Hmm... maybe this is deeper than just a feud?

After reading this article and going over all the interviews back and forth between Beanie Sigel and 50 Cent im coming to a realization. For anyone who is not familar with hip hop music Beanie Sigel is signed to Rocafella Records which was started by hip hop superstar Jay-Z. Jay-Z has frequently collborated with Beans and they were good friends until recently. Lately in the news Beans has been stirring alot of bad blood calling Jay out and dissing him on several songs. 50 Cent who Beanie has joined forces with has also been running his mouth about Jay. However the funny thing is I recently heard that the Empire State Of Mind Remix will feauture Nas and 50 Cent? Now could this all be a marketing ploy put together by Jay 50 and Beanie? Now i know its hard to eat our here and no one is buying records anymore. I mean we know that, after Fif sold 160,000 copies his first week off of his latest album(horendous). Another reason im starting to think this could be true is that Sigel is still contractually obligated to Jay. This could all be a marketing ploy used to reinvent Beanie Sigels career and help Jay and 50 as well. Or it could just be a mad rapper who wants to get his revenge i cant be sure. 50 is no stranger to controversy so this is not out of the realm of possible if he is in the picture. We all know 50 and Jay have no problem making some extra money. As for Beanie this could be the jumpstar he needs to reinvent himself. We may never know the meaning behind this feud but to me its deeper than just rap. Above is a video interview between 50 and Beans speaking on the Jay-Z situation.

The Dream does his best Kanye

Today i read an article about R&B singer The Dream and how his album was not nominated for a Grammy award. The Dream decided to use his twitter page to vent his frustration about the incident. Now the album did recieve very favorable ratings and sold a fair amount of units. Now im not a big fan of The Dream i dont really listen to too much R&B music however i have listened to a few tracks off of his latest album Love vs. Money and i was fairly impressed with it. It had good features like ironically another guy who loves to be a baby when doesnt win an award Kanye West. Should the album win a grammy? i dont know about that but the fact that it was even nominated is very interesting to me. I never really thought that much about The Grammys and this really makes me think whoever does the nomination really isnt that in touch with the music industry. To me the fans should vote for all awards why should they leave music awards up to a group of 5 or 6 people or whoever does the nominations. Why not leave it up to the people that are actually going out and buying the records. It seems like twitter is continueing to do what it does best. And to me that is stir up stories and attention. Artists love to use twitter as a way of venting and why not? It causes controversy and stories and is a good way of generating news. If i had thousand of followers like most of these artists do i think i would do the same thing.Above is one of my favorite songs off of the aforementioned album Love vs. Money.

Re releases?

I never really have heard of re releasing an album before this year. The two latest re releases i have heard of were both platinum albums when they were originally released this year "go figure." Both Eminem and Lady Gaga and there respective labels have decided they will re release there albums with bonus tracks available. Now Eminem promised 2 albums in the same year but has decided to push Relapse 2 back and rerelease his platinum selling Relapse December 21st with 7 bonus tracks along with it. The only problem i have with these re releases is to me it is just another money maker. In this case i dont feel like it is the artists that are doing this it is there labels. Now Eminem owns his own label but it is still under Interscope. Music labels seem to run the artists lives in a sense and will do anything to make an extra dollar. And especially with the growing piracy in music record sales are down heavily. So why not take platinum albums and re release them? Well to me this is not helping the cause its just another way to make money not to help the artist.

Oh Boy Twitter Causes More Beef

Well here it goes again twitter causing all kinds of problems. Just read an article about another beef started on twitter. Now dont get me wrong this isnt an anti twitter blog its just another blog showing what can happen on twitter. Well Joe Budden and his girlfriend Tahiry broke up and hes with a new girl Somaya Reece. Over twitter Somaya made a comment about Fab and immediately Fab responded over Twitter. Now this is starting to spiral out of control, because of course then Joe responded on a video blog as he usually does. Joe told Fab if he has something to say put it in a song. Twitter is a great social outlet and it has gotten so big it is now used as an outlet to air out dirty laundry. Im not sure if Fabolous will respond but hopefully this doesnt get out of control because Joe and Fab used to be good friends. They were in a group called Desert Storm a few years back and were very good friends. I think they will work things out but i dont know joey can get stubborn with rap beef.

