The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame has announced its five inductees for 2016. The ceremony to welcome them will take place on Friday, April 8, 2016 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the second time. HBO will broadcast the ceremony in spring 2016.
Each act on the list spent decades developing their place in music, and that is one of the requirements for inclusion consideration. An act has to be in business for at least 25 years after the release of its first album to be nominated, but they do not have to be active that entire time. If the group comes out, releases an album or two and breaks up they are still able to be considered for placement in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
Of the nominees considered this year, N.W.A, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Steve Miller, and Chicago are the ones who were selected to be added to the pantheon of all things rock. Most of the artists chosen have been around for upwards of 40 years, but some have only recently become eligible for nomination (N.W.A).
A group of more than 600 artists and music professionals vote on the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductions every year. For five years, the Rock Hall has allowed fans to vote, too. But their top pick counts as a single vote. In 2015, Chicago was the band with the most votes, as the 37-million ballots cast with their name on it accounted for 23% of the total votes for the year.
Dozens of iconic artists who recently became eligible for Rock Hall consideration did not make the cut. Listing them all would take far too long, but a few serious contenders were The Smiths, Nine Inch Nails, The Cars, Chic, Janet Jackson, The J.B.’s, Chaka Khan, Los Lobos, The Spinners, and Yes. It’s a little bit of a surprise that Janet did not make the cut, as women are not represented in any of the newly inducted acts, but perhaps next year will be her year.
To celebrate the artists chosen for induction, please join us in revisiting some of those bands’ biggest singles…
Hello, everyone. Thank you for stopping by our blog. Whether it’s your first visit or your hundredth, we’re happy to have your attention. This is our weekly recap post, which runs every Friday, and in it we talk all things Haulix. Before we get there however, we like to share a song that has been on repeat in our offices this week. With the weekend only a few short hours away, this track will help you celebrate your impending freedom like no other. Enjoy:
As I mentioned above, each and every weekend we like to take a brief break from our regularly scheduled programming to update and reflect on everything happening at Haulix HQ. We are far more than a music blog, as many of you already know, and posts like this give us an opportunity to share more our efforts with all of you.
Development News:
Our development continued to work on the new version of Haulix all week long, and we will tell you first that a great deal of progress has been made. We know we originally planned to have this massive update done in time for the new year, but right now we are looking at a release closer to March. If that feels like forever away, trust us, we feel the same. Every effort is being made to complete this project as fast as possible, but we refuse to cut corners. We pride ourselves on having a product of the highest quality, and we refuse to let that slip in order to be a bit more timely with our release.
Here is a quick teaser of some of the updates you can expect from the new version of Haulix arriving in early 2016…
— Drag n Drop Editor for building custom Press Releases and Promo Invitations
— Choosing recipients will be much easier with a new way to include or exclude groups of contacts
— Save the email and finish later
— Save and re-use drafts like you do now
— The ability to send yourself and coworkers a test email before blasting to your contacts
— The ability to schedule campaigns to automatically send out on a future date and time
Blog News:
The biggest piece of news this week in regards to our blog was the premiere of our Podcast’s 50th episode. We are so thankful for your continued support of Inside Music, and we hope to continue providing great content for you to enjoy for many years to come.
If you missed any content we posted this week, please use the links below to get caught up before a new week begins…
That is everything we have to share this week. Please check in over the weekend as we may throw up some additional content that could help your career in music.
Facebook may still be frustrating musicians with the limited reach of their posts, but the social media giant has launched a new feature that helps users share and discover new music called “Music Stories.”
What is this thing? Good question. Music Stories is a new post format that allows people to listen to a 30-second preview of a shared song, as long as that song is currently available on a major streaming service. The content is pulled from either Apple Music or Spotify, and can be either purchased from or saved to the streaming service.
The previews are available directly from Facebook, but if you want to hear more you can click through to the streaming service. If you don’t have an account, the preview will be all you can hear without making a purchase (or at least signing up for a free trial).
Using the Music Stories feature is surprisingly simple. Just copy the link to the song or album, then post it to your status update box. This creates a preview that others can interact with. An animated spinning record with a pause button shows as the track is played.
Reach may still be an issue, but Music Stories does provide another avenue for artists and their fans to share new music with the world. Plus, it’s more interactive than a basic text post, and from what we’ve seen it looks like these posts could actually lead to real sales. Whether or not that is true remains to be seen, but we’re optimistic. What do you think?
For the last 80 years a number of companies have collected royalties on the song known simply as “Happy Birthday.” You know the track. It’s probably one of the first songs you were ever taught, and every single year since you have heard it-or sung it-while celebrating another year of life. What you haven’t seen, and what has been the cause for much discussion over the better part of the last century, is commercial use of the song. The reason for that has been a very confusing tale of copyright, or lack thereof, that has prevented the song from appearing in plays, movies, television, or even music.
