Internet music promotion became a huge thing when MySpace began music pages. It wasn’t the first, but it was the biggest at it’s time. Soon, everyone started getting a music page whether they were good, bad, or just doing it for fun. MySpace got flooded with these websites and soon it just became a nucience. But still, other social networking sites tried the same. Facebook went ahead and made a Pages section for numerous types of things – artists being one of them. But people started making really dumb pages like “I like cookies”, “Shooting a wall” etc. Again, the site got flooded with nonense and good artists never got a chance. The net has made it easy and hard to promote yourself. Easy because accessability to potential fans is a lot easier. Hard because you went from just local competition for promotion to a global mass of artists doing exactly what you’re doing.

So how do we get past all this? How can an artist in a worldwide pool of talent get his or her name out there? It’s not easy, but the key is ‘branding’. Keep your name and put it everywhere. Make sure no one else has it. Using social networking sites (SNS), post your name, or rather your ‘brand’, and let everyone know who you are. Make sure that if someone crosses over to another SNS, they know it’s you and no one else. Those connections cross-site will be a huge help to your promotion. So what are the possible things you could do to brand yourself? Well, there’s a few…

MySpace: The classical internet promoter. Now it’s kind of played out, so I wouldn’t suggest it; but keep one regardless, everything helps.
Facebook: Use those pages to the max. Put up your music, send regular updates, get your fans to hit the “Share” button to show your friends. Before you know it, you’ll have tons of followers and that can only lead to more promotion.
Blogging: Send to blogs and/or create your own blog. Self-promote your music on a blog you’ve created and make sure to let people know you have a blog. It’s probably the best way to create a site, but that’s all about preference. Sending to blogs is definitely another thumbs up, but a lot of blogs will pass it off if you don’t have contacts.
Twitter: Probably the newest most powerful way to connect to artists. Just sitting tweeting on a normal day, I find at least two new artists in my followers box. Every once in a while I’ll even find a magazine, label rep, or promoter following me as well. At the same time, you can have fun with this one – make it publicity-wise but also personal. Let your followers know you’re comfortable with them so that when you drop a song, they’ll want to check it out. If all you do is promote your stuff on your Twitter, chances are people will ignore you and stop following your profile. It’s all about balance. And if someone starts following you, check out their page. If you think they’ll help you in any way, follow them too!

These are probably my top four net-branding faves. There’s others like FriendFeed, ReverbNation etc., but these are definitely the most powerful. So go out there and get your name out!

Very interesting words from K’naan. He claims that Canadian hip-hop is very inconsistent in the sense that there are only a few artists like him, Classified, and k-os. They’re dropping albums and working on their music constantly and consistently while most of the others are just popping in as a surprise every few years with something. Some of these artists literally disappear after an album and are nowhere to be found for years; sometimes, they never come back on the scene.

K’naan simply said that artists from up north just don’t drop new albums, but he never delved into the reasons behind it. Yes, it would be incredibly advantageous to Canadian hip-hop as a whole if every participant dropped a project often rather than once in a while. But let’s look at the individual artist within the big picture and see what’s really happening.

In the US there is an oversaturation of hip-hop artists; so many that not much of real talent ever shines. This country is a media monster and has taken over the international market with a bang. No country doesn’t have an excess of American media, sad but true. Now take that and add the fact that the art and culture of hip-hop music was born in this country as well – give them about 15 years advantage. This means that Canadian hip-hop needs to catch up to a whopping decade and a half of establishment in this art, added to the fact that our media outlet nearly never goes outside of our country unless it has something to do with America.

What does this mean? Unless a Canadian rapper jumps over to an American-based label, he or she will rarely be noticed within the country, forget North America and the rest of the world. You see it everyday – K’Naan jumped over (had to go to New York), Classified did it (joined a Canadian Sony imprint, but still American based), Kardinal did it (Akon’s imprint), Saukrates did it (Redman’s imprint), and of course Drake (do I even need to say it?); guess what – these are some the biggest Canadian artists out right now and it’s not a coincidence.

