Here’s why, contrary to popular belief, in today’s online music market, consumer fan loyalty leans more to the artist’s lifestyle ( or to the social media lifestyle that’s portrayed…) The producers, songwriters and industry power players, don’t nearly carry the weight that they want people to believe because a kid in his bedroom on a computer and Fruity Loops has a better idea of their peer market pallet for music in their tribe (I use the word tribe because it’s better suited than market segment…). These artist can be great and the production and songwriting can be excellent but if they don’t communicate the right message to the “buying audience” (notice I didn’t say streaming audience…) at the right time, then it’s like a professor trying to communicate to a kid with A D D and they are really just boring the kid to death and the message is lost in the delivery.
In today music market its more about the message and messenger to a certain tribe as opposed to a song, performance or production. All the talent and production in the world means nothing if the song fail to communicate a certain tribes message of the moment.
These shows are very entertainment industry driven and usually the last person to know what today’s 1st level attention interest in market music exposure are industry people who are driven by personal power agendas and industry ego stroking moves.
Take the artist Jessica Sanchez. Before American Idol her online presence and tribe was an incredibly amazing and productive group (#TeamJessicaSanchez). They were like twitter soldiers waiting for orders. After American Idol she got caught up into industry power moves, songwriters, producers and Jimmy Iovine’s so called vision when really all she had to do was get on a Drake feature and combine his tribe at the time and hers tribe at the time. End result, Drake from mixtapes to megastar and Jessica Sanchez from potentially the next Whitney Houston to American Idol footnote.
In an interview with the Washington Post, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis criticized Hip Hop and called it "more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee."
You know I actually took pause before I listened to this video (I had no idea what was coming but I had a feeling that it was going to be uncomfortable…) So I braved up and played the video and at first the emotions that I feared came to be (what the f*ck is this motherf_cker talking about? Who made him the voice? Even though he’s right on a few of his points…) The initial dialogue in this video is challenging, distasteful and honest (maybe to honest for some…) Most of all though it achieved something that needed to be achieved in this TRUMPNATIZED era of political and social divisiveness. An honest dialogue about racial ideas and hiphop has finally come to the table.
This type of hiphop is just a segment of hiphop. Its part conscious, its part rap battle and its lyric intensive. What’s most impressive is that it’s selling (#77 in the Itunes Top100 in 2 days…) Is this sales bump and interest in socially conscious hiphop a fluke? Who cares it’s still an accomplishment. Joyner Lucas has achieved something that Post Malone just said lacked in hiphop, substance. Not only did he deliver it to the hiphop platform, he sold it to a buying public.
So let the conversation begin. Good or bad, it’s about time. Remember “there nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
Man some time the hiphop community can be so petty. When i hear folks (or read about...) folks having issues with Cardi B success, all I can say is "F*ckDemHaters". Cardi B is a great HipHop Horatio Alger story and artist and professionals in hiphop should be congratulating her instead of throwing shade (Booo... noone was listening to your artist anyway... in my Jess Hilarious voice @jesshilarious_official ) Cardi is the epitome of what hiphop is about. She took nothing and made a lot. Why wouldn't hiphop celebrate that. She did the struggle now she should celebrate the fruits. Congrate to Cardi B again "get that shmoney folks..."
Lately I keep hearing this same statement by people who are trying to be in #ThisBusinessOfHipHop . "Sales really don't matter" or they are "rigging the numbers." Where in the history of business have sales not mattered (uumm, that why your in business...)? Hip Hop has become "The land of Rent To own dreams" or "Stolen dreams" At the end of the day the only way you can really gauge success is by actual sales. Actual sales are the greatest indicator of market engagement and commitment. It is show business (not show me the business...) Focus on the sales and the sales will take care of you. Sales represent true wins and wins create opportunities and opportunities create revenue. That's how it goes...
