• T.I.’s “Paper Trail” remained at #1 on The Billboard 200, even with 69% decline in sales from last week. Other urban albums at the top of the Billboard 200 include Jennifer Hudson’s self-titled debut (#4) and Ne-Yo’s “Year of the Gentleman” (#8). Robin Thicke’s “Something Else”, “The Carter III” by Lil’ Wayne, Jazmine Sullivan’s “Fearless” and Young Jeezy’s “The Recession” fill ranked in the consecutive 12-15 spots. (Billboard.biz)
• Eminem is back!  After three years out of the public eye, Eminem is set to release “Relapse”.  The rapper made the announcement on his satellite radio show during an “on-air” album release party. No release date has been set yet, though talks of a winter date are floating around. (The Guardian)
• President Bush signed an Anti-Piracy bill, creating harsher penalties at the federal level for pirating music and movies. (Billboard.biz)
• Facebook is reportedly looking to rival MySpace Music with a music offering.  They are reportedly in talks with services such as Rhapsody, Imeem, iLike, and Lala. The social network was previously in talks with record lablels, but appears to be exploring outsourcing to these services. (New York Post)
• The Grammy’s are doing an hour-long nomination concert/tv special this year. (Billboard.biz)
• MySpace has created an ad service for bands called MyAds.  The program allows artists to purchase adspace on the site and choose the target audience the ad is shown to. (Billboard.biz)
• Reverbnation has added digital distribution to its array of services and products. Available for a flat fee of $34.95, the service puts artists’ music in 10 stores (including iTunes (US and some foreign countries), Amazon, Rhapsody, and Napster.  Artists keep all of the profits and the service seems to be a direct competitor to Tunecore. (Reverbnation)

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.

Source: MaxLowe.NET

Sitting down to write those first mind-racking band descriptions and introductions on your profile can be very hard. It involves a great deal of thinking, planning, and usually a lot of collaboration with the rest of the band, your friends and family members for ideas and the “right” thing to say. But, rather than worry excessively about what you want to say, you should consider what people want to read about your band.

New Fans and Innate Curiosity

When a new fan visits your site, they likely have three questions in mind:

• What kind of music do you play?
• What are you and the other band-members like?
• How does this affect me?

MySpace provides plenty of space and prompts for you to provide information about what kind of music you play and what kind of band you are. You can upload tracks for them to listen to, list your major influences, and create a series of mini-profiles with information about your band’s members. However, the third question is one of the most important and must be addressed carefully in the descriptions you write.

You might notice that many bands write a very long, involved profile discussing who they are, where they came from and what they see in their music. Other bands simply post a concert calendar and a short bio of 200 words. While a profile that is too long will simply bore readers, one that is too short does not address the question of “how it affects them.”

Continue Reading

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.

My Project’s Blog: http://uncultured.com
My Project’s Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/uncultured/
More YouTube Videos: http://youtube.com/UnculturedProject

From LatinoHiphop.Org

DIY or Do-It-Yourself is an artistic movement that transcends genres and mediums, which has become a state of mind increasingly adopted by creative types from around the world. The DIY acronym was first used by Punk Bands in the late 70’s, which out of the necessity to overcome a music industry that would not support their counter-culture began to organize themselves, creating their own record companies, concerts, and print media. This became known as the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethic. Now, nearly three decades later the DIY attitude has grown stronger than ever, embracing all forms of creative expression, in particular music, film and books.

A great resource for DIY information is the DIY Reporter which holds yearly DIY Conventions and Festivals around the nation.

How Do I ‘DIY’

1) Create a product to sell.
In our society, money is necessary for survival therefore artists need to find ways to generate income. Ideally, the first step in this process would be for artists to set up a legal entity (a company) to house their intellectual property. In order to reap the full protection and tax benefits of a company it is advisable to create a Corporation (Inc.) or Limited Liability Company (LLC). There are many online resources that will walk you through each step of this process and allow you to create your company without ever leaving your internet connection, my favorite being the Company Corporation. Next, your product needs to be prepared for sale. The creation of music whether it’s song writing, production or engineering is a very personal process and should be left to the discretion of the artist. I personally do a lot of my own recording on Logic Pro and for those based in D.C. I highly recommend the engineering of DJ Boom at Listen Vision. The presentation of your album should not be taken lightly, it is the one factor that can immediately let people know that you are serious, and even without ever having previously heard your music may entice someone to purchase it. A great resource for CD replication is Disc Makers, they will provide a top of the line, ready for retail album at reasonable rates in two weeks, start to finish.

2) Somewhere to sell your product.
Now that you have something to sell, you need somewhere to sell it. You will without a doubt sell your products at live performances but it is very necessary to create an online presence for yourself so people from all over the world can learn about you and yes, purchase your product. CDBaby was the first and is still the best at providing an online store. They give artists a place to sell their music online and still return 91% of the profits to the artist, they will sell your album and also help you place it on digital download sites like iTunes and Rhapsody. I also highly recommend that you create your own website. The process of creating your own website is three part; 1) purchasing a domain name 2) hosting the website 3) finding a design (template) that you manage or having someone design your website. GoDaddy is an excellent company for the first step of researching available domain names and purchasing and managing your address through them. The best company that I have found for hosting and allowing you to manage your own flash website without needing to have any knowledge of web design is Dynamod, I highly recommend their service.

