JUST INCREDIBLE

It all began May 05, 1988 in Mt. Sinai Hospital of Manhattan, NY. I was born. As life in the city jungle is known to be cold and unforgiving, it gave me no special treatment. In order to survive the game you have to find a place of sanctuary either physical or mental. For me, and many others, music was my hideaway. From the age of 5 I appreciated hip-hop and rap, but it wasn’t until 11 years when I truly made it my craft. I focused my pain, frustration, and turmoil into a positive expression rather than a self-destructive medication of drugs and alcohol. At 16 I jumped into the battle-rap arena and created a name for myself.  I didn’t win all matches, but more importantly, I was never humiliated or lost my pride. I made them work for their trophy and I always lost by a hair. This was from my hunger and my drive to make something of this talent. I didn’t want to be a rapper. I love hip-hop but more so I loved business. I’m a hustler with an eye for opportunity. When it was time that I went to college I wanted to grow as a business man. I can do without the fame and spotlight. I’d rather be the force that secures the real art of hip-hop and build an empire that gives back to those who need it most. 

 

http://tweetmysong.com/admin/embed/embedmusic.aspx?MixKey=3cdaf906-888d-11e0-a978-002421513b6a

The Spinning Top

 

 

^^^^^ 

 

This guy runs TopSpin which is a site that gives you the powers of a god with out having to live in the sky. You can connect with your fans and really see what the people like. You can make email lists and blast and do all sorts of other very useful things for a very short fee. Its cost about 7 McDonalds double cheese burgers or $10 usd a month for basic entry. I recommend any artist to check out this site and invest a little money in your brand

 

 

Peace

Digital Literacy

Be afraid!

Well not actually afraid but we should be worried. Digital Literacy is very important! Take for instance the fact that most of us don’t actually know how to run a computer we are just fluent in the applications that run on them!

It never hit me until I learned that in some Japanese schools its mandatory to learn how to code. MANDATORY!! By the time these kids reach 8th grade they are already more digitally literate than you average college student.

 

 

I think I need to re evaluate how I look at computers and learn how they actually function

Connect with Fans

 

BE EVERY WHERE!

1. ON EVERY SITE
2. ON EVERY PAGE 
3. ON EVERY SEARCH ENGINE 

You must connect with the fans they can’t search to find you! You have to be everywhere! Like the #STOPKONY campaign shit thats the flavor of the month for online activist today. Once you connect with them they have to have a reason to buy.. people just dont buy because you sing or because you can rap. 99.99% of the worlds population are aspiring artist so they need a better reason than that.

Need some ideas?

1. Give them free tickets to the show 
2. Offer a Oovoo session to the first 10 buyers
3. MAKE QUALITY MUSIC  
4. Let one fan come and preform with you a show 

things like this will help you sell music in this crazy world! 

 

#GRIND

The WWW and The artist

The World Wide Web is the best thing since sliced bread. It has ushered in the D.I.Y movement and opened up millions of revenue streams. It allows artist to connect with fans in a way that was almost impossible before..

Sometimes it isnt for the best ..

 

But with websites like bandzoogle and topspin you really dont need a label to make a living in this industry. You can monetize your intellectual property faster than ever before if you willing to put in the elbow grease..

 

#GRIND  

MashUps

Mash ups have done more from cultural advancement than most socially based organizations could dream of doing. The way that Japan and Brazil take music from the Us and mash it together and make new music is amazing. 

 

 

 

take this for example.

 

When I go to make mash ups I usually try and mesh 2 forms of music that are so far apart from  each other it has to be a classic when I finish. The problems that I run into is trying to find accapella tracks of some of my favorite songs. other than that its pretty simple..

 

 

History Of the Web

Starting with the Unix and evolving into the Arpanet Network the internet has been a valuable resource. Over the years it has become more and innovative, it began with virtual communities where people could write each other messages which turned into internet rely chat which would later become the email. 

 

In 1989 AOL was launched and a proposal was made for the world wide web. Between 1990 and 1995 the first commercial ISP was created and the first webpage was invented. We also had the first webcam and lost of other things followed very quickly. The goverment also joined in and made websites with “.gov”.

 

 

And today we have power houses like Google and Twitter and Facebook that run the internet and its still growing!

The Change Up

Many of the points made by Trent were very general and I really liked the approach. I never really realized that the industry has been leveled and everyone is trying to learn as much as they can to get on their feet again. When the dust settles there’s is no telling who will be on top. As for giving your music away for free to gain promotion I would agree. The costs of making a record is extremely low. Home studios are allowing everyone to make a decent record and get it online. The only thing I disagree with is how he seems to equate “online” with “heard” . Just because you put your songs on every website possible doesn’t mean it will be heard but it is worth trying.

I think live gigs still play the biggest part of boosting your career to the next level. Make the music and play it. No one seems to address the fact that all capital raised needs to be put into marketing and promotion. Then I would think it would go into merchandise. Cash is still king in the entertainment business. We have become a society where we live as surrogates on the internet though which is why  musicians need to find a way to reach potential fans. The problem with the internet is that it is controlled by the user. When I say that I mean that all the websites and ads a person sees is totally up to the discretion of the person behind the keyboard. Even when someone is mindlessly surfing the web they only go to the sites they want to see. This leads most artist to spam people in attempts to gain a fan.  The email market is the best approach I have heard of so far only because the people who give you there email are doing so because they actually want to hear or see what you have to offer.

To win online you need to be a part of someone’s subconscious mind. They need to search you on impulse. This is why word of mouth is so important  because most people trust their friends taste in music and are more likely to search you out willingly. I think these videos gave some really good ideas as to what direction we should take in the years to come. It also shows us they we need to look at this music business as just that a music BUSINESS.