New York, NY (May 30, 2008) – EMI chief Guy Hands released his quarterly letter to investors and the report was not all sunshine. While Hands reported growth on the publishing end, EMI’s admitted debt appears, according to analysis by NY Post’s Brian Garrity, “unsellable.” More insight from The Coolfer Blog:
Such a sale would result in three major music companies that would account for about 80% of all recorded music sales in the U.S. Economic efficiencies, yes, but this has got to be close to the point at which regulators become too uncomfortable with the concentration of market share. It would be bad for sales, too. Labels merge, bands dropped from contracts, fewer acts developed, fewer titles released, fewer units sold. Good for catalog sales, but at that rate the majors would be in jeopardy of becoming archivists rather than creators.
I might be delusional, but I think EMI is simply going through the initial trailblazing stages of being the first major to shed itself of the old business model. No one can say for sure what the right course is at this point, but they’re not looking to quit; they will work to right the ship with new and innovative strategies. I suppose the distressing thing is that there is little chatter about what those strategies might actually be, but this candid announcement could simply be part of it. The good thing about the digital space is that, assuming you can handle the technology, there is an unlimited field on which to create your vision.
Hands is no dummy, but moves like licensing their catalog to MediaAnywhere kiosks will only tide them over for so long; especially if those kiosks don’t catch fire. Overseas retailer HMV is banking that they do, however. They’re creating a whole new feel to their stores with download stations, free wi-fi, and I’d assume, a stage for live shows. Would you go and hang out at your nearest Virgin megastore? Or is this an opportunity for the Mom & Pop shop to reinvent itself?
New York, NY (May 30 , 2008) – Early this morning, a Long Island home belonging to 50 Cent and occupied by his ex-girlfriend and their son burned to the ground. All parties were rescued, treated and released, but 50’s ex, Shaniqua Tompkins, claims 50 had someone torch the house to prevent her from owning it as the two struggle to settle a bitter dispute over 50’s estate. From The Huffington Post:
…Investigators from the Suffolk County arson squad were called to the scene after Dix Hills Fire Chief Larry Feld deemed the blaze suspicious. The fire was reported at 4:59 a.m. and was extinguished about 45 minutes later, Feld said. The arson squad had finished its work at the scene six hours after the blaze.
He referred the case to the arson squad "because of the intensity of the fire, and also being that who belongs to the house."
Police said the victims included the rapper’s former girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins and two of her children, including a son fathered by 50 Cent named Marquise. Three other adults in the home weren’t immediately identified.
A passing off-duty police officer helped rescue the six people off an elevated deck in the home’s backyard, Feld said.
The home has been the subject of an intense feud between 50 and Tompkins.
Tompkins filed a lawsuit against 50 earlier this year claiming he had promised her a house more than a decade ago, but that since their breakup, he now wants to evict her and their 10-year-old son from the home.
Tompkins’ lawyer, Paul Catsandonis, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the dispute over the house had become "extremely, extremely contentious" in recent days. Although he declined to be specific, he said there was an "extremely dangerous incident" Monday in his Manhattan office while taking a deposition for the lawsuit.
50’s "gangster," but… would he put his own kid in jeopardy?
New York, NY (May 30, 2008) – As most of you know by now, uh, "disparaging comments" about mixtape DJ’s made by Lil Wayne to Foundation Magazine surfaced this week. Whether dude was just too high at the time or is seriously feeling himself to the point where he believes he can diss the people who built him (a point I think we can all agree on), it’s created a mess. Perhaps it was all done in anticipation of “Tha Carter III,” but sorry to rain on the parade, two weeks away is right now: his album is about to leak.
What Wayne said is inexplicable because in today’s day and age, the only real outlet for people to hear new music is via the mixtape circuit, and more specifically, the web. Everyone knows selling CD’s can no longer be counted on as your main source of income as an artist; he himself is eating from single/ringtone sales, his condom deal, various shows and events and whatever else he’s into – all due to buzz generated from his mixtapes. The free press he gets because of the mixtape DJ’s spinning his shit is what keeps him in the public eye!