Sometimes in doing this music thing, we get so caught up in the industry hype that it seems that some of us forget why this industry exist in the first place (dj’s you really need to hear me on this…). The music business first and foremost is about the fans (that’s right the fans are 1st…), because without fans that are supportive and engaged, then there is no money (period…). Then it’s about the music, (because that the business we are in…). Finally it’s about the moments, because its great moments and performances that create stars that the fans want to see and pay for (curiosity only goes so far…).
If our greatest moments in the music business have become tabloid site clickbaits fodder, then we clearly have began to travel down the wrong path (as an artist no PR firm or marketing group should be able to control your fanbase, that’s on you. These group should be there to keep your fans informed and if your career consist of online PR stunts for online clicks well, how can you really expect any longevity in that strategy (frfr…)
Excite the fans with your music and let your music create special moments that your fans will remember forever (ie: Michael Jackson moonwalking at the BET awards…). It’s always have been and will be about #TheFansTheMusicTheMoments, Im just sayin.
Remember “there’s nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
Anyone who has read my blog knows how I feel about boosting numbers for hype (I don’t like the practice because the real pros know when it’s being done…) I mean if it was a strategy that works then I would maybe see the function but usually fans know when the numbers aren’t real (fans know hits…)
Online has created an over whelming supply of new music and the demand part continues to dwindle so when fans see online trickery with the numbers, they just ignore the new music. Now music online marketers are not going to tell you this because they are trying to sell their wares (all marketers believe they are rainmakers, it’s part of their koolade and in a way it’s what drives them…) but the real is with so much of a supply in music (and accessibility), fans already have an idea of their new music choices way before the so called gatekeepers give their verdict (that’s why the iheartMemphis, Zay Hilfigurr or Young M.a. blow up, folks just really like the song…) So boosting numbers is really most of the time just a ploy to boost the artist’s ego and a strategy to make the artist’s friends feel like the artist is really doing something and not just spinning their wheels and wasting time and money.
This article http://djbooth.net/news/entry/2017-01-10-master-p-soundcloud-numbers?noredirection=true really brings this fact to light. Check it out and you decide. That’s why here at GetAtMe we tell you it’s about the music and that real numbers don’t lie. Build your fanbase organically and if you are the truth, you’re fans and followers will let the world know (and a bot really can’t do that, it’s a bot…)
Remember “there’s nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
Here’s why we’ll miss Vine (Do It For the Vive…), we’ll miss Vine because Vine created stars out of normal people. No other site (IG, SnapChat, Facebook,) has had the capacity to develop normal folks into stars like Vine (only youtube has been close #DoItForTheVine). We’ll miss stars like the “DoItForTheVineGirl” because she reminded us that we all can have our 15 minutes of fame as long as we do something interesting, creative, and timely (#DoItFortheVine). Those 6 sec videos were the footprint of creating trending interesting content that allowed the site Vine to decide, “will it fly or will it die…” In a way Vine was the most democratic of all of the online platforms and that why it will be missed (#DoItForTheVine).
Pound for Pound no other site had the real ability to execute follower engagement like Vine (it was the 6 seconds…), unfortunately Vine’s strength (the follower situation…) also became its weakness. The Follower sites made it hard for Vine to truly monetize their product (a problem that all online platforms similar to Vine will at some point experience…) and the follower sites cluttered the timeline and made search situations (that weren’t attached to the follower situations) hard to get to. We will (as will all online…) miss Vine (#DoItForTheVine).
