MC Till Newsletter

I read this very thought provoking newsletter from rapper MC Till last month about how hip hop needs to grow up, or better said, capitalism needs to grow up. I love what Till had to say, and felt compelled to add to it.

Anyway, here’s MC Till’s excellent newsletter editorial, followed below by my response based on what I’ve seen and experienced in the urban music industry.

Ladies and Gentlemen, MC Till:

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Is Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ Really A Work Of A Genius?

In pop music, the word “genius,” is often only associated with the likes of John Lennon, Elvis Presley, or Janis Joplin—dead, but not forgotten because their works continue to resonate with the living. We’ve heard people delegate such a lofty praise to Michael Jackson, Prince, or Amy Winehouse when they were still alive, and we still constantly see it being juxtaposed with living legends Elton John, Morrissey, and Lenny Kravitz; therefore, to give it to a not-even-forty-years-old pop diva with saccharine monikers—Beysus, Queen Bey—is a case that will always make it a subject of debate.

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5 Tips For Getting Featured On Beatport

So you have a new release and want it to be featured on Beatport. Well get ready, because there is a lot of competition. But the good news is that it can all happen with consistency and, of course, good music. We work very hard to help our clients get features each and every week. Here are some simple yet effective ways to increase your chances of being featured on the coveted site.

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How To Earn The Most Money As An Independent Musician

As an independent musician, a lot of the time you’re making music for the passion; you love what you do and it loves you. But there comes the time when you need to ask yourself “how am I going to make a living out of this?”

Which is what we thought here at Ditto Music – so we opened the vaults of our data and studied well over 100k releases and found out how an independent musician can make the most money from their release.

There were quite a few interesting data points we found:

• iTunes is the runaway leader in royalty generation for artists - it outperforms all its competitors in every genre and remains the main store when it comes to music sales.

• Soundtrack is the highest grossing genre of music by a long way, bringing in 58% more than average for a release.

• With the debate over Spotify’s royalty distribution in the news, it’s interesting to see that the store pays out far below the average when compared to its rivals.

• Hip-Hop’s popularity over the last few years has seen its stock rise significantly, with a Hip-Hop artist looking to net themselves 11% more than average per release.

We’ve picked through all the data and presented it in a much easier to digest manner, analysing which store is best for your genre, along with how much each genre makes on average.

Infograph

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How to Increase the Reach of Your Music

Clients on board of Symphonic Distribution have a lot of offerings, but above all, they have choice. Our clients can choose when they want to deliver their content and where they want to deliver it. That choice is not easily found with our competitors, as some won’t even let clients have a direct account on a partner that the distributor is not delivering to (we call that ridiculous).

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8 Ways To Keep Up With and Discover New Music Releases

Have you ever felt like you were no longer in the loop when it comes to new music? “Have you heard Beyonce’s new song?!” “Did you get tickets for that gig?” “It went to number 1!”. None of us like to feel left out when it comes to the hottest new songs, the latest summer smash, or that killer album everybody’s talking about.

Here are a number of methods to stay up to date with the best music and most anticipated releases.  

1. Social media
Following your favourite artists and bands on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook will ensure that you are constantly in the know about what’s out and what’s coming next. Artists promote themselves and their music this way as it’s the easiest outlet to connect with their fans.  

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Electrosonic is an innovative and original musical project

PAST PRESENT FUTURE… And… finally… Electrosonic’s brand new album: an innovative and captivating project, sound that blends energy and atmosphere, rock and electronic music. Our unreleased tracks get straight to the point, able to fascinate people and convey emotions. A band that wants to leave a mark in creative music and entertainment and that can involve you.

Electrosonic is an innovative, original and captivating musical project and also is a different way to perceive music. The idea of electronic music blends to live music and the live show is a melting of video projection and music. We can give you emotions in different ways, a straight and multi-sensorial channel between band and audience.

In 2013 the band entered national compilations and some of their songs of their brand new album Past Present Future has been broadcasted from hundreds of Italian and foreign radios, reaching good results, approval and interest. Electrosonic has been mentioned in the magazines “Muzi Kult” and “Ente Friuli per il Mondo”. The band also reached remarkable position in the “Indie Music Like” national ranking.

