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Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 30, 2008, 01:00:02 PM »
@ Pyro,
cop yoursel a copy playa. If not come to the office and get one.
cop yoursel a copy playa. If not come to the office and get one.
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2
Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 29, 2008, 09:45:56 PM »
My definition of an economy is the circulation of funds and services within a controlled area. This might not be the Harvard definition but it makes sense. If money is little, lets still find ways to circulate it. We should be disciplined in doing so. That way, once things do start looking up and multiplying, the money being circulated starts multiplying. We can afford the beter sound man and slicker venue. We can afford to pay artists what they need.
I feel that this culture should be adapted to the small sessions, just for us to introduce good business practice for the future. And its good to see honest promoters who are open with their figures. If we show artists what we are making and why we cannot afford them, we give the power back to the artist. Maybe even split a percentage from the door so that every artist involved becomes a share holder in that single gig. If they pull and entertain the crowd, they get whats due. I mean that method also has its flaws but it could work. Either way, no matter how small, money is circulating within a system.
I always think that if you can use R 10 wisely for long enough, you will be able to use a billion rands wisely one day.
I feel that this culture should be adapted to the small sessions, just for us to introduce good business practice for the future. And its good to see honest promoters who are open with their figures. If we show artists what we are making and why we cannot afford them, we give the power back to the artist. Maybe even split a percentage from the door so that every artist involved becomes a share holder in that single gig. If they pull and entertain the crowd, they get whats due. I mean that method also has its flaws but it could work. Either way, no matter how small, money is circulating within a system.
I always think that if you can use R 10 wisely for long enough, you will be able to use a billion rands wisely one day.
3
Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 29, 2008, 09:30:12 PM »
I agree,
I just feel its a bit sad that the sound guy gets to eat. He's happy cos his rates are rigid and you need his equpment. The venue is happy. High and dry. You need his space for that time. The good promoter suffers along with the artist at times. This means the promoter needs to be rigid too. No free entry. I know its hard. But no free entry. I understand the situation but picture this. If the artist is also rigid... reasonable but rigid (cos the sound guy is also reasonable but rigid. The promoter's R 20 ask is also reasonable but rigid. The venue is also reasonable but rigit), we create a culture of payment. We are currently stuck in a culture of non payment.
I guess the word here is rigidity, but within reason. Every othr economy works on that basis. Picture trying to get a Chappies chewing gum for 80c when the sign sais R 1. You will be told no! I want that extra 20c dog! R 1 for Chappise is reasonable. But that price is also rigid. That is why that industry has been selling the same product for like 30 or 40 years... or more. Reasonable but rigid.
I just feel its a bit sad that the sound guy gets to eat. He's happy cos his rates are rigid and you need his equpment. The venue is happy. High and dry. You need his space for that time. The good promoter suffers along with the artist at times. This means the promoter needs to be rigid too. No free entry. I know its hard. But no free entry. I understand the situation but picture this. If the artist is also rigid... reasonable but rigid (cos the sound guy is also reasonable but rigid. The promoter's R 20 ask is also reasonable but rigid. The venue is also reasonable but rigit), we create a culture of payment. We are currently stuck in a culture of non payment.
I guess the word here is rigidity, but within reason. Every othr economy works on that basis. Picture trying to get a Chappies chewing gum for 80c when the sign sais R 1. You will be told no! I want that extra 20c dog! R 1 for Chappise is reasonable. But that price is also rigid. That is why that industry has been selling the same product for like 30 or 40 years... or more. Reasonable but rigid.
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Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 29, 2008, 08:31:48 PM »Although Buff Pound's method may not have made sense to a capitalist, I think he ran those gigs for a different reason. It wasnt from a capitalist point of view but from compa**ion and hope. (sniff sniff... Im sorry) What has done for PTA hip hop was huge. The biggest and single most important move ever made for hip hop in the city. I mean this dude financed the whole city and he still has a home and a family to take care of. Yeah Cash, I'd also slap a cat who tied to take more from that situation. I must say I am quite disappointed in the city for taking advantage of this and standing in line with their mouths open and their hands extended. If nobody tells cats to wake up they never will. WAKE UP!
But yo Mr Pound, lets work on that sponsor then...
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Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 29, 2008, 04:41:58 PM »
Well said Mr Pound.
You're dead right. I guess it's a difficult position we're all in. But its all economics though dont you think? Venue and sound costs are rigid. I think we as promoters should treat artists the same as well. Get a cost from them, add that to the venue cost and factor in the amount to be collected at the door. That will tell you if the gig is viable or not.
You're dead right. I guess it's a difficult position we're all in. But its all economics though dont you think? Venue and sound costs are rigid. I think we as promoters should treat artists the same as well. Get a cost from them, add that to the venue cost and factor in the amount to be collected at the door. That will tell you if the gig is viable or not.
