Cassie Petrey, CEO and co-founder of social media/music management firm Crowd Surf, offers advice on differentiating yourself in a crowded field, and what the REAL hardest part of your job will be running a business.Hear Cassie's full interview in Episode 464 of The Action Catalyst.
Full Episode
So there's still a lot of problems to be solved in the music business in general. I think attaching yourself to a problem that you feel like you have insight on that people may not have thought of as a really good way to get into a business that's competitive like the music business.
And the problem I saw is there's this platform called MySpace and I see a bunch of local college bands using it, but I'm not seeing big artists use it. And I'm not really sure why, but I know that fans would like engaging with popular artists in this way. And so I just kind of went for it because I didn't see anybody doing it.
And I thought about me and I'm like, this would have been so cool if like the Backstreet Boys could like send updates on MySpace bulletins and, you know, share new songs on a player and DM people back and post content in real time. I was like, this is so cool. I would have loved this. And I want to help other artists do that.
And I'm going to take the burden off of artists having to think about that. And I'm going to be making some of their fans happy and feel more seen and communicated with in the same time. But I really attached myself to this problem or thing that wasn't being done yet. And I think that's always a good way into a business.
It's easier to win in business if you pick a lane that isn't as crowded but might have problems that affect a lot of people on a frequent basis.
That's great counsel. So running your company, what are some of the business things that you wish you knew that you had to learn the hard way?
One of the biggest things I had to learn the hard way is that it's a very different payment schedule in terms of how you get paid as a business versus how you get paid as an employee. So there's a lot of laws protecting employees in terms of you having to be paid on time in the way they were promised. In business, it's a little more dicey.
I would say most companies aren't going to pay you for at least 30 days per And sometimes they tell you they're going to pay you in 30 days, but they actually don't pay you for six months. And sometimes in worst case scenario, people don't pay you ever. You get ripped off. So, you know, I've obviously evolved like my policies over the years to protect myself from different situations like this.
But when you pick up a project, you're having you're kind of having to invest a little bit like you have to invest in staff. and resources before you get paid, especially at the bigger companies like a Warner or Sony or a Universal or Disney. They're going to pay at least the minimum, they'll pay you 30 days. A lot of times it's 90, 120.
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