Independent Record Labels You Should Know

From independent icons like XL Recordings and Sub Pop to newer teams like 88 Rising and Mind of a Genius, here are some of the essential labels you should know. As always, we encourage you to do your own digging and share your own favorites with us, but as long as you discovered just one new label, artist, or piece of music that you love from this list, then we did our job.

From legendary indies to internet-based upstarts, these labels are all doing something special.

Has Rock-N-Roll Always Been Apart Of Hip-Hop Culture?

Yes Hip Hop has always been apart of the Rock culture! Rock and Rap song were some of the best ever made still today! For an institution that is dedicated to immortalizing rock and roll’s greatest heroes, there are many inductees in there who are not quite typically thought of as rock artists.

You’ve got Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, Miles Davis, Madonna, and Tupac in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The confusion behind these inductees lies not with the quality of their work, but rather the categorization of it.

There are four other artists who have been nominated but have yet to be inducted—Afrika Bambaataa, LL Cool J, Eric B. and Rakim, N.W.A—and four more groups who have been considered for the ballot but who have not yet been nominated—Boogie Down Productions, De La Soul, the Sugarhill Gang, and the Treacherous Three.

More Bad News for Kanye West

 

Kanye West has faced backlash since his infamous ‘Drink Champs’ interview, where he made anti-semitic comments. West was reportedly dropped by Adidas for his remarks, then ultimately had his G.O.O.D. Music label, and his own contract dropped from Def Jam. Now, it has been reported that Kano, the brand responsible for West’s Stem Player, has dropped the rapper as a client. 

Growing Your #Spotify Presence With #Streambeet

This means that musicians need to be sure to enhance their presence on Spotify, and that’s what Streambeet is here to help you with. Their organic Spotify promotion services seek to get you organic Spotify plays, Spotify followers, grow your Spotify monthly listeners and overall organic Spotify promotion. They also help get you featured on genre-specific Spotify playlists, allowing listeners to discover your tracks amidst other similar tracks from your musical niche.

Streambeet is a cost-effective service which help artists grow their Spotify plays and Spotify followers in exchange for a very reasonable fee. They have pricing structures that differ depending on the size of promotion you desire. Their service will continue promoting you until your numbers are reached or will continually run until you acquire the amount of Spotify plays, Spotify followers or Spotify monthly listeners you paid for.

The music industry is continually changing, with CDs taking over from tapes, iTunes taking over from CDs, and now Spotify taking over from iTunes. Streaming platforms such as Spotify allow users to stream your tracks without technically owning a copy of them, making the music-listening experience more affordable, easy, and enjoyable for everyone.

Tina Turner Sells Catalog For $50 Million

 

Music company BMG claimed it secured its single largest artist acquisition ever by purchasing Tina Turner's entire musical catalog for at least $50 million.

The deal includes Turner's name, image, and likeness as well as her publishing and neighboring rights. While BMG declined to disclose the exact value of the deal, music insiders estimate that Turner was paid at least $50 million.

Will This Be The Biggest Halftime Performance Of All Time?

Will This Be The Biggest Halftime Performance Of All Time? In previous halftime shows, Lady Gaga holds the record for the most ever viewed Halftime performance. Will Jlo and Shakira defeat these odds?

Even the world's greatest artists raise their game for Super Bowl performances. The NFL claims it to be the “most watched musical event of all-time. It's 12 minutes on the world's biggest stage at the world's biggest game. The Super Bowl halftime show has become synonymous with the game itself.

Jay-Z And Beyonce Had The Best Album In 2018

Jay-Z was the man to recon with when him and Beyonce released there joint album "Everything Is Love." Both Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been nominated for Album of the Year several times on their own.

What Everything Is Love represents, then, is an opportunity — not just for JAY and Beyoncé, the most powerful couple in popular culture, but for the Grammy Awards as an institution.

The make-good angle is clear as day: neither Beyoncé nor JAY-Z has won an album of the year award, despite being two of the most lauded musical artists of this century, and Everything Is Love offers a way to right both wrongs in one fell swoop.

Source

They say it's a marathon, not a sprint. But for Beyoncé and JAY-Z, it was both. Their sprawling On the Run II Tour finished with $253.5 million in ticket sales. The On the Run II tour more than doubled Bey and Jay's previous tour in terms of overall gross and ticket sales.

The hip-hop megastar is now on the same level as four of the biggest names who have ever reached the No. 1 spot on the albums chart. The album's sales increased by 397 percent and moved a total of 94,000 units to earn a No. 1 spot on the charts. Fans have been thirsty for the new release ever since Beyoncé's 2016 album “Lemonade,” which sold more than 2.5 million copies.

Why Do Eminem Always Diss Christina Aguilera?

Eminem first dissed the "Genie In a Bottle" singer in 2000 on his song "The Real Slim Shady."

Eminem came up through Detroit's underground rap battle scene, where MC's who spit the funniest, wildest rhymes reigned victorious. After his debut album Infinite flopped, he concocted the 'crazy' Slim Shady persona, who evokes the 'anything goes' battle rap mentality.

Ironically, that tactic turned Marshall Mathers into one of the biggest musical artists in the world. Today he still crafts cheeky bars about pop stars, but he's just as likely to collaborate with them.