3) Let the public know about your product.
In order for people to listen (and purchase) your music they need to know about it. Marketing, promotions and publicity are the cornerstone (along with hard work) of any successful business, without it, even the greatest song in the world would be lost to obscurity. There are many mediums through which you can let the world know about you, but there are three free resources that are great for promotions that I would like to refer you to; MySpace, YouTube and Email Lists. The popularity of Myspace has made it phenomenal for networking and making your music, shows and ideas available to a community of people that are highly receptive. YouTube is also an online community based site, which allows its users to upload short videos, giving it’s users a virtual Television Channel through which they can promote their music. Email lists take more work to gather but once people sign up for you list, whether through your website or in person at a show or networking event, you have a direct line to them which can be a powerful tool in promoting your performances and to yes, purchase your product. There are a few pay services, Vertical Response and Constant Contact in particular, which allow you to create custom newsletters to reach your mailing list. These services can be very helpful in understanding your fans because not only do they give your mailings a professional look but they also have functions that allow you to track how many people actually open and read your email/newsletter.

The ‘DIY’ Challenge

Artists will need to ask themselves the difficult and introspective question of what it is that they are truly searching for through their artistic expression, to make a living off of it, to be famous, a little of both?

Hip-hop artists have the blessing of being part of a technological revolution, which enables them to become self-reliant, in a way that has never been seen at any other point in history. Life during this revolutionary era forces us to ask ourselves deeper questions, in relation to our motives and the intentions of our art. In the past the only avenue for multi-media entertainment was through major companies that controlled the distribution channels, but today there are many alternatives to this. When focusing on Hip-hop music and the surrounding business, it becomes necessary to ask oneself, what is it that I am trying to accomplish and at what cost. The reason that this is necessary is because it is more difficult if not nearly impossible to get where you are going, if you do not know where that is. Many Hip-hop artists want to get signed to a major label, others want to create their own label, what do these things mean?

The DIY mentality does not stand opposed to any path, instead it affirms that ‘no matter what path you choose or stumble upon, the only person responsible at the end of the day is you’. The DIY ethic is a paradigm shift in the way we view ourselves and our role in our own careers. It is both empowering and intoxicating. I ask that you reflect on how you can use some of the resources that I have mentioned in this blog for your career, but first you must answer the personal question of what it is that you want out of your career.

Wishing you continued success!

Cristopolis Dieguez
latinohiphop.org
cristopolis.com
202.730.5012

Q&A: Rapper on Collaborating With Zune and Hip-Hop’s Changing Attitude Toward Brand Partnerships

By Charlie Moran

While the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten hawks butter and Usher designs men’s lingerie, there’s at least one successful artist practicing some rather stringent brand discipline.

Common: ‘Microsoft is classy, it’s a timeless brand, and it means something to the world.’

In his 20 years in hip-hop, Common has issued seven albums and partnered with even less advertisers, but, in anticipation of his latest release, “Universal Mind Control,” due this December, the Grammy-winning rapper (born Lonnie Rashied Lynn) decided to work with Microsoft — a decision, he says, he didn’t take lightly. And judging from the number of platforms the partnerships spans, neither did Microsoft. The software giant and music-hardware upstart is sponsoring his current tour with N.E.R.D., and backstage footage from a gig in Seattle is being used for a new artist video-podcast series called “The Green Room,” available exclusively on Zune’s newly revamped desktop software. Common and the Zune team also have a T-shirt line in the works, and the iPod challenger even got a brief cameo in the video for Common’s latest single. The Chicago native took a moment away from the tour bus to speak with Ad Age about how hip-hop musicians and marketers have come together, and why he’s fine with integrating an MP3 player into his new Hype Williams-directed music video.

M&V: I saw the video for “Universal Mind Control,” and I almost missed the Zune that appeared in the first five seconds.
Common: The video, or any visual, is very important to me, and for me to be open to showing a product in my video means a lot, because it’s a representation of me. With anything I associate myself with, I think, “Is it gonna help or bring me down?” The Zune is something that I’ve been confident about associating myself with, because I think it’s got a fly presentation to it. It is truly about music lovers, for me.

M&V: What persuaded you to work with Microsoft?
Common: Their tradition. … I know that Microsoft has been around for 20 years, they established themselves in the mid-’80s, and since then they’ve progressed. Microsoft is classy, it’s a timeless brand, and it means something to the world, internationally, and I felt like that’s the direction of what I want Common to be, to be honest. I want to be timeless, I want to be international, and those are the things I feel like I’m working toward now. I was able to team up with them for some of those reasons. Like I said, I liked creatively where they wanted to go. Actually Microsoft and I are about to do a line of T-shirts coming out in November. I’m designing them.

