WHAT IS AN A&R?? STANDS FOR ATTITUDE AND REJECTION
~In the music industry, A&R stands for artist and repertoire
~finding, signing, and developing new talent as well as helping guide their careers. ~involves going to showcases, checking out bands at clubs, hearing about new talent from a network of associates and other artists in the industry, and even searching the Internet for talented artists.
~A&R reps do not accept unsolicited demos because they believe that if an artist has talent they will create a buzz, which will eventually get to the A&R rep. "I don't want you to come to me, I want you to make me come to you."
~work with record producers and introduce the artist to the other people that will help them at the record company.
~find songs for their artists to record or help decide what songs should go on the album
How has it Changed??
~ Traditionally A&R would match up recording artists with songwriters, picking songs that would suit the artists and picking artists that would score hits for a songwriter.
~Over the years their role has changed, their main job is acting as the point of contact between the artist, and their management, and the rest of the label infrastructure.
In my experience in attending The University of the Arts, I had the opportunity to take part in a internship at Philadelphia International Records; the home of legendary song producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. It was such an honor for me to even be in the same space where artist such as The Jacksons, Teddy Pendergrass, and Phyllis Hyman recorded music. When sharing the news to my parents and grandparents, they were so excited for me and were happy that I got to share in the history of great music. I was also familiar and appreciative of the musical background and the importance of that record label in the history and revolution of music. Philly International Records was The Sound of Philadelphia. They have produced more songs then you can even imagine and that you hear everyday in television and films. For example, on Donald Trumps show “The Apprentice,” the opening theme music is the recording of “For the Love of Money” by The O’Jays; artist of Philly International. Now that I have enlightened you on some of the labels works, you would think more people would know about this; WRONG! When I shared the same news with my friends of my new job position, I could see the look on their faces like they didn’t know what I was talking about. They had no clue as to who Gamble & Huff were. But that is ONLY one example of how today’s generation doesn’t know the meaning behind “good R&B music.”
GIRLS!!!!!!!!
Beyonce is back yet again!!!!! But did she come back with a bang?? Some people don't like Beyonce's new anthem "Who Run the World." I am a huge fan of hers, but I'm not sure if i agree with every artist making a move to new styles of music. Now don't me wrong, if this song were to play at a party, everyone would be dancing no doubt about it!
Beyonce is taking a new step, dub-step that is! Something that Brittney Spears did as well in her new single "Hold It Against Me." I have taken well to this new style of music. But tell me, where would our creativity go if we didn't challenge ourselves to something new every so often.
Beyonce's newly anticipated album will probably be a summer party jam and just what we need to start the summer off right! I CAN'T WAIT!
In September 2010, Chris Brown had begun work on his fourth album. On September 18, Brown announced that the album would be titled, F.A.M.E. The acronym of the title has two meanings, "Forgiving All My Enemies" and "Fans Are My Everything".
Chris has always lived his life in the media from his very first steps into the music industry. We, the public, have seen him grow into the very man he is today, through ALL of his ups and his very low downs. Even though many cannot forgive Chris Brown for his incident with singer Rhianna, its still hasn't put a hold on his musical up comings with his new album release.
There reason i chose to speak about Chris Brown is because of his evolution of music. Chris came out as an young R&B singer. Many people compared him as the young Usher or Michael Jackson. But now, Chris has taken a drastic change to his career by focusing more towards the pop culture of the industry. Many artist are taking this route during these times, but is it because that's where the money is? Not for Chris! I think Chris is a true artist and understands and embraces his true talent through all emotions and for all generations.
On Brown's F.A.M.E album, there are songs from all genres: from street records to others that are real soul, 808 heavy that you'll hear in the club, and then others are strictly for the heart; songs that your mom and grandma can listen to and love. Collectively, F.A.M.E. is me giving fans every aspect of who I am as far as my art, my culture, and my concepts."
WHO IS NIKKI?? Coming in as "The Barbie" of the rap game, she has taken the industry by full force! With her MANY personalities and spit fire lyrics she shows that females are made to play the same game. Nicki Minaj is a female rapper from Southside Jamaica, Queens, NewYork. She grew up in a troubled home, with a father on drugs and a struggling single mother. Despite her hectic environment, Minaj went on to graduate from LaGuardia High School in Manhattan where she studied singing and acting.
Nicki Minaj started off singing, from background vocals, to hooks for local rappers. Minaj wanted to “stand out” more, from the average dime-a-dozen young aspiring singer and began writing raps. Starting out as the lone female in a group. Nicki soon branched out and was noticed on Myspace by Dirty Money CEO Fendi. Who signed her and put her on the front of his Dirty Money Label.
