How this Latin Artist Manager CREATES SUCCESS!

I want a Grammy, yeah. So I tell my clients, "Well, what Grammy do you want?" Right? There's a bunch of categories: Best New Artist. So okay, great. Best New Artist. So then it's like, now you got to obsess yourself about that. So you got to go study all the artists that were nominated last year, the year before, the year before that. Who were the winners? Why were they the winners? What are those projects? Can you listen to them? What are the things that were going around them? What was the media, the impact that they had that year? Why did that narrative get created? And you start creating this thing, and then you say, okay, great. Now I understand what what I have to do. But then you're like, okay, I want to go to the Grammys. So what do you want to wear? I want to wear Tom Ford. You know how much a Tom Ford suit looks? If you don't know, go to the store, right? Cuz if you don't know how much it cost, you don't know how much you're going to need. Have you gone on Kayak or any of these travel sites and put how much a hotel? Right? Cuz if you don't know how much it is, then you don't know if you're going to have the money. CU you not you don't have your aim. So the more that you get clarity on your vision, then it really becomes putting in that clarity of the saying, okay, I know where I want to go. I know how I'm going to get there, and now is what are the steps that I have to take between connectivity between having, you know, perseverance to go through the different things, but at least I now know where I'm going to go.

What's going on, everybody? Before we dive into today's episode of The Manager's Playbook, as always, please make sure to share, subscribe to the channel, and like The Manager's Playbook podcast. It takes a village of folk to bring this to you, and we want to continue to provide you with quality and nuance discussion about the intricacies of the music business from a wide range of perspectives. And if you want to deepen your level of engagement with us, remember to subscribe to The Manager's Playbook newsletter; a link is below in the description. It means the world to me to be able to build this community together where I can bring you as much value as possible with these conversations. I want to share a moment that has stayed with me, shaping not just this podcast but my career trajectory early on. I was always the person in the room with a burning curiosity, never hesitating to seek answers or ask for introductions. I live by this model of "there is no such thing as a stupid question," and much of that hasn't changed till this day. It's this quest for knowledge that led me to Lex Borrero, a figure whose generosity to me I quite couldn't understand at the time when I asked for introductions. Lex opened doors to several top players in the music business for me, introducing me as his good friend. The funny thing was we barely knew each other, yet he entrusted me with that title, laying the groundwork for what would come. This gesture, one that I've thought about a lot over the years, was a leap of faith that has since turned into a pivotal chapter in my story as an artist manager. And it's with great pleasure that I finally had the chance to ask him about that moment many years ago on this very podcast, where we unravel the journey of one of the best to do it in the Latino culture. Now, through this intimate conversation, we aim to uncover the essence of Lex Borrero: the talent manager, the music mogul, and the man behind the legend. From navigating the complexities of the music world to reshaping its currents, Lex offers invaluable insights and perseverance, innovation, and the power of dreaming big. Lex Borrero's story is a mosaic of resilience, innovation, and influence. As the co-founder and CEO of Neon16, Lex has not only championed Latin culture globally but has also crafted a platform for artists to thrive on an international scale. A crucial chapter in Lex's illustrious career involves his partnership with Tainy, the soft-spoken and humble mastermind producer behind hits for Bad Bunny and Jay Balvin and more. This alliance was not just a business move but a strategic effort to amplify the reach and impact of Latin music with the creation of the company Neon16. Lex's knack for recognizing talent and his willingness to push boundaries has positioned him as a music mogul, transcending traditional roles to becoming a beacon for Latino culture and not only music but in television now as well. Ladies and gentlemen, a conversation like this doesn't come cheap. Without further ado, Lex Borrero, my guy.

Appreciate you, man. Oh, come on, bro. I'm sorry I was late. No, don't worry, man. You it's not the you of me. I like to be nice and punct—no, but I but I know you a busy man, and I just appreciate you uh spending some time and just shooting the [ __ ] but really like talking about this business over here. You know, the one and only Lex Borrero. It's a nice watch you got there, man.

Little song, you know. It's funny, I didn't um so I don't usually buy Cartier. I went to Cartier, and the guy, as a good sales—he tells me the story of Santos Dumont. So Cartier, who's Santos D—tell you. So Cartier developed the wristwatch, and he was one of the first people that developed the wristwatch because Santos Dumont was a really close friend of him. He was a Brazilian Airman, and he was trying to fly the plane around the Eiffel Tower, and he was losing time because he would have to take out his pocket watch to look and try to look up. So he went to Cartier and said, "Hey, buddy, I need some way to keep time without taking my hands off the steering." And so they developed the Santos Dumont uh first wristwatch, which was one of the first wristwatches in the world. And so the Santos, which is the style of watch for Cartier, is considered that. So this specific one is a the addition. So you see the plane, and it's the rotator wrist of the watch. You see that? Can you see that? So you know it's pretty uh that's pretty okay. That's a good story behind it over there, and that's what he told me.

It's not like a good story, bro. Yeah, yeah. It's all narrative that that sold me. That's the name of this business as well too, man. It's all narrative. How important is the story of a musician, of an artist, your story? How important is that?

It's everything, right? We're storytellers. I think that that's what art is. Great artists are those that can put the emotion of something we all feel but struggle to put it in words, right? Great screenwriters are those that can take the embodiment of an emotion, put it on a film script uh and put it in front of you in a way that normal people can't. Like we have a hard time as humans learning how to express ourselves um and how to communicate to each other our feelings. That's why it's so hard to be in relationships or sometimes friendships come in torn because it's not lack of intent or lack of love or lack of wanting to do those things; it's lack of communication. And so narrative is a huge part of our lives. Historically, it's what makes history, right? It's what allows us to uh historically build who we are, but in our in our world, it's it's everything. I think a great songwriter is a storyteller; a great screenwriter is a storyteller; a great actor is a storyteller; a great artist is a storyteller. So narrative is very important, and it's very important into business. We buy brands because of the story, right? We we bought sneakers because of his story. Like if you didn't believe in Virgil's creative story, the sneakers wouldn't mean anything; they just be like it could be any design cuz you you just put him shoes for the sake of having shoes, but you buy special shoes because of the storyline that they fed you around the creator or the reason why that shoe got created. Yeah, the marketing—we was having this conversation with Tyler, and we're talking about whether the marketing or the story comes first. It really is a story. The story to your point is like now it's like the marketer's job or our job to like figure out how to get to market, find the product fit that would they say in like in like the tech world. But tell me about your story, cuz I think your story is really interesting, and I there's like if you don't mind going into some of that cuz you went through you've been through some [ __ ] man.

Yeah, man. Um, you know, I'll give you the key points of it. Uh, born in Colombia um to parents who were never together. You know, they they was the the love baby—uh, to not call it a mistake cuz I don't believe it's a mistake, but um you know, in a time in Colombia where the drug wars was fully engaged uh due to that and and due to to that world being what it was, my mother made the decision to leave to the US. Came to the US as a kid that didn't speak English, blonde, white, in, you know, very diverse elementary and middle school. Quickly had to understand the American way. You know, either I was going to be bullied or I was going to be bully—

How old were you?

Uh, I was 7 years old.

Oh, you came here seven?

Okay. Yeah, yeah. And so I quickly started to get the American way, but as part of that uh you know, a beautiful thing happened, which was uh the discovery of Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson. And I always say the MJs because I think there was something that they did that uh that really influenced my life, which was they truly understood one excellence, right? Everything they did was at a high level of exec—I think that's what separated them from everyone else: their level of work and persever—to bring excellence, and two the impact they had in culture. It wasn't just they were great basketball players or they were, you know, great musicians, but it was truly they were incredible influences of culture. They changed style; they changed everything around them. And so that led me to really kind of find my mission and purpose of saying, I want that. I want to be able to have that level of influence in culture. And then I grew up, you know, my mother being a pastor, my dad being a a Buddhist life coach, ex-race car driver. And so in that process, it uh it allowed me to also start understanding the serving of people, right? Of being able that my life is of service to others in everything that I do. And so that alignment with the mission of wanting to impact everything that I touch really created uh I would say the path, the clarity of path that that would lead me into the music industry, starting really with this idea I had that as much as I spent time in the church being a youth pastor, Christian music had these very incredible artists who were not doing things at a high level of excellence and so preachy that therefore, you know, it it couldn't cross over, right.

Right.

So my first company was actually called Crossover Music Group, and it was intentionally done to say I went to all these Christian artists and said like Lecrae and these guys and I was like, "Hey, man," early early like before—this is early early early—like I mean, I'm I'm still a kid at church. I'm like 16 years old, okay? You know? And I've talked about my journey in music in in many other interviews, but I really want to give you the exclusive of this part because I I never really have talked too much about kind of this initial draw of wanting to change Christian music to to have, you know, real popular acceptance. And in this time, you know, church was a very closed place; like it was very religious. And I had gone to every Christian artist I knew—the truth and Lecrae—and said, "Hey, I think we should work with secular producers. Like the production of your music could be better." And and everybody was like, "No, you can't serve two kings," blah blah blah blah, right? Long story short, I took it upon myself to hold a little meeting in my mom's house. I dressed up; I put a suit jacket on; I I printed out this paper about why this was important, and I met with all the local Christian artists. Some of them laughed; some of them left, but two stayed, really. And I told them, I said, "Look, I want to do this. I I went to Home Depot, built a little wood studio in in the room of one of these artists called Prophecy," and we took 177 records that um were big instrumentals of songs in that year—

Uh-huh.

