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Sunday, December 30, 2007

The State of Hip-Hop


n a Time magazine article published this week, Ta-Nehisi Coates speculates on the rapid decline of hip-hop record sales, down 44% since 2000 and moved from 13% of all music sales to 10%. She tracks the rise of 1990s rap entrepreneurs, which arguably reached its apotheosis in 2001 during the height of enterprises such as Roc-A-Fella, No Limit and Bad Boy, through to the industry's current diminution.

The article interviews some insiders, such as Steve Rifkin, the CEO of SRC Records, who stick to dubious platitudes about rap music needing to "get more creative." It mentions Russell Simmons, who recently made an admittedly half-assed call for rappers to start censoring themselves as well as cut down on the flaunting of their wealth.
Maybe a bit more convincing is the Roots' manager Richard Nickels, who claims that hip-hop has lost some of the excitement it gained during the 1990s' gangsta rap. "You had these black guys who came out and had guns. It was exciting to white kids ... It's collapsing because they can no longer fool the white kids." Q-Tip suggests "In rock you have ... all these different strains. And there are different strains of hip-hop, but record companies aren't set up to sell different strains."

Coates' overriding paradigm is that rap is a product that needs to be updated. What do you think '' is this correct way to think about the hip-hop problem? Does the term 'gangsta rap' even apply to today's rap? Would ditching the bling-blang and foul language or 'maturing' boost sales?

courtesy of Prefixmag.com

Friday, December 28, 2007

The Inside/Out



Here is a list of the most common mistakes unsigned artists make on MySpace...

1. No Customer/Fans shown in the top 40 friends list.

The fans are the most important thing when selling your product. If you have your favorite artist in that list you are giving visitors an open door to leave your page. The most dedicated fans should "ALWAYS" occupy the friends list. You should make you fans feel like they matter because they are the ones who will spread the word about you to others.


2.Irreverent Content

There is nothing wrong with promoting your friends music, but your MySpace page should really just pertain to "YOU ONLY". You must remember you are trying to gain fans not confuse them. Before 50Cent could introduce Lloyd Banks you had to grow to know 50 first.


3.First song played

It is not usual for most artists to have the auto-play feature start their first song. Too many times artists do not place their best song first. Check it, you have one time to make a good impression so the only way your gonna know which song is your best is by doing "market research" on your material first. Most MySpace sales are not made because of this known mistake.


4. Page Layout

Your page should always reflect what your music and image is about. For example, if you are suppose to be a conscious rapper and all the images have dollar bills and hoes all over the page, you are giving true fans of conscious rap ever reason to give "YOU" the finger. Most times artist pages won't load right because all the extra junk that is on the page. Use discretion when being creative on the images you want to display. Trust me it matters. Whatever you do just don't give anyone a reason to leave your page! That's your money walking away!


THIS IS A COMPETITION
THE HATERS WANNA SEE YA FAIL... I WANNA SEE YA MAKE IT!!!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Strike Three.......Your Out!!

"Rumors are swirling about the pending demise of Napster creator Shawn Fanning's Snocap, says former MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson. 'Articles mention a sale, but more likely it will be a shuttering and quiet bankruptcy,' he believes. 'Snocap represents a commonplace occurrence in the music business — an unprofitable retailer which withers and eventually dies.'"

courtesy of SlashDot.org

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Producer Watch

Artist Quote of the Week


"The whole music industry is twisted on it's f**king head. And Britney Spears shaved her head - that's how I know the Apocalypse is coming,"

Method Man

Monday, December 24, 2007

Year 2008 -The New Style




Listen, we all know that Compact Discs(CD) are just about to be obsolete very soon. Not only that but music sales are steady declining due to file sharing online and also the general public disregarding most of the music that major labels are promoting.

Well before you start to panic, you might want to peep this. Web-Site companies such as FizzKicks, DropCards, and Discrevolt have come to save day. These sites provide digital download prepaid cards for your fans. So instead of walking around the mall and security looking to catch you selling them Cd's, you can now just hand out the pre-paid cards and collect the dough. For more info go to...

http://www.fizzkicks.com
http://www.dropcards.com
http://www.discrevolt.com

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Check this Out!!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Guerilla Marketing Tip #1


Question:

Where can else can I sell my album besides online music stores and live shows?


Answer:

Local businesses are some of the best places to start. Establishments like(Barbershops,urban coffee shops,Nightlife Bars and Pubs,etc) are overlooked as places that artists think would help them promote their music. Ask to speak with managers/owners and explain to them what it is you are trying to accomplish. The first impression is everything so you better come correct or you'll just f*ck it all up. You'll be surprised to find many of them are willing to help. It's all in that approach though. Make it professional when you speak to them, also one thing owners love is another way to make money(hint).

Throwback Video Spot

Please, Rape Me!


Countless times I have witnessed friends of mine in the game who do nothing but record music all day long. Sweating it out in the hot studio music box while the guy in the other room is on the take.

One story comes to mind of a friend and I won't mention his name so let's just call him Mr.Dumb-Ass. I have to call him that because I always would suggest to him that he really should copyright his music. Music copyright is the first step in securing who controls ownership of your work.


The only thing he saw was the money flowing into his pockets. At that time demanding 2,500 per track on the local scene for an hot unknown producer was considered somewhat normal. On the outside one might say that's pretty good especially if your clientele happens to be repeat customers. But let's look a little deeper into this situation shall we. It just so happens that one of the songs he produced landed on an known regional album that went on to sell close to 175,000 CD Units.

Normally before a record label delivers the final product to be released to the general public, the paperwork on all parties involved needs to be cleared. On the local level it's a little different especially within the Hip Hop game,cause all kinds of crazy shit goes down, but that's another posting. In this particular case this label knew its business and had Mr.Dumbass sign a work for hire agreement. What is a work for hire?

A work created by an employee within the scope of employment or a work commissioned by an author under contract. With a work for hire, the author and copyright owner of a work is the person who pays for it, not the person who creates it.

That means whatever money you got upfront is all ya get.
to be continued...

Artist Quote of the Week


It's just the industry of recorded music doesn't appeal to me. That dream of getting a record deal and all that is lost. I woke up from it.

Lupe Fiasco

Mic Check


There was a time not too long ago, the only way to get your music heard was by signing a major record deal, fortunately now we are living in the times where anyone can be famous if combined with the right amount of self-discipline.

The key in succeeding in this new business model is up to the individual who's willing to go the full distance in learning how to work around the supposed system.
The only thing that will hinder an artist from reaching his target audience is the artist themselves. Let's face it, we know alot of artists do not like dealing with the business side of things instead they rather stick just with the creative side of things. But in order to gain full control of your career without the extra hassles there are some essentials that you might wanna be aware of.


Unlike most people that give advice on how to become successful in the music industry, I am in the same seat as you (the artist) and have had many victories while adjusting to the new ways of doing business. So what come naturally to me is helping the next person along who might not be fully aware of the potential gain that presented in front of them.

In The Beginning...



Like most musicians, I spent every minute of the day dreaming about being on stage and rocking the crowd. I remember being around seven yrs old watching TV looking at Prince tear up the solo part on Purple Rain and immediately picking up a broom pretending to right next to him. Then there's the time Michael Jackson did the moonwalk for the first time on the Motown 25 special and although I never quite got the steps right I was definitely feeling the magic that his performance gave. Seeing these two performers do what they do best, it was no question that I knew what my calling would be.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Wassup Everyone!!




This blog is dedicated in sharing knowledge and wisdom to aspiring artists/producers of music. The time to be free from the chains of the slave system a.k.a the music industry has now arrived.