Nikki was soon noticed by rapper Lil’ Wayne who immediately called Fendi to negotiate meeting Nicki. He was convinced by not only her different style of rapping, but her ability to full on write her own material that she was perfect to be the face of his Young Money label. The two collaborated on mixtape styled remakes of tracks.
Nearly a year later, Minaj released her second mixed cd titled Sucka Free. Controversy surrounded this as Nicki paid tribute to rapper Lil’ Kim by posing with her legs spread for promotional posters. She describes it as something to “pull people in”, so that they would listen to what she had to say.
Aside from her original moniker, Minaj also uses an array of Aka aliases to describe herself, such as; “Nicki Lewenski”. I dont think this is the first or last we will be hearing from Nikki!!!!
In 2010, Grammy-winning rapper Eminem and his former production company have been ruled in favor to receive more financial payments from past song and ringtone downloads. I felt that this situation is relevent to bring back up in 2011 because many artist are still having the same issue in collecting royalties in the music buisness. Being in this industry is very exspensive in the first place, and every bosy is VERY money hungry and thats what its all about. If in these modern times of technology, the only way to sell your music is through digital downloads. As of now the physical CD no longer has a major impact on music sales, but digital downloads are taking over. More so through priroting.
A federal jury last year had ruled against F.B.T. Productions LLC in its lawsuit against Universal Music Group seeking a greater share of revenue from downloads made between 2003 and 2008. But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Friday that F.B.T.'s contract entitled Eminem and his producers to a 50-50 split with Universal for recordings licensed to digital distributors such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes.
"We will be filing a petition for a rehearing," the company said. "In the meantime, it should be noted that this ruling sets no legal precedent as it only concerns the language of one specific recording agreement. Any assertion to the contrary is simply not true." (Wall Street Journal)
A jury was seated Friday, with a star-studded witness list, starting with Jimmy Iovine, a founder of UMG. Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computers, Inc., is scheduled to testify, by video. "This is very significant case," said Jay Cooper, an entertainment lawyer with vast experience in the music industry. "A lot of people are going to be watching very closely because there's a lot of money involved." (The Wrap)
“How y’all gone stand by and let our music turn into pop, techno, cornball ass music?” proclaimed Erykah Badu via Twitter last October, regarding the obvious transition major acts have been making recently from traditional R&B to electro pop. “We don’t own our music no more. Come to think of it, did we EVER own it? Where is the funk? They played six in a row today, pop techno songs [on the radio] back to back. With so-called R&B and rap artists on the hip-hop station!”
With their initial sound birthed in mainstream R&B, artists like Usher, Chris Brown, Kelly Rowland, and Rihanna are now just as known for singing over pulsating electro/house beats to create monster international hits. Joining them out the gate is Wynter Gordon (pictured above), a 25-year-old vocalist whose debut single “Dirty Talk” is a global phenomenon.
For Wynter Gordon moving from R&B to electro pop was a natural progression after her label sent her to Europe to work with some producers. Gordon does believe, however, that many traditional R&B/pop acts are moving into the electro space for one reason only. “Because it’s selling right now, of course,” she says. “Everyone has decided to jump in the pool. Everyone has a song about a party or a DJ right now!”
Last year R&B singer Mario, whose had big hits with slow jams like “Let Me Love You” and “Crying Out For Me,” told Singersroom.com that after a trip to Europe his next album would be filled with electronic and house music. “It was incredible to see how many people are into house music and R&B music [there] and how house music influences R&B nowadays.”Another example is Ushers “OMG.” Produced and written by will.i.am. The artists aren’t the only ones enjoying crossover success, either. The pay-off goes both ways, with regional dance producers as well.
Gordon says she started experimenting with electro pop “when I was finding myself about two years ago. My music hasn’t gone mainstream yet, but I’ve gotten a really great response underground. It’s the same all over the world.” One place she won’t find a great response is with Badu. The soul star continues to bemoan today’s hottest artists who’ve forsaken their R&B roots.
"THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NOTICE THAT LIMEWIRE IS UNDER A COURT-ORDERED INJUNCTION TO STOP DISTRIBUTING AND SUPPORTING ITS FILE-SHARING SOFTWARE. DOWNLOADING OR SHARING COPYRIGHTED CONTENT WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION IS ILLEGAL."
