THE PROBLEM WITH THE INDIE RAP GAME TODAY IS....

[og MS]

finish this sentence....



The problem with the indie rap game today is.....

Too much talkin' not enough doin... I believe networkin and co-ops are the key in today's fucked up state of music in general. I also believe that new technology has fucked things up for the most part because it has lowered the musical standards as we once knew it. I know it's part of evolution but because of it, almost everyone is a rapper or producer because of how mainstream production & recording equipment is nowadays. I have seen that people who were once staunch supporters of artists and labels become competitive towards them because they now "rap" and/or "produce." Nothing wrong with fulfilling dreams... but try to do it right and learn the business and try to educate those underneath you so they can contribute in a way that is beneficial to the cause. I by all means am not perfect in this game, but I do know that I started and was part of an era that educated me and allowed me to soak plenty of game from many levels... entry level street promotion for the likes of RBL, Herm, JT the Bigga Figga, Black Market, AWOL, High Powered Music Group (B-12), YBB & Rob Nonies, Music People & Rod Guadalupe etc.. in 1994 to journalism and writing stories, reviews etc... in The Loop, Illtip etc... to sittin' in on sessions with Studio Ton (watching him mix our material) Black C, Crazy 8 etc..
I feel I am pretty much seasoned... but I definitely have plenty more to learn and am humbled by this cuthroat industry. I want to take the time to wish all our peers the best of luck and prosperity in 2004. Lord knows we need to network more and reach out to each other in order to survive and thrive in this dirty game.

sorry if I dragged on...

 

[CARLOS ROSSI]

I think the problem is you got to many people in the game not willing to network cuz they already in the game and they dont want no else piccin up the mic.... i'm alwayz readin all these posts about there are too many people rappin...so fuccin what i agree there are lames tryin to do this but when you got all these people down playin new artists its no wonder no one networks if your new no even fuccs wit you! weed out these poodles and all the realas on this site need to connect like buttcheeks! its not hard to see a poodle in a room full of pits either!!!



Rossi

 

[Big Robb]

thankz doxx....another thing i would like to touch is the CD-R thang........i will say KVE will be using sum CDR's on the street cds but we will be selling em for about 5-6 bucks thats pretty good deal, its sad labels gota do this here now but the burning and the lack of a way to smash out the ""Garbage" labels its a hard feat......i argued with a few ppl the other night about the CDR thang.....but peep real quick in the mind of a business man....

heres how it worked many times......you spend at least on the low average on a decent album about $12,000 - $15,000 on promo, pressing, and advertising, along with production.......then you sell 3000 units per album on the low average so you will get any where from $12,000 - $24,000 lets meet in the middle..lets say $18,000, so now we make of the album after about 8 months of waiting for payments and all about $4,000, or so......follow me....so that was pretty good when we or when good labels could make that happen which was noithing, cuz any sells after that was all profit with lil expenses......butttttttttt

today, burning and the flood of amature labels saturating the market, or shall i say scaring the buyers, or again shall i say....makeing the buyer scared to try sumin new on the shelf cuz the last shit they juss bought sounds like sum karoke type shit...now the best thing for a business man to do in the situtation is to :
1. Cut cost sum where down the road:
A. Get cheapper beats, sum abc shit
B. Cut big money features which is a good idea any way.
C. Cut the the Pressing cost "CDR's"
D. Or say fuck it and keep doin music to lose money.
2. Quit all together
3. Cut corners

well now ppl wanna put out sum cdrs due to cheap prices...so now peep......the average album still is around $12,000 to put out right.......but cut a few corners and you are around $10,000 now you get at least $14,000 for your 3000 units so now the label and the artist get a lil bit of sumin to live off of and still put music out, but there will still be ppl that say "fuckem i will juss buy sum one else"..........but in the end the arugument dont mean shit cuz more times than you sell a unit your music will ened up on a CDR anyways, in sum highschools downloads and him burning it on cd giving it out to all his friends for free, giving your shit, the labels shit, the artist shit, the whole crews money away for free........so the bottom question becomes who you want the cd from?......the highschool kid or will you support the label?


i said we will be using the CDR on street cds but we will strive to keep our standards up on our Regular releases......remeber a "business Man" will survive in his current occupation or a new one daily....cuz he about his business.......

