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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Rap Beats To Light Up Sundance

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 Ten Top Acts Of 2011 Give Off Rap Beats

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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What Does 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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Rap Music Featured At 2012 The Grammy Awards

Something For Everyone

In the Best Rap Performance category, the nominees are:
• Black and Yellow – Wiz Khalifa
• Look At Me Now – Chris Brown
• Moment 4 Life – Nicki Minaj and Drake
• Otis – Jay-Z and Kanye West
• The Show Goes On – Lupe Fiasco

No major surprises but it’s notable that given the “Collaboration” category below, the Best Performance nods include two collaborations.

Speaking of working together, the nominees in the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category are:
• All of The Lights – Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie
• I’m On One – DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne
• I Need A Doctor – Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Grey
• Motivation – Kelly Rowland and Lil Wayne
• Party – Beyonce and Andre 3000
• What’s My Name – Rihanna and Drake

Recognizing standout rap music songs is one thing you can count on from the Grammy Awards. The 2012 nominees for the Best Rap Song are:

• All of The Lights – Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie
• Black and Yellow – Wiz Khalifa
• I Need A Doctor – Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Grey
• Look At Me Now – Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes
• Otis – Jay-z and Kanye West
• The Show Gees On – Lupe Fiasco

The Kid Cudi nomination is a little unusual, given that Kid Cudi announced that he was leaving rap behind back in 2010. I guess he hasn’t gotten around to that, yet.

These nominees are a little disappointing, since these nominees were all recognized in either the Best Performance or Best Collaboration categories. There’s a lot more to rap music than just these tunes. The nominating committee could have done a better job on these categories.

Finally, the nominees for the Best Rap Album are:
• Lasers – Lupe Fiasco
• My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West
• Pink Friday – Nicki Minaj
• Tha Carter 4 (IV) – Lil Wayne
• Watch The Throne – Jay-Z and Kanye West

This list is also a little disappointing. There’s no nice way to say this: Lasers just doesn’t belong in this category. Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy definitely holds up to the hype and is poised (fairly) to win the category, but Pink Friday, which is mostly a C-level effort, ends up being, on the whole, only marginally better than the long-awaited Tha Carter IV, and not quite as good as Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne. The nominations leave out some more worthy contenders like Saigon’s The Greatest Story Never Told, Phonte’s Charity Starts At Home, All 6′s and 7′s by Tech N9ne and Royce da 5’9″ Success is Certain. Even Drake’s Take Care ends up being better than everyone nominated, except Kanye’s Fantasy.

If you’re thinking that you can do better than most of the nominees here, and you’re into making your own music, check out Sonic Producer and get your rap career in high gear!

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Rap Music Mourns The Loss of Heavy D

Unique Style Earned Heavy D A Place In Rap History

As Heavy D, Myers was among the most recognizable rap music acts of the 1980′s and 1990′s. His style was a mixture of reggae and swing, and his lyrics were free from profanity. Myers was the lead artist in the group Heavy D and The Boyz and first charted with their debut album, Living Large. The group recorded a total of five albums between 1987 and 1994, only the first two of which included Troy Dixon (Trouble T-Roy), who died following an accident in 1990. Eddie Ferrell (Eddie F) is the co-founder of Uptown Records, the label on which Heavy D and The Boyz released their albums.
After the fifth group album, Heavy D went on to a solo rap career, releasing four more albums, the last of which, Love Opus, debuted in 2011. Heavy D also performed live for the first time in 15 years at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards in October. Myers demonstrated that rap music artists could succeed with unique styles and approaches to lyrics. While many of today’s rap music artists rely on the shock of foul language, Heavy D’s lyrics were always clean, yet engaging.
Myers also worked as the president and CEO of Uptown Records, and was instrumental in the development of Mary J. Blige. Myers also hired Diddy Combs early in his musical career. Uptown Records, renamed Uptown Entertainment folded after Myers left the organization to pursue acting opportunities.
In addition to his work as a music producer and recording artist, Myers also made guest appearances on several television series, an off-Broadway play, had a recurring role on Boston Public, and occasionally acted in motion pictures. His last appearance on the big screen was in “Tower Heist,” released in the US just four days before Myers’ death. Myers also provided the theme music for several television shows, including In Living Color and MADtv. He also made guest appearances for Michael and Janet Jackson, BB King, and appeared in the video for One More Chance by Notorious B.I.G.
Myers was nominated for Grammy awards in 1992, 1995, 1997, and most recently in 2009, and also received four nominations for Soul Train awards, winning Best Rap Album in both 1988 and 1990.

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Rap Heard 'Round The World

Where The Rappers Are

Rap music has an almost universal appeal, and it doesn’t seem to flinch, even in some pretty out-of-the-way places. Earlier this week, AP ran a story about Adil Omar, a Pakistani rapper who was discovered online by Cypress Hill as a 16-year-old creating self-produced music in his bedroom. Four years down the road, the enterprising rap artist’s music will be featured in a Pakistani movie, and his fan following is growing.

