Entries Tagged 'Business' ↓

How To Make The Mind Your Most Powerful Weapon.

During GrindXDesign, we’re addressing technical issues such as publicity, production, and promotion, with capable guests like the editors of The Source and XXL; D.J. Premier and Young Guru; D.J. Drama and Marcus Frasier, of DatPiff.com.

But we also wanted to focus on thinking, and how a positive mindset is critical for success in the hip-hop business.

That’s why we’re bringing in Arthur Wylie, author of Only the Crazy and Fearless Win BIG!: The Surprising Secrets to Success in Business and in Life. “Following the pack and doing what you are told may get you a job and even a promotion,” he says, “but it won’t lead to real success.”

That comes, says Wylie, by audacity, and thinking outside the box. “To win big,” he says, “you have to be fearless and, sometimes, even a little crazy.”

Arthur will be leading our Wednesday, October 3rd tutorial. Register for the entire eight-week series at GrindXDesign.com for only $97. That’s less than you’ll spend for just 1/2 an hour of an even barely competent lawyer’s time, if you don’t know what you’re doing.

PLUS tonight, Monday, August 27, at 8 pm, join us for our GrindXDesign completely FREE preview!! Attorney Steve Gordon, right, author of The Future of the Music Business: How to Succeed with the New Digital Technologies, will be with us on the line and in the studio. But, first, “8 Success Secrets the Record Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know!” Go to GXDFree.com for more info and to register.

D.J. Premier Calls GrindXDesign “A Tunnel” To A Better Hip-Hop Future. (Plus, Register For Monday’s FREE GrindXDesign Preview Event!!)

Norway’s 15 1/4-mile Lærdal Tunnel, the world’s longest.
Photo by ping

D.J. Premier, right, is undebatably one of hip-hop’s treasures, and, with, Jay-Z engineer, Young Guru, one of the expert guests on our lead GrindXDesign event, this coming Wednesday, August 29, at 8 pm. In this 90-second piece of audio, he talks about why GrindXDesign is not just another event for him.

P.S. If this audio peaks your interest, you’re definitely going to want to join us for the FREE GrindXDesign Preview, “8 Success Secrets The Record Industry Definitely Doesn’t Want You To Know,” Monday evening, 8 pm, August 27—two days before our launch event. Details at GXDfree.com.

“Don’t Give Up Your Publishing!”

Music is a publishing business.

This may seem obvious, but, in a way, I think it’s not. That is, we often think about the field as music, and then publishing; as separate things.

But, of course, the act of putting music in fixed form is an act of publishing, and pretty much anything one does with music, subsequently involves publishing.

That’s why we think it’s critical for hip-hop artists not to give up their publishing, but to also think about publishing a different way. That’s a big part part of why we’re doing GrindXDesign.

Registration is $77 through August 22nd, $97 after that. Go to GrindXDesign.com for information.

“How Do I Get A Record Deal?”
Rap Coalition’s Wendy Day On The Question She Gets Asked The Most By Hip-Hop Artists.

As Wendy Day gives recording contract facts, Cash Money Records
producer Mannie Fresh appears to regret every deal he ever signed.

This conversation is from last week’s Friday, August 10 edition of my WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION. In it, music business activist Wendy Day, above, discusses the modern-day record deal with me, and talks about how artists should sensibly approach getting one—or not.

On October 17th, Wendy and attorney Dan Booth will be guests at GrindXDesign, the “teleclass”—that’s education and instruction by phone—I’m doing for eight Wednesdays, starting August 29th. (Our first guests: Gang Starr’s D.J. Premier and Jay-Z engineer Young Guru, discussing production and songwriting.)

Registration is $77 through August 22nd, $97 after that. Go to GrindXDesign.com for information. Now, back to our scheduled programming….

How Not To Get A Record Deal.

I’m absolutely certain I could not have asked two better guests to lead the first module in our GrindXDesign eight-week tele-course.

The conversation takes place this coming Wednesday, August 15, 8 pm ET. It’s called, “How To Get A Record Deal,” and it’s led by Wendy Day, right, and Dan Booth, below.

Why do I think they’re the best choice? Have you ever looked at a modern recording contract?

Wendy has, and so has Dan, both many times. Apparently, what they’ve seen has so terrified them that they’ve decided to warn every human being who may, even accidentally, come across such a labyrinthine, all-encroaching, aggressively one-sided document.

Wendy does this through her activism, as the long-standing founder of the advocacy organization, Rap Coalition. Dan gets it in through his firm, Booth Sweet LLP. He describes himself as an attorney for “people in creative industries”—that probably means you—with a focus on copyright and trademark law.

