Contact TMOTTMedia:  | ADVERTISING & SERVICES| MESSAGE BOARD

Okay. Some of you may be asking “why should I get to a YouTube channel for my videos?”

Well, I’m going to tell you why.
If I have a choice of two restaurants, whereas on has a menu of just burgers and hot fries and the other a menu of with all sorts of breakfast, lunches dinners, and desserts, I’m going to go with the restaurant No. 2, because of the greater access there. In a nutshell, you have more opportunity to engage with your viewers. The YouTube Account page is interactive and community based social networking website that gives you a far greater reach to your audience. What this does is allow breathing room for a greater opportunity for growth.

If you like creating videos and sharing your creativity, it makes since to make them available within a hosted community that specializes in the sole purpose for your videos clips. You get contents of information produced that’s relevant to you and your interests, and not just a blanket list for a shop type of website.

Riding on the success of “Da Butt,” EU, originally known as Experience Unlimited, created a dance sensation, thanks to Spike Lee’s School Daze movie.  This in turn lead to the release of the 1989 album, “Livin’ Large.”  While many songs on the lp would appeal to hardcore funk fans, it was actually the videos of songs such as “Buck Wild” and the above video clip, “I Confess” that really captured the true energetic and sometimes crazy style of their live shows.  This in turn earned them a large following in the late ’80s, as well as the ability to be able to pick it back up when they returned home.

** Take note of the cameo appearance by Little Benny in the above video clip.

In this episode we target just a bit further on the topic of creating your internet presence.  This time elaborating on the interactions for business purposes with the social websites.   I like to talk about 4 category points in which I define and breakdown based on avenues.  The 4 points explained are:

(1) Video Broadcasting sites - your visual avenue;
(2) Facebook - your business and professional avenue;
(3) MySpace - your party avenue;  and
(4) Twitter - your update and damage control avenue.

Each point serves a different purpose when promoting and marketing your band’s website.

At the end of the day, it’s all about effectively combing the social websites, building platforms for the ability for your current, and future, audience to interact with you via your website.

By Gian Fiero

Everywhere I go there seems to be some sophisticated discussion or debate about what’s wrong with the music industry and what needs to be done to fix it. The conversation takes place in offices among professionals who have been around long enough to know that things are indeed different, and industry conferences among music artists who revel in new found optimism that the changes will “level” the playing field and make economic opportunities more accessible to them.

As tempting as it may be, I am not enamored with or preoccupied by the current problems that face the music industry. Issues such as declining record sales; the consolidation of radio stations; the constant merging of record labels; the lack of longevity in the “careers” of music artists; the boom in retail sales of used CDs; or any myriad of issues regarding the illegal downloading of music on the Internet. Why? Because while so many in the music industry (professionals and artists alike) spend countless hours lamenting over things that they can’t control, I only focus on the things that are within my control; like my professional choices, income generating activities, and building valued relationships. Most importantly my business model is based on my passions because while I know that the economy will always fluctuate up or down, and industry trends will turn hot and cold in the blink of an eye, my love for what I do is a constant and remains unaffected.

In 1999 I had the pleasure of meeting and briefly talking to Barry White at a party for the release of “Love Unlimited,” his semi-autobiographical book on his adventures in life, love and the music industry. When he asked me what I did for a living, I told him I was a music business consultant. Barry, who was much darker in person than he is on television and in his videos, flashed some of the whitest teeth you could ever imagine and said, “I don’t know what that is, but as long as you believe in what you do, that’s all that counts.”

I went on to enthusiastically explain to him what I did as a music business consultant, asking him for advice and hogging up his limited time in the process. He stopped me before I could really dive deep into it and interjected in his sincere, rich baritone voice, the advice that I still follow to this very day, “Constantly re-commit yourself to what you do and the money will follow…”

We all need to re-commit from time to time. We all lose sight of what we actually do for a living and the reasons why we do it, but the long roots of true passion run deep…and even when the tree is cut down by unfair business practices, a gluttony of superficial encounters, busted deals, a never ending parade of fakes and flakes, and rampant un-professionalism that plagues the industry, you endure because you know that at the end of the day you are truly passionate about what you do and it all becomes a mere occupational hazard that you learn how to deal with.