That’s hard to do in Pakistan, where Islamic fundamentalists have gone as far as to bomb stores in which Omar’s music is sold. You’ll also find rap music at the heart of the Arab Spring protests, largely because the music has the ability to reach a young audience.

The idea of self-publishing music was far-fetched even as little as 10 years ago. Today, you can find some excellent software tools to help you put together your own rap beats, make your own songs and get your own music published. What’s the interest in self-publishing music? For many musicians, the ability to get their music out is important.

Under the old scheme, a musician had to catch the attention of a music publisher in order to make music available to the people. The music publisher took the lion’s share of whatever was sold. In the process, they created a very unpopular system that not only screens new artists and prevents them from being heard, but they also took the artist’s ability to be compensated for his or her work.

Today, you can self-publish music using a computer and a great software package like Sonic Producer. With Sonic Producer, you’ll get a professional sounding mix and a full library of royalty-free samples you can use for anything you like. You can make your own music, experiment, develop your own sound or just goof around. You can also publish your own music, distribute your songs and get your message out to the world.

Download your copy of Sonic Producer today and start making your own music!

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Free Advertising For Alcohol Through Rap Beats?

Study May Prompt New Look At Rap

For the most part, the artists choose which brands to mention in their lyrics, but on occasion, the lyrics are the result of a promotional connection between the artist and the liquor company. The connection between rap music and alcohol sales is somewhat tenuous, but there are those who believe that rap beats have an impact on consumer behavior. In 2002, Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy released the rap single, “Pass the Courvoisier.” In 2003, the company’s sales shot up by nearly 19%.

According to the study, the most often mentioned brands were Patrón Téquila, Grey Goose Vodka, Hennessey Cognac and Cristal Champagne. The producers say that the music doesn’t constitute advertising because they have not solicited the mention of their products in the song.

In the United States, it’s illegal to target liquor advertising to persons under the age of 21, and the rap beats raise the question of what constitutes advertising. According to the study, listeners are exposed to brand-name “advertising” through rap music on average 34 times per day. The connection between rap music and alcohol is clear, and some artists have stepped in to use rap music as a brand-name promotional tool.

Critics point to Jay-Z’s acquisition of a majority share of Armadale Vodka, and Snoop Dogg’s commercial work for Landy Cognac. It’s not the first time a musician has mentioned alcohol in its songs, but some critics want to make sure that rap music does not become a surreptitious advertising vehicle for liquor advertisements directed toward minors, in much the same way that Joe Camel became a target for the anti-smoking lobby.

The study focused on rap music that landed on the Billboard Magazine’s Top 100 lists between 2005 and 2007. The researchers analyzed the lyrics from 793 songs and found that more than one in five rap songs mentioned alcohol. Of those that did, nearly one-fourth mentioned a specific brand name.

How big is the problem? In actual numbers, about 5% of all of the songs in the study mentioned alcohol by brand name. In terms of sheer numbers, the problem doesn’t appear to be all that significant, but simple numbers don’t account for the popularity of the song, and how much impact a few songs or a few artists can have on consumer behavior.

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Your Rap Beats Could Bring You Some Fast Cash

Sonic Producer Can Help

If you’re ready to make a statement in the rap world, Sonic Producer can help you get heard. Sonic Producer is a one-of-a-kind beatmaking software package that you don’t want to be without. Sonic Producer is with you all the way, whether you’re an experienced rap artist or just starting out. Sonic Producer has something for everyone.

Aside from its great features, like a 16-track built-in mixer, Sonic Producer comes with a full library of tutorial videos to show you not only how to use the program but also how to make the beats that people want to hear! It’s a great tool for beginners who want to stand out on the rap music scene.
Sonic Producer has everything you need. You don’t need to buy a lot of additional equipment or rent expensive studios to get professional sounding rap beats and recording capabilities. Sonic Producer is available for both the Mac and PC platforms, so you don’t have to buy more computer gear or miss out on such a great program!

Sonic Producer also comes with a large library of royalty-free samples that you can use with your raps. Royalty-free is the key when it comes to making rap beats. You can spend thousands of dollars licensing rap beats from other artists, but with Sonic Producer, you have a complete library available to you all the time and without having to pay additional fees to use them.

When you buy Sonic Producer, the video tutorial library and the library of samples are included in the price you pay for the software. The sample library alone may save thousands! Better still, you can do whatever you want with the beats – use them for your own personal sound, record them, sell them, distribute them or perform live using them. The sample library is yours!

Sonic Producer also lets you export your music to MP3 and distribute your sound around town. Sonic Producer is a stand-out product. Download your copy today!

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Mixtapes or No Mixtapes: The Rap Beat Goes On

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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