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5 Ways To Promote Your Music

You’ve done the hard part - you’ve created your own music that you’re proud of and want to share with the world.  After hundreds of hours writing, practising, recording, mixing, and editing - your tunes are ready to go.  But, have you thought about the next step?  How are you going to promote your music beyond your immediate fan base to start getting that all important exposure?

We’ve put together 5 ways to promote your music in the digital age.  Hopefully these will help you take your music to the next level, so jump in and see what works for you:

1. Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms, and in particular Facebook, allow you to get a new audience listening to your music quickly and cost effectively.  You can use Facebook Ads to target people interested in similar artists to you, whilst excluding your current fans.  This allows you to generate a new fan base quickly and relatively cheaply.

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How Bands Can Break Into New Markets

One way to grow your music’s reach is to break into new markets. This could be taken a number of ways: new geographical areas (cities, states, countries, etc.) or simply new audiences in general (by demographic, interest, psychographic, etc). Before you try and expand your reach through new markets, it’s important to take a few things into consideration:

• Return on Investment: What is the cost or effort required to break into this market? Is the return on investment worthwhile or would you be better off using those resources to grow an existing market?

• Goals: What kind of role will this market play in your S.M.A.R.T.E.R Goals?

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Steve Saluto new EP "12"

Steve Saluto is an italian guitar player, songwriter and producer mostly known for his past works with Richie Kotzen. But, he also has played with lot of big names in the music business ranging from jazz projects (with Jeff Berlin and Danny Gottlieb) to rock music (teaming up with Atma Anur, Marco Mendoza, Terry Ilous, Doug Wimbish just to name a few) … and aside his studio production work he has a very prolific solo career. He has released 11 solo albums … not counting the 2008 project called “La Famiglia Superstar”. 2013 is the year for the latest release, the EP called “12”.

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The Coffee House Sessions

Coffee House Sessions is a new music initiative, exposing the hottest in upcoming UK music talent to the student market via daytime performances in University coffee shops around the country: http://youtu.be/CZRp_MoTqhM. 

With a carefully designed touring circuit taking place in 40 universities, Coffee House Sessions holds acoustic performances at two different campuses a day over a ten day period and provides promotion for the showcased artists through student media outlets such as student newspapers, student radio and student TV at each university.

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Stacey Cohen crowdfunds ‘the Archer’ – new folk album

Stacey Cohen, North Wales folksy-blues singer and songwriter raised £3550 via crowdfunding to record her new album ‘The Archer’.

Stacey’s engaging ‘crowdfunding regime’, with daily tasks and fun social media updates, helped secure over 40% of her funding target in the final 48 hours of her campaign on PleaseFund.Us. The new album, called ‘The Archer’, was within an inch of life until just an hour of the campaign deadline.

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Before You Sign...

What You Should Know Before You Sign the Deal can be found in this book…

Unlike any other book about the music business, “Music Business: It’s a Dirty Game!”,

this book is not a ‘puff piece’ about the glitz and glamour about the music business.

This book takes you on a journey from the excitement of having a music publishing contract with a major music publishing company to the legal battles that followed.

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6 Things You Can Do With $100 That Will Change Your Music Career

Money. Let’s face it: most artists aren’t very good with it. Most of us don’t have much to invest into our music career (relatively speaking), and when we do, we tend to throw it at some random opportunities without a larger strategy in mind.

Take, for instance, submission fees to music festivals. Each year, thousands of artists spend over $100 in application fees or subscription costs to EPK sites, in hopes of getting a show at SXSW, CMJ, Bumbershoot, or other large festivals. Personally, I think festivals are overrated in terms of importance for your career, but if you really want to get in, try reading this guide: How to Get Into SXSW.

You can easily spend $100 on strings, picks, or sticks. You could even buy a cheap electric guitar. Or, if you were riding in my tour bus, $100 almost covers the gas from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA.

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