The New England based d_Cyphernauts embody everything I’m advocating here at Audible Hype: they’re dedicated, positive and intelligent—and they’re running an increasingly successful career entirely by themselves.  Even more impressive, they recognize the importance of building a community and put in endless hours to develop their local scene and help everyone around them progress.  Needless to say, I dig what they do.

So I was honored that d_Cyphernauts member Othello agreed to do this interview—a very detailed, practical and inspirational look at his daily routine, his past achievements and his plans for the future.  He’s politically outspoken, business-minded and holy shit does he ever work hard. In addition to running his own business and maintaining a prolific musical output, he’s also a full-time teacher.

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“Twice as arrogant as Kanye West.” That’s not my diagnosis, that’s a direct quote from iCON the Mic King’s own PDF press kit. There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding him over the years, but the real point to take home is that iCON the Mic King has been a topic of constant conversation for years now. He’s also been a constant inspiration for anyone doing DIY hip hop—from his “Rent Money Music” mixtape series to his infamous Greyhound Bus tours, iCON embodies the work ethic and determination that it takes to get your name out in the most over-saturated music market on the planet.

After all, that same press kit also contains this gem: “At the end of the day the real issue is the quality of the music and the struggle to get it heard by the masses.” That’s the sole focus of Audible Hype, so I’m honored that iCON the Mic King agreed to do an interview about exactly that: managing your own career in an industry that gets more insane every day.

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In my previous article, I dropped the following:

Perhaps someday, someone will explain to me why anyone would order CDs through Oasis when all their packages are at least $100 more expensive than identical packages from Discmakers.

I didn’t realize that “someday” would actually be the next Monday, and “someone” would be the president of Oasis, Micah Solomon.  Google Alerts is a beautiful thing, and Solomon responded to me immediately.  He was friendly and professional and he got me curious.  Nothing impresses me like real human beings, so I wanted to give Micah Solomon a platform, right here on Audible Hype, to correct me. 

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We all want to be successful.  Nobody who reads Audible Hype is looking for ways to continue living in poverty, or working at jobs they hate.  So this article could be the most crucial piece of advice I give in 2008.  It seems obvious, but given what I read on other sites, and given the questions I get asked by readers, it needs to be repeated: the “music industry” is a multi-billion dollar total failure. The only justification for studying how it works is to get a clear cut example of What Not To Do.

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Can I just rant for a minute here? I have a very useful post coming up, but let me get this off my chest and into the global brain:

1. Nobody knows shit right now.

I’m writing a successful website about the music industry precisely because I have no idea what I’m doing. It keeps me loose enough to recognize things that trained monkeys have a hard time accepting.  My best summary is: learn how to mix being Professional and Organized with being Creative and Loose, because you need to be running both ends of the operation in 2008. You need to be prolific and entertaining, and you also need to have your online operation running smoothly. In other words: just make good music, then use efficient tools to tell the world about it.

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Rawkus Records, the independent hip hop label who collapsed in the ugliest possible way, are suddenly back on the scene with a new business model.  They’ve gotten a lot of free publicity for it: a mix between a classic talent contest, a digital distribution scheme, and good old “major label” promotion.  They’ve got a talented lineup, too—from total unknowns to longtime underground hustlers. 

But it’s worth taking a closer look at their business model—how different is the Rawkus 50 from the Bad Old Days of record labels exploiting their artists for token peanuts?  How do the artists on the Rawkus 50 feel about the benefits they’re recieving from the label?  Can you really benefit from mass promotion when there’s 49 other acts nobody’s heard of on every advertisement?

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I came across something excellent on Andrew Dubber’s New Music Strategies today:

So why, if these things are simply part of the same phenomenon, do we have this ongoing tension between the art of music and the commerce of music? Because clearly, there is a tension. The simplest way to explain it away is that people are a problem. Musicians are selfish and precious. Record companies are greedy and corrupt. Audiences are thieves. Promoters are crooks. Publishers are parasites. Retailers are unimaginative. The Music Press either regurgitates PR bollocks or has completely disappeared up its own arse. We often rely on these simplifications and stereotypes to make sense of the fact that being in music (and, therefore, in the music business) is hard. Harder than it probably should be.

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