Now in its 6th year, the A3C Hip Hop Festival is a 2 day, 3 night event held annually in Atlanta, GA featuring live performances from some of Hip Hop’s elite artists.

The live performance schedule is enhanced by day and nightly events showcasing some of the most exciting break-dance, graphic art, fashion, film, equipment demonstrations and panels relating to hip hop culture.

The 2010 A3C will be held October 7-9. Since 2005 the event has featured over 200 of the most powerful artists in hip hop including B.o.B, Black Sheep, The Clipse, DJ Premier, The Juice Crew, Killer Mike, Little Brother, Rakim, Souls of Mischief and Wale

Come hang out and network with all the iStandard Feature Producers, A3C Panelists, and attendees @ this exclusive A3C edition of The IdOMusic® Networking Mixer! A3C Panelists and iStandard Producers featured on the “Crafting in the Lab” and “iStandard Producer Showcase” panels will be in attendance!

Use discount code "IdOMusicA3C" to get register for an A3C 3-Day All Access Pass for just $25 - (click below to register)

http://www.a3cfestival.com/idomuisc-mixer-at-the-a3c/

When: Friday, October 8th - 7pm-8pm

Where: Masquerade

How: Use discount code "IdOMusicA3C" to get register for an A3C 3-Day All Access Pass for just $25 - (click here to register)

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 The numbers don't lie. Major-label CD sales are down while downloads are up. The question becomes to independent artist, "Do I really need to make CDs?"  Here are 11 reasons why the fight for compact disc are still necessary.

1. CDs are an integral part of the indie revenue stream.
Getting paid good money by a club or promoter to play a show isn’t always an easy prospect. And even if you do get a decent fee to play, your merch table and CD sales HAVE to be exploited to buffer your income (if not to double or triple it). So if you’re on the road, even for a weekend jaunt, you need to have something tangible to sell to help increase your take at every gig.

Download cards can and should be sold, but your new fan can’t stick a download card in their CD player to give it a listen on the ride home. Having other things to sell – merch, posters, and stickers – is necessary, too, but your CD is the main course on that meal ticket.

Remember:
- Up to 75% (or more) of music revenues come from CD sales. You don’t want to cut off that much revenue potential.
- You make more money selling CDs at gigs or on CD Baby than selling downloads on somewhere like iTunes. A CD costs you between $.90 and $1.50 to manufacture. Sold at $15, that’s over $13 per unit.

2. CDs legitimize you.
What major music artist doesn’t have a CD? Physical product, e.g. CDs, demonstrate that you as an artist are committed to your career. Giving a music business professional a professionally produced CD is the fastest way to get them to listen to you and take you seriously. Giving a potential fan a CD (or selling one, of course), is the fastest way to converting them to your tribe. Don’t make people work to hear your music!

3. No connectivity required.
A CD is ready to go. Take them home, pop ‘em in your car’s CD player, a computer, a boom box at a party… CD players are everywhere. There’s no web connectivity necessary, no searching around a website – just plug and play. Plus, you can add bonus material, videos, and enhancements to make your CD an all-inclusive multimedia experience. And the fact is, some customers just don’t do downloads. You’ll lose a sale if you don’t have a CD for them. Even your grandmother knows how to use a CD.


4. Permanence (no crashing computers and lost data).
Your music is virtually permanent on a CD. Hard drives crash and MP3 players die, it’s a sad fact of life. But if you have a disc with the content on it, your message or album is not lost. And of course, if you own a CD, you can easily rip MP3s for storage or use with your favorite media player and still have the disc as a backup and for use with your stereo, car, etc.


5. A CD tells a story.
The artwork in your CD package helps further illustrate your album’s artistic statement. A great looking CD and your specific choice of packaging say something about you and can help you further connect with your listening audience. Plus, listeners experience the track sequence, pacing, and breadth of your work exactly as you intended. Singles certainly have their place and can spark interest in your act, but albums are the only way for you to create a thematic and sonic statement of where you as an artist are at the time the disc is recorded and released.

Not to mention the fact that after spending months (or years) composing, refining, rehearsing, recording, mixing, and mastering, there’s a real sense of accomplishment in having something to physically embody the sweat, money, and tears that went into the work you’ve created. Digital files are a great way to deliver tunes, but nothing beats having a CD to represent the completion of your artistic efforts.

