UnLieutenant said:
i feel you! especially on the fact that there are no mom and pop stores around that sell bay shit or other underground shit except that backpacker stuff. but it's changing here at least i guess. nowadays you got a couple of internet peeps who import bay and southern shit to make a living. and the prices are reasonable mainly because the dollar's so low at the moment. but it's still not in the stores....
I heard that, its true man, the independent record stores out here do sell obscure things but never Bay because they only sell what they can lay their hands on.
Bay CD's will never pass through their hands because the only time they are ever shipped out of the US is when we as customers buy individual copies mail order.
Until there is an economic sensible distribution that gets wholesale independent product to independent retailers in Europe, we'll never see Bay CD's out here.
But then most independent bay CD's are pressed as like what 1,000 - 5,000 copies? It's not worthwhile for a bay artist to cover distribution costs to get say 100 copies in stores overseas.
You sell to your market, there is no market here for Bay music so a cat should just sell the CD's in Norcal where the fan base is and the rest of us swoop via mail order.
The only way to get a market for bay music out here is to invest in the distribution and promotion which is where a major label comes in. Thats the way to the exposure which will create a market for more bay music.
I've yet to believe it's possible to be independent and truly worldwide. Selling CD's off cdbaby.com and such like doesn't count, I mean worldwide as in having your CD's in stores in other countries.
No one from the bay really has that, I'd love to know the scans for cats like E-40 in the UK. The distribution even by the big labels for the Bay's finest is weak.
From what I see available in music stores to the average customer, I'm willing to bet there are < 50 copies of either Breaking News or the Federation album in the UK.
So if even these cats with Jive or Virgin behind them can't get they're music into enough stores (at a realistic price) for people to buy their shit, a real market for the Bay over here will never exist.
And then we're talking about shows? With no market, no CD's in stores out here? Forget it.
The show might give you a little shine but no one will pay to see a rapper they've never heard of, and how many shows will it take to create a market from nothing?
I'm not being negative, just being realistic - lets be honest folks if there is no market there is no money and who is going to spend money travelling to Europe to do shows in the hope of creating a market from nothing.
That is a lot of investment of time and money to try and get some extra fans who at best were turning up to a show to see someone else. Realistically not many rappers is going to waste time fucking with that hustle.
The only paper route I can see is cats who are really getting their music heard worldwide over the internet.
The artists who have successfully grasped the net to distribute their music and most of all create a buzz, are the ones who can create a market in new countries from nothing.
Cats have street teams, why not have an online equivalent. This is hypothetical, but lets say Chuck at Done Deal put out Ya Boy's 16's with me as a free MP3, paid the bandwidth on the download, and had cats getting that shit onto every forum and message board in every corner of the globe.
Two clicks and cats everywhere would be hearing the track. How much buzz would that be? From little time, effort or spend. The track was fire, and suddenly you've got 10,000 people worldwide who know that and will be typing 'Ya Boy' in on Amazon for months until they can get the album over here. Next up it will be in shops.
Then there's your market. A huge one. And then when someone says this cat is coming over to the UK to do a show, there will actually be people checking and paying to see that show. But no market, no show...
I know its not this simple, but I damn nearly seen it happen this way. I've let cats peep a Quinn CD or a Mac Dre CD and I seen people at my workplace sitting there on Amazon trying to find out how to buy it after.
If the Bay want to be successful overseas, this is the only way its going to happen...
Its a nice idea, but it's not going to happen with major label support (where is that Feds CD and who bought it over here, why is no one in stores asking where the last 3 E-40 albums are?), abd it's not going to happen by doing some shows to people who never heard of you (a lot of investment and travel for very little time to shine, in a country where people cant even buy your music).
Sorry if this offends anyone, I've only got love for the Bay and the amount of time and money I spend getting CD's over here proves that, it's all I listen to, 99% of the time. I just wanted to give you an informed perspective of the market for that music over here.
I'd be tripping to see anyone from the Bay come over and do a show, I'd be all over that, but it's no point not being realistic about it and letting you know truthfully how effective or successful it would really be.
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