#AskGaryVee Episode 183: The Future of the Music Industry, Crush It!, and Anchor as Podcasting App

- On this episode, I talk about what I would do with Crush It! if I wrote it again, Anchor, the voice app, and the music industry. (pounding hip-hop music) (crowd cheering) You ask questions and I answer them. This is the #AskGaryVee Show. Uh, I want to write an article about why I can't do the CM job at VaynerMedia. Like, I want the title to be like, "literally, I'm not joking, I would not be hired for the entry-level job at VaynerMedia. " - [India] It's so good. - 'Cause it's true. - [India] I didn't think I was gonna get hired. I don't think I would be hired now. - could pass - let me rephrase. I, no question, could not pass the grammar test. - [India] Oh my god, that test was hard. (laughs) - You didn't think you were gonna pass it? - [India] I mean, I never really, like, learned - Grammar. - [India] Like, you just talk, and then you - Do you think it's true that you couldn't get hired now? - [India] I think so. - Yeah, that's, I get it. - [India] Because also, now, it's like, I don't know, it's just different. Like, when I was a CM, I was also half at ICP. - [Gary] Right. - [India] Like, my first week, they were like, "write a contact calendar," and I was like, "what is a content calendar? " (laughter) And then Jen Hsieh was like my savior, shoutout to Jen Hsieh. (Gary laughs) - [India] She saved my life. I was like, oh, I'm gonna get fired and go home. And then my first meeting with Gary, he was like, "so what accounts are you on and what are you doing? " And I was like, "oh, I'm on Drop 50," and you were like, "oh, what platforms are they on? " and I was like, "Facebook. " And you were like, "how much do they post? " I'm like, "once a day. " And you looked at me and you were like, "you're on one account that posts once a day? " And I was like, "yeah," and you were like, "you need to be doing way more". (Gary laughs) Like, this girl's wasting my money. (claps) - Don't fuck with my money, India. - I was like, I'm totally not lasting more than a month here. - Funny how things work out. Alright, let's do it. - [India] Ready. - 183? Hey everybody, it's Gary Vay-ner-chuk and this is Episode 183 of the #AskGaryVee Show. We are on a real f'in rally. Right? Four straight days? - [DRock] Yeah. - Which is, whoo! And like, real episodes, I mean, big shoutout to the community, you know that your comments are my oxygen, many, and I mean many, people across Facebook, YouTube and Instagram claiming that 182 was the best episode in the history of the #AskGaryVee Show, and that makes sense to me because it definitely had a different vibe, it did get very deep, there was - people really talking about the bookend answers, the first and last one, you saw that? We have to do a bookend kind of thing. India? Some people made some comments about you. (laughs) - You guys are the worst. - Alright, let's get into the show. - [India] I have Carreño. - Carreño.

- [Voiceover] F. Carreño asks, "How do you check your building VM "in a way that will thrive beyond your charisma as a CEO? "How do you build great successors? " - That's a great question. I think it comes in DailyVee 015, you'll see me in the dirt, I think one of the things that's very confusing about me is I do live parallel lives. I do live a life where I'm an outgoing personality, a lightning rod of a personality, a charismatic character, the basis of this question. We have the show, we have DailyVee, we have all my content, I engage, I'm on TV, I mean, you know, I've been actually keeping myself off of TV. But here we go with the new book coming out. Dr. Oz, right? Fox and Friends in the morning, CNN with Don Lemon. Like, I'm gonna be out there, right? Magazines, things of that nature, so, you know, with all that being said, one thing that people have struggled with quantifying is that I am working 18 hours a day, which allows me to, in essence, live two lives, I'm living two lives. I'm putting the hours in as I was, as if I was a personal brand and a pundit and a tastemaker and an author and a speaker and a personality, but I'm equally at scale running this organization. You know, it's very easy for this company to run and be structured and be set up for success without me. I mean, I don't even think, I just met the AT& amp; T client. Like, there's so much business going on that has nothing to do with me that is set up by the well-compensated, very senior, 20-years-into-their-career executives that roll around here. I mean, they're 600 people deep here. As a matter of fact, Staphon, let's get into a little bit of editing here. No joke, I need 21 seconds of B-roll of the three floors in New York now. (slow hip-hop beat) - People are working here, this is a real organization. I'm the CEO of VaynerMedia. I happen to moonlight as Gary Vee. - [India] There's an article, too. - Yeah, actually, there's a good one. Right? So, like, how do I do it? I mean, I don't know, the last 18 hours of my meetings have been completely organizational and operational meetings for VaynerMedia. I so understand, and never get upset, why people don't believe that to be true, or AJ's doing it, like, they don't know. And they don't know, and DailyVee's been the only beginning of optics to people to know that I'm actually doing the work.

