Well, it's crazy.We did have someone get stuck in the Antarctic.Not because we were filming there, though.
Okay.
One of our strategists
Oh my god.Okay, well, he should have had a
should have had a better strategy for that plan, my boy.That travel.
But no, I mean, I just think like everyone hears how important it is to post content.Everyone's obviously like trying their hardest, I feel like, to go viral because they're seeing people go viral left and right.They're seeing artists have their viral moments, songs popping off.They're like, why can't I do that?Why isn't it me?So, you know, you kind of alluded to like some of the artists that aren't posting consistent enough, they're not investing, whatever.But I'm not going to lie.I think there's a different bucket of artists that I know who are like posting consistently.
Okay.
They're trying to think about the world that they're trying to build, but they're still not hitting.Like their shit's still not moving, like numbers-wise, right?So, for an artist like that, you know, you've audited a ton of artists and and looked at people's pages and I think you have a good idea like you know, what do you think is going on with thoseartists?Like what are some of the most common things that you would find on their pages that they're doing wrong?
Let Let explain it like this.Here are the no-goes that artists need to watch out for on their page right now.Okay.Like if you've been stuck at 200 views for a long time and you've been consistent, yeah, just look for these no-goes.If you're doing these things, there's a reason why you're not growing.The first no-go out of the three that I that I have is probably the biggest sins of social media.
Okay.
The first sin is you're just copying videos from other people.
Mhm.
Your music is unique, right?If I told you, "Oh, your music's not unique."You'd probably punch me in the face because your music is unique.You have a unique story.You have a unique way of creating it, of creating the beat.It's unique to you.So, why are we copying videos from everybody else?Why are we not building things into your own into your own brand?Right?Look at the way you make music.You find inspiration and you make something of your own.You don't copy and paste or else you'd probably get taken to court for that.
Well,
It's the same way for social media.
Where's the line for finding inspiration from something and adapting it?Maybe like stealing like an artist.Cuz I do that in music.I've done that in content myself, you know?
Yeah.
I can still make it mine, but, you know, I think there's some value in trends.Like I see if a trend inspires me to do something that's like for me.How do you look at that balance?
Well, I see copying as a copy and remix.So, copying alone is stupid, but copying and remixing works.Cuz copying alone means you forgotten why content even goes viral in the first place.
Mhm.
If you're aiming for a few hundred views, please copy, but that's not viral.You want to go viral?We're talking 5, 10, 50 million views on a video.How do you get that?It's by copying and remixing.Meaning it has to be unique.Cuz the only reason things go viral on social media is if it's unique.You watch something as a as a video because it's like, "I want to see what's going to happen next."The only reason you stay and watch a video, this is this is the algorithm.They It shows you a video and you have a choice within the first 3 to 5 seconds cuz that's how long it takes for you to get bored for you to either scroll or keep watching.That's your choice as a viewer.Meaning how do you get someone to stay?You get them to be interested in watching the entire video.
You make it enticing enough with enough curiosity, with enough entertainment and dopamine that someone stays and watches the entirety of the video.And that's how you go viral.Meaning, if you just copy something, someone's already seen it before.How is that going to make me curious?The equation doesn't work.So, it has to be copied and remixed based on what's relevant to you.And that's very important for converting into streams as well, because that's what's actually world That's That's world building at the end of the day.
Junior breaks down how copying alone fails unless it is remixed into something unique and curiosity-driven. He explains viral mechanics, the importance of research across other niches, and why most artists need more testing and better production support.
All right?The second sin,
If you don't want to go deeper on that one.
no, let's go.
All right.I was about to get you back to the sins.
I was like, don't let don't mess up him cooking, bro, on the sins.
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.I'm about to and if I got a
a bit
You butt out.
sins The three sins of social media.
Yeah, I was like, yeah.
Yeah, get thee behind me, bad bad social medias.This is going to be a clip.
Preacher Junior is here to tell you that you're going to music hell.
Constant hell.
Can I get the praise in this place?Come on, everybody.
Amen, Junior.
Amen.
Okay, back to reality again.
All right.The second sin
that I see a lot is being worried about a video's performance and then deleting it.You'd be surprised how many people just be unconfident posts.
Do you ever delete videos?
No.
Yeah.
It's data.
Yeah, agreed.
And things sometimes pop off weeks later.
Facts.That rhymes.We've had it happen.It could happen to y'all.
100%.So, how how how can you be more worried about how a few people perceive you when they never No one's ever seen you, essentially.Compared to this video actually cooking or even this video teaching you something about your own algorithm around your own target audience.Because that's what it is.Every single video is just more content to give you more data so you can make better decisions.If you want to post more bangers, post a lot of crap and find the one banger and do it more times.That is a great strategy.But most artists won't do it because they're worried about how other people will perceive them.And that's that's the sin.And it stems from just ego.Um the the third sin I'd say is you don't actually know why a video went viral.
Mhm.
So, you don't know what to copy.
Wait, you don't even?
No, most people.
Okay, I was like, what the dude?
So, isn't this your whole Isn't this why you flew here?
To some degree, nobody knows.To some degree To some degree, it is.
like, I thought that was the premise of this whole conversation.I was like, well, we should end it now.
I mean, I won't lie, we'll get to that.In the In the idea that I would I I might tell you that, you know what?I don't know if this video is going to go viral.
You can't guarantee it.
I can have a great feeling.
Yeah.
And I can test the heck out of it.
Okay.
I'll tell you that in a second.
Yeah.
All right, that's going to be saucy.
Okay, good.Yeah.
When I tell you how much volume I can output in a month to know something's going to work.
God, I love it.
It's incredible.So, firstly, uh this back to the sin.
Yeah.
They try and copy something without actually taking the principles.So, even if I tell you to copy and remix something, which is, you know, our phrase here at Rap Ville, it's our ethos.It's like, you can copy the video and think you're remixing the right points, but forget everything that helped that video go viral.
Okay.
All right.So, let's say it's a video which is, you know, you've all seen uh the video of uh probably a TV transition.
Mhm.
All right, where someone stands in front of a TV and then they cut to them actually performing inside the location that was on the TV.
Oh, we interviewed Citizen.He I don't know if he invented it, but he's got one of maybe the most viral version of that.
We actually had a more viral video.
Really?Than his?
But he created the format.
Yeah.
Or at least he stole it from somewhere.
Yeah.
Which is great, because he it was inspired from probably somewhere in cinematography, one of these trends, and then he used it for music marketing.And we then amplified that.And it turned out one of our videos got more views.Uh we actually got 150 million views on one video doing this stupid little TV transition.
Holy
So,
wow.
But see, someone can copy that video, stand in front of a TV, and forget that the reason it goes viral is that there's a camera in frame.Which shows that this is actually someone filming the person in the TV.
element of it.
Exactly.And you'll be surprised how many people don't get that.They will just get them standing in front of a TV with someone like carrying a phone for example.But it's not obvious enough that it's a camera.That someone's actually filming.And then also the extra elements you add so that the TV's actually enticing.Like for example, well, this is a very important one, but the movement match cut between the two shots.Most people stand in front of the TV then end up in a completely different position in the actual shot.What's most satisfying is when someone spins around in the hook and also in the transition.
Yes.
And they don't think about filming this because they're like, oh, the whole point of the video was just to record in front of a TV.They've forgotten the reason it goes viral is because someone it it seamlessly transitions from a phone video to a high quality shot.And that's what gets the brain to question, was this even real?When we did this for Eric Bellinger, we had him spinning on a chair and then in the second shot, we had the cameraman running around him.All right?So we had this like orbit effect going on and it match cut with him in front of the TV on a chair being spun around by a girl.That's just like no one would know why they went viral and then go ahead and miss most of the elements.
Wow.
So they'll just copy what they think, but they'll forget to remix what's actually important.
Okay.
The is deep.
It does get deep.Okay, so you kind of hinted at like the testing process because, you know, we talk a lot about it in theory.You should use trial reels.I don't know, but I don't think that we have gotten
Yeah, exactly.But I don't think that we've gotten like the real sauce and you were like smiling and smirking.So like I hope that you got it, bro, cuz we need it because, you know, people hear that information and I don't think that they have any like actionable ways to put this in practice, right?Like because to your point you know, the testing and the data is so important to know what works, right?And to double down on it and to be able to figure out why something went viral to then replicate it, right?
I hate to say this, yeah, but the way to create viral videos through testing, if you want to figure out what goes viral through testing, it's it's really hard.
No, okay, enough.
No, as in like I wish I could put this in an actionable framework for musicians and be like you can test this way.And don't get me wrong, trial reels is a way to do that where you can test different hooks for the same video.Let's say you're really confident about short-form video and it didn't go viral, you can test 10 different variations, different text hooks.This is what we do across all of our artists' accounts.But, the reason why I can't make this actionable to the level that I want it to actually help somebody is because we just have an extremely unfair advantage.Which is our Rap the We Manage 200-plus artist accounts.
So, you've aggregated all the data.
Posting 15 videos a month.Sure.
We're posting thousands of videos a month to see what's going viral.We'll take the best performance from different genres and we'll apply them to yours so you seem like the first person to do it, meaning your video is going to get the most views compared to somebody else.If you're the first mover, you usually get the benefits of that.If you the if you're the first person to post a certain format in your niche in your genre, you will break through bigger than most people.But, how are you meant to do that as an artist who's just got your own account and your own genre?So, I will say that's kind of unfair that we can post 2,000 times, see what goes viral, and then just tell you what to post.
Can you give them like a mini version of it maybe like some kind of science experiment they can just at least be making
Just trial reels really, but it's uh and research.
Yeah.
You could That's what I was going to say.It's like
You could research.
Yeah, and cuz you're doing you're doing research within your own like client base.
the research.
Oh, exactly.
We don't research, we create.
Oh, I thought we were creating.
can copy the trends, but once you've seen the bandwagon, you're already too late.
Yeah.Is that true?
And you you you're going to you're you're falling.You're at the ending of the bandwagon.