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Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 28, 2008, 04:13:22 PM »
In one of the past forums we spoke there were a few suggestions in terms of content and we used some of them in this issue. Please let me know how u feel about these new features. KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP.
1. Ridez has been reworked for this issue (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
2. Sneak Peak - a sneaker culture feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
3. HYPE Dip of the month - an eye Candy feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
1. Ridez has been reworked for this issue (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
2. Sneak Peak - a sneaker culture feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
3. HYPE Dip of the month - an eye Candy feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
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Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 28, 2008, 04:12:18 PM »
In one of the past forums we spoke there were a few suggestions in terms of content and we used some of them in this issue. Please let me know how u feel about these new features. KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP.
1. Ridez has been reworked for this issue (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
2. Sneak Peak - a sneaker culture feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
3. HYPE Dip of the month - an eye Candy feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP
1. Ridez has been reworked for this issue (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
2. Sneak Peak - a sneaker culture feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP)
3. HYPE Dip of the month - an eye Candy feature (KEEP, REWORK or SCRAP
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Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 25, 2008, 02:38:29 PM »
I think hip hop is still too apologetic. We want to give away the free mixtape first because we don't expect anybody to buy our material. Then we do free shows because we don't expect people or promoters to pay. We are disrespecting ourselves and our art form. Why do other genres respect themselves? As a promoter... If you are looking to book an orchestra, you know you're about to pay. That orchestra may consist of completely unknown talent, but because that genre respects itself, THEY WILL CHARGE! Please believe me.
We need to stop being so apologetic. We're not beginners. We are 28 years old! (SA hip hop) We grown. Ask Ready D, Ramone, Gogga and Emile. We are not in any kind of developmental stage. POC was that development stage and that was 18 years ago. And even then, they respected hip hop enough to charge for it. Why are we moving backwards and blaming it on still being in a development phase?
Do we as hip hop headz and artists think that hip hop is an inferior art form? Maybe we do. Thats why we're so apologetic. Thats why we'll pick up the crumbs while other genres eat. Is constructing scripts any less involved than blowing a horn? Why is the guy blowing a horn paid? And why are we broke? Its because we dont respect our craft and our talent. We develop it and give it away for free.
D is right, Holland is organised. Those cats respect the art form. Management, booking agents, lawyers. You need somebody to tell promoters you are not coming out before the dip is made. We need that. We also need that lawyer's letter to be in the post the next day if we arent paid. If you are ever to perform at a not paying gig, let it be your own gig or an audited charity gig.
Think of the orchestra. Picture them doing something for free. Picture a promoter trying to hustle an orchestra out of their money. Picture them taking less money than they had asked for and coming out before the diposit is paid.
We need to stop being so apologetic. We're not beginners. We are 28 years old! (SA hip hop) We grown. Ask Ready D, Ramone, Gogga and Emile. We are not in any kind of developmental stage. POC was that development stage and that was 18 years ago. And even then, they respected hip hop enough to charge for it. Why are we moving backwards and blaming it on still being in a development phase?
Do we as hip hop headz and artists think that hip hop is an inferior art form? Maybe we do. Thats why we're so apologetic. Thats why we'll pick up the crumbs while other genres eat. Is constructing scripts any less involved than blowing a horn? Why is the guy blowing a horn paid? And why are we broke? Its because we dont respect our craft and our talent. We develop it and give it away for free.
D is right, Holland is organised. Those cats respect the art form. Management, booking agents, lawyers. You need somebody to tell promoters you are not coming out before the dip is made. We need that. We also need that lawyer's letter to be in the post the next day if we arent paid. If you are ever to perform at a not paying gig, let it be your own gig or an audited charity gig.
Think of the orchestra. Picture them doing something for free. Picture a promoter trying to hustle an orchestra out of their money. Picture them taking less money than they had asked for and coming out before the diposit is paid.
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Media / Re: HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 24, 2008, 04:54:54 PM »
HYPE distributes 240 000 copies per year. Of which we sell an average of 80%. Thats 240 000 copies of a local hip hop product!!! There is hope
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Media / HYPE AUG/SEP ISSUE - OUT NOW
« on: July 24, 2008, 04:20:48 PM »
HIP HOP INDUSTRY STANDARD
Hip hop is the single most powerful musical genre and has been proven to be the world's single most effective method to communicate to the youth. Just look around you. Hip hop is being used to sell you everything from burgers and chips to beer and cars. Everything from sneakers and cologne to watches and banking products. Sometimes we don't realise the power we have as a hip hop community. We don't realise that we are actually a key element of the world's economy.
