The blueprints of many successful people often show a specific moment that ultimately foreshadowed their future. Jed Seifert and Vince Bartozzi's success would come from a kindergarten friendship that would instantly begin to manifest into a life long creative partnership.

The two started their first business together at an early age, by drawing mazes and selling them to their classmates. They would search for toys at home, which they did not want, to give away as prizes. The final part of their hustle was to charge kids at school 50 cents to complete the maze in 60 seconds. With the success of their first business venture, it is no wonder that Jed and Vince would join forces again later in life to create MusicSkins.

MusicSkins is a thriving company built from hard work and determination, which has led them on an exciting new journey today. Yo! Raps spoke with Jed Seifert, the Executive Vice-President of MusicSkins.

How did the MusicSkins idea come about?

My business partner, Vince, was working at Asylum Records. He was at a trade show and he saw these three guys from Canada that were doing skins. They were doing things primarily for art, so he asked them if they thought about doing music, thought about doing fashion and they were like we don't know anybody were from Canada. He began working with them to open up the MusicSkins branch and they were doing all of the manufacturing. He continued to work with them and then became the National Head of Sales - helping them get into retail not just the music side, but also the art side.

Then the MusicSkins started taking off a little bit and our first label that we signed on was Duck Down Records. He realized that there was no way that he would be able to do it himself, there's no way that he would be able to focus on anything besides MusicSkins. So he came to me, I was selling enterprise software to companies, wearing a suit and tie everyday. I was making a lot of money, but not really loving life.

We pulled all of the money that we've ever made in our lives and more and jumped in headfirst. I took on all of the responsibility of sales, finding these artists and deals; he [Vince] essentially does everything else.

Over the past year, we have signed over a 150 licensing deals, everyone from Lil Wayne to Bob Marley to Madonna. We're working with a lot of the biggest people. In the beginning, everyone is hesitant, it's a new product and there's no sales track record. They said, "It looks cool, but are people going to really buy it? Is it something that's really going to take off? "Obviously after you sign a few big names; people are like whoo maybe we should do it!

What exactly is a MusicSkin and how are made?

It's high quality premium vinyl, fully removable; you can take it off and on your device and it never leaves any residue. It's never going to ruin your device, it's never going to stretch or rip. We've really separated our self in the industry by having a high quality product out there. Well two things, one is our content (obviously the music, the bands and stuff.) Really, there's thousands of skin companies out there, but most of them sell glamorized stickers. You put it on your iPod, you take it off and it leaves black gook.

What type of devices do they go on?

Right now, we have 45 different devices on our site. Everything from iPod's to the Blackberry, Microsoft Zune, Laptops, Guitar Hero. We're constantly expanding the devices were doing, were adding ten new devices over the next month or so.

So does MusicSkins go beyond music?

We do a lot of the fashion stuff. We had a lot of friends in the industry, so we started off doing street wear like the stuff you'll find on Karmaloop.com. The high-end stuff, not like the rap clothing brands. We did MAGIC [fashion industry event] and within the next three weeks, we signed probably 20 different clothing brands.

We basically were like look, you're already pushing these T-Shirt designs, you might as well push these skins and have them right there in the store next to them. Kids are already matching their shoes, to their hats, to their shirts to everything else; it's just the next step to personalization.

What is the target audience for MusicSkins ?

Everyone asks that question. It's really just the fans and the followers of the artists, the brands and the musicians that we work with. We tried to increase our demographics before; it was around 13to 14 years- old up to about 28 to 29 years- old. Then we added on stuff like the Blackberry and our demographics increased up to about 35 to 36. When we added on stuff like the Playstation, PSP, Nintendo DS, kids that don't even have cell phones yet, but they have those gaming devices so that lowered the demographics. I'd say we're really ten years-old to 40 years old now.

Is it possible for people to customize their own MusicSkins?

Right now, you can do custom skins; you just email us through the website. We are actually getting ready to launch a customizing tool on our website, where you can just upload a picture. You can add text, move it around, put multiple pictures, and it's not going to be any extra cost. We laugh about it because I said really soon your going to be able to see who are all of the wiped boyfriends in America, walking around with their girlfriends on their phones.

What will stop people from uploading a picture of Jay-Z for example?

Well there's two parts, one when your uploading an image to the site there's a check box and it basically says, "I have the right to use this image and it agrees to the terms of use on our site." Obviously most people will just check that box and do it anyway, but we'll catch it. We're very careful and that's why the production people are here. We make sure that everything we put on our site is licensed and legit.

What has been the hottest skin so far?

It switches; it's just like music. Someone's hot one month then they fall off the map. One of the biggest ones we did last summer was Sean Kingston and now it's like who? Right now, I think our biggest seller is Lil Wayne, that's been a big launch for us.  Bob Marley just went up on the site, so I think that's going to do very well.

Can you name two artists [dead or alive] that you would like to sign on with MusicSkins?

There are two, Jay-Z and The Rolling Stones.

What are some things you have learned in this industry so far?

You can't listen to people, you have to go out, grind and do everything in your power to make things happen. Nobody's going to do it for you! One advice that I would give anyone out there, if you're going to start your own business is be prepared to give up your life. We work 90 hours a week!

Be sure to check out www.MusicSkins.com. 

- By Isha "Ice" Cole