Music Concerts

There are several diverse types of deals when it comes to booking your band for a show.

1) Door/ Percentage of Door

2) Guarantee

3) Combination of Guarantee + Door

4) 80/20 split

1) When you are just starting out this is might going to be the most common deal you will see. You can be wondering why I didn’t mention FREE. Never is there a reason to play for free, unless it’s for charity or a cause of some kind, in which case the organizer for that show should at the least cover all of your expenses and rentals that you could need for the show, getting to the show, food and drinks at the show. As an performer playing live you are trying to get your name out there but more vital ly you are selling a service.  promoters and venue owners hire you and your performer members to draw people into their establishment so that they could sell beer, food and other drinks to the patrons. With larger shows the  promoter is trying to sell tickets as well as make a cut of the food and drink sales, but we’ll get into that later. For small shows it’s might the owner of the venue /bar or a  promoter that works internally that is hiring you, so their main concern should be trying to sell booze and food.

In this case, in my opinion, there should be no reason for them to take a cut of the admission to get into the show. You should be able to mutually agree on a “door price” so that it isn’t too high that it will drive customers away, but enough that you might justify being there. At times the owner will say that he needs to take a cut of the door to cover some of the expenses of the venue or for whatever reason. Although I would regularly disagree with this but when you are just starting out and trying to build a fan base every now and then you’ve to accept this kind of thing in order to get some exposure. Once you’ve a dedicated fan base that will show up to your shows regularly then you might tell the owner that you are bound to bring in a certain number of people and that you deserve the entire door or to split the door with the rest of the performers on the bill. Assuming that the owner is still not willing to relinquish his clutch on the door cover you might want to contemplate switching venue s. It might be a nice sign to your fan base that will see the move a step up in your career.

In fact,in this form of negotiation it will be in the owner’s best interest to have the entry fee be little or zero as this will allow for passers by to stroll in when they hear the music. Assuming that the se possible patrons find out there is a cover to get in they can not want to drop the cash. Assuming that the  promoter is very concerned about the cover price being too high you can want to discuss the possibility of a guarantee.

2) Guarantee is where you want to be. When still playing the indie circuit this is the simple st way to book a show. All guarantee means is that the  promoter or venue owner guarantees to pay the performer a session amount for the night. In this situation there is never an argument about how much was made at the door, and for the most part, never an argument about expenses. The  promoter books the performer for say $100.00 to play and the rest is up to the performer to deal with. This way, as an artist, you know exactly what you are going to be making and can plan your expenses appropriately. When doing a door show there are a lot of variables including expenses to get to the gig, sound engineer, gear and then the biggest variable, THAT individuals show up ! If nobody shows up to a door performance you do not make any resources and all expenses are out of pocket. When doing a guarantee there are still variables but at least there is no variable of individuals. Either the  promoter is counting on individuals walking by to come in and have a drink or is doing their level best to sell tickets for the show. All you have to worry about in this situation is showing up on time, sounding the best you can during the sound check, making a final ing impression on the  promoter and doing what you do best… blowing the listeners away.

3) The next best thing to having a show that pays a guarantee is having a show that pays both a guarantee and a bonus for the amount of individuals that attend. This is a rare case and can be a great deal, but every now and then this does not work to your favor.  promoters who are looking to save some money will try to book performers with a smaller guarantee and a cut of the door or ticket sales. This may not be as nice because it does not “guarantee” you an amount, nonetheless if you’re expecting a large crowd to this show or are able to get a nice buzz going, this may be the way to go.

