Insight from: B. Brown (BREG)
As an Artist, you encounter plenty of up's and down's, but the key is not to give up and let a disappointing experience destroy your drive. You must regroup by honestly looking at your most recent performance and do everything in your power to improve from that situation. That's how you get better and secure the next opportunity that arises!
Check-out what these former American Idol hopefuls that did not make it on Idol, but became stars on other shows and in other ways.
*By Lyndsey Parker (Yahoo! Music | Friday, February 25, 2011)
These familiar faces didn't make the "Idol" cut.
The "American Idol" top 24 have been announced, and along with the expected ringers there are quite a few surprise omissions: Chris Medina, John Wayne Schulz, Jerome Bell, Carson Higgins, and Jacee Badeaux, to name but five. I'm sure they're feeling pretty rejected, and dejected, right now, as they watch their peers move on to the live "Idol" stage while they pack their bags and Greyhound-bus it back to the small towns from whence they came. But they shouldn't sulk. They should realize that quite a few talented singers were turned away by "Idol," but went on to bigger and better things.
Chris, John, Jerome, Jacee, et al: If you're feeling low, read about the following "Idol" also-rans and realize that your respective musical journeys are far from over.
Hillary Scott:
The stunning Lady Antebellum frontwoman auditioned not once but twice for "Idol," and never even made it past the preliminary rounds, never even sang for Simon Cowell and the other judges. "I never got to see them. I literally performed for the production assistants and the interns, and I just didn't make it," she recently told Entertainment Tonight. No worries. Hillary simply formed Lady Antebellum instead, and went on to win five Grammys this year, including Record AND Song Of The Year. No Idol has ever done that!
Colbie Caillat:
This plucky songstress also auditioned unsuccessfully for "Idol" twice, and on her second try she even warbled her own original ditty, "Bubbly." ("I was shy. I was nervous. I didn't look the greatest. I wasn't ready for it yet. I was glad, when I auditioned, that they said no," she later told USA Today.) I guess Colbie had reason to be glad. Not only did "Bubbly" eventually become a massive international hit for her, without "Idol's" help, but it's since been covered by various other "Idol" hopefuls, like Casey James, Katie Stevens, Katelyn Epperly, and Anne Marie Boskovich. Apparently Colbie wasn't too bitter to grant the show rights!
Amber Riley:
The "Glee" diva auditioned for "Idol" at age 17, but she too didn't even make it past the producers. But obviously, the singer also known as Mercedes Jones made it onto the Fox Network anyway. (And one of her biggest standout solo performances on "Glee" was "And I Am Telling You," a song famously performed by Idols like Jennifer Hudson and LaKisha Jones.) "You know what? I still work on Fox and I get paid! Thank you, 'American Idol,'" Amber recently gloated to Access Hollywood. You go, girl.
Robyn Troup:
Robyn is the least-known name on this list, but she actually made it the farthest, getting all the way to Hollywood Week in 2006. She was cut during the second group round, but she performed on the Grammys only a few weeks after her elimination aired, when she won Yahoo! Music's own "My Grammy Moment" talent search and got to duet on the live awards telecast with none other than Justin Timberlake. (And Jennifer Hudson introduced her!) Since then, Robyn has recorded with Santana, and is now prepping her debut album for the Emblem Music Group, a record label helmed by David Cook/Taylor Hicks producer Matt Serletic.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Every Record Label in the game turned us down .......
By: B. Brown (BREG)
I don't know if a lot of artists know this or not, but to become a signed artist, specifically with a major label, the artist has usually down a lot of non-glamorous work and has usually paid some very humbling dues to get to the point of signing a major label contract. Once the ink dries however, the fun really begins. More free shows (promotional shows) and a ton of appearances attempting to get your name & face out there! Oh, did that artist get an advance? Some do and some don't. You might be surprised. I'm sure you have heard the stories. Nonetheless, in most cases, being an artist is not what it is all cracked up to be. Becoming a Superstar and actually becoming Rich helps out tremendously if that artist is one of the Blessed few!