Since everybody else has realised the power we have, why is it that we fail to see this power? Why do we still get exploited? Why do we still get the smallest share of this multi-billion industry? How can we be broke when millions are being made from burgers sold in our name? To be honest, I don't know. What I do know is that we can do something about it. If we all follow these basic rules, we will all come out with a decent piece of the pie.
I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with this scenario... A promoter calls you up and tries to book you for a gig. He tells you there is no budget and that you will be doing the show for the exposure. If this ever happens to you again, give that promoter the finger, and tell em its from me. The reason you have been approached is because the promoter felt that you would add value to the event. You should be paid for that value. If the gig is making money at the door, you own a piece of that money. If you are being denied this, don't be shook to walk away.
An emerging MC should be charging anything between R 500 and R 1 500 for a gig. Established cats should be at the R 5k mark and major artists between R 10 000 and R 25 000 per show. Dance crews are becoming increasingly popular. Start-outs should be charging a minimum of R 1500 and established crews should not appear for anything less than R 7000. Our top 3 crews should be appearing for R 15 000 and up. On the beats side of things... If an unsigned MC needs beats, start negotiating at a grand per beat. At least R 4 000 for indy labels and no less than R 10 000 for major labels. If you currently have a hit single, push your value up to R 15 000 and up based on the strength of that single. If you are approached to produce for an advert, send a quote for no less than R 40 000. Trust me, that burger company has that in their budget. If they try squeeze you too much, decline the offer. In fact, if any of the above mentioned conditions are not met, refuse to render your services. If you refuse it, they might try the next individual. If that individual refuses to be paid less, the person asking for your service will realise that an industry standard has been created.
If anybody breaks the industry standard, this creates a crack in the hip hop economy. It is through this crack that exploitation streams through. If we don't close this crack today, it will become too big to manage. If one established dance crew agrees to another R 200 pay day, the whole system will collapse. If we all stand together and work according to an official hip hop industry standard, we will all get paid what we need to get paid. If you need any help working out your value in the game, don't be shook to give me a call.
Remember!! Vote Smart
Mizi
Editor
mizi@hypemagazine.co.za
082-MIZI-FOR-PRESIDENT
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Media / Re: Hype June/ July 2008 - OUT NOW!
« on: June 09, 2008, 07:09:36 PM »
J-One, glad you hear me pops. Im out though.Back k'sasa
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Media / Re: Hype June/ July 2008 - OUT NOW!
« on: June 09, 2008, 07:02:51 PM »
Ya Rob, we have been talking monthly for a long time. If all goes well, 2009 willl be monthly. Yes it takes more capital but it also excites advertisers a bit more so it should work. It will just need more staff. Sim and I put the whole thing together at the moment.
So ya its in the pipelines. Haha.. this pipeline everybody speaks about must be long huh? Plenty of concepts, albums, TV shows, clothing labels... all in the pipeline.
So ya its in the pipelines. Haha.. this pipeline everybody speaks about must be long huh? Plenty of concepts, albums, TV shows, clothing labels... all in the pipeline.
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Media / Re: Hype June/ July 2008 - OUT NOW!
« on: June 09, 2008, 06:44:01 PM »
Always interesting to read some of these comments. Sometimes entertaining...
Firstly, I would love to see local covers forever, which is what I tried doing. Remember, the last international cover was in October last year. Between then and now we have had local covers. The reason why we keep using the sales argument is simply because it is the only reason there is. At the moment I am sitting with the stats in front of me so I am the only person on this thread who can quantify this argument so please listen up.
International covers sell an a average of 20% more than local covers. Check these stats out: Busta Rhymes (90%) VS Ben Sharpa (55%). The Game (89%) VS Pro Kid (72%). Jay-Z (80%) VS Flabba (62%). If you want to look at our spreadsheets, make an appointment and I will show you. I'm that open. Cats who have visited us will know that they can come through and even sit with me in front of my pc if we working on something together. Watsup CASH, Da L.E.S, Sharpa... We not on some FBI tip. We just headz. Please do the maths. I obviously cant go as far as to post our financials etc.
What I'm trying to say, and what I've been trying to say is this. I hate international covers. I said this in one of my previous editorials. I hate them as much as you. But somehow, the people buy them. And somehow, they buy them at a rate which is much higher than local covers. Now, when our copy sales go down to 60% just after they reached 90%, we have a huge board meeting with the publishers and you can emagine what goes down in there. Firstly, the advertising and sponsorship revenue we rely on suffers as a result of bad copy sales. Audi and Adidas want to reach as many people as possible. If we let copy sales suffer, relying on advertising sales, advertisers stop advertising. Advertisers need to place their product on a platform that will reach as many people as possible. They want to be on a popular mag and 90% is popular.
Now, back to local covers VS international covers. How many HYPEs have been printed since the begining? The answer is 25. How many of those have been international covers? The answer is 8. Only 8. Do the math there before labeling HYPE as a mag that produces international covers to the detrement of local artists. Please guys, quantify your argument. This is public information.
