Progress Report Music, LLC

not only does he promote rap records but he also models for Jordache Jeans.

Whaddup World,

D. Allie here. From time to time I like to hit you guys with tips if you’re in the music world in hopes that you’ll actually put them to good use if you do music.  It is through sharing information that we can rise as a creative class.  Therefore, if your in the DIY scene musically then check out my tour tips vol 1, vol 2, and vol 3 rounds out the trilogy.

Now that we got that out of the way let me introduce you to Nate as if the picture above didn’t have you sold already.  Nate is our radio promo guy over at Tinderbox Music.  I wanted to interview him so you could know a little bit more about what he does so I’ll let him tell you a bit about himself in a minute. To give you a quick description it is people like Nate that assist in letting people like YOU know about people like ME. He is the reason we were the #2 Add on the Hip Hop CMJ Chart, we peaked at #11 on the Hip Hop CMJ Charts, and remained in the top 40 on the CMJ’s for 10 weeks straight.  The CMJ stands for the College Music Journal and is pretty much the equivalent to the Billboard Charts but with College Radio which is our aim as opposed to the commercial airwaves. With that being said I hope you enjoy the interview.  Thanks for everything Nate!

• I’ve always loved music but never thought about it as a career mostly because I, myself, am not a musician and that was the only side of it I ever really knew. However, I was a teenager when Napster broke barriers in how we discover/share music and over the course of several years until now, I have become fascinated with the music industry – particularly because the business model of music is basically starting anew which really excites me. I didn’t get involved in the business however until college when I volunteered to be a DJ at the school’s radio station: KSTO, St. Olaf College Radio. From there, I became the hip hop director there which is essentially the person at the station who picks what the DJs can play. The music I would review as a director would come from radio promoters who were hired by musicians to promote their music to all of us college music directors. And, long story short, I am now on the other side of the coin as the promoter at Tinderbox Music, talking to these hip hop directors.

• An average day mostly consists of communicating with radio stations and the music directors at those stations who are mostly college kids. It is a blast because I pretty much get to talk music with them all day on top of asking them about all the ragers they went to the previous weekend and what got drawn on their faces while they were passed out. The other part of my job is looking for and talking to musicians who might be interested in college and non-commercial radio promotion. This is also great because I get to talk to musicians who could be the next big thing so I feel like some kind of talent scout.

• Radio promotion is often over-looked because of the misperception that radio is a dying medium. While it definitely has some kinks to work out, college and non-commercial radio is still a very, very important platform for releasing music. I often think of college and non-com radio as the breeding ground for new up-and-comers. Not only do these (most of the time) small stations have very loyal listener-bases who love to hear new music, but a lot of the time people running these stations are the very people running and writing for music blogs, people who want to someday be working in all sectors of the music industry, and just generally, the people most genuinely interested in breaking new music to the world. To impress these industry-folk with your music is a powerful jump-start to a national buzz. To really summarize, radio promotion is for any artist who is serious about disseminating their name nationally not only to fans, but also with the people who are leading the charge in breaking new music in a music industry that no longer has a clear outlet for promoting fresh material.

• Very tough question, I really try not to promote artists that I wouldn’t put on my mp3 player. Here’s 5 in no particular order and obviously not a complete list.

1. Progress Report “Eddie Logix and D. Allie are…” And I’m not just saying that because I’m being interviewed for this blog! (Ed Note: He probably is just saying that because he’s being interviewed for this blog….AND WE CAN DIG IT) This was the first album I pushed that really had overall appeal with the radio crowd because it had some really fresh stuff on it as well as sounds your traditional hip-hop-head could enjoy.
2. Awol One and Ecid “Awol One and Ecid are…” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-N8lF4kPDc)
3. Ghettosocks “Treat of the Day” (http://music.ghettosocks.com/album/treat-of-the-day)
4. Kristoff Krane “Picking Flowers Next To Roadkill” (http://kristoffkrane.bandcamp.com/album/picking-flowers-next-to-roadkill)
5. Gangstagrass “Lightning on the Strings, Thunder on the Mic” (http://www.last.fm/music/Gangstagrass)

• Anything out of Rhymesayers Entertainment, particularly anything by Atmosphere. I got into hip hop because of Rhymesayers artists. If going back in time weren’t an issue, I would also love to promote anything by the Beastie Boys.

• Oh man, I could go on for days about this. I spend way too much time thinking about it. At the moment, we are at a time where virtually anyone can make professional-sounding music with very little investment and this leads to a wealth of music everywhere, even over-saturation in some genres. Since the major labels are struggling and are losing their influence on what is popular (they still hold quiet a bit of sway but it is eroding slowly), I really think there are three spheres of promotion that dominate who in music is popular at the moment: blogs/music websites, traditional radio (college and non-com however), and live music. If an artist sees success on all three of these simultaneously, I think that is a pretty good indicator of popularity. Obviously, this is how I see the independent music scene currently. However, there is soooo much room for independent artists to experiment and get their music heard. With the internet, new music platforms are being invented daily. Honestly, at the moment, it is very challenging looking into the future. I would definitely say that finding mainstream success, like so many artists experienced under major label supervision up until about 10 years ago, is becoming increasingly difficult and we’re seeing a more diverse crowd of mid-major artists.

• You know, right now I’m really not sure. I’m a blogger on top of being a radio promoter and have even started managing for an artist recently. I just generally love thinking about promotion since there are so many opportunities to try new things now that the industry landscape is completely scrambled. I’ll hopefully be able to stay on top of all these new platforms and evolve with them enough to continue my passion for finding and helping to break new artists! There really is no better feeling than giving a friend a song you love and then finding out that they love that song as much as you.

What are 10 albums that you consider instrumental to your life (I want to know because I plan on listening to 365 albums next year and I will add these to my personal list.  They can be hip hop but i’d prefer other genres as well)

• Pearl Jam “Vs.”
• Beastie Boys “Hello Nasty”
• Eyedea and Abilities “By The Throat”
• Atmosphere “Seven’s Travel’s”
• Bad Religion “Stranger Than Fiction”
• Minor Threat “Minor Threat EP”
• Rancid “…And Out Come the Wolves”
• Dance Hall Crashers “Lockjaw”
• Reel Big Fish “Turn the Radio Off”
• Smashing Pumpkins “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”

Well that’s all folks.  Thanks again to Nate for participating and thanks to you for reading.