This week, a federal judge in Los Angeles decided that not a single one of the companies who have ever claimed the rights to “Happy Birthday” had a valid copyright. The judge ruled that Warner/Chappell never had the right to charge for the use of the “Happy Birthday To You” song. Warner had been enforcing a copyright since 1988, when it bought Birch Tree Group, the successor to Clayton F. Summy Co., which claimed the original disputed copyright. Judge George H. King ruled that a copyright filed by the Summy Co. in 1935 granted only the rights to specific piano arrangements of the music, not the actual song.
This series of rulings places the song known as “Happy Birthday” in the public domain, which means anyone anywhere can use the song however they wish without having to pay a cent to anyone else. This also means the song will likely start appearing in movies, television shows, and other areas of media in the near future.
The Los Angeles Times further explored the song’s twisted history, noting that the alleged copyright held by Warner/Chappell had made the company big bucks over the last several decades:
The fact that the birthday tune can’t be played or sung without permission from Warner has been little more than a surprising piece of trivia for most, but for Warner Music Group, it has meant big business. Two of the filmmaker plaintiffs paid $1,500 and $3,000 for the rights to use the song, their attorneys said. Filmmaker Steve James paid Warner $5,000 to use the song in his 1994 documentary “Hoop Dreams.”
“It was quite expensive for us at that time and with our budget. And we only used it for 9 seconds,” James wrote in an email passed along by his publicist. James said the scene was “essential” to the film and ultimately decided to pay up.
We predict it won’t be long until the “Happy Birthday” song is everywhere. Send us links on Twitter when you find the song in use.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to our blog. The fast-rising temperatures tell us summer is not far around the corner, and as we look around the office this afternoon it’s clear everyone is excited for the weekend ahead. We don’t want to impose on your plans, but if you need a fresh soundtrack for your life you could do a lot worse than this:
Each and every weekend we like to take a brief break from our regularly scheduled programming to update and reflect on everything happening at Haulix HQ. We are far more than a music blog, as many of you already know, and posts like this give us an opportunity to share more our efforts with all of you.
Reminder of Scheduled Maintenance:
We will be performing general patch updates in all of our servers this Saturday, May 9, from12:00PM CST – 4:00PM CST. There will be some minor downtime during the process and services will be unavailable.
We have said this before and I will say it again, there is no new development news to report this week. As most of you know, we are currently in the midst of a complete platform makeover, and as such there are many big and small projects being tended to at one time. We have been making advancements. In fact, we have made many each week, but right now we are working on things that behind-the-scenes and we don’t feel like boring you with the details of all that entails. When something client facing is changed, we will let you be the first to know.
Blog News:
We pride ourselves on making every week the blog exists one that is filled with unique and engaging content. This week was no different, and even though we were unable to release a new episode of our podcast the items that were published seemed to resonant with readers. Some may have noticed that the kinds of content we run is beginning to evolve, with more talk of industry changes/news than ever before. We think it adds a nice new layer of coverage to our efforts, but if you disagree please let us know. This site exists to help YOU thrive, and we can do our job well if you tell us what works best to accomplish that task.
In case you missed anything new, here is a list of all the recent posts to our blog:
That is all the news and updates we have to share this week. Have a safe and exciting weekend. If you get a chance, stop by the site and look for our weekend content, which will include a new job board. Otherwise, we will see you next week!
Good afternoon, everyone! We are thrilled to learn that you made time in your day to spend a few minute on our site. The interview you are about to read was conducted with one of our favorite clients, and from what we’ve seen on music blogs they seem to be quite popular with fans of alternative music as well. We’ll have more industry interview later this week, so please make sure to stop by again soon.
This site exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
We are not in the business of writing long-winded editorials proclaiming our love for the best releases of the year and the people behind them, but if we were to develop that type of content for the 2014 calendar year there would be no way we could ignore the awesome accomplishments of Pure Noise Records. The California based label, which is run by founder Jake Round, put out a series of universally praised releases throughout 2014 that helped to diversify the company’s already strong roster of talent. As the year winds down, the company is now gearing up for an even busier 2015, and earlier this month Round somehow found time in his busy schedule to speak with us about life as an independent label owner.
The interview you are about to read contains highlights from an hour-long chat we had with Jake Round on December 5. We may release the extended version in podcast form, but we ensure you all the best moment are included below. If you have any additional questions for Jake, or if you simply wish to give us feedback on this content, you can add your thoughts at the end of this post. Please be sure to follow Pure Noise Records on Twitter.
H: Hello, Jake. How is California today?
J: It’s pretty miserable today, honestly, or at least miserable for us. It’s been raining a lot. I’ve been in Europe for the last week and a half though, so it feels good to be home.
H: What were you doing in Europe?
