Breaking into any business is hard, but the music business is particularly difficult offering a set of unique challenges. It’s an insular field with many gatekeepers who guard the gates carefully. It’s one of the few industries where nepotism runs almost unchecked, and what you know isn’t as important as who you know. Fortunately, there are some enterprising minds who are working to open the gates to up and coming talents, both behind the scenes and on stage. iStandard Inc. has earned a reputation for seeking out the newest producing talent through their website and producer panels and showcases in New York, Lads Vegas, Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, Philly and Chi-town, and they’re now partnering with Miami-based DBHH Management to produce the first annual Beats on the Beach conference this October in Miami Beach, an event we here at Alumnah are proud to support. 

I recently had the opportunity to chat with organizers J Hatch and Don Di Nappoli about their work and what attendees can expect at the first annual Beats on the Beach Conference and why it’s important to climb every rung on the ladder to success.

GE: Tell me a bit about what you do, I see iStandard has been making moves for a minute. 

BOTB: iStandard Incorporated, we have the largest producer showcase in the country, we do showcases across the country, in New York, LA, uh, Miami, Phoenix, Chicago, and hopefully we’ll be adding more cities this year. We’ve been doing the producer showcases for about three years. Through the website, istandardproducers.com, its an online production shop, we get over a million hits a month, and have built a community of producers who submit their tracks and can get them seen and heard and in front of labels and A&RS. We do publicity too; we create publicity campaigns for a lot of up and coming artists. 

GE:  What’s your goal with the showcases? 

BOTB: There are lots of really great new producers out there, and there are also a lot of really bad ones. Were trying to help them out, educate them, “This beat is good, but change this, you need this or you need that” to get them to the next level. 

GE: Let’s talk about Beats on the beach, how’d the idea come to be and why you chose Miami? 

BOTB: We were working with Sha Money XL, consulting on his event, the One Stop Shop Producer’s Conference in Phoenix, and we met our partner Alex Borrero with DBHH Management in Miami. There were 6-700 people coming out for it and we had the idea to do something in Miami.  Miami’s such a hot bed of music right now, in terms of producers, radio personalities, even labels coming down. And who doesn’t want to be in Miami, in the middle of October, on the beach networking? 

GE: Who are you bringing in for the Conference and who should attend? 

BOTB: We’re bringing down Sha Money XL co founder of G-Unit, Lenny S the VP of A&R Def Jam/ Rocafella records, Riggs Morales of Shady Records, Julian Boothe of Slip n Slide, as well as multi platinum producers The Runners, Cool and Dre, Jimmy Kendrix and The Diaz Brothers and so many others.

And the thing is, you’ll really get to network with these folks, it’s not just people talking on a panel, there’s no roped off VIP section, no bodyguards, you’ll have the opportunity to sit down and have a drink by the pool with these reps and A&Rs and sell yourselves. 

GE: So it’s kind of like a producer’s bootcamp?

BOTB: Absolutely. I think one of the biggest challenges that a lot of aspiring producers have, is that they don’t know, you know, that first approach to what it they’re trying to do. They’re like “I got a hot track, I’d love to get this to T.I., but I don’t know how,” you know what I mean? You got a lot of people who talk like they know, like “my cousin is so and so, or I know so and so, or I work with so and so; this is an opportunity to meet that so and so face to face, not just talk about it, but be about it. So maybe not necessarily a boot camp, but definitely an opportunity that a lot of people don’t always think about. A lot of times, they just want to get a deal, they don’t know there are steps on that ladder, they kinda just want to go to the top. We slow that process down a little bit and just try to educate everybody because, you need to know where you’re going before you get in the car to drive there, and you know what I mean? Were kind of like the MapQuest of music industry seminars. 

We try to give them, producers and artists, a roadmap to success, teach hem how to communicate properly, how to network properly, how to build a relationship that’ll last a career, build leverage.

GE: Will producers actually get to show their work? And is it just for producers, or is it also for artists looking to get signed, managers? 

BOTB: If you are a producer and you want to be in the producer showcase you can win $3-5,000 in equipment. There are a lot of opportunities. It’s all about winning, it’s all about networking.  We may do some impromptu competitions on site, some beat competitions, raffles. It’s for everbody, producers, lawyers, talent, publicist, anyone running these websites. Really anyone looking to be in this industry, even fashion, you’ll get a lot of great contacts, meet a lot of great people who are working their way up the ladder themselves. It’ll be one huge synergistic networking opportunity.

Be sure to check out www.beatsonthebeach.com for registration and more info. If you’re a producer, be sure to check out the submission section; you have until September 12 to submit your best beat for a chance to showcase your work at the conference in front of industry heavy hitters and win up to $6000 worth of prizes including a Roland Phantom G 6, IK Total Studio Bundle and ARC System, Publicity and Management packages and more. Stay tuned to Alumnah for the Beats on the Beach happenings and interviews with panelists and guests, and I’ll see you all on the beach.

*Image courtesy of iStandard Producers Showcases