Okay.So, maybe catch the like the last little
Because if you see the whole rope thing
Once you see
Yeah, the guy with the rope
Once you've seen it in your genre, it's already been seen by your target audience.
Yeah.Yeah.
you research in other genres though, now you're on a cheat code.
See, well, that's what
That's what Citizen did.
I was I was going to say I think it was Citizen who talked about like stealing from film.Taking things from other niches that are just not music related at all.Like looking at maybe fitness pages or cooking pages, whatever.Yeah.
Maybe have some research accounts that only follow accounts in those niches and see what like the most viral posts in those kind of areas and see how you can apply them to you.That's kind of That's kind of some sauce.
some serious output and some serious speed to make that happen.
Yeah.
Like it is no joke that in order to push content out at speed at a high quality, if you're copying cinema like Citizen, then how are you going to do that if you just got your phone and you'renot willing to actually get a team who's behind you?
Yes, Citizen is like a director of film.
He does this.
He's a beast.
Yeah.Yeah.
The discussion shifts to how much content artists should make per release and how strategy changes by career stage. Junior outlines different approaches for artists with no fan base, artists with views but no streams, and established artists who should stay more mysterious.
So
Like we ask this question a lot.I mean, how many pieces of content do you think is like what you should be posting for every release?Because I think
have like a minimum for your clients?
Yeah, we just had people on here share different figures and like everyone's always Everyone's always asking us this question.
Yeah.
How many posts do I need for this new song?
I had to take a break from today's episode, guys, because I'm terrified that too many of you are not collecting all the royalties that you're owed.It's hard enough to make a dollar and you guys are leaving money on the table.Unlike your master royalties that are generated when you upload through your distributor, publishing royalties do not get collected by default.Could you hypothetically register your song with hundreds of collection societies around the world?Yes, but ain't nobody got time for that.That's why a pub admin like Cosign, the sponsor of today's episode, is extremely beneficial to make sure that you get every single dollar that you're owed on the publishing side of the house.Cosign is backed by the fourth largest music publisher in the world, so they have an absolute beast of a machine supporting you to make sure that you get every dollar that you're owed.
They're selective with who they work with, that way they can provide the best customer experience possible for their clients.But it's free to apply, so there's absolutely nothing to lose.The link's in the description.Now let's get back to the episode.
Well, if you're in It depends what stage you are
Yeah.
in your artistry as well.Like if I see it as like three stages of being an artist.
Yeah.
It's like zero to one, you have no fan base, nobody knows you, you have never gone viral, and you're not getting
I assume post a lot post a lot I assume at that stage.
Post a lot at that stage and try different styles of content different formats as we call it.People call them hooks, formats.I like the authentic style of content means you can post a lot of output with just your phone mixed with a high-quality style of content.High-quality videos always do 15 minimum per release.High-quality videos.I'm talking videos where you've really thought about the location, the story, the background, the characters in this world that you're building, and then go and create those.And then for the authentic stuff, well, you know, there's a ton of strategies you can do which are super authentic.And you want to be posting 30 60 times for a song realistically if you're at this stage.
Okay.
And you want to give it 6 weeks realistically.Um I will I will talk about my ethos to breaking an artist in a minute though cuz that's great for views on social media, but there's a level ahead of it which most social media artists can't talk aboutbecause that's only what you realize This is only the information you realize when you speak to people who blew up before social media.And there's a different level of audience after that.
You've seen it probably, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm not going to mention names, but there's a lot of social media artists, they've got so many views and no streams.
Mhm.
And you realize why when you speak to people like Fetty Wap, like 5 Year Foreign, like G-Eazy, guys that really took off before social media was the biggest thing around.Uh if you're at the next stage, which is sort of one to two, this is where you're getting views.This is where you got viral results, but you're not getting streams yet.You haven't got a fan base, but you got people that can comment and around you a little bit.They know that you make cool videos and you have good music, but they haven't taken a massive action to go stream it and become a real fan and then definitely not going to pay for any merchandise and thendefinitely not going to turn up to any shows.And then sort of two to three is the final stage.This is where you're like Katy Perry, all right?
This is where you've got a fan base, you can turn up to a concert and you can sell out the tickets.Now, at each stage though, it's different content and it's different pages that you post on.From zero to one it's all your account.You need to figure out how to how to get your footprint on the world.No one has ever seen your face before on this planet on social media.Just your friends and family.So you got to break forth.And you definitely don't want to just get a viral song without blowing up your own account because that would just make the song go viral and you can't go viral.Fan bases are built around people, not songs.Songs aren't timeless really.It's the people that are almost timeless.People want to be around those people, at least in today's day and age.
All right?And then you've got this one to two, which is this level of once again people that have got the views.Hammer the views even more, but not just viral viral content.Don't just go for that sort of top of funnel content that goes viral.Aim for that bottom of funnel and middle of funnel content where people can start to know a bit more about your personality.Where you've got a community off platform where you can start building them off.It's a different strategy than just top of funnel viral content.Before it was about getting views and making a footprint, you've got your footprint.The more you just get views, the less you get close to the actual goal, which is building a true fan base because you get a lot of one-time people that you could just get from running ads.It's like almost there's no point of creating another viral video of putting all that effort in because it's not helping the actual goal.
It's just helping you get some views.And at this stage, of course, you want to be getting streams.And this is why you want to just create top of funnel views view content.In the final stage, you know, two to three, don't post content on your own account.Be a bit more mysterious.Do streaming.Do fan bait fan pages.Do UGC campaigns.Do viral songs.Because at that stage, you post too much on your own account and to be honest, it kind of takes away from how special you are as an artist.People want to scream when they see you.They don't want to be like, "Yo, bro."Cuz if you if they know so much about you, well, then there's where's where's the excitement to turn up to the concert anymore?
Yeah.What do you think about Halsey Warren?He seems to be a guy that he's kind of the bro.
Have you seen Have you seen him just like
And he's massive.
seen him just like injuring himself in the Olympics?It's so funny.
He might just be like a a weird exception, I guess.I don't know.
I think there's always exceptions to this game.Absolutely.
Yeah, cuz I agree when you're that level.
Yeah.
Yeah, most artists at level as well don't want to be posting too much.So, I'd just be like, you know what?There's there's definitely a way you can keep your fan base active.Like look at Drake.
Yeah.
I keep post content, but he doesn't post content if you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, that's the best way to do it somehow.
That made total sense to me.
Just like him just driving a like sick boat, you know?
It's kind of not him, but it's him.You know what I'm saying?Like it's a strategy that he definitely thought about, but it's not him making the video.
Yeah.No, that's interesting.
The speakers review outdated formats and then focus on what still works, especially Snapchat-style hooks. Junior explains that the best hooks feel real, shocking, and emotionally aligned with the song.
So, you know, you kind of hinted at like texts and, you know, or sorry, hooks and formats, right?Yeah.And this is something you guys post a lot about on your on your Instagram page and I love it.Like it's so helpful.Thank you for what you're doing for the artist community cuz like we just featured it in a carousel.Every independent artist must follow.
Yeah, this account.Because I think it it gives people an opportunity who are really struggling with this to again like you're doing the research for them, basically, right?It's like I could go watch a bunch of videos and like we've even done this like manually with like other products we released where like we're giving you viral content ideas or hooks or whatever.But like the way you guys present it is great.So, what are some hooks or formats that used to work that just are dead now?We're not doing the rope anymore, guys.The rope attached to the ankle with the car driving away.We're not doing that anymore, guys.
Stop it.Stop it with the rope.Please, stop.
please.Please don't hurt yourself.
Yeah, we know IT'S CUT.
WE KNOW YOU'RE NOT ABOUT TO GET YANKED off that god damn chair, bro.
Why are you so riled up about it?
anyone.I'm just sick of the rope, bro.
He's probably hooked 15 times.He's like, "No way.No way.It's going
Yeah, and he's just exactly what he's talking about.People don't like you missed it.
Oh, okay.Damn, anything else you have to add about the rope?
No, I'm I want to hear the answer.
Okay, so which ones which ones are dead in 2026 and which ones are like thriving right now?And it might even be two way.Which ones do you think are about to blow up or something?I don't know.
I just made the song of the summer.
That was like years ago.That was like Tik Tok 2022, I think.
it's dead?
Okay, it's dead.Okay.
Unless everyone stops doing it, someone does it again.
Sure, yeah.That is the funny thing about trends and culture.
I'm telling everyone on the internet don't do it so we can do it.
Okay, but
That's song of the summer.
Yeah, um if you like Bruno Mars and Drake put together, you'll love this.
I kind of like that one.
I yeah, I know, but it's not it's not working anymore.
Sorry, bud.
I'm not an artist.It's fine.
There with the rope.
Yeah, the If you make that, I'll watch.
The Snapchat method when executed incorrectly
Okay.
just looks cringe.Yeah.It looks cringe nowadays.It's doing too much.
Whenever I see the bar the black bar with the text, I I'm I at least know I know.I'm like you got your you're going to trick me.This is going to turn into something.I'm like oh, kind of over that one myself, but I might not be all people.I don't know.
I think it's dying quickly because artists are making the mistake of just doing it.
Copying it, yeah.
Doing it so wrong.
Yeah.So how do you Yeah, how do you do it wrong?How do you do it right?
Oh, please.I love this question.
Let's go.
I love this.So many people do the Snapchat method wrong, but when we've done it right, it's got millions of views.And it's usually because of these two different things.It's got to be real.All right.Most people of co- of course it's not going to be real.You're not going to actually have someone standing, I don't know, on a ladder filmed from an airplane like Citizen Kane.You're not actually going to have a train coming and you stepping on the train tracks.You know, it's not actually going to be that real, but you can make it look real.
Okay.
So, most people will be sat in a studio trying to do a Snapchat hook.You're in a studio.
Yeah.
Isn't the whole point of a Snapchat hook to be from the POV of a bystander?
Mhm.
Meaning, how are you doing it in the same studio?Why not on the street?And when you're on the street, why do we not hear the sound effects of being on a street?Why do we only hear your song from the beginning of the video?It's meant to be real.It's meant to transition from to in an authentic way that looks legit.
to It's got to look shitty at first.
