New Project: Recording an LP on Digital/Biz Strategies (Submit Questions here)

[shadeed]

The past month or so I've been completely focused on perfecting my demo materials for my presentation at a big Microsoft conference out in San Francisco. Now that I'm wrapped up with that and back on the East Coast, it is time to start my new project, here it is:

What I'm Doing
I'll be hitting the studio to begin recording my advice, thoughts and knowledge on Digital Music Marketing and Small Business strategies for artists, producers, managers, promoters in an LP format.

Blowing Up From the Basement on Steroids
If you've read Blowing Up From the Basement or the Forums here on Illmuzik and have picked up some knowledge from the articles, this release is a must-have. I'm taking this very seriously. This will be my Illmatic.

The Big Picture
The whole concept that I envision with this can take me in many successful directions.
Since the full picture has never been done, I still have to iron out details with regards to copyrights, distribution, and other legal issues.
There's a bigger potential to tie in other music tech companies, sponsors, and even record labels but my focus now is to focus on the actual recording and getting the first one out.

How Illmuzik Fits In
Believe it or not, doing the Blowing Up From the Basement column opened some pretty major doors for me - so I always look for ways to help the site grow.

What I'm offering exclusively for Illmuzik members is the opportunity to submit ANY question that they've had about the following subjects:

Digital Music Strategies,
Marketing Music Online
Promoting Using Digital Channels
Physical Copies vs. Digital Downloads of CDs
How to Build an Online Community as an artist
How to Set up an Online Profile
How to Generate Additional Income Streams as an Artist
Expanding Your Brand Using the Internet
Going Mobile: Reaching Your Fanbase Using Mobile channels

If its not something I've covered in Blowing Up In the Basement, I'll go IN DEPTH about it for the release.

Disclaimer
Please don't read this and ask me to post my resume or credentials.
This is an opportunity for people who are serious to get questions answered.

**Shouts to Unorthodox aka Ace the Time. He emailed me three very solid questions that I will cover.

POST ALL QUESTIONS in this forum post. I will reply with my thoughts on how I'll cover it.

 

[StressWon]

How to expand an online presence will be big for me right now. for any of artist actually. Lookin forward to this.

 

[Knox Raw]

Stress asked my question.
Since everything is going mobile what are ways artist can benefit monetarily?

 

[5th Sequence]

Shadeed, you the man brotha.

would love to discuss strategies on how to reach overseas markets (listeners, blogs, radio, forums, magazines, etc). I'm particularly interested in the UK, Japan, and France. Where do international hip hop heads go to discover new music, and how can I put my music in front of them? Any advice would be dope, thanks!

 

[shadeed]

StressWon How to expand an online presence will be big for me right now. for any of artist actually. Lookin forward to this.

This will be covered using examples of other artists who have a big web presence online.
I'll walk step-by-step through this section because its a common area that we all must face.

Since everything is going mobile what are ways artist can benefit monetarily?

Glad that you have observed this trend Knox! It's a MUST that I discuss mobile trends. Most artists are still stuck on "Ringtone Money" but the game has advanced waaaay beyond that. I discuss this a lot in the radio segments that I do (Hip Hop Bytes on WXYC 89.3 FM in Chapel Hill, NC) but I'm going in on this topic to include:

What the mobile trends are
How to get things set up on a minimum budget
Advanced case studies of artists engaging fans via mobile channels

Besides what i listed, are there any other things you want to know???

would love to discuss strategies on how to reach overseas markets (listeners, blogs, radio, forums, magazines, etc). I'm particularly interested in the UK, Japan, and France. Where do international hip hop heads go to discover new music, and how can I put my music in front of them? Any advice would be dope, thanks!

NOW we're talking! As I read your question, I was actually tempted to bring in a few US based artists who have set up licensing deals internationally for marketing and distribution.
The funny thing is, if you're willing to hop on a few tours overseas, you can literally make money doing music (provided other areas of your operation are set-up properly)
For this release, I will have to cover the basics to get started, because I want to bring the audience along evenly, but the basics will be good.

 

[classic]

NICE will be checking this out for sure! im still using the advice you gave us from our meeting 2 years ago during the smash brothers interview. Its gotten me pretty damn far with NK..

class

 

[shadeed]

NICE will be checking this out for sure! im still using the advice you gave us from our meeting 2 years ago during the smash brothers interview. Its gotten me pretty damn far with NK..

class

If anybody will benefit from the info I'm putting down it will be you.
Why? You're in the position to take advantage of good information. You've already went through a lot of the "growing pains" that artists experience when they decide to do this independently.
ALL artists/producers from Illmuzik should look at the work you put in on with the Smash Bros and NK projects, because they'll have to walk that same path.