LimeWire has been permanently shut down after a federal judge found it guilty of assisting users in committing copyright infringement "on a massive scale."The shut-down is the final chapter in a case brought against LimeWire LLC by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) over four years ago.The suit, filed by the RIAA on behalf of eight major music publishers in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charged LimeWire with facilitating "pervasive online infringement." It also accused LimeWire of allowing and actively encouraging users to participate in music piracy.During the court proceedings, the plaintiffs claimed that over 93 percent of the software's traffic was made up of infringing content.
In May 2010, federal Judge Kimba Wood found LimeWire LLC liable for copyright infringement. She also found LimeWire founder Mark Gordon to be personally liable. The RIAA then made two separate motions--one for permanent shut down of the company, and the other for freezing of the company's assets.
I have to admitt i have used LimeWire to download music before, then i stopped. You could start to tell that people were pirating music becuase of all the ads in the beginning of songs and by the amount of results you recieved by searching a song. I believe LimeWire also allowed you to post music through so type type of account through its file sharing. LimeWire has cost the record lables millions of dollars in lost of record sales. Dont get me wrong, record companies are aware that music is being pritated everyway, but when you can get any and everything for free thats just wrong. Record companies love to see what songs are doing well and how many people are willing to download them illegaly to determine the status of an artist and the publics options. But there are sites where you can get music legally for free. People should really start to explore their options.
Black radio plays an important role in today’s society. “We average between 18 and 20 million listeners a week. Black radio is as critical a communications vehicle now as it has ever been. Katrina hit. Haiti, the earthquake, hit. My phones were so jammed that you couldn’t get a call through. Black radio was there [when all those crises in our community happened]. People may have had CNN on, but the TV volumes were turned down, so they could listen to black radio stations. [Black radio] provides the same type of social relationship with its listening audience that the black church does, only without the religious aspect, said Cathy Hughes” (Okasi 1). This shows that not only is radio good for music but people look forward to hearing news as well. Sometimes I listen to the radio on the way to work so that I can hear how traffic is going to be on the ride home.
Music companies are very wealthy corporations that have historically beaten artists out of their money. “When the [Performance Rights Act first was introduced], we agreed that artists should be paid back. We came up with a proposal that would put together a $20 million fund that would go back to the artists exclusively,” said Cathy. The [music industry] said no, because none of the money would go back to the record industry. Yet, that industry is already sitting on top of $100 million from the performance tax that satellite and new media pay through Sound Exchange (Okasi 2). Congress created sound Exchange, and all of their filings are public information. They had millions of dollars in the bank that they claimed they couldn’t find artists to distribute to. Now, what motivation would you have to give away $100 million, if [there's a legal provision] that after 3 years, you could keep it? After 3 years, if they can’t “find” an artist, Sound Exchange can keep that artist’s royalties (Okasi 2).
“I’m against the Performance Rights Act, because I already spend $14 million a year paying the writers and the publishers. It’s a record company’s job to pay the performers. I don’t even know a performer exists until a record company brings me a finished product! It’s like having to pay child support for a baby that’s not yours. I agree the baby should be supported, but I ain’t the mama, said Hughes! Plus, our radio stations already give up billions of dollars of free advertising. The reason satellite and Internet radio pay a fee to Sound Exchange is because they charge for their services. We are free radio. We don’t charge for our services. They were foolish not to fight it”, said Cathy (Okasi 2).
Democrat John Dingell said the following at a National Association of Broadcasters event: “I’d like to express my opposition to legislation imposing a performance tax on broadcasters. I am concerned that such a tax would be of less benefit to recording artists than to record labels, many of which are based abroad. Further, recording artists and record labels have profited handsomely for years from the free publicity they get from broadcasters, a mutually beneficial relationship that a performance tax will destroy. Lastly, and perhaps most practically, it seems ridiculous to me to impose a new punitive fee on broadcasters during this time of recession, especially as broadcasters have seen their revenues decrease by up to 40 percent over the past several years.” (Williams 1).
[this is what i said when i first thought about the PRA] I think that The Performance Rights Act isn’t a good idea. Being an inspiring artist myself, you would think that I would be for it the PRA. But by observing and reading the intentions of the money to be paid to the artist for radio play, most artist wont receive their compensations and the money will be kept by Sound exchange. Also, I considered what type of artist I would be and the roller coaster of my career. Seeing as though radio stations would only play my music if I were a very well known artist, I would not always be guaranteed to have my music played. Also, if my song didn’t do well with the first go around of air play, I could almost guarantee that the station wouldn’t play that song again or even take a chance on any other song that I may produce. The Performance Right Act is very risky on all aspects of the entertainment industry. They would also have to take into consideration that radio stations would now be obligated to charge advertisers more for airplay, which would probably cause them to back out of deals. This would result to the end of radio because networks wouldn’t have the money or support to operate its business.