Listen to the conversation as it happened below. If you want to hear the audio of Kay Slay and Foundation Mag’s B. Mack on Shade 45, click here. I feel I have to be somewhat objective in my opinions, so… being that you are all unsigned emcees who would kill for the kind of free promo Wayne gets… what are your thoughts on the situation?
New York, NY (May 30, 2008) – The dude Slug anointed to lead the next generation of underground emcees into the spotlight, I spotted this at Nahright. It’s basically a playlist of sorts that will allow you to get familiar with MURS’ catalog. Shit’s pretty dope, shout to breaking real shit in someone else’s mansion.
New York, NY (May 30, 2008) – Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… 50 with his DeNiro-inspired screwface offsets Banks’ and Yayo’s unchanging blanknesses in this Army-ish inspired cut. Don’t sit too close to the screen if you’ve got epilepsy.
…Jay-Z and West have transcended this issue by broadening their shows from the "two turntables and a microphone" concept to large live bands, big sound, pyrotechnics and showmanship. West, for example — who audaciously spends most of his time onstage alone (with the band in an orchestra pit below) — is the star of a space opera complete with crashed spaceships, vast video-screen galaxies and a spot-on cover of Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believing." And Jay-Z spent two weeks in Miami rehearsals working on sonics and pacing with his 12-piece band. "Jay-Z’s whole philosophy is, 180 seconds cannot go by without some sort of event," says Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, musical director for Jay-Z’s tour and informal creative consultant for West’s.
Hip-hop still hustlin. RS goes on to mention the artist’s showmanship, and how it impacts the overall concert experience, too. I’m glad they do, because showmanship is definitely something that has been overlooked by fans for years in regards to hip-hop. For a long time, it was just rapper shows up, rapper raps, audience applauds; as music consumption and listener choice expands with the web, I think fans are becoming smarter about who they devote time to and it’s required emcees to ACTUALLY become entertainers, not just parrots reciting radio hits. Another link in the evolutionary chain…
New York, NY (May 29, 2008) – Ahh, two of the greats taken before the world was able to fully recognize their unique abilities on the scale they deserved. Lil Lamont, Harlem’s son, here in his bouncy, typical Big L- fashion with “Puttin It On,” given a little added life (no pun intended) by the late J Dilla. Peep:
New York, NY (May 29, 2008) – Spotted these first joints at 2DopeBoyz the other day, didn’t get around to posting it, though. Three tracks, all fuggin fresh:
New York, NY (May 29, 2008) – Recently updated features on Last.fm have launched. The new shit, from their blog entry:
The library. Your entire Last.fm music profile made visible, down to every last artist and track. Add to it by scrobbling or with the click of a button. Browse it, play it, and get new music recommendations based on it.
Real-time charts. Yes, finally! Every track you scrobble gets added to all of your charts. Instantly. No more waiting for Sunday and praying to the chart gods…
Plus… Activity feeds, all-new visual styles, an improved music player, sharing, podcasts, and more.
New York, NY (May 28, 2008) – More from the DX interview with Bruce Williams. Here’s Part 2, this is Part 3. Peep:
… “Detox is the concept Dre had been trying to fully conceptualize for years. He was so serious at one point just after the second Chronic album that he had T-shirts made up…It was the farewell album he would walk off to, the one that might show him graduating from gangsta rap, basically. It made sense, going from The Chronic to Detox , because that’s what Dre had done, basically. The problem was, he didn’t know what to write about. Who wanted to hear about his stable, suburban life?” pgs 144-145
HipHopDX: Detox. You already know my question…
Bruce Williams: People are on Dre about Detox and Dre never really wanted to do Detox. He’s 40-something [editor's note: 43] years old, what’s he going to talk about? He’s gotta relate to these 13 year olds buying records. What is he going to talk about? He can’t come out here saying, "Fuck the police," he can’t keep talking about smoking weed, he’s been there and done all that. Where is there to go now? But it has to be done and he’s going to make sure that shit is right before he puts it out.
DX: Will we have to wait much longer to wait for Detox?
BW: I don’t think so. If it comes out, I’ll be shocked - and I’ll also know that it has to come out.
“…But Rakim was not the rapper he once was. He didn’t even rhyme in the studio with the crew hanging out. Dude was writing only at home. Dre wanted to do tracks in a way that allowed you to feel the camaraderie. Rakim’s a legend, but he was a legend in his day. The chemistry between these two just wasn’t there…” – pg 128
DX: So what exactly happened with the whole Rakim ordeal?