There’s this crazy new thing I’m hearing from artist (and managers…), that the sales don’t matter (“just tell them to give me the bread, this sh*ts hot…#IfIHadADollaWhen). This by far is the craziest thing for somepne to say and it signals to music industry predators that you are a meal for the taking (and they are always hungry…) Remember the it THE MUSIC BUSINESS (with the emphasis on the word business…) and the main objective in any business is sales. Comments like these are the cornerstones to artist not understanding their relationship with the fans and the label. Sales is the ultimate leverage position (not I got a hot song, I don’t know where that idea came from…) and if your sales are at the top of the pile, then you as an artist wind up on top of the food chain. Its that simple… Remember “there nothing wrong with the record business that a good record cant cure…” #ItsAboutTheMusic #GetAtMe
You know it getting to the point that the day to day occurrences on the news are becoming a real distraction (or maybe I’m just getting old…), but when I’m waking up every day to a trending news story about a police shooting (especially during an election season…), eventually I have to take notice. What is going on that we now have an environment now that the police training is so poor that the officers are continuously involved in stupid shootings (maybe a black Dallas police chief authorizing the bombing of a murder suspect sent the wrong signal to other officers… #YouThink)? The real is we now have a real visual issue between the police and the community and hiphop may have been unconsciously the motivator (but it cannot become the excuse…)
HipHop has been about image. It sold images from the very beginning and since hiphop was usually financed by a street element, those elements funded their perceptions of society (so hiphop and the police have always had their issue, now those issues are spilling over into the community fabric and that has to stop). There are certain police (both black and white) that are using their position to justify a silent culling in the urban areas and hiphop may have given them their talking points.
Look it’s no secret that there are certain elements in the black community that want (what they perceive hiphop to be…) back as a cultural and activist voice (it doesn’t matter that activist hiphop hasn’t sold since Public Enemy, “but don’ worry about that, we’ll get the greedy corporations to sponsor our cause…” Folks that is such a bad idea). Has anyone ever thought that maybe at times that some of these officers are so poorly trained because the administrator are just not doing a good job (both black and white… Remember you did have a black police chief sponsor a public execution of a murder suspect and no one said anything… “All kind of wrong messages sent...)
Look I’m just making an observation. Images and real life are now running into each other and it would be wise for us in the hip-hop media not to utilize these events as click bait (really a bad idea…). Let’s make hip-hop part of the solution and don’t allow a few attentions seeking opportunist to turn these issues into a funding drive for their next issue and then make Hip-hop the scapegoat (and you know they will blame The Young Thugs, “it coming…). By the way have anyone ever thought that maybe these officers are on steroids or prescription pills to stay awake because of long hours and those accelerants are maybe the cause of some bad decisions (along with maybe personal financial issues...)? No then there would no need to drive clicks for attention and revenue online if that was the case. There I said it, Hip-hop media we have got to be responsible with our voice. It can be a tool or weapon, either way we have to maintain it and take care of it and be responsible for our words and actions.) If we are not, it’s hard to challenge other on their poor reactions to the images we may have nurtured…
Andre 3000 is confused, when did hiphop become a sitcom (uuum Mr Van WinKle you can come out of the cave now…). Andre bro hiphop’s been that way for a moment, but wait is it that there are writers or has hiphop evolved as an entertainment medium?
There have always had crews of writers (Andre knows this because he came from the Dudgeon Family…), what really seems to be the issue is not as much about the writing but HipHop “is not what I wanted it to be anymore…” (That’s what happens why you allow other to be the funding principle of your so called culture communications tool, I mean if you don’t invest you don’t control). Look when you want control, you gotta be the bread, those are the rules (you know “he who has the gold make’s the rules…).
For many years I’ve heard complaints as to where hiphop is going but I never hear anyone saying I’m going to step up as a primary lender (unless you’re the corner trap king and his investment in Jeezy wanna be’s seems to be doing just fine…). Entertainment usually is a reflection of the lenders, why, because it’s their money and they will call the shots. I don’t know why that so hard for some to come to terms with that reality.
So if you wanna called the shots and define hiphop as how you want it to be, (with only rappers who write their own material) well you have to start a label that just has that as its code (you probably won’t make a lot of money and then some folks will still complain about its not fair…)
Andre is a very gracious and pleasant cat and he went out of his way to not point fingers buy the real of it is, artist who became successful hiphop stars financially (major point) didn’t reinvest their cash in hiphop, why, because they felt it was better to use OPM (other people’s money) and when you use other folks money they call the shots.
Of course when your spending in the hundreds of thousands in marketing an artist, eventually your gonna start to move the odds in your favor. What the hiphop traditionalist don’t realize is that the old RNB guard said the same thing about them (“This rap stuff will never last…”). Not only did rap last but it outlasted the traditionalist RNB artist, why, a new generation with new taste and ideas.
