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I know an industry secret

Fade

Fade

The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
VIP
/ start rant / :mad:

I've written many articles over the years and many times I'll tell the reader to work hard, hone your craft, and network as much as you can. However, the biggest industry secret is simple - it's all about who you know.

Yes, it's true that hard work does pay off, but honestly, there's probably a one in a gazillion chance that someone will come knocking on your door and offer you a record deal or production spots. The same can be said for communities like this, IllMuzik.

The main reason why I'm writing this is because over the years I've painfully learned that no matter how good your website looks, how good your content is, how big your community is, or how much you interact with your users, it doesn't matter. It's all about who you know.

How else can you explain some artists or websites that are complete shit, yet they get all the publicity and everyone is on their dick? Sure, it could be something like WorldStarHipHop where they get huge hits because they have ridiculous videos that somehow go viral, but look at the site! Any time I've actually gone to their site (which is probably only a handful), it damn near crashes my browser. Yet, they're insanely popular.

But it also explains why other websites are able to hook up with well known artists and get tons of sponsors, yet other sites or blogs get completely get ignored. I've had times where I reached out to sponsors and they didn't even have the decency to reply to me. One time I asked a sponsor to get in on the Battle That! Competition, even just something simple like t-shirts. What did they tell me? "Because of the current state of the economy, we can't sponsor at this time." LOL! We're talking about a big name company that makes mixers, speakers, keyboards and sequencers. Yet, I see them sponsoring some "big" website for a bullshit event.

/ end rant / :eek:

What's your take on this?
 
2infamouz

2infamouz

Mad Beats, No Angry Vegetables
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 10
Can't agree more. That's why I laugh everytime someone in the industry claims to be "self made" when you know damn well someone put them on...Talent isn't always a pre-requisite of success, but knowing the right people def. don't hurt.
 
2GooD Productions

2GooD Productions

Im back
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 1688
bthis!
war
bfights!
aotb!
biu!
bthat!
The only answer to not knowing the right people is getting out there in the real world and trying to meet them. Carry yourself professionally and it is possible to forge great relationships. Networking is key to making any business successful. And as greg said, visotor numbers to a site are the biggest factor in the website world. As much as i love ill, it simply doesnt compare to wshh in regards to visitor numbers. I dont frequent wshh, there is a reason too, most of the viral vids have nothing to do with music let alone hiphop. And the site doesnt serve my needs. If you want to be another wshh then start promoting all the new shit. Have videos that have nothing to do with music, like street fights. Personally if ill changed to become another general hiphop site id probably go elsewhere. What ill does have is a really good community of really talentes and down to earth people that i havent found anywhere else. It might not pay the bills, but it is a fantastic achievement in its own right.
 
Fade

Fade

The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
VIP
No doubt. I'm not trying to turn this into a WSHH site, not at all. I'm just saying that for what ILL is, it's like it doesn't get the recognition, especially among big name producers. For example, a producer like Pete Rock knows a site like WSHH or Hiphopdx, but not ILL. So like I'm saying, it's all about the hook ups!
 
God

God

Creator of the Universe
ill o.g.
Look Fade, you gotta look at this realistically.

First of all, the psychographic of your site is the beatmaker, not the average dude interested in hip-hop looking at getting their latest news. So you're at a disadvantage there.

Yeah, World Star Hip Hop is dumb. But so are the middle school and high school kids sharing their stupid videos. They know their audience and managed to get a niche market. They have a lot of eyeballs the same reason Family Guy is a top rated show. People like to watch stupid stuff and share it.

Once you get traction, which usually requires money or sponsorship of some sort, then you can move on.

From your site, you don't even show up in Quantcast or Compete's search engines as having significant enough traffic. So who's going to want to support your site if you don't have the traffic? Granted, you have a hardcore and loyal community which has been around for over 10+ years, but let's face it -- people like their shit to be like Buzzfeed. Quick and easy to digest. Shareable.

Here we talk about gear and other stuff. You're basically competing with other boards where "pros" who engineered w/Dr. Dre or other stuff have their own boards. Consider http://Gearslutz.com as your competition. Then look at the quality of their ads, I don't think they're making too much money off of it.

Do you want to be a news hip hop site? Then you get a broader audience, but that ship may have already sailed. Do you want to be something else?

You need to know who is your reader and then market to them.

Yes, the industry is about who you know, who you blow and who knows you. But you also have to have product that correlates with your targeted demographic/psychographic. If not, you're pretty much screwed.
 
Relic

Relic

Voice of Illmuzik Radio
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 83
bthis!
Listen to God... He's God for chrissakes!

"You need to know who is your reader and then market to them."

"From your site, you don't even show up in Quantcast or Compete's search engines as having significant enough traffic. So who's going to want to support your site if you don't have the traffic? Granted, you have a hardcore and loyal community which has been around for over 10+ years, but let's face it -- people like their shit to be like Buzzfeed. Quick and easy to digest. Shareable."

Great points.
 
Fade

Fade

The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
VIP
Ya good points, but I knew that already. I was just venting.
Now here's a picture:

tumblr_lmd28uCVdN1qafrh6.gif
 
Formant024

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
shawn of the dead is funny, good flic..hot fuzz is of the same calibre.. both movies from the uk so thats why you probably didnt know.
 
God

God

Creator of the Universe
ill o.g.
Fade said:
That's what I'm saying, it's a catch-22.
Click to expand...


It's not a catch 22. Start a new site or switch up IllMuzik to cater to the lowest common denominator. Make it like a Buzzfeed for rap. http://buzzfeed.com

"5 Reasons Why Lil' Wayne Might Be Gay"
"10 Things Every Rapper Should Do Before Sex"

Dumb shit like that. Your numbers will spike.
 
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