4) The 80/20 Spl it is a common deal when you’ve a booking agent and are playing large shows. 80/20 splits are al most always booked by an outside  promoter or an organizer for an event. The deal is particularly similar to a guarantee, the only difference occurs when the  promoter breaks even with his expenses. The way it breaks down, the  promoter lays out all expenses on his part such as security, Venue rental, advertising, cost for printing tickets, food and drinks for band and crew, gear rental, and all other expenses for putting on the show. The  promoter furthermore includes a 10  percent  promoter cost to pay himself and a guarantee for the band. Once all of these expenses have been met from ticket sales, the remainder is profit and that’s where the split comes in. And may be to your surprise, as it was to mine, it is spilt 80  percent to the musician 20  percent to the  promoter. This is al most a glorified guarantee and door deal except the musician gets 80  percent of the ticket sales once all expenses are covered. All artists hope to get themselves here one day as this is the most profitable performance deal, the only downside is by the time you get to this point there are generally multiple other hands in your pot such as musician managers, booking agents and once in a while record organizations. It’s c club enging when you are an musician in demand to stay on top of your own affairs, and the more in demand you become the more you will find yourself neglecting other parts of your job as an artist. At this time you ought to contemplate giving away a piece of your pie in order to be able to focus on the parts of your career that are most necessary to you. Nonetheless, all of us will get into this at a later point in much more detail.

Here is a basic breakdown of negotiations. The  promoter is going to want something specific from the artist, the majority of the time this to have the performer to play for as little money as possible. The performer also wants something, regularly to play for as much money as possible or for as a lot of individuals as possible. The way that basic negotiations work is that both parties are going to try to get as much as they might of what they want. In order to do so, both parties are going to ex differ other points of the deal to trade for things that they want. So your task in order to prep for negotiating with a  promoter or a club owner is to evaluate what you want out of this show in a best world (these are called deal points) and rate each deal point in order of importance to you as an artist/band. If money is the the majority important thing in this show for you then that’s what you’re going to be following and might have to give up other deal points in order to get more of what you want. In a situation where the  promoter is willing to give you a session amount say $100.00 for the show and 5 free tickets to invite whomever you want, but you’re playing in a city where you do not know anyone, you might ask the  promoter to cash those tickets at price back to him. If each ticket is $10.00 then it would be reasonable to ask the  promoter for a $150.00 guarantee with no tickets.

For an opposite situation where money is not that necessary to you and exposure in this new town may be a higher priority, you may want to ask the  promoter to pay you $50.00 for the night and get 10 tickets, and invite members of the Regional press or may be some record label representatives to attend for free to expose your music to them in hopes you may get on their show or reviewed in their newspaper/magazine.

Decide what you and your band mates find are vital to you for this particular show and fight for those points. A master negotiator knows how to get everything that they want and giving up exceedingly little of what they have. You have to learn what you think will be vital to the  promoter and what is not so vital to you and use those points to trade for what you want. also, attitude with negotiations is half the game. If the  promoter feels that the deal points you are giving away are not vital to you, then he/she might not feel it to be an adequate trade for something that they do find vital to them. You need to give the impression that everything that you are trading away is exceedingly vital to you. Make a big deal. Make them feel prefer they stole it away from you. Another approach is that you make the  promoter feel prefer you are doing them a favor. This approach might either work well or back fire and make you feel stupid. If the  promoter has any brains he knows what’s vital to you and what’s not. If you try to tell him that you are going to ” help him out” or give him the whole “I’lltell you what” line, then you better be giving him something benefit his while. Otherwise he won’t be fooled and will ask for much more from you then you may be willing to give up.

Understand that in practicing negotiations you’re might going to blow a couple of deals. If you push things too far, the  promoter may get sick of getting nowhere and book another band. Unfortunately this is going to happen. This is great time to practice another, al the majority more necessary skills when dealing with the music industry, DAMAGE CONTROL. No matter where you’re in your career things are going to go wrong, that is just a fact of life. Issues will arise and you will have to recover from mistakes. Being able to fix your issues or at least make the the majority of a bad situation is a nice skill to have and sign of a great business man. In a case when you have pushed a  promoter too far you may have to apologize and make up a story of how you had been dicked around by another  promoter and has been just being careful. Whatever the excuse may be, there is regularly a way to boost the situation as long as you have not burned the bridge completely.

