Kaboose @ Ozark WinterFest 1984 State Highway 165, Branson, MO 65616 (United States) […]
Syntax Records
Jeremiah Bonds- Customer Development Director Shane Newville - Production Director
Ian Polanco- Creative Director
Brandon Musser- Operations
Donell Johnson- Publishing & Licensing
Timothy Trudeau- President
Here is a list of Social Networking Sites. The items in the list are organized by most important to least important.
Facebook: Make a band page and use the band page and your own account to link to the posts about your shows. Build your friends and network. Find people on facebook that you have actually met and friend them… then spam them. Facebook is currently one of the best viral marketing tools available.
Myspace: Good ole myspace… it has fallen off a lot since its heyday. But search engines still give it a lot of clout and it includes a blog which you can use to keyword load yourself onto any search engine.
Twitter:Twitter is among the class of “micro blogs” where you post snippets rather than full blogs. Twitter is a great way to build links and traffic to your site. Most micro blogs only allow around 180 characters max. Micro blog features are also built into other blog websites. Plurk is another good micro blog.
Youtube: Post all of your video footage on youtube. Youtube is great for viral marketing also.
Blogger: With one gmail account you can make as many blogs as you want. You will be limited by the domain name. Remember -’s are okay. If someone already has www.mindskillz.blogspot.com use www.mindskillzhip-hop.com if thats taken try using another – before hip-hop. As long as you combine keywords and your name in the domain than you’re good.
Digg: You can “digg” things on digg. It is kind of like a micro blog/social bookmarking site. It helps build more links to your website (this is very important for internet marketing.) In the title of the digg use keywords and use as many characters as it will allow.
Tagged: A good blog site. Use it.
Culture Mob: A great place to post your shows. post links to your culture mob from twitter, plurk, facebook, etc.
Current:Like culture mob, current is a great place to post your shows.
Vox: Another really good blog site. Use it.
Eventful: Like Current and Culture Mob.
My.Opera:Another good blog for internet marketing. Use it.
Tumblr: One of my personal favorite blogs. Like blogger aka blogspot it allows you to make multiple blogs with only one account.
Flickr: Good for posting pictures. Post as many promo photos, show photos, flyers or album covers you can. Remember to name your images with relevant keywords.
Netlog: A great blog. Use it.
Ning: The Ning network is big. Create an account and blog away.
Bebo:Yet another tool. figure it out, use it.
Friendster: A good blog. Use it.
Xanga: A good blog, it seems to perform well on search engines. Not as well as some of the others listed above but still good.
Stumbleupon: This one and he following four others; Diigo, Delicious and Reddit are all bookmarking sites. They are very important for building links to your site. If you blog, link to each blog directly.
Diigo: This Social Bookmarking tool allows to build groups, lists and tags with your bookmarks. Includes a firefox toolbar which is very helpful.
Delicious: Add the toolbar, bookmark your pages, Done? yeah you could stop there. Or you could make a few more accounts and bookmark your sites with them too. Have your homeys make accounts and have them bookmark your sites.
Reddit: More bookmarking.
Plaxo: I haven’t used Plaxo much. It could be good. If you sign up let me know if you like it.
Live Journal: An old school blog site that is actually really good.
Last.fm: I haven’t used it much personally but it is a really good tool for spreading your music.
Type Pad: An old blog started in 1998 that still rocks. Use it if you can.
Quarterlife: A good network to have an account on. It is a music website.
Amie Street: Another music website. Signup.
Badoo: More blogging.
Buzznet: More blogging.
Plurk: More Micro Blogging. Plurk can be connected to Friendster, facebook, yahoo and twitter!
Social Go: Create your own social networking site and get all of your crew to sign up. Make sure you all stay active and build the network with tons of relevant content.
Tribe.net: A unique social networking site. Its worth checking out.
Eventually I will get these all linked up so you wont have to copy and paste but rather just click on the links to go to the websites. I hope this helps all you indy hip hop artists out there who are trying to self promote.
Online Advertising Agency Total Market Exposure offers Social Media Marketing and Branding Services that utilize websites like the ones listed above. While focusing on Facebook, Twitter and other Branding Tactics, social networks still play a big part in Search Engine Optimization and Online Advertising as a whole.
