Please Note:

Although this blog is intelligent and informative, with an accuracy that's on par with Wikipedia, you may indeed notice that there are both spelling and grammatical errors sprinkled throughout the posts. That is because this blog is unedited and spontaneous, and it is always moving forward. If either of you who actually read it are bothered by the imperfections, let me know and I'll send you the password to edit it.
Happy Reading to you both.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Musicians Rejoice In The Gift Of File Sharing!

When Napster hit the scene a decade ago, most musicians, whether independent or major, instinctively joined the record labels in lashing out against file sharing. They claimed that downloading songs for free was like taking money directly out of their pockets. The big boys, many of whom own their own label, remained steadfast, but others began to see file sharing for what it could possibly be, which is a precious gift and their liberator.

Naturally, most of the community supported their idol's opposition, but in fact, they were defending the companies who routinely charged
twenty bucks for a CD loaded with fluff, not too long ago. It was those scoundrels, who had been pimping talent since the very first record, who were left frantically shoving their cash cows in front of podiums to bash their own fans who, they convinced, were robbing them.

However, as a wise minority knew, rather than demanding that people part with twenty dollars in order to get the artist two bucks, it was wiser to, let's say, split it with the artist and increase his revenue by about three-hundred percent, minus expenses. Looking at the classic music business model, that is exactly what could be done today, in theory, thanks to the Internet.

Think back to before Edison and his ilk introduced musical recording. Classical composers were financed through live performances a
nd licensing, similar to today, which allowed an establishment to freely play their music for a set fee. Once recording methods became efficient and music was made into a product, like a tape, the record companies were able to take control, because they had the capability to fund manufacturing, distribution, and everything else necessary to run a large business.

They gave the artist what it needed to flourish, that glorious “record deal”, and they had them lined up to sell their souls for it. The approach was similar to a sports team. An A&R, or a scout, for the label would bring talent in for a tryout, and if they impressed the money man, or GM, they would be treated like royalty and given a budg
et, maybe a hundred grand, and often promotional hand-me-downs like cars and clothes.

This was a lottery winning to a starving musician, but it was also meant to cover, in varying degrees, all recording costs and other expenses, and it was usually repaid with record sales. Ninety-nine percent of these deals resulted in a net loss, which meant heartache for the failed artist but very little for the label, because they made their money on the one percent who did succeed.

After the advance, a generous deal usually paid a new artist roughly ten percent of record sales, which is where we got two dollars a CD. From that, however, the artist had to pay his people, like managers, band members and so on. Considering a musician's profit sources, which are basically record sales, live shows, whatever royalti
es, or licensing fees, aren't given away in rubber-stamped contracts, and merchandising, which is also hijacked by the companies, it's clear that more money is made without any “help” from the label.

Based on the negotiation skills of paid lawyers and agents, which also adds more slime to the party, what the almighty label gave in return, besides false hope, is the cost of manufacturing and/or distribution of CD's and major promotion costs. Of course, they also offered their clout with radio stations and TV networks, which only infests t
he music world even further with sleazy politics and creates a cut-throat environment that usually chews up desperate artists and leeches the successful ones dry. However, there are some who enjoy the ride, that one percent of celebs who earned big for the label, and they are the world's anti-Napster spokesman.

For the rest, who have either been raped by a record company or are still waiting for a turn in the barrel, it is time to take charge of their own career. Like any business, it takes a small investment, but luckily, tangible media is being phased out, meaning you could theoretically sell a million units, with no warehouse, for no more than the cost of recording. While funding sufficient advertising and service quality is instrumental for success, a small donation by honorable and dedicated fans, along with royalties and ticket sales, all controlled by the artist, can make for a nice existence financially and artistically.

First and foremost, it is obviously up to the musicians to entertain fans with quality material and then employ some sort of business strategy to expose it to the masses. It is like a traditional business, but with no physical restraints, since music, which is inherently shared, can travel the globe in seconds, reaching billions of people. Imagine a business model which allowed for quality mass-production, storage, and worldwide distribution of your product for free, within seconds!

Also, without the control of a corporate weather-vane, artists can express themselves how they, and their true fans, please. Most didn't realize this and perceived downloading as an attack on the hand that feeds them, but we see how well they were fed. The irony, all the while, is that by using their own model against them, file sharing was they key to finally destroying the Capitalist strangle-hold on their art, with the right collective mindset.