—and we did Christian positive songs on top of them—

Uh-huh.

—but in a different way, like really where if you listen to it today, it's positive music; it wasn't so churchy; it was everything that I thought. And I slept on the floor of this guy. We had one computer. We Bo—like the recording. And I'll send you the picture so you can post it right here as we talk. That but that was really the—you got ha—hair—I had flow. Cur—ha—yeah. I speak—I speak on the intro like, "Yo, what's up? It's Al X Productions." I see thing—I had the swag, bro. Um, you—I swag—I was still swaggy though. So I um so essentially did that and and you know, started my producing career, and one thing led to the other and and throughout that journey of music, which again, you know, you could hear in other places, was always the intention was how do I help people? Because that was the part of me that came from my parents, and how do I bring excellence uh and and impact in the things that I do in order to truly change the narrative and perception of things. And so all the way throughout my career, you know, whether was uh running publishing companies with producers and making them successful, where it was at Universal Canada and changing the dynamic of what that company was looking and feeling, to go into RCK Nation and finally breaking artists on the Latin side for them, all the way to meeting Tainy and meeting this writer, Chris Chill, and embarking in what I what I committed myself to change the perception of producer songwriters in the Latin music industry, which I think we've accomplished, and then changing the perception of Latin music throughout the world and Latin content and Latin creators through everything that we're doing in the company now. And so, but it all—it all came from that duality of I want to serve; I want to be a serving leader in everything that I do, but I want to be impactful, and to be impactful, I need to have excellence, and I need to execute at a big level, and I need to be better than everyone else in how I push forward in order to create the dual dynamic that essentially changes the narrative and creates what what you see today and everything that we do.

It's funny you say that because even when I was in Canada, in Toronto, I was also a similar mindset with—I started in in in production. I was telling Isaac this earlier; it was like film was my [ __ ]. I thought I was going to be a director, but—and I remember seeing music videos in Canada and thinking like, yo, like they put on music—You Know Much Music, you spend some time in Canada—they'd be like—they show music videos from America—Hype Williams videos—and then they show like a Canadian video. I was like, yo, you could—this like night and [ __ ] day, right? So I remember being younger and being like, I want to change this this narrative. Like I don't like the way this—mind you, there were some art—some directors who had a different look for sure, like Director X, who was Little X at the time, but he went to America. His story is like he sent the tape to Def Jam; they didn't respond back to him. He went all the way to Def Jam in New York. I think he's just like, yo, give me my tape back, and he's like, "No, I want my [ __ ] tape back," cuz he's like, I guess there's cost associated to this at that time. And then he was able to connect with a few people from just showing up over there and being X, but he definitely changed the game, and we saw that as Canadians. I was like, yo, why can't like the productions that are shot in Canada have that level? And that's what I would set myself up to do. It wasn't even like excellence; I just was like, better. Yeah, like this could be better cuz we can—I thought there was a lot of dope local talent, which I'm sure this what what brought you to Canada, but it's like what we need though is like we need better storytelling; we need better visuals because at that time, the music video was everything.

Yeah. I was always really committed to the to the same thing as as that um and so I find that interesting that you say that, and in what you said as well too, why why is it so important for you—we talked about this before—why is it so important for you to to make sure that that the Latin culture is being uplifted?

Well, because two things, right? I think what has created a mishap about Latin creators and Latin content and Latin music historically has always been that it—especially when we talk about America, right? Because in the rest of the world is a different perception, but we talk about America is—you marginalize any group, right? And so you say, well, your your content is not as great; it's not as—to your point, it was what was happening in Canada; it wasn't that there was lack of talent—as history has shown, the level of talent—it was that the level of execution was not there. And sometimes that lack that um lack of excellence and execution comes from the lack of curiosity to say, "What if our stuff looked as good as that? Why is that looking like that?" Right? It—we tend—we tend to be a a culture that likes to have comfortable in everything that we do, right? Comfortability in everything that we do. So we said, "Well, everybody's done soap operas, so I'm just going to continue to do soap operas," right? But I think historically in in humanity, what really has broken through and created amazing things have been those men and women that say, "Well, what if? Yeah, what if you could do this different? What if we can get to space in a better way? What if you could have an electrical car? What if you can have the world's biggest bookstore and turns into Amazon? What if the personal computer could be different?" Like these "what ifs" really create the intention of saying, "This is how we change," right? Like when you look at Tyler Perry, it's like, "What if my the model of television is different, and I want to do it in a different way to build a billion dollar business? What if—what if a black-owned studio in Atlanta—and Atlanta could become the new Hollywood?" The the "what if"—the curiosity of "what if" is what creates the intention, but then you have to execute, right? So I think a large part of—for me—has been how do I execute with excellence? How do I make sure that everything that I do carries that so that when the world sees it is impactful, cuz it's like, "Oh, wow, there's other—team—know doing something different. Oh, wow, they handle business different." And guess what? That's going to come with critique, just like all day every single creator that's ever done anything impactful has been critiqued. Why? Because people don't like you to take them out of their comfortable box. People like that security of like, "No, but this is the way we've done it." I was talking today in in a meeting. I said, "Here's the problem with the media industry: we love to fight technology." The music industry should have owned iTunes; they should have owned all this. The film industry should have owned the Netflix model way before Netflix did it, but because they're so scared to lose the model that is working, you fight what's coming, and you end up still having to submit to it because evolution is evolution.

Yeah, bro. When you open up Pandora's Box, you not—you can't—that's it. Evolution is evolution, and the creators of revolution are those that ask the "what if" question. And so that is such an important part in changing. And so for me, doing that for the Latino community is saying, we have incredible creators—me, you, so many other people that are asking "what if"—but sometimes there's a lack of platform, there's a lack of perception, there's a lack of growth because we lack funds or we lack the infrastructure to do it because you know maybe we didn't have the the background or the support system or the long history that other communities have had it in in those innovators that have built that support system and that infrastructure um where that's what I want to do. I want to build an infrastructure. Neon16 and 0 is an infrastructure that says, "Here we are; plug yourself into this so you can grow because I've taken the pain, the time, and the money to invest to make sure that our operations are flawless or as close to flaws as possible in order to give you everything about our company that will allow you to execute your 'what if' at a high level of excellence." That's far—and you know what I find—and this might—this might rub some people the wrong way, but it shouldn't—but I find that also in the Latino community, CU you know, I'm Colombian as well too, born in Canada, my parents from Aden, but it's not—sometimes I find it as comfortable—that I find it's more like, "Don't rock the boat," yeah, cuz they came as immigrants, and they're like, yo, just do the thing, just to make sure and do it quietly; don't don't bother anybody because if you bother the wrong person, they might come in like, you know, they might tell you to—you got to stop or you lose your job or something like that. So I find that it's more like for our community—and tell me if I'm wrong—it's like you got to know your place.

Yeah.

Whereas people like you and me are like, "What do you mean? Like, but what if I don't—what if I don't do it this way that you've been doing it all the time, and I do it another way? What if—what happens in that point?" Right? I find that in in in our community—I don't know.

Well, and I think a lot of it is is 100%, and a lot of it also comes from just even how we look at religion, right? Because I think when you think about the majority of our countries that you know happen to be primarily either Christian or or Catholic, there is this understanding that you know you must fear God. God is always looking to punish you, and you grow up your parents telling you, "I so don't do that because God will—God doesn't like that, or God will punish—" I have to go confess my sins because I got to clean my soul. And so that psyche in someone's brain says, "I'm never going to be good enough. I'm not good enough." And that's why our countries can get taken over by a dictator, right? Because it's psychology of what is actually your right, cuz that's really the psychology of a dictator or anything, right? It's like you control the population by taking away their ability to think that they're greater than because you'd say in a country—how does 10 million people or 5 million people let one man control them all? Like, right? It's that psyche. So the manufacturing of the—manufacturing and and is that same exact thing with everything that we do. We live in a in a world where where that is the markers of—especially as a culture where it's like like you said—you you come to the US, you were marginalized; the the world told you you're an immigrant; you don't belong here, right? Always scared that something's going to happen that's going to kick you out of the country or that you're not going to make your own. And those that psyche as you're growing up—and our parents didn't do it out of out of bad intent; they did it out of survival and probably the best of intentions, you know, cuz they want us to survive here in this country, but but it's breaking that—it's breaking that barrier and saying, "Hey, listen, everything is possible. You are uh an incredible creator. How do we highlight that?"

And that's why I say my biggest mission is to use everything that we do as an example to tell you, hey, I am no better than you; my truth is no better than yours. My main goal is: here's my truth, here's the lessons I've learned; use it to develop your own truth. Right? Right. Because that's what will set you free. Yeah, the discovery of who you are and not the following of who I am. Right? Right? Right. Yeah, yeah. You can only be like—you can only be yourself. There's already like—there's already Alex Barrero. Exactly. I'm not trying to be second best to Lex Barrero. Exactly. You got to be the best version of you, of of… ma… yeah.

