The Mixtape Makes The Artist

The Mixtape. In today's hip-hop generation, it's pretty hard for an artist to survive without having a mixtape or slew of mixtapes for fans to listen, critique, analyze, and compare. Years ago, mixtapes were popular by famous DJs such as Kid Capri and Red Alert then it came to DJs such as DJ Clue, Greenlatern, and Enuff. Today's popular choices consist of DJ Drama, DJing Duo Ill Will & Rockstar, and DJ Khaled. Before they started off as "Blends" of popular R&B and Hip-Hop tracks over other beats to exclusive freestyles and original tracks to today's mixtapes being a mixture of the previously mentioned types as well as all original tracks. Today some of the more popular artists and mixtapes came from Fabolous' "There Is No Competition" Parts 1 & 2 and "The Soul Tape", Big K.R.I.T.'s "K.R.I.T. Wuz Here" and "Return Of 4Eva", J. Cole's "Friday Night Lights", Wale "More About Nothing", Young Jeezy's "The Real Is Back" Parts 1 & 2, and Wiz Khalifa's "Kush & OJ" and "Cabin Fever". For artist these days Mixtapes = Consistency & Relevancy. Even R&B artists like Trey Songz, Chris Brown, The-Dream, Ne-Yo and newcomer The Weeknd have adapted the "mixtape" strategy to stay relevant. New artists such as Drake, Wiz Khalifa, and J. Cole have used their mixtape releases as the "actual album-before-the-album, one that could spawn chart-topping singles"as well as gain them record deals and successful selling albums (Mixtape Economy). In the article "The Economy of Mixtapes" they mention how 

They're offered on websites like DatPiff.com and LiveMixtapes.com, which have erased CD-peddling bootleggers from city street corners...And where MCs once hijacked beats from others to serve as the sonic quilt for their release, mixtapes have become a creative survival of the fittest. Rappers who dropped freestyle mixtapes can no longer show-and-prove through lyrics alone-original beat selection, artwork and overall artistry determine worthiness.The philosophy is often described this way: As a reward for artists remaining loyal to them (by giving away original music), fans return the favor by buying concert tickets, merchandise and "real" albums from record labels. The result is a give-and-take relationship that keeps rappers in control of their brand and marketing, and iTunes playlists full of free albums disguised as "mixtapes." The payoff is an active fan base, which labels and management hope stimulates retail purchases.

For myself as a fan of Hip-Hop & R&B, I truly believe in the philosophy, I recently bought BOTH the physical and digital versions of Big Sean's "Finally Famous" & J. Cole's "Cole World" The Sideline Story" albums because of my love for their "mixtapes", grind, consistency, and features on some of my favorite records. That's around $40 because I am true fan for these artist and them achieving success like artists like their mentors Kanye West & Jay-Z. I believe this is where the problem still exists because fans will download the "free" mixtapes that artist spent their time and money to create and give out but when it comes to returning that favor for the free music by purchasing the album, many fans would rather illegally download the album than take $10 to buy the album in iTunes or from a record store.

On the other hand, an issue for mixtapes in general because of the growing popularity of mixtapes over the past few years, the RIAA has begun to crack down on DJs such as DJ Drama and Don Cannon, and DJ Big Mike for music piracy. The RIAA and labels don't like that artists are giving out so much free music, they consider it property of the label and the artist. Many labels however are coming around to understanding that this process of giving away free music is the norm, this can be seen by the signing of Wiz Khalifa to Atlantic Records who gained notoriety off his mixtapes and his endless touring.

With the music business today basically suffering off of the recession and illegal downloading, the "mixtape" helps an Artist survive off hopes that tracks and videos from the free release can garner touring, future radio singles, album deals, top selling albums and just overall money for them. "Indeed, for artists who have constructed careers on a mixtape foundation, signing with a major may not always be the end-goal" but it's a great way to stay relevant and consistent with the fans.