Cypress Hill is undeniably one of the most important West Coast Hip-Hop groups of the early nineties. Historically, they are probably considered legendary emcees in the west coast hip hop game. No combined with the Dogfather himself they will probably make a comeback in 2010 or 2011.
Ambassador Joseph is vehemently refuting those claims and is also providing a very much needed history lesson. During an appearance on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Joseph made it clear that no such “pact” existed and in fact America should …
Internet Marketing Guide for Independent Hip Hop Artists
Introduction: The internet is so important in today’s society, everybody uses the internet all the time. A lot of people look to the internet for music to buy and download. That’s where you come into play. You make music, and you want to sell it, or at least give it away to as many people as possible. So here are some very helpful instructions on how to go about promoting your music successfully online. Most people use search engines to find things, so optimizing for search engines is very important also.
Essentials: Among the essentials for internet marketing are obviously a computer (preferably one that’s not too old and crappy) and an internet connection. You should also probably have an online store of some kind, no point in marketing your music if no one can buy it. Also you will probably want to sign up for a few different email accounts so you can sign up for a few different accounts on social networking sites. The more times you are online in different places, the better. Most importantly you need to have the rights to your music. Sign up for ASCAP.
Online Store: Ideally you want to be on iTunes but it costs a little bit of money and takes some time to verify that your music is authentic but it is the best way to sell your music online through download. Also getting your pressed CD on online cd stores is a great idea. Local CD stores are a good place to start and having CD’s on Amazon or ebay is a definite plus. Reverb Nation, Snocap and a few other services will allow you to set up a pay per download account for individual songs and albums. Sign up for as many different ways to sell your music as possible.
Social Networks: You MUST have a Facebook and Twitter account. Try to post once a day on these with keyword heavy text and links to your other sites. There are many different social networking websites, blogging sites, event websites, and social bookmarking sites that allow you to build your network online. The bigger network, the more chances to hear your music and buy your songs.
Keywords: Chances are people are looking for music like yours, not you specifically. So its best to use keywords that reflect your music style as much as possible. It is good to use your name a lot too but don’t forget what people will be searching for. For instance if I wanted for someone to be able to find this post I would say a lot of things about “internet marketing guide for independent artists”. Use your area ( in my case Portland, Northwest, West Coast or Oregon will all work) in your keywords when marketing for shows. People will be looking for shows in your area not for you specifically. Example Keyword Sentence: On November 14th 2009 Portland Hip Hop group Bad Habitat of Surreal Music will be rocking Club Calabash, Portland’s illest hip hop club.
Here are some examples of keywords that I would want to use for a post like this one: Internet Market Guide for Independent Hip Hop Artists
Images: It is important that you name your files something that makes sense. For instance if the picture is of you at a show don’t name the picture “ME006.jpg” name it “mindskillz-portland-hip-hop-show.jpg”. Also if you are familiar with html or know someone that is, it is important to include the alt attribute in the image tag. Use keyword text for the alt attribute as well as the name of the file. Sometimes blogs like wordpress or blogspot will allow you to ad title text or alt text when you upload or place images into your blog.
The text surrounding your images will also effect its keyword relevancy. If I were to put the keyword “Bad Habitat” around this image it will have more relevancy for that phrase in image searches done on search engines.
You Need a Website NOW
Websites: You have to have a website, in fact have two… or more. The more websites, the more ways people can find you. Use keywords in the domains that you buy. For instance if your band name is G-Rap buy a domain like www.g-rap-hip-hop.com that way it includes hip hop in the domain and gives you more relevancy on search engines. Make sure that the content is different from site to site, you don’t want them being too similar. A blog is a good bet for any indie artist trying to market themselves online. Search engines like blogs and its easy to post information like shows and pictures.
