This is for our good friend and big fan of Dip Set crew, Emynd. Camron and Dash defend their work on the O’reilly Factor. Link (wmv), via No Frontin

In a world of convergence and rapid assimilation, it is impressive to observe so much cash-cow hype surrounding a concept and service as simple and unimpressive as ringtones. To me, the idea that ringtones are being charted and built into business models is more a sign of the bewilderedness of management than of the value-added for consumers. Ringtones provided lucky early-adopters over $3billion in sales last year, and it will go on for some time, but I find it hard to imagine long term viability in a business concentrating solely or primarily on the production and distribution of these clips. Especially when cellphones are quickly being produced with increased memory capacity and audio compatibility, like this Nokia that can store 4GBs worth or music. This will inevitably lead to mass adoption of mp3 ringtone options that will be legally produced by individuals at home with free audio editing software. Anyway, here’s a step by step look at a quick and fairly inexpensive way to make ringtones at your home/independent label headquarters. Xingtone’s software (which I found via Hashim’s site) is decent because it allows people with older cellphone models (they still need web/email access) to get their ringtones into their cellphones. Eventually the program will not be very useful, as most new phones are more like pda’s and will have usb ports or memory sticks to transfer data. If you’re interested in this subject I suggest reading Sasha Frere-Jones’ piece from the New Yorker. By the way, please note I’m not knocking small businesses that have made a killing selling ringtones at $2-$4 bucks a pop. I’m just pointing out that it is very interesting (and disappointing) to know that executive management teams of organizations as large and potentially resourceful as Sony Music are willing to direct so much money and time to developing models for something that will be incredibly easy for people to produce at home on a bare-bones computer with free software. Before I end my rant, another interesting thing to note is the copyright issue. The ringtone retailers have been paying for the rights to sell these loops. This cost probably dribbles down to the end consumer which is probably why ringtones tend to be more than 99c singles from iTunes. As Sasha points out, “Polyphonic ringtones are essentially cover versions of songs: aggregators must pay royalties to the publisher, who then pays the songwriter…master tones are compressed versions of original recordings, which means that record labels—the entities that typically own recordings—are entitled to collect a fee, too.” But, as duly noted later in his article and to the detriment of big labels trying to cash in on a song’s worth once via cd and again via ringtones “…transferring music that you own to your phone is legal under copyright law.” I know I’m not going to pay twice to have Meaty Ogre beats blasting out of my cellphone. step-by-step, article

This is the most amazing archive/time capsule of downloadable mixtapes from the 80’s.

Download the MP3’s here

Electro, old school rap,scratches, remixes, mastermixes, bootlegs, and private broadcasts.

Make way for DJ Shadow and the reissue of his classic album Endtroducing. According to Billboard Online, the new deluxe expanded edition will include a live set recorded in 1997 as well as previously unreleased demos and remixes. Sounds hot. Be sure to also check for Eliot Wilder’s upcoming book about the album, which is coming out in September on Continuum Books. If you can’t wait check the pdf version. Link, pdf

Update 04/28/05: Anonymous points out the pdf is actually another novel he wrote. The book on Endtroducing should be available this summer. Here’s an excerpt.

“On August 9th, witness the return of the most influential group in hip-hop history.” Public Enemy is back with their first studio album in more than two years. Titled Rebirth Of A Nation, the production tip is handled entirely by Paris with scheduled guest appearances by, among others, Dead Prez and Immortal Technique. Link

Sprouting from seeds planted during the International Computer Music Conference, The Free Sound Project provides producers with an abundance of samples available via a Creative Commons Sampling License (that means its practically free). Link , via Corante

License

You are free:
To sample, mash-up, or otherwise creatively transform this work for commercial or noncommercial purposes.
To perform, display, and distribute copies of this whole work for noncommercial purposes (e.g., file-sharing or noncommercial webcasting).

Under the following conditions:
You must give the original author credit.
You may not use this work to advertise for or promote anything but the work you create from it.
For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.

About “Free Sound”

People are organs of a living earth - and the cells of its body. The symphony of the cosmic concert is the music of nature - the natural “free music”. If you pay attention to this art and laws of its development, everybody knows that the noises of the sea, wind, thunderstorm, makes a symphony as well as the music of birds - but right now, people exploit the music of nature according to the old laws - if they were paying more attention, they would be enlightened more - It would turn out that water, air and birds, don’t sing according to our notes, but using all the notes that they find pleasure in - and with that, the laws of the natural music are observed exactly. The creator of free music similarly to a nightingale is not limited to tones and half-tones. He also utilizes quarter-tones, eighth-tones as well as music with a free choice of tones.- Nikolai Kulbin, “Free Music” manifesto published in Der Blaue Reiter Almanach (1910). Translated from the Russian by Ruslana Zitserman and Lonce Wyse

Our good friend Dj Signify, Steinski and Defjux’s very own El-P will be performing tonight at Northsix. The event’s primary goal is to raise money and awareness for Dax Pierson. Please visit the site to learn more about the tragic accident that occurred and try make it to the show if you can! Link

Info: Benefit show to raise funds for Dax Pierson - earlier this year Dax was in a serious van wreck on the way to a show with the rest of his group (Subtle). they hit a patch of black ice and Dax is now paralyzed from the neck down. His friends have been organizing a series of benefit shows in order to raise money for his astronomical medical bills.El-P says he’s headlining the event in the hopes that they can bring some good help to this cat. El will be doing a half hour of mostly new shit from his next album which will most likely be the last time he does a show before next year when his new album drops. Live performances by: El-P, DJ Signify and Steinski, Healamonster & Tarsier, Erik Horversten (A Minor Forest, Threnody Ensemble).

