BucketList - The Spark

You know, I really want this blog to help you see there is more to me. There is so much more to me than just music. And while most people talk about their struggles and stuff, I'm a positive person, so thats just not really my style.

That being said, I'm gonna list some things I want to do before I level up to the next life. No particular order. And honestly, some of em sound cliche..but I haven't done em. I'm busy working all the time.. so even if they sound cliche, and are cliche... fuck it. I may expand on a couple of em too.

1) Go to a professional basketball game, probably the Lakers

I've played street pick up basketball my whole life, never organized... but its such a fun sport. I'd love to see how the pros play.

2) Go to Hawaii

I hear its gorgeous

3) See some national parks

gimme suggestions!

4) Visit my family in the Philippines

Haven't been there since I was 5 years old

5) Visit a friend in Japan

6) I have a few friends in the Midwest too I'd love to visit

7) I might be down to skydive

8) I wanna drive a car like 160mph

I'd need the car and an open track or road but man, like a young Ricky Bobby once said... I WANNA GO FAST!

9) Fly an airplane

I just need a pilot friend to let me hop in the cockpit for a little, fk a license

10) I'll do some music ones... Do a Tour

I mean, traveling the country.. the world.. AND get to perform my music... well shit thats a dream come true.

12) Perform at Madison Square Garden

I feel like once I do that... oh I'm the shit shit

13) Start a business

I think it would be cool... be making money... employing people putting money in their pocket and stuff.. sounds like fun. Like that WE ALL GETTIN PAID sorta feeling.

14) Now back to other ones.. Start a family

Having kids... all running around like wild animals... then I raise my voice and they stop.. hahah.. sounds like fun to me.

15) Play in the Major Leagues (Baseball)

Hey! It's MY LIST OKAY?! I would still be so down to be a big leaguer. Ever since I was 5 years old, words can't even describe how cool it would be to play in the MLB.

16) Be in an action movie

Romance... naw... Comedy... nawww. I WANNA BE AN ACTION HERO! just thinking about the end product.. I'm all kicking everyones ass... BOOM... BANG... POW... zoom in on my head all badass lookin and I didn't even break a sweat. hahaha. Hell yeah

17) Inspire people.. or even just someone

To think of how cool it would be to inspire someone. You could be the spark that sets them off on their course to change the world. The spark that makes them fearlessly chase (and eventually catch) their dream. The spark that makes them wanna keep fighting even when things aint easy... that's what I'm talking about. No disrespect to Gandhi... but Be the change? Naww

BE THE SPARK.

Peace & Love,

Billy

Music is fun, Business is tricky.. lets dream tho

Getting the business side of Lil Casino is a littleee tricky to establish. There's so many things that go into it and its just complicated. For my sake, and for anyone else in music, I'm gonna try to simplify it as much as possible.

Now as someone who needs to pay rent, I've gotta find a way to fund my music with whatever extra money I have. And that's not much. So truly, the only way to do anything dope af is to have somme sort of sponsorship or investor. But investors want to get their money back and some! So figuring out how to profit is the goal.

The three most clear ways to profit are via streaming, merchandise, and shows. There's tons of other ways but these are the most basic. Streams are tough tho, because to make anythingggg, you really have to be superstar status. So that brings us to merchandise and shows. Now that I could do. Other things like sync licenses where your song gets in movies and video games would also be pretty awesome and profitable. Then eventually doing features. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first first step would be to establish myself as a business, either a DBA or LLC. A "doing business as" (DBA) is good, cheap, but someone can sue me and come for my car, house, personal assets. But with an LLC, I could protect my personal stuff. Now this seems like the best idea, especially in music where getting sued seems almost inevitable. But only problem is it is $800 a year!!! HOLY BALLS. Now I don't wanna get into the nitty gritty, but to sum it all up... music is expensiveeeee. Because that's just that part of it. There's also fees associated with music videos, outreach, and just plain making the music. This is what makes it so tough to keep going sometimes. Money. That's what its always about am I right? But I just can't look back on my life and wonder what if I did go all out? So I'm going for it. But it's gonna be tricky.

Happy Saturday

I'm just gonna start by addressing my last blog. And I still stand by what I said.. sorta. Basically I read further into the agreements and they do allow people to stream it, you can make a video, etc etc. So all that is okay.

However, I found another thing that basically says these producers are getting 100% of the publishing rights. Its pretty confusing, the rights thing, so I don't wanna bore or confuse you. But pretty much... 100% publishing rights to the producer is bullshit. It should be 50/50. They put it a lot of work to do make the beat... absolutely. I put it a lot of work writing the lyrics, mixing and mastering it... so 50/50 is clearly the fair rights distribution for anyone with half a brain cell. (Yes I changed that cliche a bit, I like neurons)

ANYWAYS.. I'm not here to bitch. I'm actually super grateful to have the freedom to express myself. And half the time, the reason I do this music stuff, is cause I don't know what else to do! Its something that I've seen a lot of progress in and I'll never forget the first time I heard myself on a track while driving on the freeway. I was with my buddy Adam and it was cathartic, euphoric... something that words can't really describe. But it was so cool.

So I'm basically a drug addict. haha. Trying to get to that original high. jkjk, sorta. lol

Speaking of, even though its a plant, I actually don't blaze anymore which for many people that knew me in college... probably find that impossible. But its true! I'm on a much more productive vibe and its fun. Plus I've been in relationships (romantic and friendly) that have been based solely on weed and I want my relationships to be based on actual love that's all.

But honestly, if you wanna credit anyone for the factory of songs I've been able to produce, just thank Ashia. I didn't have a very good flow of thoughts until I met her. So I'm truly blessed to have crossed paths with Ashia Babcock.. my future wife.

DANG, thats wild to say... but its true!

And with everything calming down with the VID... I'm stoked. I've been memorizing my songs and ready to start performing again. I got a bunch of new songs, and theres just nothing better than doing my music live. I mean... music isn't just a recording art... its a performingggg art too! Welp... have a good weekend. Time for breakfast. =)