JULY 2007 - VOLUME 1 ISSUE 6
REAL TALK
WHY WACK ARTISTS GET DEALS! BY K. CANNICK
Every month I find myself in a barbershop, record store, or club parking lot listening to artists claiming that record labels will sign just about anybody these days. I hear them complain about radio stations not playing their songs. I hear them talk about the lack of opportunities for artists with real talent to get heard. I’ve listened to many different versions of these same complaints for over five years as an artist, a manager, a studio owner, and a consultant. These complaints were the exact reason that I put together “The Beat Game: $5000 Rap Contest.” My whole purpose was to provide a level playing field
NEWS Sprint Mobile will reportedly be the first company to sponsor a song to be distributed on file-sharing networks, with its logo embedded on copies of the track. According to the New York Post, the mobile giant has joined forces with Atlantic Records to push a song from Florida bred artist Plies via ArtistDirect’s Media Defender. As part of their agreement, Media Defender will push 16 million files of the Sprint embedded Plies song onto peer-to-peer networks over a three-month period in return for a “substantial six-figure” fee to WWW.MakinItMag.com
where artists could showcase their talent and get some much needed exposure regardless of where they came from. The funny thing is, when I mention the contest to those same artists, half of them turn their nose up because they feel they are too good to be participating in such a contest, while the other half will ask for more information. I’ll talk to them and explain the details but once I tell them there is a $35 entry fee all but a few will lose complete interest. I’ve had artists tell me everything from “I don’t pay to rap…” to “You should be paying us to participate…” I laugh it off because these are the same
artists that sit around complaining about their situation, which brings me to the title of this article, “Why wack artist get deals!” This is actually a very simple question to answer. I’m not insinuating that you can’t be talented and make it in the industry, but the truth of the matter is less talented artists work harder while artists that are more talented tend to think they can get away with doing less. An artist that is less talented has something to prove and will go the extra mile to prove it. Continued on page 5
SPRINT PAYS AND PLIES WINS be divided between Media Defender, Atlantic Records, Plies and his publishing company. The Sprint logo will be permanently attached to the files and will appear alongside Plies’ name and the song title on the screen of a desktop computer, iPod, cellphone or any other digital music player. ArtistDirect CEO, Jon Diamond, declined to identify Plies as the artist associated with the Sprint deal, saying only that the label and artist will be announced in two weeks. He also revealed that Media Defender is currently in talks with a number of major artists and brands and
expects to announce similar deals shortly. Atlantic Records is a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Warner announced in May that it will lay off 400 of its employees to put further emphasis on digital strategy and distribution, while finding other ways to make profits as CD sales continue to decline and digital music sales fail to make up for the shortfall. Last month, Warner joined forces with Violator Management to form Brand Asset Group, a company that will help manage and broaden artists brands to increase their revenue. 1