How to Get Paid In The Music Business

2011-11-02T07:14:00.001-04:00

Music Specialist Speaks now available http://ping.fm/aJp63

2011-10-07T12:28:00.001-04:00

The Music Specialist Speaks at AMERICANA MUSIC ASSOCIATION FESTIVAL 2011http://ping.fm/K3t5p

2011-09-26T22:17:00.001-04:00

New issue of The Music Specialist Speaks available here http://ping.fm/o9pgr

2011-08-09T16:06:00.001-04:00

Brand New Music Specialist Speaks - http://ping.fm/W6Kz7

2011-07-19T07:56:00.001-04:00

Support the work of the Music Specialist by voting for Allen Johnston in Creative Loafing best of 2011
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2011-07-17T13:49:00.001-04:00

ALL NEW MUSIC SPECIALIST SPEAKS http://ping.fm/pQ0Jz

2011 SUMC Black Music Month - Black Radio History

2011-07-16T11:37:00.001-04:00

via musicspecialist.podomatic.com

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2011-07-05T21:56:00.001-04:00

New Music Specialist Speaks now available http://ping.fm/nVy2v

2011-06-13T14:30:00.001-04:00

MUSIC SPECIALIST now available http://ping.fm/ZTKXd

2011-05-22T13:42:00.001-04:00

Listen to the new Johnny Gill single at Music Specialist Speaks http://ping.fm/IYJd2

2011-04-21T19:23:00.001-04:00

Latest Music Specialist Speaks features the GERD LEONARD - Future of communications, business and more http://ping.fm/hnWAO

2011-03-13T21:16:00.001-04:00

Mavis Staples Wins a Grammy
New Music Specialist Speaks
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2011-03-04T23:32:00.001-05:00

MEMORIES OF "JACK THE RAPPER" NOW ONLINE AT THE MUSIC SPECIALIST http://ping.fm/mcos8

2011-02-22T23:52:00.001-05:00

Songs needed for Willow Smith & Britney Spears

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2011-02-19T20:40:00.001-05:00

Games People Run On Our Youth - http://ping.fm/xpBQU

2011-02-07T22:22:00.001-05:00

Direct Access to the MIDEM 2011 conferences and more. MUSIC SPECIALIST SPEAKS http://ping.fm/O2nOc

2011-01-18T16:04:00.001-05:00

The Music Specialist Speaks now available at: http://ping.fm/Ch51m

2011-01-16T12:20:00.001-05:00

Music Specialist Speaks Pre-Midem issue now available at; http://ping.fm/IFEpl

2010-12-24T07:44:00.001-05:00

Sr VP Universal Music Group needs new music
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2010-12-23T16:48:00.001-05:00

New music from CHINA and MUSICDISH available at the Music Specialist Speaks
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2010-12-16T16:20:00.001-05:00

50 Cent & Michael Jackson together on the MUSIC SPECIALIST SPEAKS
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2010-12-15T21:13:00.001-05:00

Michael Jacksons new video available on the MUSIC SPECIALIST SPEAKS
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2010-12-06T11:11:00.001-05:00

Have you read the laatest MUSIC SPECIALIST SPEAKS?

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2010-12-03T09:31:00.001-05:00

THE MUSIC SPECIALIST SPEAKS available now
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2010-12-02T13:16:00.001-05:00

Urban Network photos online at
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2010-11-27T10:57:00.001-05:00

NEW MUSIC NEEDED FOR MAJOR ARTISTS
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New Music Industry Lies

2010-11-09T17:39:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I just get full from all of the lies people tell concerning the music industry. Today is one of those days after hearing for the umpteenth time that music sales had fallen to an all time low. And that the music industry was failing I decided to do a little research on my own.

Here is the story on why people are upset and you continue to get misinformation concerning the industry. Under the old model an Independent record label would have to finance the recording of the music, manufacture album product, manufacture singles, and create posters, flyers and point of purchase advertising. Then find a distributor that would buy the product for a healthy $8.00, the distributor would then sell the product to the retail store for $12.00 who in turn marks the product up to $16.98.

If you were unlucky enough to get a major deal then the numbers get even smaller. After the label has recouped the advance to artist, marketing funds, packaging deduction, producer’s funds and video advance a “HIT” CD would average $1.40 - $1.70. Placing that equation into today’s digital world you can sell 2 singles online at $.99 and get more money than you could receive on selling a complete CD while on a major label.

What I have found out is very illuminating.

Nielson SoundScan has reported that in the four years of 2006 to 2009, music purchases increased from a record starting point of 1 billion purchases to the new record point of 1.5 billion music purchases. This does not take into consideration the sales or other revenue streams that Nielson SoundScan doesn’t track.

So let’s take a moment and look at the non tractable revenue streams.

Public performance income

Pay what you want donations

Show income

Ringtone sales

Synchronization license

Subscription based streaming services like Rhapsody & Mog

DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) streams like Pandora. Last.Fm, Jango, Slacker and satellite radio XM, Sirius

Direct Fan selling sites

Bundling or selling music with merchandise like t-shirts or video games.

Fan Club subscriptions

All of these uses, plays, licenses and purchases generate revenue, just like a paid download. When you include these additional revenue streams the numbers go off the graph. The reality is:

More musicians are making money off their music now then at any point in history. This is occurring around the world and new exciting music is being created daily.

The cost of buying music has gotten lower but the amount of money going into the artist's pocket has increased. More music more money this is a natural phenomenon.

There are more people listening, sharing, buying, monetizing, stealing and engaging with music than at any other point in history. The Internet has opened up a brand new “wild wild west” where new and innovative ideas concerning music and music usage are being explored.

There are more new ways for an artist to get heard, achieve a fan base and make a living off their music now than at any point in the history of this planet.

The gate keepers have been eliminated because technology has made it possible for any artist to get distribution, to get discovered, to pursue their dreams with no company or person making the decision that they are not allowed “in the industry”.

Once there was a “traditional” system for music to be created and distributed, now The majority of music is happening outside of the “traditional” system

The conclusion that is not realized is that more and more artists are selling singles to the population that wants them, while CD and album sales and downloads are decreasing. Why pay $16.98 for an entire CD when the single you want is only $.99, simple arithmetic.

Even vinyl is making a comeback for independent artists and labels. Big labels still aren't buying the vinyl comeback, but it wouldn't be the first time the industry failed to identify a new trend in the music biz.
On Oct. 17, Amazon.com launched a vinyl-only section stocked with a growing collection of titles and several models of record players.

"Our numbers, at least, don't really point to resurgence," said Jonathan Lamy, the Recording Industry Association of America's director of communications. Likewise, Nielsen SoundScan, which registered a slight increase in vinyl sales last year, nonetheless showed a 43 percent decrease between 2000 and 2006.
But when it comes to vinyl, these organizations don't really know what they're talking about. The RIAA's numbers are misleading because its member labels are only now beginning to react to the growing demand for vinyl. As for SoundScan, its numbers don't include many of the small indie and dance shops where records are sold. More importantly, neither organization tracks used records sold at stores or on eBay -- arguably the central clearinghouse for vinyl worldwide.
Vinyl's popularity has been underreported before.
"The Consumer Electronics Association said that only 100,000 turntables were sold in 2004. Numark alone sold more than that to pro DJs that year," said Chris Roman, product manager for Numark.
The realization of this is spellbinding, the truth is mesmerizing.

Number one is that music fans are buying more music from a wider spectrum of artists.

Contrary to popular belief, despite the cost going down to purchase music, the net revenue for a self-distributing artist is up as compared to what an artist traditionally earned via a label.

Finally the entire business model of the major labels was built around selling a full-length physical album. Because of this, those artists signed to majors net less money off the sale of the music, while the label makes a killing.

Think about it, what other lies are you being told?

2010-11-08T07:15:00.001-05:00

New Music Industry Lies unveiled
http://ping.fm/o3TE3

2010-10-28T09:43:00.001-04:00

What is the NAB doing?
http://ping.fm/m8YXY

NAB = NOT ALWAYS BEARABLE

2010-10-28T09:35:00.000-04:00

Allen L. Johnston – The Music Specialist
www.asha.com

On October 25, 2010 the NAB announced that its Radio Board is backing a "limited" performance fee that would range between 0.25% and 1% of a station's net revenue, depending on a provision related to the rollout of radio-activated mobile devices. Under the terms approved by the Board, the Copyright Royalty Board will no longer set rates for broadcast or Internet radio, MusicFIRST must acknowledge and recognize "the unparalleled promotional value" of radio, and an AFTRA issue that would allow streaming of commercials must be resolved.

Upon first reading about the proposed terms I immediately thought that NAB was trying to work against the musicians and artists that comprise MusicFIRST.

Their first requirement of disbanding the Copyright Board's ability to set rates is completely not in the interest of MusicFIRST. This idea is presented for terrestrial radio broadcast AND Internet streaming. I believe that the entire industry is headed towards reception of Internet streamed material direct to consumer. Of course the NAB wants to set their own rates and when they can’t agree with the artists they want a special "legislatively mandated rate court." to handle the situation. Without a governing body that regulates, sets rates and procedures the NAB would have no one to control them and their money would keep litigation going on for years.

The second issue of wanting the US government to make FM chips in cellphones mandatory has nothing to do with the rights of MusicFIRST or artists as a hold. Once you read the terminology you then understand that this will include ALL radio active mobile devices, which mean computers, cell phones, and anything new that may come around. My question is WHY? FM technology is OLD antiquated technology that will be totally phased out within a few years. What is the real reasoning behind the NAB wanting to impose their will upon the entire music industry? It must have something to do with the idea of Internet streaming and their ability to control the airwaves, (read MONEY).

Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents the mobile phone makers has said “If NAB keeps pushing this agenda, CEA will "continue to point out the following":
"Radio is a legacy horse and buggy industry trying to put limits on innovative new industries to preserve its former monopoly. The industry's refusal to innovate to the benefit of consumers raises questions about the ongoing wisdom of broadcaster use of publicly owned spectrum that could better be used for broadband services that serve the public interest."
And:
"Many local radio stations are unmanned, particularly at nights and on weekends, rendering the alleged emergency alert benefit of FM tuners in mobile phones unreliable and raising questions about the wisdom of permitting such unattended operation."
And:
"At a time when popular new digital media platforms like satellite radio and online music services are required to pay performance royalties to copyright owners, it is unclear that the royalty exemption for broadcast radio stations can be justified. Indeed, fairness requires that the royalty rate paid by broadcasters should be the same as that assessed to online music streaming services and other new technologies."
The payment rate quoted for musical artists of between .25 percent and 1 percent of net stations revenues is entirely too small for the amount of music played that creates revenue within the stations. The NAB broadcasters unilaterally cut their digital royalty rates and lowered their terrestrial royalty payment from the agreed upon amounts in July. The latest version of the Performance Rights Act recommends a performance royalty schedule in which commercial radio stations making $500,000 to $1,249,999 would pay an annual fee of $5,000; stations making $100,000 to $499,999 would fork over $2,500; and those making less than $100,000 would shell out $500.
Those broadcast licensees making $1.25 million or more would pay a rate to be negotiated between radio stations, copyright holders, and the Copyright Royalty Board. In trying to assess the financial impact the PRA would have on those stations, the Government Accountability Office recently suggested a hypothetical rate of 2.35 percent.
The NAB has balls if nothing else, for they have declared that the entire system currently in place must change solely for their own benefit. The government must stop doing its job on setting rules and rates, AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) must change its rules on separate payment to talent on streaming commercials, and artists should acknowledge the “promotional value” of radio. What about the money?
With new technology changing the communications field on almost a daily basis, the idea that one trade industry group can bully the music industry is ludicrous. Congress writes the laws, not trade associations like the NAB and Radio is the only platform in the United States that doesn’t pay performers.

Wherever the music is played the artist should be paid.

2010-10-26T13:41:00.001-04:00

The Five Most Productive Days In The Music Business. See it at http://ping.fm/I2Buk

2010-10-18T14:49:00.001-04:00

Do you want to be Famous by Association or IT'S A SHAME? http://ping.fm/BiaCm

IT'S A SHAME

2010-10-18T14:35:00.001-04:00

Allen L. Johnston – The Music Specialist
www.asha.com

I have been receiving a video link in my Facebook News feed for the past week. I finally looked at it this morning.

IT’S A SHAME

The video headline reads “Snoop Dogg Co-Sign The Unsign Artist Step-Ezz” (that’s just how they wrote it).

The video starts off behind a West Palm Beach outdoor venue, with Snoop taking the stage and starting his show. This hand held video pans the audience, then abruptly turns to the side of the stage and focuses briefly on a person that is sub-titled MS ELEGANT, then quickly pans to a wholly under lit, STEP-EZZ (you can’t see his face). After 20 seconds more of the backs of Snoop Dogg’s live show the video scene changes and the speaker said “We are in Snoop Dogg’s tour bus”

This is the funniest and saddest thing I have seen in months. For the next 4 minutes these clowns first want to prove to everyone that they are really on Snoop Dogg’s tour bus. They show some schedule on a wall, boast about being on the bus and then give the driver a free show. That’s right they brought there music and performed on the bus.

They show a 35 second scene (that you can’t hear) of STEP-EZZ standing next to a seated Snoop in some hotel room party. Then back to the bus with some security guy, nowhere do you see or hear Snoop talking about this artist.

OK, on the first watching I laughed, then felt so ashamed of the artist who wants to be Famous by Association to a Tour Bus. And this becomes the heart of this article, false dreams and low expectations of new artist within the entertainment industry.

IT’S A SHAME

Once you listen to the song, which is a chant over basic Miami Bass beats, you understand that it is not exceptionally good. It wouldn’t be so bad but the music has been done over and over for the past 20 years. This artist may have talent but it sure wasn’t in this music. Devastator, Clay D, Luke have all set the bench mark for this style of music. There is absolutely nothing new here.

IT’S A SHAME

When you take the money you have made, buy fake designer clothes, flashy jewelry and friends who support your music as long as you are paying their way into clubs, buying “bottles” and plenty of weed. This really shows how afraid of failure the artist has become and the dependency of being validated if only by liars. It also shows the weakness of the cooperative spirit that supports these actions.

IT’S A SHAME

The artist has no drive to learn how to write lyrics, how to use the lyrical content they currently understand to make a statement or even how to speak correct English. There is no ambition to attend school or increase educational opportunities, let alone finish post secondary schooling. One of the biggest deceits ever perpetrated on the music community is the concept that being educated has no place within the “REAL COMMUNITY”.

IT’S A SHAME

When you fool yourself into believing that a hand held video of a song, that has no radio play, no Internet fan base, no local or regional fan base would be of significant interest to anyone but yourself. Unfortunately this type of thinking completely ignores sales of any product, be it audio, video or merchandising. Major labels, distributors, managers, venue operators and music publications ALL use sales as the primary criteria for doing business.

The biggest shame comes from knowing that this artist will not read this, and understand that there is another way.

CHANGES IN SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO

2010-10-14T17:44:00.000-04:00

Allen L. Johnston – The Music Specialist
www.asha.com

In 2007 a new era of partnership began in South Africa. The Creative Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA), a union of musicians, actors, poets, technicians, writers, composers, performers, independent producers, television presenters, radio disc jockeys, general disc jockeys, arts administrators, artist directors, photographers, arts educators, choreographers, dancers, designers and other sector practitioners, came together to lobby government on the many problems facing its’ constituency.

Even though riddled with internal problems this union has been able to develop a Performance Rights package (Needle Time), a social security plan for the creative arts sector, an anti piracy campaign and an educational campaign for the arts.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is a state owned corporation of 18 radio (AM/FM) stations and 3 television stations. This corporation’s programming has been criticized ever since it’s inception in 1936 by the South African Parliament. The SABC played only South African and African music on 15 of its radio stations from May 2010 and during the soccer world cup because it wanted to "further promote our home-grown music and music from our African counterparts". Now that the World Cup is over the corporation has said that it will discontinue this type of programming.

"CWUSA is shaken by the announcement from [SABC] radio to discontinue with its 100% South African music play that has been enjoyed by the public," said CWUSA general secretary Oupa Lebogo. "The move simply says playing our content on radio will forever be a favor and it is unacceptable." CWUSA demanded that the broadcaster re-think its decision to stop playing only African music because "it is quite clear that there are more benefits for artists as long as our music is played on our radios”

On the surface this looks like a reasonable request, however there are a few problems that have not surfaced in the press. Most programming decisions are based on financial foundations and a look at the revenue received via advertising avenues during the period when 100% African music was played is needed. An additional look at the revenue created for the creative artists during this same period is needed to determine if radio airplay has really impacted the creative community.

Americans have yet to understand the strength in placing ALL of the creative art movements together for a common good. In our country the arts are segmented along creative, financial, political and racial lines. Certain organizations don’t recognize other organizations or unions doing the exact same business even when their memberships have some of the same people within them. What’s even crazier is the “better than” concept. One organization feels that they are “better than” other groups or elitists and start setting rules and regulations for the validity of art, be it physical, audio or digital.

Being in the entertainment industry I have seen many different versions of the “better than” concept. Radio programmers determine that they know “better than” the artist or record label that has delivered a song to them. It doesn’t matter that the song is a potential hit or that the company creating the song has placed blood, sweat, tears and money behind it, arrogance and a profound sense of elitism by the programmer kills the songs advance. I have never known a human being that could determine a hit song; if such a person is alive the major labels would have hired them years ago. The only way to determine a good song is to let the populace decide if they like it.

And this is the meat of this article, does the South African populace like the ALL African music programming that they have had since May? Where are the facts? Where is the undeniable evidence that there has been an increase in popularity, an increase in national pride and an increase in revenue? Where is the evidence that the South African populace wants a DIFFERENT type of programming? What is really going on?

Telling a man he is wrong and you are right based on belief alone is ludicrous and self serving.

America does not have the luxury of a government controlled broadcast system geared directly to the public. America does not have cooperation within the arts on a massive level solely for the betterment of the creative artist. What we do have is a corporate run media monopoly geared to playing the same 30 pieces of music across our country on their radio stations. America has a corporate controlled media system that has created formatted stations and self censorship regulations solely for its’ own financial benefit and not for the public at large. The true American musical art forms, Americana, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, and Soul can not be heard over the airwaves on any regular basis in America.

A change in radio programming worldwide is coming.

Miami Music Festival Launches Nov 11-14

2010-10-11T13:23:00.001-04:00

2010 MIAMI MUSIC FESTIVAL LAUNCHES! November 11-14: List of venues and performance schedule now live on miamimusicfestival.org

Thank you for partnering with us for the second annual Miami Music Festival. We have just announced our schedule of 400+ performances (see press announcement below) - please help us spread the word!

The Miami Music Festival and Conference (MMF), Miami’s second annual emerging musical artist showcase, and the centerpiece event of this November’s new “Live Music Month in Miami,” has now released details on www.miamimusicfestival.org about its 400+ Latin, Hip-Hop, R&B, Rock, Jazz, Caribbean, and Inspirational musical performances to take place on 45 stages throughout the city. This marks a dramatic expansion of the event, which debuted in 2009. Venues include multiple stages in Bayfront Park and nightclubs and restaurants in Downtown Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach, Wynwood, The Design District and Little Haiti.