6. A CD gives you something to promote.
Any independent artist who tours knows that the majority of CDs they sell are sold from the stage. Think of it as a fan-building and fan-nurturing tool. It’s one of those moments where a fan, or soon-to-be-a-fan, craves immediate gratification and a remembrance of the event. CDs are the best format for live sales. It’s an instant data transfer – you just hand over the disc. And even more than this being an “impulse” buy, it’s truly a matter of you creating a demand and being there to supply the goods immediately.

As a matter of fact, you should consider the act of pitching your merch and CDs from the stage or your merch table as an invitation for your audience and fans to have a direct and personal interaction with you. There is an art to the pitch, and those who take the time to create an interesting approach sell more CDs and gather more mailing list names for future promotions. If your invitation to meet you at the merchandise table includes a drawing for a free CD, then your CD sales could go up 25%-50% and you’ll collect nearly 100% of your audience’s contact information. That’s easy, low cost marketing that will pay off for years to come. Want to really personalize the experience? You can sign a CD. Try that with a download.


7. Shopping your music? CDs are the way to go.
CDs remain the preferred format if you’re shopping your music for film, TV, multimedia, gaming, or licensing opportunities. An overwhelming number of music editors and journalists prefer a physical CD and press kit when being pitched an emerging – or even an established – artist. Radio stations utilize CDsCDs, your chances for success and exposure on the radio are virtually non-existent.


8. Strength in numbers.
While many artists now feel no need to court major labels to achieve success, if you do want a label’s attention, CD sales are the most important metric they’ll consider. The same is true for managers and booking agents. If you prove you can move product, you’ve got a good chance at impressing those folks.

9. CDs sound better than MP3s.
CDs sound better than an MP3 download, because they’re not compressed like an MP3 file.

10. It makes a swell gift, too.
Want to reward members of your fan club and street team? There’s no better way than giving them a limited-edition CD with music recorded and packaged especially for them.


11. What’s true for majors isn’t true for indies.
The majors are selling fewer CDs, it’s true. But you are not a major-label artist. To sell downloads in significant quantities, you need people actively seeking your music to buy. This requires a large and established fan base, and/or a popular hit single, and/or a tremendous amount of money spent on promotion, and/or a significant buzz on the web. As an indie artist, you may not have any of these things yet, you’re still building your name and awareness about yourself and your music. Chances are you’re giving away songs through digital distribution to promote yourself.

As an indie, you rely on hand-to-hand music sales, personal contact at gigs, something tangible you can hand to someone as soon as you’ve sparked an interest in your act. Nothing does that like a CD.

Source: Discmakers

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Now in its 6th year, the A3C Hip Hop Festival is a HUGE 2 day, 3 night event held annually in Atlanta, GA featuring live performances from some of Hip Hop’s elite artists.

Since 2005 the event has featured over 200 of the most powerful artists in hip hop including B.o.B, Black Sheep, The Clipse, DJ Premier, The Juice Crew, Killer Mike, Little Brother, Rakim, Souls of Mischief and Wale.

WATCH THE LIVE SHOW STREAMING WITH OUR AUDIENCE TONIGHT!

www.595north.com/tv

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The IdOMusic® Networking Event
EVERY 2ND TUESDAY @ KATS CAFE

NETWORKING + LIVE MUSIC + ONE-ON-ONE WITH SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER DONDRIA!!

EVERYONE FREE before 8:30p with RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

THE BAND: Eva Kennedy and Live Band! (www.evakennedy.bandcamp.com)

BUY TICKETS HERE >>>>> http://idomusicatkats.eventbrite.com/

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This Saturday, October 16th, we encourage all producers and engineers interested in learning how to sample in their drums the "right" way to attend AES' Drum Sampling WerkShop Pt. 2

This "Drum Sampling" Werkshop will teach you about:

1 - The editing process for drum samples

2 - Tempo Mapping and Sound Replacement

Saurabh Bose will be speaking about using drum samples and drum arranging for various genres. This will be the follow up seminar to our first Drum Sampling workshop which focused on recording and editing samples with Mike Wilson of PatchWerk Recording Studios. This is sure to be another great event chalked full of insight and helfpul hints.

Space is extremely limited, register at this link: http://aespwr.eventbrite.com/

Visit The AES Website at http://aes-aia.org/ for more AES events.

