Almost all rappers I speak with focus on cd sales as the primary way they will generate income in the future. I think this is a mistake because the internet and mp3 enabled devices have made buying a cd obsolete.
If we treat P2P file sharing networks as a business and compared P2P to the biggest music retailers - WalMart, Amazon, and iTunes - P2P wins hands down in the shear amount of music they distribute. This tells us that people want to to get their music immediately and for free.
But how do we feed ourselves if we give away our music? What we must realize is that making our music easily accessible is a tactic to grab people’s attention. Once we get their attention, tell them our story, and engage them in on going two-way communication we will greatly increase the amount of ticket sales and merchandise sales. And we will then open up new worlds of sync rights (podcasts, video games, tv, movies, ect.). After that new revenue streams will emerge that we had never considered.
It’s only a matter of time before we see very successful artists emerge upon this new shift of paradigm.
Here are three keys to success I see in the new future of the hip hop music business:
Make your music as easily accessible as possible. This means breaking down the barriers imposed by the current Recording Industry. Use new technologies like reverbnation, imeem, myxer, hypemachine, and ccmixter. Pay special attention to any website that allows users to download, rate, and comment on your music.
Tell your story. The story you tell will keep a fan’s attention. Put your music in context. Regularly post videos about yourself and fine tune the story about what you stand for and why. Here are some great questions to ask yourself when building your story.
Build long-lasting relationships through conversation. Allow your fans to participate in what you do. Enable people to make their own remixes and mash-ups of your music. Lead your followers. This is how you build a movement. Technologies like twitter, facebook, and blogger are great communication tools.
When bands have momentum there is a buzz and an intangible, yet significant, energy around them. It can be seen when they play, it can be felt from their recordings and it is usually the factor that sets them apart from the pack.
I think there are 2 kinds of momentum(s) for bands: Outer and Inner
Outer momentum is what people can see:
New shows to play
New music to release
New merch to sell
New tangible “real” things
Inner momentum is a different beast.
Inner momentum is essentially a battle for your mind and your heart…. that makes it more difficult to understand and quantify. Even the attempt to define inner momentum on a broader scale is quite ludicrous, because everyone will define inner momentum on there own terms.
Suffice it to say that when you have inner momentum you know it. You feel your band is going places and growing as a musical entity.
When you don’t have that momentum you know that things are slowing down. Arguably the best definition of inner momentum is the lack of it. Things are not moving for you. The music, or the band, or the live show, or whatever, is stagnant and will not get better unless you take back your heart and your mind first.
So here are some of my personal tips for keeping and sustaining your bands inner momentum:
Appreciate what you already have. Bands are typically egotistical. They love their own music and are often puzzled why the Killers are bigger then them. But instead of looking at the glass half empty, flip that script. Look at all that you already have.
Last week Evan Roth was contacted to make a video for a Kanye West produced Jay-Z song from the new for film about B.I.G. as well as (RED)WIRE and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS in Africa. The finished product, which debuted just days later, avoids all the usual rap video cliches with striking resulst. “I’ve been turning down client requests to use Typographic Illustration for 5 years in hopes that one day the phone would ring ans it would be Hova,” says Roth. “I’m pretty sure that this is the first rap video to end with a download source code link.”
HE’S MORE LIKELY TO BUY YOUR CD - Barack Obama has eclectic musical tastes. He already has “everything from Howlin’ Wolf to Yo-Yo Ma to Sheryl Crow… (and) probably 30 Dylan songs” on his iPod. Why not you?
AMERICA WILL BE COOL AGAIN - Admit it. You’ve got worldwide ambitions and it hasn’t helped that being American has become about as hip as being Donnie & Marie. Obama’s already drawn a crowd in Germany bigger than Coachella and Bonnaroo combined.
TAXES - This is Music 2.0 and you are going to make a lot less than $250K a year. You’ll pay less taxes under Obama.
HEALTH CARE - You can’t stay on your parent’s health care plan forever. You’re self-employed now and there’s a lot better chance that Obama’s going to help you get coverage than McCain.
Social networking site Facebook’s founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg plans to enter the digital-music business in the wake of the launch of News Corp’s MySpace Music last month, the New York Post said.
Zuckerberg is talking to a number of song-streaming services and music community sites, including Rhapsody.com, iMeem.com, iLike.com and Lala.com about an outsourcing deal, the Post reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.
Facebook executives have been busy meeting major record companies about the strategy, the paper said on its website.