An array of showcases will be presented by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Gibson, D’Addario and ReverbNation, the Delanuca Music Group, Soul of Miami.com, Atlantic Records, Warner Bros. Records, Forward Records, Magic Leap Records, Poe Boy Records, Mizay Entertainment,

Myxer.com, Sideshow Entertainment, OpenMicDirect.com, WhatMiami.com, Best Buy and "A Night At The Flick" presented by The Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music program at The Frost School of Music-University of Miami. A half dozen other sponsored showcases and special “events within the event” will be announced shortly. Conference keynoters and festival headliners will be announced in the coming days and weeks.

In addition to The Miami New Times and Urban Network, newly announced sponsors include Pollo Tropical, OnStar, American Spirit, PopChips and Vitamin Water. M.A.E was also announced as the MMF’s official gear provider.

“Local music fans, visitors, members of the press or music executives who go to miamimusicfestival.org to see and hear the artists coming from South Florida, around the state, country and world, and plan their MMF weekend accordingly, will be greatly rewarded,” said Kevin Thornburg, publisher of The Miami New Times. Urban Network Vice President Arthur Mitchell said, “We’re bringing everyone to Miami! From our writers and editors to industry leaders to the hottest talent in the business today including comedian MC’s Joe Torry and Sinbad, we’ll all be at The Miami Music Festival this November.”

In addition to the Miami-Dade County Office of Cultural Affairs, The City of Miami Office of Cultural Affairs, The Miami-Dade Office of Film and Entertainment, The Miami Downtown Development Authority, The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, and FilMiami, the MMF announced new partnerships with The Kiwanis of Little Havana Arts & Music Foundation, Amigos for Kids, NBC Miami and WPBT.

MMF’s music industry conference at The Hyatt Regency Miami on Friday, November 12th and Saturday, November 13th has also recently added sessions and speakers rounding out an already robust schedule of panels, master classes, demonstrations and live interviews, which also can be found on the MMF website.

Three-day festival wristbands are now available for advance purchase on miamimusicfestival.org for only $25, a 50% savings. Single day tickets will also be available at each event with ticket pricing as follows:

• Multi-venue evening wristband (21+) is $15, and single venue entry is $10.
• Bayfront Park daytime festival admission for adults is $12 and $6 for children under 42”.

Badges for the MMF Music Conference are priced at $99, with significant discounts for artists performing at the festival.

“There’s no question that the MMF will help artists, support Miami’s arts community and delight music fans,” said MMF CEO Irwin Kornfeld. “Our advisory board of local musicians, sound engineers, artist and club managers, sponsors, partners and staff have done an incredible job planning this year’s event. We’ve kept admission pricing extremely low and really put together a wonderful weekend.”

“Miami is re-discovering its live music heritage, and people are now going out to more live shows here. We’re seeing more stages being built, and more artists coming to Miami to perform,” said MMF president Will Edwards. “The Miami Music Festival was created to help artists take advantage of changes in the music industry, but its also contributing to a change in Miami’s music scene…and that change is about the re-emergence of live music.”

###

Media Contacts:
Dina Allende - (305)205-1058 / dina@makeitclique.com
Yvette Batalla - (305) 335-0569 / yvette@makeitclique.com
Laurie Jakobsen - (917)697-2274 / laurie@jaybirdcom.com

Sponsorships: Arthur Mitchell
Urban Network Corporate Office - San Diego
Ph. 619-401-4014 amitchell@urbannetwork.com

Allen Johnston
The Music Specialist
P.O.Box 310540
Atlanta, Georgia 31131
305 829 9010 - office
404 939 4180 - cell/voicemail
music.specialists@yahoo.com
www.asha.com

Posted via email from Music Specialist Speaks

2010-10-07T13:28:00.001-04:00

Where are the positive role models within the entertainment community:
Read http://ping.fm/tXYnp

Today's Generation

2010-10-07T13:11:00.000-04:00

Growing older has given me the erudition of being a part of Black Radio and Records History. I have been privileged to have learned from some of the original 13 Black DJ’s within the United States, original Black radio programmers and Black record executives. Normally I speak from a position of respect, comprehension and wisdom, but today I am angry and very disillusioned.

How can we continue to move in a positive direction when there are fewer and fewer examples of positive role models within the entertainment community?

At the infamous Jack The Rapper Family Affair conventions an intricate part of the learning process was sitting in the lobby with the executives and learning from their conversations and meetings. These were man & women with a code of moral decency that set the standard for the industry. There were many wild stories about how they made, promoted and sold music, and contained in every story was a business insight. There has always been a greedy, unethical person in the industry; everyone knew who they were and how to treat them.

Today the subterfuge is phenomenal and the ability to unmask unscrupulous individuals has become clouded. The proliferation of businesses that prey on the unsuspecting artist, executive or entrepreneur continues to grow unimpeded.

What I now understand is that the artist, executive or entrepreneur is the main reason for the unscrupulous behavior of the businesses that they approach. We now have a mindset that success can come instantaneously and without talent or effort. The NOW generation wants everything immediately and very few are putting in the work effort, education and moral fiber needed to become a continued success. When you approach a company with the thought that they are going to listen to your music, FLIP and give you a bunch of money up front, market, promote, publicize and sell your song while ALL the time making sure that you are getting paid, you are wishing for disaster.

The morning drive radio team has the fortunate advantage to be the most listened to program on most Black and Urban based radio stations in this country. Millions of people of color depend upon this team to keep them aware of national and local events, news and music while being entertaining. As a teenager the morning drive DJ was looked up to within the community and could make a personal appearance become a traffic stopping occurrence. With this in mind you may understand why I am so concerned about the morning show teams I have heard that seem to have taken it upon themselves to destroy the Urban community.

Comedy is cool, it allows you to discharge pent up emotions, relax and forget about the trials and tribulations that you go thru everyday. What it doesn’t do is teach positive behavior to a listenership that needs it badly. When you are young and impressionable hearing your favorite morning drive host / hostess talk about having more BLING, SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS, BETTER CLOTHES, BIGGER CARS, PARTYING AND SPENDING MONEY only makes you want to be exactly like them. Where is the balance that allows listeners to know about spending limits, credit worthiness, moral decency and more?

Again I ask where are the role models that use to be so prevalent in the entertainment community. The ones chosen today are being indicted on drug charges, gun charges, petty theft and immoral behavior. Who wants their child to emulate a thug, dope dealer, harlot or money hungry con man? Where are the positive examples of wealthy doctors, lawyers, technology workers, nurses, builders, media owners, educators, store owners, bankers and more? There are many positive morally right people inside of the Urban community, the problem is that they have been covered up and looked over by the multitude of media outlets available to the public.

Media exposure is not dictated by the community at large, but by the owners of the media. Once these owners have determined what is making them the most money, they normally stick by that vision. Unfortunately the community at large is suffering from the vision that they have been exposed to for so long. Today even news has become entertainment designed to sell more advertising for the news channel owners.

Even though I write from an American perspective, this devious monetary scheme is being perpetrated in every major country on the planet. Radio & TV stations sell advertising and have no higher priority than to make money for there owners. Cell phone carriers sell hardware and carrier time and need you to use them more and more. Internet sites are loaded with advertising on so many levels that it is becoming mind blowing. ALL of these outlets are endorsing the negative behavior that makes the populace become true consumers and weaker morally.

There is profit in destroying the positive role model and creating a new vision of a role model.

2010-10-06T17:25:00.001-04:00

Learn about the ONE DAY ON EARTH PEACE PROJECT on http://ping.fm/tsrUJ

2010-09-26T12:09:00.001-04:00

Cher, Kelly Rowland, South Korea and more looking for music. Music Specialist Music XRay Opportunities
http://ping.fm/4OrAr

CELLPHONES EDUCATION & YOU

2010-09-16T08:02:00.000-04:00

Traveling internationally has opened my eyes and mind to the opportunities available for people of color worldwide. In particular are the opportunities available for African-American musicians and multi-media creators worldwide. What I have found is that EVEYONE aspires to have the American notoriety and success that is witnessed in the magazines, movies, and videos worldwide. People want to “BE LIKE MIKE” worldwide and Mike is the African-American celebrity.

As you know I am a proponent of education and I truly believe that African-Americans have a commitment to help educate and protect Africans worldwide. Let’s talk about the state of the Black music business within the United Sates today. Discretionary income controlled by African-Americans rose to more than $20 billon last year. Even though this seems like a humongous amount of money it pales in comparison to the fact that Shell Oil posted profits in the UK alone of 13.6 Billion Pounds or $30 Billion dollars this year. This is only one company in one country that significantly affects people of color worldwide.

Believe that this 30 Billion dollar profit will not be used to educate or protect people worldwide. So the question to me becomes how we can effectively affect the education of people of color worldwide. One way is the creation of music and multi-media projects that contain "Old-School" Values and Morals, never using filthy language, sexually based & tasteless innuendoes, sharp, ruthless or condemnatory statements or nonsense verbiage. But having a message or under current that causes renewed thought, interest, incite or unrest within the hearts & souls of its listeners!

Accessibility and affordability are the key factors in being able to reach large masses of people worldwide. The Internet is the medium of choice and opportunity to accomplish these goals. For the developing world the Internet is going to be a wireless experience and delivery will be over cell phones. Sixty one percent (61%) of the world’s 2.7 billion mobile phone users are in developing countries compared with ten percent (10%) of the world’s 1 billion Internet users. This information is based on the International Telecommunication Union’s Regulatory and Market Environment Division head Susan Schorr’s report. Africa accounts for more than half of the world’s poorest countries with people using low-cost cell phones rather than PC’s for connectivity.

India has a cell phone subscriber ship of over 226 million about nineteen percent (19%) of its total population with about 7 million new subscribers a month. This is creating a decline in the cost of cell phone manufacturing making them more affordable and also creating unbundled services lowering the costs of phone service. Approximately eighty five percent (85%) of all Indian cell phone contracts are prepaid, while in Africa shared cell phone services are taking off.

The Grameen Foundation has brought the Village Phone model to Africa. People wanting to become stand alone mobile phone operators can take out micro loans, letting them buy Village Phone kits that include a cell phone, a rooftop antenna that picks up signals 25 kilometers away and a car battery or solar panel for recharging. They setup shop in their homes, selling phone calls and mobile data transfer to other villagers. Ultimately allowing the world to invade the “outback” and the opportunity to place information directly with the people that need it the most.

Cellphone based Internet delivery bypasses the governmental media controls and is a viable alternative information source. Just recently there was great unrest in Kenya and the Kenyan government imposed a blackout of ALL news sources. Resourceful Kenyans started text messaging information to the Mashada website and got the world to see the problems while being able to maintain contact with different villages and families.

As a producer, writer, musician, film maker, artist or educator this now opens up an entirely new avenue to get your projects, products and ideas to an interested world market. Cellphones and other wireless devices will continue to get more people connected to the Internet or at least give them access to a wealth of information, knowledge and communications capabilities that previously were out of reach.

The only thing missing is you and what you have to share with the world.

Cellphones Education & You - article

2010-09-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

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Cellphones education & you.doc (28 KB)

Please feel free to publish and Thank You.

Allen Johnston
The Music Specialist
P.O.Box 310540
Atlanta, Georgia 31131
305 829 9010 - office
404 939 4180 - cell/voicemail
music.specialists@yahoo.com
www.asha.com

Posted via email from Music Specialist Speaks

2010-09-16T07:56:00.001-04:00

What really happened to the MAJOR LABEL BLACK MUSIC DIVISION? Available now at: http://ping.fm/B1Xlv

URBAN NETWORK IS COMING TO MIAMI

2010-09-11T20:42:00.001-04:00

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UrbanNetwork-MMF-60-(REVISED).mp3 (2381 KB)

NOVEMBER 12 - 14, 2010

MIAMI, FLORIDA

Posted via email from Music Specialist Speaks

How The Industry Changed

2010-09-07T10:02:00.000-04:00

The state of the recording industry today has changed drastically from what it has been. The days of creating a song, getting it played on the radio, sold within stores, touring and making a ton of cash has basically dried up.

Here are a few of the main components that have created change of the traditional recording industry.

1. Recording

In the beginning of our industry, you or your band had to know how to play an instrument and at least, the fundamentals of music theory to get a song made. Originally you had to play and sing the entire song over and over until you got a great “take” then that take was cut into a record. Multi track recorders changed the industry so that individual tracks were created and musicians played their section prior to the singer coming into the studio. The advent of computers and sampling changed EVERYTHING. Now musicians were no longer necessary to make a song, if you needed a guitar track you sampled the guitar sound you liked played by someone else, and just inserted it into the place where you wanted it to go. The new era of producer driven music was initiated and this era fashioned a poor example of creativity. Producers became mixers of other people’s ideas, sounds and samples. Hits are made by people that have no idea how to read music, music theory or even business etiquette.

2. Radio Promotion

The first commercial Black recording played over the airwaves was done by a Black man – Dave Clark. The story as told to me, by Mr. Clark himself, was that he was a band leader in Memphis and his band was to play on the radio. Time came for the broadcast and the band was not ready to play, he didn’t want to ruin his chance to get on the air so he took a hand wound, bell shaped recorded cylinder player, placed the radio microphone into the bell and played a recorded cylinder while his band got their act together. From this humble beginnings came the advent of Black music on radio.

In the late 1930’s radio started playing recorded music and entertainers were not happy. Bing Crosby and Paul Whiteman stamped “Not Licensed for Radio Airplay” on their records and hired lawyers to try to sue the radio stations that bought them and played them. They believed that if people listened to their music over the radio they would stop buying records and even stop coming to their shows. In 1940 the Federal court ruled that once a record was sold, the buyer had the right to use it in any manner he liked, including broadcasting it on the radio. This ruling basically created the way radio stations would function from then on. Once the record companies realized that radio airplay only increased sales, they then started giving free copies of music to the radio stations creating the word “PROMO’S” and charging the artist for these free copies.

As record companies started developing and radio stations became more affluent a new business was made, Payola - The paying of cash or gifts in exchange for airplay. "Payola" is a contraction of the words "pay" and "Victrola" (LP record player), and entered the English language via the record business. The first court case involving payola was in 1960. On May 9, Alan Freed was indicted for accepting $2,500 which he claimed was a token of gratitude and did not affect airplay. He paid a small fine and was released. Before Alan Freed's indictment, payola was not illegal, however, but commercial bribery was. After the trial, the anti-payola statute was passed under which payola became a misdemeanor, penalty by up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison.

It took a major performing rights organization to bring Payola back to the news. By the mid- fifties the independent record companies had broken the majors stranglehold on airplay and BMI licensed songs dominated the charts. ASCAP believed BMI licensed songs were hits only because of payola. So ASCAP urged House Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Oren Harris to look into the recording industry's practice of payola. ASCAP believed these records were played so often by greedy deejays causing them to become imprinted on unsuspecting teenagers. ASCAP had always looked at rock and roll as a passing fad, with these hearings they were trying to ensure that rock and roll would die. The committee decided to look into deejays who took gifts from record companies in return for playing their records on their shows. Fearing the worse, the record companies began stepping forward and announcing that they had given money to specific deejays. Soon twenty five deejays and program directors were caught in the scandal. Among the more popular ones were Joe Niagara (WIBG, Philadelphia), Tom Clay (WJBK, Detroit), Murray "The K" Kaufman (WINS, New York) and Stan Richards (WILD, Boston) the probe quickly focused in on the two top deejays in the country, Dick Clark and Alan Freed.

Dick Clark, with more to lose, quickly gave up all his musical interests when ordered to do so by ABC-TV. When Clark appeared to testify he brought Bernard Goldsmith a statistician. Goldsmith told the committee that Clark had a 27% interest in records played in the past 28 months and those records had a 23% popularity rating

Now fast forward to today and the current radio market. Record labels created a system of “promotion” to ensure that the records they made were played instead of someone else’s. Illegal and self serving this airplay creation is still alive and well. Radio, in turn, created the formats (Top 40, Urban, Rock, Album Oriented Rock, Hip Hop, etc.). This system worked fine until the advent of the Internet and the creation of Napster and MySpace. The old modes of exhibition, MTV and radio, became too rigid, and have been replaced with pull models, within which no one hears what they don't want to hear.

3. Video Promotion

Music Video was introduced in the United States by the movie industry with the advent of “talkies” the musical feature film itself; the set piece production numbers in films from ‘The Jazz Singer’ (Crosland 1927) through the lavish MGM musicals of the 1940s and on to the beginnings of the rock n’ roll movie such as Little Richard’s appearance in ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ (Tashlin 1956) can all be seen to have influenced the style of the music video.

MTV, which began broadcasting on the Warner satellite feed in 1981 in the USA, growth was rapid. American artists soon realized the potential of the medium. In the early years, however, assumptions about the demographics of the audience led to dominance by white acts and a preponderance of male rock. Despite the success of the huge budgeted productions of Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ (Landis 1983), Bad (Scorsese 1987), it was almost the end of the decade before any other black artists’ work broke through. The reluctance to play black videos merely ensured that rap videos were only able to acquire very small budgets and tended to be distributed through alternative means, not finding a mass audience. Gangsta rap was seen as enormously threatening to the white audience and it was only through using crossover in the shape of Run DMC and Aerosmith’s ‘Walk this Way’ (1986) and later the absurdity of the work of MC Hammer and Coolio that rap could become acceptable and eligible for bigger budget videos.

Hype Williams led the way for black artists and black directors through his extravagant productions for the likes of TLC, R. Kelly and Missy Elliott, by the late 90s commanding budgets of $2 million. These higher budget videos in turn generated record sales and led to Hip Hop effectively replacing rock as the dominant music form.

4. Digital Promotion

WARNER MUSIC INTERNATIONAL and digital services provider PREMIUM TV agreed to develop online television sites that will let consumers watch music videos for free, as the music industry seeks to counter a decline in cd sales

WMG created a video unit to promote new albums and artists on television, the Internet and mobile devices. The world's fourth-largest record company set up the division, called DEN OF THIEVES, in LOS ANGELES. DEN OF THIEVES will help drive the company's digital sales of music.

Now a company called DEN OF THIEVES makes me really worry about how these new record people will take care of the artists that they promote. After three (3) years with Warner this company has become an independent television production unit, with no visible sign of Internet promotion but some video game involvement.

The Bass Brothers' FBT Productions and Joel Martin's Em2M filed a lawsuit against Aftermath Records, Interscope Records and others over the split of digital royalties due for Eminem's recordings. The suit claims that the labels should be paying half of the net receipts from downloads and master ringtones rather than the lesser artist royalty rate based on sales. The complaint alleges that an audit of defendants by FBT and Eminem revealed that FBT and Em2M were underpaid by more than $650,000 from 2002-2005 since they did not receive 50% of the net receipts from the sale of downloads and master ringtones, among other reasons. Ultimately this suit was ruled that music royalties don’t change just because a song has been sold online

Older recording contracts typically provide that artists will receive a royalty for the sale of records based on the unit's retail or wholesale price -- often 10%-14% of the retail price or double that percentage of the wholesale price. When the recording is licensed, the label and artist often share equally the net receipts from licenses.

