From Hype Bot:

PASTOR CROSSES THE LINE
From Preaching the Gospel to Singing the Rhythm & Blues

New York, NY 2008 – What is your conception about a pastor/preacher singing Rhythm & Blues, or music of any other genre other than Gospel? Does it challenge your religious beliefs? Can a pastor/preacher do them both, or is it straddling the fence to do so? Have you ever even been confronted with the opportunity to search your soul for an answer to these questions? Well it seems as though the time has very well come, to do so, as Kenton Rogers, who is an ordained and well known pastor, crosses the line. Certainly, he is stirring up debate and already stimulating heated conversations amongst the church, and unchurched, with his R&B singles “Confession of a Preacha Man” and “Ridin’ High” from his forthcoming and premiere Urban/R&B project “Reality Check…only GOD can judge me.” While the naysayers hold the belief that preaching the gospel and singing the blues somehow just don’t mix and shouldn’t be mixed, there seems to be an even greater wind of support backing this free and unchained (independent) recording artist.

“God’s Son Of Soul” Kenton Rogers is geared up to kick-off his “Heart 2 Heart Connections Radio Tour” on Monday, December 15, 2008 on The Producers Corner “Platinum Morning Show” hosted by The Platinum Girl “Flo” on BlogTalkRadio.com at 8am ET. The tour will grant to radio hosts around the world, the opportunity of access to an upfront and personal interview with Kenton, who is one of the most progressive and inspiring personalities of this millennium. Though he has been referred to as one of the world’s best kept secrets, by far, he is certainly not a newcomer to the industry and entertainment business. However, if you thought you were acquainted with him, think again, this is a new and more matured Kenton, who is more certain than ever about his convictions and purpose in life.

If you are interested in having Kenton Rogers on your radio show or hosting him to perform at your event, please contact us. We would be honored to receive your invitation.

Contact Information
BTG Management
Patricia Norman
717.903.0228
Email: BTGManagement@aol.com
Website: www.kentonrogers.com
URL: www.myspace.com/kentonrogersmusic

From innerrhythm:

I had a request recently on how to write a music business plan. Here’s the format I recommend my clients to follow. Call it a template. A music business plan gives you a sense of leadership, strategy and direction and I discussed it briefly in my free e-book, How To Design A Winning And Profitable Music Business.

If you’re still not convinced on the importance of writing a music business plan for your career, here’s a very simple analogy: If I were to ask you to come to my home in London, I’d tell you the address and point you to Google Maps to get your directions from where you’re starting out. If you didn’t have those directions and my address, it’d be very difficult to get here without the map. Your business plan acts in the same way for your music career.

Whether you are a band, solo artist, songwriter, instrumentalist, producer, manager or any other music industry individual, you need a plan to help you achieve your goals and be fulfilled. The template below will help you create one. In helping to make this template real, I’m going to use a fictitious R&B/soul artist called Tina.

Music business plans can be created in many ways, but there are four core components that I like to advise people to write up: Operations (the activities you do in your music business), Marketing (how you’ll get those activities out to more people), Financials (how you’ll spend and make money) and Action (your time-line for getting things done).

Covering these four sections creates a very simple and excellent plan for your business. If you are looking to create a business plan that will help seek investment in your music business, you may need to go to more detail like analyzing your market, understanding your infrastructure, etc, but that is not the purpose of this article.

Read rest of the article…

YouTube is broadcast its first major live event this Saturday featuring a number of music and video stars that are popular on the site. Musicians like Kate Perry (OK, we’re using the term musician loosely), Akon, Joe Satriani and Wil.i.am were joined by internet video phenoms like the Mythbusters. Watch it at YouTube Live.

Could user generated live video like the increasingly popular Ustream be next?

From: Music Marketing [dot] com

When I talk about developing a relationship with fans using video, this is what I’m talking about…

This is Ronald Jenkees. He’s based in Kentucky.  In my opinion, his videos are some of the most authentic I’ve seen from any musician.

And that seems to be working well for him…

As of this post, is has over 70,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel with 69 videos which have been viewed as many as 3,300,000 each.

Not bad for a guy playing music in his bedroom…

Anybody who thinks that success in music is “all about the music” needs to read this.

In 2006, Ronald Jenkees started a YouTube channel and put up videos of himself playing keyboards.  Pretty soon, people started watching, and telling their friends, and buying his self-released album.