J: Story So Far and State Champs were playing in London. I also had some meetings with distributors and booking agents. I try to get out there once or twice a year, and I realized I hadn’t been out there since February.
H: Well it pretty much goes without saying that you have been incredibly busy since February. Not only have you been releasing a lot of albums, but you’ve been doing a lot of press for the label as well.
J: We did a lot of press around the five-year anniversary of the label. Early March is technically the anniversary of the label, so we did a SXSW showcase, a party/show in Oakland, and yea – we did some press around it as well. Then we had a pretty busy release year in terms of actual releases. A lot of EPs, which were kind of annoying, but part of the game. Next year we’ll have less releases, but more full length albums. We’re forecasting to do a lot bigger numbers, so I’m looking forward to that.
H: I’ve heard a lot of label people say in the past that while EPs can be good for artists, the profit margins are typically small. The same has been said for 7”, but is that true?
J: 7” are the biggest money losers on the Earth. I’ve put out a ton of them, but at this point they’re used more as a marketing tool than anything. I just did a CD/7” with Seaway in November, and we’ll totally make some money on it, but after you factor in all the time and other aspects it’s not much at all. The fact of the matter though is that the band isn’t ready to make a record. They won’t be ready for the until May of next year at the earliest, and we needed something to do here on the label end. This allows us to do that and build steam behind their future releases.
H: I’ve noticed you’ve done a lot of interviews this year, and from my research a few feel pretty repetitive. I’m sure you’re a bit tired of being asked about your ‘upcoming releases’ at this point.
J: I don’t know about that. The bands sometimes complain how many interviews they have to do, so I feel I have to do them all. I can’t force them to do something I wouldn’t do. At the same time, there was a time when no one really gave a shit. I’m flattered people want to talk to us, and I don’t take that for granted in any way.
H: When did you first notice people outside your circle of friends caring about the label and its plans for the future? As we just said, when did they start to ‘give a shit’?
J: That’s debatable, but I quit my day job in 2012. I spent a few years selling merch on Warped Tour for Rise Records. They’ve taught me a lot about the industry and are still some of my very close friends. They sent me out in 2010 and allowed me to sell a few of my own CDs on the road. Then I went out in 2011, right around the time Story So Far put out their full length, and it became clear things were starting to happen for them. When the album did come out, I knew I needed to get home because the album was blowing up. That’s probably when I first knew things were really taking off. We planned a much bigger 2012, I quit my job, and we bought office space. I actually lived here for a while as well, but now it’s just the office space and we have two full-time employees as well.
H: I read about the employees in another interview. You brought on your first employee in the spring, but when did the second join the Pure Noise team.
J: Just in November. He’s a video guy.
H: That’s great. Someone like that can cover a lot of tasks/costs.
J: Yea, that was the deciding factor. I put out 9 records this summer, and all of a sudden I got hit with this gigantic bill I had accrued on video costs. I decided I would try to get around that by bringing on someone full time, and that’s what we’ve done. He does a lot of marketing videos right now, but he can do music videos as well. We really need a fourth person, to be honest, but we’re not quite ready for that just yet.
H: I’m sure you wouldn’t have to look too far to find someone who would want to join the team. At the same time, I guess you want to be careful with when you start your search and how you go about vetting candidates.
J: It’s really hard to find good label people. If I wanted to spend the money we would already have another person, to be honest. It’s one of those things where, as a business, you operate with a lot of debt. I have never had any outside support for the label. I got a little money from my parents when we started, but we’ve been using credit and working while in debt. Right now we’re trying to grit and bear the workload while we pay down some of those debts.
H: Speaking of accounting, I read somewhere that your mom does all the accounting for Pure Noise. I was wondering how you approached her about that role and whether or not you could, in theory, do it yourself.
J: I was actually a math teacher before running the label, if you can believe it. I just never liked accounting. That was my problem, and as a result I would put it off. So one year I didn’t take care of any of our transactions at all, and at the end of December my mom and I had to manually input all of the receipts from the entire year. She was so mad (laughs).
She doesn’t do any royalty accounting. We do our own accounting for merchandise royalties, as it’s fairly easy to add everything and divide by two, but for royalties and those costs we have an outside company. I could do it all myself, but it’s one of those things where we are so overwhelmed that it’s nice to have someone else come in and make sure it’s handled.
H: I do want to talk about your releases as of late. You’ve had a big 2014 overall, but here at the end of the year you’ve really delivered some universally praised albums. How would you compare the work you’ve done this year to everything you’ve accomplished in 2013?
J: In 2013 we had our first really big hit with The Story So Far’s record, but in 2014 we really found a nice groove with our releases and we had a lot of diversity. We hadn’t put out many heavy records in the past, and it wasn’t because I didn’t like heavy music, but because I was playing heavy music myself. I didn’t want to potentially put myself in a position where I took an opportunity away at the label for my own selfish reasons. Once I stopped playing music, I dove back into heavy stuff and we started bringing on bands like Vanna and Into The Wind.