Making Universal Moves

The Universal Music Group has been making the news lately with the multiple power moves and accomplishments that they've made as of late. The first piece of news their new partnership with Live Nation Entertainment. In a press release about the new joint-venture between Live Nation Entertainment's Front Line Management Group division and Universal Music Group stated that the new company will be "aimed at managing and strengthening artists and their brands through a variety of worldwide sponsorships, strategic marketing campaigns and brand extension opportunities," as well as "will focus on developing direct-to-consumer bundling initiatives for select UMG artists in key markets around the world that bring together concert tickets and a variety of music products with artist websites," with Live Nation's Tickemaster handling the ticketing portion for the new company. The Chairmen of both companies had these comments below about their companies partnering together:


Irving Azoff, Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment and Chairman and CEO of Front Line Management Group, commented: "This is an unprecedented partnership that unites the world's top music artists with the world's leading artist management, live entertainment, event ticketing and sponsorship resources to drive innovation across our industry. We see tremendous opportunities to work together to create a broad range of products built on the power of music and the direct connection between artists and fans.    We look forward to working closely with Lucian Grainge and the talented UMG team in this new and exciting chapter of the music industry."

Grainge, chairman and CEO of UMG, commented: "Together with Irving and Michael, we are creating a series of new platforms and global direct-to-consumer initiatives that will further expand the presence of our artists in this evolving marketplace while providing music fans with even more flexibility in how they consume music. Our artists and their music are at the heart of everything that we do, and by leveraging our combined skills, strengths and global reach with that of Live Nation Entertainment, our management companies, artists and their fans will benefit immeasurably."


These type of partnerships beg the question of the moves that other companies in the music business will be making and what the music business will be shifting into. As far as hip-hop, Internet and Touring are the two channels that many artist need to stay steady doing because fans these days use the two as more of a connection to their favorite artist.


In other news, Universal Music Group just announced they are increasing their marketing budget by hiring MediaCom as their new media marketing agency to work with. This moves almost doubles their 2010 budget to the range of $30 million to $40 million for media marketing. This move will hopefully see more marketing for hip-hop artists under various labels within the Universal Music Group which includes  Interscope Records, Cash Money Records, and Def Jam. How they use the money will be the big question because for every artist their marketing strategy towards consumers differs.


The last piece of big news for Universal Music Group involves their Universal Music Publishing division. This year at the BMI Urban Awards "Universal Music Publishing Group scored 13 songs among the year’s most-performed and claimed the BMI Urban Publisher of the Year crystal at the BMI Urban Awards." Rapper B.o.B also became the youngest songwriter ever to win the BMI Urban Song Of The Year with "Nothin' On You" featuring singer Bruno Mars, another award winning songwriter apart of the group "The Smeezingtons". The total accolades they achieved were:


URBAN SONG OF THE YEAR
“NOTHIN’ ON YOU” 
B.o.B
Ham Squad Music
Songs of Universal, Inc.
B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars

URBAN PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR
UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
“Airplanes” (via Alex Da Kid and B.o.B.)
“Bedrock” (via Jasper Cameron and Nicki Minaj)
“Bottoms Up”(via E. Miles and Nicki Minaj)
“Deuces” (via Chris Brown and K-Mac)
“Hot Tottie”(via Polow and Hot Sauce)
“How Low” (via Carlton Ridenhour)
“Love the Way You Lie” (via Eminem, Alex Da Kid, and Skylar Grey)
“My Chick Bad” (via Nicki Minaj)
“Not Afraid” (via Eminem)
“Nothin’ On You” (via B.o.B.)
“Papers” (via Sean Garrett)
“Sex Therapy” (via Polow and Hot Sauce)
“Your Love” (via Nicki Minaj and Andrew “Pop” Wansel)

TOP URBAN PRODUCERS
Polow Da Don
R. Kelly


With all this news, Universal Music Group is looked to continue to make "Universal Moves" like this the rest of the year and continue on in 2012.