- [Voiceover] Daniel asks, "Will people use Anchor "as an alternative podcasting platform? " - I do believe that has potential. I'm very excited about Anchor. I put Anchor directly, and it's only five seconds old, but I already put it directly into the category of, like, I need to keep an eye on this, mainly because, and I don't know if we'll ever find this, I don't know, Staphon, maybe when you're bored, you know, which is never, but if you ever come across some 2000 789 videos, I talked a lot about "audio Twitter," I don't know if I ever even put it out publicly, you know how usually I'm like, I did it? I don't know. But I've been obsessed with the idea of audio Twitter for a long time - what's that? - [India] You said you were going back to voice. - I did say going back to voice somewhere. - [India] A year and a half ago. - Yes, please dig, let's find that. I've been obsessed with voice for a long time. It's an important platform, it's one of the ways we communicate. It's why podcasting has re-emerged, and I do think Anchor or something like it has the potential to become a very important platform. I'm 100%, like the article that we just wrote, going to use Anchor for my thoughts, and then basically we're gonna write articles about it, and so the people following me on Anchor, you know, it'll be fun for them to see what the translation is from how, like, talk about really exposing our process, I'm literally gonna, instead of memos and sending them to you, start doing them on Anchor, people will hear all the silliness and how I correct myself, and they'll see how we transcribe, or how much we don't grammar you have to deploy against me. And so I think it will absolutely be a podcast play for a lot of people. I've considered it here. I considered, actually, recording this right now. Like, literally right now. I may even record the next question. As a matter of fact, I will. Like, (laughs) this is all going very weird. So yes. Do I have to hold it down? - [India] Yeah. - [Staphon] No, well, you do have to hold it against your ear. - No, but when I hit record? - [India] Yeah, I think you can just record, like - Oh, it's only two minutes, too, and you do have to hold it down. - [Staphon] Really? - Yeah. - [Staphon] I was trying it, and it usually says hold it to your ear. - Oh yeah, you could probably do it to your ear, you're probably right. It's really well-done. I love the onboarding. Josh Shaman, big shoutout, you were right about the onboarding, it's tremendous. So yeah, I think, you know, it's only two minutes, though. - [India] Yeah. - So I guess no is now my answer, as I'm, like, playing with the app. You know, but I think it's a great promotion tool for two minutes as a gateway drug to your actual podcasts, especially because you can put a URL in the post. Like, test that already, like when you put the additionals and stuff. It's really neat, I'm enjoying it, there's nothing more fun than, like, it's kinda like going to school and the first day of sixth grade, and there's two new kids in school. (phone chimes) That was weird. (laughter) Anchor, that was very weird. You know, and one of 'em you have a crush on. Right? You're like, ooh, Sally's so pretty. You know, and so, like, there's a new app, it's interesting, it's voice, it's a space I've been paying attention to for a long time and waiting for this moment. We'll see what happens with it, it's very early, let's not, you know. When something like Peach or Anchor, I mean, these are four hundredths of a second old, but I'm paying attention to it in the way Peach and other things. Let's not get it, it's not musical. ly yet. And it's definitely not Snapchat yet. - [India] Here's one from Chris. - Drucker. - [Gary] Drucker. - Ducker. - Ducker, oh. (mumbles) Oh, I think I'm doing his podcast soon.