My first job was at Fat Wreck Chord and I felt they had a really diverse lineup. With Pure Noise, I want to do everything that applies to the world of young punk music. That applies to a lot of different kinds of music, and I feel we are starting to showcase that well on the label. I’m really excited for Gates and how it has been received because it’s one of the most unique records we had ever done. We took a lot of risks with that album and fortunately it has gone really well.
I’m really looking forward to next year as well. We have a lot of great full lengths on the way, including The Story So Far and Four Year Strong. We’re about to announce a record from (REDACTED) that I think will be received really well. We have a few more things we haven’t announced yet that I’m pretty excited about, but I can’t really talk about those yet.
H: You mentioned the fact there would be less releases from Pure Noise in 2015, but more full lengths.
J: There are still going to be a lot of records. 15, I think.
H: That’s more than one a month. I don’t think anyone can really scoff at that.
J: I would love to be doing less.
H: Do you feel like you have to maintain a high number of annual releases?
J: No, not at all. I could probably release zero albums next year and not go broke. I don’t think out output has been all that intentional. When we first started, I signed a lot of bands because we could. Not that we needed to, but we could, so we did. Now we’re reaching a point where established bands want to do albums with us, and that’s really cool, but we still want to develop new bands as well. I want to find a balance between those two.
H: That’s a smart move.
J: Looking now, I think we have 17 releases this year right now. That’s not including a few things I still have to figure out. Should be a great year though, I’m excited about it.
H: Well I won’t keep you from working on those efforts any longer. Thanks for your time Jake.
Hello, everyone. Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to join us for a little music industry discussion. We were not planning to run this particular feature today, but life has a funny way of telling you what needs to be done when you least expect it (as you will soon learn). If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
I was halfway through an editorial on stage lighting today when a new post from our friend Anthony at The Needle Drop caught my attention. In the clip, a fan wrote to Anthony asking him about his thoughts on cell phone usage at shows, and what he remembers from attending performances before smart phones. I was both fascinated and made to feel extremely old by Anthony’s response, as I had never thought of my life as having been lived in an era now known as ‘pre-smart phone,’ but I was also incredibly intrigued by the notion that such technological advancements have forever changed the way people experience live music. Before I ramble on, however, it’s only right that I share Anthony’s video first:
Most people discuss concerts and the age smart phones by beginning with the issues it presents, so that might as well be where we begin too. It’s no great secret or shocking revelation that cell phones causes light pollution, and any setting where a lack of lighting is used to set the mood is almost instantly ruined by the use of phones. Movies theaters are a common place to encounter this problem, but it can apply to concerts as well. When you’re waiting for a headliner to go on and the venue finally drops the lights, what is the first thing you notice? Phones. Lots of them. It could be any date of the tour in any city and there are at least a few people in the crowd that feel they absolutely must have the first few moments captured on their phones. Why? Who cares! It’s [insert band] and they were there, that’s all the reason needed to block the view of whoever is seated/standing behind them. Do people even watch these videos? If they do, does anyone ever ask themselves why they tried to film a clip while jumping up and down and holding a beer cup with their teeth. or do they simply hit delete and move on with their lives, never giving a second thought to the impact their actions had on other concert attendees? I hope for the former, but I assume the latter is far more often the case.
It’s not just light pollution, however, because if it were there would be far less people constantly complaining. Light is the tip of the iceberg of problems people have discovered in the age of smart phones, and it’s followed by an endlessly updating juggernaut known as social media. Between tweeting updates from the show, sharing photos on Instagram, capturing videos and pictures for Snapchat, checking email, texting with friends, and ever so often ignoring a phone call it’s not uncommon to see several people spend entire performances with their fingers wrapped tightly around a little glowing rectangle that refuses to go dim. You may even hear them complain to their friends and family about a lack of 4G, or that their ‘phone’s battery totally sucks,’ even though it’s simultaneously running a dozen apps that each require different bits of information to be shared from the device, bounced off a satellite, received by a computer, sent back via satellite, and returned to the phone within fractions of a second. Stupid, lazy technology. Why can’t you be perfect already?
Anthony talks about this a bit in his video, but there was a time not too long ago when none of this was common place at concert venues. The first sixteen years of my life I attended shows without ever seeing people with phones in hand, and even when they began to appear it wasn’t until closer to 2010 that their presence reached a point that it was, at times, overwhelming. That said, there have always been assholes in this world, and I am willing to wager that as long as there have been concerts there have been those who go to shows for all the wrong reasons and end up ruining the experience for others. Before phones, some of the common complaints overheard at shows dealt with noise levels from other people’s conversations and the pseudo tough guys who felt they could only express their excitement about the show be attempting to start mosh pits that never full took off. Instead, those tough guys ran into people who didn’t want to be covered in other people’s sweat, which gave that stranger a story to then convey to all their drunken friends, thus causing the aforementioned noise problem.