Leaking Albums New Marketing Scheme?

I just read an article which deals with a new form of marketing by record labels and artists. This is almost the idea of new wave marketing in that it seems as though the music buisness is slowly dieing. Record sales continue to plummet and record labels need to think of new ways to sell albums. Now if this was 10 years ago we would all still be with walkmans and going to stores to buy cds. This was when the music industry was at a high. 50 Cent's "Get Rich Or Die Trying" sold upwards of 12 million records in 2003. In 2009 upon the release of his 4th coming album "Before I Self Destruct" there is speculation that he leaked his own album. The album leaked onto the internet 1 month before its intended release date which was November 23rd and has now been pushed up a week by Shady/Aftermath Records. This happened earlier in 2009 with Eminem's comeback album "Relapse" and Coldplay's album Viva La Vida. It is speculated this is a marketing scheme because of its effect on record sales. If an album is very good and the fans hear it on the internet many then go and buy the album in the stores. While if they didnt hear it beforehand they might speculate it being bad and not want to waste there money. It seems as though the scheme is working with Eminem's album selling 3 million copies and Coldplay's selling 2 million. Hey look could the music industry finally be coming out of its funk?

Celebrity Blog Sites Give Fans A Look In

Example of a celebrity blog *Contains Brief Expletive Language*



Celebrities are using new tactics to give fans a look in. They are now using blogs, many of them being videos of there everyday life. This gives fan an extra connection with whoever they are following and almost lets them get to know the person. It lets the fan know how they are feeling and what they are doing at the moment. Rapper Joe Budden as seen above uses his website JoeBuddenTV to give fans a look at his everyday life. Many of the videos are very comical in that Joe does most of the videotaping. Athletes such as Micheal Beasley and producer Sean "Puffy' Combs are also known to heavily blog. Blogs just like twitter or facebook is a way of social networking. Joe Budden especially has found a following on his website where there are many forums made talking about the site. It is another smart marketing move on the part of the artist or athlete or whoever. These blogs are going to cause traffic to there name and to there site. If something controversial goes on on the site immediately whoever it was there name will be in the news. Just as the Joe Budden vs Method Man feud started over a blog on Joes site. I do think it is deeper than a marketing scheme though. I think celebrities are just realizing that people are very interested in there everyday lives. I think its great enertainment and i enjoy the blogs.

Will Record Sales Ever Go Back Up?

I was just reading an article about this weeks nielson soundscan sales. I found it amazing that an artist who was once so well liked and popular could come in this week with less than 10,000 copies sold. Fat Joe whos new album Jealous Ones Still Envy II dropped last week selling upwards of 8,300 copies which is horendous for an artist on a major label(Joe distributes his music on a major). Those sales may not even be sufficient for an artist who is on a strictly independant label. This is a guy who has gone platinum several times and you come to wonder if it is the material he is putting out or if the music buisness is in a state of emergency. I feel like the main problem is the heavy pirating of music over the internet. The record for highest 1st week sale for an album was in 2000 with Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP which sold 1.7 million its first week. I dont think we will ever see someone break this record. Music sales have gone down drastically over the last several years and labels are doing whatever they can to get people to buy albums. Labels are including special offers in with the album to make you want to buy it. It is just not seeming to work because artists just arent selling. Even Green Day who is nationally known and well recieved only went platinum with there latest record(they previously have gone double and triple platinum).I personally have begun buying albums again recently but i fell into the same category as everyone else for a long time. We really need to think about how the artists put so much work into there album for people to steal it. However it has been made so easy, that to buy an album that you can just download for free almost seems ridiculous. Soon enough i think everything is going to be made digitally since almost no one minus maybe Eminem, Jay-Z, and Green Day are selling anymore. This upsets me being such a music fan.