While the debate over copyrighted music is heating up, a new wrinkle appeared last week in the form of a takedown notice issued by Universal Music Group to YouTube. Now, getting a takedown notice from UMG is probably nothing new for YouTube, but this story has a twist. The music UMG was upset about wasn’t even their own. A rap duo called After The Smoke recorded and uploaded one of their own rap beats over a song called “One in a Million” to YouTube.

UMG Asserted Copyright

That’s when the funky stuff started. UMG notified YouTube that a copyright infringement had taken place and YouTube blocked ATS’ song. Only ATS isn’t signed to Universal and the song was completely original by ATS.
As it turns out ATS had opened for Yelawolf, who is now a Universal artist – but wasn’t at the time ATS opened for him. Yelawolf heard the rap beats behind One in a Million and liked them enough to record his own track over it. Yelawolf said he wanted to license the material, but apparently never did. Then he signed with Universal.
At some point, the Yelawolf track, which used ATS’ beats – and was never intended for release – got leaked. UMG took down the leaked tracks, but when ATS put up its own stuff using their own beats, UMG took that down too, saying they owned the copyright for the beats.

If you’re confused at this point, so is everyone else! ATS filed a dispute against the takedown by UMG and was told that UMG asserted its rights as the copyright holder and ATS had no claim. Enter the lawyers. Now, allegedly everything is worked out, but ATS – and many other artists – are concerned about how carefully YouTube (which is a major distribution channel for independent music) checks on copyright claims before acting on them.

At this point, I should mention that for artists who use royalty-free beats, this isn’t an issue. Sonic Producer has a huge library of royalty-free beats that are guaranteed never to get you into a takedown argument after you’ve published your own music. With Sonic Producer’s library of royalty-free beats, you get your music published, plain and simple.

You can use, mix, remix, alter, publish and republish Sonic Producer beats however, whenever and how often you want to. Ahh – the joy of simplicity! Download your copy of Sonic Producer today and start publishing your own music.

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The Sundance Film Festival normally features independent films. Alongside the films, the festival also pays homage to the music that makes films so great. This year, the Celebration of Music in Film will feature hip-hop music for the first time in the festival’s 34-year history.

Top Hip-Hop Acts To Be Featured

Ice-T, Chuck D and Grandmaster Caz will perform at the Celebration of Music in Film. The performance is related to Ice-T’s documentary film, Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, which will also be featured at the film festival. The film will also showcase music from some of rap and hip-hop’s most enduring acts, including Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Ice Cube, KRS-One, Mos Def, Nas, and Snoop Dogg.

The festival will also feature live musical performances from artists whose music appears in films shown at the festival. This is the first year organized musical performances will be included. In the past, musicians performed at private parties that were related to, but not sponsored by, the Sundance Institute. This year, musical performances will be incorporated into the official festival program, with live performances from at least two artists per night.

Ice-T produced Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap to examine the musical genre. The film features interviews conducted by Ice-T with more than 50 rap and hip-hop artists who try to define what rap music is today and where it came from. The film tries to capture rap’s roots and share some musical history with a generation of rappers who may not understand the forces that brought rap music into the forefront.

In the film, Ice-T says that he had to make the film because rap made his life. Ice-T is just one more in a growing line of old-school rap artists who are concerned about the genre and where it’s headed. Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jay-Z and others have all expressed concern that today’s up and coming rap stars don’t understand what rap music is all about.

Ice-T is expected to perform in Park City, UT at the festival on January 21, and indicated in at least one interview that he may be joined by other rappers who are interested both in promoting the film and supporting Ice-T in his effort to preserve a bit of rap music’s history.

Ice-T had a significant career as a rap artist, beginning in the 1980′s. He also began his acting career at that time. In 2000, he appeared as a regular character on Law and Order, and has since concentrated primarily on acting. His most recent album, Gangsta Rap, was released in 2006.

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Four of the top new musical acts from 2011 deliver rap beats or hip-hop music to their growing cadre of adoring fans, according to Ace Showbiz. That’s a pretty neat answer to those who claim that rap music has lost its relevance somewhere along the way. Rap music is highly influential, and has been since it hit the music scene, and with at least 40% of the top acts being rap or hip-hop, rap music still has a long way to go.

Fresh Faces Dominate Fresh Music

The classic rappers are now the industry’s elder statesmen, as the second generation of rappers move into the music industry. Diggy Simmons is no exception. Son of Run DMC rapper Rev Run, Simmons is well on his way to his own claim to fame, hitting Ace Showbiz’s list at Number 3. Simmons isn’t new to the rap scene. He’s been self-producing and self-publishing his own music since 2009. 2011 is a breakout year for the young rapper, though. He hit the Billboard charts and peaked at number 21 with his first hit single, “Copy Paste.” He’s also received some professional recognitions from BET for his musical talent. He’s definitely on the “watch list” for 2012.