The worst noise problem I ever encountered was the first time I saw the band Mewithoutyou following the release of their sophomore album. It was a great release, but far more subtle and atmospheric than their raucous debut. As a result, several people in the audience who came with hopes of hearing music worth mousing to found themselves faced with an evening of acoustic instruments and sing-a-longs. They were respectful at first, for the most part, but as the evening carried on the number of random conversations taking place throughout the crowd began to build, which in turn considerably raised the overall noise level. You could see the frustration on the band’s face, but they powered on as all great bands do, and the moments I was able to make out through the white noise of distracted concert goers was sublime.
Noise pollution is still a problem today, but often it takes a back seat to smartphones because people are too caught up in their glowing screens to attempt a conversation with anyone by their side. That is one unintentional bonus to peoples’ obsession with their phones, I guess, but nine times out of ten I would gladly take a few loud voices over a room of glowing phones. You may disagree, and that’s okay too. Link me to your blog on this very topic and I’ll share it.
I’m not sure the music world will ever find a solution to the problems caused by smartphones, but there are those in the industry who are trying their best to curve its impact on the overall concert experience. Neutral Milk Hotel, for example, asks fans to not film or photograph any part of their performance. People still do, of course, but the number of people doing so are far less than they would be in a situation where no one had asked anything of the audience. People can follow instructions, believe it or not, but it’s needs to be presented in a way that does not come across as being too stern or threatening. As an artist, you have the power to try and downplay phone usage through leveraging similar tactics, but at the end of the day people are going to behave however they please. Treat fans with respect and ask them to do the same for each other, you never know what might happen.
For those of you reading this who stand in crowds instead of performing on stage, you also have the power to make a difference in these situations. Bullying or otherwise taunting those who use their phones extensively will get you nowhere, but taking the time to politely ask those around you to put their phone away is completely fine. They might not listen, of course, and in some cases they may even say some rather nasty things to you, but at least you will have expressed your opinion on the matter. You can also try to get to the show early enough that the number of people between you and the stage is low, which in turn lessens the likelihood of phones blocking your view later in the night.
I do think it’s important to note that not all cell phone use is bad. Back in April I had the opportunity to see Miley Cyrus perform at TD Garden in Boston, and at one point in the evening she asked everyone to pull out their phones as a way of illuminating the room. The visual that created, as I witnessed thousands of tiny screens bouncing up and down to booming top 40 production, is one I will never forget. Similar effects can be achieved in smaller venues too.
Additionally, several artists have begun developing apps that can enhance an individual’s concert experience. Dan Deacon, for example, created an app that syncs with and responds to his live show. A video of that application in action can be viewed below:
There may be days when it seems smartphone technology has backed itself into a creative wall, but I think we have only scratched the surface of innovation as far as the crossover between music and the little devices we all carry in our pockets are concerned. The problems caused by cell phone use at shows is bothersome, yes, but the possibilities for how those phones could be used to better the future concert going experience is almost too enticing too resist. The best thing you can do is take it upon yourself to be conscious of your own phone usage and encourage others to do the same. Some will listen, others will not, but at least you will have made an effort to better the world for everyone else.
Hello again. Thank you for taking a few moments out of your day to spend with us. We have been planning a very special reveal for the end of the week, but before we get there we have the pleasure of hosting an editorial from Antique Records about their experience putting out their very first vinyl release. If you have any questions about developing as a business owner in music, please do not hesitate email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
For the last two years I have had the great fortune of running a tiny indie record label with my best friend. We started our label, known as Antique, on a whim. It dawned on us one day that we shared a mutual bucket list goal of owning a label and that life had put both of us in a position to create that very thing. It was exciting and thrilling, but also pretty low risk as far as money was concerned. You see, until very recently we were known solely for creating limited edition cassette pressings of popular indie albums. Yes, people still buy cassettes.
Anyways, at the end of 2013 we decided that if we ever wanted to take Antique to a new level we would have to invest more time and money into the products we create. We went back and forth on the best way to expand our horizons, but truth be told we settled on the very first idea that came to mind (after spitballing an additional 100 or so ideas that are still unexplored). That idea, as the title of this article suggests, was pretty simple: Let’s make vinyl. I was already an avid collector myself, as was my co-owner, but the costs associated with such an undertaking turned out to be about 10x what we had experienced when placing a new cassette order so we had – until that point – never thought about pressing records ourselves.