The God-fearing thing is interesting as well, too. I'm… cuz I'm a God-fearing man, and I've gotten closer to God in the last little bit, and it's actually absolutely changed my life in like a lot of ways. But I don't ever use it as a crutch as to like, “things you… you can't do these things because God would say this.” That I don't think of it that way, you know. I don't… I don't even think of it the way that I grew up with, like, Catholicism. I think of it more like, I'm fortunate and lucky that somehow I'm able to think a different way than a lot of people are, and I was put in that position. You can call it the universe; you can call it whatever. I don't judge anybody. I know how they feel about these things or not. I call that God, and I'm fortunate that I've been put in that position, and now it's like up to me to go and… and do these things. And one of… like, one of those things that I was like super fortunate that I know you've been—you've done even before you even knew you was doing this—is you were in sales, and you were selling Lex Barrero. So like, I also cold-called and knocked on doors a lot. Can you tell me how important it is to be somebody who can cold-call and not get discouraged by that, especially in the music business?

Yeah, I mean, it's… it's everything in the music business and in the entertainment business. You have to have perseverance because no one's going to give you what's theirs; nobody. You know, and I think that's the… the mistake people say it's like, “th% okay, well, I'm super talented; nobody listens because these A&Rs, they suck; because labels steal from us; because the movie business doesn't care about Latinos.” Well, listen, they had to go earn it, real real [ __ ] the same way you did. So when they're up there, they're not going to make it easy for you, cuz… cuz… cuz there's only one winner; the rest are losers. That's the reality. People don't understand, like, you only have one champion in the NBA; the rest of the teams, you could be good, but you just didn't win the championship this year. That's the reality of life. So when you're that champion, you go into the next season, and you're not over here like, “you deserved it; you lost yet last year, but here you go, take it.” Yeah, no, you're going to say, “bro, I'm the Miami Heat,” or whoever, like, “this is… I see that.” But… but that's… so that's… that's the big take on it. It's like really understanding that you… you do… you have to… you have to have intent; you have to have clarity. Right? The majority of people that want to start something, they lack clarity of where they're going, and so you end up spinning in circles because you don't truly know where you're going. So you go into a meeting with me, and you'll tell me all these things, but it's… I'll ask you, okay, like, “what does success look like to you?” Mhm. “You know, what do you want to do when you grow up?” It's something that Tommy asked me… uh… and… and that he makes us ask anytime we want to hire somebody. And at first I laughed; I was like, “what do you mean, bro? Most of the people we're hiring are old.” That's… he's like, “yeah, but it's not that… it's like you want people in your company that have a vision, that… that want to eat the world, that want to be you, and want to be the boss of the company, because those are the guys that are going to do everything that it takes to go, and they're so clear of where they want to go.” Yeah. But if… if not, then the rest of the people are just… nine of FS that are coming to you just to get a paycheck while they figure out their next life, cuz they don't know where they want to go. Right? And so having clarity in when you step into the room and what you're trying to get and how you produce… I used to tell my clients, like, “great, you want a Maroon 5 placement the next month? All we're doing is working with writers and people that have some sort of connectivity to Maroon 5 so that you can focus your whole attention to creating to one artist.” It's… it's smart. And then boom, then we would get the… Room was like, yeah. Because if not, it's like, okay, “oh, I'm doing this session, this…” But why are you doing that session if what your goal is is to get Maroon 5? But if you don't know that you want to get Maroon 5, you just want to get a placement, you end up going… and so a large part of selling… uh… like you said yourself, or selling the vision of the company is having so much clarity, cuz when you walk in, you need to be able to tell someone, “this is what I want.” Most people don't get what they want cuz they don't know it. And I talk about this… this experience I had with my daughter where, you know, she was… I don't know, nine months, and I bought this ball pit for her, and she would play in the ball pit, and then she gets annoyed. Right? She's so much like me; so funny. She'll like get intense, and she found a way to scoot herself back before she learned how to walk on and push herself off the thing so she can get out. Mh. And the first time I saw her do that, I was like, “holy crap!” The other day I saw her do something else. I have a pretty high bed, and she wanted to get down, so she figured out how to get on her… on her belly, hold the… the covers, and slowly release the covers so she could slide… slide, and she's looking at me the whole time. I… she's doing this. Right? I'm like, even at that age, the human brain knows how to solve the problem. Right? So it tells you that your… your brain has the capacity to solve any problem and get you to your goal. We lack the ability to tell the brain what the problem is. Interesting, because we lack the ability to know what we want. Yeah. And when you want something, you might say, “I want a jet.” Okay, that's what you want. And I want it black, and I want it blah, blah, blah, blah. So the more specific the better. Yeah. But then that creates a problem. Right? You don't… you need the $40 million. Yeah, yeah. But that identification, now you understand, okay, great, that's what I need. So now your brain starts putting things… your brain is sitting here, and it happens… I happened to meet you, and you started talking about jets, so now my brain triggers, “hey, remember you want a jet? Talk to that person; maybe that person will find an answer for you.” And then you start… the brain starts finding things. AB. But when you don't… I could be talking to you about jets, but because I haven't thought about what I want, and that's not the problem, it's just… it's just another conversation. I don't… it doesn't trigger. Yeah, exactly. So in seeing my daughter do that, I truly have understood the power of your brain to get you to the solution, mh, even at the young age of a year or nine months. But I've also made me understand how much we like the ability to tell our brain what the issue is. And innately we can do that, and then as we get older, somebody might… you might not even know that that's what we're doing. It's the power of the mind and soul. Oh, it's powerful; it's crazy, like you said. But… and even a lot of people though… I love the story of Peter Pan. It's just like, you know, these… they kids can fly, yeah, and then you get older, and you forget you can fly. Yeah, you know what I mean? It's like more or less what the story is, but it's because all of a sudden the world will try and beat you down and tell you, “you can't do this; you can't do that; you can't do this.” But then the whole thing is again, it's like the… what if… my thing is, “why not?” I'm always on some “why not” time, like that's my [ __ ]. And then you're right, cuz some might call it like an opportunity, but I look at it as an opportunity because if you're telling me… if I want that black jet, if I want that G7 or G6, whatever it is… yeah… let's call it a G6. Right? Is that… is that… yeah… yeah, G6, G7… yeah, G6, G7. But if I'm specific about that, as soon as you… as you say… as you mentioned, you're talking about that, going to trigger my brain to go and say, “oh, yeah, this person can help me with this, but maybe they're connected to somebody else.” You pick up the phone, and you call and be like, “yo, we found the right person.” When you have a team of people who are now working towards the same goal, that's super powerful as well, man, and it could really take things to like another level. You have… um… a thing that you say, it's like a three-step process. Can you talk to that a little bit more because I think that's also really important when it comes to the vision that you're talking about?

So yeah, I agree a th% with what you're saying, and how important it is for me is it always starts with identifying that… right… the… well, I'll bring it back… I always say this: asking the “what if” sparks the curiosity of what it could be, right? Or the “why not” in your case. Then it's like, okay, clarity and vision. And clarity and vision… sometimes people… I… I… I… I speak about this, and people are like, “oh, but you know, how do you find that?” Well, sit every single day and find what works for you. For me, it's writing, and what it does is like… I try to identify really what is it that I want? What… what is going to make today really great? Right? And so in doing that, once you identify, let's say you say, “I want a Grammy.” Yeah. So I tell my clients, “well, what Grammy you want?” Right? There's a bunch of categories. Best New Artist. So, okay, great, Best New Artist. So then it's like, now you got to obsess yourself about that. So you got to go study all the artists that were nominated last year, the year before, the year before that. Who were the winners? Why were they the winners? What are those projects? Can you listen to them? What are the things that were going around them? What was the media, the impact that they had that year? Why did that narrative get created? And you start creating this thing, and then you say, okay, great, now I understand what… what I have to do. But then you're like, okay, I want to go to the Grammys, so what do you want to wear? I want to wear Tom Ford. You know how much a Tom Ford suit looks… if you don't know, go to the store. Right? Because if you don't know how much it cost, you don't know how much you're going to need. Have you gone on Kayak or any of these travel sites and put how much a hotel… right? Cuz if you don't know how much it is, then you don't know if you're going to have the money, cuz you don't… you don't have your aim. So the more that you get clarity on your vision, then it really becomes putting in that clarity of that… of saying, okay, I know where I want to go; I know how I'm going to get there; and now is what are the steps that I have to take? Between connectivity, between having, you know, perseverance to go through the different things, but at least I now know where I'm going to go. And you're… and what you're doing as well is you're making it very real; you're breaking it down. Mh. So now it's not just saying, “I want to have a Best New Artist Grammy,” but you're actually applying the steps. I was like, “oh, here's a road map to get to this.” 100%. And then your brain does what it does best: starts helping you find the solutions. Right? Yeah. Um… and it starts creating that momentum of movement that allows you to say, okay, well, now I have intention, too. Right? Which is like my why. Yeah, why do I want a Grammy? What is that going to do for me? What is that going to do for others? Right? All right. And then you start understanding that to get to that place that you want, you need people. Right? Because you need to create. And as you start understanding the importance of people in your life, like you were saying about teamwork, you start understanding the true purpose of everything, which is humans. Like, our goal as human beings is to… to be a vehicle of each other; we're one ecosystem. So all that starts creating purpose. And once you have purpose, once you have clarity of vision, you know… once you have intention of why you're doing it, and then you had purpose, there's nothing that's going to stop you because now you have a reason why. Most people wake up every day without purpose, without in… and so therefore without intention, and therefore without vision. So when you… like all those things… when life gets hard, it crumbles you because you don't have a reason why. So you… you… you're faced with the hardship of life or faced with the hardship of this industry, and because you have nowhere to stand, your foundation crumbles. Mhm. And that's really the key. The key is like, when you know, “this is why… this is what I want to do; this is exactly why I understand this; I love this artist, bro; you'll push until you break through, until the W, until there's no wall that will stop you.”