#Flashback Michael Jackson - Super Bowl XXVII

 

Michael Jackson Super Bowl XXVII 1993 Halftime Show Performed In California At January 31, 1993, It Includes Jam, Billie Jean, Black or White, We Are The World And Heal The World. Michael Jackson's halftime performance continues to hold the record as the highest-rated in history, with 133.4 million US viewers tuning in.

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Kabir - Got Me Hooked #NowPlayingOnTWUM @AlwaysKabir

To understand Kabir, you first must understand that he is motivated by the confluence of two things: family and music. These two things are inextricable for someone raised as the heir to a formidable musical legacy; his paternal lineage includes the world-renowned group of Indian musicians, the Partap Brothers.

Growing up, he would often awake to the sound of the sitar, the drums, and his uncle’s singing voice—an informal education in the complex beauty of classical Indian sound. This fueled Kabir’s desire to carry on and evolve the Partap family’s musical tradition, reaching new audiences with his own blend of Pop and R&B.

Throughout high school, Kabir earned high marks and went on to graduate with a Business degree from Suny Geneseo, where he spent more time in music halls and practice rooms than on assigned classwork. Over the course of his adolescence, he developed an eclectic taste in music, spanning classical Indian styles, American classics like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Michael Jackson, and Marvin Gaye, as well as genre-bending contemporary artists like Frank Ocean and Bruno Mars.

Watch out for Kabir’s first single, “Got Me Hooked,” written and produced by Damen Heyward and Juan “Majik” Peters.

Jay-Z, Drake, Rihanna, And More Appear On Barack Obama’s 2021 Summer Playlist

 

Barack Obama has been very open about his musical taste. Year after year, he’s shared playlists of favorite songs, both old and new. On Saturday he continued that trend. He dropped his 2021 summer playlist on Instagram, and it’s comprised of 38 songs featuring some of the biggest names of today and yesterday.

This Is What Made Beyoncé A Cultural Force

 

One name says so much: Beyoncé. Throughout her 20-plus-year career, the 28-time GRAMMY-winning artist has inspired awe with a divine voice, top-notch performances and thorough bodies of work, demonstrating a complete mastery of her craft.

Migos Launches New Clothing Line

Migos was at Bloomingdale's, where the group debuted their CULTURE II Collection. Migos later hit the stage as the musical guest artists on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" where they performed their latest single "Stir Fry."

#Stream #1 Fan on #SpotifyMusic for all #MusicLovers

In today's times of viruses and wars, easy listening is the way to go. One of the repeating concepts I see from artists, musicians, music producers, and even some music fans is a tendency to relate the modern music industry.

#1 Fan is a produced track by musical artist and producer Gansta Marcus of Lima, Ohio. The song was created to show appreciation to music lovers around the globe.

Slick Rick Headed Back On Tour

The legendary Grammy-nominated, hip-hop icon Slick Rick is touring Australia next month for the very first time playing all major capital cities, supported by a select group of talented locals including Def Wish Cast, DJ J-Red, DJ Peril, Alerts and Gaz Hazard. 

Fresha And Josh LeBang - In These Streets

Miami Rap Artists, Fresha & Josh LeBang, releases a new single entitled, “In These Streets,” in support of there collaborative EP, “Magic Box”, which is set to release in the end of Feb 2015. In these streets is a musical proclamation declaring the circumstances of the conditions that the Minorities face on a daily basis. This song expresses in a lyrical sense the very pain, struggle, and anger that forces our people to act with a mentality of utter survival by any means necessary from the age of adolescence to adulthood.

#NewVideo Gemini Major - Pride @GeminiMajor

Gemini Major

Malawian born artist and record producer based in South Africa, Gemini Major, through his imprint Rudebouy Major has released visuals for his single titled “Pride”.

The Alie Keys produced song is different from Gemini. Its calm, mellow and heartfelt. To keep in theme with the audio, the visuals follow his musical journey kicking off with a phone clip having Gemini saying how he’s going to blow up. The visuals follow him all the way through studio, concerts, interviews, his family and him having conversations with fellow artists. Enjoy.

Follow Gemini Major on Twitter

How Jennifer Lopez scored the role of Selena

 

The former In Living Color Fly Girl beat out thousands of other young hopefuls when she was cast as slain Latinx singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in the 1997 biopic, Selena, which premiered in theaters a quarter-century ago on March 21, 1997.

"I remember Marcella gasping and saying, 'Oh, she dances just like Selena,'" Nava recalls. "And we went, 'She's the one. She is the one.' She has the talent, the ganas [desire] and the passion to really channel the spirit of that beautiful young woman."

Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez to perform at Biden swearing-in

 

Pop artists Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga will be among A-listers who will perform at the largely-virtual swearing-in ceremony of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States on January 20.

Gaga, one-of-a-kind artist, performer and a trailblazer in beauty and fashion, will sing the national anthem and Lopez will give a musical performance on the West Front of the US Capitol, where the ceremony will be taking place.

Biden, 78, and Kamala Harris, 56, will be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States during the ceremony.

But it won't be a typical inauguration, for several reasons.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and fresh security concerns following a pro-Trump mob breaching the Capitol last week have combined to force some changes to what is a historical American day.