Internet law would hurt independent hip-hop scene

Internet law would hurt independent hip-hop scene
By Davey D

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/eye/14928277.htm

original article-June 29, 2006

In my June 15 column on Tupac Shakur’s legacy, I mentioned sweeping changes that soon could transform the Internet. That’s because of congressional action on the disingenuously named Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act, or COPE, which is backed by large telecommunications companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.

This bill, which passed in the House and is awaiting action in the Senate, would end what is known as “Net neutrality,” by which all sites are equally accessible to users.

Broadband operators have been prevented from charging a fee to prioritize content and services, and the little guy with something to say on a blog has been able to compete with a giant news outlet because he is just as accessible. COPE would replace Net neutrality with a two- or three-tier system in which broadband operators could charge to prioritize content and services for willing customers. Those who don’t pay for the service would become less accessible over their systems. Earlier this month, the House approved COPE by a 321-101 vote.

If the legislation becomes law, the multitiered system could have a devastating effect on the independent hip-hop scene that has emerged over the past few years, with the Bay Area and Houston leading the way. To the chagrin of major record labels, the Internet has been a boon to independent artists who publicize and distribute their songs and videos with little cost while retaining the revenue previously siphoned by the record labels for distribution services. The Internet largely leveled the playing field and eliminated the middle men.

Bay Area acts such as Hieroglyphics and Living Legends have done extremely well selling music and merchandise on the Internet, and they have used it to launch 40- and 50-city tours. Keak Da Sneak, Mistah FAB and others have garnered large international fan bases through innovative use of Web sites such as Myspace.com.

Local filmmakers and TV producers such as Sean Kennedy of Ill Trendz Productions have made names for themselves on the Net. Adisa Banjoko and other Bay Area authors have self-published and distributed their work via the Internet, while organizations like the Hip Hop Congress, led by San Jose’s Shamako Noble, established a national presence using the Web.

On the horizon is technology for increasing Web speeds up to a thousand times over today’s and allowing wide delivery of rich media.

Telecom companies have spent millions of dollars trying to persuade Congress that COPE is necessary so they can do the R&D needed to improve the Internet. Many others, however, argue the technology for super-fast Internet speeds already exists.

According to Scott Goodstein of SavetheInternet.com and Punkvoter.com, 15 countries are far ahead of the United States. In France, Web access priced at $6 per month is currently 25 times faster than top download speeds in this country, where prices average $30 a month. Some Asian countries are reportedly on the verge of introducing speeds hundreds of times faster.

Goodstein reminds us that telecom giants, which did not develop the Internet, nonetheless have received millions of taxpayer dollars to provide universal broadband access, but have yet to deliver. He describes the recent lobbying efforts to stir up support for COPE as a money grab on their behalf, plain and simple.

If the legislation goes into effect, independent artists, bloggers, activists and journalists may find themselves priced out of the kind of Internet service they have enjoyed so far.

Sen. Barbara Boxer has come out in favor of Net neutrality, while Sen. Dianne Feinstein has not announced a position, saying she wants to hear more from constituents.

I encourage everyone to call their offices, because COPE supporters are pulling out all stops to usher in their corporatist version of the Net. Both artists and hip-hop fans stand to lose the freedom they now enjoy.

An easy way to reach your senator is by going to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/ senators_cfm.cfm.

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Choosing Hip over Hype-WBLS Beats Hot 97 Again

Choosing Hip over Hype

Listeners emerge from radio daze, tuning out Hot 97 to pump up WBLSBy Errol Louis orginal article-June 23, 2006 http://www.nydailynews.com/06-23-2006/news/col/story/ 429055p-361762c.html

