Sure, you put your blood, sweat, tears and who knows what else into your music. Yet, the fact remains: your music is a product. Do not allow love for your creation, whether it is a single, a mixtape or an album, to keep you back from reaping what you deserve to reap. I’m pretty sure we’ve all experienced it before; You come past an unsigned band or artist with some killer music. Naturally, you ask one of two questions: “You’re hot! How much for a CD?” or “Wow, why aren’t you signed yet?” Their answer: “Uhh… I don’t really do it for the money. I just do it for the love of music.”
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against making music for the love of it. It’s a beautiful thing to love doing what you’re capable of with your God given talents and skills. However, should we really allow our love for what we do to stop us from doing it for more things than just love? Such as money, to name one? Face it, there’s no beauty in having to work a boring 9 to 5 job that scratches the blood from beneath your nails just to keep by and being forced to push music back and confine it to merely your ‘free time’. You love music. Why not make money from what you love doing? Yes, your music may be invaluable to you, but in the market out there, your music is just another product. And products have prices.

Okay Laszlo… And so?
My advice: Give some songs away for free. By all means. However, make sure that you DO get something in return for everything you give away. Whether it’s promotion, recognition, contacts, more sales of your other material, etc. Below you’ll find a couple of ideas for giving away some free music (please note: I said SOME), while still getting something in return:

Idea 1: Add your website address to the song title.
When posting a song anywhere on the internet as free download, why not put your website in brackets behind the song name? This way, people download the song for free, become interested in your music, are able to find your website right away, can easily look up more information on you, and are able to PURCHASE more songs from your website.

Idea 2: Use social networks to get them into your zone.
Put your songs up for streaming on as many websites as you can, but only allow listeners to DOWNLOAD the free songs from your official website. Then link to your official website from each of the websites that listeners can stream your song from, for example: MySpace, FaceBook, etc. This way, you can be assured that any listeners that want a free download of your song, will definitely enter ‘your zone’. And once they’re in your zone, the ball is on YOUR half of the field. You can toss them to the “Free Stuff” section for more free downloads, you can toss them to the “Gigs” section to show them when you’re performing near to them, you can toss them to the “Store” section to help you rake in some cash, etc. etc. You catch my drift?

Idea 3: Trade a free song for an e-mail address.
Why not have a small form on your website, MySpace page or FaceBook page where they can fill in their name, home town and e-mail address in return for that free download? Please note though, don’t do the obvious thing and tell them “Please fill in the info below in return for your free song!”; this often makes people feel skeptical as they wonder why you’d need their information. Will you bombard them with spam? Terrorize their inbox? Somehow send them life threatening viruses? Rather, tell them “Hey there! Your free song is waiting for you! Just tell us where to send it:”. This right away tells them WHY you need their e-mail address – to be able to send the song to them – resulting in them being less skeptical, and equips you with the information you need to send them regular updates on your music and achievements and have them coming back to your website time after time. To make it even easier, there’s tons of e-mail marketing softwares around that allow you to configure auto-responders in no time! This way, your fans automatically get their free song download sent to them as soon as they’ve filled out your form. For those of you that are serious enough about your music to be willing to spend a few bucks, GetResponse is a brilliant option. It’s what most businesses (including mine!) use to do their marketing and it has a ton of features that are guaranteed to make GetResponse incredibly useful for you. It’s not called ‘Get RESPONSE’ for nothing! For those of you that would rather go the not-so-costly (or in other words, free) route, there’s also a less sophisticated but still useful e-mail marketing software at emailmarketingprofessional.com .

Idea 4: Make them hand over their friends.
Why not take idea 3 a bit further and include a short ‘refer your friends’ form for your fans to fill out after entering their own e-mail address? This way you don’t only get one e-mail address to add to your mailing list, but 3-5 (or however much you’d like) of your fan’s friends’ e-mail addresses as well! One website that works incredibly well for this is refer-a-buddy.com – currently they have a special going where you can try out their service free of charge for 14 days and after that, if you choose to continue using their amazing services, costs are only $19.95 per YEAR! Yes, I know that sounds hyped up, with the ‘year’ in capital and the exclamation mark and all, but I promise you, I’m not an affiliate of theirs and I’m not getting any percentage of your money. Their service is just really good.

Idea 5: Give away a ‘secret surprise’ with your merchandise.
I see it all the time: artists giving away a free promotional mixtape or single whenever someone purchases one of their ‘highly fashionable shirts’. But why not try something different? Instead of telling your fans that they’ll receive a free mixtape or single with their purchase, tell them that ‘this item includes a secret surprise – be sure to check out your packaging carefully once it arrives!’. This will not only tell your fans that they can expect a free extra; it also tickles their curiosity by not telling them exactly what it is. Furthermore, the ‘secret surprise’ doesn’t even have to be an object like a CD. It could just be a piece of carton folded in half with fancy printing on it that includes a link to the ‘hidden section’ of your website – where they can get their free song download, see exclusive pics, watch an exclusive ‘thank you’ video (great way to make your fans feel a personal connection with you), etc. This way, your production costs don’t go up too much since you don’t have to get CDs printed and burned (I’m a cheap skate, I know), and you practically force fans to go back to your website straight after their package arrives, which gives you a great opportunity to promote yourself more and make the poor fan fall even more hopelessly in love with you. It’s true what they say; curiosity killed the cat. Or in this case, fan.

