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In honor of valentines day we took the weekend to go through updates from our all of our active members and put together a special "Valentine Vibes" playlist. Check it out to discover some new music to set the mood on this special day. 

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.

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. 

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.

Eight years ago I started this magazine with one goal: Help independent artists! The first issue of Makin’ It Magazine was actually just a four page black and white newsletter. I printed 5,000 copies and hit the streets myself, passing them out in every open mic, mall and record store in Atlanta. I can clearly remember promoters charging me to get into events that I had helped promote for FREE. I remember promoters hassling me about passing out magazines in their events. I can remember industry “professionals” having “beef” with me because I was FREELY giving away information they charged for. I was banned (still banned) from “networking” events because promoters feared the message that I spread. The urban music industry is in bad shape because there are so many “professionals” that would rather make a quick buck off an artist’s dream than putting them in a position to succeed.

When it was announced that Apple was acquiring Beats for $3 Billion, the hip hop blogosphere exploded with talks of Dre being hip hop’s first billionaire. Being the nerd that I am and having followed the acquisitions of tech companies like Instagram and Whatsapp, I understood that there were finer financial intricacies at play than cutting a check for 25% (Dre’s stake in Beats) of $3.2 Billion (The initial Beats sale price to Apple). After the dust settled and the acquisition was complete, Dre’s  post-Apple net worth was estimated to be in the neighborhood of $780 Million; leapfrogging him over Hov and Diddy, but still putting him more than $200 Million shy of the billion dollar mark.

Watch how Independent artist, J-Blev, used his BASIC site membership to get booked as an opening act for Meek Mill, K-Camp and Jadakiss in Rochester, New York. Another great opportunity brought to you in part by our friends at ArtistAuditions.com

Today I ran across a very interesting report from Neilson. The report breaks the country down into regions and not only gives stats about how people get their music (Streaming, Paid or FREE), but also which devices they primarily use for listening to music (Phone, Computer, Car, TV, etc) and their primary means of discovering new music, beside radio and word of mouth (ie. Youtube, Pandora, Facebook, etc). What's so interesting about the report is in every region, the Car is the #1 device used to listen to music. 

A little over a year ago Twitter announced Twitter #Music, a new Webservice and app aimed at helping fans discover new music. After a little more than a year with limited success, Twitter announced it would shut down the project shortly before announcing a new partnership with Billboard.