Blog: You will want to sign up to as many sites as you can that allow you to blog. Many of them already have good ranking on search engines so if you can link to your website from them with a lot of keywords and good images you will get some of that good ranking from their sites and build more links to your sites, where people can buy your music (or at least download it, more about that later). Some blog sites that you will want to sign up for are: tagged.com, vox.com, plurk.com, my.opera.com, blogger.com aka blogspot.com, myspace.com,
Other good sites to sign up for are:current.com, culturemob.com, eventful.com, gigmasters.com, youtube.com
Its not good enough to just sign up for blogs, social networking sites and social bookmarking sites. You have to be active on them. The more often you can post the better. It is better to post once a day for 3 days than to post 5 times in one day and then nothing for the next 2. Social bookmarking sites like digg, diigo and delicious don’t require daily posts nearly as much but every post that you do make on social networking sites and blogs should be linked to and bookmarked.
Video: you have to sign up for Youtube, you have to film your shows, you have to have music videos, or goof off in front of the camera or something. Video is one of the most important forms of media online and it is an invaluable tool for marketing. Start filming now!
Once you film your shows or have music videos you need to link to them and post them in blogs like shown above. Youtube is one of the most visited sites online and by keyword loading your video tags or comments about the video, you will be able to drive traffic to your online store, your website and more. If you are doing the editing for your videos it is a great idea to include your website domain at all times on the video.
Press Releases: On your blogs and anywhere that will let you release information about your shows, your band, photo shoots, video shoots anything. Try to make each release unique from the others at least 30%. Use most of the same images and video just make sure you change the text as much as possible.
SEO: Get links to your site. Make blogs on tumblr, vox, my.opera, blogspot, wordpress, etc and link to your website. Make sure your sites title tags include keywords and your bands name. The title tags will display on the top bar of your browser. An example of good title tags for a Portland hip hop crew like Bad Habitat would be “Bad Habitat – Portland Hip Hop – Surreal Music”.
Social Bookmarking: These will get links to your sites, which will improve your ranking on search engines and your keyword relevancy. Include keywords in the title of your bookmark and include relevant keywords.
Free Downloads: everybody wants something for free. offer a free sampler download so people can hear you before they download, unless of course you suck. Then you want them to pay before they hear you, but lets hope for both our sake that you don’t suck.
Viral Campaign: A viral campaign is good for any independent hip hop artist. How do you start a viral campaign? Well its not as easy or as cheap as you probably home. It takes time, effort, creativity and a little bit of money. First you want to think of something that’s catchy. This example gives you an idea of what I am talking about. Portland Publishing company and Record Label, Surreal Music, is represented by the domain and the skull image. The question and ambiguity of the image is drawing to the viewer and it also builds brand recognition.
This Person People image is very similar. It draws on comedy to make it more memorable.
The Viral Campaign starts with images like these. But if no one sees the images then its a total waste. So you probably want to make them into stickers or put them on flyers and t-shirts. Stickers can be placed all over town, on buses, bumbers, windows, etc. Stickers build brand recognition the same way that billboards do. No one is going to go out and buy a Pepsi just because they saw a billboard for it, but every one knows what a Pepsi is because of their long time branding campaign. Viral Campaigns are therefor a form of branding. Viral marketing also needs to be done in the blogosphere. For those of you who don’t know what that is I am about to explain.
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions. So like I said before you need a network. Post your viral images and text to your twitter, facebook, vox, my.opera, blogspot, etc. Make your posts as unique as possible and include keyword text about yourself or your rap group, your label, your CD, and your city.
Hip Hop Shows: When you have a show you have a great opportunity to promote yourself. Here are a few ways you can use a show to build hype, branding and online promotions.
Promote The Show: Design your own version of the flyer which highlights yourself over the other local acts. Post it all over the internet with information about the show. Don’t forget to name the file properly.
Record The Show: Have someone take pictures of and/or film your performance. These pictures and video will help you market yourself online later.
Leave Them Wanting More: If you have CD’s, give them out. If you have stickers, give them out. If you have t-shirts, give them out.
After The Show: Post your videos and pictures all over your network. Load them with keywords and link to somewhere that people can buy your music or at least download a sample.
This one is from colin jones (of brokaw) in portland
I’m not selling my shit up on this….
just wanted to say Mainc D is one to check out. we played before his set last tuesday, and that cats down for pushing the envelope.
keep pushing Manic D!