This is a natural follow-up question over here. So what's your why, people? Uh-huh. It's the purpose. Right? I think of my life as a serving leader. So I say I am here in the service of others, and so my intention in creation is always, “what can I do that can change the narrative and perception of whatever I'm working on in order to break a door so people can walk through it?” M. So sometimes that's led completely by a one-on-one human, like in the case of me and Tiny. I saw what Tiny needed; I believed in this… in him; I believed in what he can do to change the narrative for producer songwriters in the Latin business. And I went through it. In the case of the film festival that we're doing now or the production company is, I want to change the narrative of the quality and excellence in film and television in order to break through and truly create a path, an educational path and a real path to… this is how we change the perception of Latinos in Hollywood in order to actually have a real stake in it and not just complain about it. So I go by a festival, like, I have that vision clear in each other the things, but it always comes down to the same thing: humans, humans, people. Yeah, people are the purpose.

Speaking of people, Erica, who's a project manager at AO faint and my company, she [ __ ] loves your show; she loves the show on Netflix. So she… she wanted to make sure I tell you that. So I stand on camera so she knows, and she's from LA; she's not Latina or nothing. She's like, you know… and… but she watches that show religiously, her… her and her fiancé. That's amazing. How did you identify Tiny was special? Was that guy that wasn't getting the attention that he deserved, but you… what did you see in him? And I asked that like as… cuz you're as a manager, right? You… you started… I think you started as a producer. Yeah, yeah. Then you started to manage… manag… yeah, yeah. I saw the problem. Watch his situation was not in the best of his terms. Right? His… his agreements, his placement in the industry at the moment… um… you… I always tell people, “I didn't give Tiny the talent; right? I gave him the vision,” and that's really the majority of what it takes is… is not so much just the talent. It's a lot of talented musicians and producers and songwriters and artists in the world. They like vision. Right? They like that ability to tell the brain where they want to go. And so my job and what I saw in him was a kid with a lot of talent who was really humble, really nice, super humble, one of the nicest guys I've met in the business. When I sat down, wanted more. Right? Cuz that's another thing; you can't force an artist to want more. But at that time, he wanted more, and he had some good placements back home; he was crushing. I mean, he was already Tiny, very tiny from, you know, 10 years ago, like he was just not the Tiny that he is today, a global superstar. He was Tiny the record producer, historically had done all these amazing records for Yelle and Father. Um… and that's why I said, “I didn't give him the talent, but I understood the position he was in.” I understood that, you know, unfortunately, producers, songwriters were not getting the credit they are, and I saw, most importantly, his desire to want to do something bigger, and I had clarity on that vision, and so that allowed me to say, “okay, I can add value to the human in here and take that…” You know… and that's really been my… the success of every… I've ever done. The same with La… Laira wasn't a show created because I wanted to make money. It was like, “damn, there hasn't probably the wrong show to money.” 100%. It was like, “there's… there's this opportunity for… there's opportunity for people to… um… to be a part of a show that truly showcases how, as a consumer, we… um… we consume music now.” This… and that's why American Idol and X Factors, they're not… or… or The Voice, they hadn't broken any artists because it had really just become about the judges; the… a storyline was the judges; was no longer the artist. And I wanted a show that reminded me of… you identified that. Yeah, I identified that. I… I just… I just saw it as like, if I was going to create a music show, you know, I would want to show that one, all the music is original because we don't want cover songs anymore; we want original; we have access to every artist in the world; we want original music. Two, they gave a platform to Latin Urban Music to truly showcase this potential. Three, where the artists were the… a storyline. So the… the… the judges, including myself, were not the storyline in the show; the… the… the storyline were the… the artists. And so all that created the… here's my solution to it: a show called Laire. Mh. And that's what it… it ultimately became. In that same way with the Montine… um… it was the same thing; it was a family of all artists that was going viral during quarantine. And when I approached them, they mentioned to me that they've been trying to, you know, do a docu-follow of their lives for the past 10 years. Oh, so they were trying to do that. Yeah. B… and Mary actually had shot a… a trailer on them and just didn't sell it around town; nobody bought it. And for me was like, here's a family that found a dynamic on how to be together, right? Led by the… the… the dad, but it wasn't a family of… it was a family about, you know, a story of coming of age because the kids were about to leave home; they were trying to have babies; they were getting married; the dad was trying to figure out, okay, now that all the kids are grown up, what is that life? And I wanted to showcase in a different way, and I saw the opportunity to say, “what if we shoot this as a music documentary? What if?” Right? And that was really the approach, and it's won awards, and it was a, you know, a big… big show for Disney Plus; number one show, non-scripted show, because it… it… no matter if you knew who the Montar were or not, you resonated with the story of the family, and then you got this aspect of, you know, old footage and that music documentary feel because I had just seen Shawn Mendes' documentary on Netflix, and that's what I wanted to like base it on. I love that like very personal feel to this reality, but it was very complicated because you also have to convince, you know, six managers or four managers that they have six superstars; they're… what… like it was quite a bit to put it together, but it was a huge success. We just finished wrapping season two. What's… what's that process look like when you're trying to get this… yeah, superstar talent on board in the beginning? In this case was really interesting because first, you know, is the multiple calls with the dad saying, “I don't want it to be this; I don't want it to be that,” cuz, you know, they stand for a positive, and they wanted a positive outcome on it. Then it was me going by myself and shooting the sizzle, right? Just me interviewing… how you're interviewing me. Then it was like… then I noticed the Bun and Mary thing; I was like, “oh my God, everybody in town has seen it, so I can't just go out with the same thing.” So I had to convince the family to allow me to announce production by putting money in myself before we even sold the green light. Put your money into it before it got green-lighted because I… I needed to show the family that I was serious about it, green-lighted, in order for them to allow me to announce the show. And then I hired a bunch of marketing and PR companies across the world to market the announcement to… in order to show that that show… the impressions were 1.3 billion… billion impressions on the announcement… on the announcement. So I can show that to the… to the… uh… to the networks to say, “here's a great sizzle, and on top of that, look at the reach this family has.” And so I took that risk. Finally, I actually had sold it originally to NBC, and unfortunately, when we started the creative process with NBC, imagine at this point I'm bucking money because the deal is getting made, but I can't stop filming because there are important things are happening in the family's life. He can… I ask how much money you spent at this point in your pocket? Um… about a million dollars. Where… yeah, yeah. So we were… I was putting money… I was like, okay, there's a deal on the table; there's multiple deals on the table, but we ended up choosing… at the time, MBC… but unfortunately, once we got into the creative process, you know, the creative that they saw in this was more, you know, Real Housewives of Orange County. That's the kind of docu-follow they were used to making. Yeah, right. Um… did you know that going into that… that… that might be a risk? No, you… you know, I trusted… it was my first big TV deal, so I trusted the… the team that I had at the time to guide me in this, and… and I think… you know, looking back, I should have stuck with my gut and CU… I thought, you know, Disney was the right home for it, right? And not to knock anything because NBC was being great partners; they just had a vision for it that was not what I had promised the family. So imagine, we put a million dollars into it; I'm in the middle of finally closing this deal to get money, and you know, this an expensive show for sure, and we start going into these creative conversations; we start producing the show with the creative team that… that NBC put, and it's starts going down the drain, and I have to make the tough decision to say, “I'm going to pull this show; NBC is not the right home for this.” Right? Going back to the fact that Disney might not want it anymore, like, I can go blank, but taking that risk allowed me to pull that show, and you had to break a contract… contract… break a contract and everything, and… and like find a creative way…

To like, get out and then you know, we were blessed enough that Disney still wanted the show, and and and it became the right home for it. And that same thing happened for Laira Laf Firma. Actually, HBO bought it first. Yeah, but unfortunately, they were going right when they were about to greenlight it; they were going into an acquisition. So they greenlit my show for production in 2023. And I knew that there was a competitive show being developed at another network, and I was like, I need to beat that show. So I asked them to let me take the show. This is yeah, and Netflix then bought the show. But both of my first shows, I had to pull from networks. Crazy, which no one in television does, because you're scared of like, oh my God, I got to pay my dues. But thankfully, because I had to come from success in music and other things, and I didn't necessarily have anything to lose, cuz at that moment I was in trying to build a production company. I just had two ideas; I wanted to get them made. You want to get them made, specifically the way that, specifically 100%. And so that pulling of that, but look, they both turned out to become really big successes, and they set the foundation for what would become what Entertaining Studios is today. So I'm glad it happened that way, but it's you got to take the risk. BR, I live right here; I live on the freaking edge all the SE, all the time.