Idea 6: Run a competition.
Have you ever found yourself comparing price after price and worrying about how to afford a designer for your next album cover or a director for your next video? Well, don’t underestimate your fans! Usually, you’d be quite surprised to find out about the vast majority of skills and talents that your fans possess! When you need something done for which you don’t have the appropriate skill or talent, try organizing a competition. You need a new album cover? Give fans all the information you’d like on the cover and run a competition in which the best fan-designed album cover gets used on your next project and the fan gets a prize! Need a new video? Same thing! Allow fans to download the song (which will already result in some extra promotion by itself) and run a competition in which the best fan-directed video gets used and the fan gets a prize. There’s no telling what you’ll have your pick of at the end of the day – brilliant cd covers, top-class animated videos, etc. Further more, the prize could be anything – exclusive songs, a free copy of your album, a day out with you (that could be fun!), etc.
If you’d like to take it a step further, you could even post all the videos you received on your YouTube channel and tell your fans that the videos with the most views after 2-4 weeks will win. This could result in your fans promoting their videos on your YouTube channel and you getting hundreds upon thousands of new channel and video views!

And there you have it; six easy to implement ideas to help you give away some (once again, SOME) of your music for free without leaving you empty handed.

Do you have any more ideas? Are there any manners that you’ve successfully used in the past to get something in return for your free downloads? Please share your views and ideas in the comment section below! Oh, and ‘Thanks! These are AMAZING ideas! I friggin’ love you!’ comments are also welcomed.

Signing off,
Laszlo (Your personal T.A.M.P.O.N. expert)

1. Board.soundclick.com: The forums of the most popular site for unsigned artists out there: Soundclick.com, and the forums are just as active as the website itself! Get your songs reviewed in the ‘critics corner’, join in ‘general music discussions’, get tips for promoting your music and how to create a solid base in the ‘music biz’, get tips on song writing, find a graphic designer for your next project in the ‘graphics corner’ and more! PS: My name on here is ‘The Cica’ – keep an eye out for me!

2. Musicradar.com: with over 50,000 members in total and 15,000 unregistered visitors daily, this is without a doubt one of the most popular music forums online. And, they seem to have just as many threads and topics as they have members!

3. Muzicforums.com: Another great music forum for listeners and artists alike.

4. Keepmusicalive.com: A music forum with tons of great discussions about a wide range of instruments, recording equipment, recording techniques, singing, song writing and more.

5. Musiciansforums.com: Yet another music forum with tons of topics to discuss in and find answers to your questions.

6. Countrymusicforums.net: A music forum especially for all the country artists out there.

7. CMforums.us: The ‘CM’ stands for ‘Christian Music’; this is a forum especially for all the Christian artists out there, no matter what genre.

8. Electro-music.com: A music forum especially for all the electro, trance and house music artists.

9. Realraptalk.com: A music forum especially for all the rap and hip hop artists and producers, not only dealing with production, recording and song writing tips and techniques, but also with the entire hip hop life style.

10. Jpopmusic.com: One of the only English music forums especially for Japanese pop artists.

As I always like to say, Nothing Beats Artists, so let’s all unite and and get the best out of this music game!

Do you know any more great forums for artists? Share them with the world by posting a comment below!

1. Limewire.com: Post info about your band on the site’s forum or blog.

2. Kazaa.com: Kazaa lets you publish your original songs and promote your blog or website.

3. Audiokingdom.com: Add your music to the site’s directory of mp3 downloads and ringtones.

4. ApolloTunes.com: Create your own personal account and start uploading music to share.

5. Trackseller.com: At Trackseller, it’s “nothing but music.” Upload your music into their directory, and they’ll charge the listener each time a song is downloaded.

6. IntoMusic.co.uk: Start your own label and you can begin selling your music online to Into Music.

7. CDfuse.com: CDFuse offers your fans free downloads, so there’s no limit to the number of people who can check out your sound.

8. MassCharts.com: At MassCharts.com, they’re “dedicated to the development and exposure of unsigned bands and artists.” Upload your music here, and you’ll know you’re in good hands.

9. Broadjam.com: Broadjam offers an extensive library of music downloads, offers Web hosting capabilities, and features a Top 10 category.

10. M-deck.com: This resource connects music fanatics with several great download sites across the Web. Find out how your music can be included in their libraries.

11. DatPiff.com: The most popular website for uploading hip hop/rap mixtapes.

12. Netunes.com: “It’s all about the music” at Netunes, where they let your fans download your tracks for free.

13. Mp3musicgrams.com: Upload your music into their library, and it could be sent to someone as an mp3 Musicgram.

And there’s another 13 great resources for you to use in the online promotion of your music! In the next article, I’ll cover 10 great music forums to not only socialize with fellow artists, but to also increase your fan base and get even more exposure and recognition!

Do you know any more great music sharing websites? Share them with the world by posting a comment below!

This post does NOT have anything to do with music promotion AT ALL! So if that’s what you’re looking for, stop reading.