While many aspiring industry professionals have fashionably set their sights on the greener pastures of the music business, prostituting their values for the sake and pursuit of money, the vast majority will not obtain the riches they so desperately seek, nor will they be in it for the long haul. Why? Because they lack vision, focus, commitment, and above all else, passion for what they do – which brings us to the question: what’s love got to do with it? When it comes to art, you would think everything, but the sad truth is that there are many in the music industry that are more passionate about self-expression and self-serving interests, than they are about music as an art form (unless, of course, the music we are speaking of is their own).

But you don’t have to be passionate about music to be in the music industry, you just need to be passionate about your motivations and respect the process that allows you to make your money. Show me an act or professional who has failed, and I will show you how that statement applies.

And what about all the “changes” that people are talking about so adamantly? History shows that this industry is always changing. The industry never stops changing; technologically; structurally; logistically; and creatively. Adaptability is a requirement of success in every industry because change, to an entrepreneur, is readily accepted, embraced and capitalized upon.

So for those who are distracted by the changes that are taking place in the industry, my free, but valuable advice to all of you is to focus on what you love to do. Your passion is the intangible that will increase the value of your product or service. Your business needs and opportunities will announce themselves at the appropriate time. Until then, rekindle your love affair with your business or art, because in the end, love has everything to do with the reason you do it in the first place.

———————

Gian Fiero has over 15 years of experience as a former personal manager and current music industry consultant who specializes in music licensing, in which capacity he facilitates the search for, and negotiates the use of, songs in all forms of media. He has been a panelist, mentor, and moderator at many industry conferences, and a frequent guest lecturer on music business topics at San Francisco State University’s Music Recording Industry Program; Oakland’s High School for the Arts; California Lawyers for the Arts; the U.S. Small Business Administration; and the Learning Annex. Additionally, he is the creator of “The Fiero Filter,” an industry tip sheet for content users; and the senior music reviewer for The Muse’s Muse.

© Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.

gfc@musesmail.com

http://www.ArticleCity.com

In his latested video blog release, Go-Go Mickey sends out a Happy Birthday message and share a memory of legendary drummer - one of the greatest to emerge from the Go-Go circuit - Quentin “Footz” Davidson!

Check out Mickey’s messsage.  Then click the banner above and check out everything else that he has in store for you.

Other links about Footz to check out:

• REMEMBERING FOOTZ - (TMOTTGOGO Sept. 1999)
• 1994 WAMA HALL OF FAME

Many times a band, or rap group, or individual performer get to thinking that because they have a myspace or facebook page, or because they sit and tweet their daily acitivities, that they are set as far as internet presence is concerned.  Acutally, this isn’t too far from the truth, but it isn’t the truth.  The social websites are simply just for that, socializing.

If you have have space through the social sites, then what you are on is borrowed space.  You have no control over the direction in which that sites goes.  Therefore, that is not your home.  It is where you socialize.  it is where you got to connect with old friends, make new friends, keep up with what’s going on in the industry, and network.

Then, what you can do is invite them into your home.  Your website.  Your domain.  Your www.thisiswhereidomything.com.

If you have no website to invite them to, then you’re actually homeless.  You have no real stage to showcase yourself to them on.  All your music, all your images, all your products, all your promotions have no place to reside.  Therefore, they have no designated ground to solely stand on.

Adding your material to only the social sites just adds to the flood of the millions of others already there.  To the consumer, it becomes overwhelming… and confusing.  And let us not forget that just recently facebook attemped to lay claim to any material uploaded onto their server.  That would include your material as well.

All that said, if you don’t have your own personal website, the first step is to do that now.  It’s as simple as just a few clicks of your mouse.  Simply click in right here to BLUE HOST and get yourself registered.  That’s step one!

