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A few weeks ago, I was randomly looking through Twitter to see if anything interest was going on in the world when I came across a tweet from Hip Hop legend 9^th Wonder.  He posted: 

Basically, he was looking for an assistant to go through all the tweets he receives from aspiring artists and producers asking him to check out their work.  This got me to thinking of how this could lead to a career.  Think about it, how many artists, producers, and other music professionals are on Twitter?  How many of these people receive countless tweets and DM’s asking for a chance to be heard in hopes of becoming the next big thing?  I’m guessing many of these people would be happy to pay the right person to take on this task.  In an industry that is all about making yourself indispensible, staying innovative, and getting a jump on the next man, I further began to wonder about how easy it might be to create a career out of seemingly nothing.  Doing a little internet research, I found some these tips on how to create a career.

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 Attenchun. Bone Crusher Presents A Nationwide Groundbreaking Contest For Independent Rappers and Singers, Giving The Winners A Guarantee On His Soundtrack and Video

ATLANTA, Georgia – (Saturday, September 29th, 2012) Grammy nominated, American Music Award nominee and Actor “Mr. Never Scared” himself is back!  Bone Crusher will be announcing Crush Da Stage, a nationwide competitive search for singers and rappers that will be held here in Atlanta at sponsoring Patchwerk Studios, 1094 Hemp Hill Ave NW Atlanta, on September 29th, from 11:30am – 12:30pm.  The following day, Sunday, September 30th, from 12pm – 4pm, the kickoff of the very first nationwide independent artist contest to feature an artist on a soundtrack, begins.  The event will be hosted at Ashley Reid’s new Plat4m Studio, 659 Auburn Ave Suite #252 Atlanta.

Bone Crusher is back! However from what we see he never quite left us.  You’ve seen him in movies such as Trois 3, Motives 2, ATL and shows such as Celebrity Fit Club and Iron Chef America.  He has recently launched a new company, the Mahatma Group, “Home of the Great Souls.”  His new artist brings the same vibe that his upcoming soundtrack boasts. . . Innovation and the sense of something fresh.

This groundbreaking event will be giving independent singers and rappers across the nation the opportunity to be featured on his new soundtrack along with such artists as T.I., Bun B, Angie Stone, Too Short, Bilal, Marsha Ambrosius, Jill Scott, 8 Ball, The Reeza Brothers, Beenie Man, Arrested Development, Grenique, B Money and many more.  The Mahatma Group will be releasing the soundtrack to the documentary in 2013.

They are requesting the media cover the Crush Da Stage opening kickoff event on September 29th at Patchwerk Studios.  To find out more information, please visit www.crushdastage.com

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Still not on that Instagram hype yet? You may want to rethink that considering user adoption for the billion-dollar company (now valued at $735 million in correlation with Facebook’s stock) has been on the rise as of late. Stats and figures released by comScore indicate that Instagram surpassed Twitter for the first time in daily active users on mobile during the month of August. Instagram saw 7.3 million daily mobile users, while Twitter had 6.9 million. Twitter did end up having more total unique visitors in August than Instagram overall, with 29 million vs. Instagram’s 21 million visitors. However, comScore reports that fewer of them returned on a daily basis and that Twitter visitors spent less time on average viewing content than visitors to Instagram. Each of Instagram’s mobile users spent an average of more than four hours consuming content on the platform, while Twitter’s users spent an average of a little less than three hours.
The data from comScore also shows that Instagram’s daily active user count has gotten ten times larger in just six months, when it had 886,000 daily active visitors back in March. While Twitter’s mobile user numbers have also increased, they don’t compare to Instagram’s growth (granted the latter is a younger company, but impressive numbers nonetheless).

Source: comScore
It is important to note, however, that comScore’s data factors in visits to the apps and websites of Instagram and Twitter from iOS, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices. What it does not track are the number of active users who visit websites from a non-mobile device, which would undoubtedly put more leverage back in Twitter’s corner.
The takeaway from the data? Instagram simply works and carries with it undeniable mobile engagement levels. For those not yet utilizing the platform for fan engagements, now may be the time to consider jumping on the bandwagon.

Source: Hypebot

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Copyright

Often the process of registering a copyright is what comes to mind when people hear the term copyright.  However, songs are automatically copyrighted as soon as they are in tangible form, even recorded at home or simply written down. Copyrighted songs have to be original (not copies of another piece) and significant enough to constitute a work. Copyrighting your work (getting it out of your head and in tangible form) not only protects it from being copied or used by unauthorized parties but also is the first step to publishing your material and ultimately being paid for it.

Once your work is copyrighted you have the exclusive rights to:1. Reproduce the work, 2. Distribute copies of the work, 3. Perform the work publicly, 4. Make a derivative work. It also means no one else can do these things without your express consent.

There are two general rights covered in a music copyright : the authorship of a song and the ownership of a song. According to Copright Law, you are the natural owner of every song you write until you assign the ownership  to someone else.

Every song is made up of two equal parts; not the lyrics and the melody but the writer share and the the publisher share.

The writer share represents the authorship of the song. While a copyright can change hands many times; the writer share remains the property of the author.

The other fifty percent, the publisher share, is the equitable share. It is what you can sell or buy. In this context it is known as the “copyright”. When a publisher acquires a copyright, it is acquiring the publisher share.

Control
The Publisher controls the writers share. The publisher licenses mechanical , print and synch rights on behalf of itself and the writer. These royalties and fees are collected by the publisher (the owner of the copyright) for both the publisher share and the writer share. It is the publisher’s responsibility to pay the writer. Performance royalties are the only royalty type where the writer can collect his writer royalties directly from the performing rights organization. Control means the publisher has the right to negotiate and execute all licenses.

