Bobby Brown reveals the one business move he wish he had implemented at the start of his career.
Brown’s rise to fame was through New Edition, which also included members Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ralph Tresvant, and Ronnie DeVoe. The group infamously got their start in the industry after signing a $500 deal with musician and producer Maurice Starr, as AFROTECH™ previously told you. Their hit singles include “Can You Stand the Rain” and “If It Isn’t Love.”
Brown later went solo after being voted out of the group, launching a highly successful career that saw him sell over 12 million physical copies. The success of his sophomore album, “Don’t Be Cruel,” alone was enough to set him up for life.
He also made several business moves that benefited his career, including his publishing deal, which was structured by his mother and management team.
“I saw a lot of it, because my deal was situated in a way where I made dollars on each record, not pennies,” he said on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast. “So for me, the way my mother had it structured and the way my management made it is that I saw a lot of the money. I still see checks. So, it’s not like the money is gone. It’s still, in a way, where I feel like my best years are yet to come.”
Additionally, Brown has ownership of his masters, a feat which took 35 years, and he has no intention to sell.
“Now I own my own masters, and I can do what I want to do with my music,” he shared with host Shannon Sharpe on the podcast.
Regarding its sale, he commented, “Hell I just got it back, I ain’t trying to get, I ain’t trying to get up off it at all.”
Brown also reflected on a business decision that, in hindsight, he would have made differently: starting out as an independent artist.
“I’d be independent from the jump. I would bust my ass every concert, every promotional thing that I had to do to make sure that I sold the records and performed at my best ability,” he mentioned.