In the same breathe I’m going to reiterate something that I said in the last podcast. If you find that you are giving up too much in the deal or the deal is just not sounding as promising as it once has been, get out. Yes, once in a while you need to give a little to get a little, but you can’t let  promoters step all over you. If you are not getting what you feel that you deserve, make a statement and tell the  promoter that you are no longer interested because you are not one to be taken advantage of. Advise the  promoter that Assuming that they wish to renegotiate they have your number. One of two things will happen, either the  promoter will look for another band who will quietly accept what you refused to, or they will come to their senses, give you a call and try to work something new out. Assume they won’t call you back.

Well that about does it for booking. If you have any questions or a situation that you may be in that you would like us to comment on, send us a message in our contact section and we will either email you back or mention it in the next podcast.

You’ve brought together three or four of the perfect artists in town, and they are jamming to your tunes. You have spent days and nights writing and rewriting lyrics, and you’ve been working hard to perfect your sound. Finally, following a lot of months of practice, you are ready to reap the benefits of your hard work. But how do you begin?

As a new band, the idea of booking your 1st show may prove to be a daunting task. Nonetheless, it does not have to be. By following these simple steps, you may turn a superficially overwhelming process into a productive one.

Making sure that the members of the band are all on the same page is an essential 1st step in the booking process. Agree on a number of concert per month that anyone will play. Put together a session of your best songs and make a demo. Your demo ought to not include full-length songs ; several short snippets of your strongest material will showcase your band’s strengths and will sell your band to potential Clubs with little or no quest. With your demo, include a photo of the band, a short statement about the music or genre that the band plays, and your contact information, including the band’s website. Decide what Clubs you’re interested in playing and how much you’ll charge them for playing, if anything. Getting these details out of the way early will create good communication among the band members, thus avoiding misunderstandings in the future.

Next, do your research. Scope out the Regional scene; find out who your competition is, which bands performance where, what Venues cater to your specific sound, and who your target fans is. Talk to seasoned Regional acts; usually times, your fellow musicians will be your perfect sources of information. Getting to know your competition, your fans and your Regional scene will prove to be an indispensable tool when you are selling yourself to club owners and booking agents. furthermore, be open to anything. Limiting yourself to clubs and bars will hinder your opening s of booking your band. Find out about open-mic evenings in your area, provide to open for other bands for free and find out about Regional fairs and festivals where your performer could get some exposure.

When you’re out and about checking out potential Clubs, ask for the names of the individuals responsible for booking performers at that location. Get their contact information and keep track. Use all of your contacts and, when calling them, be brief and to the point. Ask them Assuming that they have time to talk, and if not, when it would be a wonderful time to contact them. Ask for permission before submitting your demo. Be persistent, but not pushy, and realize that it will take some time to get that job. Once you do get the gig, be sure to discuss payment, if any, as well as what you’ll need to bring as opposed to what the Club will provide. Be professional and be honest.

With determination, a little know-how, and some clever self-promotion, you could land that 1st show and be on your way to success in no time.

An important part of making it in the Hip Hop industry is having the right beats or instrumental. You may have the best lyrics in the world, but if you record it over the wrong beat the song will not be a hit. The best thing to do is to find a beat that fits your style or write to a beat.

Additionally make shore your hook sounds wonderful with the beat. The worse thing is to have a wonderful verse and when it comes to the hook it falls short. When purchasing a beat the best thing to do is find the best beat for the lowest price.

Still another thing is to get a beat you can use for life. There is hardly anything wrong with leasing a beat but you can get into a lot of inconvenience if you make a hot song and the time on the beat is up. The person who owns the beat can not want to re-lease it to you for any number of reasons. Some of these reasons may be the person wants to use the beat for them self, they want to sell the beat to a more produce artist, they want you to pay a ridicules amount or just they do not prefer the kind of song you made.