M&V: Do you feel like Microsoft has similar goals to you?
Common: Yeah, definitely. Because I listen to what they want, and they want to touch down with the community and they want to touch the world. And they also obviously want to hit certain audiences that are hip and cool. So yeah, we’ve got certainly have similar goals. And Bill Gates is a philanthropist and does good things in the world. There’s nothing wrong with making money, but you definitely want to be able to give back, and I see the head of their company giving back, so from that point right there, the head is giving back to the people, so that automatically can tie him in with me and make him alright with me and make the company alright with me.

M&V: You’ve been rapping now for a couple decades. How do you think the hip-hip community’s attitude toward brand partnerships has changed since you started?
Common: Before, it used to be, “Oh man, you don’t mess with corporations.” I mean, you know corporations; they just represented the evils of America at a certain point. They represented capitalism and the exploitation of a lot of people. And hip-hop is so rooted in culture that it’s based on a love for art, and art and corporations didn’t seem like they mixed, but I think the Sprite commercials [from the mid-'90s] are what started turning it around for a lot of people. They’d go out and get Grand Puba, CL Smooth, Afrika Bambaataa. I remember I knew one of the guys who used to write those commercials, and he was a pure hip-hop dude. I think more hip-hop artists became open with more people in corporations when the corporations really started to understand the music and respected the artists. So corporations could go out and get [KRS-One], and not just get the popular person, the person of the day.

M&V: As in people who have deeper connections with fans.
Common: A deep connection and a true following.

M&V: So whose attitudes have changed more: rappers or corporations?
Common: I think the rappers’ attitudes changed because the corporations, some of them really had a respect for true artists and they knew what they were talking about and they presented things that made sense for the artist. And also artists realized that we have to make a living too, and if it’s something that’s gonna go well with what I do, then why not do it, ’cause these corporations are making money off it. If I mention something in a rap, they’re making money off it anyway, so why shouldn’t I get a piece of it?

For more on the wild and wooly world of music-branding, licensing and partnerships, check out Ad Age’s Songs for Soap blog.

From The Music Snob:

For some great tips on marketing your music online, we recently turned to Eric Hebert, CEO of Evolvor Media. His company works with bands and labels to roll out successful web marketing campaigns. Here are his thoughts…

In your opinion, what are the essential social networking sites that bands MUST be on these days?

There are a ton of networks out there, and with new ones coming out every day it seems, the task of setting up all these profiles can be time consuming. Obviously MySpace and Facebook are no-brainers, they’re going to be the ones you use the most. If you’re in the rock genre, Purevolume and GarageBand are must haves. Virb is becoming very popular because of its clean but customizable options. You’ll have to get on YouTube for videos and Flickr for photos, they’re part of the plan as well. You’ll also need to make traction on the big three streaming networks - Last.fm, iLike, and Imeem. Saving the best for last, Reverbnation offers the best tools out of any of these networks to help promote their music and nurture their fanbase.

How can an independent artist use MySpace effectively to develop a fan community? Is that even possible anymore?

MySpace is just a tool in your toolbox. It has to be part of a bigger plan. You’ll use it to gain fans and communicate with them, but ultimately you’ll want to have your own website, your own blog, your own contact list. Use MySpace and the other networks to interact and bring them to your website. Do you own the contact list you have through MySpace? You want to build your communnity and own the asset.

What are some of the most exciting music marketing tools you’ve seen lately?

I mentioned Reverbnation, they are offering fantastic tools, mostly for free. They have the best streaming music widgets out there, the sound quality is far superior to MySpace’s player. The have a full list management system that also coordinates your street team. I used to pay money for a similar system that was harder to use! Full analytics for everything as well, all in very nice charts and graphs. Their Gig Finder helps you book shows with contact information available right there. Soon they’re going to be rolling out some awesome new options, you really need to check them out.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities online for artists to get heard?

That’s a tough question. The “opportunity” is the website. If someone land’s on your site, how soon can they hear one of your songs? Do you have your album streaming? Are there free downloads? That’s the opportunity. Many bands screw this one up. They force you to buy an album first or make it difficult to just hear a song. The sooner someone can hear something the faster they’ll become your fan and hopefully buy the album, see the show, etc. I could answer this question ten different ways, but being smart about how you present your music is just clutch.

Do you think unknown artists should give away music for free?

Abso-freaking-lutely. Artists that don’t want to give some music away for free are in denial. I’ve found that if you give a song away, just give them a file, you’re halfway there. People love free stuff and will take anything that’s free. If they like it, then they’ll want more - and that’s when you sell the album. You give away the “single” for free. Then maybe you give another song away for free, but this time you ask for their email so you can add them to your list. If they like you after one song, they’ll LOVE you after two. I’m seeing bands give away entire albums, and I think that’s great too. The album isn’t the only revenue model anyway, and any band that wants to become financially successful should have alternative models - touring, merchandising, sponsorships, and fan club revenue. Get them to hear the music and you have a chance to sell all of those things as well.

Continue reading…

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

Move over MySpace music. Google’s YouTube is adding ecommerce in an effort to monetize the site’s huge traffic beyond advertising, the company announced yesterday. Initial partners include Amazon MP3 and iTunes who will offer music and game downloads.

The YouTube eCommerce Platform will be rolled out on a larger scale over the coming months to include partners in music, film, TV, and publishing selling alongside related videos. Retail links..