…

Have you stopped reading yet? No? Ha! I knew saying that would make you read on! Here’s something short that I wrote on my way from sunny South Africa to freezing Amsterdam back in January whilst waiting for the second plane to arrive after having missed my transfer. Just something short, but inspirational. Something for every artist to keep in mind when you have one of those times in your career where nothing seems to be looking up for you:

I sit at Heathrow airport, waiting for the next plane to Amsterdam to arrive as I just missed my transfer – my elbows on my knees and my hands stroking each other with fingers outstretched as a type of animated prayer. My sleeves are rolled up with tattoos showing and I’m slowly moving my head from left to right and from right to left as I scan the area around me and the people it contains. I don’t blink, yet I don’t stare. I merely sit there looking around at everybody with a rather cold look, my natural expression, with half of my face continuously covered by my ‘praying’ hands. I can see how I intimidate some of the people. In fact, I intimidate most of those that see me sitting there, ’staring’ at them. I don’t care. I’ve always kind of had a thing for intimidating people. The look they return me; the extra steps they take to walk around me with extra space; how they’ll quickly walk on whilst glancing back and forth a few more times, attempting to go about it as stealth fully as possible. The ironic thing is, I hate people seeing me for what I am not. And I’m definitely not a guy to be scared of. If you treat me the way you’d like me to treat you, that is. Yet, I get some type of enjoyment out of seeing how capable I am of intimidating people, making them feel uncomfortable, ’scaring’ them. I guess it all has to do with standing out. I’ll take the limelight in any way possible, as I believe I was born to be a permanent habitant of its exposing shine. And for me, unless I’m playing chess with words, there is no easier way to stand out than to simply be the intimidating, cold looking, mysterious boy sitting across the room from you; looking you straight into your eyes without a blink and without shame.

Some have told me it makes me seem arrogant. Like I have a typical ‘I don’t give a shit. The world belongs to me’ attitude. But let me tell you something: the world DOES belong to me. Each one of us lives in our own world, a world we create ourselves everyday with the seemingly unbreakable tools we call our thoughts. The people and objects around us would be nothing without our own thoughts about them to give us emotions and make them what they are to us. They always say, ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’; so does everything else. Look at the world around you in a negative manner, and you’ll end up living in a sad world filled with misfortune and sorrow and everything to lose. Look at the world around you in a positive manner, and you’ll end up living in the opposite: a world filled with opportunity and everything to gain. Those thoughts, the thoughts that shape the world around you to make it what it is to you, are yours. Same way as the thoughts that shape the world around me to make it what it is to me, are mine. I can change the world within a day, merely by changing my thoughts, and in turn, changing what i see in the world and thus, changing the effect that it has on me. If I wish to see murder in a dead man, I will see murder. If I wish to see future re-incarnation instead, I will see that. This world, the world I breathe, cry, smile and bleed in, the world I live in, is nothing but a product of my own thoughts, my own mind. I alone hold complete power to change the world into whatever I wish it to be. So do you. So do all of us. Which is why, the world belongs to you, and only you. The same way it belongs to me. And only me. The world is mine. And I will do what I wish with it. I am no ordinary person. For I own the world.

Inspiring, innit? As always, comments go below!

Without further ado, I bring to you, this article with the kick of my shoe:

Get your music streaming : If you want people to get into your music, they need to be able to hear it. Get your entire catalogue up at Last.fm, load those songs on MySpace, make sure iMeem and iLike have your tunes, find out what services people are using in the regions you want to be heard and make sure those people have easy free access to your catalog. No one’s going to fall in love with thirty second tidbits, and if you’ve got a great song, people will want to know if the rest of your stuff is as good. Let them listen.

Use your own domain : Seems like a wee bit of a no-brainer, but I am always amazed how many bands use MySpace as their primary website. You don’t own MySpace. Why let MySpace own you?

Distribute your presence : You can’t be everywhere your potential audience is, but you can be a lot of places. Everyone needs their own website (more below), but don’t stop there. Among the possibilities? Every band has to be on MySpace unless they’re rebels, but don’t forget putting together your own YouTube channel, getting and using a Facebook fan page, signing up for ReverbNation and using their widgets, Twittering, posting pictures to Flickr … sure you don’t want to do all that stuff, but do some of it, and do more than one of it.

Integrate your presence : Your website should have links to all the other places you can be found online. Fans should be able to move seamlessly from one of your spots on the web to another and shouldn’t have to visit multiple sites to figure out what’s up with you. If you’ve got important news, get it up everywhere you are. I recently had to go to a MySpace page to see tour dates for a band who had not posted them on their own website — you know, the link they put on all the CD inserts. If your music is streaming somewhere that has a widget to put it elsewhere, put that widget everywhere you’ve got a presence.

Give some of your music away : Nothing creates addiction like being able to hear a song on your own machine whenever you want. You don’t have to give it all away (though that seems to be working for some), but at least let people download a few songs on your website, MySpace, Last.fm, and elsewhere. Giving music away also creates good relations with fans — people like it when you give them things. It makes them more likely to do things for you like, um, pay for the rest of your songs.

Get to know the mp3 bloggers : If you don’t already know which blogs cover music like yours, check out HypeMachine and other mp3 aggregaters to figure out where bands like you get discussed. Read the blogs, learn their interests. Write them a nice brief personal note telling them why you think they’ll like you and send them an easy link to an mp3 you think they and their readers would like.

Build an interpersonal relationship with your audience : Like I said about giving music away – when people can distribute your music amongst themselves through peer-to-peer trading, there’s no incentive for them to pay for your music unless they feel a sense of personal obligation to you. Nothing creates personal obligation like warm feelings of friendship. If your fans feel that you think of and care for them, they will be more willing to take care of you.

