GOOD GAME PT. 6 SEVEN WAYS TO WORK A FESTIVALAND GET SOME SHOWS

IM A RESIDENT OF AUSTIN TEXAS AND IF YOU ARE IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY YOU KNOW AUSTIN AS A LIVE MUSIC DESTINATION AND THE CITY OF THE WORLD FAMOUS SXSW FESTIVAL THAT ENGULFS MY FAIR CITY EVERY MARCH. IT IS VERY EASY TO GET CAUGHT UP IN THE HYPE AND THE FUN OF IT ALL BUT AS A ARTIST THIS IS THE TIME THAT YOU NEED TO "CLOCK IN FOR WORK" THERE ARE LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF CHANCES FOR YOU TO NETWORK AND FURTHER YOUR CAREER. HERE ARE 7 WAYS THAT YOU CAN MAXIMIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE AT ANY OF THE MAJOR FESTIVALS

Posted by Kosha Dillz ON AUDIBLEHYPE.COM

1. Fliers that are fly-er:

Be memorable and pass out a flyer that is awesome. If it does not look awesome at least make it look creative and memorable. Maybe you can’t afford to get flyers in advance, so at least go to Staples and buy your own fliers made from cardboard stock. You can get like 400 flyers for 30 bucks. There are thousands of people there, so make sure you save them for people you want to come to your show. If you want to give you fliers to chicks that listen to Mac Miller, they’ll probably look different than the chicks that listen to Psycho Realm. I’m just trying to be honest.

2. Shake Hands like a man, not a sham.

A good handshake goes longer than you think. I think there are about 20,000 people that are at a Guerilla Union event, and my goal is to always let them know that I am there in support of the festival. I support these festivals because they are the gateway to huge fan base of mine, and they are a homegrown effort just like my career is. Every ticket sale is earned genuinely from the work of real people. They are the banging on office keyboards and inviting things on Facebook just like we may be, except it has grown to more than a dozen kids in the office. What’s not to love about it. I am passing out my fliers and shaking hands with people that know me and selling a few cds as well. I am also thanking the volunteers and kicking it with the sound guys and shooting the shit with the security guards.

3. Did you rock yet?

This was the question Raekwon asked me.

I thought to myself “Damn, well Rza was gonna invite me out to do a verse but it didn’t happen. Last year it did, and did Peter Rosenberg invited me out too.”

“You in the mix. As long as you in the mix its all good. “- Raekwon

I thought to myself again…damn…I should listen to Rae. He knows about hustling, and I’m hustling to get to that next level.

Guys, you really can’t do anything else except that. I can’t stress enough that if you are at home, you are missing the single most important hip hop event of the year. You are fucking up. Sure you won’t be rocking the stage this year but you must be in attendance if you want to know what it is that you’ll be a part of. This is whether you make rap music, hip hop, trap music or whatever the fuck. Its a congregation of the biggest conglomerate of your potential fans. I bought my ticket to Paid Dues in 2011 because i knew I wanted to play the festival in 2012. I snuck into the festival because my intention was to rock that shit no matter what and I didn’t have money to get in.

As quoted by Raekwon this year, “Be you in the mix. As long as you in the mix its all good”

A lot of the rappers who know me haven’t ever seen me kill a show, but they see me so much they don’t even realize that. They’ll see me when the time is right. Until then I make sure I’m killing it.

A lot of other rappers I see that do the same are Verbs and Alpha…or Sav Killz and J Ronin and Poison Pen. People are always in the mix, but I haven’t got to see them perform either in who knows how long (or how little)

4, The most important Man is the Sound man

Still at any festival, or anywhere for that matter, the most important man is the Sound Man (Don’t tell the sound man that is paid thousands of dollars he is fucking up on stage. There would never be a sound guy who is fucking up on this level. Its the drunk n high artists that are, the DJs who don’t know how to plug shit up, and the requests of turning music down by headlining stage.) Mundy Sound (guerilla union sound for Paid Dues, RTB.Cypress HIll Smokeout) and I have linked over the past year and is genuinely a fan of mine.after SXSW (Supergoodmusic/ heard Ent. /Root Music HQ) and Paid Dues 2012. He was cool enough to take my iphone and play house sound and play my entire Gina and The Garage Sale album through out the day and before ICe Cube’s set with about 10,000 people in attendance. I also got to rock some songs of Homeboy Sandman’s album which was cool. So I didn’t get to play my own shit, but I got to play my songs over the most banging sound system, and I’m sure some people heard it.