By Artistopia

Your online music profile is the bottom-line essential information on WHO you are as a band, singer, songwriter and/or musician. Your music profile, as to how it fits in the big picture online, is your biography or resume that presents you to the music industry, other musicians, and your potential fans. That makes it a very important page on the Internet, right? It needs to be interesting, well-written, informative and to-the-point, for this is you marketing yourself. When writing this document, there is much to consider to make it presentable.

Consider these scenarios:

1. An A&R rep is listening to your music on an indie radio station or webcast and thinks, “who is that?!” So they click on your name to learn more about you. Your music brought them to your profile. Will they be impressed by what they read?

2. A label rep is browsing the artist profiles on a site for a band they need for a certain project, perhaps local to them. Does your profile, gig information, and band description quickly give them enough details to discover you?

In the Internet world, any webmaster will tell you content is king. Why? Because it is how online visitors find you. The number one source for driving traffic to web pages are search engines, and it is content they want and nothing else. (Content is literally text, characters, paragraphs, sentences – it’s information.) You can easily improve the traffic to your profile by entering as much relevant content about yourself as is necessary to describe your music, history, act, image, and musical goals.

Knowing this and knowing that in this busy-busy click-happy Web world, you have to have your band description clearly stated at the top of the bio! The rest of the fill-in details are at the bottom. If you have captured the readers attention at the top, they will follow through and read more. Otherwise, they will leave your profile and look for another band that presents themselves better than you did.

The best place to start is by creating an outline, in Word (or other program). Also, know how many total characters you can use in the field you are entering information in. Use spell-check and save it for later updating. Collect your thoughts and make notes about your background, your musical history, goals, accomplishments, band members, who plays which instrument, etc.

* The music business is a BUSINESS so present yourself professionally.

The first paragraph should be an introduction. It is the lead-in to who you are, what your music specialty is (genre), where in the world you are from, and perhaps an enthusiastic quote given to you about your music. If you sound like a certain pro band or artist, what makes you different from them?

* Busy industry people may not finish reading after a few lines if the opener does not capture them quickly. And you have to live up to the hype you dish out!

The second paragraph could cover what you are currently up to musically. Here you might mention a new release you are working on, or music projects you are involved with. What promotional plans do you have to support your current activities? Mentioning an upcoming tour or gig would be good here.

The third paragraph will include band member information (who plays what) or brief mention of background experiences, instrumentation, and/or accomplishments, that accentuates your artistic development. Some sites offer tabs or certain fields for detailed information on these entries, so use the available space to present yourself wisely.

The Mission Statement section will cover your music career goals and is aimed at the industry professionals that might be searching for your particular talent. The Influences section will be who your musical influences are, so there is no need to waste the readers time mentioning them elsewhere.

You have to remember, A&R reps, labels, producers, potential collaborators, are all very busy people that have heard it all before. Do not waste words but find a way to stand out from the typical. The music you create may bring them to your profile after they heard it to learn more about you, so it is up to you to show them that you are a person that they can work with.

It is absolutely amazing to see artists that don’t take the time to do this. In countless web travels and thousands of music profiles, you see artist descriptions from as short as a one-liner like “We want to be heard,” to certain social site artist descriptions that go for MILES. There is a big difference in giving the reader vital information that should be included in your profile and info that no one will ever care about that should not.

Therein is the essence of what your music profile should be saying about you.

——————————————–

About The Author

Artistopia - The Ultimate Artist Development Resource http://www.artistopia.com is an artist development and community on the web providing music artists, songwriters and bands all the tools needed for displaying their talent, music business collaboration, marketing and networking. Online since 2003, Artistopia develops advanced technology solutions that leverage the Internet to both the music artist and music companies respective advantage.

“The Vault” is a segment of TMOTT TV where we open the vault and take you on cruises through a series of live concerts performed by Washington DC area Go-Go Band… past & present.

In this volume, we reach in to 1987 and pull out Rare Essence Live @ The Capital Center.

