Strange Music CEO Travis O'Guin On How To Succeed As An Independent

[Young/Nacho\Drawz]

HNHH sat down for an illuminating interview with Strange Music CEO Travis O'Guin to discuss his history with Tech N9ne and what it takes to be successful as an independent artist or label.

A successful businessman in the furniture and real estate industries, O'Guin recognized that Tech N9ne's talent was being mismanaged and partnered up with him to form Strange Music around 2000. A believer in the Japanese business philosophy that the middleman should be cut out, O'Guin built a Strange Music studio and started making all merch in-house.

"The times in which we had a middleman, somebody between us and our money, were the times that weren't so pleasant," he said.

O'Guin detailed the difficulties of being an independent rap label, which were much greater in the early '00s than they are today, and laid out a template for what it takes to be successful as an independent.

"This is more than about money, liquor, weed, bytches," he said. "It's about music first... When you are truly and wholly in control of it, and you care about it, and you won't take no for an answer and you won't give up and you fail, that's really what Tech and I are all about."

 

[Rigby.]

Bool

 

[Art Barr]

I can take some of what he says as a model for study.
yet, you can not replicate technine as an indie because pedigree wise in business.
he is a former charge of:

JIMMY JAM AND TERRY LEWIS
QD III - QUINCY JONES

so, you won't open up any legacy style doorways that were laid out for tech.
so, I will listen but I know it is a pedigree variable to tech's draw.
that, no one can duplicate at all.


Art Barr

 

[Art Barr]

travis is completely on point in this.
this is incredible.
somebody actually gets it.


Art Barr

 

[Art Barr]

peep the 20 minute mark and see the real from someone else, but:

Art Barr

 

[TheRtist]

he snitched on TDE/Kendrick lol

 

[Doomsday]

Nice interview.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

he snitched on TDE/Kendrick lol

Yup... @14:00

 

[iseetrolledpeople]

I can take some of what he says as a model for study.
yet, you can not replicate technine as an indie because pedigree wise in business.
he is a former charge of:

JIMMY JAM AND TERRY LEWIS
QD III - QUINCY JONES

so, you won't open up any legacy style doorways that were laid out for tech.
so, I will listen but I know it is a pedigree variable to tech's draw.
that, no one can duplicate at all.


Art Barr

Tech had contracts with alot of dudes but somehow he still did his thing.
Thats a story I want to hear about. Getting dropped is unlikely for someone with Techs abilities.

edit: Man fcuk a interview. This one right here is piff.

 

[Young/Nacho\Drawz]

I just hate the fact that he acts like he invented being indie. I have always said that the industry has hid most of the indie success stories because they didn't want artist to know that they could do it on their own. They talk about people like Master P but the south and west stayed with indie artist in the 80's and 90's moving hundreds of thousands of records. It would be interesting to see who did millions indie. I know people like Ice Cube consider themselves indie but I don't mean people like him.