Exactly.
It's got to look like bad.Like, yeah, like someone just pulled out their phone and
It's got to be shocking as well.
Right.
The whole point of filming something with Snapchat is I'm from the POV of of the bystander, right?
Yeah.
Why am I taking all this energy to take out I don't even like people.I'm pulling
Damn.
I'm pulling out my phone and I'm filming this person doing something.
You wouldn't do that to anybody.You'd probably get beaten up if you did this to everybody.The reason you do it is because, wow, something's shocking.I need to show all my friends this.
Mhm.
Because this is insane.Like, is this about to happen?
Yeah, it's like so I just saw a video of someone doing that to a guy like freaking using the N-word or something on an airplane like flight and they had to like duct tape him down.Like, literally.I was like, that's when you would pull out your phone and because it's like, holy what's happening right now?
Exactly.Holy
Holy moments.
So, most people do the Snapchat method with them on a piano in school or something.Like, what what what how is that how is that holy moly moment?Unless you're just like you're dressed as a random character or something, or the piano's on fire, then maybe something interesting there.
Yeah, it's Have you tried the tried the Ring camera?
Yeah.
That's a good version of that, right?
That's pretty interesting if done correctly as well.
Confrontational moment happens on the front porch.
You know what the problem is?Artist acting is the worst in not great actors.
Even shout out to Connor Price and Graham, right?They have this new like four song EP, but like
great like Connor Price is an actor.
Yeah, but he's an actor.He gets it.
But Graham and some of the supporting cast and some of the videos like I hope you'll still do the pod Connor.I've been we've been coordinating it whatever, but just like I agree that it's not their
It's not their like forte necessarily.
keep hearing like dude you guys are insane.You want to be artists.You need to be marketers.You need to be business people.Now you have to be actors.You have to do I know you guys just want to make music like
like if you're going to do this, it has to be done right.
It has to be done right.
Yeah.
Don't do it if you're not going to do it right.
Maybe right?I mean
Change your title.Do you want to be an artist or do you want to be a SoundCloud rapper?Choose.Do you want to be a bedroom artist or do you want to be an artist?Which lifestyle do you choose?Choose the SoundCloud bedroom artist and you'll just make music for yourself, your friends, family, maybe some elderly people on the road.But if you're actually making music for the if you're actually trying to be an artist, trying to live that lifestyle, trying to get on stage and perform and get everyone screaming your song with tears, then how do youget there?There's A and there's B.You're at A, no one knows you.There's B, everyone knows you.How do you get there?Try and get there, dude.You got to put in the work.
Okay, and and I want to unpack this, but I want to get back to what are the ones that are working now?The text the sorry the hooks in the formats.
Yeah, so Snapchat
any more that are dead.
Snapchat hook will always work.
Always.
When done right.
When done correctly.As is everything.Good songs will work if made correctly, right?Like this isn't an anomaly.This is the truth of the universe.This is like the formula of life.You know, a good haircut is a good haircut.
Yeah, and Henry hasn't seen one in a while.I mean
Sometimes stuff goes out of style though, I feel like.You know, like now it's skinny jeans.Now it's baggy jeans.Now skinny jeans again.
Sure.
I I think the psychology is though that there's that you're creating a video that doesn't look like music marketing, but it looks like something shocking going on relevant to your song.
Right.
And it's emotion.
Right.
And then transitioning to something like we did a video with this Hungarian artist.She had she had literally 100 followers on TikTok when she came on board.And well, her first video took her to over 1,000 followers.
Mhm.
All right.And that's great because 1,000 usually the hardest the hardest
Yeah.
to get past.
The road to 1,000 is
Most accounts are like getting 200 views.Like you're not you're just going to be dead for a very long time.We did it in one video.And the way we did it was we did a Snapchat video aligned to the emotion of her song.Her song was about her friend getting abused by her boyfriend.So, her coming to the house and like beating up the guy.
Oh, wow.
That was the story behind it.
Oh, hell yeah.
So, what did we do?Snapchat hook of this crazy Hungarian woman beating a door, smashing it, the door opening, her running inside, getting thrown on the floor, transition sideways to the camera angle, and performing the song.
Woo!
Whoa!
I got chills.
Damn!He really does He does this.
You get chills really often, honestly, on the podcast.
That hit, man.
Yeah, he's
It's like you got to create this world around it.It made sense.People commented and the video broke you know, hundreds of thousands of views.
Wow.
Just like that.
That's just
because for a for an artist nobody knew.
Yeah.
Because everything made sense.The Snapchat hook was shocking because the Snapchat text guess this.
What is it?
Uh this is why you don't piss off a Hungarian girl.
Oh.
All right.So, if you're Hungarian
Or you know a Hungarian
I feel like I would want
That would get me even
Yeah.I don't even I don't even know a Hungarian.
want to know
What are Hungarian girls?
Exactly.That would get me.
We all need
have a thing?I want to know.Are they scary?
I know.Yeah.I like that.
Yeah.That's specific enough where it's like, yeah.
Okay.
And then transitioning to obviously the song which is it it just made sense.
Yeah.
And it worked really well.
Junior emphasizes that artists should sell the feeling and world of a song, not just the track itself. He introduces the HLEV framework and explains how hooks, lyrics, emotion, and visuals should all match.
So, the Snapchat method will always work.
Okay, what else is working?What else is
Transitions in general just are fire.
Transitions 100% because it's just it's just a psychology.You want to go viral?Stop marketing your music.Market the moment.Market the emotion.That's how you market anything in the world.So, why are we just trying to put the product in people's faces say eat this product.Nobody sells something like that.I do not show you a car and sell you a car with just a picture of the car telling you to buy this car.
You sell lifestyle.You sell lifestyle.
show you the feeling.I'm going to show you all the girls looking at you be like what's that?I'm going to show you how it
comes around the curve and you just hear the
Yeah, it's like if it's like a SUV they're like going through mountains and through rivers and valleys
What's the point of your song?What is the feeling that comes with buying your product as a musician?
See, well that's the thing they don't answer.They don't answer that question enough.
Dude, the amount of artists where I ask them even just what is your song about that they can't answer.
Guys We got to do better there because I think that unlocks everything.I think that unlocks the world you want to build, the type of content you want to make, the text hooks, the vi- the visual hooks, the audio, all of it, right?The songs, the writing of the songs, I mean the product itself.Uh like dude, that's a big question.
The core of everything is how do I affect my consumers and how do I actually intentionally show them this is who I am?And that will change everything.The music you make will be different.The content you make will be different and all will be aligned to actually help someone feel something when they consume your product.Or else, there's no point of your product.
Yeah, do you think people are like nervous to get locked in or something or like why do you think that's such a difficult like exercise for artists?
Well, because they they they deep it too much.It's just too they think on too deep of a level and they're like I need to rethink my entire artist brand.I've got no brand.Brand is really easy.Your brand is in your song that you made already.There is an emotion in the song you've made already.Likely unless you're like a you know a trap rapper who's talking about booty cheeks and bottles in the club.
Hey, that's a feeling.
That's I just got a feeling.That's a feel
something.
I'm down, Henry.But you get what I'm saying?Every song has a feeling and if not the whole song, maybe having one congruent feeling, choose the 25-30 second snippet and decide what feeling is in that snippet.
Yeah.
What's the beat cadence?What's the emotion?What are you saying?What are the lyrics?And let's make it all congruent.We have a really easy way that I teach new people who come on board to Rap Ville.You know, whenever I hire someone cuz we're a team of 40 people, so we I'm always training people to become as best as good as I am.We We follow something called the H Lev framework.All right, H Lev stands for this.H is hook, L is lyrical congruence, E is emotion, and V is visuals.So visual storytelling of all of these things.That's why it goes in that order.So from the lyrics, what are you actually saying?You know, let's just break down Citizen's video where he says, "Baby, I caught you falling for me."
Ooh.
yeah.Vocals.
That was pretty good.
All right, yeah.Decent falsetto.
Hey, man.
Sound like a mouse.
Yeah.
The The girl falls off the ladder.He catches her and he sings a song, "Baby, I caught you falling for me."Lyrical congruence straight away.
Mhm.
H is the hook.She's standing on a ladder, she falls off.Hook done.Everyone wants to see what happens.Everyone wants to see what happens.
L H hook L lyric lyrical congruence and emotion.The song is about love.Look at the how they're looking at each other in this video.They're in love, yo.
Cuz that's actually his girl.
She just got caught falling for him.The emotion is also congruent with the song that was made already cuz it's a love song.
Ah.
And in that in that verse he's saying, "Baby, I caught you falling for me."And in the video he catches her falling and she's looking at him like, "You just saved my life.Of course I'm going to be in love with you right now."She's kind of flustered.That's how she looks in the video.And then V visual storytelling.Done.The lighting, the time of day, it was sort of sunset, it was golden hour.It looks like this is where you'd find love.It's not super night time, it's not morning where I'd be weird.It's not like super bright outside when it's uncomfortable to be outside.It's just perfect to the point where it's like this is this is the way that love movies would portray love to each other.How do we translate this to music marketing?So, we actually like to see it like that.
We like to see it as what's the ending moment that you want to show on the video?What is the ending emotion?And then how can we add a hook to that?Most people think let's add let's create the hook and then let's add the visual emotional storytelling after that try and make it make sense.They don't think let's create this ending point where they're standing there loving each other or where she's standing there she's fallen off a ladder or whatever it is.They think about the second piece, which is you need to you need to find a way that you guys look in love and how do you end up in that moment?
Wow.
Does that make sense?That's
Yes.Now I can think of unlimited hooks.
Uh yeah, well I've I don't know just most people even like some really brilliant music marketers that we've had on the podcast and like we obviously also like consider ourselves most well versed in the music marketing side ofthe whole business.It's like I don't know that I have thought about like reverse engineering it.Is basically what you're saying, right?
Exactly.Reverse engineering.
What are we trying to get to?
