Todd Collins is a man on an urban mission. Armed with years of incredible experience and success in the music industry, this founder of Gotee Records (along with Toby Mac and Joey Elwood) is now at it again with Beatmart Recordings. His aim?
To become the dominant urban musical brand in the Christian music scene. In this exclusive interview, Collins shares his experiences of leaving Gotee, beginning again and how hip hop culture needs to be taken seriously.
It seems that Christian music has made a lot of strides in almost every genre in terms of both quality and in general market receptivity.
The exception to that statement, however, seems to be the hip-hop world. First of all, do you agree with this? If so, is this part of your mission?
If not, do you see how this could be said?
I definitely agree with that statement! Think about it.
Hip-hop as a culture and as a genre is the newest to our culture overall. Therefore because it's the newest, I feel it's the least understood and least readily embraced. Hip-hop culture has saturated virtually every aspect of our lives now, from clothes to speech to even corporate companies and their advertising.
The Christian hip-hop industry will catch hold. It's just a matter of time and education, and I feel that is where we come in.
I feel it's our duty to educate our industry gate keepers to a genre that they are usually not "hip" to.
Once they've been somewhat "schooled" to what we're trying to do and the power of the language that's being presented, we've found that they've been extremely receptive. And to answer your final question: yes, this is very much part of our mission statement. It's all about education in our market, one person at a time.
Since hip-hop is a culture and not just a genre, how does that change your approach?
At present, we're definitely a music company first and foremost. However, we have plans to bring much more than just music to our market.
We have some things in the works to start doing some indie films, a clothing line, a management company, etc. Basically for us to survive, we feel we have to be a multi-media company rather than your old-school, run-of-the-mill, standard record label. I see month after month independent record labels come and go based on the old model of doing things.
That's not going to work...
especially for us. We're concentrating on media as a whole to present to a culture instead of music to a genre. Very good question!
I spoke with Grits several months ago and they mentioned trying to develop their own brand. Is that a goal with your artist roster or with Beatmart in general?
At this point in our young career, it's important for us to build the label brand as the umbrella and then all of the artists come underneath that.
For the past two years, we've really been concentrating on building the brand of Beatmart as the "team." Reason being, no one player is bigger than the team. MJ [Michael Jordan] couldn't win a championship by himself and that's the mentality that we have as a label.
We're still in the process of building and establishing our brand while we market and promote our artists underneath that moniker. That's what we did early on in the Gotee days and Grits benefitted from that mentality. I think that's why they are going that route now, which I think is smart.
At one point, you're at Gotee and seemingly enjoying a successful artist roster. What is the point where you are fine being there one day and then the next, it switches to wanting to leave?
Well, it really wasn't that easy.
It wasn't an "overnight" decision. Myself, Joey, and Toby had spent many years painstakingly building up Gotee to compete in our market. Basically to make a long story short, we had become so strong and solid as a label that we had about 15 artists and 20 people on staff.
It had become a big, well-oiled machine. I felt that it was time for me to move on when I realized that I was no longer involved with the creative aspects of our label. I was mostly involved in the macro decisions that had to be made that weren't considered "creative.
" That, to me, was the fun and interesting part of the early years of building a company. My creative juices had stopped flowing so I felt the Lord moving me to go in a different direction. It's really that simple.
So we sold part of our company to EMI and at that time I cashed out and did my own thing.
Can you tell us about the time of transition between Gotee and Beatmart? What were you doing in that time frame?
I really just wanted to produce records and develop artists. You know, all the creative stuff. The last thing that I wanted to do was own another record label, but with God's sense of humor, He had other plans.
I took two years off and just did anything I wanted to. I worked on some projects that I would not normally work on, developed some things that I had time for, and just relaxed with my family and did "family" things. After about two years, God started stirring in my spirit again and He started showing me that there were artists out there that deserved a shot that only a small independent urban label could afford them.
So again, I started down the path of starting another label with my brother Troy. I guess we're sadistic like that.
So what sets Beatmart apart from any other label?
And lastly, I believe we're very personal. With Beatmart only having four people currently on staff (that includes myself and Troy), the artist doesn't have anywhere to go but to the main people that are running the company -- not some assistant or intern to relay or communicate messages from the artist. We can't afford to have multiple layers between the label and the artist like some labels have.
It's just us and them as one team in the trenches together trying to figure this thing out and make it work to get our message across to people that need to hear it.
You mention in your mission statement for the label: "We are a Christian record label in the Christian music industry and we are proud to state that claim." Is this reactive to a feeling that others are not proud to state that claim?
No, not at all. We've just been in this market for many years and the Christian industry has been good to us. We don't want to garner any success and then be viewed as turning our back on a marketplace that got us where we are just to chase a general market dream.
We also don't want to partner with artists that want to just use the Christian market as a stepping stone into the general market. That's not who we are and if we find that an artist has that intent, then we'll gladly let them go on their way with no questions asked. We just basically want to raise the level of music in our market with the message of Christ and are proud to state that claim.
What if this happened organically? How do you handle the artist or rapper who is breaking out into the mainstream in a natural way?