This one is from AUG DOG (RIP) in PDX, OR
Hey guys!
Weekly RHYME Cypher with NO BEEFor battling! EVERY WEDNESDAY under the WEST SIDE of the MORRISSON BRIDGE in Waterfront Park. RAIN OR SHINE! No Alcohol unless kept well concealed, No weapons and no Battlin’ unless you start your own cypher circle by Beat-boxing or bringing your own boom-box. ALL ARE WELCOME!
I hope to see you there!
EVERY WEDNESDAY!
(Next one is on the 22nd of October.)
Peace.
This one is from Ak Word in Portland/ San Francisco
Shit Man! Are any of you guys really aware of what’s going on around the Town? I don’t really think so. If you were then you might have mentioned The artists that actually have accomplished something as far as sound quality and Artistic Achievement. Since all you guys are all pretty new and only slightly informed I will have to break it down for you.
1. MyG (sinistapushaman) Cool Nutz,
Ol Dominion, Boom-Bap Project Lifesavas and NWOrder has the best sound quality…PERIOD!
2. Ol Dominion has accomplished the most artistically because they have over 30 members rapping and making beats. but MyG has Songs with everybody from Dead Prez and Talib Kweli to Killa-Priest, Mad Skillz and Casual etc…etc… I don’t blame you for not knowing. Just make sure you pick up his next two LP’s to make up for your general ignorance. By the way, There are a lot of other crews with not quite so dope sound qulity that are buildin’ some dope shit like: Trash-heap, Mic. Crenshaw, ME! Lightheaded, The Lab, The Chosen, Hungry Mob, Dialek, Aug Dog, Ak Word,
Evil Hands, Syren’s Echo, Illaj, Uziah,
Emerge MC’s, ShackleSnappaz, Brown Recluse (even though you forgot me homie!) Clan of the Cavemacks,
DJ SPARK, Fantastic Four, Sick Bay, etc.. Alter1, Rocket one, Children of the Thorn, Pros and Cons, Zelle Rock, Gen.Erik, Kable (next degree), Shipwreck, etc…etc…
The list goes on and on!
Everybody I mentioned is tight and DJ Wicked is a hater that lives with his MOM! (I told U I’d Remember…)
So Fuck him and his bitch ass crew!
They are what’s wrong with P-town.
This one is from Periodic in Moreno Valley, California
I’m in a group called the Good Music Foundation. And my group is looking for venues to play at various location in Portland.
checkout the website @ http://www.goodmusicfoundation.com/
This one is from Big Fish in PDX, OREGON
So forget everyone in Portland that’s actually making any noise? Anonymussed, you’re an idiot. Eat a cat cock and die, faggot!
This one is from Remedy in Cool School Cafe 13 NW 13th Ave
Saturday OCT.18,2003 MC BATTLES!Prize;2 song demo produced by Ghetto Rise Records.+Live hiphop Vocab Mischivius LilFats GinJuice Grimey D-V.Iss Uneek and Raheem.Yo wanna see some dope battles,so come serve or be served!!
Much respect to PDX Players -1- “REMEDY”
This one is from Santotzin of the real BROWN RECLUSE in Portland, Oregon
www.brownglass.com www.geocities.com/santotzin/Santotzin.ht ml
The Thorn gots mad styles…From Old Dominion to Evil Hands, Trash Heap to Jus Family. Crazy love to all the kids doin it and crazy peace to all the haters, support your locals and we’ll all come up, dummies! Peace to Manic D, MiNos, Uziah, Guzu, Jason “JJ” Cutta and my Brown Recluse homies. Check out: Afro Funk @Conans on Mon, Thorn City Improv @Ash Street Saloon on Tu, The Cut Hut @Cobalt Lounge on Wed and Trash Heap @Oak Grove Bar & Grill on Fri.Peace www.brownglass.com
This one is from k in portland
check out the fez on wed. night. dj wicked and evil one are spinnin some sick old school hip hop at a super chill spot. ya’ll get out there and support our local dj’s
This one is from B-Rad in Portland
Expect big things from white rappers within a year ya’ll. I myself am doing a track with No Limit Records so stay tuned or email me @ whitethugl1fe@hotmail.com for the skinny!