To the lenders (who are trying to make money off the music) does it really matter to them that someone is writing the songs? No. Does it really matter to the spending customers? Why it doesn’t matter to the money folks is because they want a hit and that it and you know what, that really not bad of an idea (minimize my risk in a risky investment hmmm ground breaking). Artist in their endeavor to survive develop a sort of entitled type of mentality about where sponsors or what sponsors should pay attention to in hiphop. It’s not a game, its business.
Like I said Andre’s a great guy (for real one of the best guys I’ve met in this business…) but no Andre you weren’t working to hard because you were defining your footprint in this business we call hiphop. Maybe these new artists have a different definition in mind for their footprint and really, ain’t that’s what hiphop is supposed to be about? Redefining a musical style to define your generation musical style and taste?
Remember “There’s nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
Look I realize hiphop is entertainment (that’s not even an issue…), but recently a reader asked me “Well why do the sales matter anyway?” That was amazing to me. Why wouldn’t you want to know the sales (that’s when I realized that I may have become Don Quixote (from the Man from La Mancha) and now I spend most of my day fighting hiphop dragons. The reason this reader felt that the sales numbers were irrelevant is because he’s aware that hiphop has become one big living lie. I mean come on, we have ex correctional officers acting like mafia bosses, ex child tv stars acting ingenious thug villains, we’re telling people that streams are the same thing as sales (clearly a fugazzi play to fool investors into believing “oh no we haven’t f*cked up your money…) and we have one artist that is so irrelevant in the world of Madison Ave advertising, that they didn’t even hit him with a cease and dissest order when he blatantly infringed upon their copyright (“it wasn’t worth drawing attention to that kind of foolishness…”). We now spend more time creating beefs than creating hit music. How can hiphop really expect America or the world to take it seriously? Artist now attack their exes for media attention and use online sites to steal beats and concepts and the hiphop PR people will say any lie for a check (“I gotta get that check folks…”). Why has this happened? Because hiphop found it more feasible to invest in HIPHOP CON ARTIST than to invest in HIP HOP ARTIST (“whose gonna believe a con artist when he tells folks that we didn’t pay him…? #lsmh).
Radio on a regular are 6 months late on a record that’s over and never sold, why because someone Is silly enough to pay to get in the cut line to get on radio (and yes” it is still tricking if you got it…” folks just say that to make folks feel good about tricking.). When I first saw CB4 many years ago, I would have never dreamed that this movie would become the blueprint for how we operate in hiphop today. That’s MC Gusto would be beefing with all his new challengers through online PR firms and threads. That the real Gusto wouldn’t realize that these folks were just using up not only his cash but also his street juice (and then dry snitch on him to go to jail or encourage (on the low) for some new and up and coming artist to “do what you have to do to get your spot… (even if it means you robbing and killing the current star as a way of creating a situation for them to rise and where the money owed to the current star is never paid out. Is this what HipHop has become? Really? How did party music that was able to be so impactive in society become just one big financial ruse? Was it a conspiracy? Naw it was just some folks who were greedy and not as smart as they think they are constantly coming up with bad ideas and those bad ideas are about to make hiphop as an industry implode. What Dionne Warrick and C Deloris Tucker couldn’t do, the HipHop Boula has done by creating creating a cancerous environrment in hiphop, and it’s gotta stop.
Look I’m not one to knock anyone’s hustle (I personally don’t count other folks pockets…) but some of this behavior is really bad and is an embarrassing eye for hiphop as an industry. Hip hop and music has always had its share of snake oil salesmen (it came with the industry) but these folks today are really new and improved and some of the ideas are so bad, you can’t even call them criminal. They are just bad.
I’m Reggie Redd and as I always say. “here at GetAtMe, It always about the music…”
It’s no secret that Wynton Marsalis dislikes hiphop and he probably should be classified as a traditionalist jazz supporter. Wynton has often made it known as to his displeasure with hiphop as an art form. He really hates the genre. I’ll paraphrase it for you “Its trash… “in his opinion.
