DROCK’s mixtape “Beta Than Yours” coming soon!  Graphic Artist and Producer making music from a designers prospective.

Check out the sample below.  Spread the word for our friend and show some love.

Paramore performing, “The Only Exception,” live on Ellen yesterday!! Haley Williams, the lead singer, is amazing… the pipes on that girl are unreal!! Not to mention she was sick for this perfomance.

This past Monday one of my favorite bands, Thriving Ivory, released their latest single, “Where We Belong,” via Tweet. It’s one of those feel good make ya happy songs… actually all their music makes me happy! I’m a sucker for strings and piano, what can I say?! And I especially love the line, ” Somewhere down the line, I lost that part of me that’s pure.” At least that’s what I think he says! These guys are currently recording their sophomore album, still yet to be titled, in NYC. They don’t have a release date for the new album yet either. So for now, head over to their website and listen to the their new song!

I’ve been listening to this band for awhile now, since their first self-released EP… and unfortunately have yet to see them live!!! I first fell in love with their single, “Hey Lady,” it was basically my anthem for the past 7 or so years. Check out the video for “Hey Lady,” below!

The Orlando hip-hop scene is much bigger and cultured than you probably thought or gave it credit to. Just one look at indie hip-hop road warriors Soliloquists of Sound (many know Swam as the mayor of Downtown Orlando), the local battle scene (Grind Time originated from Orlando) and the myriad of talent that frequents Firestone, Backbooth, 57 West, The Cameo Theater and other venues gives you a nice picture of the present and future of Orlando hip-hop.

One group that is causing major commotion is Smash City Gauntlet. Comprised of Kap Kallous, JBiz and Redd Simpkins the trio may have a new group name, but they have been helping to build the Orlando scene for years. Collectively they have rocked shows with Murs, Wu Tang, KRS One, Rakim and others and a former group featuring Kap and Redd Simpkins hit the top of the CMJ hip-hop charts.

The group just launched a new EP on Earth Day, noting that they are keeping “bad music from polluting the OZone.” With a pretty nice indie video to kick thing off and free music for the summer ride, this is just another reason to keep Orlando at the forefront of indie hip-hop.
Check out their debut EP, There Goes The Neighborhood and check below for the video to the Devils Lettuce (caution: NSFW).

Check out the latest video from, We the Kings. This is the second video, off their sophomore album, “Smile Kid.”

“We’ll be the Dream,” features Demi Lavato and her sick vocals! This girl has some pipes!!

Derek and I, caught these guys performing a private acoustic show at Orlando’s Blue Martini, a few months back. The show was pretty awesome, especially since we were literally 10ft from the band!

Currently, the band is on tour with The Maine, Cartel, Artist vs. Poet, and Stereo Skyline. Check and see when their coming to your town!

If you like what you hear you can purchase their new album on iTunes!

For those of us in the Greater Orlando area, tonight is the night!! FMF is kicking things off right with some of the best national and local acts around! Every year, aXis Magazine, brings us all together for a week filled with music, art, film, and a lot of booze! This year is no different. Founders, Rick Wheeler & Sean Perry, have managed to bring us ANBERLIN, LESS THAN JAKE, & RUSTED ROOT, as this years headliners! I’m stoked for tonight’s line up! Here are some of the bands I’m ready to rock with…

Dagnese

Shut Up and Dance

BEHIND THE LENS: Shut Up and Dance from Brook Pifer on Vimeo.

American Bang

Anberlin

For more information head over to the FMF website!

photo by lincolnblues

This is a no-brainer, but so many people, especially in the entertainment business and wonder why they are still doing the same ‘ol thing.

Without products, you cannot make money. These can be in the form of services, physical, digital, affiliate or whatever else you can think of. The format doesn’t matter as long as they add value to your career and your business.

I talk to so many musicians locally here in Orlando and all over the world through my sites and products and the number one thing stopping their growth is that they have “0″ income potential.

If you aren’t playing shows, don’t have an album/movie/art, and aren’t looking at ways to monetize your talent, it becomes really tough to get that MTV crib.

The next variable is adding value through your products. Having a CD is like having a business card. Yea, bands get away with selling them at live shows, but the value in the plastic revolution is far passed. Fans are looking for something beyond what they can find for free with a Google or Torrent search.
I recently came across this promotion for 72 Musicians, a film about 20 bands who told their story about bring on the road and being musicians. Here is the trailer:

Now they are looking to make some money off this thing (how ironic that you would want to get paid for your hard work!)