- Hey, what's up, Gary, Chris Ducker here over in the Philippines. Look, man, you know, you've had so many great book launches before, you've got another one coming up, I'm sure it's gonna be a massive success. I'm curious to know, from one author to another, what actually happens post-launch? Do you carry on with your marketing team, pushing the book out there? Or do you just let the internet, the readers, social, and Amazon reviews take over to continue the marketing? Thanks for the insights, brother. - Great question, Chris, and really enjoyed our time we spent in San Diego, he's a really good guy, I'm excited to do his podcast. Chris, for me, I usually wait 'til the New York Times comes out, and to see where it lands. Crush It!, it became wildfire, it went on. Thank You Economy, I really, the second it came out, I stopped, I was really, just became CEO of VaynerMedia. With Jab, I continued it through for a little bit, and with #AskGaryVee I'm doing heavy promotion now, I'll do it in March, April, there's a little bit of May, events, different things, like - I have a funny feeling #AskGaryVee, the book, is going to be huge. And I'll tell you why. Multiple people now who have the galley copy, who are reading it, who are either so not full of shit that they would tell me it sucked or was good and/or have no interest in giving a crap about me (laughs) or number three, don't even know who I am, are giving such intense good feedback, and it makes sense. 'Cause it's the collection of my best work, this show, re-edited, and by the way, just to clear it up, it is 1000% not a transcribe from the show. Like, I re-answered all the questions in new form. There was a baseline but I didn't let any word-for-word be the answer. I added to it, I changed my mind, I changed my mind between the book and the audiobook. One of the things that I feel bad about is people that fundamentally give a crap at all are gonna have to buy both, 'cause they're different. And I actually don't even know if I gave different answers, I'm dying to see the first person that actually sits and sees what discrepancies, and somebody who's really hardcore on opening day, please read the book in parallel to the audiobook and see, call me out on the two or three where there's a discrepancy, we'll use #AskGaryVee, maybe we'll use #AskGaryVee episode 200 to clear up all clarifications between the book and the audiobook. so Chris, to answer your question, I'm gonna let it take over, because I actually think I'll probably you know, foot off the pedal, in May. Three months. You know, March is intense, April is solidly intense, I'll do some stuff in May. The only thing I can see happening, though, is I do think there might be some fire. A lot of you are buying it, you know, with the Super 8 coming up on the 23rd, is that next week? Is that a week from today? - [India] Yeah. - From a week from today, I'll be in here for eight hours with the big contest and all that. I have a feeling a lot of you are gonna buy eight books, which means you're gonna give seven books away, or six, or sell them on eBay, do your thing, but I think that's gonna create new people that are gonna read the book, I think it's fire, they're gonna start watching the show, I feel more word-of-mouth potential in this book than anything else. So if it's on fire-fire, I'll ride that wave, 'cause I think you have to ride waves, and so I'll be very exhausted if that's true, 'cause I have a lot of work to do besides the book. So I'm reactionary, Chris, is the punchline. Like everything else I do. That was a little insight for all of you. That's always the answer. I'm always tasting and day trading and adjusting and prepared for anything at all times always. Period. (laughter offscreen) - [India] From Atul. - Like, an actual tool, or - oh, Atul. - Atul.

- Got it. - [Voiceover] Atul asks, "Hey Gary! If you were writing Crush It! today, "what would you change in it? " - Uh, well, I think I'm gonna be able to do that for you, Atul. I am debating between Perfectly Parented and Crushed It! as my next book. And so what I would do is I would update it. I would call, so, it's gonna be called "Crushed It! ". I already know. Crushed It!, and I'm gonna interview a hundred of you. I'm probably not even gonna do it, I might even give it, for the first time, with help from India, or whoever, because I don't, that's just a lot of time, so I'm gonna have somebody help me interview a hundred people that read Crush It! and it changed their lives, I'm gonna add commentary on top of it, I'll figure out a way to do a private stream with those hundred people and talk to them and what have you, and then I'll write, the back half of that book will be, okay, that's what I talked about in '09, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, here's 2017. Right? Musical. ly, Snapchat, you know, Instagram, Anchor, Peach, you know, AfterSchool, what have you. But there's so many ways to continue, and really I think #AskGaryVee has a lot of, I mean, one of the first reviews I saw, people were sniffing out that #AskGaryVee is, in a weird way, a disguised Crushed It!. There's a lot of information for people who are watching this show, and in the world, to elevate their business or their personal brand from a $30,000 thing to a $300,000 thing if they actually pay attention to the religion and the tactics of this book. But I'm gonna go even deeper, very hardcore, personal brand, if you wanna be America's gardener, if you wanna make money singing, if you are this, that, and the other thing, this is what you have to do tactically and religiously, that will be Crushed It!. So what would I do? I would update it. I wrote that book in 2009, that means I wrote it in eight, it would be, you know, eight, nine years? You know, that's a lot of time, a lot of things have changed. People still, Crush It! is still the best-selling book. And so it's motivational, and so that's why it's timeless, but a lot of the advice can be outdated at this point, so I'm excited about writing Crushed It!. - [India] Last one from Glen. - Last one. This is a nice - man, I'm in a really - could this be the new golden era? - [India] Another golden era. - Another golden era? - [Staphon] Could be. - Could be, right? These are really, I'm in a very, like - (sighs) mature and masculine mode. Triple M. - [India] Triple M? Mature and masculine - Mode. (laughter) - I thought there was another adjective I was waiting on.

