Good TroubleAs of late Texas has proceeded to attempt its take over of rap music even though New York has had it in its palm for years. Artists like Mike Jones, UGK, Chamillionaire and others have exploded from the underground scene and unto mainstream music and defined new experiences in Hip-Hop. With this explosion came […]
These days, it seems like everyone is doing a conference and/or awards show in Hip-Hop. What is up with that? I guess people see one or two people do it, and they think they have the proper connections, knowledge, and opinions to do it their damn self. The problem is, most fail. It’s also not […]
Independent ReleaseAnyone with proper financing, good music, and thorough music industry experience could choose to put out music independently. With the financial beating that most indie distributors are taking (the economy is in the toilet, in case you live under a rock), and ease with which one could upload and sell music digitally, it is […]
With 2008 being both a historic and pinnacle year of achievement in Hip-Hop, the AllHipHop.com Breeding Ground alumni are no exception. Attaining a slew of national press and major publication covers, securing new deals and ventures, check out 2008 – A Year in Rewind with some of your favorite Breeding Ground All-Stars. This run […]
I’ve seen so many people get jerked in the 17 years that I have been pulling artists out of bad deals. And I have been vocal (for free) about how artists can protect themselves from getting jerked by less than savory managers and production companies, greedy labels, and unscrupulous scammers. Yet, every week it seems […]
I started Rap Coalition with my own money in 1992 because I got tired of hearing about my favorite artists getting jerked by greedy labels, unsavory production companies, and unknowledgeable managers. I came to rap as a fan—started listening to rap in Philadelphia in 1980. Many of you weren’t even born yet. I didn’t […]
(You can now subscribe to RSS feed to this column at www.TheDayReport.com. Thanks to James Doe for educating me on the technology and making it easy for me to implement!!) “Success is getting what you want, and happiness is wanting what you get.” -Warren Buffett, Billionaire Passion is the undeniable love for something […]
What is it about the rap music industry that makes people standing on the sidelines assume they understand how it works? Does it look easy from the outside looking in? Are folks so blinded by watching BET and reading a couple of rap magazines that they actually think they understand the ins and outs enough […]
I never thought I’d ever have to devote a column to this topic, but apparently it needs addressing based upon how most folks seem to operate a business in this industry. Here are some basics:Set up a phone for business calls, KEEP the phone in service, and return phone calls. Changing your phone number every […]
A very important aspect of selling your own record is getting it into the stores and onto the websites that do the bulk of the download sales. There’s no shortcut here; hard work is the only way to do this unless you have an incredible buzz, a recent sales track record, or a fool proof […]
I have been consulting independent urban record labels and artists for many years now, and the most misunderstood aspect of this industry is radio. So few understand how radio really works, and an even smaller amount of indie labels and artists understand how to get their records played at radio. Because of the lack of […]
As an entertainment attorney for over 15 years, I’ve had the chance to work with and represent major recording artists especially with respect to the negotiation of their recording agreements. In any recording agreement, the record company will usually pay the recording artist an “advance,” that is, a sum of money that is ostensibly supposed […]
In the early 1980s, when rap started, there were few rappers and producers, so they had no difficulty standing out. Today, it seems everyone wants to be a rapper or a producer. As more people want to get into the rap music business, it gets cheaper and easier to do so. The price of […]
For most of the 16 years of Rap Coalition’s existence, we have assisted artists and indie labels with putting out their own records and negotiating major distribution deals for those who’ve done so successfully. In that time we’ve seen many artists come, and we’ve seen even more artists go. We’ve watched artists sell 60,000 units […]
AllHipHop.com has always been a website for news, music, entertinment and education, this ongoing series called IN-HOUSE COUNSEL will attempted to provide vital information to help up-and-coming artist s/producers to succeed in toda’s difficult music business world. To start this series, here’s a scenario: You’re an artist who feels he (or she) has some hot […]
Hip-Hop is missing something. According to Sic Osyrus, he is that missing element. Not because he is new with catchy rhymes but, because he represents the missing links in Hip-Hop. Claiming to make love to a track, the MC is not worried about competition, or even gaining popularity from having Hip-Hop’s most notarized producers. The […]
“It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where ya at,” The old adage speaks well of the Coney Island MC, Torae Da Young Vet not to be mistaken for the music writer Torae but a writer none the less, he spends hours in the studio while most sleep, he’s perfecting his lyrical sword game. Torae has […]
The term “record label” stands for many different types of companies that put out music. It can signify a conglomerate like Sony or Universal which are huge well-established multi-national corporations with offices in many countries around the world, or it can indicate a small artist-owned company with a staff of one or two, putting out […]
No other genre of music is as fixated on an artist’s home as Hip-Hop. Whether it’s the North, South, East or West, it’s up to a rap artist to represent where they’re from and show the world how it goes down in their region. Killeen, Texas emcee, Yung Texxus, clearly understands this notion. And after […]
There are a multitude of different deals out there for any recording artist. It depends solely on what you agree to contractually. There is no such thing as a standard contract– a contract is just an agreement between two people that says who will do what by when, what happens if they do not do […]
