We were lucky to catch up with Ernst Louis-Jacques recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ernst, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
When I began producing around 2016 I struggled with figuring out the business side of things. Producing is so much more than simply making beats and sending them to artists. In fact this is only a small part of the process. There is so much more that happens after the artist recieves the beat and records on it. As I would figure out more details regarding the post-placement process, I would share what I learned. I recall discovering songtrust and immediately making posts to my story outlining what I had learned. These posts would gain traction and various producers would contact me with questions. This knowledge grew and grew and I eventually started my company PBSJ Management in June of 2022. I had no idea where to start but I had a belief that it would be successful. The music industry like many other industries is based on your networking and connections. I felt that networking was one of my strengths and that it would help me build my business. The first step of the process was developing an LLC. Once this process was completed I began working with my first business partner RecoMaivia. He was and is very knowledgeable and has given me great tips. I am constantly expanding my brand and working with new partners. However, KaineThisFed the CEO of FederalSoundCo and RecoMaivia are my current business partners.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I first touched some piano keys at my Grandma’s house in 1996 at the age of 3 years old. She planted the seed in me and my cousin MinyarMusic. He would prove to be instrumental in my start to production many years later. Once I started on the piano, my parents allowed me to take lessons for the next 17 years. I specialized in classical music and would also play in church which I still do to this day. My production journey started in high school where I would tape the doors of the computer lab with my friends in order to sneak into the computer lab to fiddle with Garage Band. A few years later my cousin @MinyarMusic would introduce me to Mixcraft where I learned more about music structure and how beats worked. A few years after this I would discover Ableton and my passion for making melodies. I would send these melodies to other producers to add drums etc and my career was born.
I started my producing career at the same time as I began teaching first grade. I recall playing my beats during lunch and after school. Working in Vallejo California, some of the older students would be listening to and rapping songs by a group called SOBxRBE. Overhearing snippets of these songs (prior to telling them to turn it off) introduced me to the bay area scene and the iconic sound that is present in this region. Throughout the years, I would be fortunate enough to co-produce songs like “All You Do is Lie” by BustdownLulG and multiple songs for Lil Sheik whose sounds were similar to those of SOBxRBE.
While working in the Education field, I learned a lot about dedication, discipline, professionalism and consistency. These skills transferred over into my work in the Music industry. The most important skill I learned is that of hard work. I was never the best solo producer, so I had to focus on collaboration. This trained me in the art of networking and learning how I could provide value to others. This has been key to my business, and my passion for helping others has allowed me to help others reach their version of success.
My company PBSJ Management strives to provide numerous opportunities to our clients. This is typically done through our groupchat where we post different emails, numbers or other contact information for various producers and clients. Many times I ask my producers for loops or beats that I can send either directly to artists or to other A&R’s who make plays for us. We also use our connections and professionalism to negotiate on behalf of our producers and put the pressure on the labels when necessary. Whenever, Reco, Kaine and I receive terms for a placement, we always try to “negotiate higher”. This means we try to establish a more favorable advance or more favorable terms for our producers. We also issue numerous takedowns when our producers beats are stolen or artists don’t pay them. Our producers are from all over the world and are extremely talented and we have reached some amazing milestones. These include multiple billboard and gold certifications as well as having the 49ers reach out. We are also anticipating a future Grammy certified album with a drop date set around the top of the upcoming year.
I receive dms daily from producers who want me to sign them to PBSJ Management. This led to the creation of another program/company that I developed. My second company is called PBSJ Academy. This is a company/program that I developed to help upcoming producers. This program can be found by visiting www.patreon.com/pbsjacademy and involves a monthly subscription. The producers who are part of my Gold team have access to the same opportunities that my signed PBSJ Management producers have. I also have a groupchat and discord with this program that allow these producers to network. This has been extremely rewarding for me as many of the producers who have enrolled have gotten their first placements through this program including one with Quando Rondo and many with Xay Hill. I also scout these producers for management and have signed 5 producers to my company who started with this program. It is awesome for me to see who is willing to really lock in with me and who takes this business seriously.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The best way to build clientele is simply to do good business. In the Music Industry it doesn’t help to be too pushy and try to force producers to sign with you or to collaborate. However, the producer community can be very tight knit. This means that you may know someone who knows someone else who may have heard of you or your company. The best way to make an impact is to simply do good business and learn from others. Being a fairly new company, I know that I have a lot to learn and that my reputation matters. These days, when I approach a producer they tend to have already heard about my company and reputation.
I also make sure to try and learn from as many of the greats in the Industry as possible. When I am fortunate to have conversations with these icons, I make sure I glean as much as possible from them. Whenever I speak to Daniel Cruz of Producer Royalty, Jerome, TennnisClubSwervie, DJ Ice or anyone else, I am put on to various books, strategies, or mindset shifts that allow me take my company to the next level. Although these conversations may not focus primarily on growing clientele, they focus on ways to better myself or to better serve my current clients. This allows me to make sure that I am taking care of those who I’m connected to and serving them effectively.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
My first business partner was RecoMaivia. He was someone who I knew well as he was already my manager when I was producing. This relationship started through social media where I recall swiping up on a story where he mentioned that he was looking for producers to manage. This allowed me to know who to work with when it came time to starting my company because the trust was already there. He and I started comangaing producers together.
I also found my second business partner via social media. The producer Yanabu posted the 2022 FederalSound recap in his story which led me to do some digging. Within the next week, KaineThisFed and I had our first call and began building together. This led us to comanaging several producers together
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Emma Louis-Jacques