- Glen looks cool. - What's up, Gary? My name's Glen Edwards from Newtown, that's Sydney, Australia, and mate, I've got a question in response to one of your Snapchats. In regards to the Grammys, where you said, "the market is the market, stop crying. " Mate, I wanna know, if you were in charge of the music industry, where would you take it? - If I was in charge of the music industry, or, let's say, what everybody's crying about. If I'm a music label or a music artist, the first thing I would take it is to a mental place where I realized it can't be 1964 anymore. Like, sorry. Sorry that you make all your money on records. It's not 1990 anymore, it's just not. I would accept that, like, look, music is such an important part of our culture, that - I mean, by the way, the snap that I did, actually, you know what? Beautiful. I'm going to save it right now, Staphon, and send it to you. - [Staphon] Okay. - We're really in production value these days. DRock's really frickin' affecting me, I don't like it. The market is the market, right? Here it is. Save. A song is worth what the market pays for it. Period. The market's the market. Stop crying. You know, the old dude from the Grammys went on, and he's like, "kids, don't steal music. " Like, you know, he's been doing this for years. Right? Like, "is a song worth a penny? No. " And everybody claps. A song's worth what the market pays for it. Like, nobody forced you to make deals with the streaming companies. Like, I hate this - you know, there was a story once that Groupon was bad because, and if you can find this headline, Staphon, I wanna get into some editing here. Throw it up right now. That Groupon was bad because a woman went out of business because she sold too many cupcakes at a deal. I don't know if you remember this, India. Groupon, you're bad. Why Groupon's bad for small businesses, 'cause this one woman made an offer and too many people took her up on it, and it put her out of business. That's not Groupon's fault. It's your fuckin' fault, Sally. You're running a business. Like, it's ludicrous, right? And so, like, to go up and be like, "is a song worth a penny? " when your studios, record labels, artists, like, when you made the deal with the streaming companies, is crazy. The market is the market. And so the bottom line is, if you're great at music and just music, and you're not good at performing, and you don't wanna hustle and do shows, and if you're not charismatic, and if you don't have all the other things, your world has changed. Sorry. Just like if you're six foot and white and not athletic, you could have played basketball in 1915 - actually, how insane is this? Can you get that camera work in the beginning? Like, did you catch us? The part where me and India talked about not being able to be a CM at Vayner? - [Staphon] Yeah, yeah. - The part where India said, "I don't think I could be a CM at Vayner today? " - I think I could be a CM. - I get it, but it's the point, it's the point. - Got it. - Of course you could, but, like, the market at VaynerMedia changed. Like, markets change. And like, you're gonna force India to buy a $15 CD? Like, what do you want? Like, I get it, and if India's compelled enough for that indie band or retro or emo or whatever, she rolls hip hop, whatever she likes, country, if they bring you value, Staphon, whose music do you buy, if anybody's? Do you buy, anybody? - [Staphon] J. Cole. - There you go. J. Cole clearly has done something that makes you wanna buy it. And yeah, J. Cole, congrats, J. Cole. You made your 97¢ or four bucks off Staphon. I guess you did that through your swag, your lyrics, your songs, how you roll, like, all the other variables besides just the song, right? That's that. That's just the market. And I'm sorry that you don't like it, it used to be great. Let me tell you about a lot of other things that used to happen. (scoffs) I don't know, everything. Like, you used to let your kids go outside, and not scared that they're gonna be kidnapped. You used to not have to worry about AIDS. to have to worry about guns in schools, like, shooting people every minute. You used to not have to worry about oil disappearing as we get close to neutral oil prices, like, you used to have to not worry about everything. But worry about the Soviet Union blowing you up. You used to have to worry about, like, not being able to cure any version of cancer. Like, it's evolution, people. Sorry that music is not the way it used to be. Sorry that it's evolved. You know, I don't see anybody going crazy for bookstores and, you know, the bookstore guy going up there like, (imitates crying noise) Amazon came, sorry. Like, nobody's super-duper-duper sad for cabs. The consumer's right. Not Common or Beyoncé. Got it? So it is what it is. Yes, it's important, yes, music really matters. Yes, guess what? When you were makin' all that money, music in 1955, the best baseball players in America and football players in America had jobs in the summer because they didn't get paid a lot. But guess what happened? America decided they really loved football, and that means that they got more leverage over time, and now they get paid a lot of money, and they don't need side jobs in the summer anymore. But maybe it flipped, and now you, musician, actually have to hustle, and you maybe actually have to like your fans, and you may actually have to take selfies, do live events, and you may have to do things. That's just the way it is. Period. Market dynamics. Everybody's affected by them. Always and forever. I want an article on that. Title it "Fuck You, Music Industry. " (laughter) All right, something else, maybe. Question of the day. When have you been affected by market conditions, pro or con? You keep asking questions, I'll keep answering them. (pounding hip-hop music)