Off-guard was an understatement in regards to how I felt upon hearing my day job boss bring up K’Naan in casual conversation. Then, Google Reader hipped me to an article entitled, “Portrait of the Rapper as a Young Marketer: How K’Naan Delivered on Coca-Cola’s $300 Million Bet” and I remembered I had watched nil World Cup games. Either way, there’s a reason this Somalian singer/songwriter gets love from both middle-aged, Caucasian call-center managers and the world’s #1 brand and it’s more than just his potent product. Read the rest of this entry »

Since technology changes faster than Speedy Gonzalez eats enchiladas these days, musicians really have to take into account every viable option out there to promote themselves. Via much more than just music videos and stapling posters on light poles, rappers and rockers alike must factor in entire viral campaigns for their albums if they want success on their palette. Read the rest of this entry »

If you get a couple kicks out of f*ucking with your friends…read on.

Last week while sheet creeping with my lady, a very odd voicemail popped up from my phone. It was strange in the sense that my outdated Samsung never rung once, but more so because of the extremely random message that was left. “Hi (Beware), um…I usually don’t do this, but…your friend gave me your number last night at the bar, because when you were there I thought you were cute and well, I hoped you might want to go out and get a drink sometime.” Blah blah blah yada yada yada. As the young lady continued to tempt, I became more and more confused as to how this happened considering I hadn’t even been to the bar in weeks, when the extremely believable female finally said, “Oh and one more thing…I’m not real.” Read the rest of this entry »

WooHa with the win for this analysis of Jay-Z’s multimedia takeover for BP3.

“…As record labels marketing dollars decrease corporate sponsorships seem to give artist an outlet to market themselves to a different audience. As artist become brands, strategic partnerships with other companies are essential for their marketing plans. Read the rest of this entry »