this has nothing to do with elow, its basic economics. Supply and demand. Rappers are no longer the product, they r the consumers. A whole demographic of consumers ready to pay. Producers, magazines, graphic artist, printers, venues, etc etc is where its at. The fact that everyone is trying to rap, world wide is fuckin up the game. It was prophesized "too many emcees not enough mics"
U SMACK IT RIGHT ON THE NOSE GEE.
HERES A LIL SOMETHING THAT I WANT TO SHARE WITH YALL AGAIN!
Everyone Is an Singer/Rapper/Musician/DJ..
The problem with this is
that artists have become commodities, lowering their value.
A commodity is a useful item that is undifferentiated in the marketplace, is taken for granted and thus has a low value.
In the days before marketing, if you went to
the corner store and asked for oatmeal, the clerk would scoop the
product out of a barrel, bag it and sell it to you....no Quaker Oats,
no General Mills oatmeal, no Oat's and Honey.Oatmeal was a
commodity.
Raising a common product from the commodity level allows you to charge
higher prices, and is accomplished by branding.
Branding is marketing
and positioning yourself in the marketplace in a way that distinguishes
you from your competitors and creates customer identification with your
company.
There are three components to the successful launching of a product: production, marketing and distribution.
Thanks to Roland, Akai, Korg, Moog, Sony, etc, production of music is
affordable and ez. Anyone can make a decent recording in their home
with a few thousand dollars worth of equipment.
Thanks to Snocap, Gnutella, Napster, ITunes, etc...anyone can
distribute electronic versions of those songs for zero cost to millions
of possible purchasers via the Internet.
So the problem for the artist now is marketing...marketing is all about
the story.
Just producing a record used to be a big deal, now the question is, "Why should I buy your music with so much garbo floating around & What's in it for me?''
The old marketing was called the TV/Industrial Complex /Advertising and
went like this:
1. Buy Expensive Ads to Interrupt Lots of People
2. Get More Distribution
3. Sell more products.
4. Make a Profit
This worked fine when production was somewhat limited.
Now production is limitless, anyone can produce thousands of copies of
anything cheaply.
The new system is called the Fashion/Permission Complex:
1. Make Something Worth Talking About
2. Tell It to People Who Want to Hear it From You
3. They Spread the Word
4. Get Permission from Them to tell Them About Your Next Fashion/Product.
So the focus for today's successful artist is marketing.
Production and Distribution problems have been solved.
Anyone can nowrelease a CD of music.
The new question Is "Who is this artist? Why
should I care about them? Why should I identify with them and
ultimately buy their songs? It's all about the story.
"Oh, but I've got a great story!", the artist says...I am different, I
came up from the streets/ghetto/middle class/wealth/...(fill in your
story here)...I paid my dues, I moved to NY/Chi/whatever from
wherever...my mother beat me as a child and raped me....
This IS not what I mean by the story.
The story isn't what you tell the customer about yourself...the story is what the customer tells themselves about how they feel when they buy your products.
A customer standing in line at Whole Foods with a filled grocery cart is telling
themselves a story, "I care about the environment/about the treatment
of the animals I eat/I'm different/I care about my body/I am
conscious/ buying products at Whole Foods makes me feel as if I am making a difference.......A guy bumping hard rap music while driving down the
street is telling himself a story. He's saying, " I am hard.
I'm on one, Listening to this rap music makes me feel like a rider."
When a potential fan first hears/sees you...what story do they tell
themselves about how you as a product make them feel.
Can they put your music on loud during the summer and bump it down the street with there folks? Does it make their heads rock? Does playing your music tell people/their
parents how hard/cool/hip/rebellious they are? Do their parents hate
your music? That would be cool...a huge part of music sales are made
to adolescent kids using music to make a break from their parents.
When they listen to your music...how does it make them feel better
about themselves? What in it can they identify with? Hip-hop is about
making something out of nothing and rising up from less-than-perfect
circumstances.
Millions of people live under these
circumstances...millions identify with hip-hop.
Artist, what about YOU can people Identify with? What MUST they ID with? What about you do they NEED?
We know you want to be/are a star...what are you giving in return?
Why should we care about one more artist/CD/mixtape/comedy routine?
The first part of achieving a goal is knowing what you want.
The second, equally important part is knowing what you are willing to give
/capable of giving.
Most of you who read this are seriously talented,
have worked very hard and good at what you do, so you give your talent,
which is beautiful...and it's appreciated.
What emotional connection can you make with your fans, based on this
fact? How can your quest help them make it through their day? Does
your music give them hope? Make them feel like they can do something
good? Make them feel important? Meet their needs and your needs will
be met.
