Brooklyn, NY rapper and singer, Tamara Bubble, isn’t your average indie artist. In a music industry filled with artists, Bubble stands out through her style, sound, and business mindset.
In the music industry the job title, A&R manager, is deemed to be one of the most important job titles to a music artist in the industry alone. There was once a time where an artist had to know someone who knew someone else in order to get in front of the best A&R managers. Take Woobi, A&R manager for Alamo and Sony Records, for instance, who is considered to be one of the best in his generation.
A couple years back, I ended up sitting next to someone from Spotify on a flight to Austin for SxSW. I had no idea who she was at the time but decided to pick her brain for an article I was working on. Ironically, the article was about the possibility of streaming services replacing major labels. As we discussed the huge door that streaming services opened for independents, she made a statement that I totally agreed with but still found completely unnerving.
NOBODY gets in XXL Magazine for free. EVERYONE PAYS! Whether it’s paying direct through advertising or paying indirectly through tens of thousands of dollars on PR, Marketing, Promotion, etc, it costs money!
The chances of you as an independent with only a few hundred followers on IG getting featured in XXL Magazine are practically ZERO!
Unfortunately, over the years we’ve all become too familiar with stories of scammers posing as executives and ripping off unsuspecting artists. We’ve all heard tales of some hopeful rapper wiring thousands of dollars for a meeting, performance or “Record Deal” that never happened.
I recall being criticized for referring to Future as the “soul of Atlanta music”. Maybe I was premature in my assertion, but that same statement today would hardly raise an eyebrow. I can clearly remember my first time meeting Future at the Def Jam office in Atlanta, and not too long after, spending an evening in the back of Magic City for the Dirty Sprite listening party. Atlanta was buzzing; but I was still on the fence. Having seen so many independent artists come and go, there was a clear pattern of their buzz lasting only as long as their budgets. “Racks” was an undeniable record, but it was YC’s record. When “Tony Montana” dropped, it was inescapable. Even Drake jumped on the wave.
While explaining to an artist’s manager the benefit of spending nearly $1,000 to register for the Revolt Music Conference, I realized something. I sounded a lot like the many people who’ve tried to convert me to using Apple products over the years. As I described hearing Puff speak about attending his first concert and the moment he knew he wanted to get into the entertainment industry, I couldn’t help but visualize Steve Jobs speaking to a room full of Apple acolytes at the very first World Wide Developers Conference. In that instance, I thought to myself , “Is Diddy Hip Hop’s Steve Jobs?” While this may seem like a leap for most, being both a fan of hip hop and avid nerd, stacking these two side by side offers some interesting parallels.
So… Before we dive into this list of why Tidal is destined to fail. I must start by saying that I’m a paying subscriber and as such I have every right to review and critique what I’m paying for. Now lets get started with WHY Tidal is going to fail.
Any time and artist comes to me for consulting, the first question I ask them is, “Why are you doing music?” More often than not, I get some existential answer like:
The only answer I never seem to get, is the one I’m actually looking for… “TO MAKE SOME G.D. MONEY!”
Makin’ It Magazine’s first annual Media Matters Soundstage was a huge success. Writers and representatives from AllHipHop.com, BallerAlert.com, WhyCauseICan.com, Hip Hop Weekly, HipHopSince1987.com, OMHHI.com, Livemixtapes, Worldstar and a ton of other independent media outlets came thru.
If you want to be Hip Hop’s next big Producer, don’t purchase Fruityloops or Reason.... BUY SERATO! While that may sound odd, a quick look at some of Hip Hop’s top hit makers will clearly illustrate the strong connection between DJing and great production. Just google the discography of DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, Timbaland or Swizz Beats, all of which cut their teeth as DJs prior to becoming some of the most influential producers in hip hop.
We asked a panel of seasoned radio programmers and industry professionals, “How much money does it take to start pushing a single?” After a few minutes of discussion about relationships and passion, we were presently surprised to get a very honest and straightforward answer from Sonja Norwood, music consultant and mother to R&B Super-stars Brandy and Ray-J.