#298 – Legendary Moves: When Greats Go Beyond - From Songwriting, Comedy Clubs, to Philanthropy - GOATs doing GOAT $hit Mashup #2
Welcome to another episode of the Spun Today Podcast! In this inspiring mashup episode—number 298—Tony continues the beloved “GOATs Doing GOAT Shit” segment, spotlighting creative minds and industry giants who go above and beyond in their respective fields.
From insightful stories about savvy business moves—like Kevin Hart’s multi-million dollar company deal and Jay-Z’s unwavering stand for his intellectual property—to heartfelt tales of generosity and mentorship, such as Joe Veras empowering a young songwriter and Timbaland refusing to take publishing rights he didn’t earn, this episode is packed with motivational anecdotes to fuel your creative journey.
Tony also highlights innovators such as MrBeast, whose philanthropic efforts have changed lives on a massive scale, and Joe Rogan, who created a game-changing new home for comedy. Each segment serves as a masterclass in artistic integrity, business acumen, and the importance of owning your creative output.
Whether you’re a writer, artist, or entrepreneur, this mashup is curated to inspire you to stick to your creative guns, protect your ideas, and take bold steps toward your dreams. So grab your notebook or favorite coffee mug, and get ready for a fresh dose of creativity and motivation!
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Links referenced in this episode:
From episode #209: Kevin Hart’s $100 million dollar deal: https://popculture.com/celebrity/news/kevin-hart-lands-100-million-business-deal/
From episode #219: Joe Veras: GOATs segment story came from this interview: https://youtu.be/KDhkzNUmdto
Así Es la Vida by Joe Veras: https://youtu.be/1Naoyl6gePA
From episode #228: Jay-Z, Bacardi End Multibillion-Dollar Fight Over Cognac Venture: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/esg/jay-z-bacardi-end-multibillion-dollar-fight-over-cognac-venture
From episode #234: The Comedy Mothership website: https://comedymothership.com/
Joe Rogan Opens His Anti-Cancel Culture Club in Austin: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/joe-rogan-comedy-mothership-review-austin-club-1235343105/
Bill Burr- Joe Rogans Comedy Mothership is The Best Club I've Ever Been In!! https://youtu.be/inSMN_nlkvE
From episode #236: Michael Jordan agrees to sell Hornets stake for $3B: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37863644/sources-michael-jordan-finalizing-charlotte-hornets-sale
From episode #250: I Built 100 Wells In Africa: https://youtu.be/mwKJfNYwvm8?si=kPVfccQZvZJdAVf9
Beast Philanthropy: https://www.beastphilanthropy.org/campaign/mrbeast-100-wells
From episode #272: Ryan Tedder post about Timbaland: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA4dUhQvryw/?igsh=MWc1b2U3NTd4bWszMg%3D%3D
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Transcript
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Transcript 〰️
Tony Ortiz [00:00:19]:
What's up, folks? What's going on? Welcome to the Spun Today Podcast, the only podcast that is anchored in writing but unlimited in scope. I'm your host, Tony Ortiz, and I appreciate you listening. This is episode 298 of the Sponsored Podcast, and in this episode I have a treat for you. There's a segment that I do, if you're not familiar, in my non-free writing session episodes where named Goats Doing Goat Shit, where I like to highlight folks that are goats within their own right and go above and beyond in some sort of way that they otherwise didn't have to, or that I found impressive or resonated with me in some sort of way. If I look back on them and the folks that I've inducted into the Spunt Today GOATs Doing GOAT Shit list, if I look back at them objectively, they're usually folks that stick to their creative guns or that have made smart, savvy financial moves within a business or protected their intellectual property in some sort of way. So on and so forth, but definitely not limited to just that. And I myself get inspiration from stories like that and share it with you fine folks to hopefully have that same effect. So this episode is a mashup of several inductees into that segment of mine from various episodes of the past.
Tony Ortiz [00:01:40]:
Episode 253 of the podcast back in 2024, actually, I did the first iteration of this type of mashup. This is going to be the second time that I do it, but completely different inductees from this very prestigious list, if I do say so myself. So if you're interested, definitely go back and check that episode out and follow me on YouTube at SponsoDe on YouTube, where I have a playlist dedicated to all of the GOATs doing GOAT shit inductees. That said, if you'd like to support this show, you can do so in a myriad of ways. Go to sponsored.com/support where you'll find affiliate links to shop on Amazon, or if you want to update your wardrobe on Stitch Fix, you get a discount code for going to my site sponsored.com/support and clicking the affiliate link for Stitch Fix. You can shop on AG1. Get a discount from there as well, and a bunch of others. Another great way that you can help support is going to SpunToday.com and clicking on the shop link up on the top menu, and it'll take you to a bunch of my newly redesigned merch where you can get t-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, the redesigned Spun Today official coffee mug that comes in a bunch of different colors, the Spun Today notebook for my fellow writers and creatives out there, One recent redesign that I'm really excited about is the Spunt Today Cycling Tee, which I should actually do like a little merch video on and put it on Instagram if you guys want to follow me there, just so I could show it to you guys in detail because I really do like the way it came out.