There’s nothing really special about the production quality of his videos…  They’re pretty basic, just like anything else you can see thousands of times from everybody and his brother, who thinks they have something to say via the computers in their bedrooms.

But the authenticity of the videos, as well as the music, is something you don’t see often.  “Video quality” is more than just a sharp picture, you know.

An example…

When I talk about developing a relationship with fans using video, this is what I’m talking about.  Every musician using video should strive to do something like Ronald Jenkees is doing.

Read more….

THROW SOME D’S ON THAT SHOW

Rich City Entertainment

 

 Check Tha Swag On Me: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Get It Crackin': Play Now | Play in Popup

Download: Check Tha Swag On Me

Download: Get It Crackin’

Los Angeles Copyright Group Has Famous Artists Reveal The Ups And Downs Of Owning Their Own Labels.

By Moses Avalon

It’s refreshing to hear success stories from long-in-the-tooth artists when mostly they tend to complain about the business stroking them over. November’s California Copyright Conference assembled famous artists who run their own labels to see if they could teach other members of LA’s publishing community a thing or two.

Steve Vai who played with Frank Zappa, Whitesnake and David Lee Roth, was among them and lead off with a sobering comment; even despite his huge fame and track record, “Every label passed on my solo work. The few offers I got really sucked. So– it cost $12 to start my own label. I was making $7 for every CD I sold myself. I sold thousands, made a [Pressing and Distribution] deal with Sony and now Sony has to pay me $7 for every CD they sell.”

Not all panelists were recording artists themselves but rather artists of commerce. Fred Croshal of Croshal Entertainment Group, in Agoura Hills, California, has positioned himself as sort of a “go to guy” for many heritage acts exiting their major label deals. He has set up successful labels for Jackson Browne, Sinead OConnor, Blind Mellon and Collective Soul. “The amount of artists that are seeking me out is at a tipping point.  One major offered to buy our company and I said no thank you.” He thinks major label deals are a trap and pointed out a huge pit fall. “Having an artist go into limbo is the worst thing the label can do to them. The labels never tell you when they stop spending money on you.”

As economics require thrifty solutions to big box ideas, self run labels are becoming more and more common. But the down side is that although they can be more profitable on a unit sales basis than a major label release, you rarely get the same kind of exposure or platform.

Jonatha Brooke formally of the 80s group, The Story, added, “You have to reconcile what success means. You may not ever sell a million so you have to adjust your expectations. On all four records I have on [my major] there was regime change at each one’s release.” Anyone who has ever been on a deal with a large company knows that this can spell death to a project. “So I decided that I could do this myself.” She started Mad Dog Records and sold over 100,000 copies of her second record which was more than she sold of all four major label titles.

MARKETING YOURSELF

One audience member asked the panel what were the most effective marketing strategies and how much they spend. Their answers were almost identical: “the internet,” “the internet” and—“the internet.” Social networks, blogs and the like. Other suggestions were, bundle for value: give away live tickets with a CD; exclusives with retail outlets, and Vai’s comment, “Knowing your audience.”

How much moola does it take? Croshal seemed to be the only one comfortable answering this one, “$100,000. We break even at 25 thousand units.”

With majors looking for new ways to make money we may see this tail wagging the dog scenario more and more.

To see the real economics of this discussion, go to the Moses Avalon Royalty Calculator (MARC). You can plug in the numbers for any record deal and see who much you’ll make and where the break even point is. Click on “Hints” to learn how to set up the MARC for a self-released project. IT’S FREE.

Camille

Song: “Best Friend”

Camille sings like an angel and with emotion that isn’t very common in today’s music. Her song “Best Friend” pulled me in not only because of its deep lyrics, but Camille’s voice compliments the music extremely well! She is currently working on more songs, performing in some of California’s most popular venues, and is featured in a commercial for VH1’s Save the Music.

http://www.myspace.com/camillemusiclive

http://camillele.com/

Kid Dork

Song: “Check Me Out” feat. Yng Robb

Kid Dork is creative, entertaining and he brings back the fun to hip hop music! “Check Me Out” feat. Yng Robb is memorable, captivating, and sure to be a hit! He and Yng Robb mesh well together. Kid Dork is currently working on his mixtape Space Kidz Volume 1.

http://www.myspace.com/iamkiddork