In Jay-Z's book, DECODED, he talks about how every record label in the game turned him down and that's what sparked him, Dame and Biggs to start Roc-A-Fella Records. Here's what Jay-Z says about being a recording artist:
"Being a recording artist on a major label is the most contractually exploitative relationship you can have in America, and it's legal."
*B. Brown: How about that! Artists, times have changed because you can easily produce & release your own records now, but you still have to market and promote yourself and there lies the problem for the overwhelming majority of artists today even with such a powerful marketing and promotional tool as the internet. A plan, work ethic and some type of budget must be in place to play ball!
Click on this link for more information on a business plan, budgets, etc.
One Love!
I don't know if a lot of artists know this or not, but to become a signed artist, specifically with a major label, the artist has usually down a lot of non-glamorous work and has usually paid some very humbling dues to get to the point of signing a major label contract. Once the ink dries however, the fun really begins. More free shows (promotional shows) and a ton of appearances attempting to get your name & face out there! Oh, did that artist get an advance? Some do and some don't. You might be surprised. I'm sure you have heard the stories. Nonetheless, in most cases, being an artist is not what it is all cracked up to be. Becoming a Superstar and actually becoming Rich helps out tremendously if that artist is one of the Blessed few!
In Jay-Z's book, DECODED, he talks about how every record label in the game turned him down and that's what sparked him, Dame and Biggs to start Roc-A-Fella Records. Here's what Jay-Z says about being a recording artist:
"Being a recording artist on a major label is the most contractually exploitative relationship you can have in America, and it's legal."
*B. Brown: How about that! Artists, times have changed because you can easily produce & release your own records now, but you still have to market and promote yourself and there lies the problem for the overwhelming majority of artists today even with such a powerful marketing and promotional tool as the internet. A plan, work ethic and some type of budget must be in place to play ball!
Click on this link for more information on a business plan, budgets, etc.
One Love!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Tank - Staying true to R&B
*Thoughts by B. Brown (BREG)
My man Tank has always been a beast when it comes to writing and delivering hit songs like one of my favorites "I Deserve!" I take my hat off to this brother because he always seems to bring real-life-situation-music to the marketplace and that's why he has hit songs! Tank is overlooked a lot of times I believe, but I put him right up there with Babyface and R. Kelly in the song writing department.
Tank my brother, keep doing your thing and bringing great music to the ears and souls of many ......
By Melody K. Hoffman (Jet Magazine Dec. 27, 2010/Jan. 3, 2011; pg. 48)
Jet Magazine Website
In regards to his music, Tank says, "I like to call it classic, current R&B. I keep with the basic formula as far as who I'm sing to, what I'm singing about, and even the passion I'm singing it with. I keep that part of it in tact."
"R&B is about love---the good and bad. The stuff when we're together, the stuff when I'm trying to get you, the stuff when we're breaking up, the stuff when we're having fun, the stuff when we're fighting, all of it. I'm not mad at people singing about what they have on and being on their way to the club, that's fine. It just doesn't appeal to me on a substance level. For me, it's about legacy and making my mark in R&B and I want to be as true to the craft as possible."
My man Tank has always been a beast when it comes to writing and delivering hit songs like one of my favorites "I Deserve!" I take my hat off to this brother because he always seems to bring real-life-situation-music to the marketplace and that's why he has hit songs! Tank is overlooked a lot of times I believe, but I put him right up there with Babyface and R. Kelly in the song writing department.
Tank my brother, keep doing your thing and bringing great music to the ears and souls of many ......
By Melody K. Hoffman (Jet Magazine Dec. 27, 2010/Jan. 3, 2011; pg. 48)
Jet Magazine Website
In regards to his music, Tank says, "I like to call it classic, current R&B. I keep with the basic formula as far as who I'm sing to, what I'm singing about, and even the passion I'm singing it with. I keep that part of it in tact."
