‘Ray J, a familiar face in the entertainment industry, recently launched a new streaming service called Tronix. He joined TheStreet to discuss his journey as an entrepreneur, his advice to creators and how his network fits into the streaming business at large.
Transcript:
CONWAY GITTENS: All right, so, Ray J, entrepreneur, music producer, a social media King, let’s call you. Thank you for coming to TheStreet.
RAY J: Thank you, man. I’m I’m humbled. So humbled. I’m excited. Like, this is what it’s all about. You know, you work hard, and then you come to this place that you see on TV, on all the movies, and now you’re here. Wow God is good.
CONWAY GITTENS: So, Tronix network, you’re the CEO, you’re a new streaming service. It’s almost about three months old now. Yeah so how are you finding the streaming media business?
RAY J: This is the business to be in, especially for us, because we target an audience that we specialize in doing the best content for. And we’re in our own bubble. But what’s good is that I don’t call myself the CEO because I’m like the founder. My goal is to find the right CEO, find the right CFO, COO, and more importantly, the CMO. And so it’s in its beginning stages, but I like to build it up for about six to eight months. And then start to do the right hire, because that’s the only way to build it and put the right structure in.
CONWAY GITTENS: And why streaming media. Because the media business is not that great right now. Yeah, I mean, cable subscribers are down, the streamers are all competing for one another. So why get into that space of the business?
RAY J: Well, it’s good for us because I wouldn’t call our content well, I would call our content high, high drama. I use ratchet in the word because it gives you the exact definition of what it is. But there’s only a few people who are proud of this kind of content that we do. So we’re already in our own lane. We just have to stay consistent. And if we do want to evolve into what the bigger streamers are doing, then we would start doing scripted and, you know, big budget movies. But right now, we’re just solely into this loud reality world. We have a reality factor.
CONWAY GITTENS: So for the uninitiated, yeah, I know what ratchet means, but for them, what is ratchet?
RAY J: It’s dramatic, it’s loud, it’s over the top. You know, it’s drama constantly. But in our shows we do have a story arc that leads you to something positive or something inspirational or thought provoking. So I think that’s what separates us from the other guys who are doing the same thing we are. Tronix cares about the talent because I’m talent and I’m looking at myself as a reality star and all the things I went through and I said, once we are in control, I’m going to make it different, make it fun, and make sure that everybody that works with us can experience the deal on the back end. You know, they always say the deal is better on the back end.
CONWAY GITTENS: So how are you finding it on the back end? I mean, there was a time when content was king, right. But then we had all these streamers and so now content, I mean, there were so many places for it to go. How are you finding getting content. Are you finding the content that you want?
RAY J: Yeah, well, we’re producing the content. You know, it’s all us from scratch and our partners at Viacom. I love BET. I love VH1. I’m still in business with the linear networks. And so our skills to me go far beyond that because we can be more risky on streaming. So you just get it uncut. But I just nobody does TV like us.
CONWAY GITTENS: So Tronix costs, what, 5.99 a month. 4.99 a month. Does it make sense to become part of a bundle. Now we’re hearing like streamers are trying to team up. Yeah so does it make sense for Tronix given your demographic to team up, and what would you look for in a partner?
RAY J: Well, I think the goal I’m 100% bootstrapped and that’s the scariest thing is to just put all your money into something, and you’re waiting for a profit and it takes time. I think the bigger goal for me in all of these streaming platforms is to give everybody who’s at their top level of reality their own platform. And then if everybody has their own bubble and their own network skewing to what their fans want to see, then you bundle the whole package of the team, right. So you build every network from the ground up….
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