That's how you make it authentic.
And then there's there's unlimited ways to get to that same exact place.
People think hook first because that's all we
What everyone talks about, right?Hooks, hooks, hooks.
Format hooks.
Oh, let's try this hook.Let's try that hook.
Why don't you just talk about your song?
What is the emotion in your song?What would be the perfect visual storytelling of that moment?And the way to think of this is you're already doing it in your music videos.
Yeah.
You've already done it in your
the thousands of
It's what you paid the thousands for to visually story tell it.Now add a hook to that thing.
Just bolt the hook on last.
The conversation explores how to build content backward from the emotional payoff and why music videos are not ideal short-form assets. Junior argues that content should be designed as the vehicle for discovery, not repurposed as an afterthought.
Exactly.
Yeah, but well because dude I mean as I'm thinking about it I'm like the amount of love songs where I've seen an artist on social media probably because he just like did the best he could I get itbut it's like he's alone.
He's alone.He's standing there in a room.
Like, why are you alone?
What are you loving?
In love.
In a studio.
Why is there no love interest?
In some random studio.
random location.It doesn't matter.Like
He's standing with a skyscrapers in the background.He's rapping.Drop down mic.
And again, like I I applaud the effort.I really do because it's hard and it is hard to like get yourself like to put yourself out there, to put in the work to just filming these things.You don't know about like hooks and all the You don't know how it works necessarily.You're doing your best.I get it.But like that's where it I love how you said it like it's not that deep.That's not that deep.That's not That doesn't take a rocket scientist to be like my song is about love.Oh, it should probably
Have a color.
I will break this down.I'll break this down even more simply.
Okay, let's go.
All right.
Cuz that sounded pretty simple.So, I'm hoping
How does it get harder?
It's better.
Here's a test you can do with your past videos.You want to know why they haven't gone viral?You want to know why your past videos haven't actually grabbed attention and haven't got millions of views?
Yes, I would like to know that.
You want to know if you've actually executed on this emotional piece correctly?You want to know if you visually story told your song properly?
Yeah, I would like to
You want to know if you've built a world around your music?
Yeah.
Here's the test.Go to your Instagram and play your video on mute and tell me what it so Tell me the emotion that it shows.
Wow.
Play your video on
The mute test.
on mute anyways.
75% whatever number they're saying.
You're standing there in a studio and your face doesn't even tell the story of what the song is.
You're not even looking love.
How do you expect someone to match this up correctly?You got to think you are now making movies.In a movie
No.
what music do they use in a sad scene?
Not that one.
He's dead.He's bleeding.He's crying on the ground.
That was high.
There's no We would never do that.
Yeah.
Someone's dying in your loving arms and the song you're playing is
Yeah.
Some rock music like
Come on.You got to in in movies, they play the right song for the right scene.Now, you're doing it the other way.The song's made, now make the freaking scene.
Mhm.So, are are artists movie makers?
I was like, dude, you just heard that and you're like, now we're having to make movies.
I mean
If someone watches that simple framework and decides that you have to be a movie maker now to make
To make a music.
Well Yeah, if that if that's the way you want to see it, for sure.But that's also why when you do a music video, you hire creative director, videographer video for your guy and everybody else included.
Right.Okay.
you have the budget, it's no different.Why do people invest in music videos in the past?It used to be the way to break.Right.Music videos used to be incredible.You could go viral,
get millions of views, get a record deal.Content is literally the vehicle.Without content, where do you stand?Nowhere.With the right content, if you could just improve your content.If 12 months ago you had posted all the right videos and you had and you went viral right now, would you be in a different place in your music career?Yes or no?
Yes.
Absolutely.So, why is there this mental block?I would say, oh, I have to do all this for content?Well, if that's the vehicle to go viral, then absolutely.
Well, so so let me ask you this, can an artist um use their music video for short-form content or is that a big no-no?
Big no-no.
Okay.I knew he was going to say that.
We can't repurpose?Even people who like, oh, just clip the music video.
Yeah.
Who Who are you?I paid thousands for this.I'm going to squeeze my Who are you?As in, if you're Drake, of course I I've seen your face before.I'm going to watch this
I'll add a text hook on it.
Text hook won't SAVE YOU.
NO!
DUDE, why do you have to say it like that, too?
I don't know.
Wait, I mean, so seriously, okay, so then
There are some strategies where you can use a music video.
Okay, well, break that Yeah, yeah, like cuz I I got it.I got it.
I don't even I say don't let's not make music videos.
Or is that the advice?
But in most cases, just don't make a That's With that same budget, you can make six two months
of content.content.
You can make 60 videos.
Do that.Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.That's not even break down the whole
We are the iteration of a music video.
Wow, I
We're the next level of a music video.Cuz that content genuinely looks like something out of a music video.When you see anything online that is high quality from the music industry, it's probably the Citizen of Rap Ville.
And people will people are like, "Holy crap, like this video looks so good.And it's so visually storytelling.I I just want to eat this.Like it looks so good I want to eat it."
Mhm.
It looks so cinematic.Exactly.
Junior walks through how Rap Ville onboards artists, develops branding, researches the audience, and creates detailed monthly content plans. He explains the full production workflow from strategy to shoot day to editing.
This is This is Steve Jobs' own words.He wants to make a product so nice that people literally want to feel like they can eat it.
I do my MacBook.That's why he took a bite out of the Apple in the logo.
That's true.So, I I do want to you know, cuz obviously you guys run a very successful, you know, content marketing agency.I do want to get a kind of like, you know, peek behind the scenes on your process, right?So, if I'm an artist and I'm being, you know, onboarded to work with with Rap Ville, right?To help create content for me and hopefully, you know, blow up my music.What is the process, right?Like just walk me through literally everything from I sign up, the ideation process to then the shooting, the editing, the like you know what I mean?Cuz I'm sure it's not as simple as just like I click, you know, approve, buy and then like that's that, right?Like so I just want to know like how it actually works.
I hate courses.I hate webinars and I hate master classes, to be honest, for most artists because most artists naturally are so busy that they can't do everything themselves.
Yeah.
So, at Rap Ville, you don't just pay us and then you get this thing.
Yeah.
Instead, you get a whole team.
Okay.
So, as soon as you sign up, you get your content team delivered to you.This will include a creative director, a strategist, someone that's studied the algorithm, got millions of views before, will come into your world and understand your brand and create the the content ideas that you can approve to be yoursand ready to grow.right.
so, what if I don't know my brand?
Well, we help you figure that out with a branding session.So this is the process.You onboard after of course, you know, seeing me and the rest of the team and being like, "Yeah, I want to move ahead with you guys."
Yeah.
And then literally 24 hours later you're on a branding session.
Okay.
It's a 30-minute call, 1 hour.We don't really need too long cuz it's it's meant to be simple.The brand is meant to be simple.
Yeah.
A simple brand is what's more
I do think that the deep thought around this is what trips people up.Like, "So it's I'm so like multi-faceted and it's so complex."And it's like, "Well, no, that's actually worse.If you're complex to understand, it's actually not a good thing."
Exactly.We've got We've got one of our strategists there, a musician.That That brand is, "I make good music for non-resident Indians."Which is like Indians that are in the diaspora.And they're making cool music.I make good good cool music for those people.Which is like so simple.
Yeah.
That's the That's the Instagram bio.
Yeah.
Now all your content can be around that.So easy.It's so clear.
So the first thing is branding session.Branding session, okay.
We want to leave that branding session knowing exactly who you are, what you stand for, and what your audience looks, feels like, and the age of them.Pretty much.
We have really simple amazing questions.
Yeah.
I'll throw a few of them at you right now.
Okay, let's go.
First question, if you're standing on stage
Yeah.
and you're playing this song, because a brand is not the entirety of your life.The brand is based on the song you're releasing right now to be honest.And hopefully there's a consistent threat throughout all your songs that your brand is consistent.But a brand is now.And the brand can change.So right now with these songs that we're going to market this month and next month, if you're playing that on stage and you look at the crowd, what's the emotion on their face?What are they wearing?How old are they?What era is it?Are they holding iPhones or are they holding brick phones from the 2000s?Are they Y2K or are they way more modern?Are they sad boys or are they people that are in a relationship having a really good time?You know?Is it joy or is it sadness?Now you can start to picture the exact target audience, the feeling you want to portray because the song's already done it.
Now you just have to translate that into the videos.
Okay.
So once that branding session's done, then you want to Oh, and there's another great question.Are you struggling with visual storytelling?Sit back, close your eyes, imagine you're at the cinema and your song is playing as the background sounds to a movie scene.What would be the most perfect movie experience?
It's a good one.
Love that.
It's a good one.
What would it be?
Mhm.
Is it a really dramatic moment where someone's basically running away from themselves?
Is there a Hungarian woman
smashing a guitar?
Literally, I mean
Maybe.
Well, exactly, cuz that's what the song's about, anyway.
Yes.
Right?Is it a sad song where you can picture yourself at a park sat on a bench and it's dark and there's only one light shining on you?
Mhm.
And if you're struggling for this, well, ask AI.
Mhm.
Ask it, "Here's my song, here's what it's about, here's the emotion.What movie scenes can you think of?"
Y'all didn't think AI was going to make it into this episode, did you?You got that up.
Somehow, it's like content and AI are like sneaking their way into
They're going to.
I know, for sure.
Okay, so what happens next?
After the branding session, we then present you with a strategy because we're going to spend five to seven days researching your past content, seeing what's worked, understand your genre and your target audience, the age demographic, what do theylike, what have they shown to like in other niches.Take that data and create a really good, strong content plan for the whole month.
And so what is a content plan?
A content plan is a step-by-step script that explains exactly what the video is, what the hook is, the duration of that hook, the transition moment, the transition movement, the characters that are in this world.It Is there love going on or is there a fight?And where is the camera angle?Is it top down, 45 degrees, or is it Is it head on?This is like a full script that someone
For every video.
For every single video.
For the month.
For the month.
Okay.
Everything's extremely detailed and it's short-listed.So we have AI pictures, so you can see what it's going to look like before we create it.