Reach out but don’t spam : It’s ok to recommend yourself to individuals on social networking sites IF you have really good reason to think they’re going to like you and communicate that to them. If anyone’s ever indicated an interest in you before, it’s wonderful to contact them again when you’ve got new music to share. It is NOT okay to blast yourself onto strangers’ walls and shoutboxes, send random friends requests, and otherwise be pushy. And even when you know you’re talking to the converted (like people who follow you on Twitter) remember that even the most dedicated fans do not need to know what you are doing every hour. A little mystique is okay. Really.

Encourage fan contributions : How can you let your music provide an opportunity for fan creativity? One independent musician who writes instrumental music told me he puts up demos and asks for help choosing names for the songs. Many artists have encouraged fan videos or remixes. There is a place for your fans to play with your music using their own talents. Give it to them. And let them have their own communities and do their own fan thing in there without the interference of you or your legal team.

Give fans promotional tools : As I wrote about in my last post, spreadable is the new viral. People who love you want to tell others about you. Create widgets they can embed on their own pages (again, ReverbNation has a great one but it’s not the only one), create ecards for your music, give them mp3s they can post without fear of lawsuits. Whatever it is that you want others to know, give it to your audience in a form they can easily pass along to others.

You got other ideas? Please post them in the comments below.

You can find the original post here.

I just decided to throw together a quick tutorial video to show you how to use Photoshop to turn your artist pictures into eye-catching and professional images to represent you! Over the years, I’ve seen way too many artists promoting themselves, marketing themselves, and sending our press kits, demos, and even university applications with bad quality photos that create an unprofessional image. Use these quick and easy steps to up your photo game and get the image you deserve!

Note: Towards the end of the video, I talk a bit about Lucis Art. You can purchase lucis art and/or get a 30 day trial at this website.

Hope this helps you guys out a bit and teaches you something new! As always, if you like the video, check out my YouTube channel and subscribe to me or add me as a friend. Or both!

Below is the result of my example:

The final result of my example. Quite a difference huh?

'Scars Of Life' album cover - Yes, I know I look serious. It's a serious album. Okay, there's jokes as well.

Introduction - So many artist take away from the art, RAP is no longer seen as a beautiful creation, no longer thought of as freedom of expression through rhythm and poetry. Today’s rappers have slandered what was once a respected and admired genre of music. It’s refreshing to see an artist who gives back to the cause rather then take away the little it has left. This introduction definitely sets the precedent for the rest of the album, as the rain and soft piano in the back ground lend beautifully to the heartfelt words and promise. It’s his vow, that this album will do its best to save rap from its slow, painful, misogynistic and demoralizing death.

Who Am I - Were you wondering? No, but seriously. Weren’t you wondering? Didn’t you want to be able to put a name to the face on the cover? More than a name, it’s an image, a persona, a voice. A rapper who doesn’t follow the brand names of ‘lil’, ‘dem’ or the ever so worn out ‘boys’. In Cica’s own words “label me what you want, Ima stay me/ the only labels I care about are those that pay me//” Doesn’t that one line say it all? You can’t label this track, u can’t bottle this flow and u can’t question the skill. The freshness is here to stay and with or without a coupon, there’s no way you’re putting this album back on the shelf.

Down N’ Up - “I been going tough/Growing up/Down ‘n up/All day/ Yeah, it’s rough/But Ima be just okay/ I’m blowing spliffs/Causing shit/Just to get my mind/Off life/” Who the hell doesn’t feel like that? Everyone has had those days when they’ll do anything to escape their troubles, anything to feel numb in the hopes that feeling numb will let them feel happy. “It’s like I wanna drop a tear but I don’t wanna cry/ and I just wanna lose my life but I don’t wanna die…” That’s the perfect way of explaining those days when you’re so fed up of shit that your having a private breakdown. You wanna smash something just to hear it break but don’t want to pick up the pieces. Or you just want to die for a week and come back to life when everything is ok. You want to cry but don’t want to feel the wetness on your cheeks, the tightness of your throat or the burning in your eyes. We all have that shit whether it’s family, relationships, the rat race leading to the future or just that time of the month. However the message of the track is clear: you’re not alone and just like Cica, you are NOT gonna give up.

A Thousand Tears – An honest track that takes you through Cica’s thoughts and experiences, marking each milestones and obstacle with a tear. The verses are a powerful mixture of anger, hurt, fear and guilt. While the lyrics are backed up by a soft emotional beat and a life time of memories.

Letter To Hell – This is by far the most inspirational track on the album. Each line adds to the message of the previous, while the sung chorus entraps the listener. This track is the song that is sure to keep you going. By the end of this track you will find yourself looking on the brighter side of things, truly wondering “Do you hate God for putting thorns amongst the roses?/Or do you love him for putting roses amongst the thorns?/” This song illuminates the hidden silver lining of even the darkest cloud, with the artist’s positive message to his listeners. “Keep ya’ head up through everything/ Even when it seems you’re not fighting for anything…”

Skit 1 (Do a Cloeb Track!) – It’s humorous. Ps. THIS is what too much of the Ganja does to you! ….

