Wendy Day is an advocate for indie hip hop artists and has prevented a large number of artists from getting screwed by negotiating their deals. Google her. I had the pleasure of interviewing her a short time ago when she first released her current book.
In this short video clip, Wendy explains that not all deals are bad when you’re educated about music business. But more importantly, she goes on the explain why hip hop artist these days are better off staying independent.
Do yourself a solid and follow her on Twitter @RapCoalition. Wendy is also on our “must follow” list in our Indie Hip Hop Directory, which should already be one of the tools in your grind right now . Read the rest of this entry »
This is an excerpt from our e-book Online Grind, Hip Hop Directory
Some artists will never know why they aren’t getting their music submissions accepted, or why they never receive a reply. A large percentage of them make some very avoidable mistakes. After running a blog for over 3 years, these seem to be the most common…
1. Bad Subject Headings:
Artists, when sending music via email, often put very bad titles into the subject heading of their messages. If you haven’t established a personal relationship with the recipient, a simple subject heading like “music submission” is usually enough to tell the receiver what the nature of the email is.
Subject headings like. “CHECK THIS OUT!!” or “NEW RELEASE” mean nothing to a recipient who doesn’t know who you are.
As the widely respected and well connected CEO of Total Access Talent, Melissa Sessoms is a veteran with some of entertainment’s biggest artists at her fingertips. Formerly a publicist at Sessoms PR she has advanced into the booking realm.
Lola Sims: Tell us about Total Access Talent?
Melissa Sessoms: Formerly Sessoms PR, Total Access Talent, Inc, is an international celebrity procurement and communications firm with limitless capabilities we are multi-lingual and the bottom line is, we get the job done! At Total Access Talent, Inc, success is the standard by which we operate; as we help our clients reach and maintain key milestones. Our clients not only benefit from our expertise and execution, but they also enjoy success based on the results of our efforts—from the ground upwards, we are with our clients every step of the way!
Through our personalized approach, we are committed to client needs leaving no stone unturned. Our mission is to create relevant, “buzz-worthy,” meaningful opportunities for our clients in order for them to attain the visibility they seek; while propelling them to Read the rest of this entry »
Artists today are looking for and experimenting with alternative ways to diversify their income. Most of these ideas fall under the umbrella of what is called “branding”. This word means different things to different people depending on who you ask in the industry. To me, it’s simply expanding your influence by becoming a symbol of an idea or movement, and nothing bonds fans together with this idea better than a logo.
Artists who have successfully accomplished this, benefit greatly when attaching their logo to their own merchandise. Sometimes a logo can become more symbolic and Read the rest of this entry »
This is the second post in a series that I promised to deliver on the rewards and benefits of blogging. Sorry that it took so long to write this follow up. The first post was titled, 5 Reasons Why You Should Be Blogging. Check it out to get a basic idea of what this series will focus on if you haven’t already.
In this article, I’m going to introduce to you an effective strategy to reach a new audience and set up a solid foundation for you to make your presence on the internet profitable for you. In my almost 3 years of blogging, it’s I strategy that I have rarely seen used. It’s one that has help me add an additional stream of income as a producer, and by using advertising on this blog. I’ll later explain how this works for me.
It’s becoming harder to generate any livable income from music sales alone. And it’s harder to find an audience in this saturated genre of hip hop. I experience this as a producer as well. Some say that all you have to do is have incredible music and all the rest Read the rest of this entry »
Onesheets used to serve the primary function of informing distributers about your new release. Now, onesheets can be very useful tool when also contacting promoters, labels, Djs, booking agents, and the press. When done right, these condensed press kits can create a great first impression.
Here’s a example of a well organized artist onesheet.
VibeDeck is a service that provides a simple way to sell your digital music directly to fans. What’s so great about this is the fact that they take no cut of your sales. The service is completely free and they promise to never charge for it in the future nor add advertising to profile pages. VibeDeck handles the commerce transaction via Paypal, so the only thing you pay is PayPal’s service charge. Upon first glance, VibeDeck looks a helluva lot like Bandcamp, another service that I have high praise for. VibeDeck is easy to use and it’s pretty straight forward when it comes to jumping in and getting a page set up. They’re still developing new features to help enhance the Read the rest of this entry »
Some emerging hip hop artists have absolutely no plans of going the independent route. Their plan is mostly centered around finding one of these industry gatekeepers that will open up the magical gates of the hip hop mainstream, and that little industry elves will do all of the promotional and marketing grunt work for them. First of all, none of the people on the other side of that gate is going to take interest unless you have built a substantial buzz on your own. The “BUZZ”rules and the bigger the Read the rest of this entry »
Not much commentary to add to this video other than the fact that I like finding stories of other indie hip hop artists doing it themselves and making it happen. You can do your own shit, march to your own drummer, and find an audience that’s feels you. Be inspired! Read the rest of this entry »
Building a fan base takes more than just having good music. People can connect to a great song and not give a shit about the artist who made it. Listeners like to connect to an idea, an experience…a personality. It’s not essential that you use social networks like Twitter and Facebook, but if you’re going to use them, use them to magnify Read the rest of this entry »
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