Welcome to The Manager’s Playbook, my personal newsletter where I share weekly insights for aspiring artists, emerging music managers and executives on how to navigate the music industry, by Ruiz.

Note: For any links that are behind a paywall, copy the URL and paste it into this paywall ladder to read the article without any issues.

Ruiz Note:

26 weeks.

For 26 weeks, I wrote this newsletter without missing a beat.

However, last week I missed out. With good reason nonetheless. Quite simply put, I couldn’t find the time.

Did I ever throw out the “creating environments to make it easy” out the window…

Two weeks ago, I wrote about creating space to reinforce positive working habits. Well, the last two weeks were anything but that. It was filled with endless travel, countless hours of work, preparing for this week's episode of "The Manager’s Playbook" podcast, and a major focus on Bastid's BBQ in NYC.

Needless to say, it threw my entire schedule for a loop. I wouldn’t have been able to manage it without A) an incredible team supporting me and B) All the deposits I’ve made to ensure I had the habits that were going to help me get through this grueling schedule.

Truth is, sometimes it’s hard for me to maintain healthy routines when I’m bouncing all over the place. Especially, when I set my sights on something that I think is impactful for a client.

and I had one goal in mind for my client Skratch Bastid….

GET BUSTA RHYMES TO BASTID’S BBQ…AND THAT WE DID!

Big shoutout to my brother Cory Litwin for the alley. Cory and I worked on this moment for over a month.

When we sit down for our edition of “The Manager's Playbook” Podcast, we’ll definitely dive into the details. It's worth uncovering how perseverance, a charming yet persistent attitude, sacrifice, strong relationships and a relentless positive attitude can achieve amazing things.

Needless to say, Bastid’s BBQ in New York City was a hit!

Needless to say, we’re about to do it all over again in TORONTO JULY 27 & 28!

Line up is stacked!

As always, you just NEVER KNOW who’s going to pull up and perform!

The trick is not to achieve a perfect work-life balance but to find fulfillment in everything you do.

Let’s get to it.

-Ruiz

CONTENTS

Pay Attention:
• “The Manager’s Playbook” Podcast feat. Lex Borrero
• Scooter Braun Retires From Artist Management After 23 Years
• After Raising $125m, AI Music Generator Suno is Now Paying its Most Popular Creators

Industry News: 
• Sony, Universal, Warner and Merlin Strike Music Licensing Deals With Twitch for DJ Livestreams
• UMG Partners With SoundLabs to Create Personalized AI Voice Models for Artists

What We’re Watching:
• The Man Who Runs Instagram

Check This Out:
• Music Industry Job Openings

PAY ATTENTION

Lex Borrero Reveals Why Aspiring Artist Will FAIL (And How To Succeed)

My guest on episode 003 of "The Manager's Playbook" Podcast is none other than Lex Borrero. It’s an honour to have my guy sit down with me for this exclusive conversation.

Lex has worked with some of the biggest names in Latin & Pop music including Tainy, Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa, J Balvin, Will Smith, Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, The Montaners Family, Kali Ucis and several other prominent figures.

We discuss his unique talent as a creative executive, his exceptional clarity of vision, and his early days breaking the mold in non-secular music. We explore the power of narrative and intention, his groundbreaking partnership with Tainy, brokering deals with powerhouse broadcast networks, following his gut intuition and us working together on a few prior successful projects.

Lex is a prominent figure in the entertainment industry known for his innovation, executive leadership, and advocacy for Latino culture. Check out the full episode on our YouTube channel to find out why and how!

Scooter Braun Retires From Artist Management After 23 Years

What a run.

One of the best to ever do it is stepping back from artist management (Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande) after a successful career spanning more than two decades. There’s something from his run that can be learned and applied to every manager & artist’s career.

Read through MBW’s take on the news, plus Scooter’s IG message.

After Raising $125m, AI Music Generator Suno is Now Paying its Most Popular Creators

“Now the company is taking a major step towards building a community – and towards making music creation on its platform commercially viable for its users: it’s launched a program to pay out its most popular music creators.

In a plan announced on its blog at the end of last month, Suno said it plans to pay $1 million between now and the end of the year to creators making music on its platform, starting with a tranche of $100,000 paid out to the 500 highest-ranked tracks made publicly available on the Suno platform in June.”

If Suno isn’t on your radar already, they should be. Suno is an AI tool that creates full-length songs from verbal prompts. You can now get paid from making an AI generated song, with prompts. Let that sink in.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Twitch Signs Licensing Deals for DJ Live-Streams With Sony, Universal, Warner and Merlin

Twitch has secured deals with Sony, Universal, Warner, and Merlin, allowing DJs to legally stream music on the platform. The initiative, launching later this year, will help over 15,000 DJs monetize their streams and avoid DMCA takedowns. Twitch will share music rights costs with DJs and offer promotional opportunities. CEO Dan Clancy emphasized the importance of this move to create a sustainable environment for DJs. This marks a significant step in Twitch's support for the music community. This is huge.

Note: This link is behind a paywall. Copy the URL and paste it into this paywall ladder to read the article without any issues.

UMG Partners With SoundLabs to Create Personalized AI Voice Models for Artists

“The new deal will allow Universal signees to develop unique, custom voice models for their personal use in the recording studio.”

It’s only a matter of time before we see AI integration across all of the major DAWs (ex. Logic, FL Studio etc.), however, props to UMG for attaining first mover’s advantage. This will make a huge difference in the recording experience for artists & engineers: faster, less burden on the artist etc. It’s like the next evolution of AutoTune, but on a much bigger scale.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Colin & Samir invite INSTAGRAM CEO for an HONEST CONVERSATION.

If you’re not familiar with Colin & Samir I highly suggest you tap in. They have a platform that is dedicated to online creators. I’m of the belief that much of what they discuss on their podcast is applicable to the world of music, considering the convergence of media and music being more blurred than ever.

Watch the above episode with Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri for insights on getting value on the social media giant.

CHECK THIS OUT..

Music Industry Job Openings

Have a look at ROSTR’s job board for paid work in the industry.

Stay hungry. Stay open.

Bio

I’m Mauricio Ruiz, the Founder/CEO of 8 Til Faint, an Artist Management company with over 5 billion audio streams worldwide. Our past and current clients include Grammy nominated, Juno Award winning multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Jessie Reyez, Marley Bleu, Skratch Bastid and more. I am also the Co-Founder of Mad Ruk Entertainment, a content agency with over 3 billion long form video streams worldwide. Our client list includes The Weeknd, Eminem, and Celine Dion, along with renowned brands like Nike, Pernod Ricard, Canon, and the NBA.

Follow me on IG @mauroisruiz

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