Entering the Ace Showbiz list at Number 6 is Tyler the Creator. Tyler the Creator – like Diggy Simmons – isn’t brand new to the rap and hip-hop scene. He broke in with Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them but that hasn’t stopped him from carving his own path to success. His major solo hit in 2011 was Yonkers – again a self-produced, self-published tune that stirred up a commotion by taking on B.o.B., Hayley Williams and Bruno Mars. The fuss was apparently worth it because the song hit number 9 on the Billboard Hotseeker chart and Tyler the Creator’s album, Goblin, hit the number 5 spot on Billboard’s Hot 200.

Mac Miller pulled a fast one on the hip-hop world by hitting the top album spot on Billboard’s Hot 200 with an independent label – Rostrum Records. That feat was first accomplished in 1995 by the Dogg Pound, and Miller’s Blue Slide Park is the only indie album ever to repeat that. Miller, at just 19 years of age, is certainly an artist to keep an eye on in 2012.

J. Cole rounded out Ace Showbiz’s list in the Number 10 spot. J. Cole had a lot of help from mentor Jay-Z, and it seems to have paid off for the young rapper – whose debut album hit the Number 1 spot. The top spot is a little more special because J. Cole is the first solo act to hit the Number 1 spot with his debut album since B.o.B. J. Cole was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2011.

The key takeaway here is that two of the four top acts of 2011 went the self-produced route. They are absolute proof that you can self-produce your own music and be highly successful at it.

If you’re into making rap beats, make your 2012 resolution one that includes self-producing your own music with Sonic Producer, one of the best music production software packages available today.

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Time Magazine recently named “The Protester” as its Person of the Year. The honor is a nod to the thousands of people across the country and around the world who have made their voices heard. This year, protesters have toppled at least three major Middle Eastern governments and have brought new energy to the political process in the United States. But what does Occupy Wall Street have to do with rap beats?

Rap Has A Place In Protests

Rap music mogul Russell Simmons thinks that protesting is a great way to make the common man’s voice heard and that the protests are giving life to a new kind of rap beat. In an interview with the Tri-State Defender, Simmons says that he supports protesters in their effort to draw attention to the special interests that seem to have lawmakers’ ears.

Simmons is no stranger to the political process, and has been involved in protesting laws that unfairly on unjustly target individuals while corporate crimes go virtually unnoticed. In addition, Simmons is now calling for campaign finance reform that eliminates third-party influence among elected officials. In the end, Simmons predicts an expansion of the OWS movement to encompass the majority of people who want to get back to the one-man, one-vote concept embraced by the Constitution in a way that ensures that corporations don’t wield too much influence over the outcome of elections.

Spoken word – a mainstay of rap music – is at the center of the protest movement. Rap music and rap musicians are using the OWS movement to build their own base of fans, expand their craft and get more people involved in making the voice of the common person heard.

Self-publishing music has never been easier than it is today. With great tools like Sonic Producer, you can start producing your own rap beats today. Sonic Producer is a remarkable computer program that allows you to build and distribute your own royalty-free rap beats using your personal computer.

Whether you use a Macintosh or a PC, Sonic Producer has you covered. You simply download the software and Sonic Producer’s outstanding video tutorials can help you get moving in the right direction fast! You don’t need any special equipment to get started. Use the computer you’ve got and download a copy of Sonic Producer. Sonic Producer comes with a library of royalty-free music, which you’re free to use and distribute. When you’re done making your beats, you can export them to MP3 and distribute them to your friends and fans. You can even sell the music without paying a dime in royalties. Don’t wait! Get your rap career in gear today!

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A growing debate among rap music industry observers centers around whether or not free mixtapes are the right way to go. The strategy involved in mixtapes, of course, is that you put out a mixtape with some great free rap beats and build a fan following. The free mixtapes are supposed to provide a boost when you release an album.

Mixtapes Now A Standard Strategy

Releasing free mixtapes may have been a novel strategy a few years ago, but today, they’re standard for the rap music industry. The question is, “Can rap music artists still build and retain fan followings without releasing mixtapes?” Some artists don’t question the strategy much; mixtapes are simply part of the business and a way to put out some music outside of a full album release. Others have deliberately maneuvered around mixtapes and major labels, and have still built a solid fan base.

So, are mixtapes strictly necessary? If you talk to artists like Lil Wayne or Drake, the answer is clear. They both release mixtapes religiously and they’re massively successful. If you talk to artists like Tech N9ne and Odd Future, they don’t release mixtapes and they’re arguably very successful, too.

Part of the answer depends upon how you define “success.” From a business perspective, success is measured in dull fashion, by counting product sales and performance revenues. From a critical perspective, success is harder to define. Do you put on a good show? Do you get a lot of airtime? Is your music standard on the club circuit?

Tech N9ne and other independent artists prove that releasing mixtapes isn’t necessary to build a fan base or keep fans interested. Mixtapes provide a great way to introduce a new artist. For established talent, mixtapes are a good outlet for music that’s stylistically good, but not good enough to be featured on an album. They can also be used to promote upcoming albums without a lot of effort.

Ultimately, the mixtape comes down to this: do you want to swing for the fences on every track, or is a base hit good enough? If you want to be a home run king, it’s best to consider each song’s potential as an album and make sure it’s as good as it can ever get. If you don’t want to work that hard, the mixtape is a good way to publish music that’s better than average and keep the fans interested, but you’ll still need to deliver on your album work.

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