Yer-Management has been a very private selective independent management; public relations marketing company working in-house with artists, producers, engineers, models, public figures and all other influencers.
We asked Jake why he had this approach on his new situation and the difference between “Swaggertown Records”, “Yer-Management”, and his new found record label company “Yer-Label”and how keeps branching off new business ventures and the reasoning behind them.
“It makes more sense for him to have different options, sometimes when we were offer services for money, it wasn’t about actually anything but money being exchanged for a service, I feel if I took all the clients I had throughout the year and make it a whole team approach connecting audiences international how could we not go organically viral. I’m definitely not rich by any means but I am very smart and business savvy. My original record label company “Swaggertown Records”, was mostly just a name to use for my own music when I independently distributed my own catalog; because on like DistroKid or Tunecore it asks for “Label Name”. I always wanted to keep Swaggetown my own indie thing, but there was a few times I helped local artists be backed by my company to show love to my local scene of the 518.”
If changed your own career indepdently don’t you think you could change others?
“I think if any artist or social media infleuncer listened to me, and took my word for it, and accepting the fact that they still need to invest in their own career, I think it is easy to slowly build social media, it just takes a lot of time. People who work regular jobs don’t have the dedicated time to build their social media, that’s why it wouldn’t be a bad decision to hire one of my companies to do the job for you, your job would be just enjoy the music, and whatever else comes along with it. I used to have the biggest passion for creating music, I still do, but it’s just way different because I had to figure out the ins and the outs, and the music industry isn’t what most people think it is, everybody wants a record deal; to be the next superstar or have a #1 hit record. But there’s ways of making big waves and starting smaller. I recently assisted someone landing a half a million record deal with Universal by acting as his publicist. Under contract I have to stay a silent party, and I sadly didn’t receive any funds from it, but it opened my eyes to how this whole game works. I really think I could do by myself I have the confidence, but it makes me feel better about doing it with a whole bunch of people, I don’t really want fame like that, I’d rather just have the respect of showing others how to make it and them show me the love back like if it wasn’t for Jake Strain this never would have happened. Respect is earned not given they always said.”
Jake how did you understand social media as your own indie artist to take something and turn it into a six figure company in six months?
“It took me along time studying the music industry, it’s a lot more to do with just the music, the way it sounds, the mixing and the mastering, it has more to do with image, personality, gimmicks, and growing an organic fanbase. Also its a different era and generation not only with the sounds of the music but with the way people get on. Back in the day real hip-hop was based off lyrics, flow, delivery, punchlines, and how you could compete in a cypher. Nowadays its about a 2-2:30 minute song that gets stuck in your head with a catchy beat; the chorus makes up the entire record. I’m still in the game for the love of hip-hop and true talent, but there comes a point in my life where I may be to smart for my own good; being a 25 year old emcee; I feel like if I had even 5 artists with the same sized platforms as me with different genres I could take over the entire music industry from my android; and yes people hate on my android but it gets a lot more work and people can’t face time me because I’m anti-social. I realized the whole music industry since the pandemic started, understanding social media, what major record label companies are doing to earn streaming revenue. I independently; organically grew my Instagram from about 9K to over 80K in less a year using techniques I’ve learned. Once I figured out the sauce, I thought more about music business than actually being a rapper so I officially launched “Yer-Management” (@yermanagement), which was a company named after my best friend business partner who passed away, Connor Yerman (Yerman-agement), but I wanted to keep it as a profitable business working with anyone who was willing to pay for the services providing in his legacy the company thrived during the pandemic.”
“I still want to keep all of my companies active and the way I conduct my own businesses, since I am the brains of all the operations but I was just thinking what if take a few artists under my wing, kept separated from Swaggertown, and Yer-Management, and put them all on a label where it’s not just about money but rather teaching the artists how to be on a label, understanding the factors about the indie hustle, how to do it yourself, what it’s like to have a team, and build as a unit. I never really had much of a team and I think if anyone took my advice I could change their life and turn it into a career. Considering before the pandemic I was still a local SoundCloud rapper working a 9-5 job making $463 dollars a week, trying to provide for 2 children and a girlfriend on public assistance. If any artist would give me the chance to speak to them on the phone for 15-30 minutes and they were really serious about changing their life and using the digital age marketing to turn their dream into a real career.”
Yer-Label is looking for upcoming indie artists, producers, graphic designers, audio engineers, people who are interested in being part of a team that works together for the same goal. That is one of the qualifications of being successful as an independent record label company.
- contactyerlabel@gmail.com
- (518) 935-7448