This one is from Manic D in Portland
There is a lot of great hip-hop in Portland. Some of it is made by me. My name is Manic D and I MC, DJ and produce beats. I’ve done shows at a couple venues around Portland recently and will continue to do so. For right now I’m at the Cobalt Lounge for “The Cut Hut” freestyle sessions every Wednesday night. DJs spin from 9 til’ around 12, then the MCing gets underway. Some of the best Portland MCs are there…Kable Rock, Halfmanhalf, Shipwreck, Santotzin and Ultraman to name a few. Anybody who reads this should come and check it out. If you love real hip-hop you’ll thank yourself. Peace.
This one is from Reality in PDX
www.Oldominion.rr.nu
How tha fux can you say Portland without saying Oldominion. Until Lifesavas, they were the only ones puttin’ PDX on the map.
Ok so 3 more posts today that I’ve dug up – I’m an information JUNKIE on this stuff lately. Give em a browse and let me know what ya reckon. They’re just from a few different sites I’ve been surfing lately that are generally good for information like this…
In 1995, when Terence Scott (better known as Cool Nutz) started staging the Portland Oregon Hip-Hop Festival (better known as POH-Hop), hiphop was a lot different. Not just locally, when only a few groups were coming up; but nationally, before the music of hiphop was divided by genre. It was before the invisible lines between hiphop artists–and its fans–were drawn; before there was an established delineation between genres such as “gangsta rap,” “backpacker/ underground hiphop,” or, more absurdly, “goth-hop,” “emo-hop,” “pop-hop,” et cetera and so forth. It was before those delineations were vague signifiers of where your allegiances lay, before they even helped define the kind of person you were.
Cool Nutz liked it like that.
“It’s one of the things that bothered me through the course of Portland hiphop,” he says. “When we first started doing POH-hop, there was no segregation between the street gangsta element and the battle rappers and the backpackers and groups of that nature. There was never a separation. But hiphop has evolved, and now people choose their allegiances. [While hiphop] is really diverse, normally a show [consists of] a certain kind of artist; three groups all doing the same thing. I think the separation diluted the scene. Now you have people arguing whether ‘this is real hiphop; people will say, ‘oh, he said that he’s from Compton or something, so I don’t like it.’”
At first, POH-Hops were established to galvanize the Portland scene, to bring groups together and establish the idea that Portland, while not as nationally renowned as places like Oakland or LA, has a viable and vibrant hiphop scene. The first few POH-Hops were held at the now-defunct venue La Luna, and drew as many as 800 people, according to Cool Nutz. When La Luna tanked, however, the festivals became more difficult to stage. For POH-Hops Four through Seven, Cool Nutz says, “We included acts like Spearhead and Michael Franti, Luniz, Mac Dre, and Ras Kass and featured them as headlining–but we had to move the nights to Berbati’s and the Roseland. And with the POH-hop being a locally featured event, it’s kinda hard when you have a room the size of the Roseland, and the expenses are so high. That’s one of the reasons I had to downsize it this year–so we could keep it local and keep the costs down.”
Cool Nutz and his co-presenter, local musician/activist David Parks, opted to skip putting on POH-Hop last year, for reasons he attributes to a certain stagnation in the local scene. Despite the increasing visibility of the Lifesavas, and the overwhelming popularity of out-of-town performers like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere, it concerned Scott that other local acts had the talent, but weren’t getting the exposure. With POH-Hop 8, Scott hopes to increase awareness and spark interest in groups that may not even play shows very often, especially on a festival scale. “I feel like in the city, there’s not much interest in local hiphop except for a few entities. Portland hiphop is moving forward, but you only have a couple of groups establishing growth in the scene outside of Portland. So to be the catalyst for growth, we have to step up to bat and be responsible for that.”