Okay.You can
this world and be like, "Damn right, that's my world.Damn right, that's freaking cool.You guys are going to turn me into a freaking superstar like this."
Yeah.Okay.
You approve the plan, but you can also disapprove some of the plan because it's your brand.You're the leader of it.So, you can just tell us, "I don't like this.I like this."And pick and choose cuz we're not going to lead your career.You're going to be the leader, and we're going to support it as your team.All right?After that's approved, we then pick a date where we get our production team, whichever country you are.We have producers on the ground.We have the best videographers, editors, lighting guys, everything to make sure the shoot is perfect.And then if you need actors, either you're sourcing this yourself or we source everything for you.And that's what we do.Like we've posted a ton of vlogs on this as well, so people can go check those out.
Yeah.
That's the process.After that shoot's done, which by the way, we come to that shoot extremely prepared.
Yeah.
Most artists fail when they're trying to create content because they have no schedule for the day.They turn up and they're like, "Let's create content."We turn up with a whole shoot schedule, a pre-production plan that explains every single location, the address where we're going to film, pictures of the address, pictures of your outfits that you're going to bring to the shoot becauseeverything has to match.Colors matter a lot.And then also, what time is the crew going to be here?What time are the actors going to be here?And in the end of the day, we're going to film a month's worth of content in less than 24 hours.So, you just turn up for one day and we film everything.
Wow.
It's a machine.And then after that, we edit everything within 5 to 7 business days.So,
Yeah, I'm not going to lie.
The hosts discuss common client concerns, how to find the best part of a song, and why two versions of the same shoot can help test different snippets. Junior explains that the strongest videos are short, re-hook viewers repeatedly, and keep the visuals and lyrics congruent.
We had the pleasure of hopping on with some of the team members.
Yeah.
Like literally pretty legit.
We we got to kind of experience like the whole Rapville, you know, uh, experience cuz we had some questions about our own setup and filming and content and
later.
Yeah.Or, you know, very detailed approach later.Um, that's amazing, man.What's uh, you know, what are some of the most like common apprehensions that like clients have?Right?Because again, I feel like even if I'm like signing up for something, I'm still maybe like nervous about this or I'm unclear about that or you know what I mean?Like what are some of the most common points of resistance, right?So that people kind of understand you're not alone if you're like worried about XYZ.
Yeah.Most artists who come on the call and like, I don't want to I'm worried about working you guys at Rap Villa.The reason being because all the hooks that they remember and they've seen because they're studying music marketing but a lot of these artists, they're scrolling, they're saving things, they keep looking at the cringey stuff and that's the thingthat sticks in their head.So they think all the strategies we give them are going to be cringey.Like just the Snapchat hooks or just the TV transitions.But then I have to ask them a simple question, do you have an artist that you like on social media?Yes.Do you do they have visuals that are successful?Yes.So does that mean we have to be cringe with your strategy?No.Therefore, we're going to build something else personalized to you.Everything's personalized.What I've seen from other players in the space, I'm not going to mention names, but a lot of other videographers, a lot of other people that film this short form content, they're one-man band, they're pretty slow because they're
one-man band and they take the shortcut.They will book out a studio that has three different looks in it and tell you to stand and be like, okay, stand there, film, pose, 30 reels in one day.Dude, it does not matter volume anymore.It's all about the quality over quantity.It's about breaking through which means being extremely intentional about that hook and that moment that you're creating.Like just just and just on that on those formats that are working right now.You've got the bandwagon effect that's completely different to the rest, but it's this idea that if you get like 12 people standing behind you as you do like a little listening party and you stand and you perform infront, you can get you can get really viral results because having all these people listen to your song makes you look way more famous than you actually are.
That's the Tommy Richman.That's how he did it.And that's the AO Dice.You can't do that if you're just standing in a green screen and you're doing 30 reels in a day.You've got to coordinate all the people to show up.You've got to teach the people the song so they don't look like actors and they look like they're really enjoying themselves and then you've got to record in multiple angles so you can really capture the reactions.That's not something quick, but it's something that will work and it works almost every single time because that's just human psychology.Make you look way more famous than you actually are if you get loads of people reacting to the song.
So I mean like how do you find the most viral part of the song?It's kind of going back to the testing part, right?Because it's like I'm not going to lie, we've had multiple people come on the show and you know, say that they thought that one part was going to be the part that, you know, really resonated online and itwas a complete opposite and there was something else within the song that was actually what broke through.So how do you go about like determining which part is going to be the most viral?
Bro, where's my bell?This is the last call for the studio cable kit giveaway.
There's actually a bell by your head.
Jesus Christ.Forgot about that bell.Last call guys.This is the last call for the cable giveaway.We're giving away three studio cable kits for you guys to totally recable your home studio.Henry.
It's so easy to enter.
god.
All you got to do is comment the word recable on this YouTube video plus a sentence or two of who you are and what you do
without the bell.Can we not do the bell anymore?
Sorry.
Cuz the truth is you guys buy a cheap cable because it's cheaper, but then it starts humming and hissing and breaking and you got to buy another cheap cable which breaks and then you could have bought one firehigh quality cable like ours from the very beginning.
This is all thanks to our friends at IO audio technologies.They've been making pro-grade cables and connectors for over 40 plus years.This is some high quality stuff.
Yeah, I mean I put all their cables in our podcast studio and my music studio.I did it once and I'm not going to have to think about it for a very long time now.
He might not have to buy anything for
ever?
ever?Okay.
But if you do want to buy anything, head to the link in the description.There's their website linked.But honestly guys, I mean
The giveaway, though.The giveaway.
Yes, this is the last week that it's available.Just comment the word recable.Give us a sentence or two on your story, and we'll let you know who wins next week.Stay tuned.
If the artist hasn't got viral songs in the past, which most artists don't,
Yeah.
the way to do it is shoot the same video twice with a different part of the song.
Mhm.
Simple as that.You've already taken freaking 30 minutes to set up the shot anyway, get all the lighting to look beautiful.You might as well film two videos with either two different songs or two different snippets of the same song.As long as the emotion is the same, you can get a pretty good test.Either post them on trial reels or post them on the main page.And if it doesn't get views, well, it doesn't matter cuz no one saw it anyway.
Yeah.Yeah.And so, is it safe to say then then that you don't take the approach of like filming the whole song?
No way.
Okay.Well,
That's interesting.
Yeah.
There's a lot of people that, you know,
But also the
I know who you were talking about.
I feel like it I feel like if you shoot the whole song, and then you have one look there's only one variable that's different.
And then I can have a trial reel starting here, starting here, starting here, starting here, and you get the cleanest results.
only for performance videos.Videos where there is no hook.Once again, "Baby, I caught you falling for me."Citizen's hook right there with the in this song.If you take a different part of the song now and try and do it there, as she falls off the ladder, it's going to be a different lyric.It's not going to make sense anymore.It's not going to work as well.
Yeah.
So, you choose the visual based on the lyric.It has to be congruent.So, if you just
the idea of lyrical congruence.
I do.I do, too.Yeah.
But, is there a point where it's like too on the nose?Where it's like
It's literally Well, that one is literally
Cuz it's like too related to exactly what's being said.Like, I don't know.That's where my mind goes.
I mean, artist to performance, man.
Yeah.
Artist to performance.I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
And us as viewers, like, we're pretty dumb.We kind of need it spelled out for us.Like,
I think about I think about the Kells episode all the time, first of all.
Yeah.Dude, she was like she was like spamming posting the chorus.And then a reaction guy posted a video of her starting at the pre-chorus.And it went up and then she started just posting this pretty much same she has a look she has a brand just starting from the pre-chorus.I don't think there was anything like special about the actual words that she was saying but for whatever reason that part of the song just started hitting.It was like
don't work on social media.
Woah.
Cuz you think that's that's literally called the hook.
Yeah why because it's just repetitive most of the time.
Yeah.
boring.And the chorus is meant to be catchy.Meaning it's meant to be same.It's not meant to change too much.It's a repetitive phrase or or lyric that just makes you remember it easily.
Yeah it's ear candy melody.
Exactly.But that's against what the point of social media is.Point of social media is to be novel, be unexpected, and keep my curiosity throughout the entire 25 seconds of this video.How hard is it to keep someone's attention for 25 seconds and don't repeat it?
If it can be new as new lyrics, new things happening visually at every point in the video, you'll keep re-hooking people.That makes sense.
Junior explains how to choose the right section of a song based on silence, crescendo, and visualizability. He also addresses whether artists should change songs for social media and stresses that virality only matters if it leads to streams and fan conversion.
about the hook but they forget the re-hook.
And the re-hook is what keeps someone hooked.
Ooh.
Yeah.
How can you forget about the re-hook guys?
Yeah.
Speaking of length, how long should videos be?Well you know
You said 25 right there.
Yeah like 24 seconds 20 22 to 25 seconds.
Wow.That's a very specific kind of spot.Yeah.
And most most most songs follow that.Unless the song's really slow then you're in a bit of a hard hard place to be honest.But 22 25 seconds is pretty good.
And what what do you think about we had Matt Hanson on who um he says he has a lot of like big belty kind of choruses right?So he gives he gives like two to three seconds before the bit like he actually comes in right?To kind of he times it with like how long it might take them to read the text hook.And then the thing comes in.
Yeah.I mean that's the same with all transition videos right?Like you do actually play the song in the hook of the transition video, but very quiet in the background.
Right.
And more echo to make it sound like it's playing from someone's car outside or something.So it seems authentic.And then as it comes in, big risers.
Yep.
A bunch of risers, layer it up, and then boom, hit them with the big fit with the big thing.That's actually There's a few things I look for when I think about choosing the right part of a song.And it's these it's those elements.It's the element of uh is there a moment of silence and then a moment of just right in your face.If it's just loud the whole time, boring.I want to have it so there's a hook for the first 3 seconds, and then it hits you in the face really big.All right?That's why I I always look for that in the song.I know that if your song has that where it goes there's like a
Crescendo.