HYPE is a business. The business needs to stay afloat. Ad sales are not enough to keep it alive. Copy sales play a huge role. Copy sales also affect advertising sales. Its just logic. This is the truth. We have always put the reader first. If readers say they want local, we say, meet us half way and buy local. What am I doing to promote this? Im on radio all the time, saying just this. When I get on TV, I say just this. Whenever I get a chance, I speak about this issue. Cats say they dont want Jigga on the cover yet they buy 80% of the stock. Cats say they want Pro on the cover, yet they only buy 72%. So what is it that the people really want? I struck a deal with cats in my October editorial. I promised a local cover in return for support of local covers. What did I get, 55% sell through on the December cover with Sharpa on it. Anybody else would have given up on the readers at that point, instead we took another risk and printed another local cover, dispite the fact that the deal was not kept on your (the consumer) side. We then went with a third local cover, which worried our shareholders but we had to fight them. Risking all, just to please you. And you turn around and tell us we do nothing for local cats.
We need to be smarter and develop the ability to read between the lines. This Wayne cover WILL give us the revenue we need and allow us to make up the revenue lost in past months. It has been placed very strategically, and will be followed by another string of local covers. Its like swimming. Every now and then you have to come up for air so you can stay alive. Compare one lap in an olympic swimming pool to a year on shelf. This means we come up for air once a year... haha. Come on cats, school is cool.
Firstly, I would love to see local covers forever, which is what I tried doing. Remember, the last international cover was in October last year. Between then and now we have had local covers. The reason why we keep using the sales argument is simply because it is the only reason there is. At the moment I am sitting with the stats in front of me so I am the only person on this thread who can quantify this argument so please listen up.
International covers sell an a average of 20% more than local covers. Check these stats out: Busta Rhymes (90%) VS Ben Sharpa (55%). The Game (89%) VS Pro Kid (72%). Jay-Z (80%) VS Flabba (62%). If you want to look at our spreadsheets, make an appointment and I will show you. I'm that open. Cats who have visited us will know that they can come through and even sit with me in front of my pc if we working on something together. Watsup CASH, Da L.E.S, Sharpa... We not on some FBI tip. We just headz. Please do the maths. I obviously cant go as far as to post our financials etc.
What I'm trying to say, and what I've been trying to say is this. I hate international covers. I said this in one of my previous editorials. I hate them as much as you. But somehow, the people buy them. And somehow, they buy them at a rate which is much higher than local covers. Now, when our copy sales go down to 60% just after they reached 90%, we have a huge board meeting with the publishers and you can emagine what goes down in there. Firstly, the advertising and sponsorship revenue we rely on suffers as a result of bad copy sales. Audi and Adidas want to reach as many people as possible. If we let copy sales suffer, relying on advertising sales, advertisers stop advertising. Advertisers need to place their product on a platform that will reach as many people as possible. They want to be on a popular mag and 90% is popular.
Now, back to local covers VS international covers. How many HYPEs have been printed since the begining? The answer is 25. How many of those have been international covers? The answer is 8. Only 8. Do the math there before labeling HYPE as a mag that produces international covers to the detrement of local artists. Please guys, quantify your argument. This is public information.
HYPE is a business. The business needs to stay afloat. Ad sales are not enough to keep it alive. Copy sales play a huge role. Copy sales also affect advertising sales. Its just logic. This is the truth. We have always put the reader first. If readers say they want local, we say, meet us half way and buy local. What am I doing to promote this? Im on radio all the time, saying just this. When I get on TV, I say just this. Whenever I get a chance, I speak about this issue. Cats say they dont want Jigga on the cover yet they buy 80% of the stock. Cats say they want Pro on the cover, yet they only buy 72%. So what is it that the people really want? I struck a deal with cats in my October editorial. I promised a local cover in return for support of local covers. What did I get, 55% sell through on the December cover with Sharpa on it. Anybody else would have given up on the readers at that point, instead we took another risk and printed another local cover, dispite the fact that the deal was not kept on your (the consumer) side. We then went with a third local cover, which worried our shareholders but we had to fight them. Risking all, just to please you. And you turn around and tell us we do nothing for local cats.
We need to be smarter and develop the ability to read between the lines. This Wayne cover WILL give us the revenue we need and allow us to make up the revenue lost in past months. It has been placed very strategically, and will be followed by another string of local covers. Its like swimming. Every now and then you have to come up for air so you can stay alive. Compare one lap in an olympic swimming pool to a year on shelf. This means we come up for air once a year... haha. Come on cats, school is cool.
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Media / Re: The Official Hype Thread - June/ July 2008
« on: June 09, 2008, 02:14:49 PM »
Peace D
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