Yanna Crawley, fondly known as “Yannie” to her friends and fans will be performing as a contestant on Tonight’s episode of BET’s Sunday’s Best - Season Two.  Yannie, who is mostly noted for her soulful vocals and strong stage presence, has been a favorite in the DC music scene performing with bands such as Suttle Thoughts, Heaven Sent, and most of all L!ssen.

Catch her tonight as she respresents her city, her family, and most of all, her gift of song.  This episode airs tonight @ 9:00 pm (eastern standard time) on BET.

Above is a live clip of Yannie singing her self written and produced song, with the band Lissen iHD, entitled “Rich Girl”.

By Kato

No longer can the lack of radio support or obtaining a record deal be the scapegoat for a band or individual artist’s not being able to gain national attention.  The playing field from what it used to be 10, and definitely 20 years ago is now basically on even level.  Sure, there are many who have more of the advantages, but due to the leveling of the playing field, the same things can be achieved by anyone, with a little more grinding… and a lot more paying attention and making use of the advantages you now have playing in your favor.

Hip-Hop artists are doing it themselves.  Authors are publishing their own books.  Anyone with a quality HD camera and the hunger for cinema can make a film.  And you know what?  Because of the internet, there is no longer a middle man needed distribution reaches to your audience.

So now what’s your excuse?

With the advent of today’s internet marketing techniques through social media, you are now able to showcase your live shows via video platforms such as YouTube or Film Rookie.  You are not able to not only allow your music to be heard, but to be instantly purchased via MP3 and Ringtone downloads.  You are now able to nationally brand yourselves, spit shine your images and tell your stories via social website such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg and MySpace.  In fact, you are now able to completely build your platform in the most effective way having to go through hearing some type of gatekeeper try and tell you that your work isn’t marketable and won’t sell.  Yes… thanks to today’s media technologies, you will never have to deal with that person again.  Now how you decide to portray that image and produce that music is solely up to you.  But never again can you put the blame on any outside sources.

In the classic Chuck Grown go-go song, “Bustin Loose”, Chuck begins with the demanding phrase, “Keep what you’ve got until you get what you need.”  Well… for the past 30 years, you’ve given a lot.  But now I’m here to tell you that just what you have needed is now here.

In this, my friends, are the areas that TMOTTGoGo.com will strictly be focusing on.  The production.  The image building.  The promoting.  The marketing.  And everything else that entails please your current audience and building some new ones.  Talkin ‘bout making moves.  This surpasses going just beyond the beltway by 2650 miles. (that’s DC to LA by the way).

In the words of the Legendary James Funk, “Now, how you gonna carry it?”

TheNicheMan.com - The Free Course everyone is talking about. Want to discover how to turn losing products and services into winners in 3 easy steps? Discover secrets in Free Market Niche Course.

Go-Go Band Rare Essence performing the hit “Hey Buddy Buddy” live at Club U.

By Cassandra Mack

The other day I conducted a smart dating and relationship choices workshop for a group of high school girls. Of course the topic of Chris Brown and Rhyiana came up. To find out what their thoughts were on this issue, I posed the question: If you were Rhyiana would you take Chris Brown back? About 40% of the students said no. But, more than half said yes, they would take him back … if he was really sorry and promised never to do it again. So I asked: What would indicate to you that he was really sorry and what would he need to do to assure you that he would never do it again? They all looked at me with a blank stare. Then the room got quiet.

So the workshop went from smart dating choices to understanding the dynamics of dating violence, which led me to write this note. Perhaps you may want to share it with a young woman or young man you know. Here goes…………

One of the hardest lessons that a young woman has to learn is not algebra, calculus or even the laws of science. It’s not social studies, foreign language or figuring out why Maya Angelou’s Caged Bird Sings. The hardest lesson that a young woman has to learn is how to recognize and end an abusive relationship.