So, before reacting on impulse and vilifying fans, who have more love for them than the smooth talkers who throw paper money around ever will, musicians need to rejoice. Now is the time to give all of their music away at a “free download” party, accepting modest donations at the door. Then, while basking in the glory of the event, loaded only with true fans and, of course, groupies, not snakes and leeches or phony politicians, sell some shirts and promote the hell out of upcoming shows. It is a golden age in music, where a garage band can gain the ballyhoo they seek and a consumer will never again pay for a crappy CD!


Sunday, June 27, 2010

THE FALL OF HIP HOP'S SOUND (part 3)

Today, we will continue defending the authenticity of the unique musical culture called hip hop. We will continue the discussion, which has been strongly opposed by those indoctrinated fans of the music in its present form who view the original “rules” as outdated and irrelevant, by advancing the idea that there has also been a decline in hip hop's once aesthetic sound.

Up until now, the focus has been on a shift in the overall mindset of the rap community by which lyrical technique no longer dictates success and veracity is overlooked, to the point where the term “MC” is no longer restricted. However, the production formula has also sadly taken a turn for the worst because of stricter copyright laws and the influence of a couple key players, not simply a violation of the music's distinct code of ethics.

Similar to the compromised integrity of rappers of the millennium, which became epidemic when the West Coast's theme of gang violence emerged and spread, lending itself to such violations, the musical lapse also traveled a split course. Also analogous is the dual role of Southern rap forefather, Master P, whose place in history has made him a major conduit through which hip hop took its plunge into super-stardom.

Just as Master P was determined to "outshine” Puffy in the arena of describing his elaborate lifestyle, his sound was inspired by Dr. Dre's classic album, The Chronic. He took both on as his own and carried them into the limelight in the events recapped in "Explaining The Fall Of Hip Hop."

In order to illustrate this claim, we must look back to the genesis of hip hop, which actually consists of four elements: break-dancing, graffiti, MC-ing, and DJ-ing. As respected pioneer, Chuck D, remembers, “...rap was originally not music, it was rap over music.” What he meant was simple. There were no early hip hop bands. The unmistakable sound that was heard throughout city streets and grew as the signature of the rap phenomenon was borrowed.


In the beginning, break-dancing was being guided by the funk/disco offspring, characterized by heavy synthesizers and either live drums or 808 drum machines, which became the signature of rap dinosaurs like Grandmaster Flash and had already hit California (remember that). The element of rap was practiced over more renowned records, usually from the funk genre, whose classic drum breaks were isolated by Djs and became the backbone of all rap production.

THE FALL OF HIP HOP (part 1)

In the early days of Hip Hop, most notably around the last fifteen years of the 20th century, there had always been an underlying, but often vocal, opposition to popular American music, or "pop" music. The idea was always that, by surrendering the people's music, designed for the downtrodden inner-city, to corporate America, Hip Hop contradicted everything it stood for. However, that which the soothsayers of rap feared has come true, and those cunning profiteers, who take control of every potential cash-crop they detect, have commandeered the music so seamlessly that the glory days of yesteryear and the code under which they operated, are all but forgotten.

Back then, the unwritten code implied that an artist must "pay dues", such as battling other MC's in the streets or hosting parties held in city parks or apartments, before they can be respected as a true rap artist. This code was enforced musically and collectively by those already anointed, rather effectively destroying the fragile careers of artists who had bypassed these rites of passage and crossed over into the mainstream by way of a marketing strategy.

The two most notable causalities were MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, both of whom won Grammy Awards, at a time when such honors was considered a scarlet letter in the music's culture. Such brutal attacks proved that the music was, indeed, larger than any man, and no feelings would be spared to safeguard the musical frontier which had refused to join the empire

Today, we see events like the annual Hip Hop Honors, which decided to commemorate The Dirty South for their “dominance” in rap music over the last decade, a dominance measured by sales, not talent, and is clearly a result of the over-exposure that comes from squeezing a successful product for everything it's worth. The landscape has been mangled. Artists that were previously banished are now celebrated, like the actor-turned-rapper and exemplar of pop star, Drake, who has shrewdly conformed to the south's unique interpretation of rap music and has seamlessly integrated with its clique, despite the fact that he hails from Canada, thousands of miles away.
In 2010, Drake, the canuck, who has outrun a sure exile by about fifteen years, wears his mainstream accolades with pride and is adored by fans, which are appearing more and more like the crowd at the Mickey Mouse Club and less like a classic "park jam". Just like Ice, who was harshly vilified and torn from grace, he has bypassed the code and has been inserted into the chain-wearing, campaign-popping world of dancing floozies and big rims. Most certainly under a team of business advisers, he masquerades as a tried and true member of the Dirty South and whistles "Dixie" all the way to the Canadian bank.

