New York, NY (September 2, 2008) – Loud.com was out at Reality’s industry showcase Faces In The Crowd last week, held at Rebel on 33rd Street in Manhattan. Rah Digga performed, as did AC and a host of other talented up-and-coming emcees and singers. Below are a few pictures of the event. We’ll be out at the next one, where the featured artists will be Saigon and Royce Da 5’9. See you there!
New York, NY (August 26, 2008) – Kid is dope. Spotted this over at Eskay’s. I like what I’ve heard so far from him, we’ll see what the album is all about soon enough.
New York, NY (August 20, 2008) – Do work.
RTB 2008: Method Man & Redman from DJ R.o.B. on Vimeo.
New York, NY (August 19, 2008) - KnowTheMusicBiz.com caught up with TuneCore SVP Peter Wells and he offered some advice about making the industry work for you. Read the entire article here:
TIP #3: Define Your Own Success
Before looking into any kind of marketing and promotion, ask yourself:
* Who do you want to hear your music and why?
* How do you want them to listen?
* Do you want them to buy your music, and when, and how?
* Where do money, fame and your own musical career fit in?
Notice the first question-why should you ask why? Your music is good, right, isn’t that reason enough? And why should it matter how they listen? Isn’t it understood you want them to buy your music? What does “buy your music” really mean? These questions all highlight a trap, and if you don’t ask why, right at the beginning, you’re going to fall into it and exhaust yourself pursuing the wrong marketing and promotion.
Everyone markets and promotes for a different reason. A toothpaste manufacturer is wholly interested in making money (or perhaps branding), and selling toothpaste is how they plan to accumulate it. They promote their toothpaste to encourage people to buy it, they market their toothpaste to drive desire, to build demand. Music isn’t always so commercial: in fact, most people feel contemptuous towards music produced solely to sell or brand. Many consider it crass consumerism, or devoid of art. When you bring in beauty and art and even politics (if you don’t think music can have political aims, listen harder), the goals of creation are often very much at odds with making money.
So get a good idea of what you want your music to do. You wouldn’t be reading this article if you didn’t want it to get into at least a few hands, and presumably you’re not averse to making money when they get it. So now you have to ask “who, when and how,” and each of these has a value.
New York, NY (August 19, 2008) – Tanya Morgan takes their turn on the popular Ruby Hornet series Freestyle In The Park. Check the spits off of “The Bridge.”
New York, NY (August 18, 2008) - That’s right, Big L. A rare, unreleased gem. Unbelievable!
Crooked-I feat. Sauce - Straighten It Out
DJ Khaled feat. Kanye West & T-Pain
Big L - Principal of The New School
Large Professor - Large Pro Says
Freeway - Crazy World (Freestyle)
New York, NY (August 15, 2008) – The recently nominated VH1 Hip-Hop Honors honorees chop it up back stage. I remember buying “Stakes Is High” for the first time and thinking it was the greatest thing I’d heard all year. Shout out to these cats still doin their thing.
New York, NY (August 10, 2008) – Snagged this from the homie X. In it the Clipse talk about the Virginia music scene, a new clothing line, their most memorable VA moments, the “Hell Hath No Fury” CD, what’s good with their relationship with Pharrell/The Neptunes and, of course, the Rick Ross fiasco.
New York, NY (August 8, 2008) – It doesn’t get much iller than Supernat, some random items and a couple thousand, screaming hip-hop fans waiting for that raw shit!
New York, NY (August 8, 2008) - Found this one at The Sports Business Journal the other day. With artists leaning more than ever on the concert business to supplement their fading CD sales, professional sports teams are finding it worthwhile to jump in on the action. Historically, they were content to rent their building out for large-scale tours, but it’s proving to be a more lucrative risk to throw the concerts themselves, buying the tour directly from producers like Live Nation or AEG Live instead of a promoter. Read:
…Musical performances at big outdoor facilities are nothing new; stadiums and ballparks have been part of the U.S. concert scene since the Beatles rocked the New York Mets’ home, Shea Stadium, at a historic show in 1965. But teams have generally made their money by renting their stadiums, then letting the promoters do the work while pocketing some extra concessions and parking income.