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The reality is not everyone is going to succeed as an independent artist. There are multiple ways to make it happen which we highlight daily. On the other end we have those who become dazed and confused. I came across an interesting read highlighting guaranteed ways to fail. Use any of these methods and watch instant results!

1. Steal Your Own Thunder
Got a new CD in the works? Awesome! Make sure you release every version of every demo and every mix you record during the process on Facebook, Reverbnation, Myspace and anywhere else you can find. Try to confuse your fans so that they’re not really sure if you have a CD out yet or not. Don’t set a release date well in advance or plan your promotion to build anticipation. Try to make your release as flat and confusing as possible!

2. Don’t Sell Anything!
You’re definitely going to get signed by a huge label in less than three months anyway, so why bother?! It’s much better to just wait for other people to come in and straighten things out. Taking responsibility for your own career is hard work and it might lead to success, so try your best to avoid it. Try to keep it real and stay as broke as possible. If you have any money then you’ll be less needy and you’ll have more leverage, which could lead you towards success, so stay away!

3. Hide Your Best Stuff
Try to make sure that people have a hard time getting to your best songs. Hide them on your online music players by either shuffling your songs randomly or putting them way down on the list. This will make sure that they’re less likely to get the best possible first impression.

Also, make sure you stop playing your best songs live as soon as possible in favor of new material. Remember, new is better than good. After all, you’re sick of your best songs by now anyway, so why should you go out of your way for people who haven’t heard your music yet? Besides, that would just draw in new fans, so don’t do it.

4. Don’t Deliver For Your Fans
It’s generally best to reach for the stars and swing for the fences as soon as possible. Try to see if you can drag all of your fans out to the ‘big venue’ in town well before you’re ready to play there. That way you can make sure that your fans overpay to see you at a venue that doesn’t care about you and will cut your set short. Bonus points if your fans have to pay for parking. The whole experience should go a long way towards loosing your audience.

It’s always best to make sure your relationship with your fans is based on them doing you favors as opposed to a mutual exchange of value. People will willingly come back to see you if you focus on their experience and deliver the goods, so it’s best to make sure you focus more on having them do you favors.

5. Impress People With the Volume of Your Content
If it’s good to have a YouTube video on your home page then it’s great to have 37! Try to mix in unprofessional and amateur content as much as possible. If you’ve done it – then why not show it! Obviously the big record companies are going to be way impressed when they see just how many ‘things’ you’ve done. If people have no idea how to digest the massive amounts of unorganized content on your page and tend to leave in frustration then you know you’re on the right track!

6. Don’t Tell Anyone Your Name
When people come to see you it’s best if you keep a sense of mystery about yourself. Whatever you do, don’t give yourself away by showing or telling people the name of your act. Try to make them work for it. Remove any visual evidence that you even have a name and try to make sure that if you mention your name you do it in a way that’s garbled and difficult to hear and understand. Bonus points if your name is hard to remember like Anne Kalshzyagrakaviczich. In that case you can tell them your name once just to dare them to try and remember it. They won’t be able to! If they like you then this should piss them off. Awesome!

Also, try and secure a confusing URL for your website that’s spelled strangely and has numbers and dashes and is not memorable. Extra credit if you can make sure that the URLs for your YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter account and other social networking sites have nothing in common with each other. If someone wants to follow you then you certainly don’t want to make it easy for them!

7. Don’t Let Anyone Have Anything for Free
Whatever you do, make sure that no one gets their hands on your music without paying you. If more people got a hold of your music then you might generate more demand, so cling to your music with an iron fist. And whatever you do, if you ever do give away any of your music, make sure you don’t get an email address in return. That might start you in the direction of adopting habits that lead to more money and more people coming to your shows.

8. Don’t Facilitate Long Term Relationships
Your relationship with your fans should be all about one-night stands. Anything beyond that will just ruin the experience. If you actually look for ways to stay in contact with them like collecting their email addresses and finding creative ways to engage with them on Facebook

9. Try Your Best to Be Vague and Confusing When Describing Your Music
When someone asks you what you sound like, try to make sure they won’t understand, remember and/or be excited about what you say. You don’t want to be painted into a corner by a concise and interesting description of your music. It’s best to try and give them a long-winded summary of every way to conceivably describe everything you will ever play. And whatever you do, don’t compare yourself to anyone else to give people a frame of reference. It’s best to tell people that you don’t sound like anyone and that you’ve invented a new kind of music. This should sufficiently confuse and frustrate them to the point that they don’t care to find out any more about you.