Glad I met you guys and I'm glad the next artist interview was late (lol) so we could chop it up and share some insight to help your music reach that next level.

I'm about to put out Part II of the Illmuzik Conference Call -> its some REALLY good stuff in there specifically for producers and how to use video sharing channels to get hundreds of thousands of views and build their own online profile.

 

[classic]

Shadeed, you the man brotha.

would love to discuss strategies on how to reach overseas markets (listeners, blogs, radio, forums, magazines, etc). I'm particularly interested in the UK, Japan, and France. Where do international hip hop heads go to discover new music, and how can I put my music in front of them? Any advice would be dope, thanks!

a good feeder site too the international hip hop market is
www.moovmnt.com alot of European music blogs feed off of there(you can see the blog roll on the side of the site

also check out


www.laid-back.be
http://beyondjazz.net/
http://futurevintage.net/
http://www.juslikemusic.com/
http://bamalovesoul.blogspot.com/
nadlen.net

All these blogs have shown Nicholas Kopernicus love and i think they will love your style of music as well, (i have a hunch the same people that like NK will like your stuff). I got in by emailing and facebooking cats with a personalized message and a easy access sample of my music

let me know if you need more

class...

 

[dahkter]

I would like to know how to get a track to the maximum # of people's ears for the minimum amount of time, effort and money.
Thanks again for your continued effort here on the Ill, much appreciated.

 

[5th Sequence]

a good feeder site too the international hip hop market is
www.moovmnt.com alot of European music blogs feed off of there(you can see the blog roll on the side of the site

also check out


www.laid-back.be
http://beyondjazz.net/
http://futurevintage.net/
http://www.juslikemusic.com/
http://bamalovesoul.blogspot.com/
nadlen.net

All these blogs have shown Nicholas Kopernicus love and i think they will love your style of music as well, (i have a hunch the same people that like NK will like your stuff). I got in by emailing and facebooking cats with a personalized message and a easy access sample of my music

let me know if you need more

class...

Awesome man thank you, this is exactly what I needed. A solid starting point + that blogroll definitely has a huge amount to browse through.

And I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this Shadeed, the timing of your digital/biz strategies project couldn't have come at a better time for me.

 

[Kontents]

I am really excited about this. Patiently waiting.

 

[shadeed]

I am really excited about this. Patiently waiting.

Oh, me too. I found the right engineer to guide this project and provide me honest feedback and the right amount of criticism. Been structuring the outline and points I wanna cover all this week. I have an all-nighter set this evening where I'll be just writing out my thoughts.

And I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this Shadeed, the timing of your digital/biz strategies project couldn't have come at a better time for me.

It's coming at a great time for me too. I'm super critical of my own work but I've been going back and listening to my segments that I've been doing for Radio shows and when I'm impressing my own inner critic then I know I'm headed in the right direction. Time to raise the bar. Keep the questions coming, I want this to be "The Manual" on this subject.

__________________

 

[StressWon]

I live in America and want to start a buzz in Europe. What are some good promotional ideas?

 

[shadeed]

I live in America and want to start a buzz in Europe. What are some good promotional ideas?

The very first thing I think you need is the mindset that you must willing to travel to Europe, seriously. My whole view of the internet is that it is the most powerful tool when your intent is to ultimately connect in-person.

Europe is a very big place. I would start by being more specific. In some smaller markets in Europe, simply having your music play there will give you Demi-God status.

Homework: Over the weekend complete the following:

Identify the top 5 markets you'd like to have an influence within.

Identify the top 5 Hip Hop DJs in Europe either in radio, club DJs, or mixtapes

Identify your top 5 favorite European hip hop artists.
If you don't listen to European hip hop, be honest and post that.


Post the answers here and we'll get the ball rolling.

 

[shadeed]

Update: Hit the studio for Session #1 - Discussed the overall concept that I want to deliver with my Engineer and we collaborated on a few great new ideas that will be added.

In session 1, a lot of good material was recorded. After listening to what was recorded before post-production took place, I have the impression that this project will turn out better than I anticipated both from a content standpoint and impact-wise.

Material-wise it may be close to 3 hours total. I'm going to write an e-book to accompany the audio that will have assessment forms that you fill out to get a clear picture of the health and direction of your music career.

My intent is to release a project that I'm proud of and stands the test of time.
If you liked what I have written or spoken about in the past, this release is a must-have, guaranteed.

 

[Relic]

This will be Dope.