It will save you quite a bit of trouble to have a beat you know you may use any time for years to come. Having original beats on your demo will show record labels that you are meaningful about your career. A website that has some good original beats is http://upbeat.tk which is highly recommended. If you follow these tips buying a beat will now be simple and more importantly stress free.

Getting Started As A Rapper

If you want to be a rapper or a hip hop producer then you will probably want to buy some royalty free hip hop beats Web to get started with. These are beats that you may literally do anything you want with in the absence of paying any royalty fees. You standard ally buy the beats up front and then they’re yours to do whatever you want with.

Stale Beats

The problem you might run into is that a lot of places will be selling very stale beats that might have sounded fresh in 1993 but sound very dated today. You’re going to want to have access to the freshest beats.

Different Styles/Genres

Some websites that sell hip hop beats On-line only have a few diverse genres (or styles) to download. It’s optimum to go to a website that has a large selection of styles so that you can be sure you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

Selection

There are some websites that only have several hundred beats to pick from. That is no nice. You could not find what you’re looking for with a smaller selection. Or you could end up using the exact same beats as many other individuals. This will make it much harder to stand out in the crowd.

As a white male rapidly approaching his 50’s I am might the last one who should write such an article as this. Nonetheless, as a father of a couple of young individuals who do on occasion listen to this genre and a concerned citizen who thinks could be all of us are all wearing our feelings too close to the end of our sleeves; I wonder If the re isn’t one thing all of us could do better. The strange thing is I find Hip Hop somehow exciting and on occasion even find myself enjoying the music playing on my son’s car radio.

The rhythm is catching, the beat will inspire you to move, with words and music it feeds your soul.

These dynamic lyricists, who put out words, performance to excellent music that denigrate women, vilify authority, and reinforce hopelessness; they make sexual pleasure impure, they are drunk on the misery and hopelessness of their generation.

prefer the men who stole their forgotten ancestors to sell them into slavery, they sell their personal individuals into the psychological slavery of hopelessness and despair. prefer the slave owners of the past, the buyers are there. Wouldn’t it be greatness, excellence and blessing if instead this persuasive, compelling and inspiring musical genre was used to further the dream of the greatness of King?

Wouldn’t it bring blessing Assuming that the buyers were as committed as Lincoln to freedom and liberty? Rise up you writers, gifted in music and words! Grasp the prize of greatness and prefer the amazing leaders before you, throw your fellow humans a rope of hope!

Indian Hip-Hop is a amazing mixture of conventional Indian musical rudiments with hip hop music. Hip-Hop differ d all the dynamics of world music in 1990s. It’s a form of music which focuses more on message or lyrics of the song than the music. To understand Indian instrumental Hip-Hop music all of us will have to look at instrumental and Hip-Hop music separately. Indian instrumental music is a part of the amazing tradition of Indian classical music. Indian classical music is one of the prime constituent of amazing Indian lineage. Whereas Hip-Hop originated from Afro-American culture and now it’s more of a global phenomenon. The mixing of these two forms of music solutions in captivating instrumental Hip-Hop music.

Instrumental Hip-Hop music redefined the music scenario to the extent that it’s considered as a genre of its own. It’s one of the most experimental forms of music. Slowly India is furthermore catching up with this new genre. Instrumental Hip-Hop uses one or more Local music with other instruments. By way of example, Indian instrumental hip-hop music mixes few of the Indian languages with percussion or other Indian instruments like Veena or Sitar and thus comes out a completely new form of music which is soothing to the ears. Other experiment includes using Indian movies songs with numerous instruments.

Indian hip-hop musical segment is still in evolution stage. Though, few of the Indian performers have managed to make a name for themselves on international scale. One of the the majority popular Indian Hip Hop performers who is credited to carve a niche for himself is Asoka. Basically a solo performer, he has worked with famous rappers as well. Asoka has worked with one of the world’s the majority popular rappers, The Outlawz. Not only that, he has prominently featured in major mix tapes. Other prominent Indian hip-hop performers are Srik, OBB, Sagar, PRX etc.

