Separating yourself in any business endeavor lies at the heart of every entrepreneur. It’s critical as to avoid being lumped together with the “rest,” those doing a similar task or creating a similar product in a sub-standard manner. With that said, most Hip Hop fans wouldn’t argue that drums are vital to making or breaking a record -that undeniable knock that puts a smile -or screwface- on your mug and gets your neck to snapping. What if your task, your professional charge, was to make drum sounds that had to stand above the competition, otherwise you are confined to the record bins of mediocrity? That’s just the challenge that Alkota (a/k/a The Drum Broker) has accepted and beatmakers/producers are the better for it. His unique sound design, creative packaging, and professional partnerships par excellence. Read below how Alkota is doing things on this side of the business, distancing himself from the “knock offs” and preparing for the next chapter.
How did you get started providing beatmakers/producers around the world with sounds from some of the most recognizable talent in Hip Hop?
Originally, I had done the MPC and SP-1200 flash drives back in 2009. That kind of put me on the map in terms of building relationships with people. I even got a “cease and desist” from Akai, which got me some additional publicity. Then guys like Just Blaze, DJ Premier, Marco Polo and many other top producers purchased one of these drives. A few years later, !llmind put together one of his signature drum kits and we realized we had the same customer base. He provided the initial test to see how this whole thing would work. We linked up and helped out with the marketing and distribution side. It’s an additional stream of revenue for producers who have sounds that are otherwise sitting in their drum machines, so to speak. Some people have apprehension because they don’t want to look like they are “selling out.” But that’s where I step in and make it look official and give these already excellent sounds some professional packaging. I was financing some of the videos and marketing tools to aid in this effort, too. I feel I have a slight advantage because I produce and I’ve had the experience of shopping beats to labels. A lot of people don’t understand what goes into that process.
Explain your primary motivation for this.
I graduated college with a degree in finance and I did a few jobs before deciding on doing this full-time. In terms of shopping for records, I never had access to the best digging spots being that I’m from Alaska. There was a lot of on-line garbage in terms of knock-off sounds out there when I began producing. Because of this, I wanted to give consumers an alternative, some quality sounds for people that may have limited access and funds. People are enjoying these sounds and they don’t have to travel the world and spend a fortune to get them. Having a strong attention to detail is vital in differentiating yourself from the competition. When I grew up, my dad owned a dental lab where he made teeth. I worked there when I was younger and saw the painstaking work that went on. Paying attention to the smallest details was huge deal and I think he instilled some of that into me.
You’ve got A LOT of drum kits and sounds from a myriad of producers: 9th Wonder, Hi-Tek, Cardiak, the aforementioned !llmind, Frank Dukes and many more. What is it about you and your brand that separates you from the competition?
I’m actually bringing the legit drums from the producers, the actual sounds they use. I look at it like I’m running a record label with these guys. Instead of doing a knock-off kit, I came at people with an advance and a distribution scenario. It’s a more professional way to approach this business. A lot of people never thought of paying the producers for the distribution rights of their sounds. Also, branding it correctly is huge, too. It’s not just calling a folder of drums by some cliché name and trying to sell the same drums that everyone is selling to your fans. That comes off cheap and that was not my intent and something I wanted to do.
This has segued into working with sound design companies now. Some of these producers are now putting together original sounds with live drums and we’re beginning to build the catalog with more of these kits. J-Zone recently did a live set for the company and I’ve been working Frank Dukes and his Kingsway Music series that incorporates session players who are playing original pieces that can be sampled license-free. !llmind is doing more original music pieces as well. Kits like these motivate producers with new sounds they’ve never heard before. I’m moving away from just doing the producer one-hit kits to doing more USB drives and bringing some physical product to market in the form of a few vinyl releases we have slated for this year.
How are people like Frank Dukes and others able to put together original composition sets without it being cost prohibitive to you and the consumer?
He changed lanes from just making beats quite a few years ago to composing. He’s building a catalog of original sounds that he’s marketing to fellow producers like Cardiak and Jake One, who can get major placements using his sounds. So, the Kingsway material is a backlog of this original source material. This is by no means inferior material, just production work that didn’t find placement and now it can make its way to the public. Frank has access to these musicians to make it happen. He approaches his compositions with a producer mindset as opposed to sampling from an original source that may be less friendly to be chopped up and incorporated into a beat. Keep in mind: we are not making millions off this. It just gives people the opportunity to mess with samples in a more cost-efficient way.
Let me mention that certain sites exist are starting to jack our original sound designs, throwing it up on their sites with another name. At some point this shit is going to get recycled because that’s the nature of digital media. It’s not a bad thing, but I don’t want to be the one-hit drum guy forever as it will fizzle out eventually. I’ve talked with guys who were doing well in the late-90s that had similar types of businesses and then one day it wasn’t there anymore. I can’t get complacent and I need to keep finding other ways to separate myself from the competition and remain viable to consumers. You need to protect yourself from being pigeonholed, too.
Speaking of the money side of the business, how lucrative is marketing sounds to the public?
A lot of people are copying this format and saturating the marketing to some extent. As I mentioned, you can only do so many one-hit style drum kits, which is the reason why I’m branching off now. It’s becoming more about developing relationships with sound designers and other companies to expand the brand and delivers a broader range of products to the consumer. The J-Zone project, for example, is one of those types of kits.
So, how did that relationship with J-Zone come about?
One of the guys who work with me, Jordan Thorne, who did the Minty Break series, suggested that we reach out to J-Zone. Jordan does sound design and it was really his idea. I’ve been a fan of J-Zone’s since high school and I reached out to him. What’s cool about his shit is that it’s not perfect; it’s Hip Hop. It’s him doing his own thing and not trying to over-perfect the music. Some of these are breaks that he had planned on using on future albums, live drum breaks with his original flair. He had them stock piled and he decided to put them out on this release. Also, this project will be getting the vinyl treatment soon. The response has been pretty good. Rob The Viking is really a big fan of this and has been using this in his own work. The physical look will be good for this project. This is the direction I want to take the company as there is a bubble, of sorts, with this whole drum kit market. As a result, I’m working with John at Redefinition Records to see the best approach for this. He’s been a solid partner and he offers up some very helpful advice. Also, I’m doing some more videos and content that I would enjoy watching. Speaking of, there is one coming soon that Beat Butcha and I have put together.
It seems that compiling the drum sounds from a notable release is a new concept. Explain the idea behind the latest Hi-Tek project.
Initially, Tek was super apprehensive about putting this out. We had talked a few times about this and he was toying with the idea of getting it out. He guards those drums pretty dearly. As we talked, he didn’t want it to come off like he was “selling out” since many producers hold that album as part of the foundation for their production blueprint. We wanted to deliver the product to market so it wouldn’t get jacked immediately and that was the idea behind the pre-orders. Once the kits hit, they are traded amongst people on the Internet and we wanted to try to insulate against this. I think this kit will have a long shelf life and we’re looking at doing a vinyl release on this as well. We’re going to try a 45 with a B-side interview with Hi-Tek or some production liners. This will be for true fans who want to collect something and keep for the rest of their lives. Physical releases can stand apart from what I call the “digital clutter” out there and create an experience that is longer lasting. I dig what Redef(inition) Records and KicDrum Products are doing. It’s refreshing to see my peers doing physical product in a digital age. It would be cool if more companies added some value back into their product and packaging. I want to buy something that makes me feel good and I like anticipating and then opening the box when it arrives. This is the experience that I want to create for my customers.
For more information about The Drum Broker’s product, please visit his website http://hiphopdrumsamples.com/