Speaking of Grandmaster Caz, he’s featured on the new Dj Z-Trip album Shifting Gears. Whipper Whip from the Fantastic Five is on this album too as well as Luke Sick (from Sacred Hoop…are they still around?). Z-Trip’s site, rollingstone, tracklisting

Rockstar - dj Z-Trip - from the Return of the Dj vol. 2 compliation, 1997

*Grandmaster Caz / Dj Signify (Dj Signify / Grandmaster Caz) GrandGood 7inch vinyl is now available at Fat Beats

A very heart felt shout out to the GMC for his Birthday! As a tribute someone did a decent job at remixing his speech from the Hot97 rally. Go drop a line and make sure to listen to the end of the track for a glimpse of his harmonizing past. Link, mp3

Female Fun presents mp3s from Prince Paul’s Itstrumental album. The three tracks will be featured on the clear vinyl 12inch “Inside Your Mind.” If you’re lucky enough to be on Foundation Media’s Dj list, you’ll be getting copies soon. Link (1, 2, 3)

Check out live video of Rza and ODB beat-boxing at a talent show from WAAAAAY back in the day… Can’t remember where or when I got this, if you know the source let us know so we can give props! Link

When it first appeared, I thought this site was a temporary joke, guess not! Thavius Beck is the latest feature on HipHopHunks. Link

Anti-Party Music / Asita Recordings release another quality recording on special 8″ format featuring classic material from Joe Dubb’s 1999 album, Noise Pollution. Also included are unreleased songs from the same period. For those unfamiliar with Joe Dub (see also: old joseph, young joseph), he was part of the the world famous San Francisco Street Music, Westcoast Workforce, and reppin’ SF since the early 90s. I didn’t catch on until I discovered Atak sometime in ‘99 but song for song Joe Dub is probably my favorite hip hop artist period. Recently he did a beat for Ellay Khule for the new Project Blowed album as well as everything on the upcoming Ellay Khule album - In My Own World. He also did the track ‘Subtalk’ from Subtitle’s new Young Dangerous Heart album which I’ve been listening to everyday this week.
Link, AsitaRecordings, Rifleman

Dj OM from Heardrums records is auctioning off a lot of “….45s of the Modern Soul, Northern, Funk variety.” Link, (Thanks Ming!)

The latest issue of earplug points to two interesting, musically-inclined, broadband sites being developed by Microsoft and MTV. Both offer video streams as a core attraction. Crossfader is Gates & Co.’s disappointing attempt to bring together aficionados of what they describe as electronic music. The site currently has features on Dj Spooky and Tony Touch, which include video segments that appear like straight-up commercials for their next projects (The rest of the Spooky video is somewhat interesting if you’ve never seen someone sample and layer tracks before). In what appears as an attempt to harness the interactivity of blogs and forums, the site’s design offers hints of both worlds by allowing visitors to leave comments and make posts. You can even register and create your own profile/blog. The other musician-friendly company is developing Overdrive, which is still somewhat of a mystery since it doesn’t appear to be active for the public just yet. But it looks promising because it will supposedly provide free access to high quality video.

This Or That

But in my opinion, the most interesting site/project that recently launched, that will incorporate video as the major offering, is Google’s brand spankin’ new video upload program. The site will allow anyone…that’s right, anyone, not just distributors or established companies, to upload their work and it will provide a practically free distribution platform (free hosting & bandwith with a pay scheme similar to google ads!). So unlike Microsoft, Google is providing a valuable, quality service to under-represented artists and consumers. I guess while MSFT was trying to figure out how to make money from the music/media industry by organizing ceremonies and inventing fancy awards to give to Grandmaster Flash (he was awarded the Dj Vanguard something or other by Gates himself), Google was actually thinking about how to provide a useful service to artists (and make a profit from it). Do the very-well-paid strategists at MSFT really think that this is the best way to tap into the market? By launching half-*ss commercials dressed up as community sites and offering “branded entertainment experiences” with racially powered characters like Miles Thirst. Will this create that extra stream of revenue they’ve been looking for? Maybe they should reconsider and try coming up with something more like Singingfish or Ourmedia. Instead of being constrictive these projects are open and transparent and end up being useful instead of tacky. But then again, when you’re sitting on billions of dollars in readily available cash maybe you can do whatever you want. Think it’s a coincidence that MTV’s overdrive will only offer video in Windows Media Player format? Think again, MSFT wants a piece of the music/video industry and they’re slowly getting their way. By the way, make sure not to miss MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed on May 12th!

Extra reading: Microsoft and MTV Hang Out, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Singingfish, MSN Teams With Sprite to Create First-of-Its-Kind Online Music Marketing Platform for Teens

Quotes: “The Scenario is a unique place on the Web where teens can experience 10 of the hottest hip-hop DJs in the country, connect with each other through new MSN® Messenger functionality and connect with the Sprite brand in groundbreaking ways.” “The Scenario includes three distinct experiences through which teens can discover new music, connect with each other, and interact with Miles Thirst and the Sprite brand”

Here’s a fairly recent Handsome Boy Modeling School interview with Chicago’s Inner View. Chest Rockwell and Nathaniel Merriweather were sent in to answer some questions. When you’re done with that check out the video for The Worlds Gone Mad.

Screening tonight at Hunter College! Presented by Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos. Link, via ShreddedMelody

Cuban Hip Hop provides a unique insight into the realities and politics of contemporary Cuba. Experience this as Inventos follows the pioneers of this musical movement to their homes, the stage and as they travel abroad for the first time.
Inventos features, Anonimo Consejo; Grandes Ligas; Obsesion; Havana Hip Hop producers Pablo Herrera and Ariel Fernandez; U.S. Dead Prez,Tony
Touch and many others.