Perhaps he “only” hits you when he’s angry. Or maybe he doesn’t hit you at all. Instead he curses at you, tells you that you’re nothing without him and tries to control every move you make. Or maybe he doesn’t do any of these things, but there’s a little voice inside your head telling you….that he’s a little too jealous and overinvolved in your day-to-day whereabouts and decisions for your comfort level.

Contrary to popular belief, the reason so many young women have difficulty recognizing and ending an abusive relationship is not solely based on low self-esteem or witnessing violence in their own homes. Some of the other reasons are: 1) Most people are not taught healthy relationship skills, values and boundaries. Therefore they don’t know what to expect or look for, let alone set healthy boundaries and assert themselves. 2) Abusive relationships never start out that way. It’s not like you meet someone and from day one they start hitting on you or verbally abusing you. It’s a progression of behaviors that escalate over time, as the abuser becomes more comfortable in the relationship and feels like they’ve got you mentally and emotionally locked in. 3) The relationship is not abusive all the time. There is a cycle of violence… a period of calm before the storm.

Experts in this area say that there are three stages that occur in the cycle of an abusive relationship: They are:
1.) The Tension Building Stage - this is the stage where things start to get real tense and they escalate from bad to worse.
2.) The Explosion Stage - this is the stage where the person explodes and either hits you or goes into an uncontrolled rage of fury.
3.) The Honeymoon Stage - This is the stage that keeps the couple together, because this is the stage where the person apologizes, says that they don’t know what got into them and promises that it will never happen again. And you end it taking them back hoping that things will change.

It is critical that we start talking to teens early about healty relationship behavior because studies show that one in five middle and high school girls have experienced violence or some form of intimidation in their dating relationships. And the schocker is many never tell their parents, so they go through this hurtful experience privately, afraid and embarrased to tell someone else what’s going on.

Dating violence is a serious issue because many of these relationships end in hospitalizations and some even end in death. This is why it is critical that we speak to our youth about teen dating violence/domestic violence. If you’re a parent sit down with your teen and dialogue about this issue, if you’ve got nieces, nephews and younger cousins start talking to them. If you work with teens, do some research on the issue of teen dating violence. Get the facts and stats. Then conduct a workshop to help educate your youth.

When I closed the workshop with the young women, I closed with this piece of advice….

While it can be flattering to be with someone who makes you feel like the sun rises and sets with you, like you are the center of his world, like he’s the Big Willy whose made you. What you must keep in mind is when someone feels like they own you or they’ve made or raised you so to speak, they start to feel a little entitled. Entitled to tell you what to do and how to do it. Entitled to tell you who to talk to, who you can hang out with and what not to wear. And over time this sense of entitlement can grow into a cancerous tidal wave of unchecked jealousy, control and anger. And if a person feels entitled to own and control you, then it’s a matter of time before they believe that they are entitled to spas out on you and put their hands on you … all in the name of love.

If you are in an abusive relationship tell your parents, tell a teacher, tell someone you trust, there is help available to see you through this. If you are being abused, the best decision is to back away from the relationship and talk with your parents and a counselor. Your partner needs help and anger management counseling, even if he’s really sorry.

In the end, only you can decide whether you or going to leave or stay, but if you remember nothing else, remember this: …..When he loves you to death, he may send you to the grave to prove it.

Question For This Note: If you could sit down and talk with a group of teens about violence in relationships, what would be your one piece of advice?

***For more information on domestic violence and teen dating violence you can go to the following websites:
http://www.ndvh.org
http://www.ncadv.org
http://www.safeyouth.org
http://www.abuseintervention.org

Remember – You hold the pen that writes the chapters of your life,
Cassandra Mack
——————————————————————————————————————-