You know what I love about that is that like [ __ ] the standard. Yeah, like because I'm sure there's like best practices NBC was telling you about, and this is how we do things, and you're, but you you're like, no, I'm not doing things that I have actually like experience with you from that perspective. And I like when we were shooting back in Toronto, Canada, we were working on a production together, and I remember very specifically how specific your creative was, and being on that set, I knew you were right every single step of the way. And me being like, I'm I'm going to do everything to support this guy because he has an actual vision. But I I seen you spend the time with the artists that we were working with at the time, like from picking up what shoes, spending 20 minutes of what the shoes about, the wardrobe, the rest of the wardrobe. Then when we get on set, you basically took over as a director, and like I seen how, and I never seen that level of uh attention to detail on an artist manager ever up until that point. This is what we talking about, like eight, nine years ago. So I'm like, I'm just thinking about how you did that at that level, which was important cuz you were trying to break an artist then, and that record ended up being, yeah, big success. Yeah, we talking Dano Alex, shout out Alex. And but you took that and you continue to take that in every step of your career because you're going to like, you're going to see it all the way through the way that you feel that it needs to be, and you don't give a [ __ ]; you're doing it that way. Yeah.

You know, I realized that like, maybe to the D the detriment of myself as a manager manager is that I could only work with artists who blindly trust my process creatively, because I I just don't agree doing it any other way. And and I'm I'm so hard on it because, and look, Tiny, to give him credit, uh for better or for worse, the first couple of years he just listened to everything I said and did it, and essentially that allowed him to become successful. And you know, I had told him that when we got to success that the tables would turn and we just do whatever he wants, and now I just let him do whatever he wants. And uh and you know, if you ask me today, I would think that some of those things are not the correct decisions, but I respect because it was my agreement with him as a man, and and I had to honor that. But I am, you know, I think one of the hardest things that took me years to realize and give myself the credit is that I'm a creative. Are like, I am a visionary, and so 100%, I I unfortunately cannot sit behind someone else's vision um and be comfortable with doing something without the level of execution and excellence. And that doesn't mean that I don't collaborate, cuz I one of the biggest things that I've done is I've learned how to identify people who are better than me and just draw their ideas. But what I do know that I could do, I I think better than everybody else is being able to take all those ideas and just have a clarity, give people the target. Yeah, yeah, yeah. CU if you give people the target, then their their juices start flowing, and then everybody can add the best of their vision. Well, most people, even best creators, even people that again that are super talented at what they do, the majority of people they just lack vision. Yeah, and I just when I see it, I am the best. Like, when I see it, I truly believe I am the best at executing it because I understand it; I know how to sell it. Like we go back to all these things; I know how to get there; I know how to create, solve the problems; I know how to go around and fix something all the way; I know how to get my hands dirty and be set, like you said, and and style the artist and do these things because I had a vision for, I had a vision for the jacket that Alex wore at the album cover and how I wanted him to be on uniform. I had a vision from day one on how to get there. I knew that there's this this Latin song that I'm going to go present to a Canadian label full of, you know, non-Latin uh people who who are also looking at me crazy because they're like, what's this young American kid coming, but I knew, okay, I got to get this song; I got to get uh the the the photographer to take this cool picture of him in my clothes instead of, Alex used to dress like a aletto, like you know, super dressed shirt and all this, and I was like, no, we're going to put you in this cool leather jacket, Balenciaga red sneakers, sunglasses. Remember the picture? That's the cover. And then then go and tell Ian, you know, my partner, hey, go take all the dancing Kissa videos from YouTube of sexy hot girls and put the song so they could under so that these Canadian men can understand the potential of this song and how it makes you feel like. So I I had clarity in it. You know, I had clarity in where I wanted to go, and so it took me a long time to accept that that's just who I am, bro.

So much clarity now that I, not to cut you off, but so much clarity that we shot a video that was like $35,000; we got it in post, and you're like, I can't put this out; I'm not putting it out. I was like, yo, your call. I mean, I, and you know what's funny is like I agreed with you on that one cuz I also have like a pretty high level of quality, and I remember just thinking to myself, I'm like, no, he's not wrong. And then we ended up shooting another video for like a third of the cost, which was look way better, but it was like this is this is what we need to do. So you went and canceled the video. I mean, you shot it on on my first song and back say like I put my everything on line. You practice pulling away something. Yeah, like it's, but but you have to you have to do that. You know, I tell my team, and and I'm really hard on my team because I I really try to let them know like, hey, the best way to work and succeed in this company is to truly understand the clarity of what I'm trying to communicate and then apply your own creativity to it, cuz you're here because I want you to create freely with the understanding of where we're going, and and and that's why I said I I I haven't signed any artists, or sometimes, you know, I've I've let clients go, or we like clients, always good. I I don't have any bad blood with any client I've ever stopped working with, but always because I feel like, hey, if if my creative is not respected then I'm not of value to you; you can find other people to be babysitters and deal makers and and pursue that, and that's okay. Like, not every artist wants that, and they have their own vision, and I respect it. But for me, that's what is inspiring; that's what makes me wake up in the morning. If I can't be creative with you, then it's like I'm not that motivated, and and I could just find you someone else that just babysits, and that's okay. Yeah, I could be there; I could be that. If I'm creative, I could be that. If I can, and and at this point to my success rate has shown that I can break you if you let me do what I want to do to it; I can break you. Like I haven't I haven't engaging an artist or engaging a client creatively and not had them had some level of success or in a business right or in a company like can like I was able to come in and shake things up and follow the vision, and as long as that was following, things were happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What does it take in 2024 to be a great manager, huh? Um, I think the majority of managers that are seeing success in 2024 are managers that are just deal makers, because to the good part of it, you know, you want to pick up an artist in 2024 that just has it super clear right, because it's so hard to develop an artist nowadays that really is, it's about the artist that has already connected with an audience in some sort of way, who has an idea of what his music needs to be, who has some clarity on his visuals so that you don't have to do the heavy lifting, because you're going to hit a hard wall. It's really hard to break a a new artist and develop a new artist, so you might as well for business sake and time sake find someone who just has it really clear and just be a good connector and dealmaker. So um, you know, I would say that that's the biggest thing to to in in today's world is really trying to find a talent that is way further than what it would have been when me and you were in the business and starting, and you you really believed in a talent from zero and you help them find their sound, their image, their, that's just really hard nowadays. You know, now you can suggest things, but artists feel like they're the gods already, right? They they feel like they can control; they don't need labels; they could reach an audience without a manager, so they can just go on TikTok. So they come with a different ego, a different persona, and that's that manager role becomes more of a again, a dealmaker more than anything else, like a guiding force, but less and less what I'm noticing is, you know, in the managers that I know, less and less creative input on on those things because artists tend to run away from that, you know. Yeah, well, because they have they have access to the audience. Yeah, uh, which for me, you know, and even for A&Rs, I think the A&R job inside labels have become a little unnecessary to a point to some artists because, you know, they're coming in; most artists are turning in their projects already done before they already sign. And so that's why you see these labels, you know, joining forces and, you know, killing some CEOs so that there only one CEO for the whole one area or moving towards just doing distribution deals; they don't, it's hard to get an artist to sign now a real recording agreement like now you got to do licensing agreements where they own the masters and you don't own anything or distribution deals um because artists just don't feel like they need anybody. So as a manager, you know, be okay to be that babysitter, which like for me, I'm not I'm not excited to be a manager anymore in today's world because you lost that you lost that creativity, and I think great managers are great visionaries because again, you put the vision, play you put the you're a great coach, and so imagine you're a coach and you have a bunch of players who don't want to listen to your play like to the place that you're calling, you'll be like all over the place. Yeah, why coaching at that point? I'm just a GM. I I I you know, I turn more into being able to draft a player and let them play and hope we win, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Become the GM, the owner of the team; let's hope for the best.

