From The Trunk To The Web, USD To Yen (and controlling our image along the way!) by R.S.
If the anecdotal evidence, such as the hollow boasts of connections and impending success we hear from individuals we soldier with in corporate America’s cubicles, is to be believed, I am one of about 2 million brothers who currently has a “rap CD” and is trying to make progress in the music industry. If you're on the East Coast, like I am, I’m probably a little different than the cat in the cube next to you, since my self-financed and produced CD is actually being sold.
It’s been an interesting couple of months. I definitely appreciate the support I have received in the United States, but what has really excited, and surprised me, is the amount of support that I have been receiving from other nations, such as Japan.
You know the routine. You have a grand idea and start planning how everything is going to happen, step by step. Then when you actually put your plan into action, it never goes as you expected. Well I released my independent CD "....Louder Than Words" in June and had a specific plan to tackle the tri-state area (NJ, NY, PA). In a recent interview, Sheek Louch of The Lox spoke of how it is impossible to release an independent cd in the tri-state area as people are just not receptive to independent music as they are down south. He’s right, and I expected to struggle, but since this is where I live, I decided to pull a Booker T. Washington and cast my bucket down anyway.
I put all of my energy and resources into marketing the "Adult Contemporary Hip Hop" brand and promoting "…Louder Than Words" in my immediate area. My team and I were hustling (in the tradition of E-40 as opposed to some knuckle-dragging dopeman) and gradually racking up sales and building interest. At the same time, I also put my CD on sale on a 3rd party website. Every time a cd sells on that web site, I receive a notification via email.
Well, two days after I posted my CD on that website, the flood began. The CD sold out and has gone on to sell out on the web site three times in the last four months (And we’re not done; sales are still coming in!). The strangest thing is that a large number of the sales were coming from Japan! Apparently the initial Japanese purchaser stumbled on to my CD and began spreading the word among his friends and in his network. We have often heard about how big Hip Hop music has become in Japan, but I was very surprised that my CD, which is radically different from the cookie-cutter content that is often pushed, would sell so well without any promotion (or real effort on my part). I've even found my cd on sale on a Japanese web site and found a review of my CD in Japanese (that bugged me out)! My
own website, www.adultcontemporaryhiphop.com, has received a large amount of visitors since June, but again I am receiving significant amount of traffic from foreign countries including Japan (coming in strong), U.K., Denmark, India, Chile, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, and Seychelles. My first single "Get Away" also took off overseas, specifically in the U.K. The single debuted as the seventh most requested song on the UK internet station aiiradio.net and remained the most requested Hip Hop song on their chart for the month to follow.
Maybe if I had actually created a plan to reap those Japanese sales I wouldn’t have been so surprised. Chuck D of Public Enemy, whose new CD New Whirl Odor is out now, has regularly noted how it is important for American artists to get on their grind and build support in different spots around the world. Beginning with Public Enemy’s first album, Yo Bumrush The Show, PE has always made sure to cultivate a multi-country fan base that could sustain them whether they were “hot” in the immediate American market (“been through two passports/ass stay up in airports” – World Tour Sessions from PE’s There’s A Poison Going On). I’ve heard that Speech of Arrested Development has a following in Japan. O.C. of Digging In The Crates had a leaked album called Starchild which sold well in Japan and in an interview he noted that Japan is D.I.T.C.’s biggest market. I wonder how one of my old favorites, Lord Finesse, sells out there. Anyway, now that I have started to experience some of what Chuck has been talking about, and what the news about O.C. and others indicates, what I have heard about working to cultivate international Hip Hop opportunities has more meaning to me.
I can't thank all of my overseas supporters (and U.S. as well) enough. My team is always looking for opportunities to promote our brand so if anyone has a hook up, holla back! Without my overseas sales my company would not be meeting the financial goals we set with the release of the album "...Louder Than Words".