 

[Big Robb]

it became to easy to make music, it became ABC......if making computers was ABc ppl would be on it.......one thing ppl get blinded though when ppl think of music or better yet when they think or being the one on the cd cover of they first album they think "$$$$$" then they think "Fame".........its like selling youe soul to the devil, cuz then comes greedy and blame and hatered and finger pointing. Evil in one of its many forms

 

[x-loc]

cd burning is only going to get worse

 

[Big Robb]

i agree...

 

[PainLoc]

The problem with the indie rap game today is, i belive, a combination of mp3 downloads and bigger indie labels not helping out the smaller labels. Sometimes i think these bigger labels are either too greedy to help out a smaller label and or artist or they just dont have a good ear for music. As the owner of a small label i have offered songs to some of the bigger labels for free just to get our name out on the street. But not once has any of these bigger labels taken me up on the offer. Now i know we got slumps. This aint just some round the way homies telling me so. We got people from Japan to Germany e mailing us asking when the cd is gonna drop. Anyone can but a PC based setup and put out a cd but if it aint tight it aint gonna sell. It's just now because of all the wannabe indie labels out more people are wanting to hear the music before they buy. Which means your artists need to do alot more gigs and you practicly need a hand up from a more well known label such as KVE or WCM. I know i buy anything and everything from WCM and if they introduce me to a new artist i buy their shit if he's nice on the mic. Thats just my two cents. If anyone is interested in hearing some of my slumps go to http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/5150xoentertainmentmusic.htm and check it out. Let me know what you think

 

[Big Robb]

i would be interested in listening to a cd if you can send one homioe

 

[PainLoc]

Big Robb

I belive i sent 1 or 2 cd's your way about 5 or 6 months ago but i can send another one out right away. I would love to see one of our cuts on a KVE comp but even if that was not a possibillity i would appriciate some honest feedback. None of our songs are profesionaly mastered as of yet. We are waiting to hustle up the funds to drop the cd proper. And as you stated doing it right cost alot more money then people think. The songs are very high quality though and certainly dont sound like they were recorded on no karokke machine. Did you listen to the cut we have up on soundclick.com? If so what did you think of that ? I'll drop a cd in the mail tomarrow. I belive i still have your contact infoOur song on soundclick

 

[Big Robb]

u may have sent a cd cuz we do get many but one problem with most all of em, not conatct number or name or a letter stating how u heard of us or if i said send it or any thing whut was the cd called and was there a contact included?

 

[PainLoc]

With every cd we send out we include a letter and a track listing. the cd would have said 5150XO Entertainment on it. I will send out another on either today or tomorrow express mail to the address listed in your sig

 

[HIGHSPEED]

I DIDN'T EVEN LOOK TO WHAT OTHERS SAID.......I'M JUST SPEAKIN ON WHAT I HAVE SEEN AND WHAT I FEEL.........THE PROBLEM IS IT SEEMS LIKE THE INDIE RAP GAME ESPECIALLY IN THE BAY HAS A BIG ASS WALL AROUND IT.AND NO-ONE WANTS TO , TRIES TO OR REALLY HAS GOTTEN OVER IT. THERE IS CHANGE OUT THERE. TO MANY CLONES TRYIN TO SOUND LIKE THE NEXT GUY MAKIN THE SAME BEATS AS THE NEXT GUY...SAYIN THE SAME SHIT AS THE NEXT GUY.....THE REASON FOR E-40 SUCCESS(BAY AREA) IS HE IS DIFFERENT. HE DON'T FOLLOW THE TRENDS, HE IS A TREND-A TRENDSETTER FOR THE NEXT 200 "RAPPERS" TO COME AND FOLLOW.....NOT TO MANY PEOPLE KNOW HOW TO TELL A DETAILED STORY.......PEOPLE WANT DETAIL....JUST MY OPINION, DON'T GET MAD IF I CRUSHED ANYONE'S SELF-ESTEEM IT'S JUST AN OPINION.......THROUGH THE EYES OF MYSELF.AND IF YOU WANT TO SEE A CHANGE OF GAME WAIT FOR THE NEW HIGHSPEED ALBUM..."R.S.V.P." PEACE.


PLAYA-T

 

[maddog]

that no one respects the art of making real music today. and i see what big rob is talking about, you have to cut corner now if you want to survive in this game. see it was funny when the major labels were crying about they music being downloaded until the ppl started downloading smaller start up labels. cause it's true, their are to many people wanting to be in the music business. their turning from fans to entertainer and sh*tting on other people music trying to hurt their sales. like big rob said theirs just to much competition and not enough listeners.

 

[DubbC415]

fairweather fan support, fairweather artist supply.