10. Talk About Yourself. A lot.
Finally, it’s a good idea to make sure that you don’t talk about anyone or anything else besides you and your career. If you stop promoting yourself for even a minute and start talking up others and remarking about interesting subjects then people might actually start to think you’re a real person and listen to what you have to say and want to hear more from you. It’s best to avoid this scenario by incessantly blasting your ‘friends’ and fans with promotion. This should lead to nausea amongst anyone who decided to give you a chance – a great weapon in your quest for failure.

For bonus points, throw in a few complaints and guilt trips into the mix. This should make sure that even the few people who tolerate your interpretation of how to use social media won’t like you or want to see you succeed.

So there you have it. 10 powerful tips that are sure to help you fail! Use them well and use them often. Try and combine different tips and see just how quickly or painfully slowly you can run your career into the ground.

Source: Discmakers

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CLASS IS IN SESSION!!

For the past 5 years, the goal of Music University has been to offer students and interns interested in someday working in the music business a chance to get up close and personal with some of today's leading music business professionals. This music seminar is held at PatchWerk's midtown studios in the format of several small classes where attendees even get to take notes and ask questions directed towards our credible panel of “instructors”.

Past speakers have included: world renown producer - Bryan Michael Cox, DJ Don Cannon, DJ Nabs, Co-Owner of Grand Hustle Records - Jason Geter, award-winning producer - Drumma Boy, astute business man and A&R - Kawan "KP" Prather, world renown production group - J.U,S.T.I.C.E. League, Co-Owner of Disturbing Tha Peace Records - Chaka Zulu, artist and business man - David Banner, celebrity producer - Mannie Fresh, highly sought entertainment attorney - Monica Ewing, Erica Novich, legendary producer - Rico Wade, highly sought writing team - The Clutch, multi-award-winning producer - Polow Da Don, and more!

ONLY A FEW SEATS LEFT!!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR MUSIC UNIVERSITY FALL SEMESTER 2010

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  The New Skool Rules Exchange Program offers an opportunity for worthy musicians and music professionals to come together on an international level to create and produce great, influential music. Starting on October 22, 2010, New Skool Rules (www.newskoolrules.com) will hold open auditions in several international locations including New York and Atlanta for aspiring rappers and singers to showcase their skills within a set 3 minute time frame. Recorded by Trace TV and broadcast to over 150 countries worldwide, the audition will feature a panel of distinguished industry judges who will choose two winners who will receive a Digiwaxx music service package and will be flown to Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011 for a 5-day music exchange session where winners from every open audition will converge to create 5-6 unique tracks amongst each other and with several acclaimed producers. Those same winners as well as the Atlanta audition winners will then be flown to Rotterdam, The Netherlands in April 2011 to perform those previously created songs at the New Skool Rules International Music Summit in front of a plethora of industry tastemakers, A&Rs, executives, DJs, programming directors and other artist. Panelists include Squeak (Manager for Drumma Boy), Drumma Boy, Ray Daniels (Manager for Rock City), Rock City, DJ Trauma, Bryan Michael Cox and World Famous G-MACK.

WHEN: October 27, 2010 (Atlanta, GA)

TIME: 4pm

WHERE: Atlanta SAE Institute 215 Peachtree Street, Suite 300 Atlanta, GA 30303 Registration fee: $35 (cash due upon registration at the venue)

Auditions will be on a first come first serve basis so RSVP at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to guarantee entry. Registration fee will be collected on site.

ABOUT NEW SKOOL RULES New Skool Rules is a three day international music conference to be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on April 1st – 3rd, 2011. It is an event, which offers a wide variety of entertainment, panels, workshops, master classes, showcases and network opportunities. New Skool Rules aims to fasten the development of New Skool Culture worldwide and will also provide visitors/ delegates with a complete overview and status of what New Skool Culture is. New Skool is a new term, which New Skool Rules Foundation introduced to refer to ‘Street culture' or ‘Hip Hop culture’. For additional information, visit www.newskoolrules.com

CONTACT: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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