Have U Killed - A club track about how you shouldn’t tell him to make a club track. Ironic isn’t it? “You want something to dance to? Here you go bitch!” Well, you won’t be dancing but you will be singing/ rapping along to the hook. A catchy beat plays host to what has been described by Cica as ‘Everything I’d do if I couldn’t contain my imagination!’ The verses are fun, and the lines are there to make u laugh. While wondering things like: who the hell fucks like an epileptic moose? Or more importantly WHAT exactly IS an epileptic moose?

Just Wanna Love – A very seductive track, clearly put out for all the female fans. This one is sure to make knees shake and hearts swoon. An urban love beat plays host to the sexy slow rapping styles of Cica and Slaya, complimented by Rozz’s uniquely tempting voice on the hook. This song is guaranteed to be played over n over n over by any and every girl. After all… what girl doesn’t want to be treated like a princess?

Don’t Go, Won’t Go - The clapping at the beginning says it all. A fresh and original beat, with clever concepts and unique rhymes. While the flow is flawless, the skill is unquestionable and the point is clear. Cica promises the listeners that he aint going nowhere, and this rapper has no such thing as empty promises.

Flash of Light – The old Anastacia song ‘Pieces of a Dream’ has never sounded nor felt so real. The honesty of this track hits the listener like a punch in the guts. There’s no hiding when it comes to the feelings and very few artists would be strong enough to bare all on a track like this. The heart felt and deeply emotional lyrics leave the listeners listener in a state of nostalgia as their own pain and tears blend in with the tears already falling for Cica.

Beautiful Mind - Amazing flow as Cica really shows off his raw free styling skills in this short acapella verse. Proving that with out without the rhythm, this Mc is still going to show cats a real beat down.

If I Never Wrote - This one is for every writer who had held a pen in one hand and a knife in the other. The person who would be lost without their words, because everything makes more sense once the pen has spilled its guts all over the page. It’s for the shy kid who slowly gained confidence with each rhyme they spat. It’s for the people who can feel and say anything when they hear the beat. The quiet kid on the buss plugged into his music player while staring out the window with cold wishful eyes. This one is for every person who longs to escape through the lyrics and drown their troubles in the flow of their favourite song. For the people who honestly think “without my music I would die.” The title does little when describing the articulate and touching verses that are dedicated to an art that’s been the savior to many from way back in the days of slavery. An art that every true lyrical visionary can count on, a reason to keep living, the artist’s soul: Rap.

Skit 2 (Mary Jane) – How sweet, and she loves you too…
So High- Grab the rizzla and the dro, this joint will definitely make you wanna light one. This is the track that needs to be played at the next “should we legalize marijuana” conference. Smooth lines, a carefree message, and an easy going beat coupled with Cica’s soft singing on the hook. What more could one ask for from the stoner’s perfect lullaby!? (Its dope! hahaha)

Street Love 2 - The first street love was an absolute hit in Cica’s hometown, Capetown. Now, here we have an even better version! Who says thugs don’t give love? Who says thugs don’t NEED love? Young girls are caught by the honesty and compassionate words while young men of business will find it easy to relate to the emotions and desires expressed through unadulterated verses and a silky flow. Memorable lines and an ever more memorable hook that has the listener singing “Baby your heart is safe with me… I wanna give you all of this street love…”

In My Eyes - The flow could have been more powerful, to keep pace with the beat used for the track. However, the hook makes up for all of that. There’s a lot to be said for the cocky, arrogant and aggressive lines of both the verses and the chorus. It easily became stuck on replay because of the attitude, and the lines say it all cause “in the eyes of this rapper ya’ll are NOTHING!”

Impossible – Everyone who’s ever been in love, knows that it’s worth fighting for. They can relate to the feeling in this track, the words, the passions and the emotions. The beat is fast, the flow matches the beat perfectly, I challenge you to try and rap along to this one. The verses are powerfully written and strongly expressed to urge that special person to never let this love die. To convince them that true love like this can overcome any obstacle, so why call it impossible? When the only thing that’s impossible, is the will to give up.

Scars & Tattoos - Take a second to relax with this track. It’s got an easy going flow and even softer verses. Listen to the memories of every scar and tattoo on Cica’s body, while easily getting lost in the Sinistro’s smooth, sexy and rough voice as the chorus. Each verse is seasoned with tempting lines like: “so I got life lessons to help me get through it all/ I’m writing my own bible with my skin as the scroll/ so baby let your hands roll on my testaments…”

Skit 3 (Jive Wreck itz) – This skit is so jokes! I love the threats “take those little royalty looking golden and silver pens…” and the chick on the answering machine message sounds kind of hot, in a flirty, whiney, hair twisting, smacking bubblegum, kinda way.

Pack Poetry - This in a unique track, using hard hitting metaphors and wordplay to destroy any opponent. Packing poetry instead of clocking glocks, or flashing gats, (whatever they call guns nowadays). The verses are packed with nothing but skill and the hook is catchy and really fun to repeat. “BLAH!-BLAH!-BLAH!” The use of the spoken gun affect was really well thought of and Slaya’s verse is funny and entertaining with heavily worded threats and nicely uses my favourite part “please leave a message- I’ll kill u muthafucker”. This track is easily one of my favourites because of all the creativity that went into designing the dangerously lyrical warfare.

3 Stories of Guilt – This is another one of Cica’s tracks that tells a true story with pure emotion and honesty. The sad melody and the soft beat are accompanied by three verses each with a separate story. The listener is drawn in by the conviction in the words and the pain in his flow, while hearing the story of an abused girl, a locked up drug pusher and an apologetic delinquent son. The track invites the listener to empathize with the victims, all the while leading to a shockingly sincere ending.

