Clinton Sparks is a man of many talents, and he continues to prove you don’t have to do just one career in a lifetime. While it’s incredible that he’s been nominated for a Grammy, sold over 75 million records, built million dollar businesses, and even launched his own eSports and gaming company, being an awesome dad is what he prides himself in the most.
With an 18-month-old daughter and a 16-year-old son, he somehow magically finds time to juggle his personal and work life — stressing the importance of family and helping others as much as he can.
From the early days of discovering DJ Snake to producing for Lady Gaga to stepping into the limelight as his own artist to helping leas the intersecting of music and gaming, Clinton’s passion and love for music has not wavered in the slightest in the 20 years he’s been in the music business. With his new book, “How To Win Big In The Music Business,” he gives back all the knowledge he soaked up — even making it free online.
When your intentions are pure and you work your ass off, blessings come knocking. Clinton is living proof that dreams do come true as long as you have the right mindset and discipline to push through the obstacles that come with life, and continue on your never-ending journey to the top. Most recently, he released his new project, a 4-track EP titled Ninety3 with healing power for our current times.
AllHipHop: Congrats on your new book, How To Win Big In The Music Business! Talk about making it free online.
Clinton Sparks: I’ve been doing it my whole career. I discovered people like DJ Snake in 2007 in a basement party in Paris. Most of my career has been helping other people win: artists from Rick Ross to Big Sean, helping launch other DJs’ careers on a global scale from Khaled to Drama, even helping conceive the idea for WorldstarHipHop with my buddy Q. I’ve always been someone that’s helped other people win, someone who does things for the greater of the culture. I’ve been shaping and shifting the culture my whole career. Even Diddy famously said, Clinton influences cultures.
I’ve been around long enough to watch rappers come and go, athletes, influencers, the Vine era, Youtubers, I’m seeing it with esports and gaming talent. The biggest problem is all these people with short-lived success don’t have the right tools or the right guidance. Everything from mental to physical health, financial literacy, understanding contracts. If they’re a brand, how to nurture and build that brand, make it sustainable and scalable. I’ve excelled and helped many other people win and become extremely successful. I’ve done it for myself, over and over again in different industries.
In a world now where everybody’s a rapper, singer, producer or a DJ, in an independent, DIY industry that’ll be a 2 billion dollar industry by the end of next year, no one’s really out here helping them who actually has the knowledge and experience. I’ve seen other people out here trying to pawn off courses and webinars, but who are you? Where are your receipts? What did you do that makes me say “oh s###, I gotta listen to that dude”? People out here have one thing, but that’s it. Great, so you’re good at being a DJ or a manager. They don’t have the track record of winning at all of those things, like I have. The main thing is, I actually care about helping people achieve their goals, Always have.
AllHipHop: You’ve literally done everything.
Clinton Sparks: I really am one of one. I’ve won in almost every single arena in the music business. When I give you information, not only am I giving you sound information from someone that’s actually won at what you’re trying to do, but I understand business. I understand psychology. I understand what you need to feel, how to get there, how to tell you what to watch out for and what mistakes you need to avoid. It’s free because I want people to win, but the course isn’t free. The audiobook isn’t free. You can log on now and get the free book at WinBigInMusic.com.
If you take your career serious and you actually really want to win, you’re really a donkey if you don’t go get this free book. What do you have to lose? You don’t take your career that seriously if you’re not getting a book from a guy who’s made millions of dollars, sold millions of records, travelled the world, worked with the biggest artists from Beyoncé to Gaga to Pitbull to Akon to Rick Ross to 2 Chainz. If that guy’s giving you a book for free on how to win and you don’t do it? You don’t really want to win.
AllHipHop: What are we learning in this book?
Clinton Sparks: You’re learning the psychology, the principles and values of how to win. How to network effectively, build an audience, go viral, market and brand and make money, to name a few. To be honest, the principles and values in this book aren’t just for the music industry, it’s transferable to any industry including your own personal relationships. All those things are important to have stability to make a winning career in any business.
If you’re a perfectionist like I am, you never feel you’re doing enough. You don’t think you’re as dope as other people think you are. Everyday I wake up as the broke kid from Boston with nothing, thinking “what can I do to prove my worthiness to people?” What can I do to make people get familiar with me?” I’m never complacent and I’m always grateful. Everyday I look out of my bedroom window with gratitude. H########, this is my house. Holy sh-t, I did this. Talking to you, I see how killer you are. I see your hustle and how much you put your work in, all the people you write and give a platform for. Even you taking my DM. You might look at it like “oh sh-t, I landed a Swae Lee interview.” I look at you like “oh sh-t, I landed Shirley Ju interviewing me.” I appreciate any and everybody, that’s in the nucleus of my success because gratitude goes a long way. If you don’t take people for granted and you appreciate everything that people do, they want to do more for you.
AllHipHop: New project Ninety3 out now, talk about the significance in the title.
Clinton Sparks: I named it Ninety3 because it sounds like the year 1993, it’s very throwback to 90’s R&B. I even have Ricky Bell from New Edition and BBD singing on one of the tracks. I’m really excited. I have a laptop full of incredible music I’ve made throughout the years. In my book, I talk about not waiting for some magical moment that doesn’t exist. Make content, put it out, make content, put it out. A lot of times, people sit and wait for the right time, the right budget, the right deal, the right feature. 2 or 3 years go by, they never put that record out. They wasted it. They’re p##### off because for the rest of their life, “man, this record could’ve been this.” So why’d you hold onto it?
Even worse,someone else comes out with something similar. Now you’re really p##### off, “damn, I made a record just like that!” I took my own advice from my book and started putting my music out. I’ve got way too much music to put out, it’s never going to get covered, synced, or streamed sitting in my laptop.” I put Ninety3 out through Vydia, one of the best independent distributors I’ve ever worked with. They go above and beyond. They even add marketing, they put a bunch of budget towards your projects. I’m really excited about this EP because every song on this project is a vibe and if you love dope chords and concepts then you will love Ninety3. Get familiar and go listen now.
AllHipHop: What are the benefits of distributing with Vydia?
Clinton Sparks: One, they believe in the project. It wasn’t just uploading to their system and running through their platform. Really them believing in me, believing in the project. Putting some marketing budget behind it, really supporting and helping market it. I’m really excited because I’m donating all my proceeds generated from this project to Communities in Schools of Atlanta — a nonprofit that empowers and supports kids and helps keep them in school. I’m a big advocate for helping our youth, especially those who are troubled and don’t have a father or a mother around to help them figure out life. I wanted to find something near and dear to my heart. I’m not making any money off of this, but I’m helping the world be better. That’s more important. Get familiar.