How a Mariah Carey Demo Became a $54,000 Iconic Collectible | Alex Bruh CEO of Wax Poetics

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Hip-Hop, Collectibles, Alex Brew, Ben Alfred
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Hip-Hop
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Hip-Hop, Alex Brew
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Hip-Hop, Wax Poetics, Collectibles

Notable quotes from "How a Mariah Carey Demo Became a $54,000 Iconic Collectible | Alex Bruh CEO of Wax Poetics"

• Tell you I think it is probably one of the most historically significant pieces of hip-hop history ever that we're going to be putting up. Welcome to the Collector Nation…

  about Hip-Hop · at 0:23

• Commerce, and music, and everything come together. That's why we've got the co-owner and CEO of Wax Poetics, Alex Brew. What's up, Alex? Let's just set the table for the…

  about Wax Poetics · at 1:17

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Alex Brew — Person · 2 mentions · first at 1:21
  Commerce, and music, and everything come together. That's why we've got the co-owner and CEO of Wax Poetics, Alex Brew. What's up, Alex? Let's just set the table for the…
• Ben Alfred — Person · 1 mention · first at 0:45
  Let's get at it. Here's your host, Ryan Alfred.
• Brenda K. Starr — Person · 1 mention
• Tommy Mottola — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• Wax Poetics — Company · 4 mentions · first at 1:21
• Collector Nation — Company · 1 mention · first at 0:33
  Of hip-hop history ever that we're going to be putting up. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast on the Radcast Network. From Chasing Grails to Callin Bluffs, we're going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect?
• Radcast Network — Company · 1 mention · first at 0:35
  We're going to be putting up. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast on the Radcast Network. From Chasing Grails to Callin Bluffs, we're going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect?

Concepts & topics

• Hip-Hop — Concept · 11 mentions · first at 0:29
• Collectibles — Concept · 4 mentions · first at 0:54
  Hello and welcome. We're always bringing you what's new and hot in the collectibles space. And hey, we're trying to make it a little different.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Someone had, not us, not Arthur, had leaked part of a demo about 10 years ago, and we knew this thing was going to get some attention. And the minute we mentioned it, all the Reddit forums exploding. All the fans were like, "Oh my god, this thing exists. This thing is real. I can't believe it's out there." I actually asked the artist that we're working with in January if I could mention this item. Unfortunat I can't tell you exactly what it is, but I can tell you I think it is probably one of the most historically significant pieces of hip-hop history ever that we're going to be putting up. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast on the Radcast Network. From Chasing Grails to Callin Bluffs, we're going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect?

0:45 Let's get at it. Here's your host, Ryan Alfred. Hello and welcome. We're always bringing you what's new and hot in the collectibles space. And hey, we're trying to make it a little different. There's all kinds of stuff happening in the look, we are a collectibles universe. We are man was made to collect. I'm I'm just the more people I talk to and the more I I know how I am. I collect [ __ ] Look around me. This is only like half of it. And I got stuff everywhere. But I love it when culture, commerce, and music, and everything come together. That's why we've got the co-owner and CEO of Wax Poetics, Alex Brew. What's up, Alex? Let's just set the table for the audience. Alex, I mean, what you're up to. Wax Poetics, past, present, future. Right now, we are a music collectibles marketplace where we run auctions of incredible music memorabilia that comes direct from verified artists, producers, DJs, and

1:45 collectors. But what we really do is we kind of layer in this storytelling element around everything. So, we right now we sit at the intersection of the traditional media model with this marketplace model kind of layered into it. And we're kind of aiming for that sweet spot right in the middle which is you know something that I think we think has been kind of underserved and missing in a lot of the collectible space and particularly in the um in the music collecting space. Um yeah and your point you know you raised quite rightly while we are a year and a half into this new part of this project wax has actually been around for almost 25 years. It's our 25th birthday next year. Um [snorts] yeah, so we started in 2001, not by me, um by the original founding team. Um and the reason why it started was born in New York, everyone listening to hip-hop at the time, no one really kind of reporting on it credibly. Um and the

2:42 guys were saying, "Hey, you know, this is a real art form, you know, and it deserves to be kind of reported on, you know, with the kind of respect that that it deserves." So really is talking about hip-hop and you've got this like incredible line from if you're listening to hip-hop, you're actually listening to samples from like funk, soul, disco, jazz, and it's already this like time capsule into the past, right? Kind of perfect for collecting.