Mr Marsalis has a right to his opinion (which in most cases isn’t followed up with an alternative investment solution that works for the investors or the artist. “That 2 cents means nothing if it’s not on the bill…” Big Sean) It seems that Mr Marsalis is forgetting that hip hop is a business ( a profitable one at that…) that drives quick investments and quick returns and if hiphop businessmen start trying to dictate consumer taste as opposed to reacting to it, well they’ll go broke (as is the case with most RNB and Jazz artist when it come to consumer sales demand in today financial marketplace,,,) Mr Marsalis hiphop investors have never hid that they were in it for the quick buck. Most of hiphop investors never committed to the sponsorship of the craft (the ones who did usually went broke…) Why, because our primary buying (and I emphasize buying…) is young and unfortunately in an effort to define their own culture as a generation, Cussing and braggadocios behavior is likened to women burning bras for their voting right (I know the comparison is extreme but you get the point) and, they have a short attention span when it comes to entertainment (they have a lot of options…) In hip hop it’s not a great idea to try to legislate taste because 1, you will go broke and 2, the kids will find another way to define themselves. That is a natural progression of generations.
Here’s a novel idea, why don’t all like minded jazz traditionalist create hiphop/jazz genre that sells and invest their own money. Spend money to support the product and put these evil guys at the labels out of work. I’ll wait…
There is a horrible lie being perpetuated in hiphop, “sales don’t matter…” (which is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. Why be in business if you’re not selling something. That’s not a business, that’s a hobby…) Hip Hop has caught a disease of silliness where marketing matters more than sales (“if we just keep saying it’s a hit then they will believe it” Really they won’t…) The lie in hip hop has become bigger than the business and now the lie is the business model (this has gotta stop, it’s killing the genre…). Here’s the problem…
Kid’s (our core buyer…) usually don’t believe marketers (you can’t influence influencers that have been influenced by a budget. It doesn’t work unless you’re a marketing company getting said budget…) Real fans buy based on they want it first and they are real supporters of a certain artist and their lifestyle. Real djs want it first to have bragging rights for breaking a song first (the real currency of influencers…) So it doesn’t matter how much you market if it’s not a hit with 1st impact buyers and 1st impact djs (that cater to 1st impact buyers) When the air is not certain on a new song’s potential then the deciding factor becomes the songs sales (not streams. That’s like getting credit for a test drive of a new car. Oh they’re financing test drives now?) Sales become the determinate of potential demand and fans true connectivity and adoption to a song (radio plays only draws attention to songs, like commercials, but fans only buys a song if they want it or want to support an artist…) Buying (“I spent a $1.29”) is the true test of a songs market buoyancy, not whether they just like they song. Let’s be real, if your potential buyer won’t spend $1.29 on your music, then that means you have some work to do. Get to work. Now here’s the lie “we’ll fake the sales numbers to trick fans into believing it’s a hit…” I won’t even go into how dumb that is. Who expects to get paid off of fake fans with fake money that fake that they are buying (you see the silliness here...) and later wonder why they are on behind the music (“they didn’t pay me…” #smh )
The reason James Brown became such a success is because his ticket prices were always affordable (for his time and James Brown himself made promoters keep the tickets affordable or he wouldn’t perform #GoodBusiness ) and that allowed him way more exposure so that fans could decide for themselves the magic of James Brown and his music. It worked then and it will work for you today. One thing about the truth, you know the accounting will be right… The shortcut to fame is usually expensive if it’s built on a lie. Remember there’s nothing wrong with the record business that a good record and great performance can’t cure…”
This cut brought out so many emotions and this really wasn't what anyone thought it would be. This is another level of hiphop and this project was well done. Its going to be interesting to listen to the dialogue about this cut in the next few days. Take a listen and experience a whole new side of hiphop (here comes the viral answers....) Sidenote: this song is already at #77 on the itunes top100 in 2 days ... #SalesMatter
Big Sean had a lyric that stated “that 2 cents don’t mean nothing if it ain’t on the bill…” (very true Mr... Sean…) It seems that everyone has an opinion on how to succeed in the music business but very few have an opinion on how to get the money (mainly because they don’t know…) If I had a dollar for everytime I heard someone give their opinion of someone else’s music business situation, well I would really be straight (f*ck a 401K…)
The music business in itself is lead usually by a fantasy narrative and in most cases fantasy narrative rarely lead to financial security (basically the “make believe usually don’t make money, why? Because its make believe #lsmh) There are a lot of tales of artist not getting a fair break in the music business but very few stories on how to get the money. I mean you have marketers and licensing folks giving their view from their perspective (but usually these folks have never invested in their own project, won or lost at their own project by using their money. They have just developed an idea in their head of what should be fair (using other folks money. Its can only be your victory if it’s your money…) and how they feel things should be done (in their opinion…), but most of the time those opinions are opinions they charge you for and usually they are based in speculation as opposed to actual real time situations where they have risked their money. So beware.