A few weeks after Craig, my label’s co-owner, and I had that conversation about expansion we decided to take a leap of faith an register an LLC for our label. We admittedly should have done this about two years ago, but as we were paying for everything out of pocket and barely breaking even, if not losing money outright, we never thought it too necessary to pay the costs associated with ‘properly’ starting a business. Once we did, however, we were able to sign up for a company credit through American Express, which made our dreams of making vinyl (and accruing large sums of debt) a reality. We searched the net and found the perfect voice to represent the future of our label, made a deal to press their latest album, and in early February placed an order for 500 vinyl records.
Months passed, but eventually the records did show up at my apartment, which for the time being doubles as Antique Records HQ. There, buried amongst boxes and packing tape, I embarked on a multi-hour mission to organize, pack, and ship 150 pre-orders that until this very afternoon were a drain on my free time. Now that I’m all caught up, I’m ready for more, but first I wanted to take a few minutes and share some insight on my experiences with this release. Some of it may feel obvious, but when you’re in the midst of trying to start your own business, let alone doing so while promoting a relatively unknown artist’s new album can make you so busy you overlook basic tricks of the trade. So, here it is, the best of everything I learned while putting out my label’s first vinyl:
1. Record pressing, like pretty much every other facet of entertainment, can be a long and frustrating process that is almost entirely out of your control.
When we decided to press our first record in the early months of 2014, I knew we would be facing competition at the production facility from all the major label releases planned for Record Store Day in April. What I did not realize, however, was just how much of an impact the growing demand for vinyl would have on my business. The company we ordered from guaranteed a 6-8 week turnaround, but told me it may be closer to 10 considering how many orders were pouring in when we first contacted them. By my math, that put our album release date somewhere between April 15 and the beginning of May. You know when the records arrived? June 25. That’s just over four months after I placed the order, which is a fact people who pre-ordered the album reminded me of well over a dozen times in the weeks leading up to the record’s arrival at my label’s doorstep. I called multiple times during the wait, but the most insight anyone could offer is that it was ‘being processed.’ Ultimately, I had no choice except to keep my cool and wait for word from the plant.
2. You will always need more tape. Always.
One thing no one ever talks about when it comes to putting out records is the amount of time and tape you will need to box and send off your product. We all want our records to succeed, of course, but as the owner of an independent label you need to realize the responsibility of making all those consumers happy falls entirely on your shoulders. As such, you need to make sure you’re ready for your first album to arrive by buying plenty of boxes, tape, and whatever additional shipping supplies you feel you may need well in advance of the final product arriving at your door. I cannot tell you how much time I wasted making not two, but three extra trips to the office supply store because I underestimated the tools I would need to do my job well. Plan ahead. Over plan, in fact. Just be prepared.
3. You cannot please everyone. You should try to, of course, but eventually you have to accept that some people have demands that are just too great.
When releases records, especially early on in the life of your label, people may be suspicious of just how well you actually run your operation. Delays may be out of your control, but that does not mean people will not blame you when their orders do not arrive on time. Likewise, there will be people who expect you to ship their order the same day the final product arrives from the plant. You may be able to comply with this request on rare occasions, but if you try and meet every demand made by consumers you will be inundated with too many requests to handle. Keep communication open at all times, but don’t be afraid to put your foot down whenever necessary.
Above all, don’t be a dick. Even when you have to be the bad guy, be as nice as you can possibly be.
4. You’re going to need help.
The fact you’ve taken it upon yourself to start a label and put your own money into making records is great, but if you believe you can handle all the ins and outs of owning a small business without a little help from your friends you’re sorely mistaken. As your business grows so will the various task that demand your time and attention. This goes double for super successful order, which come with a large number of pre-orders that need to be packed and shipped in advance of the album’s intended release. It’s the kind of thing people call a ‘good problem,’ but it’s a problem nonetheless. If people ask to help, let them. If not, consider seeking an intern.
5. International shipping has the power to break your spirits (unless you plan accordingly).
We may live in a digital age where essentially every task that can be turned into an app has been turned into an app, but that does not mean every thing your business needs to succeed is automated as soon as you sign up to open an online store. Many services automate overseas shipping, but not all of them. I know at least three labels who put up records with $5 shipping and forgot to make sure international orders had a different rate, including my own. The results, while not completely miserable, set the labels back several hundred dollars. Some orders even lost money! Always. ALWAYS. Double check shipping before pushing a new product live.
August is a month of firsts for the Haulix blog. Yesterday we kicked things off with the first edition of our PR Spotlight, and today we’re excited to highlight the first of many urban music properties in the latest Blogger Spotlight. If you know of any sites you want to see featured in a future installment of this column, please do not hesitate to email james@haulix.com with your suggestions.
