We recently connected with King Royal and have shared our conversation below.
King, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
I never focus on what the industry is doing. That could also be the reason why it took my music longer to get popular. I’m not rapping about all the same content that you hear on the radio. How can you ever expect to stand out if you’re always doing what everyone else is doing? I’ve always been a leader. I do what I want without having to follow trends. I encourage all upcoming artists to do the same. People get so caught up in what’s popular and end up going down a road that that can’t turn back on. I’m always pushing my team to be themselves and proud of who they are.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For those who may not know, my name is King Royal. I was born and raised in the Inland Empire, in California. I was born into this lifestyle. My pops was involved with music heavily before I was even born. I remember sitting in his sessions as young as 3 years old. Music was always my passion, but I didn’t start rapping until high school when I met some guys that had the same passion as me. I started rapping at 15 but it became bigger than that around 3-4 years later. My pops and I created our own label; Royal Diamonds Entertainment, LLC. Becoming a business man at such a young age really disciplined me quick. I got a degree in Business Administration with a minor in marketing because I needed to make sure we understood the business completely. Every move I made was critical because I knew I was my biggest investment. Whether it was music videos, photo shoots, studio sessions, album releases, single releases, performances, merchandise, etc. my pops and I made heavy investments in the company. Taking the independent route is always going to be a longer journey but I wanted to be the one that made it possible, especially coming out the Inland Empire. We now have multiple artists on our label. Everyone is talented and unique in their own way. We’ve built this from the ground up with no ceilings, so it’s no limits to how high we can go. We make music that’s timeless. It all speaks for itself.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My entire journey illustrates resilience. King Royal is the definition of resilience. I’ve spent 12 years now crafting and molding my career. I’ve gone bankrupt multiple times just from funding the career alone. There were multiple times when my music was denied or looked down upon. There were so many times when people thought my music wasn’t going to excel just because they didn’t believe in the unorthodox content. I’ve probably denied more than accepted any many situations, from the labels, to promoters, to DJ’s and even radio program directors. However, that never stopped my hustle. Ultimately all my wins outshine my losses now but I never would’ve experienced that if it wasn’t for my resilience.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
There’s never one perfect way to grow your clientele nowadays. Social media is so broad in this generation, you almost have to just test the waters with multiple things. What works for the next man might not work for me. That’s why I took every approach I could. We’ve passed out flyers, put up posters, promoted on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, been placed on multiple playlist on Spotify/Apple Music, had performances, connected with DJ’s, etc. The possibilities have always been endless for us. Instagram definitely gave us a big growth though. So did the King Royal Billboard in Los Angeles. Those were a huge help but at the end of the day, nothing beats networking. This industry is really all about who you know. Certain people are able to open certain doors for you, just off great connections.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.royaldiamondsent.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kingroyal_rde
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kingroyal_rde
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/kingroyalofficial
- Yelp: https://tiktok.com/@kingroyal_rde
Image Credits
Royal Diamonds Entertainment, LLC