The Throwed
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The Throwed

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Band R&B New Age

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""Getting noticed by Diddy: One artist's brush with fame""

The Beginning

It’s an exciting time for music, and when you read about it, most of the time you hear about how “easy” it is to get noticed. In a sense, it’s true. Anybody can make a video, upload it to YouTube, send it to blogs, promote it on social networking outlets, and reach an audience that 10 years ago would have been unattainable. The thing they don’t take into consideration? The competition. The fact that it’s so easy means everyone can do it. And they do.

When Maq first started promoting his music online (under the name The Throwed), he had a solid team that could put together video, do the mastering and production, and make a pretty well-polished final product. They also had a strong grasp of the internet and what was needed to promote their material. Still, it wasn’t easy. Maq explains, “We were posting everywhere: Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Soundclick, music blogs, and on other forums, the whole nine yards. And we thought—we foolishly believed—that we were going to get noticed. We were under the assumption that it was going to be easy. I mean that’s the general perception. There’s this false belief among starting artists that if you just post your music or video on this magical thing called the internet, you’re guaranteed to get a deal, but that’s not the reality.” Frustration was at an all-time high.

And then opportunity reared its head. “When Diddy was promoting his album Last Train to Paris. He tweeted, ‘Whoever changes their avatar to the LTTP album cover, I’ll follow back.’ So I immediately changed my avatar and tweeted at Diddy,” Maq recalls. “Next thing you know, he’s following me on Twitter.” The team quickly evaluated how they could take advantage. “I knew that Diddy was promoting a new premium vodka called Ciroc, so my group members and I made a song called ‘Ciroc.’ Now we’re not into the typical “commercial sound” but I thought this was a good avenue for me to get some exposure. I thought I should put my artistic feelings aside and do a song solely to get exposure. I reasoned, naively, that I could always go back to making the music that I truly cared for once I got signed. So I recorded the song in a makeshift studio basement with my team Harry, Sok and Illy, and my brother, Manee shot the video for it with a budget of $150.00.”

The Big Break

After creating “Ciroc,” The Throwed tweeted it out every day. After a month, Maq gets an email message via YouTube from a guy named Aubrey. “I don’t check it initially,” he says, “thinking it’s just the usual spam crap. I check the email a few days later, and as it turns out, Aubrey is the brand content director for Blue Flame Agency. Blue Flame reps Bad Boy. He say’s he loves our song “Ciroc” and the music video, and would like talk to me. He provides me his phone number and asks me to call the following afternoon. At this point I’m tripping out. This is what all starving artists want—a call from someone in the industry. At this point my mind begins to get ahead of itself. I start thinking about being signed and what all this could mean.”

He calls Aubrey the next day. The first thing Aubrey asks is what made The Throwed want to do a song called “Ciroc.” At this point Maq has to explain that he had never tried the vodka, that he doesn’t even drink alcohol, and that they did it strictly to try to get Diddy’s attention. The two share a laugh. Aubrey explains that he was trying out a new video/picture search and searched “Ciroc” and the first thing that came up was Maq’s tweet to James Cruze, Diddy’s manager. Aubrey said that he was “blown away.”

Artists always wonder what it takes to get noticed by someone in the industry. For Maq and The Throwed, it was combination of things. “Well for me, it had a lot to do with me seeing an opportunity, being prepared, and a little bit of a luck. Guess the saying is true: luck is where the crossroads of opportunity and preparation meet.”

Diddy Takes Notice

During the phone call with Aubrey, the first thing Maq asks is if Diddy saw the video. “Not yet,” Aubrey answers. Diddy was in France on business, but Aubrey promises to pass it along to him. He asks Maq for an edited version of “Ciroc” with no swearing, the two hang up, and The Throwed immediately gets to work.

Later on that night, as Harry and Maq were working on finishing up the edited version, Maq’s phone starts blowing up. He’s too focused to check it, but as they’re wrapping up he gets a phone call from Aubrey. “Diddy saw the video. He loved it. He just tweeted it out.” Maq’s mind goes into warp drive. “My first thought is that this video is going to go viral. I mean, Diddy has four million plus followers, so I’m going to get at least a quarter million views. I started thinking about Kanye West tweeting Tyler, The Creator’s music video, and how his video went viral. Prior to Kanye’s tweet Tyler had only had a couple thousand hits on his videos, after Kanye’s tweet, he had a mill plus. I think the same t - Marc Ecko: Complex Mag


Discography

Love Hurts
Yesterday
Faded/Dirty Lies
Blue Jeans (Cover)
Pumped up Kicks (Cover)
One Night

Ciroc Vodka Promo's 1-3
-Let it go
-Jet Lagged
-Ciroc

Photos

Bio

Like any other artist when you begin creating there's a want to appeal to the masses and mimic what's mainstream but as you develop your craft you begin to realize that it becomes about finding your voice and unique sound.

Through the years, The Throwed have found their own distinct sound that connects to many. They have grown up loving all genres of music, and because of that, they successfully create something that can resonate and spark strong emotions in the human heart.

From receiving co-signs from Diddy, Lana del Rey, and having an article published through Mark Ecko's Complex magazine about the group, they are gradually making their mark in the music industry.

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