Bobby V’s Southern soul has made an impact on the R&B scene for nearly 15 years. After starting out as the lead singer in the group Mista, Bobby V branched out on his own to embark on a successful solo career.
Bobby V continues to push forward with his new mixtape Vitamin V. Bobby recently discussed his new release with rolling out magazine. –a.r.
How did the mixtape come about and when did you decide to sit down and put everything together?
It is just a continuation or a bridge in the gap between my last album, Fly on the Wall to my newest album, Vitamin V. I will probably also name the album Vitamin V because the brand of Vitamin V is so big. [There’s} a lot of good music out, but I think [there’s] still a void. Vitamin V is something that you need. I will drop a series of mixtapes and I will drop something else on Valentine’s Day. That’s kind of what the business is all about. Just putting out as much as you can and hoping the music will stick.
Why are mixtapes so significant these days?
Mixtapes are the new wave in the music game. Now, you have to approach a mixtape like it’s an album. A lot of artists are putting out mixtapes and they are getting hot off of them.
Do you think music will be distributed for free in the future?
To be honest it’s free now. These days, people know where to get the whole album before it comes out for free. I think the future is visual. People are going to want to know more about an artist than just their songs and music. In the future, it will be more iTunes instead of record labels. This is really why I took the independent route because there [are] only four or five major labels. I sell the same amount of records that a lot of artists sell on a major label.
What advice would you give to new artists?
I would tell them to read books on the music industry. When I first got in, my parents and I made sure we understood the business and the industry first. Because as an artist, you see all of the good on TV and you see everybody doing it big and driving nice cars. But [there] is so much that goes on behind the scenes that you have to understand the business side of things. If you understand the business side, you will be good to go.