What's the, so you speak on that that manager side of thing, and it's like we're talking about V a little bit earlier where, you know, this world of management and 20% commissions, but you're starting out for those who do start out with the artist from from a new, talk to me about what's your feeling in terms of that world of like the commissions versus a a partnership like a real partnership on paper like any other company. Here's the thing, and it's different levels, right? But I think if you're a manager of an artist that's just starting out, the honest truth is you deserve 50% of that business, and I'll tell you why. The reality is at that moment that artist is needing your guidance, your financial support, your relationships, and a lot of times, especially like, let's say if I come into a new artist like I'm the I have already my relationships, I already have the understanding of the business; I already have the knowledge; I'm not learning that with you side by side; I already have established this. So as an established manager coming in, I always tell people, here's the thing: if I'm an investor in say a restaurant and you're the chef, you might know how to cook, but you don't know how to run a restaurant. If I'm a restaurant tour, I already know how to run it; I can put the money up for for the location; I know how we're going to make it big; you just cook great; we're 50-50 partners; you cook; I run the restaurant; that's going to make us all the money. So to me is like the partnership of manager and artist should be a real partnership; it should be because I'm putting the same sacrifice; I'm giving my same hours as you are; I'm laid at the studio; I'm sacrificing my family the same way; I'm putting my own money into pay my flights and stuff because you don't have money to pay me yet; I'm pushing you in every single way; I'm creatively with you; I'm taking the fights; I'm taking your babysitting cuz a real manager solves the other person's personal problems on top of that. So there needs to be there, and I agree that if the artist then blows up and becomes I don't know, the Weeknd, then you can start lowering the percentage of a manager as that goes because guess what? Now I don't have to chase so many opportunities; they're coming to us. Guess what? You are now your touring is all set; you know how to work in the studio; your relationships are say so now I become a manager of of a studio; I become an investor, an operator, so I'm going to lower that level of percentage to match my duties and my jobs that I'm doing now because probably I've also move on; probably now I have a company and and a and a team, so I'm going to lower that. But at the beginning, the first couple of years, years, the first contract should be 50/50; we should be us working together with one goal to build a partnership, to build a business, an entity together, and when the tables turn, you kind of go down. But unfortunately, it wasn't set like that, and people look at it as a bad, but I just think look, if you talk to the majority of major managers on the way up, they've lost their marriages; they are unhealthy eating; their level of stress can cause health issues. Mhm. They're sacrificing their body for your dream. Mhm. So if you're making 80% of the million, you're living a lifestyle where you can be affording private jets; I might still not be able to afford first-class flights. Right, right, right, right, right. How's that fair on a 20% commission? How's that fair? I got to pay taxes; you got to think about that. If the artist making a 100 thou, I mean a million dollars, you know, and you're doing 10% of that or 20% that's $200,000 right, or let's say, and you got to and and you and you're investing, let's say they make $100,000, you're making 20 grand; you're making 20 grand; that's less than minimum wage. Yeah, even more work, even at $200,000, it's 40 grand at 20%, and there's a crazy amount in your this more work, less hours, unhealthy time, pushing you, believing you, dealing with your emotions, dealing with your trans, like humanly is not in any other business; it it doesn't work like that. And I would even argue like if you're starting out at the same place, 50/50, yeah, even if you're starting out at the same place if you don't have the relationships cuz you're both putting in a crazy amount of, and and when you look at it like cuz it's rare that you'll find the artist who, and I' I've said this before, like my situation with Jesse was very rare where like we were able to build the real business; I got commission; she paid me; I was the one who stepped away like from the business on good terms; everything was fine, and I got paid out what was owed to me, which is a good amount. Yeah, I'm the rarity in this case; I've talked to a lot of people who it doesn't go down that way. Yeah, whatsoever, and that's when I start to look at the other side of the things where you're talking about is like, yo, how do you make this a little more equitable for everybody, right? Well, and bro, we're again, we're humans just like the artists are. Yeah, we had importance. Now, mind you, yes, like everything else, there's there's managers that suck and are lynching on, right? A lot of man, a lot of them. But when you have a good one, when you're seeing the changes in your life, when you see the before and after, if you don't value that more than anything else, I think that's where managers get but hurt because because you're like, wait, more than anything else, I really have put my life on the line for you. Yeah, and that's the truth. I've as a manager, I've taken a thousand flights; I've been away from my family; I've been away from situations; I've taken the stress for the artists to solve their issues; I've been there for their personal matters; I solve everything, and then when you get sick, you don't even get a phone call. So then, oh, it's just pure business. So if it's pure business, well, it if I'm going to be the restaurant to and you're the chef, I put it on paper; if it's p business, so it's it's interesting, and and again, you know, some artists will will go off on this and and will create commotion, but it's the reality, man. You value people around you; value the humans around you, the good ones, right? Because there's obviously bad people, but value the good ones cuz when they're gone, you feel it. Yeah.

Multiple artists career-wise have shown that when they change managers, their career has started to flop, and then they start understanding like, oh, you need to it check, it wasn't just you; it's a team effort for sure. You know, it it's a team effort that it takes to win every championship, even even when you play individual sports, when you play tennis, you didn't get there by yourself; you got there with Mo, you know, your parent, the coaches, people putting money into you for a long time to get there. When you're an artist, it takes a crew; it takes a team, even even you talk about MJ, Michael Jordan, like you know, if you watch the Last Dance, you he may have not liked Jerry Krause, but he's not winning those championships with Jerry Krause. Obviously, he's not winning it without his talents, his hor ethic and dedication, but you need Pippen; you need Horace; you need C; you need the whole team. Oh, even if you're a race car driver, right? Yeah, bro, perfect example; that's a great example cuz you think it's one person driving racing, but the car fails; I don't care how good of a racer you are; Max Verstappen in the last race, his car failed. Yeah, yeah. So I don't care if you're the best driver in the world; yeah, your car sucks. If you're Lou Hamilton, seven-time championship, your car has sucked the past two seasons; guess what? It doesn't work, and that's a team effort; it takes a lot of team, a lot of people that are sacrificing that are traveling with you that are in the in the shop like scratching their heads, stressing themselves out that their jobs on the line, their livelihoods on the line for you. Yeah, and that the only world where that's not appreciated is is is music because in film and television, you have a guild for everything; you're screenwriter, you have a protector's guilt; your directors, you have a guilt; you like those people are protect. Explain what a guild is real quick. Guild is is call it an association, just just like a what is that they call it in work like a union; it's a union of set up to protect the rights of you as an employee of the operation you're doing right, and those unions, you know, protect under bad working conditions, wages, minimum things, credits. But in the music n music, you're just the wild west, and it's and it's kind of crazy because it's it's disrespectful to the humans that make the machine move for every artist. In a lot of times, bro, even if it's the minimal thing, you need everything. I value my agents at at that do the touring for me; I value the staff; I value my assistants. Yeah, I can't operate without my assistant, so I don't believe in treating my assistants as [ __ ]; you're a human being; I'm going to treat you the same; you're going to eat at the same table I eat cuz I can't function healthy if you're not here, right? You know. So so imagine when you're a manager, but you get treated like crap all the time cuz man, managers take a beating, bro; managers take a beating, brother, like artists artists forget to look in the mirror and realize that 95% of them are not easy to deal with. You know, I think it's like it's like the environment that breaths that as well to in the artist cuz I do have empathy for the artist as well, not saying that you don't, but I got empathy for them because yo, once the [ __ ] starts to go, oh yeah, everybody wants a piece of that person. 100%. And it's like all of a sudden, family come out the woodwork that you never seen before in your life; friends that you haven't talked to in 12, 13 years getting congratulations just to get something out of that person, and that's not to mention the entire business that you got to deal with. Like imagine you're going and you're working in a studio, and you're a night owl; you got to go do promo for two weeks at 6:00 in the morning, right? Like not everybody that's not good for like it's a hard artist is one of the hardest positions in the world, but it's why I think that it's so important for the artist to know who their team are and be good to that. Yeah, that's a th%, right? Because the way you go through that is not alone; yeah, you go through it with, and that's why why hey, mind you, there's bad managers; there's managers that want to just steal your money; there's managers that just want the one they want; run; they want you to work your ass off so that you can make money for them so they can live a better life; there's there's good and there's bad for everything we're talking here about the good ones; we're talking here about the ones that really care about you as a human; we're talking about the, and you can call that the maybe 10% of really good managers in in an industry. So we're we're definitely not communicating from the bad one cuz to your point, the artist's uh emotion and workload is

Is heavy as well; they carry a lot of things, and that's why, and they're artists too, emot, they feel, and that's why I agree that it's not about keeping it all the time; it's being able to understand everyone's position and value as that machine grows, right? Cuz there is times, like I said, there's manager, there's artists that get to a point where it's like, as a manager, you're really just doing less and less and less and less because now there's a bigger team. So yeah, at that point, I agree with the manager saying, "Hey, listen, I'm the one now on the road 160 days of the year, right, while you're only showing up to seven. You know, hey, now we have a team, and I have agents, and I have assistants, and I have all these things. You know, go, hey, now I'm at the studio, and you're only showing up when the songs are done." Okay, I understand the value of lowering that, yeah, in certain things. You know, if if you have a business together, keep it; if you have a record label together, that's 50/50, you have those things, but the rest, you know, you can lower it, so so it's really reasonable. Yeah, but at the beginning, bro, there's no way, especially because, yeah, the artist is paying, you know, up to 35%, 40%, you know, paying managers, pay well if you're doing split 50/50, it's a different story, right? But yeah, the costs do go up, and the manages goes a little bit little, so the time, yeah, you tip the scales a little bit.

