I first discovered the world of digital music distribution in 2006 (
click here to read the back story). It was midway through the year when a close friend introduced me to a new revolutionary form of music promotion called “blogs”. The idea of a blog may not have been new or revolutionary to anybody other than me but at the time I could barely turn a computer on so everything to do with the internet seemed life altering. To think that you could simply post a link on a homemade webpage not affiliated with MySpace for people to come through and download was, to say the least, mindboggling.
Upon my discovery of this system I became obsessed with it. The blogs were what I had spent years waiting for. Disgruntled fans taking to the internet and supporting music that was being overlooked by the mainstream was a godsend and exactly where I belonged. So just as I had done during the year of 2006 (again,
click here), I dedicated 2007 to studying and eventually conquering the blog world. However, this time my mission would be simplified since most bloggers posted their contact info in plain view and encouraged artists to send their music so there was no initial networking necessary. More often than not I would send my music and if they were on board they would email me back and the relationship would build from there.
After 3 years and thousands of hours collecting email addresses, sending music and networking, it’s through the blogs that I’ve built my career. This very article that you’re reading is the direct result of my sending music to Nathan S’ inbox and subsequently building a relationship with one of Hip Hop’s last remaining fearlessly honest sites, Refined Hype. Without spots like Refined Hype, DJBooth.net, Potholes In My Blog, Kevin Nottingham and a long list of others, I would not exist. Due to my refusal to dumb myself down and write music for people that have a hard time making it all the way through a magazine, let alone read an entire book, my journey to find success as an artist is a harder one and the blogs are the life preservers that hold me above water.
But before I take the Thank You Train clear into Dickriding Land let me be the first to say that while the blogs have been my artistic savior, this world is not without it’s flaws.
I’m not exactly sure what prompted the beginning of the blog system. From what I know it was simply the fans responding to the mainstream with a big gigantic middle finger. Tired of hearing the same bullshit on the radio and on music video stations, a few people decided to use basic platforms like wordpress and blogger to promote music that wasn’t being supported and share it with their friends. From there the idea exploded and everyday average people became trusted tastemakers.
Over the past few years the blogs have become the gauntlet that all artists new and established must run through, most notably in Hip Hop and Electronic music. For new artists a co-sign from one of the larger and more respected blogs signifies that your music is good and worth a listen. For established artists these same blogs determine their relevancy. The positive and negative aspects of this is that a lot of the people who are making these decisions are more or less fans and have no musical training or experience in the music industry whatsoever.
On the positive side, this provides a completely unfiltered and very necessary approach to music. Bloggers post music based on what they like creating an even playing field between independent artists and those on major labels. Never before in the history of the music industry could you find larger and sometimes even iconic artists being marketed and promoted right next to virtually unknown up and comers. This, in my opinion, is a great thing. It provides a much needed balance and gives artists who are working with a minimal budget a piece of the spotlight.
On the negative end of the spectrum, the same unfiltered approach can also be a hindrance as some of these people have little to no experience dealing with artists and are unaware of certain boundaries they’re breaching. Building personal relationships with artists and record labels can be a dangerous thing and develops bias, which effectively distorts the aforementioned playing field. When this occurs the system ultimately becomes worse than the one it was built to destroy because the regulations of the music industry do not apply and the rules of engagement are vague at best. Additionally, once the blog reaches a certain number of daily hits, advertisers get involved which increases the pressure to post more mainstream established artists to keep traffic streaming through the site and maintain their revenue stream.
Of course, there is also the topic of payola but I’m gonna skip past that one because quite honestly, my career depends on it. That should tell you all you need to know.
I by no means am an expert on the topic of blogs. I’m still at this point in time just another emcee in a sea of other artists fighting my way up the ladder. I may be a little further up than the millions caught in digital purgatory, but at the end of the day I’m still cracking heads open just to get a tiny piece of the light. Although I’ve built a handful of solid relationships (this article being a shining example of one of them) I have made a lot of mistakes in the process. In my continuing effort to assist great artists, I’m going to list a few of them below so you can sidestep the embarrassment of making the same stupid decisions I made.