Here’s some news that will be music to the ears of the many New Yorkers who have grown sick of the vulgarity, violence and stale, payola-driven programming that has poisoned much of urban radio and black culture in general.According to the latest Arbitron figures, tens of thousands of listeners appear to be tuning out Hot 97 – which used to be ranked the No.1 hip hop/R&B station in New York – in favor of WBLS, which beat out Hot 97 in each of the last two ratings periods. WBLS has been on a tear for the past year, thanks to its decision to hire two powerhouse broadcasters: Steve Harvey, who hosts a morning drive time talk-and-music show, and Wendy Williams, who holds down a block from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Harvey and Williams are seasoned radio personalities who bring wit, intelligence and a positive message to a mostly black audience that is hungry for quality. You don’t hear the b-word or N-word tossed around on WBLS; Harvey and Williams are too classy to insult their audience that way. And listeners have responded in droves. According to Arbitron, WBLS had 3.1f the city’s teen and adult radio listeners last winter, but has increased its audience size over each of the last four ratings periods, building its share up to 3.9àDuring the same time, Hot 97 slipped steadily from 4.5f listeners to 3.7à In plain English, WBLS now draws about 30,664 more listeners than Hot 97 during any given period between 6 a.m. and midnight. That can translate into millions of advertising dollars moving from the losing station to the winner. The numbers are a victory for community groups that called for a boycott of Hot 97 following its repeated broadcast of a sickening song parody that mocked victims of the 2004 tsunami that devastated Asia. More negative press dogged the station thanks to three shootings in front of its office over the last few years by the entourages of rappers invited by – and sometimes incited by – station deejays. The decline of “Shot 97” provides powerful evidence that positive, quality programming ultimately wins more listeners – and advertising dollars – than shallow shock radio. Power 105.1, the third urban-format station, has been dropping in the rankings as well, losing to WBLS earlier this year and barely eking out a win most recently with 4f listeners. The station’s rankings may continue to fall, thanks to the recent, career-ending tirade of Power 105.1’s ex-morning host, Troi (Star) Torain, who got a pink slip and a criminal indictment after threatening, on-air, to sexually assault the 4-year-old child of a rival deejay at (where else?) Hot 97. “The hip-hop stations are losing audience share all over the country. How much can you hear about Jay-Z?” says Paul Porter, a media critic who runs a Web site, IndustryEars.com. “Steve Harvey’s topical; he’ll point out things you won’t get on other shows. He’s going to be the biggest voice in black radio.” Credit for the changing mood also goes to groups like the Boston-based Seymour Institute, a black think tank, that have been quietly waging an effort, church by church, to mobilize the black middle-class against the hedonistic and violent lyrics and imagery that have sprouted in hip-hop culture like weeds. “There is a cultural marketing machine that pushes toxic entertainment upon black adults, adolescents and children each day,” says the Seymour group in a recent manifesto. “There is no need for the black community to be complicit in its own degradation.” The same message is being echoed by local grass-roots groups, from www.abolishthenword.com to an organization from a Bronx church called the Council of Bad Language Disdainers. Cultural politics aside, Harvey and Williams are succeeding because they do radio the way it should be: smooth and smart. Tune into 107.5 FM and listen for yourself.

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Everybody in Hiphop Hates Chris,-How Cristal Hustled Hip Hop

Everybody in Hiphop Hates Chris, but so what?!
How Cristal hustled Hiphop

By: Hadji Williams

original article-June 22, 2006

After spitting its virtues for ten summers, Jay-Z and his hiphop minions are now boycotting Cristal, a hiphop staple after Frederic Rouzaud, the brands managing director made what many are calling elitist and racist comments against the hiphop communitys economic support of Cristal in a recent interview in The Economist magazine. (www.targetmarketnews.com)

What can we do? We cant forbid people from buying it. Im sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business. Rouzaud said of hiphops pallets.

Well, as a 15 year marketing vet, Ive got a scoop for Marcys all-time great: Your boycotts too late, fam. In case you havent noticed, it works like this, folks: Hiphop, like the Blues, like most everything from the black community before gets mined for its cool cache. And this time, yall been strip-mined and pimped as corporate cheerleaders. And basically for free, no less.

