Far worse is the absence of African Americans in the technology and live concert spaces. Let me pick on the Grammys for example. And I think that very often whoever is at the top of an organization sets the tone.
The reason that some labels embrace hip-hop is because whoever is at the top is a bean counter. They are an accountant. So they see the financial side of hip-hop for the label. So they embrace it much more hardily than one of the more cultural organizations or more so than a publication might embrace it. Yes, they see it as being super violent.
They see it….. We are losing a ton of rappers right now to a drug epidemic, to violence. Pop Smoke aka Bashar Barakah Jackson was just 20 when he was killed in an armed house robbery in his Hollywood Hills home on February 19 th , barely 18 months into a hip-hop career bursting with potential. Last March, Nipsey Hussle was shot dead at age In , Lil Peep, 21, died of an opioid overdose.
They know of these recent deaths, but also know the fates of such iconic rappers as Biggie Smalls and 2Pac because our information age never quits.
So you yourself have the challenge of staying relevant. Exactly, very much so. I noticed that this weekend in meeting with this year-old from Baltimore. It is really disheartening because if the two different generations would just embrace each other, they would save each other from banging their heads.
My generation is trying to stay relevant, and the younger generation is trying to educate themselves. Most successful artists have had bad deals when they started. Artists make mistakes no matter how sophisticated or knowledgeable they are. Hopefully, you can prevent artists from making a lot of mistakes or recognize their mistakes, and they can learn from them. A lot of decisions have to be made, especially at the inception of a career.
There was no middle ground. It is almost like my generation has been the oppressor. So back in the day, you would give up all your rights to Sony or Def Jam Recordings or whatever in order to get on. Not just a production company but an evil production company because they are not bringing anything to the table. They are not even bringing production to the table. What do you make of the methodology used by the majors to sign artists today?
Few music industry people want to get their hands dirty doing grassroots artist development. So many labels seek to sign acts following a couple of releases, and after checking them out on streaming and social media sites.
Social networking moves faster than word-of-mouth of the past. People just needed to look. An artist might have 10 million hits on YouTube, and they can neither sell their music via streaming nor sell tickets to their shows.
The industry wants stickability. You tell artists to make a business plan. What should new artists put into that plan? It is not something that they know because they are artists. So I will always explain that it is the who, what, where, and how of what they are going to build; and how they are going to build it; how they are going to get it out there; and most importantly, how the investor involved is going to get their money back.
Consumer choice keeps being revolutionized as music-based experiences increasingly become more effectively delivered in even more connected ways. So, in many cases, we are helping to build the technology. The fans embrace what the artists are using. Snapchat is known. At one point it was Facebook.
At another point it was Instagram. Then it was Snapchat. So it changes very, very quickly. The way I market music today is very different from the way that I was doing it this time last year.
Artists still have to learn to promote and market themselves. Do artists count too much on their social media? So many artists bypass industry conferences or music seminars. Yet, we are a relationship business. As much as they can rack up streaming and social media numbers, a direct one-on-one meeting in the bar at a music conference might change their life. I have this conversation with artists all of the time. You have to get out there like a politician and touch people, shake hands, kiss babies, take pictures with fat girls.
You just have to do that. They create it by building their relationships. They bring people one by one into their franchise. They get their music out there. They get people to discover it. Once they discover it they will do the most amazing things.
They will share it with their friends because music is just one of those things that people want to share. This is amazing. Artists have to take their priority and make it a priority for others in the business.
And you want them others to discover it. Where are you from? Oh, you are from Texas. What kind of music is popping in Texas?
Okay, I like that kind of rap too. Oh shit. Let me go and check out his music. The primary concern of most new artists is that they are so busy trying to live their lives while trying to be creative, trying to run a band, and overseeing bookings.
It is difficult melding the different worlds. You are about to launch a music business education website tentatively titled SlavesNoMore. We have a president who is pretty well a supreme racist. I have been recording interviews with different friends on different topics. I want it to be like the price that I would have paid for a magazine when I was coming up, and magazines were it.
I want artists to be able to afford it, but I also want to have accurate information. Not just from myself, but from people in the industry that do this for a living, and who are making money from doing this for a living. Not making money teaching something they are getting from other people.
Not that that is bad. I just have a different business model. I want it to come from people who are actually doing it. A truism today is the more information we get, the stupider we get. With the internet, there is so much misleading or misinformation about the music industry. Oh my God, you are going to have me grind an axe. The internet has created a monster. I thought that it would make everything better. And it has made everybody an authority. Much of what you do has been breaking down music industry information to very basic, easy-to-understand forms.
Creatives must understand that they must learn the business. If they are operating a small retail store they need to know the costs and lines of distribution of what they are selling.
The same thing in the music business. Yeah, absolutely. They are not. They are not at all. If it is not video…and I am going to take it a step further and tell you that a year and a half ago I started a video series to educate artists on my YouTube channels. I bought lights, and I bought a microphone, and I set everything up in a room in my house. I had books in the background. I had these big comfy red chairs. I worried about the aesthetics. I put on make-up.
I combed my hair. I made sure I looked great. And the reaction was nothing. Then one day I was in a hotel room, and the muse struck me.
With my iPhone, I recorded an episode, and that episode was 10 times more popular than anything I had shot in my glossy, squeaky clean, lovely studio in my home. And I realized that not only do people want information, but they want it in a very basic, down-to-earth and authentic-looking way. Artists are taught, hands on, how to build and run their own independent record labels and careers.
Videos can be found on a variety of topics and interests with topical information that can be applied to a career instantly. Subscribe and turn on notifications to never miss a new video. Rap-Resources sells lists that artists need to access people in the music industry by offering contact lists for radio, urban record labels, rap blogs and press and all genre music blogs , and music supervisors at film, TV, and Games.
There are also lists of entertainment lawyers, music publishing companies, and ad agencies. A not-for-profit artist advocacy organization for Rappers, Producers, and DJs. Rap Coalition was founded in March of to educate, support, and protect Rap artists, producers, and DJs.
Home Digital Marketing Agency. The bulk of artists in rap music are coming through her offices, and record labels seek out her opinion on trends, styles, and regions of talent explosion. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA with her little five pound chihuahua, Gangster, and her boyfriend Tony Guidry who weighs a bit more than five pounds. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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