References:
Live Nation & Universal Music Group Partnership
Universal Music Group Doubles Marketing Budget
Universal Wins Big At BMI Urban Awards

Hip-Hop Law Blog

For this blog post, I decided to listen and review the Entertainment Law Update Podcast. This podcast is a monthly discussion between Gordon P. Firemark and Tamera Bennett, two Entertainment Attorneys. The three podcasts I listened to were Episode 13: copyrights, trademarks. fair use and net profit suits, Episode 17: can kanye write songs 140 characters at a time?, and Episode 23: monkeying around with copyright law.

The first podcast was about the use of fleeting expletives in broadcasts. Broadcasters have been arguing that there is a need for more leeway from the FCC with a more clear and concise list of the bad words not to say and what the consequences were going to be. The next situation they discussed was the issue of “Broadcast Performance Royalty for Sound Recordings” which was about artists getting royalty for their songs being on terrestrial radio. Broadcasters agreed that they do believe artists should get paid for their recordings, now the issue is getting their higher-ups to agree as well as a bill drafted for legislature review and acceptance. They also had a case that rapper Jay-Z was involved in over “Big Pimpin’”. “Big Pimpin’” violated the “moral rights” of heirs of a 1960s Egyptian film composer. The end result was Jay-Z won a summary judgment against Egyptian plaintiff that sued him over the song infringement suit. They discussed in the podcast that however, the family of the sampled song may seek a future case against Jay-Z.

The second podcast was about cases like Universal Music Group v. Augusto, which involved Universal suing Troy Augusto, a man who sold some Universal Music Group promotional CDs on the website eBay. They argued that Augusto's sales constituted copyright infringement. Augusto argued that it was apart of the “First Sale Doctrine” and that it was his property. On January 4, 2011, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Augusto’s favor stating it was indeed apart of the “First Sale Doctrine”. The next issue that was discussed about how there is an issue if “tweets” are covered under copyright because singer Josh Groban made a skit singing Kanye West’s tweets. It wasn’t a dispute but the issue was could a person’s tweets be copyrightable because “tweets” are considered original. They said it could be looked at as “fair use” though.

The third podcast discussed Disney appealed a case with Jack Kirby who sent notices terminating copyright to both Marvel and Disney over movies and TV shows that have been made based on characters he created or co-created. The copyright claims against were over such iconic characters as Thor, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and others. They discuss in the podcast about how the issue is over how much control he had in the creation of the characters because he was work for hire and how much input he had is up for debate. They also discussed a trademark/copyright case about The Wizard Of Oz being safe in public domain because a company called AVELA recreated posters, lunch boxes, and other nostalgia items. Warner Bros. however argued over the characters and copyright issues because of the film even if the original products were based off the book. Another case that was discussed in the podcast involved Shaquille O'Neil. Shaq brought a case against Michael Calmese and True Fan Logo, Inc. for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and right of publicity. Calmese and his company registered a domain name as well as tried to have a cease and desist issued to ESPN when they aired commercials featuring Shaq and a cactus over the "Shaqtus" name. The end result was Shaq won the case because of the "Family Of Marks Doctrine".

The results of these podcasts had me thinking for my business, copyright is really a major issue that needs to be covered so that no lawsuits are ever taken up against us. Anything that is sampled needs to be cleared up before release to the public. Also, if any producers, writers, etc. help with a project that for hire like the Jack Kirby v. Disney/Marvel Case there needs to be a detailed contract on ownership and payment laid out before any progress is made for the project to be released.

References:

Firemark, Esq., G. P. (Performer). (2010, August 25). Episode 13: copyrights, trademarks. fair use and net profit suits [Audio podcast]. Entertainment Law Update. Retrieved from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2010/08/episode_13/#more-624

Firemark, Esq., G. P. (Performer). (2011, January 26). Episode 17: can kanye write songs 140 characters at a time? [Audio podcast]. Entertainment Law Update. Retrieved from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2011/01/episode-17-can-kanye-write-songs-140-characters-at-a-time/#more-691

Firemark, Esq., G. P. (Performer). (2011, August 19). Episode 23: monkeying around with copyright law [Audio podcast]. Entertainment Law Update. Retrieved from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2011/08/elu-episode-023-monkeying-around-with-copyright-law/#more-771