"R&B is about love---the good and bad. The stuff when we're together, the stuff when I'm trying to get you, the stuff when we're breaking up, the stuff when we're having fun, the stuff when we're fighting, all of it. I'm not mad at people singing about what they have on and being on their way to the club, that's fine. It just doesn't appeal to me on a substance level. For me, it's about legacy and making my mark in R&B and I want to be as true to the craft as possible."
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Let me handle my business!
*B. Brown's thoughts:
I am currently reading Jay-Z's book DECODED, and he makes point after point in his book about life in general and the music industry. The excerpt below talks about a powerful issue that has been a part of the industry for a long, long time, probably from the start of the music industry. What am I talking about? It is people saying that artist's should not learn about the business side of the industry, and they should just stay tuned-in with the artistry side of the business and that the artist will be fine. How could that be true? So an artist is supposed to be taken advantage of financially?
Jay-Z (Decoded; pgs. 30-31): The other part of "commercialization" is the idea that artists should only be thinking about their art, not about the business side of what we do. There was maybe a time when people in hip-hop made music only because they loved to make music. But the time came when it started to pay off, to the point that even dudes in the street started thinking, "Fuck selling drugs, this rap shit is going to be my hustle!" A lot of people came to hip-hop like that, not out of a pure love of music, but as a legit hustle, another path out of the hood. I've reflected some of that in my music because, to be honest, it was my mentality to some degree---when I committed to a career in rap, I wasn't taking a vow of poverty. I saw it as another hustle, one that happened to coincide with my natural talents and the culture I loved. I was an eager hustler and a reluctant artist. But the irony of it is that to make the hustle work, really work, over the long term, you have to be a true artist, too.
In the streets there aren't written contracts. Instead, you live by certain codes. There are no codes and ethics in music because there are lawyers. People can hide behind their lawyers and contracts and then rob you blind. A lot of street cats come into the music game and expect a certain kind of honor and ethics, even outside of contracts. But in business, like they say, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. So I mind my business and I don't apologize for it.
There's this sick fascination with the dead artist, the broke artist, the drugged-out artist, the artist who blows all his money on drugs and big chains and ends up on a VH1 special. Or artists so conflicted about making money from their art---which so often means making money from their pain and confusion and dreams---that they do stupid shit with it, set it on fire or something. This is a game people sometimes play with musicians: that to be real, to be authentic, you have to hate having money or that success has to feel like such a burden you want to kill yourself. But whoever said that artists shouldn't pay attention to their business was probably someone with their hand in some artist's pocket.
I am currently reading Jay-Z's book DECODED, and he makes point after point in his book about life in general and the music industry. The excerpt below talks about a powerful issue that has been a part of the industry for a long, long time, probably from the start of the music industry. What am I talking about? It is people saying that artist's should not learn about the business side of the industry, and they should just stay tuned-in with the artistry side of the business and that the artist will be fine. How could that be true? So an artist is supposed to be taken advantage of financially?
Jay-Z (Decoded; pgs. 30-31): The other part of "commercialization" is the idea that artists should only be thinking about their art, not about the business side of what we do. There was maybe a time when people in hip-hop made music only because they loved to make music. But the time came when it started to pay off, to the point that even dudes in the street started thinking, "Fuck selling drugs, this rap shit is going to be my hustle!" A lot of people came to hip-hop like that, not out of a pure love of music, but as a legit hustle, another path out of the hood. I've reflected some of that in my music because, to be honest, it was my mentality to some degree---when I committed to a career in rap, I wasn't taking a vow of poverty. I saw it as another hustle, one that happened to coincide with my natural talents and the culture I loved. I was an eager hustler and a reluctant artist. But the irony of it is that to make the hustle work, really work, over the long term, you have to be a true artist, too.