Today licensing has become the new source of recorded music income.

New Article

2010-08-30T08:25:00.001-04:00

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How The Industry Changed.doc (38 KB)

Historical short on changes within the industry.

Allen Johnston
The Music Specialist
P.O.Box 310540
Atlanta, Georgia 31131
305 829 9010 - office
404 939 4180 - cell/voicemail
music.specialists@yahoo.com
www.asha.com

Posted via email from Music Specialist Speaks

Pimpin 2010 - Definition Of The Game

2010-08-11T01:58:00.001-04:00

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PIMPIN 2010.doc (35 KB)

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Allen Johnston
The Music Specialist
P.O.Box 310540
Atlanta, Georgia 31131
305 829 9010 - office
404 939 4180 - cell/voicemail
music.specialists@yahoo.com
www.asha.com

Posted via email from Music Specialist Speaks

PIMPIN 2010 - DEFINITION OF THE GAME

2010-08-09T13:28:00.000-04:00

The new breed PIMP has arrived and its new WHORES are musical artists, label owners, producers and want to be entertainment moguls.

pimped, pimp•ing, pimps
To serve as a procurer of prostitutes. - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Pimping.] To procure women for the gratification of others' lusts; to pander. - Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

pimp•ing
petty; insignificant; trivial.
British Dialect. puny; weak; sickly. - Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006

Consider the new definition of PIMP, being at the top of your game, making money while not working hard or at all. With this definition an entire new industry of corrupt businesses has come into existence.

1. BLOG PIMP – Here is a person that could never obtain certifiable credentials to become a bona fide writer. This person lives to tell stories that are mainly innuendo and conjecture but ultimately hurt the entertainment industry people they blog about. They never look for the truth only for things that can embarrass or humiliate. If you are an artist and you want some favorable online print you definitely must pay this person in advance.

2. PUBLICISTS PIMP - Here are people that have a vocation to increase awareness about an artist, act, product or service. They are the first line of promotion that should access new fans, clients and users of the people they publicize. Today’s new era publicist talks a good game but can not produce results for their clients after they have demanded money for their services. What I am finding is a long list of publicists that have massive email lists, but absolutely no knowledge of local & regional newspapers, local & regional television shows or connections at radio. What they tell you they have is direct email to thousands of individuals, what they don’t tell you is that their email opening is at times less than 2% and never over 10%. Recently I have heard of a publicist that took a substantial down payment against hourly work than sent the company they took money from a bill for research on local news outlets. The publicist has yet to write a press release, send an email or make a phone call to assist the company that hired them. Finally when is the last time you have seen a publicist that honestly wrote a press release that was legible and error free?

3. ONLINE MARKETING PIMP – Everyone understands that you need an online marketing plan to make your product or service work. What NO ONE truly understands is how to create a plan that works for more than one company at a time. The idea of one size fits all in marketing plans is entirely untrue and unhealthy for your pocket. With the advent of iPhone applications, widgets, email blasts, Ezines and more, marketing plans have to be customized to fit the client, product or service. The company selling a ready made plan that will work for you is NOT the company you want to do business with.

4. CONFERENCE & SEMINAR PIMPS - This is probably the largest pimp game available in the entertainment industry today. The music conference has become an art form in taking people’s money and not giving them any professional return on their dollars. This year alone in the South and Mid West there will be over 50 music conferences representing all types of music. Out of this 50 possibly 6 will be of significant value to an aspiring or professional artist; however the rest will be calculated to separate the artist, act or company from their cash. Several different methods are being used and they all have a ring of authenticity to them. Conference admission fees are typical, plus exhibitors or booth fees and the always present performance or showcase fee tops the list. Other fees are charged for advertising both online and in a conference book or handout and post conference shows at an outside venue. What is interesting to me is that every year there is a certain element of individual that will continuously fall for this type of scam.

5. OPEN MIC NIGHT PIMP – a concept where an artist or act can perform with the express goal of having themselves “discovered” by a major Entertainment Company. Great theory but hardly a reality. Open Mic night now consists of greedy promoters using FREE talent to build weekly audiences. In some cases the talent must pay an additional fee to perform after having paid to get into the venue. I have been looking for the act that gets signed at one of these events for the past 10 years and have not found any yet.

6. DJ POOL, RECORD POOL PIMP – If you are reading this you probably don’t have a clue on what a DJ POOL or RECORD POOL even accomplishes. Don’t feel bad for other than the pimps running these outlets no one else has a clue either. Originally created to assist labels in reaching the multitude of club DJ’s around the country, these pools have become a wasteland of fraud, intimidation and one of the easiest ways to separate a person from their money.

7. CONSULTANT PIMP – You never really know what this person honestly does, but they have written a book or article about it. Most consultants have never operated a real entertainment industry business but they want you to pay them for telling YOU how to spend your money. The interesting thing about consultants is that they have an automatic attitude complied with an increasing sense of self worth. In other words they are too good to be true.

8. RADIO PROMOTER PIMP – The most recent wave of pimpin involves hiring a radio promotion person because they ran a major label division is now one of the easiest ways to throw your money away. You can NO LONGER depend on a promotion person to get your music heard by radio programmers; in fact radio programmers NO LONGER listen to music but rely on research and consultants to choose the music heard on their respective stations. Executives that ran major label divisions had backup systems, regional and local employees that interacted daily with radio personnel. These people ate lunch, dinner, went to the mall, appeared at the remotes and became intimate friends with the radio DJ’s, programmers, sales and promotional people. The divisional head never had the accessibility or the personal knowledge of the regional or local people. When the National or Division head called into the market it was normally to fix a particular problem that had occurred. Now the wide spread belief that the Division head can deliver radio just because he or she was so well known is pure BUNK. The average amount of money I have seen sent to these executive level pimps is $60,000. Of course this amount can easily translate into over $100,000 especially if the client believes the “hype” generated by the pimp.

Please understand that these type PIMPIN games are being played around the world with numerous different styles of music and entertainment. Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Hip Hop, Soul R&B, Lounge, Dance, Rock, and religious music have all fallen under these forms on Pimpin.

2010-08-09T13:24:00.001-04:00

Industry PIMPS look out, we know who you are.
Read more: http://ping.fm/aL2jf

2010-08-03T15:48:00.001-04:00

Gangster Rappers can help our communities, read it here ....
http://ping.fm/qNF1N

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2010-08-03T13:40:00.001-04:00

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GANGSTER RAPPERS REVOLT TODAY

2010-08-03T13:23:00.001-04:00

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths.

We have ALL become attuned to the idea that Gangster Rap and its sub genres are partially responsible for the attitudes, lifestyle changes and destruction of the Black & Urban communities via our youth. But I believe that Gangster Rap can be of significant assistance to our neighborhoods if used affectively.

Racism in today’s world has a new face; within the United States it is now occasionally called the Tea Party Movement. Not all Tea party Movement members are racists, but a significant amount of them now follow the Patriot Movement theories. Patriot Movement groups define themselves as opposed to the "New World Order," engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. The biggest and best financially equipped of these is the John Birch Society founded in 1958 with chapters in ALL 50 states.

John Birch Society - The society says it is anti-totalitarian, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist. It seeks to limit the powers of government and defends the original intention of the U.S. Constitution, which it sees as based on Christian principles. It opposes collectivism, including wealth redistribution, economic interventionism, socialism, communism, and fascism

Other names for groups that follow the Patriot Movement principles include:

Constitution Party

We the People

American Patriot Friends Network

Freedom Force International

Second Amendment Committee

Concerned Citizens Party

Florida Free Alliance

Society for American Sovereignty

America First Party

Restore the Republic

PatriotResistance.com

Church of God Evangelistic Association

The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American legal advocacy organization, internationally known for its tolerance education programs,its legal victories against white supremacists and it’s tracking of hate groups, militias, and extremist organizations.

The Southern Poverty Law Center documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias - the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement - were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009. This can be directly connected to the election of Barack Obama and the immediate racial outcry detected in America.

And this is the main reason I see where Gangster Rap can be of immediate assistance to the Black & Urban communities. These paramilitary militias need an alternative to help balance the scales of power within this country. Now is the time for America’s greatest gangster rappers to start rapping about inner city realities and against the ever growing racist condition being created by the Tea Party Movement members. Just think how the Black & Urban communities would change if the youth starting thinking about banding together to rid their cities of these Patriot Movement groups. Think what would happen if one of the following rappers would make a “HIT” song that opened the youth’s eyes just to the racist problem that has increased over the past few years.

50 Cent

Lil Wayne

Eminem

The Game

Cassidy

Fabolous

Brand Nubians

Snoop

Nate Dogg

Rick Ross

Plies

Young Jeezy

I believe there is a reason that American commercial radio is playing contemporary music that only condones gratuitous sex, drugs, money, material gain, party and revenge against your own kind. I’m not asking for a love song, in fact I think we need a FIGHT song really soon.

Gangsters you’re always talking about keeping it REAL, well we need you now to Revolt.

Posted via email from Music Specialist Speaks

GANGSTER RAPPERS REVOLT TODAY

2010-08-03T12:21:00.000-04:00

Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths.

We have ALL become attuned to the idea that Gangster Rap and its sub genres are partially responsible for the attitudes, lifestyle changes and destruction of the Black & Urban communities via our youth. But I believe that Gangster Rap can be of significant assistance to our neighborhoods if used affectively.

Racism in today’s world has a new face; within the United States it is now occasionally called the Tea Party Movement. Not all Tea party Movement members are racists, but a significant amount of them now follow the Patriot Movement theories. Patriot Movement groups define themselves as opposed to the "New World Order," engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. The biggest and best financially equipped of these is the John Birch Society founded in 1958 with chapters in ALL 50 states.

John Birch Society - The society says it is anti-totalitarian, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist. It seeks to limit the powers of government and defends the original intention of the U.S. Constitution, which it sees as based on Christian principles. It opposes collectivism, including wealth redistribution, economic interventionism, socialism, communism, and fascism

Other names for groups that follow the Patriot Movement principles include:
Constitution Party
We the People
American Patriot Friends Network
Freedom Force International
Second Amendment Committee
Concerned Citizens Party
Florida Free Alliance
Society for American Sovereignty
America First Party
Restore the Republic
PatriotResistance.com
Church of God Evangelistic Association

The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American legal advocacy organization, internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and it’s tracking of hate groups, militias, and extremist organizations.

The Southern Poverty Law Center documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias - the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement - were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009. This can be directly connected to the election of Barack Obama and the immediate racial outcry detected in America.

And this is the main reason I see where Gangster Rap can be of immediate assistance to the Black & Urban communities. These paramilitary militias need an alternative to help balance the scales of power within this country. Now is the time for America’s greatest gangster rappers to start rapping about inner city realities and against the ever growing racist condition being created by the Tea Party Movement members. Just think how the Black & Urban communities would change if the youth starting thinking about banding together to rid their cities of these Patriot Movement groups. Think what would happen if one of the following rappers would make a “HIT” song that opened the youth’s eyes just to the racist problem that has increased over the past few years.

50 Cent
Lil Wayne
Eminem
The Game
Cassidy
Fabolous
Brand Nubians
Snoop
Nate Dogg
Rick Ross
Plies
Young Jeezy

I believe there is a reason that American commercial radio is playing contemporary music that only condones gratuitous sex, drugs, money, material gain, party and revenge against your own kind. I’m not asking for a love song, in fact I think we need a FIGHT song really soon.

Gangsters you’re always talking about keeping it REAL, well we need you now to Revolt.

2010-07-30T10:53:00.001-04:00

Present your music to NEW opportunities:

http://ping.fm/53ihO

2010-07-18T12:18:00.001-04:00

Music Organizations are ripping members off...read more here http://ping.fm/0Wcb5

2010-06-16T11:30:00.001-04:00

New Music Specialist Music XRay Opportunities now available for you at: http://ping.fm/oHhex

2010-06-11T11:10:00.001-04:00

If you live in Los Angeles and have over 3 years record promotion experience send me a note.. There is a job available in Santa Monica for Record Promoter & Phone Booker ALL FORMATS (music.specialists@yahoo.com)

2010-05-20T20:23:00.001-04:00

EVIL over the radio airways read it now at the Music Specialist Blogspot :http://ping.fm/2Z1mm

EVIL ON AIR

2010-05-20T20:18:00.000-04:00

The radio announcer comes on and immediately takes a position that increased government intervention in business is detrimental to the American way. The American congress is interfering with the rights of private business and more laws mean more intervention, MORE TAXES, less profit for the independent business owners and less rights for the public.

The radio announcer states that “How can we continue to build a strong country when the government is taxing our businesses into none existence. Americans are losing their jobs and businesses to illegal aliens who only want to come to this country and use our resources while leaving nothing meaningful.” The announcer implies that Mexican men resemble Antonio Banderas, smell like frijoles and tacos, wear sombreros while driving low riders and our taking our girlfriends and sweethearts.

A pre recorded spot comes up and Black career government officials are called extortionists and said to be making secret back door deals with major corporations for undisclosed amounts of money. These deals are directed to inflict the most damage against minority independent owned businesses and the community at large. We re told that we should band together, rise up and fight against the government sponsored actions that are ruining our country and way of life.

Do you think this was Fox network’s Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly spouting their version of the “truth”?

No this was a normal weekday at Radio One Atlanta.

2010-05-16T14:07:00.001-04:00

RADIO PROMOTION BY MAJOR LABEL EXECUTIVES IS A SCAM read it now at The Music Specialist Speaks http://ping.fm/uN14a

2010-04-30T21:45:00.001-04:00

Parlophone Records, Britians most famous record label and part of EMI is accepting demos. Find out more at: http://ping.fm/IeMHL

2010-04-25T22:11:00.001-04:00

Showcase submissions wanted for the International Soul Music Summit. More information at the new Music Specialist Speaks available at: http://ping.fm/1bAk4

FaceBook Now Has Your Identity

2010-04-18T12:25:00.001-04:00

FACEBOOK NOW HAS YOUR IDENTITY
Allen Johnston – The Music Specialist
www.asha.com

Today I can sit at my computer and get more information on you than you have ever thought possible. Your life, your family and friends are now open to investigation like never before. The United States government has devised an anti terrorism plan that includes a highly sophisticated online system, declared that they will not use this system to spy on ordinary American activities, but recently the government has given Federal employees permission to access FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and numerous other social networking sites. The reality of this situation is that FaceBook, Google, Microsoft, Sun, Apple and many other privately owned companies have the technological ability to track and maintain your personal information.

If the government can't legally collect the personal data and track every move you make, private industry can.

There are online articles of the government working with recorder boxes connected to the USA communication backbone. It's been already confirmed that at least "someone" is collecting all of the data on ordinary Americans. They are collecting stuff like airline tickets, utilities, credit trending, demographic targeting, passport registrations, credit card transactions, GPS phone tracking, email/sms recording, and more. Then it can be put all together to pinpoint your exact location with GPS, your current speed, all your text messages, and easily predict you'll show for your regular 8AM Starbucks coffee with vanilla and that you're meeting Bubba based on your text message. With this information “someone” can tell already that Bubba will be late for coffee. Maybe they will raise the price for your coffee since we know you'll be here at 8AM. We'll have the "discount" timer tick down to the last second right as you walk in. You'll be pissed at the new, inflated price, but you'll pay. I wonder what information the car dealers already have on you?

So your privacy is no longer just yours, now it belongs to many other companies who are getting paid to sell your information to individuals, companies and to the government. Google’s system now can find your house from a satellite photo, listen to your voice mails, read your emails, read your text messages, determine your exact GPS coordinates from your cell phone, follow your credit card transactions, determine your net worth and sell this information to a potential employer because it is all within the “public record”.

I know some of you don’t believe me so go see for yourself.

SEARCH YOUR NAME:
http://www.intelius.com

SEARCH YOUR MOST COMMONLY USED EMAIL ADDRESS:
http://spokeo.com

THIS SITE USES A FEED OF A POPULAR SOCIAL NETWORK, TO DISCLOSE WHEN YOU'VE "CHECKED IN" AT SOME PUBLIC PLACE THIS COULD BE CRITICAL WHEN YOU ARE LEAVING HOME.
http://pleaserobme.com/

Finally a few of you will say that once again Allen is paranoid about nothing. Let me know the next time you get an unsolicited message from FaceBook with photos of your friends on it requesting that you join. Wonder where they got that information?

2010-04-16T09:19:00.001-04:00

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2010-04-13T20:04:00.001-04:00

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2010-03-30T15:30:00.001-04:00

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2010-03-13T12:33:00.001-05:00

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Independents New Era in Sales

2010-03-02T19:24:00.000-05:00

For many the dream of staying an independent, never joining a major label stable and making it in the entertainment industry never gets realized. For the first time in history an independent band, with no prior chronicle of major label attachment has debut Billboard Top 200 album charts at #1. This is no fluke but an orchestrated business plan that has encompassed 3 years of promotion, marketing and fan building.

Vampire Weekend is classified as an American rock indie band, however there music is influenced by both classical music and African popular music. Their biggest single released in 2007 “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” is basically Congolese soukous music and was covered by Peter Gabriel former vocalist of Genesis.
Singer-guitarist Ezra Koening and keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij (both music majors at Columbia) brought the African sounds into the band — particularly soukous music, one of the styles made famous in the West via Paul Simon’s Graceland album. When they formed the band, Ezra was listening to a compilation of Madagascar guitar pop music called Madagascar Guitar Vol. 2,. At the same time, Rostam was listening to (South African singer) Brenda Fassie a lot.
In 2007 Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa was ranked #67 on Rolling Stones list of the top 100 songs of the year. Being a touring band has made them interact with their fan base and in 2008 Spin magazine claimed them the Best New Band of the year making them the first band to be shot for the cover of the magazine before releasing their debut album.

Vampire Weekend is a group of Ivy League guys that are not afraid to make fun of their upbringing and neighborhoods. Using the Internet and live shows to keep their fan base alive has worked for these four gentlemen. In 2008 their debut album ranked #15 on the UK charts (over 100,000 sales) and #17 on Billboard, after selling 28,000 copies; its tally now stands at 498,000. First week count on the new album Contra stands at over 124,000 within the United States.

Kudos go out to the band but even more kudos go out to XL Recordings an independent record label which was launched by Tim Palmer, Nick Halkes and Richard Russell in 1989. Originally a UK based dance label, it also released drum and bass, techno and rave music. Tim Palmer retired in 1994 and Richard Russell’s vision started to take command. One thing that Mr Russell has always done and that is work with artists he saw as creative and inventive thus bringing XL Records to the forefront of Independent labels within the UK and himself as one of the most influential people within the British music business.