Tony Ortiz [00:03:20]:
For fellow cyclists out there, it has the "Grab life by the handlebars" quote in the front in a Basquiat-inspired design. On the back, it has the Legacy Spunt Today cycling tee design. So definitely check that out. Let me know what you guys think. Sponsored.com and then click on the shop link up at the top. Also make sure to rate and review wherever it is that you're listening to this episode. It definitely helps to get the show to more folks. Here is one more way that you can help support the Sponsored podcast if you so choose, and then we'll jump right into the episode.
Tony Ortiz [00:03:57]:
Do you want to start your own podcast? Have a great show idea that you want to get out into the masses but don't know quite how to get it from your head out into the world? Well, here's how. Use the podcast host Libsyn. That's who I use to bring the Spun Today podcast to you. And now you can use them the same way. Using the promo code spun, S-P-U-N, you can open up your Libsyn account today and get 2 months of free podcast hosting. Here's how it works. Once you record your show, you upload it to your Libsyn account where you can fill in your episode notes, upload your podcast art, and schedule when you want your episodes to release. Once you do that, Libsyn will take care of the rest.
Tony Ortiz [00:04:41]:
They'll distribute your show to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all the other podcatchers that you choose instantaneously and seamlessly. Again, go to lipsyn.com and use the promo code spun, S-P-U-N, to get 2 months free, or use the affiliate link that's in the episode notes. Again, that's lipsyn.com, promo code spun. Take that great podcast idea from out of your head and put it out into the world. Goats doing goat shit. This is a segment where we highlight just that— goats, greatest of all time within their respective fields, just doing GOAT shit. Comedian, actor, and I guess now you can tack on mogul Kevin Hart just inked a $100 million deal. Shout out to Kevin Hart.
Tony Ortiz [00:05:38]:
Now, Kevin Hart has built up a few companies around his, you know, standup and acting career, one of which being Heartbeat Productions, and another is the LOL Network, Laugh Out Loud Network. Now they're both his companies, right? And this investment of $100 million from RB Partners is contingent on both of those companies merging into one and forming the single Heartbeat. And now this $100 million investment, this is the best part. It's not like buying out his company for $100 million. $100 million, which would've been, you know, dope in and of itself. It's for a 15% stake in his company. So that $100 million buys RB Partners a 15% stake of Kevin Hart's company. That gets them a 15% stake of being in the Kevin Hart business.
Tony Ortiz [00:06:33]:
Kevin Hart still owns the majority, the other 85%, and that 15% stake that $100 million invested by RB Partners values Kevin Hart's company at $650 million. Shout out again to Kevin Hart in this episode's segment of Goats Doing Goat Shit. In this episode's addition to Goats Doing Goat Shit, the segment where I like to highlight folks that do dope things, especially when they're in a position not to have to. And by dope things, I'm usually referring to the quote unquote right thing to do. There's this guy called Pastor Miki who my brother put me on to. He sent me an interview which I featured as the video of the week in my newsletter this past Monday. For content like that and much more, feel free to subscribe at Spuntoday.com/subscribe. Spuntoday.com/subscribe.
Tony Ortiz [00:07:36]:
Spuntoday.com/subscribe. And he has a crazy story, a great story that you guys should check out. It's in Spanish for my Hispanic handicapped listeners out there, but it really is a dope story. I'm sure you guys could watch it with like subtitles or something. I'll link to it in the episode notes. Of this poor kid who— I'll give you the CliffsNotes version— grew up essentially in the streets. His mom was too poor to even keep him and gave him to her oldest daughter who had moved away and lived with an abusive husband. And this is in, in D.R., by the way.
Tony Ortiz [00:08:17]:
So he wound up getting kicked out of there or leaving there by the— because of the abusive husband and just growing up in the streets, literally just slept in parks and did drugs, and he somehow or another enrolled in a school where he was put onto poetry, like a poetry book. And they also had like Bible study and stuff like that. So he gravitated towards both, started writing his own poetry, and long story short, has written some of the dopest bachatas that exist. Then he eventually got saved. I believe this is the proper terminology. And became a pastor. But he still has this love for music and just has a truly fascinating story. You guys should definitely check out that interview.
Tony Ortiz [00:09:03]:
But the GOAT in this story is not him, although he definitely deserves a lot of praise. But I wanted to highlight the bachatero that I'm sure any and all Dominican listeners will know, Joe Veras. According to one of the stories that Pastor Micky told, he went to this radio station where he knew Joe Badas was going to be at and wanted to get in front of Joe Badas because he had written a few poems and a few songs and he wanted to recite them for him. And, you know, he was literally a homeless kid with this notebook. And the people there, like the handlers, basically were like, what are you, crazy kid? Get out of here. Here, here's $10, you know, get out of here, go clean up or something. And he was like, no, you know, I'm a writer. I'm the best songwriter that you ever heard.
