Friday, May 22, 2009

"UNDERGROUND 2 MAINSTREAM" Your NEW Source For Hip Hop Entertainment!!!

"UNDERGROUND 2 MAINSTREAM" Your NEW Source For Hip Hop Entertainment!!!

Looney-T.I.C. & BoomBox Events Hosts The Memorial Day Weekend Throwdown @ The HideOut Inside Little Belize In Inglewood! Friday 10p-5a

Posted: 21 May 2009 10:10 PM PDT

Were Gonna be TURNED UP this Friday! Memorial Day Weekend Throwdown hosted by Looney-T.I.C. & Boombox Events @ The Hide Out inside Little Belize. 217 Nutwood, Inglewood. 10p-5a. Ladies FREE b4 1a, $5 1a-2a, & $10 after 2a, Men $10 all night. Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae, Dancehall, & more. Come start off your Memorial Day Weekend with Looney-T.I.C. & BoomBox Events!!! Reply for more info. Feel free to share with your MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, & Blogger friends by grabbing the widget below

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Aspiring Artist, QUIT MYSPACE FAKING!

Posted: 21 May 2009 09:08 PM PDT

Loren Weisman is an accomplished music producer and drummer based in Seattle, Washington. Having worked on over three hundred albums, Loren has also worked on numerous television, film, video game and radio productions, from New York to Los Angeles, Boston to Seattle. Loren is the founder of Brain Grenade Entertainment LLC , and the author of the Freedom Solutions Recording Plan. Loren has also written The Artist's Guide to Success in the Music Business, a book to help independent musicians achieve self sufficient and sustainable success coming in early 2010.



Seriously. It's time for some artists to get a clue about social networking sites, specifically MySpace and play counts, page views and friends. It has gone from ridiculous to completely freaking insane.

For those of you who might not be aware, there are a number of artists out there that actually spend money on "marketing firms," as they have been calling themselves, to get more Myspace hits, friends and plays. This is foolish. This does nothing positive for these artists' careers.

In fact, it hurts them. Now while a few people might think they look cool because they have hundreds of thousands of friends, the industry as a whole is recognizing it for what it is: an artist who is wasting time trying to present a false fan base and a presence that truly does not exist.

Yes, at one time lots of hits, friends and play counts on MySpace had a small level of significance. These factors stood as something that people paid attention to some four or more years back when MySpace was new and these "add or play bots" did not exist. As MySpace was in the forefront and more artists were joining, there was a large and wide differentiation of who was being looked at and who was not.

These were contributing factors to some artists even receiving deals, but only contributing factors. NO ONE--repeating here--NO ONE has gotten a record deal or contract based solely on the amount of friends and plays they have on MySpace. Yes, the stories are out there, but at most it was only one small factor that added to a number of other factors and justifications that got the artist a deal.

Getting a deal just based on Myspace stats sounds much cooler though, doesn't it? Just not true though. Think about it: who with the money, the means, the understanding of the industry and the resources would sign an artist off of just those facts alone? NO ONE.

You want friends? Plays? Hits? Then earn them. Personally add a few people a day to your Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, etc. Add a message and market yourself by reaching out to people and groups on these sites. Take the right and professional path to truly get people to hear you.

Sometimes, and those times are few and far between, these bots and programs can cause a few real people to find out about you and create new honest friends and download sales. Most of the time, however, it is not like that. Instead of real fans, bots and programs play your songs, ping your site and push to spam up your friend count. Some of these spam additions are people that will just approve and never even check you out. That makes it a worthless contact and nothing that is helping you at all.

Now, let's really do the math.

Yesterday, I was on a Myspace site of a really shady artist I came across and had never heard of before. I found this artist while searching a genre and a few keywords. This artist had 765,781 page views, even though the pages was very weak and the music weaker. Yet every song had over 100,000 plays. RED FLAG ONE! All the songs had over one hundred thousand plays? So over one hundred thousand people decided to listen to every single song on their page?

BULLSHIT.

Let's add to the equation that they have almost six thousand friends. But if every person checking out this artist also listened to every single song and added the artist as a friend, wouldn't the artist have a lot more friends? For the 765,781 visits that of course must have been from all different people, only on person, that's right, Houston, one person in every 127 decided to add this artist as a friend?

Umm, uhh, let's see here...and NO.

And then it gets even worse! The industry is completely aware of these bots and programs to add friends. The people you want to listen to you often do not have that much time. So, when they immediately see the traits of someone faking popularity, instead of impressing, you are immediately discrediting yourself. Think about this when writing your press kits as well. Do not highlight friend counts, page visits or song plays. Highlight the things that matter, like show attendance and sales. Highlight your logo, your professionalism, your music and how you are ready to go to the next level based on your efforts and achievements, not your contrived appearance.

Also… Stop using quotes from Facebook, MySpace and other online sites where any one can review. It may good a good review but at the same time, you could have written it.

It takes more time to professionally and honestly achieve your goals. It is more challenging, but it is worth it to appear strong and solid in front of your fans and industry professionals alike. You will shine brighter than most others.

Conclusion

Spend the cash on advertising on MySpace or Facebook. Spend the money with the pay-per-click advertisements or the small localized marketing ads. They are worlds more effective. Keep track of your actual sales instead of hits in order to show potential labels, managers, and talent buyers your viability and profitability.

Take the steps to appear as professional as possible to leave a lasting impression on those you are really trying to impact. It will help you move forward productively and effectively, while also bringing you more exposure, creating a better buzz and, hopefully, deriving profit.

You are an intelligent person. Act like it. Spend your money on things that will actually help your career and not things that give the appearance that your career is more than it really is.

Eminem Performing "We Made You, Beautiful, & 3AM" Live

Posted: 21 May 2009 08:39 PM PDT

FloRida "Sugar" Video

Posted: 21 May 2009 08:35 PM PDT

San Quinn Ft Chops "Double Dose Of Gangsta" Video

Posted: 21 May 2009 08:34 PM PDT

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Maino "My Life" Video

Posted: 21 May 2009 08:32 PM PDT

Milani Rose Cameo

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Big Boi & Gucci Mane @ Stankonia Studios

Posted: 21 May 2009 08:30 PM PDT

Big Boi Live - Gucci Edition from zachwolfe.com/live on Vimeo.

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Today Is Notorious BIGs Birthday

Posted: 21 May 2009 08:26 PM PDT

Today is legendary rapper Notorious' B.I.G.'s birthday. If Biggie was still with us, he would have been 36 years old. RIP Christopher Wallace!!!

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