The diversity of XL Records is apparent once you look at the rooster of acts now on the label:

• Adele
• Badly Drawn Boy
• Basement Jaxx
• be your own PET
• Beck
• Blue Roses
• Cajun Dance Party
• The Cool Kids
• Damon Albarn
• Devendra Banhart
• Dizzee Rascal
• Elvis Perkins
• Friendly Fires
• Jack Peñate
• Giggs
• Gil Scott-Heron
• Golden Silvers
• Gotan Project
• Holly Miranda
• The Horrors
• Kicks Like a Mule
• Kid Harpoon
• Lemon Jelly
• M.I.A.
• Magistrates
• Peaches
• The Prodigy
• Radiohead
• The Raconteurs
• Ratatat
• RJD2
• Sigur Rós
• Tapes 'n Tapes
• Thom Yorke
• Titus Andronicus
• To My Boy
• Vampire Weekend
• Various
• The White Stripes
Since the late 1990s expanding into other genres such as freak-folk, alternative rock , hip-hop and UK Garage, XL Records has maintained a TOP three (3) sales place on the US, UK and Canadian record charts.
Good business sense, coupled with increasing online and offline fan base reach has propelled this label to new never before heard of heights.

Surprising what a little work and education will do.

2010-03-01T09:10:00.001-05:00

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2010-02-25T12:01:00.001-05:00

The Latest edition of The Music Specialist Speaks is now online:
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w

2010-02-18T14:59:00.001-05:00

There is a new opportunity available for musicians, artists, producers, radio DJ’s and talk radio announcers. Internet radio, podcasting and video casting are becoming a huge commodity worldwide. International audiences want to know what other countries and artists are creating. They are listening and viewing more and more Internet based programming and recent developments have made the creation of Internet programming even more important.

Within the past few weeks the United States most listen to Internet radio streams have been silenced outside of USA borders. The initial reasoning is that the music royalties being charged for Internet streaming outside of the US is cost prohibitive, I however see another reason. American companies are not interested in buying advertising that is streamed to International audiences who are NOT interested in their products. The United States system is based on ad impressions and non-US ad impressions is simply not warranted. The largest Internet radio streams Pandora, CBS Radio (which includes AOL Radio and Yahoo! Radio), and Clear Channel Radio, all are dependent upon advertisers to pay for bandwidth used for the streams. Thus closing the streams down will save the companies bandwidth plus they maintain their advertiser base. In addition to music based sites, talk radio streams have been silenced also. This is due to the CBS / AOL software platform. It is impossible to separate the talk stations from the music stations so everyone is off.

The best part of this International shutdown is that the market will be looking for alternatives to the BIG 3. The ability to start developing your own shows, creating playlists of independent artists and becoming personalities can once again be accepted by International audiences without the BIG 3 marketing and promoting smaller companies out of the business.

CBS Radio and Clear Channel Radio both have another issue that will be affecting their operations and that is local advertising.

Pandora Radio, the Internet based streaming company that uses advanced logarithms to determine the type of music you program it to play and finds additional music for you to listen to, is now available in automobiles and on cell phones. You can find the Pandora platform on iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre, Android and now available on Windows Mobile. With that can of layout it was only inevitable that Pandora created an initiative to target local radio advertisers. Here is where Pandora really attacks CBS Radio and Clear Channel Radio. Pandora has the ability to be genre, cult and community specific and since the listener basically programs their individual station local advertising will be centered around the listeners taste and not that of a national, regional or local sales director.

The possibilities are almost endless and if the Pandora sales force, which I assume will be current or ex radio station sales people or advertising account sales people, understands their local advertiser than sales will increase almost immediately. Surgical targetability in advertising has been promised via Internet for years, now it is physically possible to pinpoint your audience and sell directly to that audience needs.

The advertising and programming business as created by CBS Radio / Clear Channel Radio is now changing and the slowest company to change will be the loser. Now is the time to create your company to develop programming and think of new ways to deliver advertising to this audience.

The future is yours to command.

2010-02-16T13:59:00.001-05:00

SADE Mix

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HAITI - A CHANGE MUST COME

2010-01-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

HAITI – A CHANGE MUST COME
It is not 48 hours since the devastation in Haiti and the bull shit artists are already out and practicing. My email box has over flowed with requests to either buy something or donate to a new cause. What is not needed today are Parties for Haitian relief, Mix cd’s for Haiti, T shirts for Haiti and more. Today I have heard from way too many people all having ideas on how to assist the Haitian population. The reality is that the streets of Haiti are ruled by the gangs of Haiti. In my opinion, the same people that want to make money on the plight of the Haitian people are just low level gangsters trying to find a way to pimp the process.

That church wanting to take a collection has no way of getting the funds into the Haitian plight. If the RED CROSS cannot get supplies, water and funds into the Haitian system, what makes you think that any American church has a better chance? By the way where were ALL of you people last week? Haiti has needed help since the slave revolt in 1804 following which the United States and Europe placed a trade blockade upon the country. Thus making an extremely polarized class structure in which a few families stepped into the positions of the former colonial plantation owners structuring a horrible cycle of plundering and autocracy within Haitian leadership.

I want to help the population and relieve the medical, physical and emotional stress that is happening in this country. The only way I see it will happen is by first taking charge of the streets, this means having a bigger gang than the ones running the country now. Honest business practices in food distribution, health options, construction companies, supply management and politics will have to be created and then instituted. This is not going to be an easy road to travel, for at least 200 years have passed filled with corruption.
I am writing this to the entertainment community with the thought that now is the time to create music, video and creative ideas that assist youth in making social change in the many countries that listen to you.

Wyclef Jean talks the talk and walks the walk.

What can you do?

Black Radio Pimp History

2010-01-10T17:11:00.000-05:00

Black radio owners and some announcers have made historical decisions that have now come back to bite them. For years it was the norm for artists and record labels to pay for play and a lot of money was paid to announcers, music directors and program directors.

Jack “The Rapper” Gibson, told me a story of how he was called to the offices of a certain record label in New York City. While in the office of the president he was given 4 different artists records to listen to and asked to make sure these particular records got airplay throughout the United States. After listening to the music the president of the label got up from his desk, told Jack to sit there and get what he needed from a desk drawer. The president left the room, Jack sat at the desk opened the drawer and saw it was filled with money. Needless to say he filled not only his pockets, but stuffed money inside his underwear and shirt.

His next move was to travel the country, making stops at major Black radio stations, personally delivering records, making preparations for station promotions and of course leaving money. Most radio program and music directors were not only the most popular on air announcers, but also the biggest Black club promoters in their city. This worked well for artist, record label, radio station, record store and club owner while establishing a great experience for those particular cities listeners.

What changed this great system?

Many different contributing factors including technology but the first factor was jealousy and greed. Where the program director was NOT the #1 jock at the station the rules were changed so that the relationship between record label and announcer became limited. Certain PD’s were cynical, sarcastic and downright nasty whenever the name of another announcer came up. Station owners mismanaged their businesses, underpaying announcers, not repairing equipment and using questionable accounting principles. One of the more interesting abuses of power by owners came with the concept of the owners receiving a percentage of the artists’ shows within their city in return for increased advertising and increased music airplay.

Not all Black owned radio stations adhered to these ideas but remember that most Black music stations were not Black owned (they are still not). During my days as a record promoter in the Southern United States I came upon a station owner that would occasionally pay his jocks and if they complained about their money he would fire them and take over their air shift. He called himself BIG BOSS MAN on air and he thought that he was the best “passing for colored” DJ in the nation.

Unfortunately this industry allowed the practices of greed; mismanagement and corruption to become the norm and not the exception. Today’s urban youth feel that you must “pay for play”, cheat the club owner, deceive the public and ultimately get someone else to make their career happen. Pimping is not new; only newly abused once again.

2010 is the year that the world will change. In fact every year is that year, however this is the only time we’ll get to change the world this time.

Stop Pimping, Start Living

READING, RITING, RITHMETIC DOES NOT EQUAL R. KELLY

2009-12-19T14:09:00.000-05:00

Allen Johnston - The Music specialist
www.asha.com
Not long ago I had an online discussion about the new R. KELLY project and I took the stance that his inability to grow up and be a man, while sexually and mentally messing with teenage girls was enough for me to never be associated with his music again. This stance made a real stir online and of course I got all of the pseudo reasons why I should endorse his music.

a. He had not been convicted so regardless of what I thought he was innocent.
b. God wants us to forgive one another for our transgressions.
c. Since we came together as a people and fought the trail of OJ we should be behind R.KELLY.
d. Where are the fathers to stop this kind of teenage girl treatment and where was his father?

Not one person wanted to address the 2 main true issues I see surrounding R.KELLY.
1. He preys on young teenage women (girls) for his own mental and sexual satisfaction.
2. He is not a musical genius but a high school drop out with a creative musical, marketing and promotional team that constructs his success.
I, for one, refuse to put my personal feelings aside to allow a man with such a confirmed history of abuse make more money. I have found out that I am not alone on this subject for literally millions of other people from almost every racial and age group agree with my viewpoint. He is now and shall continue to be, in my mind, less than a man.
Musically he has years of education ahead of him before he can be classified as proficient. His lack of formal education shows in his lyrical content. His lack of musical knowledge is apparent because he uses co-producers on all of his songs to make sure he has music.

When asked on the Tom Joyner Morning Show if he would go back to school he said NO he believed that he would lose his creativity if he got education. By any standard this is NOT what you want young aspiring kids to think, and showed me his disdain for education and fear of learning.

I understand that he has made a lot of money, but looking at his career strictly from a professional point of view, his team has made much more money than him. R.KELLY has to hold himself responsible for loss of family (wife, children, and brother) exorbitant legal bills, declining fan base and the karma of his actions.
His latest endeavor R.KELLY MEMOIRS being written by David Ritz is supposed to tell the truth about his life. Interestingly enough one person has already commented “How can he write a book when he can’t read”.

Copyrights 2014

2009-12-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

Copyrights 2014
OR
WHY RECORD COMPANIES SHOULD LOSE MONEY

The implication that major labels will be devastated by the litigation of hundreds of artists receiving their copyrights is really humorous. Especially when one looks at exactly what the major labels currently own.

Major record companies have a built in money machine selling the catalog of past artists. The sales of cd, vinyl and “Live show” DVD keep the lights on while new artist sales fluctuate. During the 1980’s the major labels came up with a scheme that put the independent retailer out of business while solidifying their own distribution divisions. They created the Sound Scan system (digital database using a products UPC code) and gave free computers to the independent store owners and coalitions. This gave the labels direct access to the independent store data and told them what catalog items were consistent sellers. Now they could lower product manufacturing costs and increase profits on products they were paying little or no royalty on. And since they owned the copyrights, they paid themselves for mechanicals, synchronization and performance publishing rights.
The recording contracts written before and during that period gave the major labels ALL of the revenue streams from the copyright. The only stream left to the artist was possibly a percentage of the Writer’s share of publishing, performing and merchandising. PA & SR copyrights, for virtually every hit song prior to 1984, are either owned, or controlled by a major label or major label affiliate. Example Sony records will control the SR copyright on a song, contracted at least 50% of the PA copyright, which in turn is part of the Sony publishing(100% owned) catalog ultimately allowing one pocket to pay the other. Most artists have taken an advance against royalties that allows the major label to own even the original songwriters 50%.

Just so you don’t forget, here are a few of those affected artists.
Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters, Big Joe Turner, The Temptations, Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Fats Domino, The Dominoes, Sly & The Family Stone, Lloyd Price, Martha & The Vandellas, Parliment Funkadelic, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Kool & The Gang, The Supremes, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Earth, Wind & Fire, etc..

Ultimately, worst case scenario, the labels will have to re-negotiate with a few wise and non-hungry copyright owners, otherwise it will just be business as usual by advancing some monies and getting another contract.

These catalogs still have a valuable worth in digital downloads, film & commercial licensing and corporate licensing, the labels have the staff, connections and technical support to pursue this.

The Best In Black Music And Entertainment

2009-12-03T17:32:00.000-05:00

The BEST IN BLACK MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT

Allen L. Johnston - The Music Specialist

www.asha.com

Once upon a time Billboard magazine was considered the “bible” of the music industry. If you did not chart in this magazine you did not have “high” sales, if you did not show upward movement you did not move into “high” rotation at radio, if you were not written up within its pages you did not acquire any advanced or international publicity. Basically you were a NOBODY. Billboard never planned for its own demise, so it never created an Awards show based on the excellence of its artists. The Billboard Urban conferences were a weak venture that never achieved the support of the major labels or major selling artists. This made them available to the independent artist and label who still thought that Billboard was the bible. The Billboard nightclub was suppose to be a place where the “best of the best” performed, in reality these clubs became overpriced disco’s and have disappeared into night club nirvana. There is a lesson to be learned from the downfall of Billboard Magazine.

Can anyone give me suggestions on how we can save or re-create an Awards ceremony that has the qualities we need to instill about our music?

The Soul Train Awards gave me a feeling of dread and shock when I realized that the bar of excellence has been lowered to an all time low. The show was as dreadful as it was based on numerous problems. The biggest of which is the in ability to have a vision of excellence to strive towards.

Soul Train started in Chicago Illinois as a teen dance show with MC Don Cornelius. His personal vision of excellence brought national recognition, national audiences, advertising and the ability to launch acts which most teen dance shows lacked. In 1985 the Tribune Entertainment Company partnered with Don Cornelius Productions Inc. as the exclusive syndicator and distributor. In 1987 the Soul Train Music Awards hit television making history and setting the bar for Black music & entertainment award shows. After years of progress it too became dated, lost its national audience and relevancy along with the Don Cornelius vision of excellence. In 2007 the parent Tribune Company was sold, Don Cornelius became very ill and Soul Train Music Awards was sold to Madvision Entertainment in 2008.

Don Cornelius, born September 27, 1936 was raised with an entirely different set of morals than business principles than most of the current generation. Not only was he an excellent television producer, promoter, salesman and visionary, but he was also a radio announcer (WVON) and a former Chicago Police officer. He envisioned the pomp and ceremony, the panache and elegance that made the Soul Train Music Awards the best of its era.

The Soul Train Music Awards originally contained a voting body of professionals within the radio and record communities. These radio programmers, retail store owners, wholesale buyers, managers, and recording artists who had charted within the previous year, actually cared which person won each individual award. Having a great selling “novelty” record was not a requirement for winning and the winners immediately had increased sales directly connected to the Awards show. The past hosts included Dionne Warwick, Luther Vandross, Will Smith, Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight, Anita Baker, Brandy and L.L. Cool J. The presenters tried to out dress and out class each other and they included Quincy Jones, Montell Williams, Barry White, Oleta Adams, Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Taylor, Billy Dee Williams and even Don King.

This was an award show that had refinement, major professional entertainers, completely innovative and substantial performances and dignity.

The current Soul Train Awards structure seemed to miss the entire scope of the awards. Gone were the super star celebrities, the outstanding performances, the advertising and the dignity. I see the problem as the inability to have a wider sense of quality both in music and presentation.

People are doing business as if it was a relationship. They are acting emotional, personal, self serving with no regard for others or what they are trying to accomplish. The level of brilliance has been watered down for singers who feel that they can make a few vocal runs or hold a note a few seconds longer than anticipated and that makes them a superior

artist. This is not only musical artists but includes the entire behind the scene individuals who make an awards show possible. It was easy to see, even after the show was edited for television that rehearsals had not been effective, camera direction was sub standard and the outreach to the Black music and larger arts community was mediocre at best.

The World audience expects more and deserves more. What will happen next year? Who knows but one thing is for sure this year’s show was NOT The BEST IN BLACK MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT

No Positive Reputation = VULTURES

2009-09-15T20:32:00.000-04:00

Today’s entertainment industry has created a totally new type of divisive character. The person who makes the saying “shady business”, a reality. The main reason this person exists is due to the lack of Positive Reputation among today’s industry players.

The contemporary music business has created a host of new players and new positions, unfortunately the honesty of these players is not based on their actions. A few examples of the new breed hustler starts with their ability to consistently find people and companies that are new and uneducated. The sayings, “up and coming”, “about to blow up”, “new day in the music business”, “next one to hit”, and “not new to the game” are ALL flags to the new breed vulture to get these people immediately.

EXAMPLES OF THE NEW BREED VULTURE

Promotion Man / Woman – Once having this title meant you had a position of importance within the music community is now an open license to lie and steal from unsuspecting artists and companies. Everyone wants their music to be played over radio and television believing that once their music is heard they will become rich and famous. Very few artist understand that airplay is one of the final cogs in the musical business wheel, only needed AFTER you have created a fan base, developed a distribution strategy, done copious amounts of publicity and promotion plus seen significant sales. Then acquiring airplay will increase your sales base, popularity and notoriety. The new promotion person prays on the inability to understand this and promises visions of massive sales, humongous airplay spins and increased popularity both over the air waves and over the Internet.

The reality is that the artist winds up spending thousands of dollars fir their song to be played on a mix show or on a “make it or break it” show, then they are told that their song was not good enough to be considered a hit. By the way there are NO REFUNDS – NO CANCELLATIONS.

Record Pool DJ's & Directors - This is another "hyped" filled position with an organization that has a different twist. First the record pool wants your money to play your music in a club or over a radio station mix show where THEY GET PAID to play music. (Double Dipping) They offer you the ability to be on a conference call, be added to a website or perform at one of their venues for an additional fee. There is no logical business development plan to grow your song or attract new listeners. Ultimately you are told that if you don't use their services your music will be blacklisted and never heard in the environments that they control or work within.

Record pools were created to assist individual record companies place their music within clubs and venues playing recorded music. The pool members listened to your music gave it a few plays and returned feedback to the artist or label. Record labels in turn assisted the pools by developing promotional items (special vinyl, t-shirts, etc.) giving free shows and communicating with the individual pool DJ's on a regular basis. Record pool directors charged their membership for the service of receiving new music and record label promotional items. Now there are pool directors that claim the same responsibilities of promotion people, telling artist and labels that they can deliver a record to radio and develop sales and a fan base.

Retail Promoters - I honestly thought that this business was dead but here we go again with another useless reason to collect more money from an unsuspecting artist. Approximately 90% of the retail accounts selling music in the United States are owned by corporate entities. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Best But, Target are the retailers that control the sale of physical product. They all buy from authorized vendors who are either major labels or one stops. What can a retail promoter accomplish? They can not place any music within the corporate accounts, they can not get information on product that is sold in these accounts and they have no influence with the authorized wholesale vendors. Hiring one of these people is akin to having smoke blown up your ass. Feels good for a moment than the odor assaults your senses.

Consultant - A new position with an old twist, most contemporary consultants are ex- record company promotion people who still believe that they can get a record added to radio station play lists. The reality here is that the music business has changed into a digital delivery, digital promotion licensing business and will never return to the OLD RECORD GAME. The consultant game is to tell you what they did back in the day and get you thinking that they can make an immediate difference in your professional career. Once again there is no business plan, no development plan and no real knowledge of how to work in today's digital world.

The easiest way to avoid these new era vultures is when they approach you ask them WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY?

Reputation in this industry is developed over time, weather it is negative or positive. It can't be changed for Reputation is history. The Internet allows almost anyone with a credible past to be researched. Google is the search engine of choice and if the person or company you want to do business with comes up with several negative reports, 10 times out of 10 YOU will be a victim.

