Midweek Newsletter: The Roots make a statement, Russell Simmons returns to Occupy Wall Street and more

Solve all your problems by giving me money!

Russell Simmons is a hip hop legend. This does not and should not make him immune to criticism. Mr Simmons is also worth an estimated $340 million, so it’s pretty safe to say that he is not part of the 99%! It’s his money and he can do what he likes with it. However, Mr Simmons has stated that he would support paying more taxes. The problem with increased taxation in my opinion, is that it would have a crippling effect on the middle classes and small businesses, simply because after taxes their would not be enough money going around to spend frequently. The consumer would be forced to save money and spend wisely.

Anyway, yesterday Russell said that he is planning an

DJ Khaled’s cronyism is killing Def Jam South

Throughout DJ Khaled’s career, he has been so focused on trying to promote his cronies that his crony politics are now affecting other artists on the label.

DJ Khaled is known to strongly support artists from Florida. This isn’t debatable. However, ever since Cash Money relocated to Miami sans Hurricane Katrina, Khaled Khaled has been strongly supporting and collaborating with artists from Cash Money more frequently than his own artists. It’s no surprise that they later signed him to Cash Money – lets not pretend this isn’t a massive conflict of interest.

At the end of the day, the septagenarian executives at Island/Def Jam need to face reality. What in the world are they gaining from having DJ Khaled as Def Jam South President?

Life Before DJ Khaled: 2006 to 2009

Rick Ross – The Boss: Platinum

Rick Ross – Hustlin: Platinum

Rick Ross – Trilla: Gold

Rick Ross – Port of Miami: Gold

Ludacris – Theater of The Mind: Gold

Ludacris – Release Therapy – Platinum – 2 platinum single

Young Jeezy: The Recession: Platinum

Young Jeezy: The Inspiration – Platinum – 2 platinum singles

Young Jeezy: Put On – Platinum

Life Under DJ Khaled – 2009 to present

Rick Ross: Deeper Than Rap – uncertified

Rick Ross: Teflon Don – Gold

Rick Ross: Aston Martin Music – Gold

Triple C’s – moved under 50000 copies after 2 years

Ace Hood – 2 uncertified albums

Jeezy: No releases

Ludacris: Battle of the Sexes – Gold – 2 platinum singles

 

Where is the growth? All he’s done is make it easier for himself to sell albums for Koch, and get features from Def Jam cleared for his albums.

News Corporation Scandal – Lets kick them while they’re down!

Rupert Murdoch is an Australian multimedia mogul who owns News Corporation.

News Corporation own and control much of the multimedia in the Western World, as well as parts of Latin America and Asia.

Murdoch is one of the most powerful men in the world & has even attended Bilderberg Group meetings.

U.S Senators have now called for a probe into Murdoch’s News Corp due to a scandal that started in London,

The effect of digital music stores on album sales

Previewing music has usually been a good way of creating interest for a record. An ad in a popular magazine or a small billboard is useful but nothing beats hearing a new record played by a dj or in store before you buy.

Traditionally, the single acted as a commercial for the album. With this kind of approach, it’s easier to see why

The New Deal: 50 Cent’s 50/50

From what I’ve gathered from reports, 50 Cent has started to offer a new type of deal to artists signing to his label.

For example, 50 cent would pay for the artists overheads, such as recording & promotion.

Once the overheads are recouped, the profit is split 50/50. This differs from the traditional recording contract and the more recent 360 deal in several ways.  This method was used for

What is payola?

These emails are a couple of years old – but I just wanted to show people how payola works.

To get daily play on a radio station (rotation) a record label’s Radio Department offers money or gifts to the

Industry Top Trumps: Walter Yetnikoff

Sex, drugs and rock & roll is how the famous cliche’ goes.

But this wasn’t the lifestyle of a rockstar – it was in fact the lifestyle of a Brooklyn born record label CEO.

Yetnikoff was Head Lawyer at CBS Records, until Clive Davis was fired for

Labels – How the industry has changed

The Gza & The Rza both became disillusioned with the record industry, when they were signed to Cold Chillin & Tommy Boy respectively. It’s believed that this is what led The Rza to create Wu Tang and Gza to create this song. A recurring patern has happened with

Industry Top Trumps

Who should be included, if there was a Top Trumps for record company CEO’s of any era?

The Day After Tomorrow

In terms of music in 2011, supply exceeds demand. In fact, it’s been like that for a little under a decade.

Basic economics should tell you that when supply exceeds demand, the market price