Tony Ortiz [00:09:48]:
I don't know if he said that. He said something to the effect of, you know, being a writer and that before Joe Badas was known as an incredible singer or songwriter, somebody had to give him a chance to listen to him. And all he's asking for is for a chance just to sing one of his songs for Joe Badas, and then he'll leave. He didn't want any money or anything. Joe Badas gets there, or I believe he recites it for the guy. And then they're like, did you write that? Are you serious? You really did write that? Like, he loved it instantly. And then he let him recite it for Joe Buedas. And I believe the song was La Vida es Así.
Tony Ortiz [00:10:30]:
Así es la vida. Mientras tú sufres por él, por ti llora el alma mía. La vida es así. And the crazy thing is that he wrote that song while he was in school about one of his teachers that he was in love with. And, you know, he's a little kid in school in love with his teacher, and he's paying attention enough to her to realize that she's in a relationship with some dude that doesn't really treat her right. And that's the type of love triangle that the song is about, right? Yo sufriendo por ella y ella por otro se muere. Y ella por otro se muere. Yo tras ella y ella tras él y algo así.
Tony Ortiz [00:11:03]:
And it was all written about a little kid in love with his teacher, and Joe Eras was able to elevate it and make make it so like love triangle universal. And that is the power of good writing, good art, right? It becomes relatable to so many people in so many different ways. That's sick, right? Joe Edis loved it. Obviously it's one of his biggest hits ever. But this is where the GOATs doing GOAT shit comes in. Pastor Miki, a kid, a homeless kid at that, doesn't know shit about shit. He even said they could have given me you know, whatever, $100, $500, I would have given him the song right then and there and said, yeah, here, you own it. Not knowing any better, obviously they could have given him the TLC style contract right then and there, or not even— even worse than that, just a couple bucks and a plate of food or something.
Tony Ortiz [00:11:52]:
He would have been more than happy. But again, this is where the GOATs doing GOAT shit comes in. Joe Veras took him apparently like right then and there to the center where I forget what they call it, but like in DR, it was like a center where like you go to trademark shit and copyright things, and took the kid Pastor Micky as a kid there to register the song in his name, not in Jawed Asta's name, in Pastor Micky's name, so he can always collect royalties for that song and have ownership of that song. Registered it in his name and then gave him like a legit contract, you know, paid him for the song and gave him a legit not I'm keeping the lion's share of this money in perpetuity type of TLC contract, but gave him a contract and, you know, most importantly, taught him game right there. Dropped the gems of this is what you do when you write a song, this is how you register in your name, this is how you maintain ownership of it, which Pastor Micky then went on to do with various other artists throughout his writing career. And that is why Joe Veras is this episode's installment of Goats Doing Goat Shit. Goats Doing Goat Shit. Jay-Z is making yet another appearance on this list.
Tony Ortiz [00:13:10]:
I think that makes it thrice, if I remember correctly. And if you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you can check out the Goats Doing Goat Shit playlist. And verify for yourselves. Now, this is a segment where I like to highlight GOATs within their respective rights. GOATs being the acronym Greatest of All Time for the uninitiated, doing something exceptional, doing something out of the ordinary even for them. So aside from the Ace of Spades spirit, which I broke down in a previous GOATs Doing Goat Shit segment related to Jay-Z, Jay-Z also owns D'Ussé. Within his liquor portfolio, which he owns under SC Liquor LLC. SC, of course, for Sean Carter.
Tony Ortiz [00:13:52]:
And I love the simplicity even of the, the name of his LLC there. But he owns 50% of D'Usse in collaboration or in partnership with Bacardi, which owns the other 50%. Now, Jay-Z maintained that D'Usse was worth a minimum of $3 billion— billion with a B— and Bacardi, again, his 50% partner in ownership of D'Ussé, was like, nah, it's not worth that much. So Jay-Z put his money where his mouth is and made a bid to purchase Bacardi's 50% stake for $1.5 billion, which would value the company at the $3 billion that he's saying it's worth. Bacardi rejected it, again sticking to their guns and saying D'Ussé is not worth $3 billion. We offer you, Jay-Z, $500 million. For your 50% stake in D'Usse. And Jay-Z, knowing what this D'Usse spirit and the branding behind it, obviously with the push of his celebrity, knowing what it's worth, and I'm sure having a team of accountants able to quantify sales within that realm of spirits, declines the $500 million offer from Bacardi and says, nah, I want you guys to show me the accounting, show me why you're valuing it.
Tony Ortiz [00:15:05]:
At just $1 billion because you're offering me $500 million for my 50%. So that means you guys are valuing the company at $1 billion and I'm saying it's worth $3 billion. So let's go to court, figure this shit out, open up your books, show me your accounting. And Jay-Z audited Bacardi, and he's doing that, by the way, to leverage that information and sell his 50% stake to someone else. So he's like, we have to firm up the value of this company, right? In order for me to to sell my, my 50% stake. And this all resulted in, after a couple of years of deliberation, Bacardi settling with Jay-Z, paying him $750 million for a 25.01% stake. So out of the 50% that Jay-Z owns, they paid him $750 million. Remember, they offered him $500 million.