3:06 Um, [snorts] and it became super influential um, across artists, DJs, producers, collectors, and branched out from hip-hop to all genres. Um, and yeah, fast forward to about four or five years ago, just before CO hit, myself and Dave, my co-founder. Um, we took it over. We were both fans of the magazine. Um, both big record collectors. Um, and we're like, look, there is there's something really important here. You know, it's a beautiful brand. It's got a great community around it of collectors that we think, you know, have kind of been maybe like underserved in the space historically. Um, and yeah, we we took it over. We didn't know exactly what we're going to do with it at the time, if I'm being completely honest, but like there's something there's something really important to do here in in the music space. Yeah. And then how we kind of got to this point kind of two things quite serendipitously happening at the

4:05 same time. You know, we were looking at we have a journal that people collect. We have an audience of collectors who are now in their you know in a phase of their life where they are actually investing more in their collecting and you know we're actually like hey we're actually not in the publishing space we're in the collecting space and then at that same time ses were doing their hip auction and they reached out to us and they were like hey would you like to be part of it and have the full run of wax pitics in there we're like amazing like a huge huge honor for us to be part of that. Um, but it kind of made us step back and we're like, you know, no shade on s bees, love s bees, but like why are s bees doing hip-hop auctions and what s bees know about hip-hop and what s bees know about music and that's where we come from. We know this stuff and you know we've been part of that culture for

4:51 at that point 22 years or 23 years and it's like let's go and do this and you know there's something really important to be done here connecting that culture commerce collecting and and kind of joining all those dots. So yeah, so we've been running at that for the past year and a half.

5:07 This editorial driven collectible market like that's cool [ __ ] It's a really natural brand play for a historical publication that's in the hip-hop and music and cultural space to make this pivot really smart and make and as a brand and marketing guy first and a podcaster second really makes a lot of sense.

5:33 You know, it's not an easy transition to make. Oh, you know, Questic is a very pure, you know, brand and, you know, we kind of very and we still are acutely aware of, you know, that needs to be treated with like real respect, you know, in the music space especially and we have an audience of very passionate and very diehard fans who love what we do but will tell us when we're doing something wrong. So, you know, we were very very conscious about making that move.

6:00 Yeah. cuz you think journal journalism and p you know publishing and being you know like it's sort of

6:06 in its purest sense the furthest thing from commerce usually but so that's a very difficult pivot to make even if it's the right one

6:18 exactly exactly and I think there's always been you know a bit of I say maybe unhealthy tension between [snorts] culture and commerce agree and you know the you know the real talk you taking over Waxics like we love it but we also know that for it to survive and for it to grow we have to build this model around it and you know there has to be a commercial element to do that and that's kind of where we kind of landed with this and you know yeah again we try and do it in the right way but again it almost it almost makes like when you kind of play it forward like perfect sense to your point you know the whole space in collecting is built on trust and credibility and you know I'd hazard to say there's probably nothing that builds that trust or brings more credibility in the space than publishing magazines around stuff. You know, it's not the most it's not the most sensible business decision ever,

7:06 but it's we do it because we love it and you know, we know it talk about stuff because we love it and we work with artists because we love them and we want to kind of bring that connection to culture and that physicality of the items and the physicality of magazines. We still print magazines, you know, we still do two a year focused around the artists that we have that we're doing auctions with. And yeah, it is kind of really bringing that that connection back into that music space.

7:31 Talk to me about some things that that are, you know, just cool things that you've had, things that are coming up, the types of discussions you're having. Um, and is it truly like endless what's out there?

7:44 Going to give a nod to my co-founder Dave here, one of his favorite phrases of like music being the glue of culture. you know, it sits at the intersection of all of the different touch points that you got direct line from music to like sport fashion film art TV gaming

7:59 and that makes it huge. But then even just within music itself, you know, we're not talking about records. were talking about like the photographers involved in it, like the original prints from that, you know, the test shots, the stuff that they wore in it. Um, you know, the the producers behind it, you know, the reels, the instruments, like the actual scope of that is huge

8:20 and, you know, endless maybe. Um, you know, it's it's certainly very very significantly huge.

8:28 Um, that's for sure. The story is um Mariah 1988 shopping her demo around trying to get signed. The very famous part of the story very well documented like in her book in her autobiography. It's like a real part of the Mariah Carey law is you know she goes to this party. Um she gives a tape to Tommy Matah. Um Tommy goes off. Um he gets in a he's in like a limo apparently. He listens to the tape. He turns around and he tries to sign her. The rest is history. Um, what was interesting about Arthur is that you've got this other side of the story that no one knew about.

9:10 So, he was at the same party. He got given another tape, the demo, the same demo tape, but like a different version of it by Brenda K. Star. Um, you know, they had this whole thing. They were in the studio with Mariah listening to this thing. Their minds blown. It's like, oh my god, she's going to be huge. He tries to sign her. Obviously, Tommy gets there first and that's it. And there's this whole other side that no one knew about. So, when we put it out there, you know, we knew this thing was going to get attention because someone had, not us, not Arthur, had leaked part of a demo about 10 years ago. And we knew this thing was going to get some attention.