Most of all, though,  Dan and Wendy both have a passion for right that, in this cynical age, probably strikes evil people as mad corny, but that to me is admirable and desirable. Also, I dig Wendy’s direct, no-nonsense e-book, How To Get A Record Deal: The Knowledge to Succeed, right, so much that I bit the title for GrindXDesign, and malformed it for this post.

(Plus, Wendy was a guest this past Friday, August 10, at 2 pm ET, on my WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION. If you missed the live show, here’s the link; go to the 32-minute mark if you don’t check out the whole thing. It’ll be in our archives for up to 90 days after the broadcast.)

How not to get a record deal? The best way not to get a record deal is to not take the GrindXDesign telecourse. And HURRY! The early bird price is an awesomely reasonable $77 for the whole eight weeks—less than 10 bucks a session—but it goes up to $97 on Sunday night! Don’t cry to any of us when the industry takes your money, B. When they do, it’s gonna be a lot more than a hundred bucks.

#gXd: It Starts Now.

As you probably know from my writing, my broadcasting, and certainly from my long-standing relationship with Public Enemy, education and information has always been critical to me. I don’t think that education or information, themselves, liberate. However, I firmly believe that they are the basis of freedom.

That’s why I’m extremely excited to produce and host GrindXDesign, an eight-week tutorial that starts about a week from today, on Wednesday, August 15th. I trust that you will be a part of it.

I’ve been working with my team on this for a while. A large part of that time had to do with me just understanding the concept. Brilliantly executed by social media strategist Lena West, it consists of creating a technology format through which hip-hop industry leaders can connect with, and teach, groups of committed, driven individuals who need the information those luminaries share.

That is what I hope to create for artists, through knowledge. The business of music is an amazing, fearsome world. It has produced some of humanity’s most powerful art. But, for many, it has also functioned as a cesspool of exploitation, usually those who merely wanted to get on stage, as fast as possible, and sing, dance, or rap.

That has got to end. As my friend and mentor Chuck D has often noted, even the term music business is over 60% the word “business.” That is, it’s mostly business.

Hip-hop artists may suffer most from the lack of this information. If we’re going to save hip-hop, that, too, has to change. If hip-hop is going to be preserved as a cultural and social system—if such a thing is possible—people who are concerned about its survival are going to have to commit to performing strong acts.

That is the definition of leading by example. We need more of it in our culture, one built by many, many hands. I’ve put mine in, and, if God gives me life and strength, this is only the beginning.

I’ve officially opened registration at GrindXDesign.com. Grab your seat. Take no prisoners.

#gXd: Fear Of A Black Planet?

Americans travel less than almost any other people on Earth.

Most of the hip-hop ever made was created in America, its birthplace.

What are the implications of these two facts for touring, and the benefits artists can derive from going abroad?

#gXd: How Big A Role Do “Connections” Play In Hip-Hop Success? Is It More “What You Know,” Or “Who You Know”? Why?

What do you think of Erick’s statement?

#gXd 1

How I’d Like To Fly the Friendly Skies.

photo-6

This week, Miramar, FL-based Spirit Airlines announced that, beginning in August, passengers would be charged up to $45 per bag, not to check luggage, but to carry it onto the plane.

Their foul money grab puts a cherry on top of what airline passengers have known, seemingly, for a generation: Unless you’re rollin’ solo, above, flying is the pits.

Not from outside the plane, however. It’s in that world, where flying’s grace and beauty is palpable, that aerial photographer Erik Hildebrandt reigns.

erikHildebrandt, right, has released over half a dozen books of his work through his own company, Cleared Hot Media, Inc. (The title is a military expression meaning one has permission to engage a target.) These include Anytime, Baby: Hail and Farewell to the U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and his Front Row Center: Inside the Great American Air Show series, now up to four volumes.

Erik Hildebrandt is the guest today on this rebroadcast from my WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION, this afternoon, Friday, April 9, at 2 pm ET. During our talk, we discussed the process of making pictures, how airplanes are built, the notion of warfare and the reasons for it, and more.

As well, in a few weeks, in a never-before-aired, upcoming piece, I’ll talk to him about his work as a self-publisher, that being an increasingly meaningful preoccupation in this era of media independence.

You can learn more about his work by visiting his Vulture’s Row web site, or by tuning in today at 2 pm ET. If you’re outside of the New York tri-state, check out our live stream on the web. If you miss the live show, dig into our archives for up to 90 days after broadcast.