John Legend should strike Gold Next Week
After 4 weeks of sales, John Legends new album (i produced a song called "Another Again" on the record) has sold 465,000 units in America alone. Gold Records are awarded for sales of 500,000 units, and John sold 60,000 albums this past week. So, it is a virtual certainty that he will top the Gold Record mark next week, giving me my first Gold Record as a producer, but mark my words, far from my last. John's album also debuted #1 on the R&B albums charts, giving me my first #1 album as a producer. With some luck, there will be a platinum plaque in there in a few months.
John is such a gifted artist. I saw him perform for the first time long before he was even signed. Kanye was showcasing him at some NYC artist showcase (this was when we were making The College Dropout album so Kanye wasn't even known as an artist yet, though he was well established as a producer). John played on some of the same College Dropout songs that i did, and we were in the studio together occasionally during Common's "Be" album and i think he also played piano on a Jay Z track i played and sang on. Come to think of it, i did some music for a song on John's first album, but the song didn't make the record. Ugh. missing out on a platinum, Grammy winning album definitely hurt. Hopefully this album will recieve similar accolades. time will tell.
Anyway, i just wanted to share. For you guys and girls trying to get a toe hold in the music industry, or maybe your still in school, just remember that once upon a time, i was an intern running errands, making coffee, answering phones, working for free. That experience was priceless in helping me move up to the next level and the next and the next, in fact i'm still climbing, and with all the good stuff thats happened in my career so far, i have so much more i want to accomplish. The music industry is a long road, and i wish any of you the best of luck if you choose to walk this road, just keep in mind, its alot of humbling, hard work, usually for little or no pay. But if you can make it thru the early stages, there's nothing better (for me anyway) than making a living making music. And on that note, I've got a mix to get back to.
-Ken Lewis
John is such a gifted artist. I saw him perform for the first time long before he was even signed. Kanye was showcasing him at some NYC artist showcase (this was when we were making The College Dropout album so Kanye wasn't even known as an artist yet, though he was well established as a producer). John played on some of the same College Dropout songs that i did, and we were in the studio together occasionally during Common's "Be" album and i think he also played piano on a Jay Z track i played and sang on. Come to think of it, i did some music for a song on John's first album, but the song didn't make the record. Ugh. missing out on a platinum, Grammy winning album definitely hurt. Hopefully this album will recieve similar accolades. time will tell.
Anyway, i just wanted to share. For you guys and girls trying to get a toe hold in the music industry, or maybe your still in school, just remember that once upon a time, i was an intern running errands, making coffee, answering phones, working for free. That experience was priceless in helping me move up to the next level and the next and the next, in fact i'm still climbing, and with all the good stuff thats happened in my career so far, i have so much more i want to accomplish. The music industry is a long road, and i wish any of you the best of luck if you choose to walk this road, just keep in mind, its alot of humbling, hard work, usually for little or no pay. But if you can make it thru the early stages, there's nothing better (for me anyway) than making a living making music. And on that note, I've got a mix to get back to.
-Ken Lewis
posted by Protools Mixing at 12:38 AM
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