Tony Ortiz [00:15:54]:
So $250 million less. For the entire 50% piece of the pie. Now they had to settle after opening up their books by paying Jay-Z $750 million for the 25% stake, 25.01% to be precise, which values the company at the original $3 billion that Jay-Z maintained all along. And the cherry on top is that Jay-Z still retains the other 25% or 24.99% again, to be precise, in ownership of D'Ussé, which will obviously give him a vested interest in the company, which is a win-win from a Bacardi perspective as well, continuing to push the brand and making it grow. Shout out to Jay for sticking to his guns, knowing his worth, and ultimately getting paid. Goats doing goat shit. This is a segment where I like to highlight goats within their respective rights doing dope things because they can. And by goat shit, I mean something dope, something cool, something right and just that they do, even if it costs them financially or otherwise.
Tony Ortiz [00:17:09]:
And making a recurring impact on this list is Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan recently opened up his much-anticipated comedy club in Austin, Texas called the Comedy Mothership. It consists of two main rooms called Fat Man and Little Boy, and it's named that after the two atomic bombs that were dropped by the US during World War II on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. But he named it after those bombs because folklore has it that I don't know if folklore is the right term, but it has been said that UFO sightings spiked after the dropping of those two bombs. That's when folks started at least publicly stating being abducted and just like sighting UFOs. And the comedy club has this like UFO alien type motif, hence the name Comedy Mothership. I forget the exact count of the seats, but one room holds about 200 to 250 people. And the other is a smaller room that holds 100 to 150.
Tony Ortiz [00:18:13]:
It also contains a bar where the comics get to hang out, I believe, like that private bar that they get in some clubs. And it's named after Mitzi Shore, RIP, who was the owner of The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. It's called Mitzi's Bar. Another dope homage is a neon sign before the comics go on stage. That says, "Get it together, bitch," which is an homage to Joey Diaz, who would always say that to comics as they were going on stage to like shake off the nerves. Now, as some of you may know, Joe moved to Austin, Texas during the pandemic about 3 or 4 years ago. And during this time there was a prominent comedy club that closed down in Austin, Texas, and it wasn't really a huge comedy scene or comedy hub. But that all definitely changed once Rogan moved to town and a half dozen or more top-tier headliner comics followed suit.
Tony Ortiz [00:19:08]:
And Joe, as we know, has fuck you money from his Spotify deal. And as he has famously said, what's the point in having fuck you money if you don't do fuck you things? So he decided to open up his own comedy club with the added benefit of having a place where he can do his workout sets close by. But what's most interesting is the— this is where the GOAT doing Go Chit element kicks in is the financial goal of just having the club break even so that all the funds, all the revenues, all the intention can go towards just elevating comedy. And he's been able to do this so far in several ways. One, the first deal that he was negotiating for a comedy club fell through, uh, something to do with like the land and some like runoff water sewer type issues. But because that deal was like ongoing for a while, he had already hired a bunch of the folks like the, uh, Adam Egan, who was the manager at the Comedy Store, and a bunch of the staff from the Comedy Store and others. He had already hired them and moved them to Austin. So since that comedy club fell through, it took about, uh, a year, year plus to get, uh, the other place, which he bought a historical theater called the Ritz Theater in Austin, Texas that had been around since I believe 1925 or '29, something like that.
Tony Ortiz [00:20:27]:
He kept all those folks on salary and paid, even though obviously the comedy club wasn't open. But since it wasn't their fault or their issue, he used that fuck you money and did right by them. And then he designed the club with comics in mind. He had input from folks like Louis C.K., for example, when it was like close to the end of construction. And, you know, throughout the entire time of construction, he would show it to comics like the Shane Gillises and Bill Burrs and Dave Chapelles, and they would give their inputs and stuff like that. And famously, Louis C.K. was one of the last ones to like go see when it was like almost done already. And Louis C.K.
Tony Ortiz [00:21:02]:
was like, you know what, you should drop the ceiling even more. You should cut the stage. Why is the stage so, so big? Cut the stage, make it smaller, bring the ceilings down. And he had to like redo construction in one of the rooms based on that input. And again, even though it cost him financially, but he did so. And I have not heard one comic now that it's open have one negative thing to say. And on top of that, they all are just like praising how perfectly comic friendly it is and how well thought out it is for having like a private bar just for the comics and for the, for the hang. So they don't have to like walk through the crowd to go on stage, for example, and they have their own place to like chill and balconies to be able to like watch each other perform., but like a dope experience for the audience as well.