Copyright © 2009 by Cassandra Mack. All rights reserved. A portion of this article was excerpted from Cassandra Mack’s book, “Cool, Confident and Strong: 52 Power Moves for Girls.”
Cassandra Mack, MSW, is a clinical empowerment coach, author of several successful books and founder of Strategies for Empowered Living Inc., a social enterprise that offers personal development tips and tools via workshops, empowering events, consultation services and books that inspire. For more information go to: http://www.strategiesforempoweredliving.com
A portion of this note came from Cassandra Mack’s book, “Cool, Confident and Strong: 52 Power Moves for Girls.”
If you have a tween or teen daughter or work with adolescent girls and young women, this self-esteem and smart choices guide will be a great resource. It’s available at: http://www.strategiesforempoweredliving.com

CBS reports “Rodney King discusses lessons learned from that night that divided a city and why people shouldnt write him off”

Chris Brown has been charged with two felony counts for an alleged assault said to have taken place on February 8, 2009, on his girlfriend, Rihanna. The counts include assault and making criminal threats. Rihanna was reportedly hospitalized and treated for facial injuries as a result of the assault. The couple reconciled just weeks after the alleged assault took place.

Chris Brown’s day in court will come - but probably not before next month. He’s to appear at a courtroom in Los Angeles on April 6 to formally answer to charges that he beat up his girlfriend Rihanna. The court paperwork made public yesterday offers the most detailed official record of what went on between the singers the night before the Grammys. And it wasn’t a pretty scene. A detective’s report says as the couple headed home from a pre-Grammy party, Brown got a text from another woman. When Rihanna confronted him about it, the singer tried to push Rihanna out of their rented Lamborghini, failing, police say, because she had her seat belt on. The detective’s account says Brown punched Rihanna with one hand while steering the car with the other. Before the incident ended, authorities say he bit her on the ear, choked her into near unconsciousness - and threatened to kill her.
Brown faces two felony charges in the incident. One, assault likely to cause great bodily injury and the other, making criminal threats. He remains free on $50,000 bail. The felony complaint presented in court yesterday identifies Brown’s alleged victim only as “Robyn F.“ Rihanna’s real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. However, an attorney who said he represented Rihanna was at the hearing.

This is the story of a homeless rapper I met on the streets of Brooklyn. I feel for him because it’s quite obvious he suffered a great deal as a child. I don’t agree with how he lived his life but everyone deserves to be forgiven..

E.U. was out Rockville on 1/6/08 w/ Funk and Lil Benny. Here’s a teaser for all you go-go heads out there.

XxOxX99

By Afoot Newheug

These days it seems that everyone is online trying to find a way to make money. And teens are just another group that is trying to make money online. Teens themselves are searching how to make money online and so are their parents.

It is always a great idea to start teaching your teens about the value of a dollar. And with the economy being in a recession phase teens are now competing with adults for jobs that was so easily accessible to them only a few years ago.

Teens will actually do very well online because they are very computer savvy and will make friends and create quick partnerships online. The secret for teens to make money online is to see it as they would treat their part-time jobs. They have to show up at work at a certain time and they are required to work so many hours. If they start off with that kind of mind set they will actually make money online in a very short time.

Learning the ropes of making money online will be quite easy for them because there are so many free tools that are available to get them started. The first thing that they should do is to get a blog going. Free blogs are available from Blogger or WordPress.

The next step would be to get teens on Squidoo and HubPages, again these are all free. This will give your teen a good idea of the work involved in making money online. If your teen is diligent with these free tools and progress is being made then they can always step up to purchasing paid products. However, there are some teens that are serious about making money online now and don’t want to waste their time playing around with free tools. They want to make money now.

For these more aggressive minded teens then its better that they start with a course that will take them from A to Z. Though the free tools are good, you get what you pay for. They are no training involved and they will not actually learn anything about internet marketing from the free tools.

A comprehensive course is the best way for teens to make money online. They will get a foundation knowledge of how to do niche research, market research, keyword research, how to open a Google account, how to set up their first campaign. And feel the job to go online and see their first ad!

And because they will get a step-by step approach to internet marketing, they will be able to see their first sales in 3 days or less.

Making Money On the Internet is quite easy when you have the right tools and the correct system in place to Make Money Online. Visit us to learn a new strategy that has students seeing results in 3 days.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Afoot_Newheug