In the streets there aren't written contracts. Instead, you live by certain codes. There are no codes and ethics in music because there are lawyers. People can hide behind their lawyers and contracts and then rob you blind. A lot of street cats come into the music game and expect a certain kind of honor and ethics, even outside of contracts. But in business, like they say, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. So I mind my business and I don't apologize for it.
There's this sick fascination with the dead artist, the broke artist, the drugged-out artist, the artist who blows all his money on drugs and big chains and ends up on a VH1 special. Or artists so conflicted about making money from their art---which so often means making money from their pain and confusion and dreams---that they do stupid shit with it, set it on fire or something. This is a game people sometimes play with musicians: that to be real, to be authentic, you have to hate having money or that success has to feel like such a burden you want to kill yourself. But whoever said that artists shouldn't pay attention to their business was probably someone with their hand in some artist's pocket.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
HAPPY NEW YEAR from B. Brown (BREG)
By: B. Brown (BREG)
Happy New Year!!! It is always great to start a new year and give thanks to the Most High for Blessing us with another year of life!
I am very excited about the opportunities out there that will positively impact my business endeavors in 2011, and I am looking forward to helping as many people as I can gain affordable access to the legal system and help as many people as possible protect and grow their businesses, be it an artist, a plumber, etc.!
One of the things that makes me feel very good thus far in 2011 is the Ted Williams story. Here is a man that would be considered down and out, but he continued to share his talent and gift with everyone he came in contact with and now he is receiving a second chance at life. May God continue to Bless him and keep him as he moves forward in his soberiety, re-connecting with his family and career. God is good!
Remember, "Big journeys begin with a single step!"
Have a great 2011!
One Love!
Happy New Year!!! It is always great to start a new year and give thanks to the Most High for Blessing us with another year of life!
I am very excited about the opportunities out there that will positively impact my business endeavors in 2011, and I am looking forward to helping as many people as I can gain affordable access to the legal system and help as many people as possible protect and grow their businesses, be it an artist, a plumber, etc.!
One of the things that makes me feel very good thus far in 2011 is the Ted Williams story. Here is a man that would be considered down and out, but he continued to share his talent and gift with everyone he came in contact with and now he is receiving a second chance at life. May God continue to Bless him and keep him as he moves forward in his soberiety, re-connecting with his family and career. God is good!
Remember, "Big journeys begin with a single step!"
Have a great 2011!
One Love!
Monday, November 29, 2010
R&B Women
By: Rashod Ollison (Pop Music & Culture Critic; Jet Mag. [Nov. 15, 2010]; Jet Perspective pg. 47)
I recently caught a Mary J. Blige show not far from my home. The amphitheater was packed with sisters, most close to 40, about the same age as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. Mary J.'s emotionally journalistic music has surely echoed their heartbreaks and triumphs over the last 20 years.
The show was great. Mary J. is nothing like the performer she was at the start of her career, when she was more street than sweet, donning wraparound shades, a blond weave and combat boots. She often missed notes, sang off-key and cussed out the audience. She seemingly wanted to be anywhere other than the stage.
After surviving a chain of fools, Mary J. declared "no more drama" and shed the ghetto-fabulous image. She took etiquette classes, embraced spirituality, stopped abusing drugs and alcohol and got married. She's now an evolved, confident and engaging performer whose songs extol self-love.
For better or worse, Mary J.'s arrival opened the door for a new breed of Black Female performers: the ungraceful ones. Their music, like Mary J.'s early material, often ripples with pain.
The artists who fit this mold, some of whose fishbowl lives were exploited in hit reality TV shows, give fans a sense of an immediate connection with them. Onstage, they flub lines, sweat out their weaves and "keep it real." The way they carry themselves is understandable, given their backgrounds and the lack of etiquette training once offered in the industry (such as the renowned Motown charm school). But it's time to grow up if they want longevity.
Around-the-way girl singers are nothing new in Black Music. Offstage, Billie Holiday, Sarh Vaughan and especially Dinah Washington were known to be ghetto-fabulous before the term existed. But they approached their art with a certain reverence, jaw-dropping style and unmatched grace. Today, selling an "authentic" image often trumps nurturing a craft, which partly explains the reason careers come and go.