How do you, how do you communicate to your team so you're encouraging them as opposed to making them feel like they're not doing the best job in the world? And I asked that from like a, I've always, yeah, I don't want to say struggle, I think I've struggled with that, like where I've, I've I do my best now more than ever to be intentional with my communication with my team to ensure that we're getting the best results, as as opposed to making them feel like they're not doing a great job. The, it's tough, it's tough because sometimes they don't do the great job, right? Yeah, um, so how do you come in it, what do you say? Like, I think for me the key is always two things: one is understanding that they're not here building my dream, right, that I want them to create and have freedom, and my goal is to get the intention of the company behind their dream; but two, also understanding that my job as a leader is to push their potential, and in order to push their potential, I have to allow them to look in the mirror, right, and looking in the mirror hurts. And so is, I'm not here, I'm not here to be a dictator, which means I am here to collaborate with you in your dreams and your vision and allow you to be here; I'm here to give you opportunity to grow and feel that you have the freedom, freom to sign writers or do whatever else that that doesn't limit you to a box of your job; but I definitely am here to also put the mirror in front of you and say, "Hey, listen, it's not just me, again, I don't believe in just my truth, but here's the things that I've noticed, here's the things that are happening, here's the mistakes that have happened, and as a result, just look in the mirror, figure out every day what can I do better, how do I push myself to be more organized, because if not, what will happen automatically with people is they get to their comfort zone, and their comfort is always, let me do what's the easiest thing for me; it's never, let me create." The very few people are driven at that level, yeah, and those people usually own the business, yeah. So the rest is really, hey, you want to, you want to grow, look in the mirror, cuz the more you know yourself and the more you know the mistakes, the more you can grow. Um, so I try to really have a good rhythm of encouraging them, making sure that the projects we're working on are things that are inspire them, so when they're done, being having gratitude, right, I think super important; single event that I've ever done, I bring my team on stage and I say, "I couldn't have done it without this," so they feel ownership, yeah, but also being hard on them, being, being in that mirror and saying, "Hey, listen, here's the reality, bro, and and you got to check yourself, and you got to think different than that, and you got to push yourself," and you and I say it in the company, Excellence, the the the Excellence is in the smallest of details. Mhm, it's never in the big ones; the big ones everyone gets, yeah; the the the mistakes of people always happen in the smallest of little things, the smallest details.

Lex barrero has an ecosystem of things going on: the neon6 management, Recco label, publishing, you have entertain, which is a production company, which is what you got, three fil TV; we do everything from, you know, major films to documentaries to non-scripted shows to scripted shows, um, as well as podcast, right? You're a person, you become a personality a bit as well too, right? So now you're out there in the public, how do you get to a place where you areow business, you, it's not a bottleneck, how do you de with that? I think the key is create one, you know, you have to hire really well, right, because you have to, and you have to be willing to trust the leaderships of these three vertical, right? Okay, the agency, the label, and two, you have to create enough Synergy between the things that you do to where one thing can lead you to the sell of the other, and the other can lead you to the creation of the other. So for me, as as a business owner, I always say it's like, like when I look at the companies, if I'm doing something in music, I always ask myself, "Is there anything entertain could do here? Is there anything the agency does?" If I'm looking at the agency, is there anything that neon or entertain could do? And keep people on that Synergy, but a large part of it is truly allowing each vertical to have his own leadership structure that can lead it, so that you can put it, for me, I think what's been the the biggest learning curve is how to manage my time between conversations of each, right? Cuz you know, it's easy to lead a company when you're talking all about music, but imagine I could wake up, my first three calls could be about music or a client, then I got to go into a TV creative meeting, then I got to go into an agency, think about an event, then I got like, and and so that that Rhythm day, that Dynamic of being able to switch gears and change each conversation while staying creative, uh, it's been a very interesting learning experience, um, but again, I think you can't do anything alone, you got to have a really great team that puts it together, and you have to be very clear with each goal that that team has and where they're going in their Vision. So I make sure to let each team also develop and say, "Hey, great, I can tell you what I want my agency to be, but what do you want the agency to be? Where do you see this agency growing? How do you, how do you see yourself being part of that Journey?" So that they can also carry that vision, and and then you just become a supporting system, and you make sure it aligns with your vision as well too, but it also brings synergies to the other places as well. But I find super important for me because I have that too; I'm jumping in from one for management, then it's publishing, then it's becomes, you know, record label, and it's Tech thing here.

Taking care of my own body and my own mental health has become super important; we're like, I don't drink no more, I do my best to get to sleep early, and even if I don't get to sleep, I'm still waking up every day no later than probably like the latest I'll be waking up, absolute latest is like 5:30 in the morning, especially on the west coast over here. Yeah, is that important to you as well too, taking care of your body, your health? Yeah, 100%. I take the mornings off; mornings are for me; I meditate, I go train really hard, um, I find things that are, you know, for a long time in my life I don't have any hobbies, yeah, and I found hobbies in in training, in martial arts and training in boxing. Well, you've had Hobbies, but you like, like myself, you turned your hobbies into your careers. Yeah, yeah, but all my hobbies were the career, like it was job, it was not never led to like my personal fulfillment of that, right? Right, and so that's become a really big part of me, and then also understanding, you'd be shooting that gun, bro, I see it, I see it on Instagram, you know, uh, but I've been, I've been doing that, but you really fell in love with that [ __ ] like it's like, yeah, you know why, because it's the adrenaline, the level of concentration I got to have, and most importantly, that it's something for me, something that I'm not doing to try to help somebody else, it's something for me, right? And I and I love that, and we need that, you need that space, you know, and then I really kick off my day, and I take my day, uh, you know, I was, I was speaking, um, yesterday, and I was with my team, and I was telling them like, you know, most people say, "Oh, well, you're the CEO, why are you at 12:00 p.m. sending emails?" And it's like, I actually enjoy that at midnight, yeah, I sit at midnight and I, I have Clarity, I, I can think, no one's bothering me, and I need that, and I think that's been the hardest thing for me to find is moments of peace throughout the day so I can think, right? Because my schedule, as you can imagine, is back to back to back to back to back to back to back, so finding those spaces where it's like, I could think, I could think through the process of what we're doing, I can execute something I'm passionate about, uh, have been very important for me, and I find those in the morning definitely, as I take long showers, and I find those at night when things have shut down, and I can spend, you know, after 9:00, some time. I also love watching television.

You find a time to watch televion? Watch, can you actually watch TV or does your mind go somewhere else? No, no, I, I, you know, it depends the show, but I but I try to find shows that really drive my creativity that I'm in. What are you watching right now? Um, I'm watching two series; it's funny enough, they're both in Japanese, uh, Tokyo Vice on on on Max, which is an incredible series based on an American reporter, young reporter that goes, based on a true story, goes to Tokyo to work at the number one newspaper and starts unveiling the corruption of the yakusa, and then a Shogun, which is based on, uh, it's on Hulu, based on the wars in in in Japan between the Clans. Uh-huh, uh, so I've really loved one because I'm like learning Japanese, I'm like watch it, and two, culturally, like you ever been, yeah, I love Tokyo, culturally I love how amazing that that culture is, the level of respect that they have about everything, and so that's really what I'm watching now, and I also have found time, uh, which is something very recent for me, to go to concerts as a fan, like I was in botan, I went to go see Limp Biscuit. Yo, don't even tell me about that; I went to the, I haven't done this in a long time, I went to [ __ ] Byron sent me a video in Chile or Argentina that look crazy; I went to the store to buy the red Yankee, I wore the C, I got into the crowd, I, you a big Biscuit fan? Yeah, I was a big, I was a big LM biscuit, a big rock fan. Oh, real me too. Um, and so I've been finding those little pockets to do that, bro, I [ __ ] it's funny you say that cuz like I've lost, you know, you get into this business and you get a little bit, you lose that excitement that you had is the reason why you got into it, right? But, um, when when Rage Against the Machine came to Toronto, bro, I said I said to, I went to, first of all, I went with my friends from high school, I'm like, I want to go with no industry people, I don't want to see anybody from the industry; I saw somebody from the industry and I was like, "Good, good, cool," got into that MH pit, we'll put the videos up on this like, I was losing my [ __ ] I was crowd surfing, by the time I was done, I was drench, my hair was all like crazy, but I had the best time. For me too, I went to, actually in Toronto, I flew with my best friend and we saw 50 Cent. Oh, see, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah; I the whole time rapping every single one of those songs, cuz are you buying G8 like, like regular tickets or you? Yeah, like I mean, I went to the festival and I really like, I, you know, and and mind you, we are blessed that we get to go to these things and have all this, but to your point, so much of these concerts that I go to, I go to at a requirement to show support or something, but I'm not necessarily like a massive fan of the artist, and so you sit there and you talk, or or you're in that industry thing where you you can't even enjoy the concert, and the past two concerts I've gone to, 50 was one and LM biscuit, where I was like, "Oh, I'm a fan of music again, I like [ __ ] raised," you know, bro, I love that if you're a real fan like that. No, no, I'm a fan, I'm a fan; we definitely, I went to the mall in botad and got late meeting to go buy a hat, that's how much of a fan I was, I went over there raging. You know what jokes, so I saw him here in Staples in LA, and uh, Colin hooked me up with tickets, works at Li nation, and it was was all industry people in there, but as soon as 50 went on, um, I can't believe the the the, it's the first song on get Richard that try, "What up, what up, uh, what up, Gangster," bro, so there's a bunch of us in there, so I'm there with aad emotional oranges until the left of me is jcole, we like fans in there, she's like, "Cole's just rapping to himself like every single line," it's like, and we same thing like many men's coming on all these records like bangers, oh super bangers, we're standing up; it's funny cuz like we're fans of this [ __ ], and I love to see even Cole like he's a fan of this [ __ ], he's like locked in spitting every single bar, and we're in the box and like we're standing up, we're like, I guess some of more the industry people are behind us and we're like, you know, they're like, "Yo, you need to sit down," we're like, "Yo, this no, bro, I can't sit down right now, like it's not that time, I'm here to enjoy this [ __ ]." Yeah, um, how important is it to have uh mentors in this business or in life in general?