Radio-One individual ity, Cory “CoCo Brother” Condrey is on a mission to bridge the gap among the church and the streets. Confirming that hip-hop is a universal language, Condrey uses his Atlanta-based expansive cast to offer fans with inspiring music and messages from celebrities, hip-hop individual ities, and leading pastors. While prayer and Biblical instruction are staple program attributes, Condrey offers balance in an entertaining yet relevant way. In among hip-hop infused praise and worship  set s, fans of all ages call in or visit the station–some to pray or share testimonies others to “clown” and even cry.

Although Radio-One’s programming includes a gospel music station, the Spirit of Hip-Hop (SOHH) has been created to offer positive music for the urban mainstream market. Proof that the model works, in less than two years, Condrey’s one-hour program morphed into a six-hour syndicated program with over 10 million listeners in 15 Radio-One markets.

Un prefer holy hip-hop music, which generally attracts individuals of faith who prefer hip-hop and hip-hop listeners who prefer inspirational rap, the SOHH expansive cast is geared towards hip-hop overall. As such, it is not uncommon for listeners to hear positive verses from 50 Cent or Lyfe Jennings mixed in with Mary Mary or Kirk Franklin joints.

SOHH is a vehicle Condrey uses to  promote  “positive lifestyle choice s, which embrace family, community, and culture.” often, Condrey along with guest hosts, comedian John “Manna God” Gray and hip-hop R&P (rhythm & praise is an alternate to rhythm & blues) recording artist, Canton Jones may be heard discussing relationships, sharing their individual struggles or fielding calls from listeners with struggles of their personal. Through the Spirit of Hip-Hop, Condrey demonstrates how to balance having faith in God with having fun.

When it comes to hip-hop production there are a few names that will most prefer ly will come up in any conversation on this topic. Although there are thousands of hip-hop producers out there, there are a few that shine out prefer stars in a black sky. This article will take a look at some of the most well known and accomplished hip-hop producers out now.

Timabaland – This Virginia native began to make a real big name for himself as a music producer in the late 90’s. He really made a name for himself by producing chart topping tracks for three primary artists – Missy Elliott, Aaliyah and Ginuine. He then began producing tracks for some of the industries hottest rappers such as Jay-Z, Nas, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg. What makes Timbaland unique is his considerably distinctive sound. When a Timbaland track comes on, you know it. Previously few years he has took his style of beat making to elevate the careers of many musician outside of the hip-hop type of such as Justin Timberlake, Bjork, Ashlee Simpson and Nelly Furtado. To this day Timbaland is one of the industries most sought following producers.

Kanye West – Kanye is definitely one of the top hip-hop producers out there right now. Kanye who has been raised on the south side of Chicago began making beats at a considerably young age. He has been known in Chicago for working with Local/Regional artist for years until he decided to move to NY with a catalog of beats and a passion to succeed. His ample break came in 2001 when he has been hired by super star rapper Jay-Z to produce some tracks for his up coming album “The Blueprint”, which sold over 400,000 copies in it is first week. After that success, Kanye began working with many ample named artist such as Brandy, Jamie Foxx and Ludacris. Kanye is known for taking old school samples and turning them into monster hits.

Dr. Dre – Dr. Dre may be hip-hop’s most recognized and accomplished producers of them all. Dre is another one of those skill ed producers with his own sound. His sound is could one of the most imitated but never duplicated one’s in the music producing world. Dre, who began getting his much do attention in the late 80’s by producing tracks for gangsta rap group N.W.A. . That has been just the beginning of his untouchable career. Since the late 80’s, Dre has been the mastermind behind tons of hits from musician such as Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Mary J Blige, Eve and Jay-Z just to name several. Dre continues to establish hip-hop classic’s to this truly day.

The history of hip hop is one that was born upon the back of a group of silenced youth. Inner city youth felt that not only were they not getting a fair shake at a quality life but that they weren’t even being heard. Our history shows that when expression is suppressed something bad, often aggressive is about to follow. In the case of hip hop thankfully the aggression was not expressed in the form of violence but rather in a movement that would vary not only the urban areas close to its birth but our society as a whole!