Mary J. Blige's remarkable evolution - the key to her staying power - should serve as an example to those following in her wake.
B. Brown's Opinion:
I believe Rashod is correct in saying these female R&B singers need more polishing these days. I also believe our male R&B singers need it as well! A lot of the male R&B singers dress like, look like & carry themselves as hip-hop/rap artists.
Etiquette is very important when it comes to having "class." May a person have "class" without proper etiquette? I don't know, but I do suggest that all artist's (R&B, Hip-Hop, Pop, Country, Rock, Reggae, Gospel, etc.) get some type of training on how to carry themselves on and off the stage. The training will no doubt help their stage presence and career, along with helping them improve their life in general which is more important in my book!
One Love!
I recently caught a Mary J. Blige show not far from my home. The amphitheater was packed with sisters, most close to 40, about the same age as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. Mary J.'s emotionally journalistic music has surely echoed their heartbreaks and triumphs over the last 20 years.
The show was great. Mary J. is nothing like the performer she was at the start of her career, when she was more street than sweet, donning wraparound shades, a blond weave and combat boots. She often missed notes, sang off-key and cussed out the audience. She seemingly wanted to be anywhere other than the stage.
After surviving a chain of fools, Mary J. declared "no more drama" and shed the ghetto-fabulous image. She took etiquette classes, embraced spirituality, stopped abusing drugs and alcohol and got married. She's now an evolved, confident and engaging performer whose songs extol self-love.
For better or worse, Mary J.'s arrival opened the door for a new breed of Black Female performers: the ungraceful ones. Their music, like Mary J.'s early material, often ripples with pain.
The artists who fit this mold, some of whose fishbowl lives were exploited in hit reality TV shows, give fans a sense of an immediate connection with them. Onstage, they flub lines, sweat out their weaves and "keep it real." The way they carry themselves is understandable, given their backgrounds and the lack of etiquette training once offered in the industry (such as the renowned Motown charm school). But it's time to grow up if they want longevity.
Around-the-way girl singers are nothing new in Black Music. Offstage, Billie Holiday, Sarh Vaughan and especially Dinah Washington were known to be ghetto-fabulous before the term existed. But they approached their art with a certain reverence, jaw-dropping style and unmatched grace. Today, selling an "authentic" image often trumps nurturing a craft, which partly explains the reason careers come and go.
Mary J. Blige's remarkable evolution - the key to her staying power - should serve as an example to those following in her wake.
B. Brown's Opinion:
I believe Rashod is correct in saying these female R&B singers need more polishing these days. I also believe our male R&B singers need it as well! A lot of the male R&B singers dress like, look like & carry themselves as hip-hop/rap artists.
Etiquette is very important when it comes to having "class." May a person have "class" without proper etiquette? I don't know, but I do suggest that all artist's (R&B, Hip-Hop, Pop, Country, Rock, Reggae, Gospel, etc.) get some type of training on how to carry themselves on and off the stage. The training will no doubt help their stage presence and career, along with helping them improve their life in general which is more important in my book!
One Love!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Why are all these rappers going to jail?
By: B. Brown (BREG)
Why are all these rappers going to jail? It's actually quite simple and sad.
These men and women (who are my brothers & sisters) are a certain way before they achieve fame and some type of fortune. Some larger fortunes than others. However, the same thing basically happens to each of them which is the fact that they are able to become more of who they really are and delve deeper into that lifestyle with the trappings of fame & fortune.
T.I. (one of my favorite rappers of all-time) for instance obviously has a problem (either a drug or alcohol or both). From his debut, he has grown tremendously as a person and as an artist, but he has yet to stop his love affair with controlled substances. I Pray that he receives the help he needs now, because I do not believe he can absorb another round of lost endorsement deals, and I Pray that this jail stint doesn't cost him his recording career or his very promising acting career. God Bless T.I., Tiny (she is definitely a part of the situation) & their family!
