Steve Stoute is an entrepreneur and former music executive from Queens. His interview was insightful and informative. Here are some of the key takeaways from his conversation with Shannon Sharpe.
Stoute had a close relationship with Kobe Bryant during his early years in the league. Here was a gem he learned from Kobe.
“He knew that if you did all the work, then ultimately, it was going to happen. Everyone who has the talent always tapped out when doing the work.”
Ownership is a big conversation and at United Masters, the company that Stoute founded, he gives employees equity. Here is his take on equity.
“You have to believe that you’re worth more than the salary, and you can prove that. If you are worth more than that salary, you should have equity.”
A staunch proponent for musicians owning their music, he pulled no punches when speaking about artists and ownership.
Ownership of the master… that’s the thing that has a long-term value that your family can benefit from for years to come. Which is the reason why you should maintain and own your master rights. As technology changes, it keeps unlocking new value. It was worth one thing when it was valuable, then when CDs came it became exponentially more valuable. The guy who’s buying it is betting that the new format change will lead to new value over time. The guy who’s selling it thinks it’s not. If you can afford to get a loan against it or license it, you can still get some money without necessarily selling it.
Ego hurts people in the pursuit of creating great things. This message is one that any creative or business owner should use as a mantra as they forge their own paths.
“Bono said something to me a long time ago. You can get anything done as long as you’re willing to not take credit. As long as you remove who gets credit for it, the politics around what makes a great idea come together become much easier to see.”
We've seen rappers come and go, as a former executive at Interscope, Stoute has seen it all. Rappers lose steam sometimes and as the audience, we wonder why. This perspective may be the answer to that question.
“You’re writing your first album based on everything you went through your entire life. You have 18—20 years of material to make this first album. When you make your 2nd and 3rd albums, now you have the material that happened between when you put out the 1st album and that 2nd album. But now there’s money, there’s women, there’s access. Now your material starts to fade because you’re indulging in other stuff. A lot of times it's hard to write that 2nd and 3rd album. The 2nd you can still get away with it off the fumes of the 1st album. The 3rd one becomes hard. Most albums that had a great 1st and 2nd album fail miserably on the 3rd album. It’s so hard to draw from the grit that you had before you made the first album.”
How do you go about building a strong, valuable, and lasting business relationship?
“You have to do what you say. You can’t say anything that you don’t mean. I over promise and over deliver.”
“As a visionary your job is to see things before other people see it.”
If you want to see more, you can watch the full interview below.