Do your homework; do not sign contracts until you have had them explained to you by an outside source. Do not believe the hype of how great your song is or how much someone is going to do for you because you wrote, sang, rapped or performed.

The vultures are out and they will circle the uneducated, peck at the gullible and devour the greedy.

2009-08-23T12:33:00.000-04:00

A TRUE STORY OF INDUSTRY ABUSE
Allen L. Johnston – The Music Specialist
www.asha.com

This story was written because I received a phone call from a distressed parent, attempting to make their child’s entertainment dreams a reality. They had gone to an industry related association meeting and heard how wonderful members of this group treated new artists and their projects. This parent believed the stories of success and made sure to get the contact information from the people they thought could assist them. Several days later this same parent called one of their new contacts and asked them what they should do to help move their child to the next level of positive achievement. They were immediately told to send money and the project and everything would be wonderful. Of course they did as requested and waited to hear back from their new contact. Within a week the contact had told them that the project was playing on several radio stations and was being recorded by Broadcast Data Service (BDS), please send more money so that your project can be reviewed in a national trade magazine and more airplay can be sustained. The parent once again believed their new contact and sent an additional round of financing to ensure success for their child.

Within 2 more weeks the parent received a phone call from an entirely new contact living in another market. This second contact had been in touch with the first contact and had a significant plan of action for the parents’ project within their market. All they needed was for the parent to send money plus the project and everything would be wonderful. The parent told them that they did not have the amount requested but would send half now and within a week visit this new market and deliver the other half. The contact said to send half now, but the price would have to double for the second half because they didn’t work like that. FINALLY the parent started to get suspicious, thought that this was a game just to get money and called me for clarity.

My response was probably NOT what the parent wanted to hear.

I told them that because they were lazy, greedy, and ignorant and wanted something given to them on a platter they were a perfect target for this type of scam. Their laziness was seen in not checking out the markets were they wanted airplay before they sent money, not checking the markets during the supposed airplay and not trying to promote these markets at all. They did not even have the call letters for the radio stations where they were supposedly getting airplay. And of course they had NO CD’s for sale anywhere.

Their ignorance was on quite a few different levels. They had no knowledge of BDS so did not realize that they would have had to place a digital fingerprint within their song and register with BDS before anyone could record any spins. They believed that their song was going to be reviewed within a national trade magazine yet they had not written a bio, taken any promotional photos, designed an album cover or even heard of the magazine prior to sending money to a person they had only met once. Finally they had done no homework on the industry related association whose meetings caused them to acquire the aforementioned contacts. They were destined for failure from the beginning.

The above story is true, only the names of the culprits have been removed.

There is a way to change this perceived behavior well in advance of getting caught in a financial and business mess.

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY – Normally people don’t think that being honest rates high within the entertainment industry, however based on how small this industry is and the ability to communicate at light speed, telling someone a lie can backfire on you very quickly. Now that these industry related association contacts have fooled this parent, their names are being mentioned over many different telephone and Internet networks. The industry related association has not been functional within the industry for at least 10 years, but continues to get new “wannabe” artists, label owners and “over the hill artists” into its meetings. Their credibility is suspect at the very least.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER – My father once told me that if you own a restaurant you need to know how to greet people at the front door, take the garbage out of the back door and everything in between. The same analogy works within the entertainment industry. If you know what is suppose to happen then you can’t get scammed when it doesn’t happen.

RETURN PHONE CALLS – The ability to communicate over the phone has been taken for granted and current industry relations are being held over the impersonal Internet. It is great to send an MP3 file, a photo or bio over the Internet, but the ability to call a person and tell them that the file is waiting for them is invaluable. Phone calls may only take a few moments, but can create a lifetime worth of good will.

NETWORKING WORKS – Get out, meet people, stay in touch with them and make friends. Remember that friends do business together, strangers don’t.

SHAKE HANDS – The very best way to conduct business is to physically meet your client and “press the flesh”. The entertainment industry was built upon artists and managers going from one venue to another making fans and personally visiting stores. The idea of not visiting your public and making a lasting impression is the very idea that can kill your business.

Somewhere down the line my generation dropped the ball in relating our history and education to the parents of the current youth generation. Some how the ideas of truth, justice, family, respect and honesty have been misplaced within the current popular culture. Each one of us must take a stand, tell the truth and save our youths dreams.

PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ACT

2009-05-23T20:19:00.000-04:00

In the past few weeks there has been a flurry of controversy concerning the PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ACT. Many broadcasters and thousands of uninformed people are suggesting that the bill would be the death of Black radio within the United States.

Black radio died years ago when consolidation of ownership, syndication of programming and disregard for the local community became the Black radio norm. What the cry is now is for the local listeners to rally around the Black owned radio stations so the stations won’t have to pay out more money. Where is the concern for the artists whose creativity and expertise made this entire industry possible?

Looking at Black radio within the United States many people seemed to forget exactly how Black radio assisted the recording artists and independent labels. In the beginning Black radio was concerned about the health and growth of independent Black owned labels and worked closely with them, at times in complete partnership, to create events, shows, in stores and remote broadcasts benefitting both parties. As revenues grew and more stations became popular the attitude of owners, sales people and eventually disc jockeys became more and more financially directed. What once was partnership creating revenue for both sides became a mandatory free show, promotion, in store or event FOR the station. Disk jockeys became PIMP jockeys and wanted money in advance of hearing the music that was offered to them for possible airplay. Research techniques were initiated to offer “scientific” excuses for not playing a song, while new systems were put in place to make the journey to the radio station more difficult.

Record pools, independent promoters, marketing experts, publicity people, ALL were started from the inception of artists creativity and expertise. Without the song NO ONE would be eating. Now that the United States wants to join the rest of the free world in assisting the artist acquire revenue that has been LONG denied them we hear from major and independent broadcast owners that this is a business threatening move.

Education of the issue can help you understand the different visions presented by both sides.

The SOUND RECORDING PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ACT FOR TERRESTRIAL RADIO H.R.4789 passed the House of Representatives on May 13, 2009.

Performance Rights Act - Amends federal copyright law to:
(1) Grant performers of sound recordings equal rights to compensation from terrestrial broadcasters;
(2) Establish a flat annual fee in lieu of payment of royalties for individual terrestrial broadcast stations with gross revenues of less than $1.25 million and for non-commercial, public broadcast stations;
(3) Grant an exemption from royalty payments for broadcasts of religious services and for incidental uses of musical sound recordings; and
(4) Grant terrestrial broadcast stations that make limited feature uses of sound recordings a per program license option.

Any single track of recorded music consists of 2 copyrights.

There is a copyright in the written words and music (the “musical composition”), which is typically held by the songwriter or their publisher.

There is a copyright in any recording of the composition (the “sound recording”), which is typically held by the performing artist or their label.

What the Performance Rights Act is proposing is that the owners of the sound recording start receiving payment for the use of their art. Prior to 1995 performers could not receive ANY remuneration for their art, then Sound Exchange started collecting for Internet radio, Satellite radio and Cable radio plays and artists who had not seen any money in years from their publishers or labels started seeing renewed checks.

We are now talking about paying recording artist direct for their contributions to the BILLIONS of dollars in revenue radio stations have all ready collected.

This is not the end of Black radio.

This is not the end of free on air time for non-profit organizations.

This is not the reason for firing announcers and other radio station people.

This is a call for station owners to become more attuned to their community needs, develop consistent sales programs that develop better usage of their staffs, stop doing business the way it was done years ago and step into the future. I find it really strange that the people speaking out the most against the Performance Act either work for a major radio network or have refused to embrace the new technological changes now available for supplementary revenue formation.

Interestingly enough radio stations outside of the United States have been paying publishing fees AND performance fees for years and it has grown there business.

NIGGERDOM

2009-05-23T20:18:00.000-04:00

Today’s entertainment industry has become strategically deployed to affect a new state of mind within the youth of the African Diaspora. My continued contact with young people both online and in person confirms this global tragedy.

SUCCESS CAN BE AND HAS BEEN MANIPULATED!!

I have been speaking about this problem for years but it took my friend REJE SHOWERS to give it a name, “NIGGERDOM”

Niggerdom is a state of mind programmed into our youth worldwide that gives them unapprised information on behavior, ethics, morals and daily choices. This is not a haphazard condition but a strategically planned and orchestrated scheme to continue the status quo and keep wealth, power and land ownership out of the hands of people of color.

The basic entertainment premise is, instead of making a product so skillfully and honestly that people want to run out and acquire it, you now promote & market a product to make people yearn for it. The art form presented to the masses has become non emotional, lyrically laden with sexual, criminal, low moral, gender bias, fantasy concepts. Today’s young adults and children covet sex without love, big cars, flashy jewelry and perceived power through violence. Money has become their religious conviction.

Historically this particular mentality was originally cultivated when European royalty devised the strategy of non-white people being sub intelligent to white Europeans. This was made common place AFTER the discovery of gold, spices, hardwood, higher mathematics, astrology, medicine, surgery and information storage was presented to Europe from the European merchants travels to other non-white continents and cities. This creative idea held that non-white people were not entitled to land, wealth, independent thought, religion or freedom that was not ISSUED by a white European.
As generations passed this concept morphed into a worldwide plan that justified the slave trade, the taking of countries, and the creation of “townships”, concentration camps and detainment centers. As far fetched as it may seem this same strategically made plan has changed into a contemporary methodology using entertainment and mass media as its ultimate tools of delivery.

NIGGERDOM

This strategic conditioning has created a few new common terms and phrases that are having a significant impact on the collective Diaspora’s psyche.

HATERS - A term unheard of just 5 years ago, but today it is used to describe a litany of individuals, organizations and political parties who’s viewpoints are different than the user of the word. A HATER is someone who openly criticizes, purposefully attempts to sabotage, or who indulges in any number of other activities/behaviors aimed at someone they consider doing better than them. Instead of developing answers to the problems that arise everyday, people are now saying that others are “hating” on them and developing a false sense of security by using the term. Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesn’t really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock some one else down a notch. NIGGERDOM

When you make your mark, you will always attract some haters...
That's why you have to be careful with whom you share your blessings and your dreams, because some folk can't handle seeing you blessed...
It's dangerous to be like somebody else... If God wanted you to be like somebody else, He would have given you what He gave them! Right?
You never know what people have gone through to get what they have..
EXCERPT FROM MAYA ANGELOU “HATERS”

Black, Asian, Hindi __________ is not as good as White ___________

(Add any of the following words in to the blank spaces.)
Neighborhoods
Grocery Stores
Television shows
Movies
Men
Women
Children
Jazz
Blues
Hip Hop
Rock and Roll
Food
Schools
Banks
Government
This is an example of NIGGERDOM at work at its basic level, using the ability to transfer negative concepts between the races just to create negative feelings about one.

HERD MENTALITY - One of the greatest NIGGERDOM tools in existence. People of color unknowingly call themselves individuals while constantly following the buying, dressing, eating and entertainment habits of millions of others. The Hip Hop generation manufactures a new look in dress and personal preferences, now every child, tween, teen and young adult has a NEED to follow the latest trend as quickly as they can afford it, regardless to their basis needs for health and education. If a new line of black sneakers with pink polka dots is introduced to the main stream media audience, every one of the aforementioned groups wants to wear them immediately. This immediately opens up the concept that “Your sneakers are not REAL because they are not the name brand advertised or you didn’t buy them from the exclusive “right” store”.

NIGGERDOM

This system of degradation and self hate has been fueled by the capability of major labels, television, movie houses, mass distribution and the press to PRIMARILY market and release negative projects.

There are too many decision makers that see the world through their own pair of wealth orientated glasses. Recently Queen Latifah has become disgusted with the lack of positive roles for people of color within the industry. As new as this may seem this is only the most recent cry for freedom from a person of color concerning this historically blatant strategic system. There have always been alternatives to this system, but until recently has there been the means to affect these alternatives worldwide.

The answer to NIGGERDOM is to own, control and operate the entire ability to make entertainment and educational material, distribute the materials and communicate directly with the recipients of the materials. This means developing independently owned schools, studios, online and offline distribution centers, and banks to assist in financing the deployment of positive materials to the billions of people of color worldwide. This is not just an American problem, British problem, Hindi problem, Asian problem, Caribbean problem or African problem. NIGGERDOM is a universal problem that must be destroyed before it totally destroys our ability to change it.

I humbly suggest that YOU take the first step with me. Make something that positively portrays you, your family, your village, your town, your city or your religion. Join like minded people online and offline, start sharing your project and positive ideas. Instantly stop using the terms and thoughts being programmed into your home, computer, car and cellphone and look at people around you as equals.

It only takes a few collective people to make a change.

THE INTERNET IS A MICROSCOPE

2009-05-05T15:40:00.002-04:00

Have you ever “GOOGLED” someone on the Internet? Google has become the source to find information “instantly” on anyone. Today’s online search media can make you or break you in only a few moments. Once you had to be careful about what was written or reported about you, now there is a completely new set of media online with Bloggers, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. Facebook has become the fastest growing and most used social network site on the planet. Facebook worldwide has 1.5 million NEW subscribers a month. Based on Worldwide Internet usage and Population statistics there are over 1,590,000,000 online users. According to a March report from research firm Nielsen, two-thirds of the planet's Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites. Across the world, activity in social networking communities’ accounts for one in every 11 minutes spent online, the report said. In the United Kingdom, the average is one in every six minutes. In Brazil, it's one of every four minutes.
Comedian and radio personality J Anthony Brown says “Watch Out Now” and today that is one of the best pieces of advice a person can have. The Internet has become the number one source to find out information on just about anyone or anything.

As an Internet user, online music consumer or social network user you are leaving a trail of information. Consider how much information you voluntarily provide on your Facebook profile. Now imagine if you could combine that with your Netflix renting and Amazon buying habits. Then throw in the suggestions of your friends and the pages you visit the most often. All those various sources of information about you are currently stored in different locations—on your computer’s browser history, on your Facebook page, on the servers for Netflix and Amazon—but just imagine how accurate a search could be if every time you had a query, the mass of data about you that exists on the Internet could inform the results. Google and Yahoo already do this to a limited extent by tracking your search history to refine results. Local, State and Federal governments now have databases researchable by any common person who has the time, energy and a small amount of money. If you have been involved with a court system over ANY matter there is information on you online. If you have applied for any type of governmental money, paid taxes or applied for a driver’s license, there is information about you online.

In fact, as we each carve out our individual niche on the Web, the logic of search may well flip inside out. Since we are essentially meta-tagging ourselves through our social networking memberships, shopping habits and surfing addictions, it’s conceivable that the information could attempt to find us—the old concept of push media, but in a far more refined way. As new content enters the Web, it could tumble through the various filters that you set up around your identity and then show up on your home-page news feed, or in your personal in box, or pop up on a ticker that follows you around as you browse from page to page. The new concept of EVERYTHING being transferable to your cellphone could really take on a different meaning when your online information gets “pushed” to it.
Email is the most popular mode of communication, designed for one-to-one interactions.
Instant messaging, texting and social networking are dramatically higher among teens than in the overall broadband population.
Photos are the most common type of information shared online, while podcasts are the least common.

Blogs are more likely to be shared with co-workers and the public than other forms of shared content.

Just like the opening days of Napster and the copyright questions, as social networking evolves, there will be an unholy mess of privacy and security issues to work out. Don’t be paranoid just start being careful about what you do. Start creating new positive information about yourself continuously for the Internet. Remember that weekend in college that you decided to “streak” around campus? Where are those photos your friends took? Drugs, Alcohol and photography should not be mixed, it could turn around years later and bite you. Make sure that you don’t have photos on someone’s page that can destroy your career or affect your livelihood.

The Internet is a microscope and you are a living specimen to be examined.

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE

2009-05-05T15:40:00.001-04:00

If you think that you can go to a conference, play a song or perform and someone will give you a deal. HELLO you are almost a complete fool. Most NEW conferences are about separating you from as much of your money as possible and this happens by selling you dreams. These NEW conferences are long on conference performance slots, nightclub showcases, and DJ panels and short on education and real business networking. Just tell me what artist ever "BLEW UP" from having a DJ, an A&R rep or a record promotion person listen to them? This industry takes work and you must be prepared to do the work.

Conferences should be about business, the conference speakers have their agenda, normally wanting to sell their services, and the attendees have their agenda, making the best presentation possible to get someone's attention.

If you read correctly you will see I said PRESENTATION. Here are a few of things you should have ready.

1. Your music on either a PRESSED cd or on a jump drive (mp3). Hand written, computer made cd's from Staples or Office Max are not PRESSED.

2. Information ON the cd or jump drive, most people have to take your cd OUT of the case to hear it, but a few will tell you it's great and never open the case. You need your name, title of song, time (length of song), phone number, mailing address and email just in case someone wants to get in touch with you.

3. Business card with company or artist name and contact information. Try not to have your girlfriend or boyfriends phone number as your contact because you know you two are going to fight and talk smack about each other. This is not good for a professional to hear if they are trying to contact you.

4. Additionally you can have a one sheet. This is a single sheet of paper with information on where you are being played, what you are doing for promotion, the UPC code of the song so a store can add you to their computer database. Contact information on you or your company plus a photo of the cd insert completes it.

5. Try NOT to have a bunch of promotional mess, stuff like postcards, flyers, posters, and mini pictures of half naked women. This stuff looks good in the street and most professionals will just throw it into the garbage, leave it on a table or drop it on the floor.

Be prepared for business and still be able to have a great time at the social events

Sports And Music Like Oil & Water

2009-04-20T15:05:00.001-04:00

Professional football players, professional basketball players, professional boxers and other professional sports figures DO NOT make good record label managers and are absolutely not talented artists.

This may sound like a harsh statement however recent history proves it to be correct.

Within the last year I have had the opportunity to observe a professional basketball player and 2 professional football players, let me tell you my story. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.

BASKETBALLER

This person, lets call him Mr. J, was a self taught musician. He spent numerous hours in his hotel room while on the road, teaching himself how to play keyboards and making music. As most self taught musicians he never learned theory, harmony or the historical significance of the musical masters before him. What he learned was scales, a few chords and how to make rudimentary songs on his digital equipment. As a self taught musician he imagined that he could sing well. This, in his mind, qualified him to be a virtuoso and he believed that every song he made was a fantastic hit.

What he never learned was how to run a business, how not to let his ego get in the way of his business, and how to delegate authority to seasoned professionals. What transpired within a year was totally his fault. He let his relatives become his label executives yet they had never finished high school, never run a business and had NO connections within the industry. He made business decisions for his label based on who stroked his ego so he spent over $100,000 in radio promotion and never got more than 15 spins nationally. After acquiring a distribution deal he let his ego over power his business sense creating verbal abuse and problems within the distributorship.

You can’t “slam dunk” a record, you need a team of individuals working together on a solid marketing & promotional plan to make things happen. Today Mr. J still believes that he is an artist without any record sales, shows or company structure.