Boo Say Boo - If you thought Neyo’s “Miss Independent” was a tribute to all the ladies out there then just WAIT till you hear this track! A fun almost gangster styled beat, with an easy flow, another catchy hook- this time its sung by Reflux, and verses that do nothing but commemorate the idea of female empowerment. This track encourages and admires every gangster girl who can handle her own business and you really just gotta love the hook: “you don’t wanna know what gon’ happen when my boo says boo, when she scares you, wants to get you, then what you gon do…”

Waiting for the Rain - This is a track that I’m scared to play, which scares me a bit more because I’ve never been scared of music in my life. Then again music has never been able to make me stop long enough to think. Then along came Cica… It’s like when you look at an abstract painting and some one asks you “what does this make you feel” so you stare at the colors in front of you and think. My answer has always been “nothing, but it’s nice” because music and art have never truly moved me. Usually I tend to like beats and melodies better than lyrics, but not in this case. Cica is different, the music is real, the words are deeply emotional… point is: they move me. This is why I’m scared to press play, knowing all too well that the song will knock down my emotionless fortress and dissolve it into a wall of tears. I know it will because the first time I heard it, I got caught up in memories of a dearly deceased friend and I couldn’t stop crying. This is weird because I didn’t even cry when he died, but now almost a year later I hear this track and it all comes out. This is why I can’t comment on the beat, the flow, the words or the skill. It’s 11:45pm and I don’t want to cry myself to sleep, so I’m scared to press play. You’re just going to have to see for yourself, what Waiting for the Rain will do to you.

Skit 4 (Love You) - This was a brilliant idea! It’s fresh, funny and the ending is a never done before CLASSIC!

My Gratitude – Describing the pain of what happens when one person becomes your entire world, gives you that world, and then just as easily takes it away. I think most of us have been through it, if you’re old enough to listen to this album than you’re old enough to have had relatable experiences. The lyrics for this track stand out against the beat with our very own Cica singing the hook, plus a lot of the lines stand out to me as the type of line you would want to put as a quote on your MSN or Facebook status . One of my favorites lines being: “I say to love is to live and to live is to die/ so in order to love you gotta sacrifice your life…”

The Play Offs – A finely captured video as well as a track. This one actually took a while to grow on me, but once it did I couldn’t stop repeating the lines. This freestyle shows off Cica’s sickest spitting skills. The topic given to him was “the play offs” and he more then stuck to those lines of thought. While the rhymes, wordplay and metaphors are so solid that it’s hard to believe that this all improvised and spat on the spot. That’s why he took the video, because without it no one would ever believe that this track was a freestyle. It’s just too sick.

Run It - I just love this one, if I had my way it would be playing on every radio station in every city in every country. The beat is a unique mix of urban and techno with an easy going flow and enjoyable lines. The accents/ impressions make for a different style of rap, and they also make this track one of my favourites. The hook is simple and ties the verses and rhythm together in a relaxed and laid back style. Actually come to think of it, this track was played over 56 times on the first day I downloaded the album, so it probably IS my favourite.

Skit 5 (Angry B!+%h) - WOW! So this is the aftermath of skit 4! I knew she would be pissed off, although I don’t think you can call her an “angry b!+%h” she sounds like a real cute hood rat, who’s threats never get taken seriously. I’d tap that. haha.

Grave Apology - The dramatic theatre affects really add more to the already amazing story line on this track, and I just love how perfectly the chorus from Christina Aguilera’s song “Hurt”, ties it all together. The use of voices to play characters was another genius idea because it really does bring the story to life. While the lines of each of the five verses, are skillfully written to keep the listener focused and on the edge of their seat, waiting to hear how the story ends. It’s a well thought of conclusion to an already emotionally and lyrically astounding album. Ps. the evil chick Shaniqua sounds cuter on this track then she did in that last skit. (Those giggles drive me wild.)

SCARS OF LIFE - As a seasoned writer and critic, I really tired to find things I didn’t like in the tracks of this album. Afterall, how real can an album review possibly seem without at least a couple of negative aspects pointed out? But there wasn’t much for me to expose, which kind of pissed me off, because usually I’m quick to say “I’m sorry you suck go wrap sandwiches” when reviewing tracks for other aspiring artists. So you can imagine my dismay when there was nothing I could criticize. All in all this is an amazing album with a well suited title, brought to you by an incredible artist. After hearing this album, listeners will soon be spelling the word “sick” with a “C-I-C” – and that’s a birthright.”

Review by: Selena Maris

What more can I say? A review like this speaks for itself. To be honest, I was surprised myself!

If you’d like to check out my tracks and get your free download of the album, pay a visit to my official music website, imsicker.net

Elvis has left the building!

A lot of artists use their MySpace page for this, which is understandable. Whereas a website will mostly be visited by people that have already found out about you through a different source, whether it be an interview, your music on a different website, a music review somewhere, etc. a MySpace page focuses mostly on pushing your content to people.

The difference between these 2 is that with the first, your website is sitting there, online, ready for people to visit once they find a need to do so. In the marketing world, this is referred to as ‘pull marketing’ – those that have developed a need to visit your website, will be ‘pulled’ towards it without you doing much more. However, with the second, you go online to find people that may be interested in you, and promote and ‘push’ your product (in this case probably your music) into their faces.

