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 […]

Life’s short. Some people go through there whole life not knowing what it is that they would want to do with their lives. Not the story for Oxnard, CA native, Joe Clark, he has been in the grind since the age of eight and a half, and doing mixtapes at ten, and he has no […]

With the wide variety of emcees that have emerged from the Houston, TX Hip-Hop music scene, few have been female and even fewer have been endorsed by the late Pimp C of UGK. Born Tiffany McNeil, Raw’LT prides herself on a strong work ethic bred out of her independent childhood and relationships with a variety […]

There’s a new trend with unsigned artists.    Well, it’s not really new, it’s about ten years old, but it hasn’t really worked successfully, so it seems new.  It appears that some folks who have money to spend, or relationships with independent radio promoters, are trying to increase their spins at urban radio in the […]

AllHipHop interviewed Wes Fif before he recently got signed to Slip-N-Slide Records. We’d like to congratulate Wes Fif and wish him continued success.   Arguably the brightest star in Orlando, Florida is Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. But if Wes Fif has anything to do with it, the O-Town emcee will soon dethrone the Walt Disney […]

The choice is yours, just like the old chorus from the classic Black Sheep single, many people have the choice to start something new or just follow the norm. By way of Togo, West Africa , Tabi Bonney, now native to Washington, D.C, is not one to follow a trend, but more so to do […]

It seems to many that the Texas trio known as TMI Boyz jumped onto the scene from out of the blue.  In very little time they managed to top the Billboard Rap Singles Sales Chart with thers song “Swervin’,” and they were #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart with their song featuring […]

This is the question I am asked most frequently– obviously by people who don’t know me, because those who do know me ask me how they can sell more records on their own, not how can they get into a slave contract and become a sharecropper. But once again, for those who don’t want to […]

With a distinct name like Upper Echelon, the duo from New Jersey, better known as UE , offers a unique and eclectic sound of instruments and melody, influenced by the music’s Motown Era.   Winning, among many awards, the Underground Music Award for Best Duo of 2007, UE  members Caliph and Tunde, strive to be […]