I had the pleasure
of speaking with Wendell Johnson. He was the road manager for the Young Money
rapper, Lil Twist. He was also a big part of the YMCMB movement with artists
such as Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Drake, and many more. He has been with them for
the last five years and continues to work with other artists to help them into
the music industry. In his spare time, he is currently working on starting his
own company called My own world tour.
This is an apparel and accessory company that allows you to express who you are
and how you live in what you wear.
In speaking with
Mr. Johnson he explained some of his negotiation techniques. I asked Mr.
Johnson if uses any dirty tricks or if he has had any dirty tricks used on him
during negotiation of a deal. Mr. Johnson stated that this is part of the music
industry game. You have to sometimes use tricks to get what you want. An
example that he gave was when making a deal for an up and coming artist, he has
to make the artist bigger than what he or she is. This is the only way the
label will look at the artist. He stated that the music speaks for itself but
if the artist does not have the numbers you have to give the label something
else to look at. This is a trick of the industry that many artist today use.
When using
objective criteria to make a negotiation what sources do you use? Mr. Johnson
stated that he normally uses his previous artists or calls other labels and
managers to see what offers are being made for that particular negotiation.
This helps give him a range of what he should ask for. Mr. Johnson stated that
he never starts with a low number for anything. He will start with the highest
number possible based off of what he knows the other person can afford. He then
works his way down from that number. This way he does not “low ball” himself.
Mr. Johnson stated that he researches everything. He always likes to know a
little more than what he thinks the other party may know.
When asked if it
is hard to separate a person’s interest from his or her position; Mr. Johnson
stated that it is hard for anyone to focus on the interest instead of the
position of a person. He stated that a true negotiator could do this
immediately. He is still working on this at that time. Sometimes he focuses on
the person and forgets to remove the person from the actual negotiation and
only focus on the problem at hand. He stated that the best way to do this is to
write out the problem or the interest of each party from the beginning and then
cross them off as the agreements are met. This helps everyone to stay on track
and not deviate from the main issue.
I asked if Mr.
Johnson had any tips for up and coming negotiators. Mr. Johnson said to always
know who and what you are negotiating about before going into the negotiation.
Know what questions you need answers to and always have a set starting amount
and work your way down. He also stated to stand your ground if it is something
that you believe in and do not let anyone bully you out of doing what is best
for you and your business. The last pointer that he gave was to not let fear
rule your decisions.