Gucci Man is absolutely going to suffer from his continuous run-in's with the law! A once in a lifetime opportunity for this young man appears to keep turning into a one-trip around the board & then go directly to jail without passing go scenario (that's Monopoly talk for those who didn't know)! Gucci is going to have to do some soul searching this time around and look in the mirror for the answer. Again, we are looking at drugs & alcohol most likely contributing to terrible decision making. May God Bless you brother.
Now Lil Wayne is getting out tomorrow I believe, and he did a stint for gun possession & marijuana possession I believe. On top of the world and this guy doesn't know how to travel properly with the right gun permits to carry or least the right personnel that have the right to carry, and do I even have to mention the drugs? Wayne probably thought he was untouchable. I feel'em, but none of us are untouchable. Trust me, everyone of us can be touched. Prayfully, Wayne will come out of jail ready to make better decisions.
To all the artists out there and to young people in general, it is not cool to go to jail and it's definitely not cool to be uneducated and make very, very, very terrible decisions. Losing your freedom, possibly your family, your income & possibly your life isn't worth the drugs, illegal weapons, women, men or any other temptations that are out here in the world. Let's start making better decisions up front so that we do not have to keep seeing very talented people go to jail over and over again. It's pathetic and ridiculous and it has to stop now!
If it is not clear that some positive changes have to be made now, then wait and see what happens when these politicians that were just elected last night take office in a few months. "If you cannot control yourself, you are giving the right for someone else to control you." --- B. Brown
Believe that!
One Love!
Why are all these rappers going to jail? It's actually quite simple and sad.
These men and women (who are my brothers & sisters) are a certain way before they achieve fame and some type of fortune. Some larger fortunes than others. However, the same thing basically happens to each of them which is the fact that they are able to become more of who they really are and delve deeper into that lifestyle with the trappings of fame & fortune.
T.I. (one of my favorite rappers of all-time) for instance obviously has a problem (either a drug or alcohol or both). From his debut, he has grown tremendously as a person and as an artist, but he has yet to stop his love affair with controlled substances. I Pray that he receives the help he needs now, because I do not believe he can absorb another round of lost endorsement deals, and I Pray that this jail stint doesn't cost him his recording career or his very promising acting career. God Bless T.I., Tiny (she is definitely a part of the situation) & their family!
Gucci Man is absolutely going to suffer from his continuous run-in's with the law! A once in a lifetime opportunity for this young man appears to keep turning into a one-trip around the board & then go directly to jail without passing go scenario (that's Monopoly talk for those who didn't know)! Gucci is going to have to do some soul searching this time around and look in the mirror for the answer. Again, we are looking at drugs & alcohol most likely contributing to terrible decision making. May God Bless you brother.
Now Lil Wayne is getting out tomorrow I believe, and he did a stint for gun possession & marijuana possession I believe. On top of the world and this guy doesn't know how to travel properly with the right gun permits to carry or least the right personnel that have the right to carry, and do I even have to mention the drugs? Wayne probably thought he was untouchable. I feel'em, but none of us are untouchable. Trust me, everyone of us can be touched. Prayfully, Wayne will come out of jail ready to make better decisions.
To all the artists out there and to young people in general, it is not cool to go to jail and it's definitely not cool to be uneducated and make very, very, very terrible decisions. Losing your freedom, possibly your family, your income & possibly your life isn't worth the drugs, illegal weapons, women, men or any other temptations that are out here in the world. Let's start making better decisions up front so that we do not have to keep seeing very talented people go to jail over and over again. It's pathetic and ridiculous and it has to stop now!
If it is not clear that some positive changes have to be made now, then wait and see what happens when these politicians that were just elected last night take office in a few months. "If you cannot control yourself, you are giving the right for someone else to control you." --- B. Brown
Believe that!
One Love!
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