Tony Ortiz [00:21:47]:
Something else that's dope that he does is that he allows the staff to, cuz he still promotes like all the other local comedy clubs and himself goes perform at the other, uh, local comedy clubs that are still there. And he allows the staff, which are staffs in, in comedy clubs, if you don't know, they're usually comics themselves or like up and coming comics, you know, trying to like work for stage time. He allows them to like clock out during their shift if they have a set at a, at another club. In town, they'll go do their 10 or 15-minute set and then come back and clock back into work. He allows them to do that, no issue. And from what I've heard from other comics that also have podcasts is that the amount that he's paying the acts is like unheard of and like blows every other comedy club out of the water. Because again, it doesn't have that, you know, need to turn a profit motive that most all businesses have. But he apparently has asked those comics to, you know, not say how much it is that he's paying folks.
Tony Ortiz [00:22:46]:
But I'm sure somebody somewhere will say something eventually and that information will leak. And just to give you an idea of like ticket sales, virtually impossible to get a ticket. I went on their site, which I'll link to in the episode notes if you guys want to check it out at comedymothership.com and you can go months out and everything is sold out. And just to give you an idea of the resales, tickets for opening week were going for like $40. They sold out within minutes and they were being resold online for $500 apiece. And it's still packed 7 days a week, I believe it is. It's fucking insane. So Rogan definitely, as Russ would say, put his money where his mouth is and said something.
Tony Ortiz [00:23:29]:
So shout out to Joe Rogan for being a GOAT. That continues to do goat shit. And shout out to the comedy mothership. Goats Doing Goat Shit. The segment where I like to highlight goats within their respective lanes exceeding expectations and going above and beyond. This episode's inductee into the Spontaneity Goats Doing Goat Shit list is none other than Michael Jordan. Back in 2010, Michael Jordan paid $275 million for a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets franchise, which to me always seemed off because I wasn't, I wasn't thinking of it from a business perspective. You know, Jordan obviously famously played for the Chicago Bulls.
Tony Ortiz [00:24:20]:
Even when he came back as number 45 after the first retirement, Then he played for a stint with the Washington Wizards, but then he wound up buying the Charlotte Hornets. But fast forward to now, and then it all makes sense, doesn't it? At the time, he became the league's only Black majority owner, which by the way, he is still 13 years later the only Black majority owner. Now in 2020, he sold 20% of his stake in the team to Gabe Plotkin, which is the CIO and founder of Melvin Capital. And in that transaction alone, he made over $300 million. So definitely returned his initial investment there. Now fast forward to 2023 and he's selling a majority stake to a collective, including that same gentleman, Gabe Plotkin, for a $3 billion— with a B— billion dollar valuation. So, you know, he's clearing at least a couple billion there. And after this transaction, he's still maintaining a minority stake in the team.
Tony Ortiz [00:25:25]:
So definitely shout out to MJ. Clap it up for him, not just for the billions, but congrats for being inducted into the Spun Today GOATs Doing GOAT Shit list. GOATs Doing GOAT Shit. This is the segment where I like to highlight GOATs within their respective lanes exceeding expectations and going above and beyond. This episode's inductee into the sponsored GOATs doing GOAT shit segment is none other than MrBeast. Shout out to MrBeast. MrBeast, for those of you who don't know, is the most popular YouTuber of all. He does these really elaborate YouTube videos and not stunts, but let me give you an example of the type of content that, that a type of content that he puts out, which is, for example, giving someone, building a house in the middle of nowhere, a small little house, and challenging someone to stay in the house.
Tony Ortiz [00:26:28]:
They can't leave the house for 30 days, and if they do, they get, I don't know, $500,000 or something like that. Can't see family, no internet, no anything. They'll have food and water, and that's pretty much it. Then they'll have, you know, he'll do things. There's a big circle in a field somewhere. Everybody's in the circle. Last person to leave the circle wins, you know, X amount of dollars. You know, people are in a very cold, frozen room.
Tony Ortiz [00:26:52]:
Last one to leave wins X amount of dollars. Stuff like that. He also has a philanthropy arm to his channel, a completely separate channel dedicated to doing good. Recently had a video that I featured as a video of the week in my newsletter, Spuntoday.com/subscribe if you're interested, where he paid for the cataract surgery for 100 or 1,000 people or something that, that literally couldn't see for years and years and years and years because they couldn't afford this cataract surgery, didn't have insurance to cover it. And through his philanthropy channel, did this. Their videos, they get millions and millions and millions of views, generates funds for him to continue doing this type of thing. Now, the video specifically that I wanted to feature MrBeast for is one that I will link to in the episode notes titled I Built 100 Wells in Africa. So he literally went to Africa, him and his team, and coordinated and showed the building of 100 water wells.
Tony Ortiz [00:27:58]:
In Africa. Now, these are small, very, very impoverished, poor villages that live in conditions where they have to either walk miles to try to get some water, whether clean or not, usually not, multiple times a day for drinking and cleaning and showering and that type of thing. There's no running water in these, these areas, these villages. And many of the children especially grow up just with having diarrhea getting typhoid disease and dying young. And it's just a part of their, their lives. You know, we as humans get used to anything, as they say, right? But what he did in building these natural freshwater wells, which the process essentially is this huge— and they break it down in the video more eloquently than I can— but these huge trucks that dig deep, deep into earth past all the rock and soil and pollutants into freshwater reservoir. And that allows them to add a spigot to the top and provide fresh drinking water to all these areas. And it's unlimited fresh drinking water that can produce approximately 3,600 gallons a day, 3,600 gallons per day per spigot, and can pump for 30 years plus, completely free, aside from obviously the cost of doing this, which is what MrBeast and his philanthropic channel covered, what they paid for it to do.