On Thurs Dec 18, the Ash Street hosts POH-Hop’s Women in Hiphop Showcase, featuring Siren’s Echo, Piece, Turiya, Kay Kay, J-Kron, Sonnie, DJ Deena B, Beyonda, DJ Niz; On Fri Dec 19 at Berbati’s, catch Sleep, Maniac Lok, Brotha Luv, TD 32, Potluck, Young Fame, Bullet & Todd G, Cleveland Steamers, Mr. Meezalini, XTAC, Quivah, Dee Arthur & the Flytrapper, Myg, Sonny Bonoho, Trashheap, Face, and DJ Wicked. See Sidebar and Up and Coming, pg 21, for more details.
The Hip Hop Directory is a great way to find new hip hop music to listen to. If you are looking for great new hip hop music check out the Hip Hop Directory
The Portland hip hop scene has been underrated and unappreciated in the mainstream media. It is, however increasing in popularity among underground hip hop heads worldwide. Heavy hitters in the Portland hip hop scene include Illmaculate of Sandpeople and his many achievements in the battle rap game, Cool Nutz and his many successful albums, productions, promotions and radio programs, Sleep of Oldominion and The Chicharones. These artists and many more are making waves in the underground hip hop game and putting the Portland hip hop scene on the map.
Sandpeople: ILLMACULATE, ETHIC, ONLYONE, SIMPLE, DJ SPARK, SAPIENT, AL-ONE, GOLD, IAME. Check out Portland hip hop super group Sandpeople’s online store
Sleep of Oldominion and member of major underground hip hop group The Chicharones
Luck One: Ill emcee hailing from the Portland Hip Hop scene, Luck One has gained a big name for himself in a relatively short amount of time.
Diezel P: One of my personal favorite Portland rappers, Diezel P does a lot of charity shows, volunteer work for the community and parks and recreations service. Diezel P really gives back in a major way, this dude deserves a lot of respect as an emcee and as a man.
Rocket One: Portland hip hop veteran, Rocket One, is one of Portland’s Hip Hop kings. With many big shows under his belt, respected master of ceremonies, Rocket One deserves his stature as one of Portland hip hops main contributors.
look out for more information about the Portland Hip Hop scene on Bad Habitat’s hip hop news.
Buy Damian Grey albums on CD Baby
Portland Hip Hop
The Portland Hip Hop scene has long been dominated by indie style alternative hip hop and west coast style gangsta rap. The blend of west coast swagger and northwest worldly consciousness makes the music made in Portland, Oregon 100% unique. Bad Habitat has been putting in work in the Portland Hip Hop scene and the Global Underground Hip Hop scene. The internet is a really powerful tool for independent artists. We believe this more than anyone and it has proven to payoff. Gaining more and more recognition everyday in the city of Portland and the rest of the world via the internet every day, Bad Habitat is quickly helping to put Portland Hip Hop on the map. Peace and respect to all other Portland Hip Hop artists, whether graffiti, dance, mc, dj or beatbox.
I hope you’ve been enjoying my posts lately. I thought I might do something different today and rustle up a few bits of info from around the WWW. These are some of the news items and blog posts that have been popular over the last few weeks. Leave me your thoughts.
Northwest Hip Hop News brought to you by Surreal Music.
Here are a few posts previously posted by Mindskillz. Check out what Wikipedia says about Northwest Hip Hop. By the way, someone needs to update and moderate the Portland hip hop post on Wikipedia. I found a good list of northwest emcees on wikipedia but a lot of stuff needs to be moderated and sourced. List of Northwest hip hop Artists
I hope you’ve been enjoying my posts lately. I thought I might do something different today and rustle up a few bits of info from around the WWW. These are some of the news items and blog posts that have been popular over the last few weeks. Leave me your thoughts.
Location: Calabash (SW 2nd & Taylor) Portland’s Hip Hop Underground The Bill: Bad Habitat, Raise The Bridges, Gepetto, Daps and More. Another day, another bad ass hip hop show at Calabash. Portland’s Hip Hop Heroes, Bad Habitat, …
bad habitat – YouTube – Electricity or Rent
About The Author. Jerry Spina is Founder, Producer and Web Designer for http://www.LaCantinaProductions.com, one of the web’s top audio production sites. Mail this post. Technorati Tags: Bad Habitat, New Underground Hip Hop, rap music.
Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.
Tour Dates
Facebook is currently one of the best viral marketing tools available.