9:47 And we just the minute we mentioned it, all the Reddit forums exploding. All the fans were like, "Oh my god, this thing exists. This thing is real. I can't believe it's out there." and kind of seeing what an impact, you know, these items can have in, you know, communities that, you know, you know, historically wax pessics, you know, might not be like so close to what we normally talk about, but it pushes us out there and it's like this much bigger scale. So, that was pretty crazy to see. We um ended up breaking a world record with that item last week, which is kind of cool.

10:22 Can we speak to what it went for? It went for $54,000. Um, it was the highest value. Thank you. It was It was really cool. Um, the highest value cassette ever sold on auction by a female artist. Yeah. You asked what's coming up. Um, I actually asked the artist that we're working with in January if I could mention this item on on on this. Unfortunat I can't tell you exactly what it is,

10:47 but I can tell you if you are into hip-hop that you want to follow us because I think it is probably one of the most historically significant pieces of hip-hop history ever that we're going to be putting up in January.

11:04 Wow. Circle that. It's circle. Can we We can't name the article. Can we even broach the artist? No, I can't, unfortunately. Um, I can tell you it is.

11:17 It involves a very early recording of one of the biggest hip-hop artists in history. It's going to be very interesting. It's going to be Yeah, it's going to be

11:29 breaking news here on the show. Breaking news. Alex Brew, CEO of Wax Platics, releases the Say it again, Alex. Perhaps the greatest what the I I want you to use your words. You were eloquent. much more eloquent than I will be. The the greatest uh release in uh say

11:47 I think it's it's probably one one of the most historically significant pieces of hip-hop history.

11:52 You mentioned the artists that you're doing some releases for. They get featured that makes Hey, total synergy. Makes sense. Twice a year. What are the release dates? What's that process look like? What if what could people expect uh out of that that might be interested in in the journal part of it? Look, it's been a really interesting part of this whole journey of like how do we evolve the mag?

12:13 The real talk, you know, was like, do we evolve the mag, you know, how does it come on this journey with us? And, you know, we keep coming back to this thing of collecting is irrational. We live in this irrational space. We operate in this irrational space and releasing a mag is an irrational thing and that's why we do it. You know, we do it because we love it and you know, it's a really important part of it. So we look at them as I suppose our interpretation of an auction catalog. We think it's a much more engaging version of it. You know, kind of telling kind of going deep on some of the artists and some of the items and less here's the item and here's the story and more actual storytelling that you're going to want to pick up. You know, what we've always done, you know, you can pick up our journals in 5 10 25 years time and the stories are still relevant. And so yeah, that's that's our kind of our take on

13:00 it. We're doing two next year, April and TBC, but probably October, November. Does each one have the items that are coming up or they p are the items that already went?

13:11 It's going to be a little bit of a mix like if we are in time, you know, obviously we have print deadlines. So, if we are in time to kind of give a bit of a a teaser of what's coming up, we will. Um, but that is, you know, we're just kind of play that one a little bit by year to be honest with you. So, yeah. So, we've got two full mags coming. And then one of the things, you know, we were kind of in this weird space cuz we had been around for 25 years, but we're kind of in startup mode here. You know, we're actually chatting to an investor a couple of weeks ago who's kind of made this quite interesting point. It's like you're the first, you know, I speak to a lot of like tech companies and you're the first company that I've spoken to that is, you know, raising a seed round after 25 years. Like that's kind of cool,

13:50 which is true. But exactly. And and part of this process is testing new print formats as well. So alongside those two issues that we're putting out, we're going to be testing kind of like more quickfire zenes that we might be able to put out across individual auctions that we do and just really kind of testing and seeing like how that works and what people respond to and what they want to see more of, what they want to see less of. You know, we see a real opportunity that, you know, print is not just a a nice to have. It's like a real kind of core supporting part of of what we do. So, yeah, we're we're in trial and error mode with all of it.