There's like a crescendo and then it just bangs straight in your face.Even better if it's a crescendo, moment of silence, and then bangs you right in the Even better.That exact If I could draw that out on a waveform, people would just copy the hell out of that.
All right?And the second thing I'm looking for is are the words really clear and are they action-based?Can I visualize your lyrics?
Mhm.
Some people will do lyrics that are that are really hard to visualize.It's like
They're theoretical or like their ideas.
It's very hard, but in some songs, they use certain objects or certain actions.Like slapped me in the face or when I step through when I step into the party, the party don't start till I walk in.Walk inside this place.You know, there's there's lyrics like that that you can visualize.Therefore, you can create visuals with them.
Okay, controversial question.
Okay.
Do you think cuz this is what some artists are thinking and I know they have a strong a lot of them have a strong opinion on this.Should they be changing the lyrics or changing their songs to work on social media?
If you want to grow faster,
Oh, no.Junior, don't do it.Don't do it, Junior.
It's a it's a double-ended sword.
It's tough.
Choose your opportunity cost.All right?You want to go viral quickly, make your song in mind that social media needs a few things to make it work really well.
Mhm.
Now, all right?But, if you want to figure out things a bit slower, but have a more obsessed fan base, a fan base that's willing to understand that this is your world, a fan base that's actually going to listen to yourmusic on repeat, you want a high listener listen to stream rate,
Mhm.
well, then you better not focus on social media.Focus on the emotion.
Mhm.
And the rest, there's things you can tweak in the song just to finalize it for social media, but don't make the song for social media, cuz then you forget everything around that.And there's a few creators, which you've seen, I'm not going to mention names, where the stream the streaming is not matching the amount of views they're getting on socials, and it doesn't make sense.Conor Price did a great job of going viral, but posting other bits of his personality and building a real fan base around the content, where his music was was great in a way that it he could make ithe could kind of this great song in a great video, and it would work well, rather than some people just doing approach where they need the song to be the thing.It's it's It's it's really a game of opportunity cost.
Just kind of choose your battle.You want to be big on social media and probably get more money straight away by getting brand deals, by getting a couple streams.You can get paid sooner if you if you do the the first approach, but the longevity of your career is a lot less.
So, when when you're putting these like plans together, I mean, how focused are you on like the listeners to streams, like average listener, you know, or average streams per listener ratios, and middle and bottom of funnel, like Imean, you're a viral content music marketing agency, so like in my mind, you almost shouldn't I don't know that why you would give a about that other stuff, but it sounds like you kind of do.
100%.
Is that Yeah, why, I guess?Cuz it's like I'm assuming you're measured on the like how viral did I go?
Yeah.
I'm hiring you cuz I want to go viral junior.
Kind of.
Right.
Okay, so yeah.For the right the right viral.I promise you nobody who's come on board to Rapville and actually paid us thinks that we're just going to get them views on social media.If that was the only case, they wouldn't pay us because they could just get views from ads and they would be just like bots.
That's true.
If you just want views, just buy bots.
Yeah.
If you want to fan base, then work with someone who understands getting a fan base, a community.
Okay.
I say viral, we put viral on everything we say because well, that's the only way people freaking listen to us.
We're suckers for it.We all want to go viral, man.
doesn't mean viral means not building a community.
That's where people get it twisted, though.
Yeah.
Most people do like they almost like It's almost like this holier-than-thou attitude of like they almost want to not go viral.
I'm going to grow slow and steady, one fan at a time.
Who said slow and steady?
One fan at a time is the best.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Who said that it has to be inauthentic?Who says that going viral is a one-hit wonder?Wouldn't you like to be a one-hit wonder?Which one do you rather choose?One hit or no hit?
Choose a hit.
So what we do, we we we focus also on our conversion, but we don't we don't say that we're going to get it straight away.We can't get it straight away.No one knows who you are.People need to hear the music multiple times.People need to see your videos multiple times before they can make a buying decision.Like anything.You've probably seen an ad from some company.They're on your mind a little bit, but you haven't clicked the ad.You've been busy.You didn't trust them enough.And then you just kept seeing them so much you're just like, "Damn, I'm going to freaking buy the product now."
Fine, I'll buy it.Freaking hell.All right.
Of course you you knew all my pain points.Finally, I get it.It's the same for music.Everyone knows when you're running ads, people need to see it like 7.4 times or something.It's the same with content.You go viral once, great.You're going to get some views, but you want to actually turn those views into streams, keep going viral to the same people, Keep posting stories.Be relentless with your content output and then you're going to get streams.That's why it's like we can help you go viral on the first stage, but we'll also tell you that there is a conversion approach so you can actually get streams on the back of this cuz viral is nothing.
The discussion turns to building a consistent world around an artist, including characters, locations, time of day, and visual tone. Junior also explains that bad music cannot be saved by content and that his team only wants to work with songs that are genuinely listenable.
Artists don't want to go viral.They want to build fan base and communities and that's what we understand.We show you all the hooks, but you don't know what goes on in the back end.You don't know why we chose that hook for that artist.What emotional we're playing into, what world we're building, the consistencies between the content.You go to some artists' pages, all the videos are completely different worlds, meaning there is no world.They're scattered.They're They're just copying.But with a strategy, if I ask an artist, do you have a strategy behind all these posts you did?No, I'm just posting videos.Saving posts and I'm recreating them.That's not a strategy.That is copying.You want to create a strategy that has your world and I'll tell you how to world build.If you want to world build as an artist, successfully world build that goes viral and converts people.
You don't want to just be one of these artists that gets views and doesn't convert people into streams.Be that embarrassing guy.What you want to be focused on is first of all, who the people that are going to be listening to the music.Who are their friends and how do they relate with each other, right?I say this is like characters.Who are the characters in your world?If it's a love song, character's simple.Probably you're in love with someone.That's it.So there's two people in the video.You're doing a love song alone, it's not There's no love.It's just you.It's just It's a bit weird, actually.Strange world that you're creating.All right.The next part of the world is location.Where will people listen to this?If this is a Y2K song, why you sat in a 2025 Mercedes?Get an old school Cadillac.
All right?And then the final part of the world is time of day and the visuals.All right?And it's the actions of all these things put together.If you're filming a song that's sad, you do not film this during straight sun sunrise.Like it's It's like It's the It's the The of the day.It's super hot outside.Birds are chirping.
Birds are chirping.That's such a happy view.
Everyone's got their coffee and they're so excited
to start the day.
Let me take you through it.In that world, there is nobody else in that world.
Yeah.
Meaning it's just you in that video.And if there is anyone else, they shouldn't have a face.
Mhm.
They should cover their faces.It's cuz you're the only person in that world.
Yeah.
I would love to get a song and just strategize right now cuz I genuinely think I'm the ideas man.Give me any song and I can brainstorm for it in like .5 seconds.
I've got I've got Well, I've got a little something cooked up for this final segment whenever we get there.I don't know where you're at.
Okay, cool.
Yeah.
We'll do another session like maybe.
Yeah.
So, I mean, can you blow up a bad song?
No.
Oh, yeah, for the wrong reasons, yeah, I guess.
Okay.
You just recorded your favorite song.The world has to hear this music, Henry.
I got to hear it.
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Let's get back to the episode.What the hell?
Most A bad song is like two things.If it's not mixed and mastered and if it like like it sounds really bad.Phone recording like it sounds cheeks.It's not going to It's not going to go viral.Please don't even What You don't get on a call with us.We've turned We turned down probably 3 to 5% of all the calls that come to us.When people like get on meetings, like we want to work with you.We listen cuz we listen to the music live on the call.We're not to scare scare any artists, but if you're on the call with us and we play your music and it's trash.I'm going to tell you, dog, click that red button.Please.
He did his American accent to me on the phone before.It was way better.
He's He's improved in like a day's time.We just talked yesterday.
Do we need to flip it on him a little bit?What should we do here?
Oh, it's cheeks.Absolute cheeks.Put your song in the bin.
Go to the loo and flush your song down the toilet.Yeah, anyways.
Anyway, yeah, cuz I mean, you know, your whole like slogan is like we make good artists go viral.So, I would assume, yeah, like you feel pretty strongly then about like the music
Oh, yeah.
needing to be good.
I've had Before this was a thing for us, before we were focused on making good music go viral, we were just like, "Oh, we just need to build our name as an agency and work with as many peopleas possible."That was a profit-focused way of thinking.And I own up to that at a period of time, right in the beginning.We've only been at this for a year and a a year and 5 months.
Crazy.
That's when we started this.But in the first 3 months, I was like, "Yo, we need to go go go.We got all this momentum.Let's accept everything.Let's build a name.Let's build Let's get some money."All right?But then yeah, and then it hits and you realize you have to actually work.
With these artists.
And you have to And you have to strategize
for these songs, but it's so hard to strategize for a bad song cuz you're not motivated, it's not fun, you're not excited.And I had team members leave me at that point.And we were a very small team.We were like five people.Someone left and they were like, "Yo, I just don't want to edit these bad videos."
Yeah.I don't want to edit these videos that have such bad music.It's not It's actually It's not even fun at that point.It's like it's just work.For me, I would rather be a musician in the idea that I can do what I love for work.And the only way I love my work is if I work with artists that I love.
There it is.
I love that because I mean, guys, we have all these cool people come on, talk about all this dope
Don't worry about it if your music's ass.
If your music is cheeks, like don't like, comment, or subscribe to the channel, bro.
No, we'll still take your subscribe.
No, bro.
take your subscribe.
on the music, man.
can get a subscribe and then go work on the music.
Okay, fine.
And then come back to here.
Fine.
You know what I'm saying?
You're right.Okay.
Our value is here.Like, they need, you know.
I know.I'm just I just more mean that to say like, none of any of the that we ever talk about on here is going to work if the music is ass.
Yeah, 100%.
And like, that's a hard pill to swallow.And like, I don't know, do you have to deliver that news?
Do you tell them I'm at I'm at first call when they're playing it?Like, actually, never mind.