When an American label looks within the country and sees so much talent that’s hidden, why would their first instinct be to run over to the cold country above to get someone? Log onto MySpace and check how many artists are willing to give up their lives to get a deal and are within the US. It’s actually ridiculous; they’ll give both kidneys to get a label to sign them. There is no reason why an American imprint would jump here constantly looking for artists, it’s a business and they take the most cost-effective approach. When a company needs a position filled, HR first looks within the company to find a good fit and then if there’s nothing they look at external options. Same idea here, except that it’s rare not to find a good fit within just a couple miles of their main office.

This puts our artists in a rut. They don’t get money, but they need to put food on the table for their families, or at least themselves. Let’s say they’re working a 9-5 job, getting between 7-10$ an hour. Take away for living expenses and you don’t have much left over for studio time, marketing, venue costs etc. To make an album you need the green stuff, especially if you’re indie – which most Canadian hip-hop artists are. Take that and add the fact you’ll only be able to release in your local area with that much cash in your pocket. Don’t forget that promotion will most probably be incredibly minimal and you come right back to square one – no money to make more music!

Of course, there’s exceptions like k-os who make it decently big, but we’re talking large scale here. Go to any city in Canada and you’ll find 2-3 amazing hip-hop artists that wish they could gather enough money to drop an album that they can release at least nationally. It’s a tough call, but from the looks of it this industry puts Canadian artists in a vicious cycle that looks something like this: No money means no music. No music means no money. No money means no music. No music…

Call it business and call it unfair, but that’s just the way it is. But don’t let this bring you down if you’re a Canadian hip-hop artist/fan, there’s a lot we can do to help! Don’t take/use this as an excuse, we still have a chance! We’re slowly seeing the aid of internet bringing Canadian hip-hop a little bit to the forefront, but there’s still a long ways to go. I love how we can now promote online for free, which really helps out artists within our country; but the misuse of this technology brings the whole idea down a couple notches on the overall spectrum. Regardless of that, we must take note that our time will come soon, we just have to work hard and put out as much music as we can. Hopefully within the next 5 years we’ll get more respect for the greatness and diversity we’ve brought to the art. So, inconsistent or unable? There’s really a fine line, and hopefully we’ll be able break through either side of it.

I discussed this with @UncommonRecords and @abovegroundmag on Twitter and it really opened up my mind a bit. Why do indie fans hate the mainstream? Some say that Soulja Boy and Lil’ Wayne aren’t “hip-hop”. If you say that, I’m sorry but you have a lot to learn about the art. Let’s take it back to the start. I’m not talking the very roots of it, but rather the first cut that was made by DJ Kool Herc. He had huge speakers and a turntable set. He played, and people danced. What did Herc make? Party music. Hip-hop started with pure, uncut (pardon the pun), enjoyable, party music. So when someone makes a club track, isn’t that “hip-hop”?

Now, obviously we’re not looking at lyrical music. If these artists don’t claim to be lyrical GOATs, then I don’t think there would be an issue. But a lot of them do, and that’s where I think fans get a stricken cord. Let’s look past this issue for just a minute and think about the main issue – the struggle for indie artists who do have lyrical talent. Some say the major labels are to blame since they gear the music the way they want it and don’t let artists be free. This is why some remain indie – and I agree with that decision completely. But we have to think about why these labels are forcing these artists to do what they want.

The public. Who is that? You’re neighbour? Your best friend? Your enemy? The answer is obvious – it’s all of them and everyone else; including you! The majority of people, for whatever reason, prefer these club/dance/pointless songs. Yes, I hate them; and considering you’re on this site I’m sure you feel the same way. But let’s not go on the hate bandwagon. Just let them be. Do you and help the artists you feel deserve the props.

So what can we go about helping our favourite indie artists?

Support them to the fullest. It’s up to you now. Get out there and tell people. Don’t get angry at people for not knowing or not supporting them, just tell them who these artists are. Show them what you think should be on the radio. It’s our responsibility as indie hip-hop fans to make the public help these should-be-famous talents get out there. It’s a struggle, yes, but it’s not impossible. Buy those albums! And nowadays there’s so many net resources to help you with it – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, StumbleUpon, DiggIt, Reddit, and so many more I can’t even begin to count. Stop sitting there complaining! Do something about it!

This is what I want you to do today and/or any day that you can – stop complaining about how people “killed” hip-hop. Stop living in the past and reminiscing about the golden years (which a lot of you never even experienced). Live in the current, but don’t live with it. Live in the current…don’t live with it. And that’s that.