FOOTBALLER #1

No talent is probably the most used and abused portion of the entertainment industry. Thinking that you can sing or rap because you “feel it” is so far from reality that Never Never Land is closer. Mr. A has absolutely NO TALENT, his voice is raw, out of key, listless and he fancies himself a rapper. Yet he hired some of the best producers, engineers, mastering and web design people in the industry. He put thousands of dollars into a mix cd, not ever thinking about selling anything or owning any of the songs (?) on the cd. He has not once tried to form a music company, establish a publishing house, start a management company or create any type of legal business system for himself.

He has a lawyer, an accountant and a personal business consultant yet he still has thrown away his money on a project that is POOR at best. The people that he pays won’t tell him the truth; they want to continue getting paid.

Being a professional football player means that your image and the image of the team you play for should stay untarnished. Mr. A’s first song was about ALL of the negative things you can find in the streets. Bitches, hoes, guns, fancy cars, fancy jewelry, pimping, you know Keeping It Real. It automatically created the impression that Mr. A was uneducated, socially ignorant and a very poor artist.

You can’t get far with that type of initial endorsement.

FOOTBALLER #2

Here is a tale of complete abuse and stupidity. Mr. R was a young “baller” years before he attempted to make music. His background was one of deceit, alcohol & drug abuse and physical abuse culminating in the creation of a posse of friends that lived to spend his money. As a professional player he brought the same qualities he grew up with, along with the same friends to his game. This mixture of mayhem, alcohol abuse and drugs made his music become great to his ears and of course his posse, but the music never had a professional technical quality, mix or merit.

His ego told him that he already knew what the public wanted, knew how to make music and really didn’t need anyone critiquing him or his posse. His behavior was that of a little rich brat who expected everyone to bow to his needs. The maltreatment of money in our community makes for a very poor thinking individual. Much like “Ghetto life gone wild” Mr. R became the poster child for bad manners and drunken debauchery.

Once again not having entertainment industry business savvy created a poor working environment, couple this with a massive ego and you have an automatic failure option. This artist (?) never copyright protected his music, never joined a performing rights organization, believed that his partners word was good enough so there would be no contracts. Mr. R had no formal musical training, his producer had no formal musical training and their equipment was antiquated. “Fruity Loops” is not professional recording software, especially when you do not have anything but a computer and no other outboard gear or instruments. When money, alcohol and drugs tell you that you are great, only a complete fall can change you.

Mr. R set his entire musical career up to fail from the beginning.

Why have I told you these stories?

I want my readers to learn from other peoples mistakes. The record industry has changed completely; no longer can you buy your way into the industry. No longer can you abuse industry personnel in one market and believe that you can just move on into another market and do the same thing. The new entertainment business environment includes education, persistence, technology, morals and honesty. Today you must know how to build your own business and create honest, forthright deals that continue to bear fruit for the future. You can not do things by “feel” and believing that the business will run itself.

Today you must have a talented, productive team that is technology savvy to be able to be successful within the industry.

There are too many new artists still doing things in an antiquated way because they think business is run the way it has ran in the past. Do not have a record release party if you don’t have any press, radio, retail, or television people invited. This is a good way to have a FEEL GOOD party for yourself, friends and family, but it won’t jumpstart your career.

Do not talk bad about DJ’s that won’t play your song and expect other DJ’s in another market to treat you with respect. INDUSTRY PEOPLE TALK, and believe me that “tell a lie” travels much faster than “telegraph, telephone or Internet”.

Learn from the mistakes of people who can afford to make them.

Movies On The Move

2009-04-20T14:57:00.000-04:00

It won’t be long before cable and satellite television companies will start complaining about the unfair advantage the Internet is having on their business. Microsoft's Xbox LIVE and Sony's PlayStation Network will soon become formidable competitors to incumbent Pay-TV services. Leveraging broadband-enabled game consoles as Over-the-Top video platforms - thus bypassing cable and satellite TV operators - these companies will offer a compelling alternative to traditional TV programming by providing a more immersive, interactive video experience.

Xbox 360 is the only game system that lets you instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix. This movie-watching innovation is available to Xbox LIVE Gold members ($49.95 a year) who are also Netflix members ($8.99 per month minimum) and allows them to instantly watch movies streamed from Netflix via Xbox LIVE for no additional monthly fee.

Sony's CEO Howard Stringer noted, "Sony's unique position in electronics and entertainment will enable us to provide specialized offerings for Sony customers directly to their televisions outside conventional distributors and without the need for any set-top box." Sony's PlayStation Network is not only a Blu Ray player, but allows it’s users to choose from hundreds of full-length movies from top studios including 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment and The Walt Disney Studios. Plus, choose from a large inventory of TV episodes from a variety of television partners, many available in standard-definition (SD) or high-definition (HD).

Even before the launch of Experience, Microsoft's Xbox LIVE had amassed some 15,000 movies (1,000 of which are HD) and some 13,000 TV shows for download-to-own. Xbox LIVE was the first online video portal to offer HD downloads for TV viewing. The Netflix partnership adds 12,000 movies and TV programs to the mix, all for free streaming to Netflix subscribers. This enables Xbox 360 users to access on-demand movies and TV shows within the Xbox Experience social environment with a click of their remote.

Sony's PlayStation Network has collected close to 1,000 movies and hundreds of TV programs for download-to-own. As well, it has announced plans to expand dramatically its video library in the next few months in order to compete with Xbox LIVE.

Even Nintendo, staunchly dedicated to pure gaming experiences, enters millions of new homes each month as the set-top box du jour, it's no video player. There's no Netflix, no Blu-ray drive, not even a proper DVD slot. However, Wii isn't without its possibilities when it comes to streaming video, and there, a Japanese company called Fujisoft is leading the charge. Fujisoft has introduced 'Everybody's Theater Channel' to Japanese Wii users the service launched this January 27th, it will be second, following the BBC "iPlayer" which hit the UK in early April 2008.

Fujisoft prices by the block, with one block of three TV episodes equal to one movie -- and will charge 300 Nintendo Points for one 2-day rental, 600 for two 3-day rentals, and 800 for three 5-day rentals. Currently their video library is limited to Japanese anime, movies and TV programs. But they are in talks with Nintendo America, and if talks go well everything could change.

The future for satellite and cable television companies does not look bright. In fact the current model facing the cable & satellite industry makes these companies PAY upfront for the films they want to show. Future licensing deals with one of the video gaming companies could totally change to a pay per view or pay per download with NO upfront costs involved. This would basically open the platform to unlimited viewing with NO COST to the video gaming companies.

Movies are on the move, and that move seems to be away from satellite and cable television.

URBAN NETWORK - MEMPHIS TENN JUNE 10 - 13, 2009

2009-04-17T07:05:00.000-04:00

This is your chance to finally make it to a MAJOR music conference.

http://www.urbannetwork.com/memphis/

Memphis Cook Convention Center, 255 N. Main St., Memphis, Tenn. The host Hotel is the Memphis Marriott Downtown, www.marriott.com/memdt 901.214.3715

Super-Producer Teddy Riley will be one of the Conference's Co-Chairs, hosting 2 seminar-workshops on Production & Songwriting.

Other Conference Co-Chairs are Jon Hornyak, Senior Executive Director, Memphis Chapter of the Recording Academy;

Dean Deyo, President, Memphis Music Foundation;

Kurt "KC" Clayton, Producer-Songwriter, and Chairman, Memphis & Shelby County Music Commission;

Al Kapone, Producer-Songwriter, Family Biz Entertainment;

Eileen Collier, Program Director, KJMS-FM, WHAL-FM/Clear Channel;

Vicki Mack-Lataillade, CEO, Lily Mack Entertainment & Publishing and the Urban Representative, Christian Copyright Licensing International, (CCLI);

Don Cody, CEO, Moses Media Inc.;

Bobby O'Jay, Program Director, WDIA/Clear Channel; and

Mickey "MeMpHiTz" Wright, Jr., Chairman & CEO, Hitz Committee Entertainment.

More co-chairs and panelists will be announced in the days ahead.

The Urban Network Summit has been a meeting ground for music executives, recording artists, the radio broadcasting community, music retailers, new media strategists, producer-songwriters, music publishers, entertainment attorneys, managers, film makers, entrepreneurs, and financiers for two decades. The event consistently attracts the industry's top professionals, and aspiring newcomers.

Some of the world's most recognizable recording artists have participated in past Urban Network Summits, most recently held in both Industry Hills and Palm Springs, Calif. They have included Jaheim, Case, Dorinda Clark, James Ingram, Destiny's Child, Will Smith, Lionel Richie and Mary J. Blige, to Boyz II Men, Patti LaBelle, Busta Rhymes, and Mint Condition. Other names include Wyclef Jean, Rahsaan Patterson, Kirk Franklin, Chante Moore, Trey Songz, Ludacris, LL Cool J, Mary Mary, and Yolanda Adams.

Central to the Summit are Urban Network's informative and topical seminar sessions. There are nearly two-dozen panel sessions providing attendees with information on a diverse array of entertainment industry-related topics, from radio station programming, operating brick and mortar retail stores in today's online-driven environment, songwriting and production know-how from some of today's top creative talent, marketing your artists and labels through the digital medium, to becoming a success in the Hip-Hop, R&B, and Gospel genres.

In the tradition of Urban Network, part of the Summit will be centered on Gospel Music–featuring seminar sessions, and showcases catering to the Gospel Music Community. The Summit will also target New Media (Digital Strategies), the DJ and Hip-Hop Communities, the Independent Label Community, and various topics such as Film, Licensing, Touring and more.

Urban Network also attracts the Creative Community of Songwriters & Producers, the A&R arena, Radio Broadcasters, a scheduled keynote address, a Saturday Independent Label Festival (containing some hot headliners), and a 21st Anniversary Gala, honoring an industry icon.

"With 21 years of serving the industry, and 19 years of coordinating conferences, we are very excited about our first foray into the Memphis market," says Urban Network Publisher & CEO, Miller London. "Memphis has a strong and rich musical heritage, and in conjunction with the strategic alliances that we have formed inside the City, the Summit is guaranteed to be a major success. I look forward to you joining us at the Cook Convention Center and our host hotel, the Memphis Marriott Hotel Downtown, and that you register for the Summit early."

For more information and Summit updates, regularly visit www.urbannetwork.com or contact

Could This Be You?

2009-04-09T07:11:00.000-04:00

Music has become a mass market commodity. The advent of new technology coupled with the low cost of recording equipment has made anyone’s bedroom a recording studio.

Unfortunately technology and ease of recording has also made a multitude of new recording artists that are legends within their own minds.

Over the past few months I have traveled extensively and witnessed many new and diverse acts perform. For every 500 acts that I have seen and heard less than 3 were of remarkable talent.

Several reasons are behind this travesty of music.

1. Very few musicians, artists, singers or producers really know how to read, write and understand musical notation. Music is an exact science and the majority of the people making today’s music have no clue as to what that science truly is.

2. “My music sounds like” is the new standard that entertainers hold dear. Telling themselves and any person that will listen, that their music sounds as good as some platinum selling artist they hear on the radio so this should mean that the public will like it just as much.

3. Copycat entertainers remix a song and then maintain that the music they have stolen should be appreciated just as much as the original. This is completely true of the mix tape era artist, stealing hit records music, rapping or singing over the music and maintaining that they have a right to do so. As much as I personally don’t like Soul Jah Boy “Superman”, his music was new, unique and different than any other song on the air. His copycats include “Wonder Woman”, “Batman”, “Do the Superman” and a host of extremely poor imitations.

4. LOCAL DOES NOT make an artist. Staying with the Soul Jah Boy saga there must be at least 200 different songs coming from Mississippi that sound similar to him. Yet not one of them is worth the time it took to make them.

QUESTION: How many different ways can you make a chant?

ANSWER: Who knows but Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida ALL have thousands of songs on mix tapes and cd’s that are “HITS” to the artists that made them, but in reality are poor versions of the “Call and Response” Chant originally from Africa made popular in the USA by the Black churches.

Please don’t think that this phenomenon is only associated with the Hip Hop generation, the gospel music industry is full of “HOLY” wannabes that can’t sing, play or even maintain an honest business relation.

Being a religious artist is NOT a free ticket to maintaining music sales, popularity or even a fan base. It is not an automatic license to having anyone appreciate your music or in anyone giving you airplay. There are way too many religious artists that failed in the secular music industry, got saved and “switched over” because they thought the religious scene was easier to conquer.

Has anyone really listened to the huge amount of BAD rock, neo soul, r&b, contemporary jazz, country, blues or really lousy southern soul music available today? It has become a chore to listen to online radio, regular radio, and cable radio on television or even “live” acts. Entertainers in every genre use the excuse that they are not trying to “sellout” and are keeping it real. But the question has become “Who are you selling out to?” Since your music is marginal at best do you continue being a starving artist or do you learn how to make music that fits a group of people that will PAY to hear you perform it?

Digital is about to surpass the CD, and once it starts to happen it’s going to move music faster and faster and faster. Who is going to control the playlist? If there is an unlimited amount of music available – and as soon as the amount of music available exceeds the amount of time you have in your life, that’s unlimited – somebody will have the control spot of deciding what to listen to next. Will you be in a position to charge people to tell them what to listen to or will you pay people to have them listen to your music?

Today music sharing is becoming wide spread worldwide and music is becoming FREE for the listening. Only the unique, talented or famous entertainers are able to continue to sell music to the public.

More and more people are programming their OWN musical choices, be it via iPod, smartphone or burning private cd’s.

Who are the innovators, musical geniuses and multi media creators?

Who are YOU?

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE THUG GENERATION

2009-04-02T23:17:00.000-04:00

You’ve laughed at the older generation and called us out of step with the times. You have made sure that phrases like “Old School” and “Ancient Thinking” were created just to talk about my generation. Well there is a wave of new racism starting to hit this country and you THUGS can now show the world how “BAD” you really are.

Now that Barack Obama has become President there is a massive movement of racism, skin heads, Aryan "neo-Nazi” Brotherhood, KKK and other organizations that hide behind democratic names surfacing with an agenda to change the status quo.

The new Thug, Gangsta or whatever is the catch word of the day, has chosen a position of arrogance, fake power and threats of violence to keep their sense of belonging within the United States. The same gangs and pseudo drug cartels that terrorize a Black neighborhood could become a real force for change when the Aryan Nation starts its movement. Instead of drive by shootings of children within your own neighborhood, you should be able to protect your homes and families.

Instead of "making it rain" at the strip clubs, why not take a few of those dollars and create “making it rain” for the hungry people in your hood.

Here's a thought, why not make a few songs on how to STOP the destruction that is being perpetrated everyday on your generation and mine. I guess that since this generation did not grow up fighting for civil rights you have just not learned how to fight anyone but each other.

Being a THUG should only be a badge of courage if you are really doing something. Getting high, wearing baggy clothes that slow down your running and walking, wasting money on unimportant symbols of wealth and telling everyone you meet "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. YOU FEEL ME" etc... is not THUG it is really following the plan that another more intelligent group of people have laid out for you to follow.

I speak to so many wanna be entertainment industry people every week that really are living a dream. THUG life, BALLER life, GANGSTA life are all dreams within the United States for not one of you supposed THUG, BALLER, GANGSTA people have any power.

The power to pull a trigger is nothing in comparison to the power to make a gun, distribute it, make the laws surrounding its' use and enforce them. The real Racists are coming out of the woodwork and they are not terrorists. If you want to really be a THUG do something that shows you got some BALLS. Protect your MAMA.

End Of An Era

2009-03-25T10:35:00.000-04:00

The end of an era is at hand. As an old philosopher once said”Everything must come to an end”. This year at MIDEM 2009 two things were in their death throes, completely bringing an end to this portion of the music industry.
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First the CD has become an object of the past worldwide as witnessed by the poor attendance of physical distribution companies, CD manufacturers and record labels. MIDEM director Dominique Leguern said "It's not a music industry crisis, it's a CD crisis." This does not mean that the music business is suffering as many experts have criticized. Many segments of the music industry saw incredible growth such as digital delivery, publishing, and licensing.

At MidemNet the business had said that within the next two (2) years the only people still making and playing CD’s will be old people. The idea of even using a CD player seems to be ancient and absurd.

The second and most shocking portion of the music industry was the worldwide executive view about Gangsta Rap. Thugs, gangsta’s, hoes, record pools, dj’s and more should be aware of the new condition of music outside of the United States. International distributors, labels, publishers, wholesalers and one stops no longer have an interest in Gangsta RAP music from the USA.

I met with companies from China to the UK, Cuba to Russia and onto one company had an interest in American Gangsta rap music. Every country said basically the same thing “American rap is violent, filled with overt sexual images and not conducive to the quality of life in our countries. We would rather sell local and national based acts from our own country whose musical messages condone better ideas”. I have heard specifically from the Italians and French that the R&B they want from America should not contain any rap lyrics.

Looks like keeping it real has finally caused the rap industry the pain and drama that is written about in the music they created.

THE NEW CELLPHONE

2009-03-23T09:19:00.000-04:00

As more and more countries turn to cell phones as the individual source of communication, more and more applications for the cellphone are being developed. The ability to contact a customer directly is creating a new wave of dependence upon the cell phone. Shortly the cellphone will become the most important device in your life.

Here are a few new concepts all ready in use through out the world.

1. Digital Wallet - A digital wallet (also known as an e-wallet) allows users to make electronic commerce transactions quickly and securely.
A digital wallet functions much like a physical wallet. The digital wallet was first conceived as a method of storing various forms of electronic money (e-cash), but with little popularity of such e-cash services, the digital wallet has evolved into a service that provides internet users with a convenient way to store and use online shopping information. Now the digital wallet application has moved to the cell phone and smartphone allowing the user immediate electronic access to their accounts.

2. Home & Car Monitor – New systems monitor environmental conditions for sudden changes in temperature, power supply, water on the floor, and fire, smoke and intrusion alarms. Smartphones are equipped with an output relay, which can be used to remotely turn thermostats on or off, immediately contact police or rescue services and monitor your vehicles condition.

3. Entertainment Center – currently you can read a novel, watch You Tube videos, see “live” television events, download music, set your home recording system, buy tickets to events, listen to FM radio or online radio, download movies, play interactive games and surf the Internet.

4. Health Monitor / Personal Records Keeper - Biometrics is used as a form of identity access management and access control. Most commonly used in personal technology devices as the fingerprint scanner. This application has found its way onto the cellphone platform and is becoming the initial tool for security. Based on the new Obama administration plan, personal health care records and individual health monitoring of the aged and afflicted will be directed to the cellphone, protected with biometric scanning.

5. Multitasking Business Tool – Finally the cellphone has become a multi tasking machine allowing the customer to view online documents, send and receive information via the mobile airways, and the Internet. Video phoning is now a reality and conference calling is a day to day actuality.

The growth in portable video devices, in my view, will drive demand for downloading content. The trend in video extends to user-generated visual content as well. The integration of increasingly sophisticated cameras into mobile phones and the growth of memory capacity will have a large impact on sharing photos and personal videos via mobile networks, and thus on bandwidth requirements.

The cellphone business is starting to grow up and with it are new opportunities to generate content, applications and new usages.