Pay attention to the opinions that are targeted and focused on the money as opposed to the process (it’s the process that cost you…) Getting money is simple, find it and go get it (really it’s that simple… ) and usually if the OPINIONATERS are trying to get you to focus on the process as opposed to the money, either they don’t know where the money is or worst, don’t want you to know where the money is (the money is always in selling something that someone wants to purchase. Make sure that you are doing the selling as opposed to being sold an opinion, I don’t mind opinions as long as they are headed to getting me some money… #IJS
Who is Lyor Cohen many have asked? Hip hop angel or hip hop devil. Was Lyon hip hop’s benefactor or was he a hip hop culture vulture? Many will have their opinions but there is one thing I can take from all of Lyor Cohen’s interviews. Lyor Cohen may be hip hop’s most passionate fan. Everything time he makes a statement about hip hop it’s made with the passion of a long time love affair good or bad. Whether it’s about a successful high (taking a $700.00 initial investment and making $36,000.00…) to his hip hop lows (a time at Def Jam where he questioned his abilities to get his job done…), Lyor speaks on these moments with the romance of hallmark love affair novel (his love’s and his losses…)
In an industry that has become more about the hustle than the music (although there are those who have always believed it was about the hustle, and that in itself has been hip hops struggle. The culture of hip hop vs the hustle of hip hop, but that’s another blog for later…) Lyor shares his feelings about hip hop like an old sailor who still has love for the sea but understands the sea’s harsh realities. Lyor has crafted his own hip hop identity and understanding of who hip hop is to him and its affect on others and their lives.
Check out the youtube/Complex Blueprint video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caqD9wVxWUw on lyor Cohen. Love him or hate him, no one can take away his body of work in hip hop or his hip hop passion. Remember “there nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
Ebro has to be one of the most misunderstood radio personalities in radio today (for some reason artist alway feel you're hating when you are not playing their new song...) There is a thin line between arrogance and confidence, Ebro has combinations of both. Ebro is a true hiphop entreprenuer (which some mistake as a hiphop hustler, these are different paths folks...) and sometimes hiphop hustlers mistake Ebro as to being one of them when he is not. Does Ebro have hustle (of course he does...) but Ebro's hustle is defined by what he feels is the right path, not the right moment. He's right when he says "it's not about us (radio personalities)... Sometimes folks in radio seem to forget that. Its has (and always be...) about the fans. Look if there are no fans then there is no money and no special moments. Dj's really need to be mindful of this. Djing is about entertainment. On air is about informing fans in an entertaining forum. The more fans you have usually equates to the more money and opportunties that are presented to you. Some dj's misss this point and usually at some point, the Ebro's of the world will remind them. #ItsAboutTheMusic #GetAtMe
What do Drake, The WeekNd and J Cole all have in common? It is the support of HopHop’s most influential person. The 18-25 year old female demo. In an industry where everyone wants to know the real movers and shakers in music, well here she is and here’s why she is so impactive.