Whether you are playing a show or not, say what up to the sound man. You will see him/her around eventually. I said hello to him and next thing you know my music was playing all day, for both days of Rock the bells. Now that’s Guerilla Marketing!!

5. Vendor booths are your friends

That’s right guys. Go kick it with the vendors. Seriously kick it with them. You are trying to sell yourself and they are trying to sell things too. The difference is they paid a lot more to be there. For that reason, I went over there and said what’s up and realize I know tons of people in the vendor village and they have heard my music. They decided to give me free clothing and send me tweets/Facebook likes. They all hopped on my e-mail list and they should. This is the way to rock it for them. They all paid bucks to be in this Vendor situation for the biggest festival of the year and they want to make the most out of their experience. If they are willing to invest so much in this opportunity, maybe they would want to invest in me.

6. Finesse the Press (and make sure you’re on the list)

I decided to cut out from hustling in-doors, to kicking it by the trailers with artist friends while I had the chance. I said peace to Zumbi from ZIon I while he played with his kid, and even saw my friend Jaimie Adler who reps Bone Thugs and Harmony. A lot of these guys respect me for being a solo hustling maniac who is passionate about Hip Hop and representing my Jewish-ness to an absurd level. I stick in their brains. All you people who rap or rock need to remember how to stick to someones brains and not piss people off (a skill I am still working on, to an extent.)

This year I enjoyed this personal time. I really consider these people my friends and I ask them about their families. I genuinely care for their well - being. C Rayz Walz once told me that it not all about “wanting something.” People enjoy speaking with each other about things that have nothing to do with work. While press is backstage interviewing them (artist friends), they happen to notice I am everywhere and they ask me questions. If they don’t ask me questions, I ask them if anyone has kicked a freestyle yet, and mention to them that I played Paid Dues this year so I’m supposed to be here.

Oh yeah…what about being on the list? Make the effort to get on it. If you can’t be a guest of an artist or a member of the press list, get a writing job and make sure you create your own blog and leave yourself available to interview people. Volunteer to be part of the street team. I see artists do it all the time.

As a rapper, people wanna hear you rap, or hear about how you are selling a shit load of records. Since I didn’t play Rock The Bells and haven’t sold a shit load of records, I ask them if I can kick something on camera and I finesse the press that way.

7. Emails and details

I don’t give a flying fuck if you are not performing. You are performing! Make sue you have the ability to enter emails. Do it less conspicuously by entering it in the notepad. Next thing you know after all the fliers and handshakes you get 20 emails from each event. 40 emails can equal a lot more business . Get Emails and details from the guys you need it from. Sometimes a bigger connection will only want to give you an email, but knowing this beforehand is better. Make sure when you shake those hands, know your demand. If you have nothing to offer the other person yet, or they are genuinely busy, its better to go email. Drop a hello, and your name will come up in other conversations for sure.

Pretty Simple right?

Now go get booked!

GOOD GAME PT. 4 MONITIZE YOUR MUSIC

WRITTEN AND POSTED TO RAPREHAB.COM BY Brianna DeMayo, Artist Development/Marketing

Monetize Your Movement

Remember, the ultimate goal is to be able to make a living by doing what you love. In order for that to happen you need to make sales. You have to earn an income. You have to be able to get people to buy into your product - whether it be through selling your music, booking shows, selling merchandise etc. And here’s the best part – you don’t need a label in order to do this! As a matter of fact, if you are already making money off of your music, shows, and merchandise, it will be much easier for you to get that record deal that you are longing for (and you will have much more of a say as to how that deal pans out).

There are a few basic concepts that drive a sale regardless of what you’re selling.

Below are some main things to remember when making music and coming up with your marketing plan and technique.

