1. Cancelling sessions on the day you’re due to record:

This really pisses studios off because your cancelation prevented them from booking a paying customer. Be considerate. Call the studio at least a day before if something comes up, and you know you won’t be able to make the session. Some studios make artists pay an non-refundable down payment to book a time slot because of this, but it still doesn’t equal up to the cost of a full session. Don’t get a reputation for being a flake. They might flag you as a customer that’s not dependable.

2. Treating the studio session like a house party:

When you’re in a studio session, you should be getting down to business. Time is money. The only people that should be there, are people that are contributing to the recording. Too many artists bring a large, annoying entourage to the studio, partying and Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since the gangsta era of the 90′s, hip hop has shed little of it’s reputation for being the genre of bad-asses; Both real and fake ones. Most have accepted this as part of the culture, and a lot of rappers, mostly mainstream ones,  continue to perpetuate this image. It’s typical to hear your popular rapper boasting about how he’ll put you in a body bag if you want beef. It’s fantasy for most, a slice a real life for others. But it’s all fun, right? Read the rest of this entry »

Today is a day when I would normally post music from independent hip hop artists. Tuesday evenings are one of the days I set aside to listen to submissions for posting the following day. After my 3rd week of going through over 2 hours of unusable submissions, I asked my self, “dude, what in the hell are you doing?” And I took some time to reflect on how I got here. Follow me…

After 2 1/2 years, this blog’s popularity is increasing among independent hip hop artists. Nothing could make a blogger happier Read the rest of this entry »

 

 

In the spirit of INDEPENDENCE, IndieHipHop.net, artists, and associates are banding together to officially bury the word “unsigned” on Friday, July 1st, and declaring that we be referred to as INDEPENDENT ARTISTS instead. We believe that the  label “unsigned artist” has a negative connotation that reduces the worth
of that artist. Because before we are even considered “signable”, we are releasing projects, doing our own marketing, handling our own promotions, paying for studio 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 »

Let’s be real. It’s getting increasingly more difficult these days to be able to let go of your 9 to 5 or odd job to do this music thing full time. If you’re a do-it-yourself artist, there’s a good chance that you’re recording your own projects, doing your own graphic work, booking yourself, promoting, marketing, and even editing your own indie videos. Maybe your’re doing some of these if not all of them. If you’ve become good at any one of them, you’ve just developed a valuable skill that many other artists need. And these are skills that can provide you with some extra income or replace a sucky job that not related to the music business at all. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s almost the end of the first month of the new year. Have you gotten off to a good start? Have you learned from the mistakes of last year? Have you made plans to expand on the things that worked well for you last year?

With all the news of declining music sales, an industry in shambles, and a music genre that’s oversaturated, you can be sure of this: some MC will defy the odds and Read the rest of this entry »

Musical masturbation is my diagnosis for rappers (or any artists) who aren’t really trying to do anything significant in this game. They’re just fucking around, forever hobbyists just shootin “one offs”. They won’t invest in their projects, or themselves. They’ll never incorporate their company or label because that would actually force them to think of this as a business. So what will they do? Continue to talk shit, drop links on Twitter and Facebook to their poorly mixed tracks and pose as though they’re actually trying to do something. Read the rest of this entry »

50 cent’s first week sales of his album, “Before I Self Destruct”, came in at a very disappointing 160,000 sales. These numbers are great for an independent hip hop artist but terrible for a hip hop artists of 50′s caliber. In my opinion it wasn’t his worst album, but this post is in no way shape or form an album review. Fifty gives early leakage of the project as the reason for low sales. Recent history has shown that early exposure to projects more often than not, increase album sales for artists. Read the rest of this entry »