Drew Ellison and Eric Cunningham, better known to the internet as HowFlyHipHop, have gone from relative obscurity to the forefront of urban music blogging in just over two years of existence. Their recipe for this success is attributed to a combination of hard work, timeliness, and networking that has positioned them to not only be reporters, but tastemakers in the hip hop and R&B realm. From song streams, to playlists and interviews, HowFlyHipHop is on the cutting edge of what’s popular, and in today’s article we learn how it all came to be. Whether you’re looking to gain exposure for your music or start a hip hop blog of your own, we’re confident the insight provided by Drew and Eric in the interview below will help you take the steps towards furthering your career in music.
As always, if you enjoy what Drew and Eric have to say, be sure to reach out and let them know you enjoyed this article. They both have Twitter accounts, so click the links and follow Drew, Eric, and their site as soon as time allows. If you have any additional questions for this duo you can leave them in comments section at the end of this post.
H: For those unaware, please state your name, the site you work for, and your role at said site:
HFHH: We are Drew Ellison & Eric Cunningham, co-owners of HowFlyHipHop.com. We both handle every aspect of running the site, from posting, to checking the daily emails for new talent, to interacting with our loyal followers on social media. And of course, don’t forget about handling technical difficulties from time to time, it’s not all fun but it comes with the game.
H: What inspired you to get into writing in the first place, and how did that lead you to start HowFlyHipHop?
Eric: I originally started HFHH as a hobby, out of a love for hip-hop. Initially it was just on a free Blogger, very casual. It wasn’t until Drew came along that we really started to take things serious. It’s important to team up with somebody whose strengths are your weaknesses, and that’s what made us a perfect team, along with our drive to succeed. Writing wasn’t necessarily a passion of mine, it’s more so the love for Hip Hop, and putting people onto new music.
Drew: I’m on the same page as Eric. I wouldn’t say being into writing lead to me being involved with HFHH. If anything, involving myself with HFHH got me into writing. I’ve always been a huge hip-hop fan, and I had known Eric was running a Blogger. I hit him up with the idea to buy a domain, some hosting, and see if we couldn’t get the site to do numbers. I think we would both agree that we enjoy writing articles now however. It breaks up the monotony of just posting music, and anything we write is always well received.
H: They say the first hip hop album someone loves determines the type of music they love for the rest of their life. What was the first album you remember connecting with, and does that style of hip hop hold up as your favorite to this day?
Drew: The first album I ever truly loved, was The College Dropout. I was 13 at the time, I guess you could say I was in my “formative” years. Just given the time in my life, and what I was going through, it had an impact on me unlike any album prior, or since. It was a perfect blend of being relatable and GOOD music, no pun intended. Kanye was and remains my favorite hip-hop act, even though he has since veered far from the College Dropout sound. As far as favorite style of hip-hop, me and Eric have discussed this before & I know he will say the same… I don’t have one. I have an equal appreciation for all sub-genres of hip-hop, just depends on the mood & setting.
Eric: For me it was Tha Carter II, and I know that’s not nearly the greatest hip hop album of all time, but it’s my favorite. It’s more so about the time period of my life then. I was a senior in high school, right after Hurricane Katrina, that album was one of the first things to look forward to during that time. It was during his prime years as well, when he was on the rise and still hungry. That was the soundtrack to me and my friends’ senior year, so the memories that come with it are what makes it my favorite. As far as favorite style goes, Drew got it right.
H: Urban music is thought by many to be the most covered genre on the internet. What does HowFlyHipHop offers fans that separates it from its numerous competitors?
Eric: I would like to think many things. For one, we don’t clutter, or overpost. I think that’s in important. You go to some blogs, and there’s plenty of irrelevant posts that take up pages everyday. I know what I go to music blogs for. New music, music videos, mixtapes, news, and interviews. Most people could care less about Kanye West being photographed by TMZ, or a live performance of a song that you can barely make out. We like to strictly post the things people are looking for, we want it to be easy for them to see what’s new without having to sift through bullshit that’s just there to take up space.
Drew: To go along with that. Speed. We aren’t an update-once-a-day music blog. We post new music within moments of it hitting the net. We like to interact with our readers. We like hearing other’s opinions, and you will often see us seeking them out on our Facebook page. We like to offer original content to our readers. Whether that’s an exclusive mix, or dropping a compilation for people who may have missed a few of the tracks an artist put out the past few months. A lot of it is just thinking what would our readers appreciate, and then trying to implement that in some way.
H: HFHH has earned a reputation for being one of the quickest sites in urban music. Where do you go to discover news and new artists?