TOURING IS CHANGING

2009-03-20T09:16:00.001-04:00

Recently I heard talk of rising gasoline prices becoming a primary factor in the demise of small acts touring around the United States this summer. It seems that the garage band, R&B act, Blues act, self contained Top 40 group, Jazz act or Gospel group can no longer afford to pack up the van and hit the road to do shows. As with most things in the music business the major companies have changed the way the “game” is played and are doing well. Concert tours from January to June grossed $1.05 billion in North America, the same as the midyear gross in 2007, according to a report this week by Pollstar, a trade magazine that measures concert revenue. The top grossing acts were Bon Jovi with a gross of $56.3 million, followed by Bruce Springsteen, with $40.8 million, and Van Halen, with $36.8 million. In addition to rock and pop, country acts placed high on the Pollstar list. Kenny Chesney is No. 4, with $35.3 million; Rascal Flatts No. 8, with $25.4 million; and the bill of Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood grossed $18.5 million to reach No. 11. With the exception of Kanye West (No. 6, with $31.6 million) and the Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige tour (No. 7, $30.7 million), hip-hop is largely absent.

The under representation of Urban based acts has me wondering what could be the cause? I feel that it is a combination of several factors that has lead to this particular moment in history. First the art of creating a song has been drastically reduced within the Urban community. The songwriter has become more of a cadence rhyme than a professional gifted in the art of weaving a lyric. Popular songs today are totally concerned with sexual prowess and have nothing to do with the concept of love and harmony. The few songs that are GREAT lyrical pieces are regulated to late night radio or specialty radio shows and have no place on video television programming.

Singers have become dependent on “auto correct” in the studio and can not carry a tune if you put handles on one. I listened to the BET awards over this past holiday and without looking at the screen I did not hear ONE singer that was in key. Many of today’s acts feel that vocal pyro techniques and not solid lyrics and a GREAT controlled voice is what‘s needed to interpret a song. Add into that the physical gyrations needed to sell on stage and you have one HOT MESS. There was a time when a popular singer could sit on a stool and weave a full hour’s show of love, heartache, misery, joy, happiness and more emotions within every person in the audience.
The current producer driven songs have one major fault in them, and that is the inability to have a REAL melody and not a 4 note change within the entire tune. To produce a song and not know why you use certain chords and notation is like performing heart surgery without going to medical school. You know the heart is there but you really don’t know exactly how to make it better. Couple this with the music sample community and you not only have a hot mess you have a hot STINKY mess. Music education can cure this problem. Learning how music works and the HISTORY of music makes all the difference in the world.

Most Managers today do not know how to find the best performance out of their artist. Where is it written that you must take your clothes off to make your music song better? How can you find excellence when you do not know what that really means? Good managers assist the act in developing a positive show that not only absorbs the potential audience but also assists the act in growing and understanding what it takes to keep a certain caliber of performance. A good manager also develops merchandising to be sold on tour to help the bottom line and to ensure a stronger fan base.

Not everyone in the industry is so worried. Live Nation is doing strong business on some of its most important tours, said Jason Garner, its chief executive for North American music. Madonna’s tour, which begins in Europe next month and comes to the United States in October, is already 90 percent sold out, he said. Coldplay’s summer dates are also 90 percent sold out, and the New Kids on the Block reunion, starting in September, is at 80 percent, a Live Nation spokesman said.

Lil Wayne all though having sold over a million records of his latest album debut has yet to reach the Pollstar Top 50 Touring acts. Boy George, Neil Diamond and Stevie Wonder are ALL making more money on tour than the majority of major label Urban, Jazz, Blues and Gospel based acts.

There are many 3D environments that now have “Virtual Live” performances where artist avatars are performing on screen while the artist performs at their home. In fact there have been several artist collaborations across continents creating these virtual live performances.

The business is changing rapidly, how will you grow?

NEVER IS A LONG LONG TIME

2009-03-19T16:17:00.000-04:00

When was the last time you heard of anyone getting a deal from a mix tape given to an executive at an awards show? Don’t worry I’ll wait for the answer.

NEVER

What makes you think that a mix tape will get you a major label deal? How crazy are people, or are they just that naive that they will believe anything. Creating a mix tape does not take the place of radio spins, cd sales, publicity on the artist, nor promotion & marketing of the product. But of course the new generation wants everything NOW without trying to create a positive foundation for themselves.

The Hip-Hop Awards are coming to Atlanta and I have been bombarded with email and other literature asking people to send your music and some money and we will put your tune on a mix tape that will get in the hands of some industry movers & shakers. This has got to be the most ridiculous promotional venture I have ever heard. If I or anyone that I know is at an awards show and you hand me a mix tape it will be tossed on the floor, left on a chair, given to a groupie or trashed before I leave that show. I will not carry it around like badges of honor letting everyone there see me “promoting “a mix tape.

Not once did I read or hear about publishing your tune, copyright protecting your tune or creating something entirely from your company that could become a promotional item. Just send me your tune and your money and you can get hooked up on this mix tape with other artists that are just as STUPID and talent less as you.

Mix tapes are not the only crazy item available for the Hip-Hop Awards show. There will be thousands of postcards, flyers, business cards and posters created just for this event and not ONE of the artists listed will get a major deal from any of it. Street teams will flood the area around the event and at each one of the clubs “pimpin” off of the Hip-Hop Awards event to plaster the parking lot, descend upon the club and bother the attendees both outside and inside of the venues. When did this become promotion, or better yet when did it STOP becoming promotion?

I guess as I get older I just see past ALL of the Toro Poo Poo and try to look at the heart of a situation. There is a thriving business in creating wild promotional campaigns for individuals and companies who don’t know the entertainment industry. Just make completely wild accusations, get the money and then tell the artist that if their record had been better they could have gotten a deal. This is going on at conferences, award shows, festivals and especially at the record pool / mix show level, where people are being told that they can get on-air if they follow a wild promotional campaign. Occasionally these promotional efforts work and a song does get on the radio. Once there the record label does not have the staffing or expertise to make significant sales happen based on the spins received. That leaves the label with airplay but no way to utilize it other than to hear their tune over the radio.

Major labels and most independent labels that aspire to major deals are looking for a track record on your tune. They want massive amounts of Internet play, a solid fan base that is constantly growing, retailers that want the product when the label approaches them and as many owner rights as they can take. No where in this equation does a label ask for a mix tape, postcard, flyer, etc.

Start creating a business for your music and not a gamblers dream. Remember that the music industry is at least 90% hard business work and 10% luck.

Movies On The Move

2009-03-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

It won’t be long before cable and satellite television companies will start complaining about the unfair advantage the Internet is having on their business. Microsoft's Xbox LIVE and Sony's PlayStation Network will soon become formidable competitors to incumbent Pay-TV services. Leveraging broadband-enabled game consoles as Over-the-Top video platforms - thus bypassing cable and satellite TV operators - these companies will offer a compelling alternative to traditional TV programming by providing a more immersive, interactive video experience.

Xbox 360 is the only game system that lets you instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix. This movie-watching innovation is available to Xbox LIVE Gold members ($49.95 a year) who are also Netflix members ($8.99 per month minimum) and allows them to instantly watch movies streamed from Netflix via Xbox LIVE for no additional monthly fee.

Sony's CEO Howard Stringer noted, "Sony's unique position in electronics and entertainment will enable us to provide specialized offerings for Sony customers directly to their televisions outside conventional distributors and without the need for any set-top box." Sony's PlayStation Network is not only a Blu Ray player, but allows it’s users to choose from hundreds of full-length movies from top studios including 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment and The Walt Disney Studios. Plus, choose from a large inventory of TV episodes from a variety of television partners, many available in standard-definition (SD) or high-definition (HD).

Even before the launch of Experience, Microsoft's Xbox LIVE had amassed some 15,000 movies (1,000 of which are HD) and some 13,000 TV shows for download-to-own. Xbox LIVE was the first online video portal to offer HD downloads for TV viewing. The Netflix partnership adds 12,000 movies and TV programs to the mix, all for free streaming to Netflix subscribers. This enables Xbox 360 users to access on-demand movies and TV shows within the Xbox Experience social environment with a click of their remote.
Sony's PlayStation Network has collected close to 1,000 movies and hundreds of TV programs for download-to-own. As well, it has announced plans to expand dramatically its video library in the next few months in order to compete with Xbox LIVE.Even Nintendo, staunchly dedicated to pure gaming experiences, enters millions of new homes each month as the set-top box du jour, it's no video player. There's no Netflix, no Blu-ray drive, not even a proper DVD slot. However, Wii isn't without its possibilities when it comes to streaming video, and there, a Japanese company called Fujisoft is leading the charge. Fujisoft has introduced 'Everybody's Theater Channel' to Japanese Wii users the service launched this January 27th, it will be second, following the BBC "iPlayer" which hit the UK in early April 2008.

Fujisoft prices by the block, with one block of three TV episodes equal to one movie -- and will charge 300 Nintendo Points for one 2-day rental, 600 for two 3-day rentals, and 800 for three 5-day rentals. Currently their video library is limited to Japanese anime, movies and TV programs. But they are in talks with Nintendo America, and if talks go well everything could change.

The future for satellite and cable television companies does not look bright. In fact the current model facing the cable & satellite industry makes these companies PAY upfront for the films they want to show. Future licensing deals with one of the video gaming companies could totally change to a pay per view or pay per download with NO upfront costs involved. This would basically open the platform to unlimited viewing with NO COST to the video gaming companies.

Movies are on the move, and that move seems to be away from satellite and cable television.

2008 Changes in Radio

2009-01-03T20:55:00.000-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me how the corporate radio owners and staffs have talked “down” on Internet radio. Miss direction and in parts complete “LIES” have become the norm. Internet radio has been called a passing fancy, nothing to take seriously, impossible to hear while you’re in a car and my personal favorite the Internet is for amateurs. The contemporary entertainment market has listened to this crap for the past few years, while the corporate owners were figuring out how to have their own piece of the incredible growing Internet broadcasting pie.

Now comes CBS Radio, making a big move onto the Internet, with 144 of its own stations, its recent partnership with AOL Radio, has added CBS's stations to its own stable of more than 200 channels, including many Internet-only stations. CBS has unveiled PLAY.IT anew software that lets visitors tune into any CBS radio station in the country with a button click - or create stations of their own. CBS owned LAST.FM and PLAY.IT allows music fans to create simple, personalized radio stations, based on personal musical preferences (Advertising is inserted into the stations).

“The AOL affiliation”, says Stephen Page, director of new media-integrations and PD of CBS Radio's KYCY, “has almost doubled CBS's streaming audience numbers. CBS was No. 3 before; it was Clear Channel, YAHOO, CBS. AOL was No. 4. Joining with AOL, we've leapfrogged to No. 1."

Not to be outdone Clear Channel has announced a partnership with Katz Media Group, ad sales subsidiary, to form the Katz Online Network, which will soon offer one-stop access to the two companies' 1,200 affiliates, including stations owned by Cumulus and Entercom, and a host of independent Internet channels.

Citadel, owner of the ABC Radio network, offers 182 streaming radio stations in 51 markets by way of Citadel Interactive. A simple tuner allows online listeners to listen to Citadel stations and shop for music downloads while listening.

The Arbitron “rating” books, which have been delivered for years on compact discs, are coming to an end. The PPM (portable people meter will be the ratings company tool of choice. PPM devices electronically pick up radio stations the carrier is hearing or listening to. The first ratings based on PPM are due out in this fall.

Satellite radio rivals XM and Sirius are now merged into "Sirius XM," with Sirius Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin running the combined company. No one knows how the programming lineups will shake out, or about a tuner that can receive both XM and Sirius programs. And, despite the merger, most technology writers are saying satellite radio is doomed. The slow economy plus the addition of WIFI in automobiles and Internet radio (which doesn't require a subscription fee) heading into cars as well as stand-alone tuners.

To make it easier to hear your favorite radio station, Nokia unveiled the Nokia N85, the latest Nokia Nseries multimedia computer made to set new standards for mobile entertainment, gaming and sharing. "The Nokia N85 was created to be more than the sum of its parts, offering a complete mobile entertainment package designed for connecting, sharing and discovering," said Juha-Pekka Sipponen, Director, Nokia Nseries. Each Nokia N85 comes with an 8 GB microSD card, up to 30 hours of music playback time and its high-fidelity sound means favorite tracks can be enjoyed virtually anywhere. Build a personal music collection from the millions of tracks and playlists available from the Nokia Music Store or other online music vendors, or synchronize PC and mobile music libraries via USB cable. Alternatively, consumers can enjoy RDS radio or a wide selection of stations via the internet. The 3.5 mm audio jack makes connecting a top-quality headset simple and an in-built FM transmitter lets the Nokia N85 play wirelessly through a car or home stereo to really crank up the sound.

The days of being tied to a computer are OVER. Now you can receive multiple FM radio broadcast signals, Internet radio programming and a massive amount of online downloads directly to your cell phone.

Don’t think that the UK is going to be left out of the online music explosion. The BBC Worldwide is planning to launch a targeted web music service starting early next year. Users will be able to stream tracks for free with the ad-funded service from BBC Worldwide. Digital rights management-free tracks, which will play across any brand of media player, will be available for download to own. BBC Worldwide's first major online music initiative will originally offer more than 1,300 tracks and videos from BBC radio and TV shows. But it will eventually be expanded to offer the full BBC music archive of more than 50,000 tracks and 3,000 hours of video. BBC Worldwide signed a partnership with EMI in June to provide online access to content by the music label's artists in the BBC archive and is negotiating with three other major labels - Warner, Sony BMG and Universal. The service is being built so that it can "reflect the discussion about music in other parts of the web", including connecting with users' social networking profiles and with recommendation services such as Last.fm.

FlyTunes, a mobile music streaming service, will now deliver Entercom’s Portland radio stations to iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Currently, KGON-FM, KWJJ-FM and KNRK-FM, KNRK’s HD2 channels are streaming, with KFXX-AM, KRSK-FM and KYCH-FM to be added by the end of this month.

2008 radio changes have just begun to transform the radio business landscape.

JUS BLUES MUSIC FOUNDATION "CHRISTMAS BLUES GALA"

2008-12-23T22:33:00.001-05:00

ATLANTA, GA - Jus` Blues Music Foundation, Inc. inaugural “Christmas Blues Gala,” held Friday, December 5t, Downtown Atlanta, was a huge success!Performances by International recording artist, Prince of the Blues, Lucky Peterson, the 1st Lady of Blues & Soul, Trudy Lynn, The Blues Man Lover, Theodis Easley, The Empress Of The Blues, Ms. Sandra Hall, and The City Heat Band Featuring Darren & Tabitha made it a night to be remembered.

The Board of Directors of the Jus` Blues Music Foundation held its National meeting in Atlanta December 4th, 5th & 6th for the creation of the upcoming 2009 and 2010 initiatives and organization events.

The Blues & Soul music community is excited about the 2009 Jus` Blues Music Awards Week held August 5th thru August 9th in Memphis, Tennessee. Awards categories include Best New Artist, Best Blues & Soul Radio DJ, Best Blues & Soul Song, Best Traditional Blues Artist and many more. The Foundation is also considering Blues & Soul music candidates to be honored at the “Night of the Living Legends” Dinner. Educational seminars’ for artists, writers and management highlight the Technology Conference on August 6th. Information on the event(s) will be forthcoming and posted on the websites - http://www.jusbluesmusicfoundation.org/ and http://www.jusbluesmusic.com/.

Jus` Blues Music Foundation, Inc. encourages your financial and in-kind support to further promote as well as educate young people through the “Jus` Blues In The School” music program designed to share the importance of keeping the tradition of this great American art form alive. Today you can go to our web site to join or make a tax deductible donation at: http://www.jusbluesmusicfoundation.org/

For additional information and media contact:

Charles Mitchell, President
Jus` Blues Music Foundation, Inc.
Post Office Box 44771
Atlanta, Georgia 30336

The New Radio Industry

2008-12-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

As I was reading different news sites on the Internet the other day it dawned on me just how powerful Clear Channel and CBS radio stations truly are. Not only are they the largest chain of stations within the United States but they have collectively taken over Internet radio broadcasting worldwide. Let me be a little more precise.

Yahoo’s LAUNCHCAST Radio draws 3 million monthly unique visitors, allowing users to listen to music based on preferred genres and artists. But LAUNCHCAST Radio is limited only to Windows users on Internet Explorer, shutting out a large percentage of the Internet. Now Yahoo will hand over the reins of its webcasting pioneer property LAUNCHCAST Radio to CBS Radio next year, the reason, according to Yahoo Music chief Michael Spiegelman: ROYALTIES

Last year, a panel of federal copyright judges issued a ruling dramatically increasing the royalties paid by webcasters to music companies and songwriters. Yahoo, AOL, Pandora and Real Networks are fighting to reverse it. But unless they can get support from Congress, digital radio providers may be forced to pay annual royalty hikes of nearly 30%.

Beginning in February, CBS Radio will stream the 150 Yahoo Internet radio channels alongside its own combination of the 150 online simulcasts of its AM and FM properties and the over 200 AOL Radio channels the broadcaster took over in June. CBS Radio sales teams will also now handle all ad sales for Yahoo streams. Yahoo will still program the LAUNCHCAST Radio streams. The deal will also put links to CBS major-market news and sports stations streams on appropriate Yahoo pages. The CBS player works with the Firefox and Safari Web browsers giving LAUNCHCAST Radio the ability to reach 90% of the Internet.

Clear Channel has 776 streaming radio stations as of this writing and that includes multiple formats of Alternative, Adult Alternative, Adult Hits, Christian, Classic Hits, Classic Rock, Country, Hip Hop/R&B, Jazz, Latin, News Talk, R&B, Rock, Sports and more. In addition Clear Channel has streaming radio channels in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. An outdoor advertising arm that offers Billboards, Digital Outdoor Networks, Times Square Spectaculars, Street Furniture, Airport Displays, Mall Displays, Taxi Advertising, Mass Transit Displays and a massive sales infrastructure.

Now there is nothing that will be able to stop either CBS Radio or Clear Channel from streaming their radio stations into every home in the WORLD with broadband access, And since so many commercial stations have reduced or abandoned their unique, local and regional “talk” content in favor of cheaper-to-produce music programming, they will all soon be vulnerable to competition from well staffed U.S. media companies as Internet-delivered radio gains dominance.

What is even more incredible is that the new smartphones have applications that will allow direct access to Internet radio streams on your cellphone. Fly Cast is now offering two new free services that give broadcasters and webcasters “Smartphone” applications branded exclusively for their stations or networks. Fly Cast Direct Link, is a smartphone application, branded for and linking to a single station stream. Custom Cast, is designed for broadcasters that offer more than one streaming channel, or multi-channel webcasters. It’s a branded Fly Cast channel guide, downloadable to smartphones like the Apple iPhone, with listen links for the multiple listening options from a single broadcaster or webcaster.

Apple iPhone

HTC Touch Pro for Verizon

Sprint Touch Pro

Sony Ericsson Xperia

AT&T Tilt

LG Incite

Samsung Omnia

BlackBerry Storm

Are ALL smartphones and there are hundreds of mid priced “knockoffs” and smaller company created smartphones around the world.

