Trapital Dan Runcie

An audio version of the Trapital essay “How Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Built a Content and Commerce Powerhouse”
The star couple regained Hollywood success by letting fans into their once-private lives and building a media-driven commerce flywheel with Westbrook Inc.
Host: Dan Runcie, trapital.co
Trapital is home for the business of hip-hop. Gain the latest insights from hip-hop’s biggest players by reading Trapital’s free weekly memo:  trapital.co/newsletter

DJBooth’s Editor-In-Chief and VP of Content Operations and Artist Services at Audiomack, Brian “Z” Zisook, came on the pod to talk about DJBooth’s 18th anniversary (!) and how it stayed strong over time. We also talked about the role that major record labels serve, the potential for indie artists, TikTok’s influence, the streaming era, classic rap albums, short releases, and more. At the end, we talked about Audiomack World and the company’s new partnerships with DistroKid.
If you want an honest take on where the music industry is heading, this is the episode for you!
Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co
Guest: Brian “Z” Zisook, @djboothEIC, audiomack.com/world

Music Entrepreneur Club founder Dame Ritter came back on the pod to help me break down four music industry myths:
artists need to own everything. Ownership! I can’t make money on streaming NFTs will save me I’ll make all my money on tour All of these takes need nuance, and there’s no better person to talk to than Dame. He ran Funk Volume, a former independent record label that hit $4M in sales in its first four years. On the episode we also talked about the comedians he manages, Bigg Jah and Minks, and the difference between artists and comics.
If you’ve been hearing a lot about ownership, music business models, and want more context, this is the episode for you.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Overcast | Amazon | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | RSS
Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co
Guest: Dame Ritter, @Dame_MEC
Links: Music Entrepreneur Club
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Dreamville co-founder and President, and J. Cole’s manager Ibrahim Hamad came on the Trapital Podcast to talk about how him and J. Cole started Dreamville and how it became what it is today.

Ib also broke down what changed for Dreamville in 2014, the impact that the Dollar & a Dream tour had on J. Cole’s career, establishing the Dreamville brand beyond J. Cole, and why the Dreamville Fest has nine lives.

This episode was originally published in April 14, 2020

The artist Micah Johnson came on the pod to talk about his rise in the art world. On February 21, he introduced the world to Aku: The Moon God, his fictional character that was born from a question, “Can astronauts be Black?” Aku was released as an NFT that resulted in $1 million worth of sales in 1 minute and $2 million total in 28 hours!

Micah was also a former Major League Baseball player, so we talked about his transition from MLB to fine art.

The multi-hyphenate entrepreneur Mick Batyske (aka DJ MICK) came on the pod to share how he started his career as a DJ (Mick Boogie) for the Cleveland Cavaliers hosting parties for LeBron James and Jay Z. He rebranded as “Mick” to expand his reach in multiple areas, build for the long-term, and leverage his best skillsets.

His most important skill is building relationships and gathering audience insights. That mindset equates to how founders think, how marketers sell products, and invests in startups