Showing up wins half the battle. It is a very real thing because if you continuously do something, you not only get better at it, but other people fall off from it. So you automatically get ahead just by showing up.
—Nima Etminan
Nima is the COO of Empire Distribution Records and Publishing, an American distribution company and record label founded in 2008 by Gazi Shami and headquartered in San Francisco, California. In his teenage years, he started as a writer contributor in DubCNN, a website for west coast music. In his teenage years Nima has interviewed popular and rising hip-hop artists. He has also produced groundbreaking album records for acclaimed musicians, including 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and many more.
After finishing his Master’s degree in Media Management Program in Hamburg Media School, Germany, he moved to the US and learned the ins and outs of the US music industry.
I highly recommend listening to the entire episode because we cover interesting topics, mostly about the hip-hop music industry, changes in music streaming over the years, the decline of piracy, and showing up every day to pursue the thing you’re most passionate about.
Please Enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Clever, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.
The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
Welcome to the Pierre T. Lambert Podcast where Pierre interviews the best creatives in the world to share their tips and stories.
Enjoy & spread the word to your friends about this podcast!
Pierre T. Lambert is a travel & adventure photographer & YouTuber followed by over 600,000 people.
Find Pierre here:
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/pierretlambert101
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- Website: https://pierretlambert.com
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Nima is the COO of Empire Distribution Records and Publishing, an American distribution company and record label founded in 2008 by Gazi Shami and headquartered in San Francisco, California. In his teenage years, he started as a writer contributor in DubCNN, a website for west coast music. In his teenage year Nima was interviewing popular and rising hip-hop artists. He has also produced groundbreaking album records for acclaimed musicians, including 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and many more.
After finishing his Master’s degree in Media Management Program in Hamburg Media School, Germany, he moved to the US and learned the ins and outs of the US music industry.
I highly recommend listening to the entire episode because we cover interesting topics, not only about the hip-hop music industry, changes in music streaming over the years, the decline of piracy, but also about showing up every day to pursue the thing you’re most passionate about.
I hope you learned something out of that episode! Now go crush it out there and remember to be nice with our planet – we only got one!
Please, SHARE this episode AND leave a 5* rating on Apple / Spotify – It means a lot, THANK YOU!
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Selected Links from the Episode
- Nima Etminan on LinkedIn
- Nima Etminan on Instagram
- Empire Distribution Records and Publishing
- Gazi Shami on LinkedIn
- Snoop Dogg’s music on Spotify
- Kendrick Lamar Official Website
- XXXTentacion’s music on SoundCloud
- Young Dolph’s music on SoundCloud
- Olamide’s music on Spotify
- Interscope Records
- Universal Music Group
- 50 Cent’s music on Spotify
- DubCNN
- Nique La Police music on MixCloud
- Fuck Da Police by N.W.A.
- Pimp: The Story of My Life written by Iceberg Slim
- Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
- Ingrooves Music Group
- King Von’s music on Spotify
- News article on King Von
- Pop Smoke’s music on Spotify
- News article on Pop Smoke
Show Notes
- Pierre and Nima’s shared childhood memories in Germany. [00:01:34]
- Shifting interest from archeology to rap music. [00:08:21]
- Early exposure to rap music through MTV. [00:09:17]
- Online forums and rap music communities. [00:10:54]
- Learning to code basic HTML and becoming part of the global message board. [00:12:32]
- DubCNN: The music website for the west coast. [00:15:10]
- Interviewing 50 Cent and other emerging artists. [00:16:57]
- DIY recording set up. [00:18:30]
- Catching hip-hop concerts in Amsterdam and Cologne. [00:23:00]
- The first conversation with Snoop Dogg. [00:25:23]
- Traveling to Hollywood and meeting rap artists in person. [00:27:45]
- Going back home to Germany and getting a college degree. [00:30:08]
- A podcast-like conversation with Snoop Dogg. [00:32:20]
- Moving to the US and signing with Empire. [00:33:25]
- Showing up wins half the battle. [00:36:33]
- Monetization of DubCNN website. [00:39:24]
- Rap music as a social commentary. [00:43:08]
- The counterculture and calling out the society through rap music. [00:44:51]
- How the Empire Distribution Records and Publishing was founded. [00:47:58]
The Pierre T. Lambert Podcast is where Pierre interviews the best creatives in the world to share their tips and stories. Enjoy & spread the word to your friends about this podcast! Pierre T. Lambert is a travel & adventure photographer & YouTuber followed by over 1,000,000 people. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