If this happens, which we're not opposed to, then that means that the mainstream came to us or the artist under his own merit and artistry instead of us "consciously" going for the mainstream hit.
If this happens organically, then it'll be because we made a song that glorifies Christ that happened to just catch on. This is the kind of thing that would be nice and can be hoped for, but we certainly don't plan for it.
In a movement of musicians who seem to be wanting to be Christians in a band but not being a Christian band, this seems to be going in the opposite direction.
You agree?
Somewhat. I guess one could view it that way.
However to be honest, I haven't really thought about it in that way nor do I really have the time to worry about what other artists are doing. All I can do is worry about myself and my company and how we present ourselves as businessmen and, more importantly, men of God.
You guys are dong the mixtape submission thing to find artists.
This seems to be an imaginative process. Can you tell us more about it?
Actually, I wish I could take credit for it being this elaborative A R process for finding artists.
It actually didn't start out that way at all. The whole idea behind that record and brand was to initially drive traffic and hits to our website at beatmart.com.
It was by accident that we stumbled across the idea of it actually being an A R tool for us. It's worked well for us in that regard too. Out of the submissions process, we've signed Bobby Bishop and Soul P.
and are looking at someone else right now. It's also been good in that, instead of us having to go out and actually find new artists, they somewhat come to us in the initial stages. Then we go from there if the artist sparks more attention in becoming a signed artist.
So I guess to answer your question, the Submissions records didn't start out to be a tool to find artists. It just kind of "morphed" (pardon the pun) into that and, more importantly, it helps us keep our ear to what's going on in the street and in the independent scene.
What are you finding in the street and in the independent scene?
What's currently happening in hip-hop culture that you're finding?
I've found that there's a ton of talent out there but not a lot of really hungry workers. You see, I'm not necessarily looking for the most talented emcee out there.
If that were the case, it would be easy. What I'm looking for is a talented kid that is currently building his own brand whether there's a label involved or not. I want to see that this is his main job and he's going to be doing this regardless.
I want to see that he's booking and doing his own shows. And lastly, his actual live show has to be entertaining and somewhat polished. The independent scene out there is definitely alive and thriving, but with the advent of inexpensive technology, anyone can make a record.
As a result, there's a ton of crap out there as well. With more options also comes twice as much garbage. I see and receive a ton more trash than treasure.
It's sometimes frustrating.
Two-fold question: In the current hip-hop culture, what concerns you the most within the culture and what excites you the most?
The thing that concerns me the most within the culture in general is the pervasive, bragadocious, self-promoting "me" attitude.
That, in my opinion, isn't very Christ-like but I know that's part of what comes with the territory and swagger in hip-hop. However, hip-hop is also about being unique and different and I'd like to see more selflessness and humility in some of these uber-talented type cats.
The thing that most excites me is the wide openness of hip-hop in our market.
I feel that the industry is primed for someone to come along and completely carry the torch of bringing the hip-hop culture into the Christian market and helping it to be a mainstay. That's where I feel that we can come in and be the leader on many different levels. Hip-hop is such a powerful language, and we want to be, in part, the translators.
That's what excites me!
How difficult is it for the Christian urban artist to create his/her art to the extent they would like to. Obviously, there's a reality to the business side and if that side is completely removed from the realities and understanding of the hip-hop culture, it can create a disconnect.
Can you speak to that?
Honestly, I'm not exactly sure I completely understand the question but I will say this: In the 18 years of me being in music professionally, I've never encountered an artist that was completely happy or satisfied with the total creation of their art. In the early stages, I believe that a new artist should earn the right to be able to have complete and total creative liberties on his later records.
Reason being, is because a new artist has to earn the trust of his fans and consumers so that later on subsequent records, his consumer base will trust any thing that he puts out artistically.
When you add the intangibles of the business side, that makes for even tougher odds. As satisfying as it sometimes can be, music as a profession is one of the toughest careers that one can have.
It's the one profession that is mentally taxing, physically draining, financially grueling, yet people are dying to still be a part of it. Plus, the odds of success are highly stacked against you. However, once you've established yourself, there's no better profession to be privileged enough to be a part of.
What do you want people to know about your label and what's coming up?
I want people to know that we're a humble beginning upstart label that's got one thing in mind - to present the message of Christ to a youth culture that's "dying" to hear it. We're just normal guys with normal artists trying to accomplish supernatural things through God's grace.
The things that are coming up is; new artist Willie Will, a new Bobby Bishop record, Best of the Submissions: Volume 4 with a cool new twist, and a couple of new artists to be named soon. Be on the lookout. '07 looks to be a big year for Beatmart!
Finally, where do you hope Beatmart is at in 5 years?
This is an easy one! I want us to be viewed as the go-to urban label in the Christian market and I want to help to develop artists that have staying power, have a powerful message and story, and have longevity.
I want us to aid in helping the genre of urban/hip-hop music be a mainstay in our market and Christian culture. We've got a long way to go, but we're taking baby steps to get there, and that to me is progress.
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