Yeah, like
You got to you got to you got to imagine like this.Our calls run like this.Whenever we on board a new artist,
Yeah.
just before we on board a new artist connection.
I was going to say.
You're on a call with them.You're like, you know, let me understand the music.Let me understand your brand.Let me understand what's been holding you back.What have you done?What have you tried?And then it's like, before we get to figuring out how to move ahead together, I just need to listen to the music.
Yeah.
Is that okay?My artist like, yeah, yeah, yeah.Play the music.If your camera's on as the as cuz we get on a call as as growth consultants,
Yes.
we have a bunch of them on our on our team.They usually keep their camera on to listen to the music.
Mhm.
If the music's bad, you got to turn that camera off.Because you don't want to you don't want to get like hunted out because you laughed at someone's music.Cuz like, it can be really bad, you know?The music can be really bad to the point where it's like, you don't just do the
The polite the polite head nod?
I'm just saying like that.And then, after listening to the music, you just be like,
"You know what?I don't think we have any case studies for this market."
That's the line?
Politely decline.
So, if you hear that on a Now you know the secret.If you hear that on a call, I'm I'm sorry, but it's a very polite way to be like,
Wow.
"You got growth to do, man.
Yeah.
And it's And it's And it's out of love.Really is out of love.If you pay us and it's bad music, we're not going to be motivated to take it on board to do a good job.You're going to get scraps.Do you want to get scraps or do you want to get a team that's for you?
Yeah.See, it's it's weird, man, cuz I literally just saw a video of It was Neo on on Behind the Wall with Daniel Wall.And he was talking about Hey Ya with Andre 3000 and about how every single person told him, "Do not release this song.You will be the laughing stock of the music industry.Don't do it.This makes no sense for you."
literally is one of the most historic records of all time, obviously, at this point, right?
So, I I say that to say like there has to be some level of delusion kind of sometimes and like self-belief.
What we might mean by bad music that's very easy.Is it Does it sound like like is it comparable to a song that's actually listenable?
Is it listenable?Okay, I'll be fair.
It doesn't need to be the most well-orchestrated, best-structured, viral-this, viral-that.It just needs to be listenable to a sense like, "Yeah, I I think people would really like this."If it's not mixed and mastered,
That's an easy one, yeah.
If the beat is wack, if you're rapping off beat in a way that's not actually off beat rapping,
off beat, yeah.
well, then you're going to have a problem and we're not going to be motivated.
Yeah.
If you're singing off key,
I'm sure that song, Hey Ya, I'm sure that one actually sounds, you know, mixed and mastered.
Oh, it's an amazing song.
It just wasn't like what he had historically put out.
Exactly.That's a different framework of what people are used to.
Clearly a good song.
Yeah, but I mean I don't know.
No, I mean
People might have just been like, "Bro, this is weird as fuck."I think that
Yeah, people are I guess it's I'm We're biased now, maybe, but like
did uh
Someone told the story on this show, bro.
it as well.
Yeah.
Pretty sure he said it, too.And then Neo said the same I mean, dude, they did no one like that song.
How?I can't picture it.
I don't know because it's like it's you don't know until you know and then like the whole world likes it.
Shout out Shout out Andre up there on the on the wall.
For sure.But anyways, man, we've entered the final segment of the podcast.
Sorry.Can I Can I jump in and say?Oh, sorry.By By mix and master, I don't mean you have to come on the call with the most amazing perfect song cuz sometimes people will create songs and not finish them.Yeah.That's fine.I don't mean it like that because people will be like, "Oh, I have to go I have to be perfect before showing you guys."Like it's it's it's not like that.Bloody brilliant.
It's not like that cuz we understand that a song might not be mixed and mastered yet because obviously you're in creation mode.
In a rapid creative exercise, Junior designs hook concepts for several artist types, including an R&B singer, a drill rapper, a father writing a wedding song, an indie band, and a gospel singer. Each idea uses the artist’s real story and emotional context to create a visually compelling social video.
But we'll be able to We'll be able to hear if you're If you have the chance to be a good musician.
Yeah.Yeah.If it's off beat and you can't hear yourself and you can't sing at all and you're not even trying to use AI to sound any better, well, then, you know,
Yeah, it's it's also just one of those like it's subjective things, too, where it's like just because like their team passes and like we might pass.I mean, bro, I don't know.Like we're only just couple guys up here.
A few A few dudes.
But if you hear that all the time, I mean,
We're going to start the Just a few dudes podcast together, us three.A few dudes.
I'd love for Junior to replace you.
Okay.As we enter the best segment of the podcast, which is the rapid-fire rampage, I have a very special first part cooked up specifically for Junior that I'm calling the hook lab.Junior, I'm going to describe a few different artists and I kind of want you to describe what you would do for them as far as social media hooks.How can we get people's attention?How can we stop the scroll?
Okay.I like the name the hook lab.
Hook lab, baby.Let's get in the lab.Rap build hook lab.
That's right.
Artist number one, she's a shy R&B singer, maybe around 19, 20 years old.She's got 2,000 followers, right?She doesn't like talking to the camera.She does takes at her keyboard in her bedroom.She's got her phone propped up on a stack of books, right?She makes a ballads, typically ballads, right?This one's about her ex, let's say, who's now engaged to her best friend, Junior.How do we stop the scroll with our friend here?
May I ask first of all, am I limited to the equipment, which is a book, sound, and a phone?
Just If it's reasonable to assume she might have something in her bedroom.
Sure.I mean, does she have shoes?
Yes.
Right.Sell your shoes and pay for a videographer for a day.Step one.What I do is I'm going to I'm going to make sure this shoot happens at night time, because that's clearly the song, right?Sort of a breakup song.It's deep.It's introspective.I would then look for a peer space, a little studio, or ask the videographer if he knows any.Peer space is a great website to look for locations really quickly.Get something that has a massive window, that has this sort of one source of light, and you can probably AI a moon in, or record it where the moon is actually in the shot.And if you can silhouette her singing the song and add the lyrics right in the middle, really small, really tasteful.The lyrics don't need to be big.That's not what the song is.The song is meant to be introspective.
It's not meant to hook you with like, "Oh, this is shocking.It's so exciting."It's like, it's meant to be something which relaxes you, which kind of takes you out and is like, "Damn, I really connect with that."So, let's make something that isn't trying too hard, is tasteful, and cinematic.And in low light, it will be incredible.
I love how you comment on the size of the text.
Small text, tasteful.
Small, modest, everything big.That was so good.I literally had that
Let's do more.This is a great.Let's move on to our
Can I just add an extra hook to that?
Yeah.
Because there's no hook in that video, right?It's just a performance.
Yeah.
Which is fine.
Which it was good in my head.
It's really good.It's It's absolutely fine.But you can get someone from the ground, cuz remember this is a studio with a window.Likely she's on the second floor.Someone records her sat at the window bobbing her head thinking, "Is that Is she making music?Like, what's she doing in there?"
Transitions into
Transition into her actually performing the song.
Snapchat hook done well.
Snapchat hook.And if you can do it where it's like if there's something more going on in the visual, like for example, uh someone's got like fake rain out the window.Someone's pouring fake rain out the window with the girl performing in the screen.Now that's something Snapchat hookable.All right?So you record them be like, "What is What are they recording in there?"Transition to her.She's inside, there's rain outside, it's night outside, she's a silhouette.Come on, tell me more than sad visual.That's cinema right there.
So now that's the BTS.
I knew.
Snapchat hug.
Or merch or Oh man, we're
I knew it.
was it.Let's move to our UK drill rapper friend.He's got the hood up, tough guy.Let's say he's on the rooftop in front of his estate.
Okay.
He's doing a verse about his mom working two jobs.
Mom?
His mom, yeah.
Yeah, cuz he's he's UK.
I know, I wanted to make sure that's how I heard it and
Yeah, yeah.So, um he's trying to Let's give him a goal.Let's say like people who don't typically listen to drill, we want to like reel them in.How do we get them?Just to put a slant on this one.
Wouldn't it be cool cuz drill rappers aren't trying to be cringe.
Meaning you've got to create a strategy that's not cringe, but still viral.What I would do is drop down microphone.He's in front of his estate.Let's get him off the Let's get him off the building.Let's get him on the road, okay?Let's get him on the road with the cars, all right?And what I want to happen is I want there to be the visual of people standing behind him the same way you would do sort of a bandwagon effect where you get loads of people behind you, but thesepeople don't let them be drill rappers.He should be the only guy dressed in the sort of clothing that a drill rapper would be dressed in.Everybody else is older age, likely 40, 50 years old, and they're wearing public service clothing.People like nurses that you can sympathize with, that you look at and you're like, "Man, I wish you would have retired already."
When you look at someone like a fire fire fire fire extinguisher worker or
Firefighter?
firefighter.Ambulance people, police, people that you would respect in society in this sort of way which is like, "Wow, I mean I wish you would wish you would retire at your age."Right?Cleaners.Oh my gosh.Cleaners, street cleaners, people like that.Get them to be standing behind and let him be rapping at the forefront about these things.Now you've got something which visually story tells the deepness of this song, yet taps into the right audience, and is already visually enticing enough where it's like, "Why are all these people that are usually working
behind this guy?"I should pay attention to what's going on here.I don't even know what the song is or what it's about.
this.
Novelty sells and he had a little hook behind that.Of course, why these guys stopping traffic from the car that stopped behind them in the road.Why these guys stopping traffic?All right?And obviously it's a drill rapper standing in front of
You see like the back of everyone.Like, "What's going on up there?"
Exactly.Transition that shot.
Damn.
I just love how easily you're able to paint the visual picture, and that's where I think again, you kind of mentioned it of like, "If I can't really even describe what's happening in the video or be watching iton mute and automatically like see what's happening in the video, then
All right.Well, let's stop talking about how much you love it and more or less get back to doing it, bro.
So that's why I founded this company.How does the CEO of Rap build not understand viral content?This is what I do all day.
I know.I know.You're right.
I literally have multiple calls a day brainstorming with the team.This is what I do.
