Yes man, yes! Yes I say again and again and again. We should all be welcoming every person or DJ or team or company or label that wants to produce hip hop mixtapes. Why not? Its promotion. Some of the best promotion you can get these days to spread the word about your music to the masses. These days a lot of DJ's and companies are giving up mixtape slots for cheap because they know how tough it is to come up on money. Also, the more known the mixtape series or company is, the more they'll charge because of how much exposure you'll get as an artist/group/producer/label and because of the costs of promoting said mixtape. They can propel your career if you deal with the right ones.
In all honesty, as an artist you have to keep putting your name out there in more ways than one. So starting with small or unknown mixtapes is a great way to get that happening for less. You'll never know who will download that mixtape, or who will be listening at a friends house, or who will decide to buy the Mix CD that your music is on. Add to that, someone may get the mixtape based off of art alone!
People have so many reasons to purchase or download mixtapes. Some want to hear new music and exclusives from their favorite artists that wont ever see a major release or time on the airwaves. Others want to hear new artists that have the talent so they can follow that artist's career. The rest just want to hear music and make their own playlist of songs you'll probably never hear anywhere else. There is a large amount of great hip hop, R&B, and Urban music out there. Much of it will never bless the ears of some lucky listener. That is mainly because the artists making the music may not know where to turn to get their music out or may not know what more to do with their music besides make the track in the studio.
What this company is setting out to do is bring you those new high quality songs from such artists. Unfortunately Network29 cannot and will not promote every single song that comes through our inbox. We do have to be selective. Our selection process won't be based on what we want to hear, but on what should be heard period. Being selective means that every artist putting out music must come with their A-Game. Not only does Network29 have a reputation to build and uphold, but so does the artist. Why put out music that no one will listen to or take seriously? Why break in a new song that can change the face of music, only to have the next song be a complete waste of time for the listener? Network29 wont be able to please everyone, but those we do please will be longtime listeners and followers of our work and the work the artists create.
So if you're an artist and want some form of exposure to add to your list of promotional tools, be sure to hit the mixtape scene as much as possible. Keep cranking out those tracks. Don't worry about making the next hit record that's going to get you signed. Make the music because you love to do it. Stay true to yourself and your fans, then the rest will fall in place. And even if you submit one track or one hundred tracks to Network29 to place on our mixtapes, chances are you'll create something that we feel the masses not only wants to hear, but NEEDS to hear.
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