Royalties
Ongoing earnings of licensed songs from each sale or  broadcast.

Exploitation
In music publishing, exploitation is a good term. You want your songs to be exploited. Landing a song in a film or television show is an exploitation; somebody recording your song is an exploitation; releasing a record is an exploitation. When one of those songs from your record becomes part of a greatest hits package down the line – that’s an exploitation. An exploited song that is licensed and registered opens revenue streams.

To continue reading simply click on the link.

Source: KnowTheMusicBiz
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A congrats is in order for writer and producer The-Dream(Terius Nash), who has worked with everyone from Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and Justin Bieber, on his new position with Def Jam. He has been appointed Executive Vice President of A&R by Republic/IDJ Motown Chairmain/CEO Barry Weiss and IDJMG EVP/Head of A&R Karen Kwak.

His duties will include overseeing current and new artist projects, while working as a producer for artist on the Def Jam roster and its affiliated labels.

In additon to Weiss and Kwak, The-Dream will work closely with Def Jam President Joie Manda and IDJMG President/COO Steve Bartels.

Since the release of his gold Love Hate debut album on Radio Killa/Def Jam in 2007, The-Dream (Terius Nash) has experienced tremendous success as a songwriter and producer for superstars across the pop and R&B/hip-hop spectrum. He made headlines with early hits for Rihanna (“Umbrella”), Mariah Carey (“Touch My Body”) and J. Holiday (“The Bed,” “Suffocate”). He also wrote several songs on Mary J. Blige’s Growing Pains, which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The-Dream won Best New Artist honors at the 2008 BET Awards in addition to his Grammy nomination for Song of the Year for “Umbrella” (as songwriter), and American Music Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. The-Dream went on to help craft Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake,” Justin Bieber’s triple-platinum worldwide smash, “Baby,” “No Church in the Wild” from Kanye West and Jay-Z’s opus Watch the Throne, and many more.

The-Dream was a writer on “All of the Lights” from Def Jam labelmate Kanye West’s lauded 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The song won Grammys for “Best Rap Song” and “Best Rap Sung Collaboration.” In 2010, he shared in two Grammys as a songwriter on Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” which won for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song.

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Looking at my watch it is about that time of year again. When all walks of life come together to celebrate hip hop music in the heart of the south known as ATL. For the 8th annual A3C Hip Hop Festival  being held at the Masquerade on October 11-13, 2012 they are adding a new element to the fold.

Jumping on the technology transit the A3C will be teaming up with Spreaker online radio to produce a live stream featuring artist interviews and music exclusively at the 2012 A3C Hip Hop Festival.

In an effort to reach to new fans and attendees of the festival, the purpose of the audio stream is to showcase all the great events that the A3C Hip Hop Festival has to offer. The production of the stream will be presented as a live radio format with 5 hours of programming for both Friday, October 12th & Saturday, October 13th. Writers and contributors of the A3C Website will host the Broadcast stream, as well as the A3C Blog site giving the listener up to the minute news and music live from the festival.

The idea was pioneered by Lucien Wall aka DJ Lucky Luciano, one of the contributing writers of the A3C Blog as well as one of the Executive Producers of the live stream for the festival through his company, Tekmatrix Sounds, LLC.

Scheduled air times of the official live stream will be announced on the A3C website prior to the start of the festival. Listeners of the stream will be able to tune in and listen through various outlets including their Smartphone using the Spreaker app available for iPhone, iPad, Ipod Touch as well as Android Devices in addition to the A3C website via a stream player on the A3C website provided by the Spreaker Network.

For more information on Spreaker visit the website.

Source: A3CFestival
 

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When it comes to "werk" one individual who personifies handling the business is Gucci Mane. We don't look at him as a client but rather family. If you see him at THE PATCH guarantee he is putting in time with our engineer Kori Anders. He recently sat down with Power 105's The Breakfast Club for an interview. Gucci has a new project coming out next week October 17th titled 'Trap God'.

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There's absolutely nothing better in this business than getting straight talk from someone who has worked and been successful in the music industry.  Meet Steve Rennie, manager for rock band Incubus and former record executive.  He has created a YouTube channel loaded with sound advice from his years of experience and some interviews from other veterans in the industry.  What I love most about his channel is that he interviews people you will not recognize from BET, MTV, or VH1.  Rennie speaks to the real movers and shakers behind the industry, those who make major decisions every day but who are not household names.  These are the faces you should recognize.  This is the advice you should be seeking.

Posted is one of my favorite videos from Steve Rennie's channel, "Fuck The Gatekeepers".  The title alone lets you know exactly what you can expect from this guy - straight talk, no chaser.

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What is stopping artist today from releasing a professionally recorded, mixed, mastered and manufactured project? Nine out of ten times the situation is funding. The COO of Patchwerk Recording Studios, Curtis Daniel III, has started a new program to rectify this situation called 5TEN15TWENTY.
  
 5TEN15TWENTY is a funding and recording development tool that allows artist and fans to connect and fund professional music projects.

• The artist creates a music project that they want fans to support. The project can be a single, an EP, demo, or a full-length album.
• A fan comes to the site to view the types of projects they can support in amounts of 5, 10, 15 or 20 dollars
• Each price point has a unique reward associated with it. 
• Once the project is funded in it’s entirety, backers will be charged. The artist will begin working on the recording project and you’ll get your reward.

If the project falls short, no one is charged. 

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