I was unable to attend this weekend's because of my current workload which will finally lighten up, or at least change form, after Thanksgiving. However, it sounds like both the upside and the downside were intensified over the . The downside was that everything happened in the same place at the same time so, instead of having conference type events during the day and party type events in the evening, it all happened at once.
Having a bigger venue meant that the panelists had their own space but I'm told the music was still somewhat disruptive. Lots of people showed, partly because they moved to Oakland from San Jose, so that meant you had hundreds of men (macho men!) hanging out drinkin' and representin' which is potentially a problem.
The word is that there was some kind of altercation near the end of the day, though I don't have the details and, honestly, when hundreds of macho men hang out and drink all day something is going to break off.
That said, Danny Dee of the and did a great job of growing the event and attracting numerous big names such as Sway and DJ Muggs. I've heard good things about the marketing panel that included Sway, Sean Kennedy and JT the Bigga Figga and I'm sorry I can't share more of that.
However, Marian Liu of the San Jose Mercury News was there and she drops a teeny bit of knowledge including some who "said that artists can’t have a slave mentality about their music. If they want to be successful, they need to go out and seek success on their own terms."
Overall, it sounded like the upside outweighed the downside and I think if a stronger separation was made between the panels and the partying, with both more daytime panels and evening showcases, this could become an important industry event.
That's something a lot of people involved with hip hop in the Bay Area would like to see, especially those that remember the , a major music conference formerly held in San Francisco.
Update: I just went back and checked the email from Danny and found the that's still mostly under construction but it looks like the plan is to turn the Rap Summit into a mobile event that will occur at different locations around the country. Stay tuned.
I want to share a few quick thoughts about my day at the portion of the and then come back later in the week with coverage from others as well as a more in-depth look at certain points.
What I was most struck by was the difference in the way the upstarts spoke, such as Peter Adderton of and David Bluhm of , and the way various bigwigs from more established media and mobile communication companies spoke. The bigwigs often made good points but they were just so boring to listen to while the upstarts had the passion one would expect of folks seemingly coming out of left field to take on giant corporate enterprises.
Beyond the passion, the upstarts also seemed to give out more information about what they were doing.
That said, while I had a great chat with David Bluhm about what he's up to, Peter Adderton was totally uninterested in any kind of exchange and avoided it until I forced his attention my way. You know, he may have always been like that with people he couldn't identify as useful to his agenda but it is a reminder that as folks move up they often take on the mannerisms of the people they initially set themselves up against.
Of course, Adderton is a very busy man but the lack of exchange or even a few seconds of pretend interest from someone who talked about starting out as "two guys in a garage" makes me think of how an upstart like Google ends up looking more and more like an unfeeling behemoth like Microsoft, Web 2.0 notwithstanding.
That's also why I try to get back to people who email me with questions about how to contact this or that hard to reach individual or how to break into the music biz, if only to tell them that I don't know these guys and I don't know how to do much of anything besides write a blog!
And it's why I'm sorry that I don't always get back to folks. Even though I'm mostly a nobody, it's crazy how many people want my attention now.
Speaking of upstarts and established companies, I finally met Rafat Ali from and found out that they are no longer working with which is currently on hiatus (guess I hadn't been reading it lately).
Basically he said that it was a good experiment but the bottom line was that he didn't own it and I definitely feel that. Blogging totally changes one's perspective as a writer and a business person. While Rafat didn't say he's not open to future partnerships, I know I'm already much more willing to turn down interesting opportunities that I would have grabbed just a year ago.
I have some interesting things to report from the portion of the CTIA conference, including an early peak at Marc Ecko's Getting Up in a cellphone version, but let me say that the low point of the day was briefly encountering an exec from VH1 who, upon discovering that I wrote about hip hop said, "Yeah, we just did something on that," referring to VH1's Hip Hop Honors event. What a tool!
I met some cool people but, in terms of ProHipHop, the demo of cellphone port of Getting Up by Chris Clark was the high point of the day.
More soon.
By the way, the New Album roundup will be delayed for a day or two. Sorry about that.
I'm happy to introduce Brooke A. Fleming who covered the recent in Atlanta for ProHipHop. Brooke is a Fashion Marketing major at Clark Atlanta University and she's also entering the music PR and marketing biz.
Currently she's doing styling and promotional work for several emerging artists in Atlanta and we're really catching her at the start of her rise.
Ms. Fleming can be contacted at:
I'll update this post soon with her upcoming website.
Check for conference reports in our category.
Danny "Blaq" Tran, COO, Baylo Entertainment
Regarding the current wave of Southern hip hop artists, David Chapman declared that when you turn on your radio or turn on your television set the sounds and faces that grace your screen and speakers don't belong to those of major recording labels but mostly of independent artists and independent labels. Let's face it, major labels aren't into artist development any more and it's for this very reason that many artists are going the independent route.
The panel was compiled of seven indie executives who had more than enough to say about the industry's "machine" and why there's a breakdown in the major record labels' system of doing business. The panel members agreed that being independent was not always their goal. Major labels turned them away but instead of quitting the only other choice was to create a machine of their own.
Major labels are afraid to take chances on new artists, so what's beginning to happen is what TJ Chapman describes as the "cookie cutter effect", everyone is sounding the same and have basically the same image. Many major label artists don't even know their release dates, because they seem to be so displaced from the business part of their music. One of the perks to building your own machine or way of doing things is that you are attached to everything that happens to your music.
1. Don't look at your music as a hustle, look at it as a craft. Hustlers will sell you anything to make money.
If it's your craft, you value the work and won't release garbage.
2. Being independent requires work, you're not dependent on major labels to mass market your work, you have to do it yourself.
3. Break out of your region. Go to other places, talk to Dj's and build alliances so you can branch out.
You MUST travel.
4. Remain professional at all times, i.
e. press kits, promo packs and having a website.
5.
Have a good time doing what you do!!
Well, that's the breakdown of being independent.
The executives wanted to relay that it's their opinion that being indie is not the only choice you have as an artist but it is a choice and whichever route you choose, major or independent, put your all into it and keep "your machine" up and running.
Munson Steed, CEO/President, STeed Media Group/Rolling Out Urban Style Weekly
So you want to be famous! Well who exactly are you, and what makes you different from all the other artists that try to sell me a C.
D.? That's where branding comes into play.
As Solomon Smallwood stated, branding is how you define yourself, your label. It's the identity that's put into the minds of consumers.
Every artist has to appeal to his or her own audience and, in order to do that, each artist has to have distinctive characteristics that attract people to him or her.
The problem with branding is that, although the artist might try to appear a certain way to his or her target audience, who they are is truly defined by what the consumer thinks. So even if you feel you're punk, you might just be hip-hop. A brand is an attitude and a perception.
4. Execution
The panel members suggested that in order to get an artist to the next level it's important to align their brand with associations. Never over exploit your brand just for a check.
It's important never to do that because you may lose your fan base and sometimes those loyal fans may never return. Hey, let's face it, a lot of us have to keep all the fans we have.
Okay, so the industry has Usher, we have Beyonce and we have Lil Jon.
We don't need you to mimic these people. Another important part of creating your brand is being innovative, don't downplay who you are to try to make money. Know your value, who are you and how much you are worth.
1. Read. Everything you want to know is in print
2.
Find out why you're doing what you're doing. If you don't know, then how will your fans?
3.
Create a mastermind group. Find people who believe in what you're doing and want to help you in any way they can.
Check for more conference reports in our category.
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