Now is the time to create your niche market. Anything that you have a passion for, someone else wants to know about it in DETAIL. Developing a unique, professional sounding webcast with regularity will give you the product you need to shop. Buyers will include radio stations, networks, ad agencies (they are always looking for a new way to capture an audience), mobile cellphone companies, other webcasters and direct to the public. The more advanced people should look at taking the exact radio station model now available and direct broadcast to the Internet. The companies that own their own studio, writers, technical people, ancillary rights, and product and develop their audience via the Internet will be the most lucrative.

A final thought – Smartphones broadcast streaming video also.

The NEW Music Specialist

2008-12-23T22:28:00.000-05:00

In March of 1994 I went online with my first website. Even though my business was devoted to the music industry I choose ASHA, the name of my youngest daughter, as my URL.

My first website was created to be a place for the world to learn about the music I appreciated so much. R&B acts, jazz and blues acts were some of the first people I wanted to have represented. Timmy Thomas, M.R. William T, Jeff Majors and Dick Gregory ALL had their first web presence at the MUSIC SPECIALIST.

This first website was the number seven listing under music at Yahoo.com, made when the creators of Yahoo were still in their college dorms developing the concept.

In 1995 Music Specialist World Wide Web site rated “Top 5% of all sites on the Internet” by Point Survey.

2008 has seen the launch of the newest version of the MUSIC SPECIALIST.

The new version was created to be a place for the world to learn about the music I appreciate so much. As I grow older and hear more music I find I am growing my site into a resource for the world community. Education is the hammer and truth is the nail, young minds will be the board to build upon.

Visit the NEW MUSIC SPECIALIST today.

A NEW CHANGE FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IN WASHINGTON

2008-12-23T22:26:00.000-05:00

There’s a new sheriff in America named Barack Obama, who has a powerful deputy in Joe Biden. Most people in the entertainment industry don’t remember that Joe Biden sits on the highly influential Senate Judiciary Committee, through which all intellectual property-related bills pass, and he's the founder/co-chair of the Anti-Piracy Caucus, his election could help influence how the entertainment industry promotes its interests in Washington.

In 2002 Joe Biden wrote "To borrow a phrase, a mind is a terrible thing to steal, but that is precisely what criminals do when they pirate the products of American innovators and artists. When they reproduce the work of musicians, actors, writers and directors, they not only steal thousands of U.S. jobs and billions of dollars in profits, they steal the product of American imagination and creativity." This was the same year that he became the first member of Congress to hold a full committee hearing on piracy issues, which drew criticism for not including Internet companies, and recommended that the Department Of Justice get involved in prosecuting users of P2P file-sharing systems trading pirated content.

In 2007, Biden sponsored the RIAA-backed Perform Act, which sought to limit devices from recording and saving individual songs streamed from satellite and Internet radio services. And in April he proposed spending $1 billion to help federal and local law enforcement implement technology to monitor peer-to-peer networks for illegal activity, such as child pornography, that could also be used to target music files. Biden's most current past proposals to consolidate federal efforts to combat copyright infringement under a new "Copyright Czar" cabinet position found new life in the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, which was signed into law earlier this month. Provisions to have the Department of Justice prosecute pirates were not included in the final version making it a bit toothless.

President Obama sees another side of this subject, he supports Net Neutrality laws, which would make it harder for access providers to block P2P networks, and he has talked about updating copyright law. His choice for chief technology officer may be Lawrence Lessig. Mr. Lessig is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society. Lessig is a founding board member of Creative Commons, a board member of the Software Freedom Law Center and a former board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications.

As you know I am an advocate for Net Neutrality and I believe that the future of the entertainment industry is partly based on Internet communications. I look forward to the CHANGE.

2008-08-24T19:38:00.000-04:00

2008 Jus` Blues Music Awards Is A Wrap
Latimore, Lil` Ray Neal, Preston Shannon, Kenny Neal, Joe Campbell

The 2008 Jus` Blues Music Awards Show is a wrap. Memphis, Home of the Blues and the Birthplace of Rock & Roll has hosted another spectacular music special event. Blues & Soul music celebrities, executives and fans came together to network and celebrate the accomplishments of their peers at this year's Jus` Blues Music Awards Show held at The Historical Daisy on Beale Street.
August 6th-9th, 2008

The 2008 Jus` Blues Music Awards proudly honored the Grammy Award winning, legendary Blues & Soul singer Joe Simon with the Jus` Blues Music Lifetime Achievement Award. The music veteran was responsible for many hits in the 1970's like the Grammy Award winning hit, The Chokin' Kind, The Power of Love, Drowning In The Sea of Love and countless others.

The Jus` Blues Music Awards Show on August 6th was held at The Historical Daisy Theater on Beale Street in downtown Memphis. August 6th, others honored at the "Night Of The Living Legends" were Latimore, Millie Jackson, Denise Lasalle, Roy C, and the legendary music businessman Al Bell.

Thursday night was big win for all at the 9th annual "Jus Blues Music Award Show", Some of the big surprises were Willie Hill, Sweet Angel and Fred Bolton. There were many performances, some that stood out were the Latimore, Kenny Neal, Fylod Taylor, Trudy Lynn, Zac Harmon, Pat Wilder, Zakira Hooker & Toni Green. Lil' Ray Neal did a tribute to Little Milton that brought everyone to their feet.

Friday night Blues Crawl had all the artist out on Beale jamming in all the clubs, it was a very special night on Beale Street for all blues fans to witness.

Saturday in Handy's park, what a way to end the Jus Blues Music Week festivities. Featuring the Sista Big Bone contest, Backyard B B Que for all Jus' Blues Music Foundation members.

Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees.Blues & Soul music fans from all around the world logged onto the Internet and voted on the web sites of http://www.jusbluesmusic.com/and http://www.jusbluesmusicfoundation.org/for their favorite Blues Man and Blues Woman, their favorite Soul Man and Soul woman, their favorite DJ, their favorite songs, their favorite juke joints and many other catagories. Thousands of votes had to be tallied to obtain the final results.
Congratulations to all the 2008 Jus` Blues Music Awards Honorees, Nominees and Recipients.

2008 Jus` Blues Music Awards Honorees
Jus` Blues Music Lifetime Achievement Award
(Outstanding Lifetime Achievements in the African-American Community and in Blues & Soul Music)
Joe Simon

Lowell Fulson Lifetime Achievement Award(Outstanding Career Achievements 20+ years)
Theodis Ealey

Denise LaSalle Award for Recording Excellence(Outstanding Recording Excellence Award) Roy C
Percy Mayfield Award for Writing Excellence (Outstanding Written Compositions in Blues & Soul Music) Latimore

Jack "The Rapper" Gibson Radio Pioneer Award (Outstanding Contributions to Blues & Soul Music in the Radio Industry) James Wolfe

James Brown Heritage Award (Outstanding Blues & Soul Music Live Performer)
Mel Waiters

Johnnie Taylor Newcomer Award (Outstanding New Blues & Soul Music Artist or Group)
Floyd Taylor

Willie Mitchell Producer's Award (Outstanding Blues & Soul Music Productions) Leon Haywood

Jus` Blues Music Legends Award (Outstanding Contributions to Blues & Soul Music)Millie Jackson

Jus` Blues Music President's Award(Outstanding Contributions to the Business of Blues & Soul Music) Al Bell, Alpine Records

Aaron T-Bone Walker Award (Outstanding Guitar Musicianship in Blues & Soul Music)
Preston Shannon

2008 Jus` Blues Music Awards
Nominee Recipients

Best Traditional Blues Man Eddie Cotton

Best Traditional Blues Woman Tia Carroll

Traditional Blues Song Of The Year - Male Bobby Rush - "What's Going On"

Traditional Blues Song Of The Year - Female Trudy Lynn - "Everybody Got A Blues Song To Sing"

Best Blues & Soul Radio Show (Radio Personality Award) Rojene Bailey, WALR-FM, Atlanta

Best Blues & Soul Internet Show http://www.chittlincircuitradio.com/

"Little Milton" Campbell Guitar Award (Outstanding Guitar Player) Lil` Ray Neal

Junior Wells Harp Award (Outstanding Blues Harmonica Performer) Kenny Neal

Best Juke Joint Award (Best Blues & Soul Club) Velma's Place, San Francisco, CA

Best Blues & Soul Song Of The Year - Male Latimore - My Give A Damn

Best Blues & Soul Song Of The Year - Woman Denise LaSalle - Mississippi Woman

Blues & Soul Man Of The Year Marvin Sease

Blues & Soul Woman Of The Year Shirley Brown

Best Blues & Soul Label Award Of The Year Wilbe Records

Jus` Blues Music All Star Award - Male Willie Hill

Jus` Blues Music All Star Award - Female B. B. Queen

Jus`Blues Music Artist Of The Year Award Bobby "Blue" Bland

Best New Southern Soul Artist Of The Year - Male Fred Bolton - "Must Be Jelly"

Best New Southern Soul Artist Of The Year - Female Sweet Angel - "Another Man's Meat On My Plate"

Millon DJ March - WHY???

2008-06-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

A disc jockey (also known as DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays prerecorded music for an audience.
There are several types of disc jockey. Radio DJs introduce and play music that is broadcast on AM, FM, shortwave, digital or online radio stations. Club DJs select and play music in a bar, club, disco, a rave, or even a stadium. Hip hop disc jockeys select, play and create music with multiple turntables, often to back up one or more MCs. In reggae, the disc jockey (deejay) is a vocalist who raps, toasts or chats over pre-recorded rhythm tracks while the individual choosing and playing them is referred to as a selector. Mobile disc jockeys travel with portable sound systems and play at a variety of events. Who will be at the Million DJ March?

Questions:

1. What will this march accomplish?
2. Who will lead this march and where will it end?
3. What are the criteria to become a DJ?
4. Who determines these criteria?
5. What is the financial gain to this march?
6. Who will collect the finances?
7. Where will the finances be held?
8. What purpose will these finances be used for?
9. After the march what will happen?
10. What is the mission of the March organizers?
11. Is there a national or international agenda?

I have been bombarded with email recently concerning a Million DJ March on Washington DC. I have no idea where this is coming from but it raises a lot of questions in my mind. Having been raised in the civil rights era I know the power of placing a million men on the streets of Washington DC. I have witnessed the strength of community purpose and solidarity a million Black men can create. So I am at a complete lost as to why anyone would want to have a million DJ march.

First and foremost there are not a million DJ’s within this country that could be organized to start a march. Where is this concept coming from? Who will ultimately gain from this event?

The role of the DJ (Disc Jockey) is changing around the world directly influenced by technology and the mp3 format. Clubs are using premixed mp3’s in lieu of the traditional record spinning DJ, and where there are DJ’s club owners are starting to dictate play list restrictions and requirements. Outside of the United States night clubs are playing dance music from many different cultures and the Hip Hop dance club is no where near as popular as these cultural dance clubs.

As I started my research on the Million DJ March I found a recurring theme. Labels and major businesses that reap the reward of default publicity should reward the DJ. Tell me what this means? Club DJ’s are paid to move the crowd so that the club owners can sell more liquor. Radio DJ’s are paid a salary to make more people listen to the radio so that the station can sell more advertising. Mixtape DJ’s make money on other peoples music, without paying royalties to the musical creators. Where is the default publicity?
This sounds increasingly more like the radio station owners saying that they shouldn’t pay royalties on the music they play because the record labels get default publicity from the songs being heard.

Who is approving this march? The Million DJ March website says that civil rights leaders and the people that started the Million Man March have given approval, who are these people?

The civil rights era was about equality, human rights and a better life. What is this march about? DJ’s getting better pay? Recognition from major labels, that don’t really need DJ’s, makes no sense to me. Labels are more concerned with the advent of direct to consumer sales, the disappearing of the retail outlet and the inability of TV to sell product. Why would they be concerned over the perceived injustice of a few DJ’s? And what record label headquarters is in Washington DC?

My next questions concerns who are really involved in this fiasco? Have the DJ’s from the Gay and Lesbian coalition been contacted? Have the international DJ’s in the United
States been made a part of this march preparation or is this directed at a closed minority? Who are the speakers and what are there affiliations?

And finally what will a DJ union consist of? Who will be the operating officers and what will be the agenda? What will it take to join this union and how will it protect DJ’s from being fired or moved due to new technological advances? And what about the new VJ and the concerns they may have over the mixing of video?

Something just doesn’t feel right about this one.

History of the DJ

2008-06-24T21:20:00.000-04:00

History helps one know not only where you come from, but why certain things recur within an industry. The history of Disc Jockeys is quite interesting.

Created in the southern United States, the juke joint was a spot for dancing, drinking, gambling and listening to music. By 1927, The Automatic Music Instrument Company created the world's first electrically amplified multi selection phonograph and the jukebox provided the music for the juke joints. Prohibition assured the jukeboxes success, as every underground speakeasy needed music, but could not afford a live band. Tavern owners were privileged to have a jukebox, which drew in customers, and was provided by an operator at no charge.

In 1935, American commentator Walter Winchell coined the term "disc jockey" (the combination of "disc", referring to the disc records, and "jockey", which is an operator of a machine) as a description of radio announcer Martin Block, the first announcer to become a star. While his audience was awaiting developments in the Lindbergh kidnapping, Block played records and created the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom, with the nation’s top dance bands performing live. The show, which he called Make Believe Ballroom, was an instant hit. The term "disc jockey" appeared in print in Variety in 1941.

During the second World War the first DJ’s appeared as entertainers for troops overseas, persons armed with a turntable, an armful of records, and a basic amplifier would entertain troops in mess halls, spinning Glen Miller, the Andrews sisters, and Benny Goodman. It was much easier than sending an entire band overseas.

In 1943, Jimmy Savile launched the world's first DJ dance party by playing jazz records in the upstairs function room of the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherd's in Otley, England. In 1947, he became the first DJ to use twin turntables for continuous play. Also in 1947, the Whiskey à Go-Go nightclub opened in Paris, France, considered to be the world's first discothèque, or disco (deriving its name from the French word, meaning a nightclub where the featured entertainment is recorded music rather than an on-stage band). Discos began appearing across Europe and the United States.

Within the United States the jukebox became the staple of nightclubs and lounges that didn’t have “live” talent. In the 1950s, American radio DJs would appear live at "sock hops" and "platter parties" and assume the role of a human jukebox. They would usually play 45-rpm records featuring hit singles on one turntable, while talking between songs. In some cases, a live drummer was hired to play beats between songs to maintain the dance floor. These announcers where instrumental in the creation of the music industry as we know it today, Alan Freed, Jockey Jack Gibson, Dick Clark, Al Benson ALL where DJ’s that expanded this industry. Meanwhile in Jamaica the concept of sound systems developed from enterprising record shop disc jockeys with reliable American connections for 45s. "Toasting" began in Jamaica dance halls - considered to be a direct link to rap music and Technics introduced the Direct Drive System, SP-10 turntable.
Kool Herc considered to be the first hip-hop DJ developed "Cutting Breaks." In 1969 Herc adapted his style by chanting over the instrumental or percussion sections of the day's popular songs. Because these breaks were relatively short, he learned to extend them indefinitely by using an audio mixer and two identical records in which he continuously replaced the desired segment. By using two identical records and playing the break over and over switching from one deck to the other. Hip hop derived from "hip hoppin" on the turntable.
In the mid-1970s, the soul-funk blend of dance music known as Disco took off in the mainstream pop charts in the United States and Europe, causing discotheques to experience a rebirth. Unlike many late 1960s clubs, which featured live bands, discotheques used the DJs selection and mixing of records as the entertainment. In 1975, Record pools began, enabling disc jockeys access to newer music from the industry in an efficient method.
In 1975 Grand Wizard Theodore in New York City discovers the scratch. The story behind the scratch is an invention of accident; apparently he was mixing away in his bedroom making far too much noise and his mother called up and said turn it off and instead of stopping the record with the stop button he used his hand and it made a nice sound. He then came back to the turntables and experimented with pulling the record back and forth across the needle. And so gave birth to the scratch.
1980 Roland introduced the TR-808 drum machine which allows DJ Frankie Knuckles to lay down drum machine-generated 4/4 beats on top of soul and disco tunes. 12" disco records that included long percussion breaks (ideal for mixing) contributed to the emergence of House Music. The addition of a mixer between the turntables allowed a different flow of music and the ability to scratch fast. This also saw the development of the Hip Hop movement.

Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five's first record, “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (1982) was the first record to show hip-hop deejaying skills. The Technics 1200 turntable’s back spin was perfect for "scratching", and to extend grooves and "breaks" by cutting back and forth from 2 records.

During the early 1990s, the rave scene built on the acid house scene. Some DJs, wanting to be the only source for hearing certain tunes, used "white labels" — records with no info printed on them — in an effort to prevent other DJ’s from learning what they were spinning. The rave scene changed dance music, the image of DJs, and the nature of promoting. Mobile Disc Jockey trade publications such as DJ Times magazine and Mobile Beat were founded in this era.

The innovative marketing surrounding the rave scene created the first superstar DJs who established marketable "brands" around their names and sound. Some of these celebrity DJs toured around the world and were able to branch out into other music-related activities. DJ Cheese (USA ‘86), Chad Jackson (UK ’87), Cash Money (USA ’88), Cutmaster Swift (UK ’89), DJ David (Germany ’90 & ’91), The Rock Steady DJs (DJs Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike & Apollo (USA ’92) Mixmaster Mike & Q-Bert as The Dream Team ’93/4), Roc Raider (USA ’95) and DJ Noize (Denmark ’96).

Because selecting and playing prerecorded music for an intended audience is the same for every disc jockey. There are certain factors that make up different categories of disc jockeys:

Radio DJ– Plays over the airwaves, normally delivers between the record information and can not chose the music that is played.

Internet radio DJ – Plays over the internet, delivers information between music sets and picks there own music.

Club DJ - Using several turntables, CD players or a hard drive source, a club disc jockey selects and plays music in a club setting. The type of music played usually determines the type of DJ (Rave, Electro, Hip Hop, etc..)

Mobile DJ- They travel with or go on tour with mobile sound systems and play from an extensive collection of pre-recorded content for a specific audience.

Hip hop DJ - a DJ that selects, plays and creates music as a hip-hop artist and/or performer, often backing up one or more MCs.

Reggae deejays – This is traditionally a vocalist who raps, toasts or chats to a "riddim". The term "selector" is reserved for the person who just selects the record and plays it over the sound system.

Video Jockey (VJ) - Vj's mix a variety of video & audio sources together to create a unique video image throughout the night at large club events.

DJs have formed professional associations such as:
Canadian Disc Jockey Association (CDJA),
Canadian Online Disc Jockey Association (CODJA),
American Disc Jockey Association (ADJA), and
National Association of Mobile Entertainers
The DMC (Disco Mix Club)
The I.T.F. (International Turntablist Federation)
National Association of Disc Jockeys (NADJ), (In the UK)
South Eastern Discotheque Association (SEDA) (In the UK)

What will the future bring, I guess that will be history for our children.