I got some more.I got some more.Keep cooking.We're talking about a 45-year-old dad never released music before.He does open mics maybe at bars.He just wrote an original song for his daughter's wedding.Oh, that's beautiful.
Ah, so it's about love.
I probably, yeah.I'd assume like she found her love and she's getting married to him, yeah.Let's do that.
Okay.And what's the demographic of this love song?Probably all ages, right?Well, older.Older age.
He he has a guitar and he plays at dive bars.You know what I mean?
Okay.
Um so yeah, I don't know if that helps.
You know what'd be funny?I crashed a wedding to promote my song.That's the text hook.
Mhm.
Or even someone's uh
I thought that would just be so funny.And then actually uh he can he can talk about the storyline of finding a wedding, a wedding that's going on, and saying, "Can I sing for your wedding?Only if I get to record it for social media though."
Mhm.
And he performs behind the crowd or whatever it is or next to the bride and the groom as they're looking at each other loving it as the crowd behind is grabbed out their phones and he's singing this song.That would just be such a good storyline to show actual love, love portrayed, and him just singing a song.Cuz he's a 45-year-old guy.He's not trying to do too much.He's trying to just be in a moment that tells a story of his song without him having to create the moment himself.
Mhm.
And it And just the fact that he's a 45-year-old guy and he goes on social media, here's 30 days, me trying to find a wedding so I can promote my song.
Day one, trying to find a wedding, right?
Everyone loves a series.Incredible.
Wow.Damn.Okay.Four-piece indie band.Sweaty basement show.You got like 30 people in the crowd maybe.Like crowd show, crowd footage, right?Unreleased song drops this Friday.They're trying to get pre-saves.
Okay.
But they they could they got cameras set up at the show, but like they don't know what to do.
Okay, here's what you're going to do.
Mhm.
You got to make sure one of the band members' moms is okay being on camera.
Okay.
I want to set up a camera in the room somewhere that makes it look like this was recorded like ages ago.I want them to degrade the footage a bit.And uh
Like home movies, VHS.
Yeah, sort of.And uh they record a video uh a conversation, a shouting battle with the mom and the son.The son's like, "Mom, but I've got to do this.I want to be I'm going to be on stage.Just you watch."Mom's like, "Oh yeah, you bet.You bet.Try your best."Yeah.
Transition to on stage.
Is this what I invested thousands for?This?I invested thousands for you to to to quit?
Yes.
And then boom, snap.
On stage.
text on screen from the beginning
Yeah.
which is what
your mom thought this was going to be versus the result.Sort of like
And then like follow your dreams or even something.Or like you, mom.
Me convincing
mom.I love you, mom.
quote-unquote something that was said in the video which is like you'll never make it.Or being an artist is crazy.Everyone's going to get hurt.And then transition to the actual moment when you're on stage, everyone going crazy.
it.
And the yeah, just he made it all the age and of the the age that you are now or the year that it is now.And um or even how many people are at the show, you know?Something awesome like that.
Damn.God, that's so fire.
And you know, all you four-piece indie bands
It's still that.
You know why it's so viral as well?Cuz it's his story.
Yeah, it's
That's not copied from anywhere.
Yeah.
That completely is novel.Cuz your story is novel.No one else has lived your exact story with your exact mom.She doesn't look exactly like that.No one looks exact like you.This is a novel moment that you can post and it will go extremely viral.
Insane.Okay.
Yeah, make sure the hook's not too long and the final video is like eight seconds.
God, I wish I had like 25 more of these.I got one more though.
One more.
There's a gospel singer in her church choir.She's like
gospel music.
She's a standout.Like she hits the high notes.The church ladies erupt.You know what I'm saying?Um she's singing they do classic hymns and stuff, but let's say she wrote her first original piece.
Okay.And when you And this song is just it's just a gospel track.It's an introspective sort of singer.Right.Well, first of all, most gospel singers just try and like be in a beach or stand in front of a white wall and try and sing.It's so boring.Get in a church.You'd be surprised.I can find a church building.We hired out a church building for five years for a five-year foreign's rebranding to being a gospel rap artist.All right?Hire a church.You want to get You want to get a smoke machine.You want to make sure that the light is beaming through the church onto your position.And someone's going to film from outside the church saying, "What is this guy doing?I swear church just finished or the service is over.What is she doing?"And she's setting up on the piano and she sings the song.
And that right there is just something that's so enticing.Even better, if this gospel song is meant to attract people that aren't even Christians to watch the video, make it even better.Have her sit in a bus filled by other people, but other people wearing masks.Everyone's got a black hood all over them.You can't see anything.They don't even look like humans.They just look like people that sat on a bus.She's the only one wearing white as she's singing the song.And have this sort of static angle slow zoom in.She's in a world of people that don't understand.She's the only one that understands and it's highlighted through the visuals.
God, he's good.
The episode ends with rapid-fire preferences, word association, and a few personal reflections from Junior. The hosts wrap up by praising the insights and closing the interview.
Okay, moving on to part two.Junior, I'm going to give you two choices.It's called the this or that.I'm going to give you two choices.All you got to do is pick one of them starting with
text hook or audio hook?
Text hooks you can play around with more, but I wouldn't even choose either.I'd just choose a visual hook.
Visual hook.
Might travel faster than sound, bro.So, just play with the
We were told like the words are the first thing that grabbed the people's eyes hit.But anyway, this is rapid fire.We'll get into You're allowed to pick a third option if it's better.TikTok or Instagram?
Insta.
Better for building a fan base.
Instagram or YouTube?
Instagram.Better for going viral and better for building a fan base.
Shares or saves?
Shares.That's manual virality.The algorithm doesn't control that.
One 10 million video or 10 1 million videos?
10 videos with a million views.
Reason being, hit someone the same way multiple times, they're going to remember your name.
Mm.Multiple touches.Hate comments or no comments?
Hate comments.Cuz then you can join in and you can make some love comments.And then you can convert some people.
with love.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And make way more content about the hate comments.
Haters turn into lovers very easily, by the way, I've come to find.It's when you like engage with them sometimes.It's crazy.ChatGPT or Claude?
Claude.It's way better at understanding large amounts of data and pretty creative.
I agree.I'm pretty much Claude max, but Astra 6 though.Try out the new GPT model.
Thank you.
Books or podcasts?
Podcasts.I can do it while at the gym.I don't have to like sit there and open a book.
Yeah, yeah.London or Miami?
Oh, Miami a thousand percent.London is filled with people that don't want you to be successful and they're not they don't think they can be successful either.So essentially no one becomes successful if you stay in London.That's the idea.
That's you getting out of your hometown.That's like the artist That's your artist story.That's your brand.
I just stayed here.I just stayed here for the last like three months.
Crazy.Arsenal or Chelsea?
I don't watch football.I'm too busy making viral content.
Let's go.I love that.Unlimited by reality or your mother's approval?
Come on.
I don't know the answer.
I dropped out of school.I have not finished high school.I dropped out of high school at 19 or 18 years old and my mom didn't talk to me for a month.Why?Because I was focused on building a business.I believe that my business has enough success for me and I love it enough and it can get me insane opportunities, which it has.I banked on that and said, "Mom, trust me."She said, "I don't trust you, so I'm not going to talk to you."
And I dropped out anyway.So clearly I know what game I'm playing and she would want me to be happy more than anything.
And does she approve now?
Oh, yeah.
Love that.
I mean I flew them all out to Dubai for a family holiday.I mean at 20 at 20 years old.
That is impressive.
yeah.
Yeah, I mean you started a
Shout out Mama Rap Bill.
You started a label at 14, right?
Started a record label at 14 years old, correct.
Did you ever like video games or like nothing else?
I know.It's funny but I mean like soccer.
Yeah, football.And when I did try I was always really bad cuz I was so behind in the video game world.
Yeah, yeah.
Unfortunately and we just didn't really have the money to be buying the latest and greatest video games.That was our family, so I had to find other things to occupy me.I was never actually focused on money there.I was a musician first and explored other things that my music help me do or rather what my creativity could help me do.Music is just problem-solving on a micro scale.You problem-solve to think of which high hat would be the best.You problem-solve to think how the bass can fit in so perfectly and how it should mix in with the rest of the beat.But, you cannot But, that doesn't mean you have to be a musician just cuz you're good at making music.You can take that creativity and problem-solving and ability to lower your ego to fix stuff out and apply it to a different to a different industry.
And you'll find that you'll be a lot better than other people cuz creativity makes you problem-solving, analytical thinking, and patience, and lowering ego means you can do anything.
Last one of this or that, only post TikTok dance trends for the rest of your life or leave the music industry forever.
Yeah, I don't mind posting TikTok dance trends.
He's going to go viral.He's going to go viral.There's one right now.Clip that.
He's got moves.
Someone clip that.The last part is the word association.Junior, I'm just going to say one word.I just want you to say the first word that you think of off the top of your head.It is that simple.Starting with music.
Marketing.
Viral.
Trend.
Hook.
Algorithm.
Ben.
Me.
Cringe.
Inauthentic.
Apple.
Samsung.
AI.
The future.
Jet lag.
Doesn't exist.
Dubai.
Luxury.
Atlanta.
Uh, not luxury.
Oh god.I just realized the order that I put those in.I should have flipped it.
Well, yeah.Poor Poor planning on your part.
America.
Ambitious.
Drill.
Music.
Afrobeats.
Fire.
Grime.
Unlistenable.
Nando's.
Chicken.
Rain.
Boring.
Royal family.
Fake.
Burnout.
Fake.
Red flag.
Ex-girlfriend.
Green flag.
Authentic.
Rap bill.
Viral.
Let's go.This has been the viral content marketing goat.
Goat.
Junior from Radville.Appreciate you coming on the podcast.Appreciate you for rearranging your schedule, flying into Atlanta.You're literally leaving right now.All within 6 hours of each other.Thank you, man.Thank you.So much game.Like, comment, subscribe.We're here each and every week.Till next time.
Bye-bye.
Peace, y'all.
Let's kill it.