Friday, February 11, 2011
Cee-Lo Green Performs His Hits At A One Off Show In San Diego, CA
Cee Lo Green performed live at FLUXX Live nightclub in San Diego, CA Thursday 2.10.2011 and the crowd ate it up.
Photo link:
Flickr - Owl and Bear
(video courtesy of rosey928 and BiondaSD)
Chamillionaire Is Succumbed By Adam Lambert Army At Grammy Social Media Event
The panel discussion with Adam Lambert, Chamillionaire took place today (Friday, February 11th) at the Conga Room at L.A. Live.
Chamillionaire: “You spill your guts in this music, and someone comes along and demeans it in 140 characters.” Sometimes you have to step away from it. It can desensitize you.
Other highlights from the discussion via On the Meaning of Adam Lambert
Pandora, the internet personalized radio service, announced plans to go public and raise $100 million in an initial public offering. That was the real news from the event. Now numbering 80 million listeners, Pandora’s audience is has grown large enough to let the company think about how it can impact an artist’s career, said Westergren. In other words, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Social media is changing the music industry by putting artists directly in touch with fans. Chamillionaire noted that when you’re an artist, “you become public property. If your fans feel vested in what you do, that’s a good thing. You can’t be mad at that. The future is going to be direct to consumer. No one in a suit and tie is going to stand in front of me telling me what to do.”
The economic impact on the music industry has been disastrous to date, with large losses of revenue to illegal downloading. Internet radio could change that. Artists collect royalties from internet play, unlike with broadcast radio. (OK, everyone, run to Pandora and create your Adam Lambert/Chamillionaire station.)
Interacting directly with the audience requires a balancing act. “I’m entertaining an audience. It’s for them. So their opinion and satisfaction is most important,” said Adam. “But part of the reason I’m an artist is that I’m the one making decisions about what I’m going to put out there.” Westergren observed, “The artists who survive are the ones who are really authentic.”
Twitter gives Adam “a sense of control, which I like.” But it comes with a warning label: don’t tweet under the influence. Chamillionaire shared his experience when he tweeted praise of the Black Eyed Peas performance at the Super Bowl and was blasted by his Twitter followers. But, he is unfazed: “I like to be authentic with my feelings.”
Social media provide artists with insight into how fans are reacting to their creative choices. “I lurk to see what people are saying,” said Adam. He said he has used suggestions from fans on Twitter, but wouldn’t specify. “I’m not going to tell you my secrets!” he said, to laughter. “The informative aspect is the best part of Twitter.”
Adam noted (yay!) that social media connects fans with one another.
Foursquare enables people to tag a geographic location, with the aim of getting people to visit favorite restaurants, concerts and other gathering places. This raised immediate flags about privacy and stalkers. Not sure we’ll find too many celebrities on Foursquare, although Adam said he would check it out. (OK, do NOT race to Foursquare so you can stan Adam…)
Pandora’s Music Genome Project is an algorithm to find new music that a listener would like based on their favorite artists. As listeners get older, they are less likely to discover new bands (yeah, life happens), so a service like Pandora might help people stay engaged with current music. I decided to test this. I created a Pandora station with Robyn, Adam Lambert, Goldfrapp and a few others, and Pandora came up with Anna Nalick, who I do like. So far so good. But I already have a very effective channel to get me to listen to music again: Adam’s tweets.
“At a concert, everyone’s got a camera and video,” Ethan Beard marveled. “That’s really powerful.” John Norris concurred, saying “I’m in favor of anything that gets people to be more aggressive in their discovery of music.” Asked how artists feel about the unrelenting recording, Adam expressed ambivalence. “It puts more pressure on the artist,” he said. And he also had more of a spiritual concern that with all the recording technology, audiences are cheating themselves of experiencing the moment. “There’s something to be said for putting your phone in your pocket and just watching.”
Mobile is the most important way people are going to be consuming social media. And I’m sorry Blackberry, but you just don’t cut it as a social media interface. By the time Adam embarks on his next tour, I’m going to have to upgrade to an iPhone.
From the blizzard of real-time tweets during the event, it appears that 99% of the viewers were Adam’s fans, as were the throngs that waited outside. Chamillionaire’s has 700K+ twitter followers. Where were they? On the bright side, Chamillionaire just gained a pocketful of Adam’s fans. He was insightful and charming, and the inner geek in me melted when he talked about analytics. He coined a great new word, “Twota” = daily quota of tweets, which I’m sure I exceed all the time.
Photo links from the event:
Wire Image
Mann: Beluga Heights Artist Live Performance of 'Buzzin' in Hollywood
Mann - "Buzzin" Live @ KeyClub 01-26-2011
Featuring cameo's from JR Rotem, DJ Quik & Shawn Chrystopher
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Grammy Museum Celebrates Hip-Hip: A Cultural Odyssey Book Launch & Exhibit
The legendary Afrika Bambaataa spinning at the event above.
via Variety
Hip-hop is receiving its first major exhibition at the Grammy Museum, as "Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey" opened this week in the L.A. Live facility.
The show, which runs at the Recording Academy's facility through May 4, is especially timely this Grammy Week. Rapper Eminem is this year's top Grammy nominee, with 10 nods including recognition in the top categories of album, record and song of the year. Earlier this week, hip-hop was feted in the Grammy Foundation's annual preservation event at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.
