The 20 Highest Paid Hip Hop Artists

This year's Forbes Top 20 Best Paid Hip Hop Stars list is here. Although there are few surprises on the list, the one thing that did stick out was how far the earnings at the bottom of the list were. As you probably surmised, Diddy, Jay Z, Dr. Dre and Nicki Manaj dominated again. Take a look.

1. Diddy ($50 million)
2. Jay Z ($43 million)
3. Dr. Dre ($40 million)
4. Nicki Manaj ($29 million)
5. Birdman ($21 million)
6. Kanye West ($20 million)
7. Lil Wayne ($16 million)
8. Wiz Khalifa ($14 million)
9. Ludacris ($12 million)
10. Pitbull ($11 million)
11. Drake ($10.5 million)
12. Snoop Lion ($10 million, tie)
12. Eminem ($10 million, tie)
14. Kendrick Lamar ($9 million, tie)
14. Pharrell Williams ($9 million, tie)
14. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ($9 million, tie)
17. Swizz Beatz ($8.5 million)
18. Tech N9ne ($7.5 million)
19. 50 Cent ($7 million)
20. Lil Jon ($6 million, tie)

Read the article on Forbes for more details.

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Another Piece Of The Music Business Evolves

It’s rare when a trade association reinvents itself. After all, they mostly fall into the same trap as most corporations, trying to maintain the status quo rather than experiencing the change needed to keep growing. Associations, like many companies, generally don’t want to experience the pain that evolution can bring, even if it’s in it’s own best self-interest.

That’s why the re-branding of NARM (the National Association of Recording Merchandisers) to become the Music Business Association is so impressive. The board recognized that we live in a totally different world than when the association began in 1958, and it needed more than just a coat of paint to be relevant to its members in our current Music 4.0 world.

The new Music Business Association will divide its attention around six sectors that now make up the new music business: digital products, information technology, physical products, knowledge, management, touring and legal/business affairs. This division recognizes that the music business has evolved to become far more than just selling music products in brick and mortar stores as when it began. Addressing these different sectors also acknowledges that the in order to grow, the organization has to represent more areas of the music business than just retail, which really was at the core of NARM in its previous iteration. Read more on Forbes.

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You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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Twitter's Interesting New Usage Numbers

Twitter recently filed to go public and within their S-1 (the document that the SEC requires all public companies to make about their basic business and finances) where a number of very interesting usage statistics.

• Twitter has 100 million daily active users.
• It has about 215 million monthly active users, but 169 million (77%) are outside of the United States.
• 75% of Twitter users access it via a mobile device.
• Since it's inception in 2006, there have been over 300 billion tweets.
• More than 6 million websites have integrated Twitter.
• Most of the users outside the US are from Argentina, France, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. 

Of course there was some interesting financial stats as well, like:

• Twitter looks to be doubling in growth this year, with revenue projected at $656 million this year.
• 87% of its revenue comes from advertising, with the rest coming from licensing agreements with companies that want better access to the platform.
• 65% of it's ad revenue comes from mobile devices.
• The company still isn't profitable, losing around $80 million last year.
• It could be worth as much as $20 billion when it finally goes public!

It will be interesting to see what happens when Twitter finally goes public, since so many times a company changes because it becomes more worried about it's stockholders than its customers. That said, it should be an interesting ride, at least in the beginning.

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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

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Unsound: How Digital Delivery Changed Music

Here's an extended trailer for Unsound, a movie about how the Internet changed music. It's pretty interesting, and I agree with the facts of the movie, but not the general tone. If you know the history of music, you know that at every point along the way there's been something that's unfair, that's against artists, and that favors those who exploit the business, so what we're going through today is really no different than it ever was.

You can't just complain about how things have changed, because they're always changing. As soon as you get the hang of how everything is working, something new changes the paradigm. The difference is that it's happening faster than ever today so you can never get comfortable with what you know.

So watch this trailer because it's well done and interesting, but don't despair, because believe it or not, things are not as bad as the movie makes it out to be.


Unsound: extended trailer rough cut from Count Eldridge on Vimeo.

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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Demise Of The Electric Guitar In Music

There are times when a trend happens so fast that it’s just like being hit in the face with an ice cold towel, and then there are times when it’s so slow moving that you can feel something happening, but it takes a while before you realize that you’re totally immersed in something new. A little of both happened to me over the last week as it finally sunk in that mainstream pop music is now totally represented by the latest music trend. And guess what? The electric guitar, staple of modern music for more than 50 years, has no part in it.

In case you’re wondering, it’s electronic dance music (or EDM as we’ve grown to call it) that has totally blended with pop music to become the current background music of our lives. It’s now in every nook and cranny where the hippest music is played.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m in the music business up to my ears every day and I’m totally aware that EDM has become both a phenomenon and a giant money maker over the last three or four years in terms of live events. I’m also more than aware that over the last two years elements of EDM have permeated the Top 40 charts on the vast majority of hits. You have to be completely musically unconscious to not to have seen and heard that.

And I read the stats and watch the revenue numbers involving EDM, where you could see the big money of the major promoters and record labels making their moves to claim their territory over the last year. It’s usually a sign that a trend has peaked as the big brands move in to stake their claim and squeeze every last drop of financial juice out of the trend that they can, as seems to be happening at the moment. You read and absorb all this data, but sometimes it just doesn’t sink in. Needless to say I was unprepared for my recent mini-revelation. Read More On Forbes.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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4 Tricks When Hunting For A URL Name

Here's my take on a great article recently posted on the HostBaby blog about what to do if the URL name you really want is taken.