Eric: We strive to be the quickest, if you’re late what good are you? From the start we made that clear to each other, we have to be faster than everybody else. In a saturated market, there’s always option A,B,C,D,E,F, and so on beyond Z in terms of hip hop blogs. It’s unrealistic to be the first blog with every new song, but we always have & always will be one of the first every time. We’re in 2013 now, so there’s really no excuse to not know what’s coming out, and when. If a Drake single is dropping, you’ll know AT LEAST a few good hours in advance thanks to social media, so you should be looking out for it. One of us always make ourselves available when we know something big is due out during any given hour. There’s really no secret about how to obtain the new music these days, most artists will drop it via Twitter, Facebook, or their Soundcloud (usually all 3). As far as new upcoming artists, we pretty much take those from our email. We go through tons of submissions, and if we’re truly feeling it, we’ll post them on the site. That’s about all there is to that process.
Drew: Eric put it nicely. It’s mostly just being vigilant, and willing to sacrifice a little sleep, or maybe postpone going out for a few minutes in order to make sure our readers are up to the minute on new music. New artists seek us out all the time, and make their way into all of our email inboxes and mentions. We like to set aside some days and listen to unsigned artists that have contacted us. If we’re feeling it, we’ll post it, and hit them up.
H: Speaking of music discovery, you probably receive a lot of submissions from young artists vying for a spot on your news feed. What advice can you offer young artists hoping to stand out in your inbox?
Drew: Absolutely. The most important thing is quality and presentation. We cater to the unsigned talent who take the craft seriously. They invest in themselves, and their work. You just picked up a computer mic, and are experimenting with rapping? That’s dope. JUst don’t expect to be posted on the site. Pay for studio time. If you can’t create, pay for professional photography or artwork. I can’t tell you how many emails we get with no pictures, no bio, completely blank. Just a 2MB song attached, with terrible sound quality.
Eric: Yep. A huge problem with new artists is that they don’t know how to properly present themselves, or they just simply don’t take themselves that serious. If you don’t take yourself or your art serious, why should anybody else? The reason unsigned artists are so scarce on the site is simply because very few people can actually follow the simple steps, which we’ve posted on the site multiple times.
H: When it comes to receiving music for review and feature consideration, which services do you prefer and why?
Drew: Unfortunately for hip-hop, it’s the easiest genre of music to get into casually. You don’t need to play an instrument, you don’t need to have a singing voice. There is no real investment, whether speaking in terms of money or time. If you have access to a mic, the internet, and about 20 minutes, you can make hip-hop “music” that finds its way into our inbox. That is the case for a depressingly large number of the submissions we receive. These often include nothing more than an attached mp3 file and a subject line of “check dis out.” If the rant we went on a few questions ago doesn’t make it clear, we really value presentation. Something like Haulix is desperately needed within the hip-hop community, and as a blogger I would love to see it become the norm. As it stands, the best we hope for is a properly recorded track, professional photography or artwork, and a short bio, sent to our email designated for unsigned submissions.
Eric: I agree, and would like to add to avoid our Twitter mentions when submitting music.
H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Eric: The industry is moving in a good direction. Albums are being made available for free streaming more than ever, more artists are releasing their music under their own terms, etc. The formula still isn’t perfect though, labels are still holding back the inevitable new age that we’re stepping into. What Jay-Z did with Samsung for his new album is what the future is. Partner with a big company that way you can release your music for free early, but still get paid for your work via the deal you made. Then, provide hard copies & digital copies for retail later. People will support what they like, it’s as simple as that. There’s not many people who don’t know how to obtain any new album for free on the internet, that’s not going away. But many artists still manage to go platinum, many artists still manage to sell 3 million singles with one hot song, etc. Trying to force blogs to take down music, especially when an artist himself puts it out, and prefers that it be placed on these blogs, is ridiculous. Blogs have created careers for people like Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, and others. Anybody with talent can be heard now. Labels are more and more starting to realize this though, so we’re on a good path I’d say.
Drew: It’s hard to choose just one thing. Even though I believe I know which problems exist within the music industry, I don’t necessarily have the solutions to those problems. Labels are definitely in trouble at this point, as they are no longer vital to being successful as an artist. Digital sales are becoming more and more the norm. Digital markets mean less money for labels. Pandora, Spotify, Youtube, iTunes, etc. are means for an artist to distribute their music at practically no cost, and still be paid. Social media and blogs allow for artists to put themselves on, without the label push. I’m not sure of one specific thing that I would change, but if I had to put it generally: Labels need to realize that the music industry has irreversibly changed, and act accordingly.
H: You tweet a lot about having big plans for the future. Before we let you go, can you tell us a bit about what you have planned in the months ahead?
Eric: Expect more articles. Original content is something that takes a site to the next level. We’ve always had original content, but in small doses. We plan to kick that up a notch in the coming months. More mixes, more playlists, we’re really just experimenting with new things constantly and seeing what people like. You might even see a redesigned HFHH in the coming months. Besides that, we’re going to continue giving everybody the great service that we always have.
Drew: I don’t like to talk too specifically about what we’re going to do, before we do it, but Eric touched on a lot of the things. Stay tuned.