The Grammy Museum exhibit was timed to coincide with the Feb. 8 publication of Aria Multmedia's like-titled tome, an overview of hip-hop history edited by Jordan Sommers with contributions by such well-known observers as Dan Charnas (author of the well-reviewed new book "The Big Payback"), Cheo Hodari Coker and Greg Tate.
Read the full story HERE
Photos from the event:
Patrick McMullan
Interviews with Money B, DJ Z-Trip and DJ Quik from the event below courtesy of SeanBourgoisWebb.
The Buck Stop Here: Grammy Party Cutbacks
via Showbiz 411
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since record or CD or download sales are literally at a fraction of what they used to be: on Grammy night, the two biggest record companies are not having after parties. As of now, Universal Music–the leader–has nothing scheduled. It’s unclear where their artists-like Lady GaGa, Justin Bieber, and Eminem will go to celebrate. Of course, as one UMG insider pointed out, Bieber is nowhere drinking age and Monday is a school day. Right.
Meanwhile Sony Music–second in the business–is having a small gathering for what they say will be 150 people including execs, nominees, and people like Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett. Sounds like fun. Exec wise, Sony is in a muddle over trying to get 72 year old Doug Morris extricated from his UMG contract to come run their company.
R&B artist NeYo has cancelled his annual late night brunch that usually starts at 2am on Sunday after Clive Davis’s Saturday night NARAS backed gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Also not happening: LA Reid’s annual party, even though the Def Jam chief is celebrating his producer’s credit on the Justin Bieber 3D movie (which is not called Leave it to Biever).
The Davis event is still on, honoring David Geffen, with rumors of a Dionne Warwick tribute featuring her cousin, Whitney Houston. The Davis night is one of two big soirees on a weekend that’s incredibly diminished from what it used to be. The other is Friday night’s MusiCares Person of the Year dinner honoring Barbra Streisand, a hot hot ticket at the Convention Center.
At the same time that Sony and UMG have skipped spending big bucks, there’s word that EMI–a company in financial jeopardy and recently seized by Citigroup–his having a “big” party in town. Well, they do have artists to entertain like Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum, so it’s not totally nuts. Past EMI parties have always been fun. And there’s a rumor of a Lyor Cohen after party hosted by the Warner Music exec.
There’s also the NARAS Governor’s Ball right after the show, although it’s not usually a place to see stars. But what a difference in a business that used to live on lavish parties. The heyday is really over.
Raekwon 'Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang' NYC Listening Session Report
Raekwon Shaolin Vs Wu-Tang on Ice H20/EMI arrives March 8, 2011
via The Boombox
On Wednesday night, Raekwon mingled with media while previewing his latest project 'Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang,' due everywhere on March 8. Originally positioned as Wu-Tang Clan's RZA-less followup to '8 Diagrams,' Raekwon, who takes credit for the name of the project, grabbed his title and ran with it. Good thing, too.
Listening to the 17 cuts (not including the bonus tracks) on the album, Rae does justice to the kung fu theme with soundbites from vintage martial art films and theatrical beats that segue songs titled 'Chop Chop Ninja,' 'Butter Knives' and 'The Scroll.' While Rae is the clear star, he isn't scared to share the stage with a laundry list of guests, including Nas, Rick Ross, Mobb Deep, Busta Rhymes, Jim Jones, Lloyd Banks, Raheem DeVaughn, Estelle, Black Thought and, as expected, Wu's Ghostface and Method Man. Ghost teams up with Rae on four tracks begging the question: When will we see a Chef and Ghost collaborative album?
As the room of bloggers and journalists chatted among themselves, took notes and tweeted, Rae stayed close to the speaker, eyes closed at times, and rapped his verses while bobbing his head to each track.
"We were tryna show y'all a little movie," Rae says of 'Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang.' The emcee succeeded. The conceptual project seems to work best through Rae's eyes making it easy to forgive the Clan for not releasing this as a group effort.
Tracklisting:
01. Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang (prod. Scram Jones)
02. Every Soldier In the World ft. Method Man (prod. Erick Sermon)
03. Silver Rings ft. Ghostface Killah (prod. Cilvaringz)
04. Chop Chop Ninja ft. Ghostface Killah & Estelle (prod. Bluerocks)
05. Butter Knives (prod. Bronze Nazareth)
06. Snake Pond (prod. Selasi)
07. Crane Style ft. Busta Rhymes
08. Rock N Roll ft. Ghostface Killah & Jim Jones (prod. DJ Khalil)
09. Rich & Black ft. Nas (prod. Sean C & LV)
10. From the Hills ft. Method Man & Raheem DeVaughn (prod. Kenny Dope)
11. Last Trip to Scotland ft. Lloyd Banks (prod. Scram Jones)
12. Ferry Boat Killaz (prod. Alchemist)
13. Dart School (prod. Allah Mathematics)
14. Molasses ft. Rick Ross & Ghostface Killah (prod. Xtreme)
15. The Scroll (prod. Evidence)
16. Masters of Our Fate ft. Black Thought (prod. Tommy Nova)
17. Wu Chant (Outro)
(video courtesy of The Urban Daily)
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