Which strategy is better? Well, this is debatable. In the online business world, more and more companies are turning to pull marketing through advertising. In most cases, this is done through search engines. They choose to display their advertisement on certain keywords, and when someone types in one of those keywords, they’ll come accross the company’s advertisement. For the rest, the company doesn’t push the product in the person’s face to promote it. The product is just there in the form of an online advertisement, waiting for people to search for it and be ‘pulled’ to it once they do.

However, in the music scene, pull marketing is a bit different. Especially for upcoming artists. Most fans nowadays need more than just good new music to make them support a new artist. They need to have a relationship – a connection – with the artist. Sure, a form of pull marketing such as advertising your online music store through Google may be successful to a certain (rather small, my experience) extent, but it would be nowhere near as successful as when you’ve first built up a relationship with your listener. Without any form of relationship or connection with you, the only motivation that the listener has to purchase your music is the music itself. Now ask yourself, if you decided you wanted to support an upcoming artist, would you rather support a friend or a stranger? If you said stranger, wack yourself in the head.

This is exactly why MySpace is such a beautiful tool for music promotion. It allows you to interract with your listeners through blog posts, messages, comments, applications, and more! Thus forming a good building ground for developing relationships with your listeners, and becoming their friend (and I mean more than a ‘friend’ that just hangs around your friend space and… no, there’s no ‘and’. That’s all they do).

However, does this mean that having your own official website should be ignored? Heeeelll no! Studies have proved that the average buyer, whether it’s to buy a barbecue or your music, needs at least 7 contact moments before feeling a ‘trust bond’ with the seller. So what do you do? Maximize your contact moments!

Here’s my advice: Get an official websites that has all the usual things on it – your biography, pictures, your music, etc. but most importantly, links to your most prominent profiles on other websites. Then, make all your profiles on these websites link back to your official website. This will allow you to push market your music using your profiles on other websites, grab peoples’ attention there, have them be ‘pulled’ onto your official website to find out more about you, and right away find out what other websites, that they may also be a part of, they can find you on!

Take these 2 examples:

Scenario 1: You have a MySpace page and an online music store at, let’s say, CD Baby. You start push marketing, and send out messages and comments to the select (or at least, I hope you’ve selected a group first) MySpace users that you think may be interested in purchasing your music. They get the message or comment, go to your MySpace page, listen to your music, perhaps read a bit about you, and are then left with nothing else but the ‘Buy My Music On CD Baby’ link provided.

Scenario 2: You have a MySpace page, a Facebook fan page, a Twitter profile, a YouTube channel, a Bebo band page, a Friendster page, a Hi5 page, an online music store at CD baby, AND an official website. You spent a while setting up all of these profile pages and link them all back to your official website. On your official website, you integrate links to all your profile pages plus the ‘Buy My Music On CD Baby’ link. Now you start push promoting and sending our messages or comments to the same select group on MySpace. What happens? The MySpace users get the message or comment, go to your MySpace page, listen to your music, read a bit about you, go check out your website, see the links of other websites you’re on, thinks ‘hey! I’m on 2 of those other websites also!’, and adds you as a friend, or becomes a fan, on those websites also.

In the first scenario, there’s only been one contact moment before you right away hit your potential listeners over the head with the ‘Buy My Music On CD Baby!’ cry. This is what at least 90% of all artists do. The listener has not yet had time to get familiar with you, has not yet gained any trust bond, and most importantly, only has one manner of gaining that trust bond – through MySpace.

In the second scenario, the listener has had a contact moment on MySpace, then another one on your official website, and another 2 if he/she read the information on your other profiles as well. And most importantly, since you now have this listener as a contact on not just 1, but 3 websites in your arsenal, just by using your official website as a gate way, you automatically have more manners of building your trust bond with him/her. As time goes by, you can now spread your future contact moments over messages and comments you send them through 3 networks instead of just crowding them with messages and comments on just 1 network. It may seem strange, but this actually works better since the listener doesn’t get the feeling that you’re ‘dumping’ everything on them at once. Instead of seeing 3 messages in 1 inbox, they now see 1 message in each of 3 inboxes. Sure, it’s a bit more work since you’re promoting over multiple networks, but believe me, your ‘return on investment’ (the investment being your time) will be greatly worth it!

One VERY important thing to note with this, is that you never ever send out the exact same message over multiple networks! If you have news to tell your listeners, and you tell them in the exact same way at the exact same time over multiple networks, ’spreading’ your contact moments will not work. The listeners will merely feel like you’re dumping stuff on them even more than they would have if you had used just one network, since it’s all the same information, presented in the same way, sent to them numerous times. It’s like receiving the exact same letter in the mail three times on the same day!

However, it’s logical that when sending out messages over multiple networks, you do need to change your style of writing a little bit. A good trick for this is to first send out a message on one network starting with something like ‘Wassaaap! To just show my appreciation to you, you’re the first one to hear about this!…’ and then sending out a different message regarding the same topic on a different network 2 or 3 days later, starting with ‘heyy there! Some of you may have already heard about this. But for those that haven’t…’ This will turn the fact that you may have sent a certain listener 3 messages about a similar topic into a positive thing. Now, the listener will read the message and think ‘hey! I already heard about that!’ and feel closer to you and more valued in the sense that they ‘knew it before anyone else’. And get this – the listener isn’t even irritated that he received a similar message multiple times! Further more,As you progress, you can switch up the networks. One month, you make the MySpace listeners the ‘first to know’. Another month, the FaceBook listeners. This way, all of your listeners across each of the networks get a chance to feel that ‘first to know’ thrill and feel closer to you!