1)
MAKE SURE YOUR MUSIC IS READY- I can’t stress this enough. Back in 2007 I made a horrifying mistake and released a mixtape that was for lack of a better word, god-awful. As much as I wanted to be, I just wasn’t ready yet and me being as stubborn as I am I refused to admit it. When you listen to your music pay attention to your intuition. If you don’t honestly feel like you can contend with whoever you respect artistically, keep working until you’re there. Remember, first impressions are everything and you want these guys to hear you at your best. Thankfully in my situation a lot of the more respected bloggers saw my potential and gave me a second chance a few years later. Do not make this mistake and leave it up to chance. You may not be so lucky. The average incubation period for an artist is 5-10 years of solid studio work. Forget all the stories you hear about artists who one day randomly tried to rap and could do it flawlessly. Those stories are complete bullshit and are made up by record labels and publicists to create hype. Here’s a fact: 99.9% of rappers are lying about their age. Most great artists, not flash in the pan novelty acts, are in their late 20’s when they finally break out.
2)
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE SPAM THE BLOGS - When I was promoting my unbelievably terrible mixtape I made the fatal mistake of spamming the bloggers. Being new to the blogs and the politics of it, I really didn’t have any idea what I was doing so I read an article by a so-called “expert” on the subject and I did exactly what he told me to do. I swear to you, someday I’m gonna hunt down that douchebag and give him the beating of a lifetime. Either his article was a cruel joke or the guy’s a complete retard because I did the exact opposite of what you should do. I spammed the comments sections, the message boards and the forums. Literally everywhere I could I posted the link to the mixtape upwards of 20-50 times. What resulted was a whole lot of people who hated my guts. Still to this day I’m pretty sure there are a few of the well-respected blogs that won’t post my music because I did this. If you’re looking to have your music posted, one email with a link to the song and a brief explanation of who you are and what you’re doing will do the trick. If they don’t post your music, you’re either not ready or just not making music that they like.
3)
BUILD RELATIONSHIPS - Cut it out with the stupid rapper guy attitude. The teenagers smoking cigarettes in the mall parking lot may think you’re cool but the adult population thinks you’re a fuckin idiot. Use your brain. If somebody posts your music they’re doing you a favor so fall in line and act accordingly. Be approachable and respectful because these guys are helping you and they’re doing it for free. You have no idea how many rappers I’ve met that are so lost in their own ego that they actually believe their shitty basement recording is gonna make an already well known blog a household name. NEWSFLASH: NOBODY KNOWS WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE AND IF YOU KEEP IT UP IT’LL STAY THAT WAY.
4)
NEVER PAY FOR PROMOTION - Yes, payola exists. But not in the way that you think it does. Again, I’m not going into it because even slightly touching on the subject makes people go crazy and accusations fly all over the place which fucks up my career. Maybe someday when I’m a kabillionaire (kazillion x a billion = kabillion) I’ll address it but at this point in time I’m keeping my mouth shut. What I will say is if a blog or website directly approaches you about paying for posts, promptly tell them to go fuck themselves. If they were as big as they say they are they would be going about it in a way that I’m not willing to speak on. No reputable blog or website will outright ask for a payment ever. Point, blank, period.
5)
DO IT YOURSELF - After the dismal failure that was my obscenely horrible mixtape, I was disappointed in the lack of support I had from the blogs. But instead of packing it in, due to my blindingly ignorant pride, I took a few weeks, figured out how it all worked and started a blog of my own. Because of the work I had done with RSMG’s email list in the previous year (seriously, do I need to tell you to refer to this article again?), I was now on the mailing list of all the major labels and a majority of the large independents and I was receiving new music on the same day as the other blogs if not a day or two before. So I started my own wordpress page and in a matter of 6 months I had 500-1000 people passing through my spot daily. To this day a solid chunk of my fanbase discovered my music at my blog while looking for other artists. Also, the experience taught me how to function within the blog system and I learned that spamming is the most annoying thing in the world.
At the end of the day, I personally believe that the blogs have changed music for the better. Yeah, they’ve sped up the pace in which we absorb art thus decreasing the value of it and they’ve perpetuated some of the worst trends to ever happen in western culture but they’ve also expanded the musical horizon. Wanna find a super obscure Electro-Country record with Rhinoceros humping sounds playing in the background? There’s a blog that has it. They’ve given artists like myself a platform and allowed me to establish a worldwide fanbase without having to portray a false image. I am free to create as I please and I have a way of getting my art to the people because of this system. It’s not perfect but eventually we’ll get the kinks worked out. If not, we can always just turn on the radio and listen to Nickelback 50 times a day again.
(Jason James is an artist, freelance columnist and writer for RefinedHype.com. You can listen/download his most recent album, "Marvelous World Of Color",
here and you can contact him
here and
here.)