Her and her friends are online’s most important influencers from the point of trends, music, fashion, clubs and even sports at times. Why because everyone likes having her and her friends around and not only do they spend (real money…) but they influence other to spend (come on do you see folks going in the club to spend $300.00 on a bottle of liquor with a bottle boy?) They are loyal consumer soldiers and to slight them can be a career changing mistake for some artist.
They are loyal to the lifestyle (as exhibited on daily post on Baller Alert & The ShadeRoom IG sites and they have opinions that they want heard. Their loudest opinion although is with their credit and debit cards as they vote on who will live or die in the music coliseum called sales on a daily basis on iTunes. They are the driving factors in Rae Sremmurd’s Black Beatles and The Migos Bad and Bougie. They love Big Sean and Gucci is the ‘Unc’ who could get it (or if nothing else they’ll kick it and have drinks…)
So if you want to meet the music industry’s and hiphop’s most influential person, well here she is. Respect her and her buying power. She has proven that she carries weight in the echoes of her decisions. $1.29 is not hurting her pockets and if she’s feeling you as an artist, she will display her support by buying.
Remember, “there’s nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
Budden did right by checking dude. The key to the music business (or any business for that matter) is to make money, not to have over paid professionals. If dude can do 30,000 without a PR pro then folks, for real that's a win. Artist want all this help from industry professional STANS but then wanna cry when they are on Behind The Music about they broke, because they (and I emphasize... THEY) chose RENT TO OWN FAME as a path to wealth. These artist want to look rich, not be rich, there is a difference. man if you need to be staffed up to get your folks to spend $1.29 on your single on itunes, that means you don't have a demand for your product (i didn't say your product wasn't good, I said there wasn't a demand. Big difference...) If you are fortunate enough to have a indie product that sells (Zay HilFigerr Juju On The Beat 45,000 in a week and then signed to Atlantic, Tech 9, Sage The Gemini, and a list of others...) then the indie system works for you. Other artist want to cut in the music industry VIP line and that cost (it's not for free...) You gotta do the math that works for you and your situation. Remember the industry doesn't make a hard product that goes into stores anymore (cd's records ect...) They sell RENT TO OWN exposure on a licensing agreements called downloads and streams, so how are they gonna justify all these expenses to keep their lights on, they don't make nothing that's tangible anymore. They literally sell fame to create revenue opportunities. That's called an advertising, marketing or PR agency. Not a record company. its's really only a record company if they make records (hard product) with selling the fame (just a thought #ItsABusiness...
When an artist puts out a new release, they have a small window of opportunity, why because everyday there are over 1500 single releases (and that’s at the top…) that are competing for the iTunes top 100 slots. That means 1400 song don’t make it that day, so you can see why it can be a little competitive. So it can be almost anything that either helps or distracts in that that process. You want to be on the helped side of the column as an artist.
Licensing groups have created licensing blocks on music sites as a so called block for unwanted downloading but what these groups don’t understand is in the music industry marketing that’s called seeding (a process where you plant 1000 situations to drive 10,000 influences or leads to sales). When projects are not seeded then projects fail because fans and djs want the product 1st (no they won’t buy it because influencers know that they drive demand and they will just go “f*ck that artist” and move to the next song). With 1500 songs supply is on the influencer’s side (djs and fans). Now notice I said the influencers will go “f*ck the artist”. Not “f*ck the licensing group” and that where the problem exist. Most licensing groups don’t care if someone goes “f*ck the artist” because usually whatever they are silently backing is not on that itunes top 1500 because they stupidly believe that they are all powerful and can control demand. You know who controls demand? Djs and early innovator fans control demand online and when you block them, the artist loses support from those early influencers.