Tony Ortiz [00:29:26]:
That setup also provided a pressurized water source, which will allow folks to have running water and pressure to be able to wash clothes and stuff like that, and no longer have to go to the rio to wash clothes and bang, bang the clothes up against a rock. So on and so forth. He also in one village provided the clean water for a clean water well for a hospital that was there. Obviously very important to have clean water in a hospital, but they were also dealing with, you know, unsanitary conditions and dirty water or having to go through hell to try to get clean, clean water and a bunch of avoidable, unnecessary obstacles. There was another village where they had to cross this very shaky, rickety bridge where people constantly, you know, a handful of people die every year just from trying to cross a river on this rickety bridge. He got that bridge rebuilt to a bridge that is poised to last 100 years. In another village where he built one of these 100 water wells, he provided the school with all new furniture, all new computers, a soccer ball to every single student. In another village where he built one of these water wells, he provided a bicycle to every single student.
Tony Ortiz [00:30:47]:
In another school, he provided projectors and bookshelves filled with new books in their classrooms. And all those ancillary things are all just little cherries on top. The big takeaway obviously is the fresh water that we all take for granted. That these folks living in these villages never had access to. Now, he did get flak from— and this part is just frustrating to me because I just don't get this part of human nature. If it's you wanting the credit or you being upset that someone helped more than you could have, instead of just be happy that the goal of obtaining fresh water was met. But there were certain NGOs, or AKA non-governmental organizations, coming out against MrBeast doing this through his philanthropic arm of his company, stating things like, you know, there are organizations that exist that do this type of work. He came out of nowhere and did this, and now he's getting all the credit.
Tony Ortiz [00:31:52]:
These things have to be built sustainably, he's doing it just for clicks and likes, so on and so forth. To that, I'll say 100%, as stated by MrBeast himself in the video, 100% of the money raised from the video is going back into building more wells. And two, for the other major concern of sustainability, these water pumps were built and spigots to be able to run for 30 years. That's 3 decades. If that's not sustainable, I don't know what is. Now, if any of those things turn out not to be the case, then you have somewhat of a case against MrBeast or, you know, his methods to doing this. But even if those things weren't the case, let's say he was doing this just for clicks, just for money to drive around in Ferraris or some shit. He still provided 100 water wells to 100 villages throughout Africa.
Tony Ortiz [00:32:46]:
To people that otherwise did not have access to that water. Your motivations for doing that, I don't give a flying fuck about. The goal was met of providing water to people that need water to live, to survive. You know what I mean? Your personal motivations for doing so is secondary to me. The fact that he apparently has the motivations of this altruistic goal of just providing the water and 100% of the funds raised from it are going to go back into the the same thing and just cutting through all the bureaucracy and bullshit is admirable to me. And the fact that they were built sustainably to last 30 years, that's like above and beyond in my eyes. Just the goal of meeting the fact that these villages have sustainable water now, or just water in general, let's say it lasted 6 months, a year, you made everyone's life better for that period of time. Let alone the projected amount of time that and generations that this will affect if in fact it does last for 30 years.
Tony Ortiz [00:33:45]:
So folks, stop hating on folks doing good, trying to do the right thing just because it wasn't the way that you would go about doing it. And shout out to MrBeast and team for quite honestly having the balls to try to do good and try to do better in spite of the blowback received for this video and others. And that, folks, is the MrBeast installment of Goats Doing Goat Shit. Goats Doing Goat Shit. As I said in the intro, this is a segment of the Spun Today podcast where I like to highlight GOATs, greatest of all time, doing something dope, doing something above and beyond that they otherwise didn't need to do. This episode's prestigious honor goes to none other than hitmaker, producer Timbaland. I recently saw an excerpt of an interview that The Source reposted from the Finding Hitsongs Instagram with a songwriter/producer by the name of Ryan Teeter, and he was speaking to back in 2007 when the song It's Too Late to Apologize came out. OneRepublic, Timbaland, how Timbaland produced the remix to that song, and obviously it was a big, huge mega hit, but Ryan Tedder is the one that actually wrote it.