In order for someone to buy into a product/brand there are a few things that have to take place:

They must know the product exists. The product must spark their interest. Both the product and the presentation of the product must be quality. The product must be easily accessible. They must have a clear understanding as to WHY they should buy the product. Now how can you relate all of the above to your music?

Of course, in order for someone to purchase something they must be aware of it. The main way to accomplish this is by marketing and promotion. Your product, which in this case is your music, must be marketed properly in order to get it the exposure that it needs. How can anyone hear and buy your music if they don’t even know it exists?

A good way to spark interest is by putting out a quality product – and by this I mean that both the actual product AND the presentation of your product must be professional. If your music is presented in the right way you shouldn’t have a problem getting a good response from your marketing efforts. This is also the reason why it is so important to figure out your target market – it is much easier to spark someone’s interest if you can relate to them. If you already know a bit about the people that you’re offering your product to, it will be easier to make a sale. For instance, you’re not going to promote a rap record on a country music site (that wouldn’t spark the viewers interest), instead you would promote it on a site likewww.hiphopsince1987.com that targets the hip hop market.

You’re product (music) also needs to be easily accessible. You should have one website (www.yourartistname.com) that ties in all of your other websites (youtube, facebook, twitter, reverbnation etc) that your fans can go to to download your music, see where your next performance will be etc. You can also make it even easier by uploading your music to iTunes, Amazon, etc (I explained a little on how to do this in another recent blog here). You need to make it easy for someone to search for you. People shouldn’t have to take 10 minutes to find you. If you want a flat screen TV from best buy, when you search ‘best buy flat screen’ it will come up immediately. Your music/brand needs to be the same way.

Last but not least, the person needs to have a valid and clear understanding of why they should buy into your product. You need to learn how to seal the deal by taking away any doubts. Before you release anything, you should have already thought to yourself ‘why should someone buy this?’ Understand that this question doesn’t always have to be answered verbally. Part of the answers should be confirmed by both your actions and the product itself – Your great marketing skills, the dope sound of your music, the overall quality of your presentation will all speak for themselves.

In conclusion, it all starts with a quality product, then you seal the deal by presenting yourself properly (making a great first impression) and by building a strong brand. If your fans can see the product, if it is marketed to those that can relate to it, if your presentation is professional and can stand out among the others, you are on your way to making some great sales (if you aren’t already)!

GOOD GAME PT.3 LISTENERS vs FANS

Posted by Justin Boland on AUDIBLEHYPE.COM

It’s deeply stupid of me to admit this in public, but I give a lot of feedback to artists I don’t know. I run several blogs and work at a non-label “record label,” so I’ve got several inboxes worth of new music waiting for me. Always. It’s happening right now.

I try to listen and give detailed feedback to at least five of them, every day I’ve got time online. I’ve developed an acute allergy to computers lately, but they’re an unfortunate necessity. So in 2012, I’ve probably given well over 50 strangers blunt feedback they were not expecting.

What have I noticed? First off, cats are getting better at not throwing tantrums. Only a few of them have called me a hater. Nearly all of them, on the other hand, have added me to their email lists and asked me to get involved as a fan. This is an important point, because I see the same mistake when people reach out to World Around Records and try to wow us with their stats, usually plays and views: that’s transitory bullshit, rather then metrics that reflect real fan engagement.

Being the being I be, I listen to new hip hop all the time. I’m a fan of probably 5% of it. This is not about me, though — because 1) it doesn’t annoy me at all when artists put me on their promo lists, and 2) what the fuck would it actually matter if it did?

This is about you, about independent artists trying to get their numbers up. The message is simple: stop trying to get your numbers up. That was already a dead scene in 2007. You need to work on your product. You can just buy numbers once you’ve got a project great enough to really catch on, go viral, get noticed…you know, whatever version of the fairy tale you’re clinging to these days.

If I’m just a listener, you don’t want me on your email list.

You’re going to have a lot more listeners than fans. Fans buy your shit, fans talk about you to their friends, fans send you emails about how dope you are. It’s easy to get frustrated but remember, this is a slow process unless you’ve got money to burn. “Friends” are not fans. Other artists are definitely not fans.

Be patient, be realistic, and stop dicking around online.