I watched as professional fans (who don’t sing write or finance music projects) and licensing groups destroy Iggy Azalea’s career by doing licensing blocks on youtube to her fans so that they can’t do covers or remixes and to make it worse create a budget (to charge the artist) to put up fake songs to discourage influencer support in the name of slowing down the free download leakage (this by far was the dumbest shit I have seen in the music industry in years). The only thing this strategy does is drive the influencers somewhere else. The professional STANS (obsessed fans looking for a budget) could care less that they are impeding the organic growth of an artist by this dumb strategy and then get bitter when the buying public doesn’t support their backed project (why because they didn’t want it. It’s just $1.29, the price of a McDouble…). Between these PROFESSIONAL STANS and licensing groups, they are gonna destroy the music business (and they are why the sales have declined). Man it’s gotta stop
1st off the folks who download for free are quite resourceful and if you put up one block they’ll create another avenue to get the music (and the labels know this..). So the only thing that happens is that 1st contact Djs and fans hold it against the artist and don’t support them on future projects and at the end their careers fail (and the licensing groups and PROFESSIONAL STANS go on to try to extort their next target). The funny new thing I hear marketers tell indies is that sales don’t matter (when in business did sales never matter? They don’t matter because you don’t know how to create them…). You can’t create demand, you can only react to it because consumers actually spending are the actual sales driver and if someone truly bought it, then that is a demand indicator. In the music business it “DEMAND AND SUPPLY” not “supply and demand”. These music site takedowns destroy the flames of influencer 1st contact demand and whether the licensing groups and PROFESSIOANAL know (or care) doesn’t matter. It drives away 1st contact influencer support and that can be deadly in the battle of the daily iTunes 1500 for a new artist project.
Man there has been no artist in HipHop that has been able to speak to folks souls like DMX (it’s like he’s really a minister…), but there is also no artist in HipHop whose actions (at times…) are so contrary to his words (it’s like he’s 2 different dudes... #FRFR). DMX no doubt is a talent no matter what his actions are in the media. No one can debate that.
Why is one of HipHop’s most talented veterans so tortured that at times it seems like he himself makes decisions that put him on a path of self destruction (does he have The Ministry Of Visual?) Is it his pathology? Have his life experience (the very essence of his wisdom and art…) created an unconscious self destruct mode that he is unaware of. I mean DMX’s life words are so profound that at times words he have said have advice been life changing for some of his fans (“Do as I say, watch what I do…”). This dude at times has the voice of a prophet that is supposed to guide lost souls into the light. Is his soul at conflict with the very nature of HipHop as a genre (Hmmm…)?
All I know is that (as a fan…) at times this dude’s words have guided me back to the path of a better choice (“I’ve slipped, fallen and can’t get up…”). Maybe someday (and I hope soon…), his wisdom will be bigger than his demons. But who knows, he is right, “how you gonna see em if you’re living in the fog…”
Remember, “there’s nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
Hip Hop is not just a communications culture, it also a definition of a culture. Are these the children of hip hop? Is this what Grand Master Flash meant when he said “It’s like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder…?” Did The Ghetto Boys mean this when they said “I think my minds playing tricks on me…?” Were these the children Slick Rick was speaking of in his classic ‘A CHILDRENS STORY'? Are these the kids (or hiphop’s grandchildren…?).
Hip Hop started out as party music and as others wanted to be invited to the party, they started redefining hiphop for their own use to define themselves in hiphop’s eyes. The militants wanted it to be activist music. The players wanted it to be players music. The dj’s wanted it to be dj music and the lyricist wanted it to be about the bars. HipHop as a parent did its best to nuture these children and then theses children had a child… Trap Music (and Trap music grew up hanging out with his cousin gang music, who you didn’t see that much in the hood because at time he was away at one of those facilities #FamilySecrets…).
The real of it is that music for all generations becomes defining moments for that generation in memories and moments and the music is the soundtrack. Is this picture the defining photo of this hiphop generation? Is this their portrait and is the music responsible for this or the labels (film at 11…).
One thing we know for sure is that one day someone will revisit this picture and they will either say “wow that’s how we looked?” or “Wow that’s how we looked…” It’s going to be interesting to hear which one will be the statement when that time comes…
“There’s nothing wrong with the music business that a good song can’t cure…”
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