1. Go with ".com" if you can. You'll sacrifice traffic and search engine position with ".org," ".net," or any other extension.

2. Don't use a dash in between words. It's tempting, but people don't remember dashes and will just type in the word without it, so they won't reach your site as a result.

3. If the name you want is taken, look for a variation that's unique. If "theusigned.com" is taken, you can always go with "theunsignedband.com," "the unsignedmusic.com," theunsignedrock.com," or any number of others.

4. Don't buy names that end in anything other than a ".com" extension. Nobody wants to have someone be a predator and usurp your search engine rank and traffic by using a ".net" extension or the like, but Google has actually has stopped much of this from happening anyway with its latest search algorithm.

Makes finding the right URL a lot easier, right? Happy URL hunting!

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The YouTube Music Awards: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

It looks like someone has listened to me and finally created the YouTube Music Awards. For those of you who read my Music 3.0 blog, I postulated that the time was right for these awards way back on Sept 10, 2012. YouTube announced last week that it would throw it’s first awards show on November 3^rd, with none other than Lady Gaga, Eminem, and Arcade Fire as the primary guests, with YouTube up and comers CZDA and violinist Lindsey Stirling also featured. The show will be broadcast (on YouTube naturally) live from Pier 36 in New York with Jason Schwartzman as the host, with as yet unannounced performances from Seoul and Moscow as well, nicely illustrating the global nature of the service.

Now I bet you just read that and thought, “Oh no, not another awards show,” and I wouldn’t blame you a bit for feeling that way. I can sympathize, but hear me out.

Television music award shows as we know them today are shams, with the judging based on loose criteria that seems to shift with the latest social media popularity trends. Let’s take a look at what we currently have.

MTV’s Video Music Awards? The channel doesn’t even play music videos anymore, so how are they qualified to award anything? The People’s Choice Awards? The final vote may be the people’s choice, but how about the nominations? Isn’t it interesting that you can name the nominees before they’re even nominated? Read more on Forbes.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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7 Music Discovery Tools

We all have access to millions of songs at our fingertips, yet research has shown that many of us keep on listening to the same small portion. Many just don't have the time to search new tunes or artists out, and for that we need a service that caters to that need. Here are 7 such services that you can check out.

1. MixCloud - This is basically radio shows by DJs, both pro and amateur.

2. This Is My Jam - This lets you share your favorite song or songs with others.

3. Bandcamp - If you're a band or artist, you're already familiar with the multitude of services offered.

4. Last.FM - Here's another service built along radio-like lines that personalizes recommendations for you.

5. Hype Machine - This one has a different twist in that it features all the latest songs featured on blogs.

6. The Vinyl District -Curated by people who work in record stores (or what remains of them).

7. Twitter - No, not Twitter.music, but Twitter itself is a good place to discover what's new and trending.

Thanks to Mashable for the above outline. You can read more about what they think of each here.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Platinum After 46 Years

There's always been a big injustice in the UK when it comes to issuing gold and platinum record awards. For instance, the 5 original Beatles engineers never received either award for the huge selling records they worked on because no record released before 1973 was eligible. After that point in time, if a record reached silver (60,000), gold (100,000) or platinum (300,000) levels, the awards were only issued if it was requested by the record label, and in many cases they never were (like in the case of Apple Records and The Beatles).

That all changed last month when the BPI (Britain's version of our RIAA) decided to automatically grant these awards regardless if the label requests it or not.

That means that all those who worked on big selling albums from 1973 onward will finally be getting their just due. It's been a long time coming, and it's too late for many who deserve it, but it's finally great that all those who were essential to the big hits from that era that we still love so much will finally be recognized.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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What Is A Brand?

I've written about branding in various books, now you can see more about it in this short video from Lynda.com. Developing your own personal brand (or your band's brand) is extremely important these days if you want to stick out from the very large musical crowd and this video can set you on that road.

By the way, I've just completed a number of social media courses on Lynda that cover your website, mailing list, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and a whole lot more. Click here to get a free 7 day subscription that you can use to check out the entire Lynda catalog.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Top 7 Concerns When Choosing A URL

If you're creating a new website, you know that sometimes the most difficult part is getting the URL first. Here are the 7 things to remember when making that selection.

1. Is the name easy to remember?

2. Is the name easy to read?

3 Is the name easy to spell?

4. Does the name closely resemble another artist, band or brand?

5. Is the ".com" available?

6. Does it read correctly without spaces?

7. Is it too long?

You want a URL that's both easy to read and remember while not being confused with one that's similar. It's not easy to find that anymore and can sometimes take some out of the box thinking, but it's certainly doable if you spend enough time researching what's available.

Thanks to Host Baby for the inspiration for this article.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Brilliance Of Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus is brilliant. I know you’re probably thinking “Bobby has lost his mind” right about now but hear me out. We’ve just witnessed one of the most complete marketing makeovers in show business history when it comes to Miley. Let me explain why.

A little more than a month ago, Ms Cyrus was a former teen star struggling to be taken seriously in her new world of adulthood. The efforts to distance herself from her Disney past just made her look like another child star floundering in a grown-up world on the edge of another celebrity burn-out. A month later, near record time, the media world’s perception of her is totally different.

I say this as neither a fan of her or her music (I’m way past the demographic to care about either), but I have to say that over that short period I went from “Not her again” in my newsfeed to admiration of the campaign that she and her handlers created to kill the old Miley Cyrus and invent a new one. Let’s look at a rough chronology of events. Read more on Forbes.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.