ONLY FOR THE D.M.V LIFESTYLE !

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Crucial Commonwealth Sale!

THE MILLION DJ MARCH COMES TO THE DMV AUGUST 28-30.

DJs, recording artists, and activists are being called on to rally in Washington DC this summer at the "Million DJ March," in an attempt to shed light on issues affecting DJs.

The three day event - which will be held on August 28 -30 - will find DJs raising their voices for better compensation, security, recognition for contributions to the music industry and an organized union for professional DJs, as they march from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument.

DJ Green Lantern is the face of the event, while A. Shaw, a long-time sponsor of Justo's Mixtape Awards, is heading up the whole thing. "DJ's do not get fully recognized for the work they do," Shaw said in a statement. "Label and major businesses who reap the rewards of default publicity need to pay attention and give more recognition and financial compensation to DJs for the promotion they provide, without which music sales would surely suffer."

Sometimes, DJs even face legal repercussions for that promotion, a practice the rally will also address."[DJs are] often harassed and legally penalized for their promotional efforts even when those efforts have been solicited directly by the labels and artists themselves: an arrangement that is known about throughout the industry but kept 'on the low," the press release reads."I am calling upon the industry to show support for an event to unify deejays and help create future economic safety for those that have chosen this art form as a career," Shaw said.

Sponsors and attendees will be treated to artist performances, speeches by music industry leaders and founding DJs.

For more info go to

www.myspace.com/themilliondjmarch

From the good people @ DCtoBC.com

I created this muxtape with the hope of increasing the friendly competition amongst the artists in the dmv. whatever it is, if it's hot, it'll make the muxtape. biased? probably. but my ear is good, and if you like good music, you'll appreciate the choices. it's like a battle of the bands: best 12 tracks (in no ranking or particular order) every month get recognition, while those who didn't make it work harder so next time, they get on it.

If you want the entire reason for me creating the joint, DCtoBC.com. the post is up, and i'ma leave it up for a bit so people can understand why i'm doing it, besides the fact that i like seeing our area succeed.

Let me know if you like. guys, please spread the word, forward this e-mail to other DMV hip hop bloggers, or whoever you think would be interested. do whatever. the movement can be huge. i would love to see this thing on every myspace, facebook, and blog in the DMV. and elsewhere.

Thanks a lot. i appreciate it. and if you need any songs, holler at me. and huge shout out to 2 dope boyz...they get music so damn early. good grief. and shout out to those who are grinding out those final exams right now. my bad for hitting everybody up in the early AM, but i'm just tryna make something happen.

- modi

dmv.muxtape.com

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

What if this happened on the Green Line?

JESUS...............This is too funny!

D2D HIP HOP SUMMIT!

FOR INFO CALL 3014405522 or 3013951013

New Record from MINA produced by TEFLON 'NEW DAY"

My homie TEFLON (www.myspace.com/27deep) sent me a new record he produced for a artist named MINA and it's called "New Day". It a pretty dope record in my opinion. It's not no 808 pop rock S***! Sike nah its a dope record. Download.........

http://www.zshare.net/audio/11653193e7bf4f3c/

My homie Teflon is taking full advantage of this blog...........

Venting Part 1. SCUM BALL ALERT!

So I was rapping to my man (who will remain anonymous) and he said something about a studio on Georgia Ave named Listen Vision. I immediately got a little angry!!!!!!!!

Over the years people have been coming through my studio talking about this lames. It has been reported many times that their business practices haven't been that good. I have a personal experience with the owner of the studio "DJ BOOM", he has stolen one of my beats in the past.

One of my beats was on a famous instrumental mixtape and a artist took it to listen vision to record it. A few months later I called Listen Vision to get some beats for a project i was working on and DJ BOOM sent me a CD with some beats on it and guess what.....................The beat that was on the instrumental CD and that the guy had took to Listen Vision to record was on the CD. THE SAME DAMN BEAT just some extra cuttin (DJ BOOM is famous for that bamma A$$ S***).

Needless to say I wanted to apply pressure but I was urged to let it go because of various reasons. But.........................the conversation I had with my homie yesterday just made me realize that they still doing dirty stuff over there.