In the beginning, hip hop wasn’t even regarded as hip hop. In the mid to late 70s young black and Latino youths from the Bronx were looking for a way to express themselves and started to have open microphones at house events which they would use to perform a type of poetry over any song that has been currently playing. This has been the creation of rap music. Although rapping might seem simple to a novice the fact of the matter has been not everyone had the talent to express themselves in this manner. So another form of self expression associated with rap has been born in the form of break dancing. individuals might be found not only at events but on street corners with hardly anything more then a boom box and a piece of cardboard, dancing for self expression and even for resources in some cases. The final form of expression is the most controversial one! Some youth could not rap nor might they dance but they had to find an outlet or a way in which they might likewise be a part of this movement. What they did have has been the ability to draw. This art form which to most is considered graffiti has been now renamed “tagging” in the hip hop community. Whether you agree with the way in which they went about showing off their talent, no one might take away the fact that they truly were talent ed. Tagging has been when the artist of one clique or crew would produce a symbol or phrase that has been now his group’s logo and spray paint this on subway trains. Why subway trains and not just walls? Well, the fact that the subway system ran throughout the city has been advertisement of his crew to the other respective crews. It became a game in the sense that if you might place your tag over top another groups tag you would have essentially performed the hip hop version of a check mate!

So what is hip hop? Hip hop is the combination of all three of the above mentioned facets. Rapping, break dancing and graffiti art are all equal forms of the hip hop movement. Some can argue the message that some hip hop sends but the fact that these men and women are musicians isn’t even debatable. Hip hop was a feeling much before it ever became a means of expression and it will stay a way of life long following all of the forms expression is gone!

It was not too long ago that hip hop was created in the Bronx in the mid seventies. At its inception hip hop was virtually nothing more then a positive way to express your feelings on a platform that would be heard throughout the country and in some cases the entire world. Hip hop despite having an aggressive stigma was not feared as it was mostly viewed as a bunch of adolescents having fun and expressing themselves. If it weren’t for the music and the movement known as hip hop, an entire generations feeling and beliefs would have passed by without being heard. While hip hop for the most part was positive, enlightening and self empowering on the east coast there were a bunch of youths on the west coast who additionally felt their struggles and views needed to be expressed.

Although the message that they were relaying on the west coast has been not one that has been positive at all it still fit the mold of hip hop in the sense that it has been still a form of self expression. The two pioneers of hip hop in the west coast were a rapper by the name of Ice-T and a group by the name of NWA! Their version of hip hop has been highly abrasive and vulgar yet they showed no remorse for it. The point they tried to prove has been that hip hop much prefer all other forms of art is regularly a reflection of the environment that the performer lives in. They claimed that if your father wasn’t a part of your life and your mother has been hooked on drugs that your reality would surely be disparate then that of a individual who came from a better environment.

What has been once known as a peaceful movement had now became quite threatening to those in power. Politicians and police departments began to fight to have the music pulled off shelves and the shows of these controversial performer canceled. At this point in time in America, gang violence and police brutality were a major media concern. Hip hop performer began to establish violent music calling for the killing of cops and talked about shooting other’s who we’re not a part of their particular gang. Hip hop as we knew it had taken a drastic change and to make matters worse the music that has been so controversial on the west coast had now become the the majority popular form of hip hop. It would be titled “Gangsta Rap” due to the fact that those who performed it were either in a gang, affiliated with gangs or rapped about gangs.

Although a lot of of us aren’t listeners of this aspect of hip hop it does not vary the fact that this music is here to stay. all of us have to face the fact that not only was hip hop created to allow everybody to voice their opinions (no matter how crude or violent they may be ) but USA furthermore created freedom of speech for this exact reason. Whether you view gangster rap as detrimental or supplemental to the hip hop movement the fact is the record sales say it all.