We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sneakz BTW. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sneakz below.
Sneakz, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
By The Way Entertainment came along so randomly. When it was time for me to create this management company, I had to think of something creative and honestly, nothing came. So I went with what our goals as a company would be and that’s to put people that need to be highlighted, in the spotlight. Have you ever been out & approached a group, you knew someone in that group but not the others yet you’re not introduced so you have that awkward “Hey I’m Tom by the way.” That’s Us. We remind you we’re here.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
My name is SneakzBTW Founder & CEO of BTW Ent( By The Way Entertainment) an artist management Development company. I run this business with my wife Ellie G (Co-Owner & President) we both have our specialties and it’s what helps the business grow as well as set us apart from others.
I started in this business back in 2015 after a friend of mine Misl Crisis who is also an artist asked me to come to a studio session with him. Going to the studio, I fell in love instantly with what was going on. I started giving constructive criticism to the songs & deliveries of each bar & did not realize I was doing a job (A&R-ing) when the studio session was over the engineer said to me: “I don’t know who you are but thank you.”
We left the session and I asked Misl if I could be his promoter & he agreed. I made memes, and sent music out to promoters and DJs. Even started locking in show dates for him. Within 3 months we agreed that being his manager was the next best step for us. My wife Ellie G connected me with my first promoter who booked Misl for a showcase at a bar where we killed the stage. And we continued from there and grew to opening up at the OC Observatory and being a part of selling out multiple show dates.
Along this journey, was a lot of work. Sending and answering emails. Still promoting the artist’s work. Pushing the artist to stay focused and stay consistent. As the popularity grows some artists take that to mean more work and others can take it as, “I made it.” Our job is to ensure the artist knows how to stay focused on more growth.
To achieve more growth financially as well as a brand, BTW & Misl Crisis decided to curate our own concert. The thought behind it was to Spotlight Misl Crisis as a headliner as well as find other upcoming artists to spotlight. And instead of paying to open for a big name, we pay a bigger-named artist to co-headline. So here we are in Summer 2018 throwing our first concert & branding ourselves as the ones that remind everyone of the ones they forgot to shake hands with by the way. The artist we chose to co-headline was Saviii 3rd.
Saviii 3rd became Cash Money West’s first signee in late 2018, but before that, we found him through his buzzing album All Eyes On 3(before it was re-released through Cash Money) and for that, we wanted to spotlight him. We linked with him through Pookie Fn Rude, signed the agreement to do the show & from there hit the streets and put up flyers in stores, laundry mats, and anywhere where we felt people would be and see it. From Long Beach, Ca to all over OC we put up flyers and announced all over social media this big show was coming. A month later it came with a turnout of over 500 people and notable names such as NBA former Laker Trevor Ariza. With that success came Def Jam A&R reaching out to me & Cash Money reaching directly out to Saviii3rd. And the rest is history. The announcement came in early Fall that Saviii 3rd was Cash Money West’s first signed artist.
From 2018- to date, it has not been all peaches and cream. BTW tried to work with a host of artists (4-5) that came and went within 3-6 months each. Some artists are not ready for the pressure of music being their full-time job and others feel they have enough understanding to take on the business on their own. In the process, we’ve grown into developing content and running our own podcast (Busi In Music) where we discuss the business side of the music before it gets put out to the public. We also help produce other shows/podcasts.
But in 2020 BTW decided to work with some new talent. That talent turned out to be an artist out of Compton, Ca by the name of FT HopOut who my wife and I first came across in 2019 when Ellie G judged him in a rap contest where he came in 1st place and won $1,000. In early 2020 FT HopOut reached out to us and let us know he was interested in management, a few months later we came to an agreement, put it in writing and we’ve been locked in ever since. In May 2022 we signed another artist out of Del Amo(Carson), Ca by the name of NB#3 who we discovered at one of our events called Steal The Stage where he lost the first contest, but didn’t give up & came back to win it two times consecutively since then.
What sets us apart from others is two things… First: We at BTW Ent are not afraid to speak out and say “this artist is great” when others won’t say it cause it’s then a “co-sign”. We co-sign I know talent and known talent that’s being pushed on the back burner cause they don’t have the business side of things down pact. And the second is just that: we at BTW still partake in the practices of artist development. All of our artists are taught in all areas from stage presence, and media conversations, down to business contracts and how money is brought in and moved out. Most artists go into the music business blind and without understanding and that’s why you see artists taking to social media to down-talk their record labels/ contract agreements made with these labels.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I started out on Instagram as BTW Entertainment’s first social media platform(@btw_entertainment) and it was due to us curating our first concert & we knew groundwork promo wasn’t going to cut it, it was too old school. When we jumped in IG it was at a time where you could record for however long you wanted in a 60-second time rate and you could pause and continue whenever you wanted In those 60 seconds. In that time I would 10-15 second clips of different things I’m promoting at the moment. If it’s an event it was me talking about it while looking directly into the camera then a clip of me posting a flyer then another clip of me talking about the event to someone on the street, etc. whatever could fit in that 60 seconds to keep the viewers entertained. Also knowing my audience was mainly independent artists or entrepreneurs I would make motivational posts in relation to the hardships I know they’re not only going through but myself as well. That grew our fanbase at a pretty rapid pace. From there I now manage 7 social accounts.
My advice to you would be to just do it. Keep up with the trends but do them in your own way. If you’re not a dancer don’t start dancing. Find dancing animation videos. It’s ways around not doing something but still making it happen.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Many times I’ve found myself having to pivot, whether it was in life or in business. In life, I had to pivot from being in the streets to being a full-time husband. And for some it may seem simple but for me, I was living a life that lead to death or life in jail and as a husband, I couldn’t make those same types of life decisions when my life depended on my wife and us having a future. I maneuvered from the role of a husband into being a father once our son was born. Pivots come in life, and just like in business you have to be ready to make those adjustments. In business, we’ve had to make pivots at a time when we could have just given up. With no artist on the roster and throwing fewer events with the strike of the pandemic, we chose to pivot into media cause that’s one thing that wasn’t taken from all of us at that time. Busi In Music was a result of that.
Busi In Music is a podcast(with a play on the word Busy) where Ellie G & I host and talk about the business side of the music game such as artist royalties, split sheets, publishing, correct percentages, ownership, and what it means when signed. And when interviewing artists, we talk about the background to a song or the work hours it took to put together a project while still maintaining a family and a real life. The work it takes to balance it all, etc. It grew so fast that the platform started being requested at events & that was another pivot where we had to learn how to be mobile. My wife ensured the setup was perfect from aesthetics to sound & I made sure the camera angles were accurate. But again it’s about always being ready to make adjustments in business- just like in life.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.btwentertainment.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/btwsneakz?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrvon-glinsey-34923b201
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sneakzbtw/status/1340059122817880065?s=46&t=aM7g8yFKRGK-rXzE1bu5ow
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/BusiInMusic
Image Credits
Morganize Photos Loud Rackett Ellie G