Tony Ortiz [00:35:11]:
He was a songwriter as well as a producer, and he breaks down in this clip that I'll play for you guys in a bit how when it came time to the publishing rights, you know, the lawyers or the representatives of each artist figure out and fine-tune the details of that of who's gonna get what, he felt that, you know, Timbaland being the big name and largely the one that popularized the shit out of the song, that he would just take— it would be, you know, status quo essentially for him to take the majority of the publishing rights. Now, before I tell you guys what Timbaland wound up doing, I wanted to highlight what the publishing rights are and what they mean specific to within the music publishing, which is similar when it comes to, to writing and what I speak about often in terms of like writing books or screenplays. And I'm sure this translates to other creative arenas as well, but specifically to the music publishing rights, this refers to the ownership and control of a song's intellectual property, the IP, including its melody, lyrics, and harmonies. And this right, this ownership right of the, again, intellectual property, the IP, the thing that was created, it encompasses the rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, and adapt the work. So whoever owns that IP, if like a commercial for Budweiser comes and says, hey, I want to use part of that OneRepublic song, who do I have to pay to get that, to get that right? Whoever owns that, the publishing, the intellectual property, is the person that gets the money from that. And there's a couple, there's two main categories when it comes to music, which is master rights that you always hear, like rappers and like Jay-Z famously, you know, I own my own masters and other rappers as well. And, you know, just songwriters in, in general. But I see it highlighted more within hip hop of owning your masters.
Tony Ortiz [00:37:08]:
That's one category, one of the two main categories. And it did— that portion of it deals with the rights related to the recorded version of the song, including the production, the mixing, and the mastering of the song. Like the recorded version that you hear, that's the master rights, or ownership of that. The publishing rights specifically, which are also known as composition rights, are owned by the songwriters and and/or the publishers. And these rights are the songwriters of the actual lyrics, the composition, the songwriters of the actual melody, the harmonies, the songwriters of the music itself, aka the producers, the production of it. And when you create something in a collaborative form, like, you know, music mainly is, you know, you have people that come up with the beats, with melodies, with the hook, with the lyrics, or multiple people that come up with the lyrics, you know, that, that, you know, write together or in concert, then according to the work that different folks put into something, that translates into their percentage of publishing rights and master rights, etc. So if Timbaland, for example, works with a producer that's, you know, green and doesn't, you know the industry really, or, you know, he's just like getting his foot in the door and, you know, he comes up with a dope beat, then Timbaland kind of like oversees it and maybe makes a little tweak or two, but the person that actually came up with it is, you know, that new guy. Very often you hear like stories like this throughout the music industry that new artists wind up getting fucked on like the rights, you know, the the big name usually just takes the rights and, you know, puts their stamp on it.
Tony Ortiz [00:39:00]:
And yeah, I created this and, you know, kind of pays, pays the person like a one-time fee. But then they— the, the big name owns the publishing rights, the intellectual property. So they wind up making money off of that forever, which is why, again, I highlight always, in my opinion, again, to each their own, but in my opinion, own your intellectual property. You never know what new revenue streams that may not even exist right now will come into play in the future. And if you own the intellectual property of whatever it is you create, whether it's a short story, a novel, a song, you'll be able to have a seat at that table and be able to sell your work on a different platform in the future. But if you take, you know, the short money, the short bag, even if it's big but short-term and just hand over your rights, hand over your publishing, hand over your masters, then whoever purchased that from you, they'll make money on that forever, which is the long money. But again, I digress. So going back to why I'm awarding Timbaland with the GOATs Doing GOAT Shit honor here on the Spontaneity Podcast is because Ryan Teeter himself, you know, knowing and recognizing his position, hierarchical position within the music industry, He was like, you know, Timbaland is the big name.
Tony Ortiz [00:40:18]:
So when I got the call about the publishing rights, I was like, you know, he's going to take like half or like 60, 70% of it because, you know, he's Timbaland. He's like the big name. And he was like, and I would have been happy with that. But he said that Timbaland told him or his, his folks representing him told him that Timbaland isn't taking any of the publishing. So Ryan was kind of like taken aback and he was like, that according to Timbaland, he was like that he didn't write the song, so he didn't deserve to take the publishing, that Ryan wrote the song and told him, like, from a practical perspective, you need the money more than I do. I'm already Timbaland. I'm already a millionaire. I'm already this, like, established guy in the industry.
Tony Ortiz [00:41:00]:
This is going to put you on. And Ryan said that that lack of greed from Timbaland and him being able to retain the publishing rights of the song that he wrote, that he created, allowed Ryan to be able to buy a house. So there you see like the actual impact of what something like that can do. And here's the actual clip that I'll play for you guys.
Ryan Tedder [00:41:24]:
People thought it was his song. And the truth of the matter is, he, when they called me about the publishing splits, I was just grimacing. I was ready to just be like, I'm going to get creamed on this. They're gonna just— they're gonna take half the song or more. And the manager calls and goes, uh, Tim doesn't want to take any publishing, buddy.
Tony Ortiz [00:41:44]:
Wow.
Ryan Tedder [00:41:45]:
He's not gonna touch it. He's like, it's your song, you wrote it, and, uh, you played him that song like 2 years ago. Like, he's not trying to take food off your table.
Tony Ortiz [00:41:54]:
He's—
Ryan Tedder [00:41:54]:
he produced the remix, you wrote the song. Like, so he's not taking any publishing. I just want to keep— put that out there for everybody watching. That's Timbaland. He could have taken 2/3 of the publishing if you wanted to. He had all the leverage in the world, and he said, I didn't write the song, I'm not taking any publishing. And that was— it was that clean. And he let me keep 100% of that record, and that changed my life.
