The inception of the Dominion Hill brand was created in 2023 to release master recordings owned by Dominion Hill and its affiliates and to provide artist and indie record labels with the platform and the guidance to effectively operate in the digital era of music.
Dominion Hill is a New Jersey based music distribution label and marketing company who’s music masters are distributed under Roc Nation’s independent label, Equity Distribution. Equity distributed Jay Z classic “Reasonable Doubt” album in 2019 which catapulted the brand.
We sat down with Rhasun founder of Dominion Hill who has been in the music business since 1996 and has executive produced, managed and distributed some of the top tier artist in hip hop and R&B. Rhasun catalog includes recordings from Bizz the Prince the Prince to Inspectah Deck, Q Parker (112), DJ KaySlay, Philly Freeway, Sadat X, Baby Eazy E, Killarmy, Solomon Childs, Hoffa, Peedi Crakk and countless independent artist.
We asked the question why is it becoming more difficult to break in this era and what has changed?
“It’s always been difficult to be famous in any era of the music industry; says Rhasun. In 2024, the digital element of music has changed the way we can record, promote and access music but one thing that hasn’t changed is it’s still a business”.
“When I talk about the future of Dominion Hill I talk about a mentality. If you keep the mentality this is a business and all business works the same, this mentality is the difference between a music career and an expensive hobby”.
“Artist and start up labels fail because of the mentality that I’m gonna rap or start a label because it’s the easy way to go from broke to billions in a few years with no investment or knowledge of how it works”
“I study this business everyday,” says Rhasun. This is what I do. I remember sitting in on the panels years back with Wendy Day and business exact at Urban Networks, New York’s Indie Week, Core DJ’s, TJ’s DJ’s and I absorbed any info I could. I started out in the mid 90’s assisting my brother Supreme with street team promo and management for Wu-Tang and affiliate group Killarmy. I learned a lot from just being there listening, not talking. I have all gratitude for that opportunity from math to business; it was all life changing”.
“Best lessons came from experience and I made a lot of mistakes until I figured it out and was able to make some things happen at a high level.”.
“When I executive produced my first retail album in 2008, I was focused on the CD and retail placements In the Best Buy’s Fye and Sam Goody I wasn’t familiar with the digital side and meta data. I focused on the music itself, promo, videos and tour but didn’t have the most important part handled. When you indie nobody is gonna teach you have to learn the hard way”.
How do artists build a fan base in 2024?
“Artist and Indie labels have to ask the question” how do I stand out from the 100 million artists with content on Spotify and other digital platforms”?
“Entering into the first quarter of 2024, Spotify alone has over one – hundred million songs uploaded to their platform and over five million podcast”.
“My business model is to build a business plan around one single. Invest in one record and promote it and perform it for six months to a year. Artist make the mistake of living in the studio and recording hundreds of songs nobody will ever hear”.
“My brother Shabazz the O.G used to say to me “Yo dog if this record ain’t on top 200 billboard it’s a new record”. When he was managing my label I didn’t wanna hear it. When you have a dope catalog you want to get it out asap but from experience he was right and I use this business today”.
“Another mistake is don’t worry about the going viral overnight sh#% build fans and business connects one at a time until you have enough listeners and keep feeding these fans the numbers will keep multiplying. Eventually the door is gonna open, you have to be ready for the opportunity”.
With the creation of social media and the Tune Cores, Do Artist need a parent label, distribution company and Management?
“Absolutely. A parent distribution label such as Equity, MNRK, The Orchard for example have staff of competent people who oversee your masters. Releases cannot be entered into their systems without the proper registration and format. In addition they have monetization systems in place to collect your royalties. If you don’t make money they don’t make money. It forms a partnership and these labels allow you to keep control and ownership of your masters”.
“A project manger is key to your success. A project manager role is to organize your teams movements and brand by analyzing your best assets and pairing you with the right connections to bring it to life”.
“A good project manager also knows by experience who and what to stay away from, what’s going to be effective for building a brand, a fan base. and where budget should be spent or not spent”.
“When I formed Dominion Hill last year I reached out to publicist, project managers, content developers, and marketing reps I had solid relationships with many years. Collectively we held meetings and formed business plans that would be rolled out quarterly. In 2024, we are picking up where we left off in 2023”.
We are prepared to take on more Artist and label imprint deals in 2024. If you want to be part of the Dominion Hill team and can work under this mentality let’s work”.
Contact Dominion Hill by visiting their website.
Instagram: @Dominionhill_Records