The cool thing is that they are not trying to get into your Blockbuster or Netflix as the number one way of generating some revenue. Instead they are giving direct access to fans with a ton of options:

They have price points and mediums that reach every fan. From a $7.99 download all the way to a $400 Hard Drive of the raw files.

They even have a free download of the soundtrack in exchange for the coveted email address.

Looking at musicians and other artists, are there ways that you can adapt this model to work for you? How can you use your podium, microphone or other platform to turn what you love and work your ass of for into something that pays the bills and gives value to others?

This post was written by Greg Rollett, music marketing guy and advocate of taking musicians’s money to help them make more money.

I was a little bit late on this one….

Lil Wayne is no stranger to social media and the power of the internet.  Being known as one of the mix tape kings and the most friend requested artists on myspace.  Coming soon Lil Wayne is writing a blog for ESPN sharing his passion of sports.

We all know that Lil Wayne has been sentenced to a year in prison for possession of weapons charges.  His team set him up with a blog to speak to his fans while locked up.   I wanted to introduce you to the FREE WEEZY campaign going on during his time in the slammer.

The place is called WeezyThanxYou.com, where he posted his first blog Friday April 2nd.  In it, he writes, “During my prison stint, I want my fans to know I love you. I want all of you to know that I appreciate all the mail I get, and this is my way of saying thank you. The F is for Family, Friends, and Fans.”

He also talks about how you will be able to view his blog on ESPN very soon and tells Young Money to hold it down for him.

You can also buy a FREE WEEZY shirt for $29.99 on the site.  Which I think is expensive.  You gotta see it.  I’m sure if you are a die hard Wayne fan it is worth it.  Doug that is for you bro.

I bet your wondering how the hell does he get to have a blog in prison???!

Karen Civil who works in artist and social media for his label says he will not be doing much twitter or myspace updates from prison.  He hand writes his blogs and they are typed out and posted by the label.  We can also expect a few new releases by the artist while in jail.  So look out for Weezy making sure his fans are still connected.

This all just proves the importance of artists and there fans and how social media has played such an important part in the evolution of the music industry.

What’s your thoughts?? Who is gonna buy a FREE WEEZY tee???

“You Give Me Hope”

Local Orlando musician’s song featured in the Major Motion Picture, “Letter’s to God.” In theaters today!!

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Ryan’s band, Between the Trees, live in concert a bunch of times. Everything from full band shows to impromptu acoustic performances at Warped Tour! These guys have an amazing live show! Not to mention Ryan’s unbelievable raw talent vocals! If you get a chance to check out these guys out, I definitely recommend it!

And for all my Floridians, their next show is April 23rd in Gainesville at 1982!

I always love when artists give back to their fans. Music has an immense spiritual and higher calling and giving your fans the opportunity to become ingrained in your vision and your culture is something that they will not only cherish, but pass on and build the musician’s brand.

In this vein, I am excited to see all of the integrated marketing campaigns happening with remixes, stemmed out versions of songs, rock band tracks and other ways to get your fans excited about the music.

One cool campaign I came across this week was from Katherine McPhee from season 5 of American Idol. She is prepping the release of UnBroken, her 2nd major album on Verve Forecast Records. In their launch campaign they have really empowered her fans and this is sure to help with release day numbers as well as long term brand impact which will help her on tour, with sponsors and other deals which will generate income for Katherine and her label .

One example that I wanted to show was the Facebook promotion “Unbroken Chain.”

It’s a fairly simple pass along contest for the fans. Come to the page, listen to some music and pass it on to 3 friends to get a coupon code for a prize. The cool thing for the artist is that they get 3 new confirmed fans/friends who they can now promote to and in turn get them involved to ask 3 friends to join. Simple, yet very, very effective.

The only complaint I have is that they are using 30 second clips – kinda B/S in today’s market where I can download the album for free with enough searching and yet can’t listen to the whole songs for free in a controlled environment.

Kat and her label are doing some other exciting things to market her album including:

helping with a fan’s wedding playlist to calling fans during an album listening party, from giving fans opportunities to create videos and splash pages to having them design a fashion set.

When you are creating your next campaign, how can you get your fans or your customers to come alive? This is one of the most vital pieces in the new economy that we are in right now!

This post was written by Greg Rollett. He talks about music marketing and the new music economy over at Gen-Y Rock Stars.