Friday, June 11, 2010

EXPLAINING THE FALL OF HIP HOP (part 2)

Much like the original formula for a rap song — now called “old school” or “indie rap” — I I have been accused of using too much verbiage. So, I will further support my previous article, in which I explained that the landscape of hip hop music has been altered due to both the laws of capitalism and regional personalities, from a historical standpoint rather than a philosophical one. Along the way I'll explain how the change has created an environment where Drake, the Canadian version of Ricky Schroder whose bar mitzvah was held in his wealthy hometown of suburban Toronto, can receive a first class ticket from Nickelodeon Studios to the rap life as a gift from Lil' Wayne, the multi-platinum artist and privileged son of rapper, Byrdman.

Forgetting the funk offspring, filtered through the two-year disco boom, which spawned the breakdancing craze ultimately becoming the entity called hip hop and had already made appearances abound, it is agreed that hip hop originated in the parks of uptown New York City and spread instantaneously to the other Burroughs. It was a development that I witnessed first hand and I repeat that fact solely in hopes of being awarded some credibility. I would find it difficult to discredit a Vietnam Veteran's insights on guerrilla warfare. There is no agenda stemming from a regional beef or endorsement of any fabricated sub-genre. The idea is simply that hip hop is in its original form when it reflects the model of the early pioneers .

A common argument given, at this point, is that if hip hop still sounded like Kool Moe Dee, it would never have lasted. I agree completely, however artists who resemble the original rap music thirty years matured are those who use their time on the microphone to be a charismatic Master of Ceremonies, or MC, and to battle other rappers --in a test of skill — for the right to continue. Today the emphasis is on their lavish lifestyle, rather than their lyrical skills. While the production, also due in part to sampling laws, has become more keyboard based tunes over a down-tempo groove.


Read more: http://blogcritics.org/music/article/explaining-the-fall-of-hip-hop/#ixzz0s4dMKYBm

Much like the original formula for a rap song — now called “old school” or “indie rap” — I I have been accused of using too much verbiage. So, I will further support my previous article, in which I explained that the landscape of hip hop music has been altered due to both the laws of capitalism and regional personalities, from a historical standpoint rather than a philosophical one. Along the way I'll explain how the change has created an environment where Drake, the Canadian version of Ricky Schroder whose bar mitzvah was held in his wealthy hometown of suburban Toronto, can receive a first class ticket from Nickelodeon Studios to the rap life as a gift from Lil' Wayne, the multi-platinum artist and privileged son of rapper, Byrdman.

Forgetting the funk offspring, filtered through the two-year disco boom, which spawned the breakdancing craze ultimately becoming the entity called hip hop and had already made appearances abound, it is agreed that hip hop originated in the parks of uptown New York City and spread instantaneously to the other Burroughs. It was a development that I witnessed first hand and I repeat that fact solely in hopes of being awarded some credibility. I would find it difficult to discredit a Vietnam Veteran's insights on guerrilla warfare. There is no agenda stemming from a regional beef or endorsement of any fabricated sub-genre. The idea is simply that hip hop is in its original form when it reflects the model of the early pioneers.

A common argument given, at this point, is that if hip hop still sounded like Kool Moe Dee, it would never have lasted. I agree completely, however artists who resemble the original rap music thirty years matured are those who use their time on the microphone to be a charismatic Master of Ceremonies, or MC, and to battle other rappers --in a test of skill — for the right to continue. Today the emphasis is on their lavish lifestyle, rather than their lyrical skills. While the production, also due in part to sampling laws, has become more keyboard based tunes over a down-tempo groove.

 
Wordpress Theme by wpthemescreator .
Converted To Blogger Template by Anshul .