R.S. is song writer and emcee who produces “Adult Contemporary Hip Hop.” Visit R.S., and become familiar with his music at AdultContemporaryHipHop.com or www.rsj-online.com. His independent CD “…Louder Than Words” is available now. Email R.S.at rs@rsj-online.com
It’s been an interesting couple of months. I definitely appreciate the support I have received in the United States, but what has really excited, and surprised me, is the amount of support that I have been receiving from other nations, such as Japan.
You know the routine. You have a grand idea and start planning how everything is going to happen, step by step. Then when you actually put your plan into action, it never goes as you expected. Well I released my independent CD "....Louder Than Words" in June and had a specific plan to tackle the tri-state area (NJ, NY, PA). In a recent interview, Sheek Louch of The Lox spoke of how it is impossible to release an independent cd in the tri-state area as people are just not receptive to independent music as they are down south. He’s right, and I expected to struggle, but since this is where I live, I decided to pull a Booker T. Washington and cast my bucket down anyway.
I put all of my energy and resources into marketing the "Adult Contemporary Hip Hop" brand and promoting "…Louder Than Words" in my immediate area. My team and I were hustling (in the tradition of E-40 as opposed to some knuckle-dragging dopeman) and gradually racking up sales and building interest. At the same time, I also put my CD on sale on a 3rd party website. Every time a cd sells on that web site, I receive a notification via email.
Well, two days after I posted my CD on that website, the flood began. The CD sold out and has gone on to sell out on the web site three times in the last four months (And we’re not done; sales are still coming in!). The strangest thing is that a large number of the sales were coming from Japan! Apparently the initial Japanese purchaser stumbled on to my CD and began spreading the word among his friends and in his network. We have often heard about how big Hip Hop music has become in Japan, but I was very surprised that my CD, which is radically different from the cookie-cutter content that is often pushed, would sell so well without any promotion (or real effort on my part). I've even found my cd on sale on a Japanese web site and found a review of my CD in Japanese (that bugged me out)! My
own website, www.adultcontemporaryhiphop.com, has received a large amount of visitors since June, but again I am receiving significant amount of traffic from foreign countries including Japan (coming in strong), U.K., Denmark, India, Chile, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, and Seychelles. My first single "Get Away" also took off overseas, specifically in the U.K. The single debuted as the seventh most requested song on the UK internet station aiiradio.net and remained the most requested Hip Hop song on their chart for the month to follow.
Maybe if I had actually created a plan to reap those Japanese sales I wouldn’t have been so surprised. Chuck D of Public Enemy, whose new CD New Whirl Odor is out now, has regularly noted how it is important for American artists to get on their grind and build support in different spots around the world. Beginning with Public Enemy’s first album, Yo Bumrush The Show, PE has always made sure to cultivate a multi-country fan base that could sustain them whether they were “hot” in the immediate American market (“been through two passports/ass stay up in airports” – World Tour Sessions from PE’s There’s A Poison Going On). I’ve heard that Speech of Arrested Development has a following in Japan. O.C. of Digging In The Crates had a leaked album called Starchild which sold well in Japan and in an interview he noted that Japan is D.I.T.C.’s biggest market. I wonder how one of my old favorites, Lord Finesse, sells out there. Anyway, now that I have started to experience some of what Chuck has been talking about, and what the news about O.C. and others indicates, what I have heard about working to cultivate international Hip Hop opportunities has more meaning to me.
I can't thank all of my overseas supporters (and U.S. as well) enough. My team is always looking for opportunities to promote our brand so if anyone has a hook up, holla back! Without my overseas sales my company would not be meeting the financial goals we set with the release of the album "...Louder Than Words".
R.S. is song writer and emcee who produces “Adult Contemporary Hip Hop.” Visit R.S., and become familiar with his music at AdultContemporaryHipHop.com or www.rsj-online.com. His independent CD “…Louder Than Words” is available now. Email R.S.at rs@rsj-online.com
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6:34 AM
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