SO ARTIST AND PRODUCERS.. etc..................BEWARE OF LISTEN VISION!

Useful info for those trying to get in the music biz.....

Music industry: five alternative business models

by Steve O'Hear, editor
October 11th, 2007 | Posted in Audio |

29 Comments

Music industry: five alternative business models The record industry is in dire trouble and the major record companies know it. According to the IFPI’s most recent figures, “physical” music sales were down 11% to $17.5bn in 2006, and, blaming piracy — both CD copying and online file-sharing — the IFPI says that overall music sales have fallen for the seventh year running.

However, none of this was unpredicted, and in post-Napster 2003, Steve Jobs appeared to offer the recording industry a way into the future, through the iTunes Music Store. People didn’t want to steal music, argued Jobs, and if paid-for downloads could compete on price and convenience, then many of those illegal file traders would be converted back into paying customers. As a result, Jobs insisted on the unbundling of albums; instead all tracks would be offered for purchase individually, at the same price — 99c — whether they be a new release, top 40 hit, or an older and more obscure song. To which the majors reluctantly complied, and would later learn to regret.

Fast-forward again to 2007, and although paid-for downloads are on the increase, they aren’t rising nearly fast enough to make up for the loss in revenue from falling CD sales. By Jobs’ own admission, on average only three percent of music on an iPod originates from the iTunes Music Store. As if to rub salt in the wound, iPod sales accounted for nearly half of Apple’s total revenuefor 2006.

Instead of recognizing that the record industry’s aging business model, even with the intervention of Jobs, is a broken one and in desperate need of a fix, the response has largely been litigation coupled with the introduction of technology, in the form of DRM, designed to enforce copy protection, which, ultimately, just inconveniences paying customers.

If the iTunes model isn’t the answer, and business can’t go on as usual, then what is? Here are five alternative models for selling music, many of which are actually being tested by artists, entrepreneurs, and even the major record labels themselves.

Free

If music is becoming ubiquitous, through illegal file-sharing, supported by mass storage MP3 players, then why not just give it away? The “free” model doesn’t mean not making money from music. Instead, the tracks themselves are treated as a loss leader, designed to promote the artist and drive sales of other associated products, such as concert tickets and merchandise.

Jamendo

Jamendo Jamendo is a web service that embraces the “free” model by helping artists to distribute their music for free, under a Creative Commons license, on peer-to-peer filesharing networks such as BitTorrent or eMule. Jamendo users can also discuss and rate tracks, as well as make a donation directly to the artists whose music they’re fans of. Additionally, Jamendo has an ad-revenue scheme for artists who set-up-shop on the site.

Prince

Prince gave his most recent album away for free, or more accurately, a British Sunday newspaper did. How much he got paid by the newspaper we don’t know, but Prince claimed the deal was primarily about getting his music into the hands of as many people as possible and to help promote his upcoming UK tour. It was later reported that all of Prince’s UK dates had sold out almost as soon as they went on sale. However, the move didn’t go down so well with the recording industry. The UK arm of Sony BMG withdrew from Prince’s global deal, refusing to distribute the album to UK stores. Retail store, HMV, was equally unimpressed, with chief executive Simon Fox describing the arrangement as “absolute madness.”

SpiralFrog

Launched last month, SpiralFrog lets users download music for free, in return for viewing advertising (see our full review). In addition to viewing ads while searching for and downloading music, the service requires users to log in to the site and view ads at least once every 30 days, or the downloaded music for the account becomes disabled. SpiralFrog is built on a revenue-sharing agreement with participating labels, and currently offers a catalog of 800,000 songs and 3,500 music videos.

Pay what you want

Radiohead

Similar to “free”, the “pay what you want” model came into the public eye most recently when Radiohead released their new album, In Rainbows, with a voluntary price tag. Fans can choose what to pay for the album, including nothing at all.

Jane Siberry

The artist, Jane Siberry, makes a similar offer to fans, with the difference that they can choose what they’d like to pay, after they’ve already downloaded and listened to the album first.