So, just to sum it all up:

1. Push market yourself to your potential listeners using your various networks.

2. Pull market them to your official website, and in turn, to other networks that you’re part of.

3. Push market yourself to those same listeners accross the other networks as well as the initial one.

Push, Pull, Push… All to the same target: Your Music.

I realize that this post doesn’t quite have an outro, and perhaps not even a steady ’story-line’. Thus, these are just some thoughts I had about my past and existing promotion strategies for artists. Hope this benefitted some of you!

Your friend and T.A.M.P.O.N. expert (The ‘Amazing Music Promotion Online Now!’ expert),

Laszlo.

PS: If you’re looking for an absolutely AMAZING program to help you find, gather and select the appropriate potential listeners (that actually WILL become listeners) and easily, quickly and AUTOMATICALLY send out messages, comments and bulletins to them, check out my review of Friend Blaster Pro.

This time, it’s a new music video from my good friend and BLAZING rapper, Cadeau, hailing from Long Island, NY!

If you like what you see and hear, be sure to add his MySpace music page for his upcoming album, ‘I Heard Him Speak’, and drop any comments you may have below!

It’s got a nice jazzy feel, don’t ya think? Something different from all the usual ‘pop’ or ‘gangsta’ styled rap that’s out there today.

Social networking sites – what do they do? Simple! They help you build and maintain your social network! Networking is important with every job, especially when you’re a music artist. Here are some big and popular networking sites which, if you’re not using them already, you should seriously consider using!

1. MySpace: Everyone’s heard of MySpace, especially bands and music artists! With over 85 million members, this social networking platform has quickly soared up to become one of the world’s top 5 most popular websites! And with a separate section for music artists especially, MySpace Music, you better make sure you’re taking full advantage of it!

Check out my personal MySpace profile, and my MySpace music profile!

2. Facebook: If you’re not already on Facebook, then it’s time to go ahead and join. Sign up for a personal profile first and then start setting up your artist profile with your music, pictures, biography, event list and more!

Check out my own Facebook profile, and my Facebook fan page!

3. YouTube: Surprisingly enough, the first time I posted this article I completely forgot to mention YouTube! I have no idea how though, because with over 100 million views a day, YouTube is definitely a network you want to be part of! We all know how it goes; make a video, upload a video, promote a video, become famous. Okay, the last part may be easier said than done, but nonetheless, YouTube remains a GREAT promotion tool! If you’re gonna put up a video on internet for people to see anyway, why not make use of YouTube and make your video accessible to all of their already existing users right away??

Check out my own YouTube channel here!

4. Bebo: Another social networking site, Bebo is a fun community perfect for promoting your band and advertising upcoming gigs.

5. Friendster.com: Friendster is one of the most popular social networking sites in Asia. Now, it is starting to make an impact in the rest of the world. Friendster provides plenty of networking features, the ability to customize your personal profile and to get you on your way to establishing a large network of friends. Discover other avenues of expression by posting blogs and joining forums. You can choose from a variety of extra features like videos and groups. Friendster tries to cater to a slightly older crowd requiring users to be at least 16 to join.

6. Hi5.com: Give yourself a virtual high–five when you join the global social networking website hi5. Don’t limit your circle of friends to people from MySpace or Facebook; with more than 70 million members, this is one social networking site you shouldn’t miss out on! Also, Hi5 is the only big social networking website that’s completely ad-free!

7. Twitter.com: Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: “what are you doing?” Fans can ‘follow’ you and get regular updates to find out what you’re up to and stay updated with not only your music career, but also your life.

Check out my own Twitter profile here!

8. Buzznet.com: Talk about music, pop culture, and other entertainment news when you log onto Buzznet.com.

9. Gather.com: Share photos and video with other members. Talk about your band and learn about what other artists are up to in group chat rooms.

10. iMeem.com: iMeem is a powerful resource for musicians to promote their albums at the same time connect with fans; both old and new.

HERE’S A TIP!

If you have profiles on more than one of the social networks mentioned above, it’s understandable that it can become quite a drag to search for people with similar interests, or in an area nearby you, when it has to be done on each site separately. But have no fear! Wink.com is here!

Wink is a website that helps you find people based on name, location and any other information such as the school they attended, what music they like, their hobbies, and much more! And get this, it searches not only one website, nope, it searches MySpace, FaceBook, Friendster, Bebo, Twitter, Hi5, and a ton of other social networking websites all at once! All you do is enter the information on which you want to base your search (for example, search for all people interested in the Rolling Stones if you have a similar sound) and contact the people of the different social networks that you’re part of.

I know that most people probably already knew about most of these websites, but hey, it never hurts to put some extra information out there, and I don’t want to leave anybody out. So hopefully there’s still somebody out there that found this information useful.

Also, to get some more friends and visitors on your profiles, on whichever social network they may be, drop a link to your profile(s) in a comment below! Or maybe you know of a rapidly growing social network that I should add to this list? No problem! Also let me know by dropping a comment below!