I usually stray away from interviews because I’m most often asked to divulge information about artists and labels I’m working with or they ask for specific details about projects I’m involved with.
I obviously can’t discuss that type of information, but when Cyber PR Urban reached out to me about discussing social media and how artists today can use social networks to their benefit, I happily agreed.
This is an off-topic blog post, but I gotta show some hometown love to my city and post this audio from The Masked Avengers, a comedic Montreal radio duo that is notorious for their prank calls.
Earlier today, they pulled off another major prank on none other than Sarah Palin.
Pretending to be French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, they threw a few things her way, like referring to the Canadian Prime Minister by the wrong name and congratulating her on her feature movie, “Who’s Nalin’ Palin” by adult entertainment empire, Hustler.
Needless to say, she didn’t catch on.
Below is the official press release (yes.. there is a press release for a prank call) as well as the audio of the prank:
Don’t get me wrong, I support and purchase digital downloads from iTunes, etc, but as a personal preference, I still buy CDs.
Even though I mostly listen to music on my computer, iPod and Blackberry, I still prefer having a physical disc to sync the music from and to keep on my shelves. Maybe I’m a collector, maybe I’m nostalgic, but it’s what I prefer.
I purchase music all the time, but today 2 albums dropped that I’ve actually been looking forward to for a while:
T.I - “Paper Trail”
Dru - “The One”
By the way, if you’re an R&B cat like me and you’re not familiar with Dru, you need to be. He was formerly with the group, In Essence, which broke into the scene with their song, “You Will Never Find Another” back in 1998 with Funkmaster Flex.
Check out some of his videos below and make sure to go cop his new record.
I SEE YOU DRU!
So now, let me ask you guys; what’s the last music (single or album/digital or physical) that you purchased?
So, the other day, I was talking to Asher Roth and his label head/manager, Scooter Braun, and during our convo, Asher mentioned to me that he’s always asked how he’s gotten this much exposure and how he maintains everything that’s going on. His response was, “you’re only as good as your team”.
I couldn’t agree more.
It got me thinking I should talk about that here and also address some of the messages I’ve been getting regarding Asher.
Plus, I’ve been asked to discuss a few more personal stories so this seems like a great opportunity to do both.
For the record, I’m not his manager, nor am I the “head of his marketing”.
I’m part of a team.
I mean, I see why it would be easy for people to get confused though. My blog is called Making The Mogul, and I discuss issues revolving around working in the music business and being in marketing, and I talk about Asher often, so why wouldn’t somebody jump to that conclusion?
Plus, for years, we have been exposed to so much spotlight-hogging and “one man army” crap in the mainstream media, that whenever we keep seeing the same person attached to or speaking about an artist, we automatically assume that’s the person behind it all.
Actually, before I get carried away on that tip, I’ll stop and save it for another post.
One of the purposes of my blog is to help educate people on the business and also share some insight into what goes on with some of the people we watch and read about everyday; so I want to share a little behind-the-scenes story about Asher’s movement with you guys.
When Asher Roth dropped “The Greenhouse Effect” with Don Cannon and DJ Drama, the net blew up! Everybody’s been talking about him since. That’s something we all know and have witnessed firsthand. But what you may not know is how Steve Rifkind reacted.
Steve Rifkind, one of the most accomplished hip-hop entrepreneurs around, flipped on his staff! Almost verbatim, Steve told his crew, “Scooter, Asher and their team did this completely on their own. We can’t tell them what to do. They made themselves the label’s priority.”
That’s a big look!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying SRC hasn’t done anything. Their crew is one of the few in the business that actually understands how to properly support their artists.
Asher’s album is slated for an early 2009 release, yet he’s the label’s number 1 priority and everywhere you look on the net, you see the name Asher Roth.
But don’t get it twisted. Even the strongest team can’t push something that nobody believes in. We just put the word out, but it’s everybody else who reacts and gives the great feedback that helps support a talented artist like Asher Roth.
An audience that believes in you, is one of the most valuable assets you can ever attain. Scratch that, an audience that believes in you IS THE MOST VALUABLE asset you can ever attain.
Everybody who downloaded The Greenhouse Effect, everybody who keeps Asher Roth in rotation on their iPods, everybody who talks about him on Facebook, MySpace & Twitter, everybody who blogs about him or mentions him to their friends - you are part of this team. So shout out to you.
I also have to shout out some of the other members of the team that really put in their work:
Dana & Kathryn at Biz3 are handling Asher’s publicity and doing a great job at it. They’re working with other artists like The Cool Kids, Kid Sister, A-Trak and Chromeo; so they definitely know how to work with independents and help them compete with the top dogs.
And of course, it wouldn’t be possible to not mention Scooter Braun.
I’m actually going to feature Scooter on the site real soon, so I’ll save some of the background info for then, but just know that Scooter is the man with the plan.
If I hadn’t gone ahead and swooped up the name MakingTheMogul.com, he’d be the perfect candidate for it. Scooter accomplishes more in one day than most people accomplish in one month.
And he definitely has an ear for talent. Asher Roth is a prime example of that.
But that’s not all that’s up his sleeve. Scooter recently acquired another incredible talent; Justin Bieber.
For a while now, I’ve been paying attention to this young cat on his YouTube channel. He’s from Canada, so I have a sense of pride seeing his fanbase continue to grow. Justin’s become the most subscribed Canadian musician on YouTube, and one of the most subscribed musicians on YouTube overall, with about 50,000 subscribers and 21.5 million video views.
Let me repeat that: 21.5 MILLION video views!
Once you check out his videos, you’ll understand why he’s so popular. Oh and by the way… he’s only 13 years old!
I’d been following him for a while, so when Scooter told me he signed him; it just seemed incredibly coincidental to me.
Actually, just the other day, he played me a rough mix of one of Justin’s new songs and to say I was amazed would be an understatement.
(Side-note: Scooter played the song for me over iChat while he was sitting in a hotel room in Norway. He’s over there as a panelist for the Oslo World Music Festival. This just gives you an idea of the tip he’s on. I mean, who goes to Norway?)
The song is great and Justin voice is just incredible.
Remember where you heard it from first; Justin Bieber is going to be MAJOR!
I just realized how long this post has gotten so let me leave it here.
The Justo Mixtape Awards went down about 2 weeks back and now, we have another event for the DJs coming up - the Stylus DJ Awards. (Shoutout to my bwoy DJ Hotsauce for winning Best International DJ for the second year in a row at the Justos!)
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Stylus DJ Awards, it’s an event held every year to acknowledge the urban DJs throughout Canada.
That’s right - I said Canada.
Some people refer to it the Canadian version of the Justos, but I’ve never been to the Justos, so I can’t really tell you what the similarities or differences between the two may be.
This year’s awards are going down in Toronto at the end of this month, but I reached through to the Montreal Nominees Party this past Friday, to see what was going down and enjoy the great company of some of the city’s best DJs. Congratulations to DJ Quest for winning the Fan Choice Award for the Montreal DJ of the Year!
Also, big shoutouts to the other nominees who are all, undoubtedly, putting in an active effort to push the MTL scene: Don Smooth, Kwite Sane, Little Thunder, Skratch Bastid and Team Canada.
Below are a few pics from the event for your viewing pleasure. (Yes, that’s me in my b-boy stance in one of the pics.)
This blog is about my personal journey in the music business. I'm not really a blogger.. I'm just continuing my everyday grind and sharing my journey with you. From time to time, I'll also feature interviews with key decision makers, tastemakers and other young professionals doing their thing. Feel free to drop me a line or leave your comments.
- Moe Arora
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