Magnatune

Magnatune is an online music service which has built much of its business around the “pay what you want” model. Albums carry a low minimum price, with fans able to decide how much more to pay after that. In an email, I asked Magnatune founder, John Buckman, how fans, artists and record labels have responded to the “pay what you want” model.

“New visitors to Magnatune see the “we are not evil” slogan and justifiably remain skeptical. The “how much do you want to pay?” question they get when they click the “buy” button is so shocking, so different than any traditional business, that it usually puts a smile on their face and makes them True Believers in the Magnatune Way.
Labels think it’s insane.
Artists often think it’s a bad idea *before* they’ve been signed to Magnatune but when they see that on average they will earn more money with this scheme than setting an $8 fixed price (on average, $8.21), and that fans will be able to express their strong positive feelings by optionally paying more (even, a lot more).”

Buckman also says that even when users choose only to pay $5, they tend to spend more overall, buying several albums at once.

Pay by popularity

AmieStreet

AmieStreet logo AmieStreet, of which Amazon is a recent investor, is a social market place for artists to connect with fans and promote and sell their music. The site has pioneered a “pay by popularity” model, whereby transparent market forces dictate the price of music. All tracks on AmieStreet start off free, then the more the track gets downloaded, the more the price increases in increments, all the way up to the industry standard of 98c. This is in complete contrast to iTunes, whereby all tracks are priced the same, irrespective of how popular or obscure they are — something which the major labels are desperate to change.

Subscription

Legendary music producer, Rick Rubin, recently told the New York Times that subscription services are the way forward.

“You’d pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you’d like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home. You’ll say, ‘Today I want to listen to … Simon and Garfunkel,’ and there they are. The service can have demos, bootlegs, concerts, whatever context the artist wants to put out. And once that model is put into place, the industry will grow 10 times the size it is now.”

However, despite what Rubin says, services such as Rhapsody haven’t reached mass adoption, as it’s not clear that people are ready to “rent” their music. Another reason might be that we haven’t yet reached ubiquitous Internet access. When all of our music can “live in the clouds”, accessible at any time, owning it outright may no longer be that important.

A music tax

It’s an old idea and one that UMG was rumored to be pushing most recently: some sort of music tax, possibly collected via your Internet Service Provider. The idea is to charge the customers of ISPs and cellphone carriers a flat-rate fee as part of their data service plan, in exchange for the right to download and share the major record labels’ music over an ISP’s network. That way, filesharing is decriminalized and the recording industry is guaranteed revenue.

Other forms of music tax could include a tax on digital audio players, similar to how some countries tax blank CDs, or direct taxation through government.

All three variations would require the different parties — including all five major labels and government — to agree to work together, something which is very unlikely to happen. Additionally, if a file-sharing tax makes up the majority of the music industry’s revenue, it’s hard to see what incentive there would be for the major record labels, with their huge back-catalogs, to continue to invest in new artists.

Thanks E DOT BAY and WWW.Last100.com

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Raheem Devaughn-Try Again

Kokayi-Know Us Mayne

Jive refreshing song...........................

Kokayi has been on the scene for a minute and it's good to see him still pushing and making some fresh music and vid. You have to know "music" to appreciate this joint! So let's learn!

www.kokayi202.com
www.myspace.com/kokayi

Some vids from Nando Mcflyy in NY @ Deadstock

From the good people @ ELLESHARP PR...Something for Mothers Day

Contact ELLE so you can find out how to some delicious desserts for Mothers Day!

Good afternoon-
Looking for yummy goodness for Mother's Day?? See attached!

My recommendations/favs:
Lemon Drop
Strawberry Seduction
Peach Allure
Pineapple Flirt
Banana Flirt
I heard the Original Cocktail Dream was good, but I didn't get to taste those... :-( Whatever you order, save me 4! (LOL)

Thanks-so-much!

~.elle :o)

--
*Chief Visionary Officer*
.elle-SHARP PR & Planning
(Event Planning|Public Relations)

.elle-DOT: Spa Parties
(Social Beauty)
www.myspace.com/elleSHARP