Rouzaud never cut any brother a check for any of those mic checks. The nouveau rich and the not-so riche been chasing Cris and those uppity brands because Jig, Puff and every other bruh with some BDS and MTV said the bottle was hot. And it worked. Cristal is the 8th most popular brand in 2005 behind Mercedes, Nike, Bentley and Rolls Royce. Meanwhile most of the Hamptons, Hollywood and Wall Street are, as Mr. Rouzaud, put it curiously serene.

Fact is Rouzaud is shooting his mouth off now, because he knows Cristal doesnt need hiphops praises anymore. The Jigs up and theyve moved on. The whole black kid made good angle is played and upscale consumers arent feeling us anymore. You can only play dress-up for so long before the clock strikes. There’s a reason someone like David Beckham now carries more marketing muscle than any handful of ethnic celebs you can name. (Read KNOCK THE HUSTLE -I warned yall this was coming.)

Secondly, its called luxury for a reason, folks. Luxury always excludes. Luxury excludes by class, by price, and yes, by race. And I dont care how much money you got, IT stops being luxury once enough negroes cop it. Sorry, but its true.

But young heads are still sleeping: In the eyes of most marketers Hiphop (and black folks at large) are just disposable media outlets. Its all about reach, frequency and brand equity. Hov dont have the reach n frequency he used to; in fact, hiphop doesnt. (Hate if you want, you know Im right.)

Therefore most luxury brands are starting the slow steady exodus back to more exclusionary brand strategiespaler faces in their ads, more upscale and selective partnerships and cross-promotional opportunities. They want their swagger back.

See, I know this game. While my cats hustled on the streets, I got my grind on the suites too many brands to mention. Never Cristal, but I did help a certain, +A vodka get mad bullish few summers back. (Yep, that was me. See KNOCK THE HUSTLE.)

Anyway, once I got hooked up with some Euros who owned a hard cider brand called K. You know why they called me?

We know that in order to really push this in the states we need to get it in the black community. That’s what these Irish cats told us, point blank. Theyd never been to the US but they knew that much. They asked me for a list of hiphop stars, hot urban clubs, etc. Their plan was simple: Get slick brothers and sisters hyping it up knowing full-well everybody else would be on it in a couple years, if not sooner.

Unfortunately cats werent really feeling the hard cider so it never popped. But that’s how that part of the game works. We sit in rooms and politic and scheme. Sometimes checks get cut and next thing you know your favorite rap superhero is dipped in [INSERT BRAND HERE]. Rouzaud and his kind are no different. No matter what they say.

Now, Im not saying thats how/why Jay got with Cris. Im sure Hov was a Cris fan back when he was just hyping Jaz; just as Run was lacing up Adidas before their contract, and LL rocked Kangols while he was slicing up Kool Moe

Anyway, Mr. Rouzauds sentiments are an orchestrated shoutout to his base that hes putting the velvet ropes back around the Cristal. But hes not alone. While his my-clothes-arent-for-black-folks/Oprah-interview was a hoax, Tommy Hils announcement that the Hilfiger brand is moving out the urban arena and back to its upscale mainstream roots is quite legit. (Google the press releases for more info.)

You can’t slam a door on folks that are walking out on you. Most of the companies that have gotten cool and rich off of hiphop cosigning are cashing out and moving on. Some are looking to Hispanic consumers. Many are going for NASCAR Dads and Soccer mom sets. Others are chasing upscale anglo roots. Some are trying to revive the X-treme thing, etc. But make no mistake: The bachelor party’s over and hiphop just got ran thru by half the cats in the house. And now, theyre going home. So who cares if you dont want to put out anymore?

My advice to the hiphop community is this: Keep these companies names out of your mouth and dont ride for any INC until you know exactly who youre dealing with. Do your due diligence. Most of these folks have no regard for you, your community, your culture, or your art. Youre just a means to an end; and when push comes to shove, theyre mean and focused about getting their ends.

And to every crime nigga that rhyme: theyll touch your mic every time, cuz their minds are quicker. Much quicker.
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A 15-year vet of the marketing industry, Hadji Williams is author of KNOCK THE HUSTLE: How to save your job and your life from Corporate America. Email him: author@knockthehustle.com

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