14:29 Yeah. I And look, I mean, the magazine self is a collectible. I mean, especially done as beautifully as you guys have. And I think it's interesting putting my sort of like brand marketing guide back, you know, bear with me. But there's a lot of legacy brands that that fold or go under because maybe their core of what they were. They didn't pivot and they shut down really great brands that might could have pivoted into something that then could leverage that trust and value that they had built. So it's awesome that you guys are able to sort of do that. I mean and and versus you know okay print as it used to be solely alone as a you know as a way to do business is difficult but you guys somehow you you keep the heart of the brand but you pivot to somewhere that has value for you and the consumer

15:28 in today's market. Yeah. And um look, it's hard. It is hard. Um you know, we we had a lot of when we [snorts] took it over, it wasn't like,

15:37 right, we've got this great idea and this is what it's going to be. As I mentioned at the start, we we didn't really know what it was going to be. We just like there is something here and it's important that we do and the brand is great, but

15:47 you know, we don't want a site that's covered in banner ads and, you know, that just feels like a bit of a race to the bottom. Um you know, there has to be something

15:55 bigger around it. And you know, yeah, you know, really proud of kind of where we've ended up with with with this model. Um, but it is hard. Um, you know, having a transitioning a brand like that, you know, brings a lot of tension as well. Um, you know, what artists do we or don't we work with? Is it about the artist? Is it not about the items? Um, you know, there's a lot of a lot of things we've got to figure out. And I'm not, you know, can't sit here and say we've got it all figured out, but, you know, we're certainly on the right path.

16:25 Um but yeah, you know, we talk a lot about making sure that we respect that legacy. Um while also knowing we've got to build a business around this as well.

16:37 Oh man, could we talk all day, Alex? Um give me some dets. Give our audience some details where to find the site, where to sign up for the journal, etc., etc. Socials, all the handles. Uh well, if you want to stay fully up to date, I'd head to wax poetics.com. Uh join our mail list. Uh yeah, I would strongly encourage anyone listening who's into hip hop to make sure you're on that in good time. Um so yeah, wax poetics.com. Um a lot of our stuff we put out on Instagram wax_poetics. Um and we're pumping a lot of good stuff out on YouTube now as well. Um so you'll find as wax wax poetics, wax_poetics.

17:20 You'll find us. If you search on Google or on YouTube, you'll find them. Exactly. Exactly. But uh best place is to get on our mail list and uh keep an eye on what we're doing because yeah, it is our 25th birthday next year and we've got some pretty big stuff lined up.

17:35 I want a Prince like signed guitar. So do I. That exists for under six figures.

17:44 Well, well, yeah, there's two different questions there, right? Um, look, it is it is Prince I think it's 10 years since Prince died next year, April next year. So, um, you know, we have our bestselling Prince issue up there full of artists and producers that have worked with him. So, um,

18:04 you know, I think he's the greatest musician of all time. I think he's the greatest I would agree.

18:08 Yeah. I mean, just all around like genius. I would agree. And I think, you know, I think one thing for us, you know, every person that, you know, is involved with wax, I think loves Prince and, um, you know, I think that's the

18:21 that's the north star for us. Um, you know, get get into that Prince vault and, uh, see see what's in there.

18:28 There's no telling. Alex, love what you're doing, man. Really appreciate you for coming on the show. Love to have you on regularly and to talk about that hip-hop item that's coming up.

18:38 Thank you. And look, I appreciate you kind of giving us some space to, you know, shine light on on the music space as well. I know it's maybe a bit of a tangent for your for your normal listeners.

18:47 They like colle Hey, collector universe. That's why we're trading cards and collectibles. I I gave myself a lane, you know, both selfishly and because I know that there's crossover, it goes, and you know, we'll talk about all the trading cards you want, but uh and I love them, but I also love culture and music and the crossover. And again, we collect all kinds of things, and this is some of And honestly, man, what you're doing with the editorial with the editorial meeting commerce is is some of the best I've ever seen.

19:19 Thank you. you know, um, it really means a lot and I appreciate it. Hey guys, you want to find us collectibles.show soon to be the collectornation.com that's coming next month. For for now, hit collectibles.show. Find the full length episode. Get the link to wax poetics. I'm telling you, go for the story. Stick around for the merch and all the unique stuff. You know, you wish you gotten that Mariah Carey tape. Maybe 54 G's, but you know what? You know, it's one of the biggest pieces of music history in hip-hop and just music overall. Appreciate Alex for coming on and we appreciate you. We'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at collectornation.com or follow Ryan on Instagram at ryanalford.

20:12 Now get out there and collect yours.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "How a Mariah Carey Demo Became a $54,000 Iconic Collectible | Alex Bruh CEO of Wax Poetics"?

In order: 0:00 Hip-Hop, Collectibles, Alex Brew, Ben Alfred; 5:00 Hip-Hop; 10:00 Hip-Hop, Alex Brew; 15:00 Hip-Hop, Wax Poetics, Collectibles.

What is mentioned in this Collector Nation episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Hip-Hop, Collectibles, Wax Poetics, Alex Brew, Collector Nation, Radcast Network. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "How a Mariah Carey Demo Became a $54,000 Iconic Collectible | Alex Bruh CEO of Wax Poetics"?

The episode runs 20 min; the transcript is about 3,921 words in 49 timestamped sections.

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