BW: Oh My God album? Every time Dre did an interview, they asked him what emcee he would love to work with and his response was always the same: Rakim. We went through all this stuff trying to get Rakim and finally, Dre got Rakim. And with a title like Oh My God, the public was waiting on some astronomical shit! And they just never meshed together. A few of 50 Cent’s songs on Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ were Rakim songs. Like “Back Down” and “Heat;” there were quite a few of them.
New York, NY (May 28, 2008) – Spotted at OnSmash, Jay goes in about touring in Japan, the web and other ish to fill up 11 minutes worth. Good interview, Hov seems real relaxed.
New York, NY (May 28, 2008) – More goodness from the show this weekend, I’m assuming more will continue to circulate around the web. Wish I could have been there. Shout out to San Diego, though; best city in Cali, IMO.
New York, NY (May 28, 2008) – More mind-candy for our nation’s youth. The reality germ continues to proliferate as T.I. tosses his hat into the mix. Broken by Variety, spotted at EW.com. Read:
…MTV has ordered eight episodes of a reality show focused on rapper T.I. doing community service ahead of his one-year prison sentence, which he will start serving in the spring of 2009. The untitled Ish Entertainment series has already captured T.I.’s release from house arrest and will begin shooting full-time this summer as he performs his 1,000 hours of community service. The show will also chronicle the release of his new album, Paper Trail, and the birth of his first child, and will likely air soon after T.I. goes to jail.
New York, NY (May 27, 2008) – The Live Nation folks were on a conference call about their First Quarter the other day and gave some interesting insight on their business model/approach. Click here to read from the Q&A portion; click back through the first page to read the entire conversation. Below, Michael Rapino, CEO/President/Director of Live Nation, explains Live Nation’s relationship with the artist:
Mark Wienkes - Goldman Sachs
Just wondering, today on Warner Music Group’s call they talked about moving away from 360-degree deals. Have you seen that in the marketplace? What are you noticing when you’re talking to the artists about these deals?
Michael Rapino
There’s a lot of talk on what is a 360 deal. We don’t really use that terminology.
We’re in a very different business model than the records’ 360 model. We business model is because we have the infrastructure, we have a merchandise company, we have a fan club company, we have a ticket company, a sponsorship division, a fan club, a VIP division, our goal is just to acquire all of those rights that we have infrastructure for to maximize our revenues.
So as we said, we’re going to sign over 1,000 rights this year, whether that’s a T-shirt, that fan club rate or a merchandise right. That’s our core strategy. Every now and then the Madonna’s and the U2’s will look to us and say, "We’d like to do all of that, and let’s do it for a long-term period." And if the economics work for our pipe, then we’ll look at that model.
As much press as we’ve received, all of my intelligence tells me if you added up right now the record labels that I talk to, we have three what you would call 360 deals. I think they have somewhere in the 100 range on 360 deals because they’re doing them with every young artist that’s out there.
So from what I hear there’s more and more attention every day to a longer, deeper relationship with the record label or ourselves, and we have a lot of artists who are asking us daily about is there a new way to be a business partner long term since we’re probably going to be their touring partner.
New York, NY (May 27, 2008) – I’ve been seeing videos of this cat across the web for minute. He had this up on his personal blog today, Young + Ignorant. Not completely impressed with the off-the-top skills (which you can tell it is). Buuuut whatever, you decide: Is the buzz worthy?
The lead joint from his "E3: EDay" called “Anti-Backpack.” It’s a statement song, tongue-in-cheek; as bad as it’s trying to be. Dude is dope lyrically on his other tracks on MySpace, you can listen here. Peep “Million Bucks” and “Back On My Bullshit.”
Eh, I see the lane, but not sure if I’m into it. Dude just needs to rap, forget the rest.
New York, NY (May 27, 2008) – New version of everyone’s favorite, “Flashing Lights.” As a fan… what does it mean to you when Kanye does things like this? New versions of videos – does it feed his ego or is he offering a bit of art up to the people? Holler, hope the weekend was good for ya’ll.