The Post quoted sources saying that unlike MySpace, which traded equity in its music venture in exchange for licences to stream ad-supported songs, Facebook doesn’t want to secure licences to distribute music, or build a proprietary service from scratch.
Sources further cautioned that nothing was imminent, and Facebook may ultimately walk away from the plan altogether, the paper reported.
My name is Shawn and on September 14 2006, I found my answer on how to make the world a better place. It’s because of that answer that I am now in Bangladesh.
On September 14th, 2006, the University of Notre Dame (of which I was a student studying for my Masters in Sociology) canceled all of its classes so that students could learn about an important issue: the problem of global health and third world poverty. One of the people who came to speak to us was Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book “The End of Poverty”).
Dr. Jeffrey Sachs believes that extreme poverty can be eliminated in our lifetime. The power of this message inspired me to put school on hold so that I could do my part and hopefully inspire others along the way. I have come to Bangladesh to try and help the poorest of the poor. I am sharing this experience with the world through the power of YouTube.
I know that my little “uncultured” project is a drop in the bucket. But hopefully, the more people that be inspired to believe we can end poverty in our lifetime - the closer we can get to that goal.
This is just a montage of what I did in my first five months. Please check the other videos for more of what I have been able to do.
Aid That I Gave In This Video Include:
- 1 Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Mosquito Net Donated by Vestergaard-Frandsen
- 2 Cases of Bottled Water to Residents of a Flood Affected Region
- A nutritional meal (including beef as a source of protein) for a large group of poor school children
- 1 windup flashlight given to a young student in the rural village who cannot afford electricity
- 50 Locally Made and Locally Purchased Mosquito Nets
I plan on making more videos explaining each aid operation in more detail in the future.
If you’re the creative type, you might want to take a look at this opportunity to pal around with Russell Simmons and participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week USA.
CALLING ALL FILMMAKERS, MUSIC ARTISTS AND FASHION DESIGNERS!
Global Entrepreneurship Week USA is sponsoring a creative entrepreneurship competition to find the next big names in film, music, and fashion. Win $5,000 and the opportunity of a lifetime to be the next entrepreneurial star in the Race to BE.!
When you are a starting rap hip hop artist or music producer getting the breakthrough you have been waiting for can take a lot of work and talent shows or you might just get it from the first try if you enter the right music competition.
Talent is the biggest part of the equation, but it is just not enough. If you are the best of all rap hip hop artists looking for a shot, the sad truth is you might not get a chance before the others if you do not know where to look for your shot. It is not enough to enter one talent show after another and hope to get your break. You have to enter the talent competitions that assure you a record deal with one of the best labels and offers you a cash prize as well. If you know you are good, then you know it is only a matter of time before you will get to audition for Diddy or important record labels, but why wait, when you can win only show your hip hop video and get the rap hip hop record deal that can get you to stardom.
A talent competition that offers you this opportunity must not be passed, especially when it is very easy to enter it. You just have to post your video and the celebrity judges will select the most impressive videos from the multitude of hip hop videos posted. the ones that have impressed them. From there on, you can only do your thing and become one of the best rap hip hop artists. Posting your video is the first step to that record deal you want. It is also only the first step of the music competition, but from there on your chances are far greater than those of all of the other rap hip hop artists looking for a shot.
Entering such talent competitions also gives you the chance to be seen by many important people in the music business and even if your hip hop videos are not winners in the end, you might still be approached by others that appreciated your talent. So, in the end you might still be a winner even if you lose. If of all those hip hop videos posted yours is selected for the big competition, you should also consider getting a manager. Even if you are not the winner of the cash prize and record deal, in which case you should definitely get a manager, you should still consider this option, for many other important music business people have seen your work. You will get the chance to meet music producers and in the end even get an album.
The rap hip hop world is tough and you might need more than one talent competition to start your career, but sometimes it is as important to put yourself out there as it is to win the competition. One good way of doing that is to show your hip hop videos so everybody can see them. If you get selected and go to phase two of the show and in the end get to win a record deal and money, then you got your shot; if not, then you are at least out there and your dream will come true eventually.
For more resources about Rap hip hop or especially about hip hop videos please review this weblink http://www.hiphopworld.net
Each week we’ll be showing some love to a few teen (and tween) up-and-coming musical artists! We’ll let you know what song of theirs caught our attention, and why we chose to feature them for Young Superstars Spotlight!