Now, with more ownership groups heavily leveraged or responsible for paying debt on stadiums they operate, some are taking on the extra responsibilities - and the financial risk - of putting on the show themselves or at least sharing the job with more traditional promoters.
The tasks and expenses involved in promoting a concert, though, are fairly standard. For promoters they include:
I personally can’t imagine putting a show of that magnitude together. But clearly people do it, and they do it well (Glow In The Dark, for example). What it must be like to spit for 40,000 people, though. For all you promoters (and emcees)… just something else to shoot for. No pun intended.
New York, NY (August 8, 2008) – More from Rock The Bells.
New York, NY (August 8, 2008) – As was publicized all over the web yesterday, Jay-Z’s guest appearance at Glow In The Dark was punctuated with the debut of a new song, “Jockin Jay-Z” and the announcement that Hov is in the studio recording “Blueprint 3.” Check out some of the footage shot that night at MSG, and then peep the links below which I swiped from Nahright and Onsmash to an interview Hov did at Sirius talking about the aftermath of his announcement.
Concert Footage: Yeezy & Jay-Zeezy
BLUEPRINT 3 from kwest on Vimeo.
Consequence does his backstage thing…
Rosenberg getting at Q-tip, Lupe and a few others…
The phone interview with Angela and YN at Sirius:
DOWNLOAD: On his performance…
DOWNLOAD: Recording Blueprint 3…
DOWNLOAD: Dealing with producer’s egos…
DOWNLOAD: Rumors the Live Nation deal is tanking…
DOWNLOAD: Is Jigga really married?
DOWNLOAD: On the pitter-patter of children’s feet…
Or listen to the whole thing courtesy of OnSmash here
New York, NY (August 5, 2008) – Green Lantern and his Invasion crew scored a ton of interviews with some of your favorite rappers. And mine, too. Check below for the first of many said to be leaked to the web this week. Holler. Shout out to the various sources that contributed to this report.
Green Lantern With Rakim (play through for Jay Electronica & De La Soul!)
Wale, Green Lantern, Just Blaze, Skyzoo, Supernatural Freestyle
New York, NY (August 4, 2008) - While Loud.com was chillin at End of The Weak this past Sunday at Pyramid in Manhattan, Rock The Bells invaded the Jones Beach Amphitheater in Long Island, NY. Both events were dope (will get ya’ll some footage from EOW tomorrow!), but check out the recaps, pictures and video from Rock The Bells. Enjoy:
Tribe Called Quest
Nas & Jay-Z
(Thanks to Gotty over at TSS (via Miss Info) for this version. Sound was apparently terrible at RTB)
Shout out to Illroots for the dope write-up. Click the link for more performance vids.
… Back to the main stage we go, catching the second half of De La Soul’s set, bringing out Dres of Black Sheep and Biz Markie to perform a few tracks. Fantastic. One of my life goals is to meet The Biz. Next up was The Pharcyde! Very excellent performance, Fatlip is one of my favorite emcees yet I always seem to forget about him. Raekwon and Ghostface followed, despite the fact that Mos Def was supposed to be next up. They put on a dope set with about 50 people on stage ranging from 5 year old girls to middle aged men. After their performance I was expecting Method Man and Redman to come out, but Mos Def showed up. His set was great. He brought out Talib to do some Blackstar and even Pharoahe Monch to perform Simon Says, which is still one of the heaviest bangers of all time.
For another point of view, get over to The Music Slut for their review.
New York, NY (August 1, 2008) – More fuckery from the Game/Weezy video shoot. Drop the album Game!! Shouts to Skee TV with the exclusive. And for just being a dope individual.
New York, NY (July 29, 2008) – End of The Weak, the longest-running weekly open mic in NYC, with established chapters all over the world, is partnering up with Loud.com on August 3rd for a special event. Emcees, producers, breakers and fans should come down to The Pyramid (101 Avenue A between 6th and 7th Street) for a Ladies Night Special event. Host, emcee and co-founder of the event that has produced alumni like C-Rayz Walz, Iron Solomon, Jin and a host of others, chopped it up with us outside the afterparty for Rocksteady 2008. Check the vids below, I’ll have more info in the coming days.
Propayne talks EOW and world domination.
Propayne starts to give us his three favorites, but is appropriately interrupted and goes off in a nearly five minute freestyle.