Ryan Tedder [00:42:18]:
And he said, he's like, you need it more than I do. Like, so, you know, I'll give Tim props to the rest of my life for that because that was a life changer for me. That's how I bought a house.
Tony Ortiz [00:42:31]:
How dope is that? Shout out to Timbaland. Absolute round of applause. Welcome to the Spunt Today Goats Doing Goat Shit family. And that, folks, was episode 298 of the Spunt Today podcast. Thank each and every one of you for taking the time to listen. Hit me up in the comment section, tell me which one of the inductees into the Spunt Today Goats Doing Goat Shit list was your favorite? Which one did you get a little burst of inspiration from, or that you just found fascinating and interesting? Were there any that you already knew about, or perhaps a new story that you hadn't heard before? Hit me up and let me know at Spunt Today on Instagram, at Spunt Today on Twitter or X, or just hit me up in the comments section of this episode, spunttoday.com/podcasts/298. I appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to listen. Please stay tuned for a couple of ways you can help support this podcast if you so choose.
Tony Ortiz [00:43:32]:
Your support means a ton, helps keep the proverbial lights on here at Spawn Today Studios, and definitely gives me the motivation and inspiration to continue putting these episodes out. And with that, I'll check you guys out next time. Peace. What's up, folks? Tony here. I hope you're enjoying the Spun Today podcast as much as I enjoy producing it for you. Here are a few ways you can help support the show. You can help support the Spun Today podcast by shopping my merch section. Go to spuntoday.com/support and navigate to the merch section.
Tony Ortiz [00:44:07]:
Here you'll find the iconic Podcast vs. Anybody tee, which comes in many different color schemes and all different sizes. There are a bunch of other designs available as well, including riding-themed shirts, cycling shirts, and the classic Dominican escudo, and much, much more. And if t-shirts aren't your thing, all designs also come in pullover hoodies, zip-up hoodies, sweatshirts, and tank tops. You can also shop the Sponsored Coffee Mugs, which has the Sponsored logo on one side and the tagline that I end every episode with on the other, which is start taking steps in the general direction of your dreams. Once again, for all Spun Today merch, go to spuntoday.com/support and navigate to the merch section. Another great way for you to help support the show and also take care of your foundational health is by going to spuntoday.com/support and clicking on my affiliate link for Athletic Greens, AKA AG1. 1 scoop of AG1 in your water helps to fill nutrient gaps, promote gut health, and support whole body vitality.
Tony Ortiz [00:45:17]:
Just 1 serving delivers a comprehensive blend of 9 products, a multivitamin, minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, adaptogens, and more, all of which work together for the strongest foundation for better health. I personally take AG1 and really appreciate the peace of mind of knowing that my foundational health bases are covered, even when I know I'm not eating as healthily as I should be. Also, by using my affiliate link at spunte.com/support, you will get 1 free year of vitamin D3 as well as 5 AG1 travel packs absolutely for free. Again, go to spunte.com/support and click on the banner for AG1. If you're a fellow creative, a cool way that you can help support the Spunte Spun Today podcast and actually be part of the podcast is by filling out my 5-question questionnaire located at spuntoday.com/questionnaire. Here you'll find 5 open questions related to your craft, your art, what inspires you to create, what type of unrelated hobbies you're into, and what motivates you to get your work done. You can choose to remain anonymous or plug your website and your work. And once you submit your questionnaire, I read your responses on a future episode of the Sponsored by Podcast.
Tony Ortiz [00:46:30]:
It's completely free at no cost to you. And what I like to say about it is that if your responses could potentially spark inspiration in someone else, why not share that? SpunToday.com/questionnaire. The Spun Today newsletter is available to each and every one of my listeners absolutely for free. All you have to do is go to SpunToday.com/subscribe and drop in your email address. Stress. What I'm gonna do is brighten up everybody's least favorite day of the week by delivering 5 curated things within my weekly newsletter every Monday at noon. You're going to receive a photo of the week, a recommended podcast of the week. I listen to tons of podcasts from an array of varied interests.
Tony Ortiz [00:47:14]:
I cherry-pick the very best ones so that you can check them out. I also share a video of the week, which can be anything from a tasty recipe to a dope rap battle to an enlightening TED Talk. I also share a quote of the week. And finally, for my fellow wordsmiths out there, a word of the week so that you can step up your vocab. Again, this curated list is yours absolutely free by going to SpunToday.com/subscribe and dropping in your email address, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Again, go to Spuntoday.com/subscribe, drop in your email address, and you'll get the very next one. And as always, folks, substitute the mysticism with hard work and start taking steps in the general direction of your dreams. Thanks for listening.
Tony Ortiz [00:48:17]:
I love you, Aiden. I love you, Daddy. I love you, Grayson. I love you, Daddy.