I find it incredibly important, yeah, you know, I got to tell you, I, I unfortunately did not have a lot of mentors in my career; I think it's important to have, I would say more than mentors, it's important to have valuable friendships with men and women who are of inspiration to you, right? It doesn't have to be a formal mentorship here, but it is people that drive conversation around you that makes you go, "I haven't thought about that," right? Because to me that is the key to mentorship, right? The key of leadership is for me to again, not to tell you my truth or get my guidance, but to say, "Hey, have you thought about this? Yeah, let's have a real conversation," and I tell my friends all the time, if you hang around people who all they talk about is crab, that's all you're going to get. So I think it's important to have valuable relationships with people that that spark conversations that really, you know, upgrade your mindset, to who are real with you, who are willing to be mirrors, right? We should be mirrors for each other, MH, and and if you have a real friendship, you shouldn't get mad when someone becomes that mirror for you, someone calls you out on their BS, right? Because I always say it's a difference between, you know, that's your perception of me or the perception of what I did and the importance of your perspective of that, right? Because I got to be able to say, "Hey, whether I agree with your view on this or not, I have to respect it because it's yours," yeah. And so how can I take what you're seeing that maybe I'm not seeing, maybe you think I'm lazy, like, and you're you're giving me BS about it, and it's like, instead of fighting you, I'm like, "What is it that you're seeing that I'm not seeing, and how do I take that and and and put it into a valuable lesson in my life?" So I think, you know, whether that that's a mentor or whether that's your peers, you should surround yourself with people that yeah, spark that in you and that are willing to be mirrors for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you, do you, um, do you allow people when the space to question your decisions, a question why you're thinking about something? 100%, yeah, yeah, like, look, I, I have a Clarity and vision and where I want to go, but I respect people who come and say, "Well, I don't love that idea," right? Right, so my biggest thing is always like, just have a why, tell me why. Yeah, yeah, I just get exact, and for me, Ivan, who's my business partner and my best friend, he's been that person my whole life since I met him, and he was an intern at, for me, he was always, he interned for you? Yeah, he interned for me first, and I, where's this at, in Miami, we had a a marketing company, and he interned as a designer, and I would be like, "Oh, I want blue," and he'll say, "I'll do blue, but I think it should be red." Read, and I like that, I like that he disagrees with me, even though it piss me off sometimes, but I like that because it was like, okay, at least he's willing to stand by his word, you know what I don't like is the, "I should be read," oh, no, no, no, wishy-washy, like, yo, stand up for it; I always tell people like, you know, it's good to critique, but it but stand up for what that is, like, don't come and tell me this and then pull it out, like, you got to stand up for it, cuz again, I'm gonna maybe disagree, so you got to tell me why, and but I, I think it's important, it's important for people to give you other perspectives and give you their wise and and for you to surround yourself with people that are better than you. You have to. Yeah, yeah, like, it's key, like, I, I get crap all the time from Tommy, but I love it because it's like, okay, he has experienced, he's seen it, and maybe he doesn't have the connectivity I have to the subject or whatever, but I take it and I and I digest it and make sure, okay, maybe he's right, you know, um, so it's important, but that that dynamic between you and I, shout out to Ian by the way, man, solid dude, man, guy says very few words, you know, but when you know him, he he talks more, he talks. Yeah, yeah, but uh, that that Dynamic there, man, like how does that work so well through all these years? Cuz he always understood the importance of Robin and not being Batman, okay, you know, and I always understood the importance of having Robin, uh, and we helped each other in that, right, which is like, I needed someone to check me, yeah, he needed someone, someone to push you, okay, and that Dynamic is important, so it's been, you know, it's now been forever, years and years and years of that Dynamic, and we've had arguments, tough arguments that we have cuz we both believe, and that's why I respect you, would never know, you know, unless you said that to me right now, I would have never thought you guys had a single argument, but that's how you know that's a great thing. Oh, no, bro, we've had serious arguments; we have, his personal is completely different than mine, yeah, you know, he he takes things, he takes things to heart, but he believes in things to heart, and so do I, and so I will try to weave my way to make him believe in what I'm doing, but I won't convince him, and I love that cuz that's what really makes it exciting to work with him because I know he'll tell me the truth, yeah, and if you try to sell him on it, he'll see through you. Oh, yeah, at this point, he knows me, he'll be like, "Yo, listen, I think you're wrong, but we're going to do what you do because that's what it is," but he'll also understand that because sometimes he his fear wouldn't have allowed him to do some of the crazy things we did, so he's also learned that like, okay, this is my vision, I explained it, I did it, but I also trust that he's Batman and that even if he [ __ ] up, he's going to take us out of the hole. Yeah, yeah, and and and that trust gives you confidence, in my case, you know, yeah. I hope you don't mind, we we were talking about him with him in the room, but it's all positive things, I [ __ ] with man, good people, good people; I wouldn't be here without him today. That's dope, man. Um, I got one last question here, um, I asked this to all the guests, and I want to ask you this, um, I don't know if you're much of a reader, I think you are. Yeah, yeah, is there is there three books that you you could recommend, doesn't have to be about the music business, three books that you would recommend? Um, Contagious, I love that, bro, that's, I just read that like a month ago, I, I give that book to everyone else; I think Contagious is an incredible book that talks about marketing and talks about your Understanding Psychology; Richard Bronson's The Virgin Way, uh-huh, I think Richard has done an incredible job at understanding how to build uh a brand and a family and a good Community within his companies, yeah; and then I would say the third one is your own journal, your own, by who, by you? Oh, your, like, I think your ability to write every day the things that are important to you, the visions, and then read them at night, yeah, are an important way to continue to gauge how blessed you are, continue to give your mind the problems that you need, uh, so I would say that's three; I think Contagious will teach you about the understanding of marketing and and how the psychology of marketing Works, which back to your original question about selling yourself, everything we do is selling yourself or selling a product, yeah; The Virgin Way will teach you about building a culture within your company and how you look at business in a positive way that really affects people, and people are at the center of it; and then the third one is your own definition of your days, which is important for you to take in. Yeah, yeah, um, man, I appreciate your time, I'm here if I can, you know, end this with a personal antidote, we've known each other maybe nine years now, maybe a decade, and it's crazy how time passes, time flies, man, time [ __ ] flies, but I always knew that you were like, you were about your [ __ ], and you were like definitely had a vision, and you were very had intention, like a lot of it, but there's one thing that I specifically remember with you, and I don't know if you remember this, but I, I, I always appreciated this, and I have a lot of respect for you for doing this, not only that, for many reasons, but it was probably one of the first times we we hung up, we talked, and we were at a pizza shop there on Peter Street in Toronto, and we started talking about everything; I was there with some

People on your team, I guess you took a liking to me, or whatever it must have been. But I said, listen, I got this artist that I'm really trying to figure some things out for, and uh, I just appreciate, like, you know, can you introduce me to a person or two? Like, I got you. The next day you sent out five emails. You sent out an email to Brian Press, I believe it was Ryan Press, let's say it was BMG, was another one. So here's who you sent it up to, cuz I said, I said, I don't want to, I don't, I'm not trying to get a record label deal.

Yeah, she's a songwriter. Yeah, yeah, I remember. And I know that we want to make sure that, you know, I don't want to sign that record deal because he doesn't have leverage, but the publishing thing is interesting. And you sent one out to Ryan Press, you sent one out to Ashley Koun, you sent one out to Zack Katz. And what you said in the email is, I want you to meet my good friend, Maritxu Ruiz. He's trying to figure out a publishing situation for his client; she's dope, just want to put you in touch with her. You didn't have to do that. And all those names that I named right now, if you go and look them up, they're powerhouses in the business, and they were powerhouses then, at that time too. And you had those relationships, and you introduced me to those people. And Zack has, has been—he and we ended up doing the deal with Zack, and that's the homie. Um, and I never forgot that, man, and I really appreciated that.

So to your point, like you really do serve humans; you served me in my career. So I just wanted to say thank you for coming and doing this, man.

No, man, listen, it's it's a blessing, bro. It's a blessing to meet people like you who had an idea, who also believed. Because I think when I got into Canada, you know, I was pitching this idea of my vision for Canadian artists in music, and you were one of the first people to say, "Oh, this guy gets it," you know? And I respected that because you were a person that was respected in that community, you know. And so to have your support, to have you get the vision, to believe in what I was doing, to take me seriously—again, an American coming into Canada, regardless of the success I had or not—I respected that. And I think that's the value; the value is like, nothing's ours, everything is supposed to be to give it, you know? It's like, and people are so, you know, so set on owning everything, on having everything to your own, it's like, no, everything you have and providing is to give.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give it. That is the way of life; it's an ecosystem; it'll come back to you. Yes. You know, but most importantly, even if it if you don't look at it as it's come back to you, it's it's the right, proper thing to do in order to allow yourself to free yourself to get more things.

Yes, sir. Right. And so I'm glad that it it worked out, and it worked out for her and everything else. And and I'm here, man. I'm thank you for for having me in this podcast. Thank you for sharing this conversation; it's important. And I'm super excited that you're embarking on this journey because I think you're a person that has a lot to give to the world and um and to share it and and and utilizing all these platforms to be able to communicate that. I'm just happy I get to be a part of one of the episodes.

You know, appreciate that, brother. One of the first episodes. My God, thank you so much, man.