But not thinking of the future of the entertainment business and record sales, there is no money being made. The only true exposure of a song is through radio and if your song is great, then your track is played multiple times. The artist SHOULD be getting paid for their work. But, I am sure the can be a compromise of how much so that radio stations wont have to shut down. But all in all, "money makes the world go round."
The days of the $0.99-for-everything iTunes store are over. Of course, when Apple introduced the variable pricing feature into the iTunes store, they touted it as a way to get lower-priced songs — as low as $0.69, in fact. But what’s actually happened is the opposite. Thanks to the death of the album (something we can thank iTunes and other music downloading services for), labels are trying to squeeze as many dollars as possible out of the single song hits that get downloaded over and over again.
But i dont get it. If record lables are in competition with digital downloads, why would they turn over the fight just to get a penny? They are giving apple and other companies more and more power. But, the saying does go, "if you cant beat them, join them!" Record lables are charging more for itunes to carry the same $0.99 for now $1.29. The sale of physical CD's have taken a major hit over the years and because ditgial sales has hit a major high, record lables had to jump on the band wagon.
Instead of selling CD's for $20, people are starting to download songs so they can have access to the songs whenever they want. Also, becuase the sales of apple products such as the ipod and iphone, itunes has taken over.
A Word From A Fan:
To be fair though, subscriptions will not be the service or idea to "rescue the industry from the decline of the CD". It may help, but it's not their savior. While what may be could come in a digital form, and let's not forget the rise in vinyl sales in the past two years, I think the real answer and the more immediate one for their struggle is -- BETTER QUALITY MUSIC. You don't support something if you don't truly like it (in this case pirating vs purchasing).
Do people really sing anymore? Auto – Tune is rapidly taking over the music industry one song at a time. It’s like plastic surgery, once you get one thing fixed, you fall in love with it and then you can’t help yourself but to go back for more. Once you get a taste of heaven, there’s no turning back. Now a day, Auto- Tune is being used by almost everybody. So before you defend your favorite artist against using this technology, check your facts.
Hip Hop superstar Jay-Z even took a hit at the overuse of Auto – Tune by releasing his single, “D.O.A” (Death of Auto – Tune). He claimed that he wasn’t making a statement towards T-Pain but if he got upset about it, then his job was done. But T-Pain surprisingly stood by Jay-Z at a concert while debuting this song. In the song, "Death of Auto-Tune," Jay called for more real rap. He said Auto-Tune has resulted in softer music within hip-hop and unnecessary crooning. But in an interview, Jay did made a point to compliment T-Pain for his use, admonishing the copycats. Jay also stated that… You shouldn't be confused by the message. I'm not saying Auto-Tune is wack. But leave that for them [T-Pain, Lil Wayne and Kanye West, the artists Jay said used it artistically]; it's not for everybody. That's how you stagnate hip-hop. You listen to the radio, and every single has Auto-Tune. So we have to get rid of that part." Some of the younger artist didn’t like the fact that he was making those statements, saying the he was an old head in the game and that he was a hater. But in actuality if they really would take the time and realize he is not trying to bring everyone down just trying to stop the use of auto tune so much because its taking the authenticity away from hip hop.
Sometimes I feel like you can never have a good thing. Some people never have to opportunity to have the finer things in life, but once they get a hold of it, they tend to abuse their privileges. The same instance came be applied with Auto – Tune. Someone invented this amazing machine to help enhance a persons pitch, not digitally take over the music industry. For some people, music is an expression and a creation of art. Music is a means of sharing your creativity and passion with the world and slowly but surely, I feel that this meaning is going away. Yes, some artists still have this mentality but they tend to get caught in the midst of a trend. I understand that in order to market yourself you have to either stick with what’s new or set your own example, but you don’t have to fall under a spell to do it. Auto – Tune can be considered one of these spells. Auto- Tune can be a very tasteful tool to use when applied correctly, but when overused you completely destroy your creation. In the case of Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and T-Pain, they have found a way to make Auto- Tune Work to their advantage. But for artist like Brittany Spears, well, I just wont speak on it. We shouldn’t have to feel like the world is made of music for robots.
In some cases, I feel that Auto – Tune is making harder for up and coming artist because as Hildebrand stated, people are getting use to hearing a perfect pitch. I admit to being pitchy sometimes, but that is life and I am ok with it. So why cant everyone else be? Now if you are pitchy all the time, I think we need to find you another profession because I don’t think Auto – Tune can always be your hero. Or can it? As a new generation of music, we need to take the world back to “REAL” music and not allow the music of today tell us what is REAL.
