Day 3

(Dilated Peoples - Big Business)
I won the battle! Guess what? After the funk I was in yesterday, I pulled myself together and stayed up working til 1am. LOL.. I`m getting a feeling I can work better in the evening. I still didnt get the Reverbnation page together, but i got something better! I had been wanting to get my own website for the longest, I just never got around to it.. I have so many different pages with all my projects spread all over the internet that it only makes sense to have everything on one page. This was on my list of things to accomplish but i didnt think that i was gonna get that started so soon. Luckily, sometimes you run into situations that you didnt expect. As I did yesterday when I was online (as always lol) and a member of a hip hop group i had featured on one of my tapes before hit me up to see how i was doing. We talked for a minute and i told him about this blog. (Boot Camp Clikk - Here we come) After he had a look at it, he said that I should get a website on wordpress. I looked at the page, and thought it was a good idea (now, theres a difference between just the wordpress blog and an actual website u can create on wordpress.org). So he spent about 3 hrs talking me through getting a domain, setting up the host page and all of that (i dont know the tech lingo, so i wont try to break it down lol).. So... www.istillloveher.de is now online!! Dont get too excited and jump on that page yet..lol.. its far from finished. I have been playing around with the design all day and havent really added any content. It is pain in the ass, to be honest, but i believe itll be worth it. Well, check it out if u want to, let me know what you would like to see on there, help me develope it :-).. (C.L.Smooth - American me)
That was pretty much all I did today, but seeing as it is only 6:30pm, i will probably get some more done ;-).. Somebody will have to break down reverbnation to me, seriously..i need a (Beenie Siegel - Die) tutor..lol..
Now, to get back on the website subject..i believe it is important for any artist to have one. Myspace pages and all of the other networking sites are very useful tools to get in touch with potential fans and followers, as well as other artists. but once you have established yourself to a certain degree you will need your own website for people to go to and see what you are up to. it just gives you alot more freedom of content. i was a lil bit worried about the costs, but i actually found a free website (i will let yall know how that is working out) and the domain only cost me 17.88 $ per year. thats 0,04 $ (had to get my calculator out ha!) a day...i think we can all afford that ;-) (Boot Camp Click - Go for yours).. I know that alot of people are worried about designing the website as well, and if you dont want to pay someone to do that (which i am not) there are ways to make it easy (or at least possible) for the average pc user to get a decent design. On wordpress you have different themes you can choose from, and if you know html a lil bit, you can change the colors and even the pictures used for backgrounds and slideshows (see mine). As you see, it is not as big of a deal as alot of us make it out to be. If i can get it done, you can too! (I know my friend had to be goin crazy over my blonde moments last night HAHA)
Speaking of him, check out his group NOVA INFINITE, they are DOPE! http://novainfinite.bandcamp.com/
(Clipse - Still got it for cheap) I also had a very good conversation from a former manager from Detroit..(Hello Hubert ;-)).. he manages an incredible group that yall should check for as well http://detroitcydi.bandcamp.com/ .. and we were talking about the business and how difficult it is sometimes to get artists to understand that theres nothing wrong with following ones advise (the managers of course), and more importantly, to ask the fans what they want and deliver it to them. This does not mean that an artist is supposed to stop being creative (Common - Soul Power) or to follow a trend, but to adapt their marketing strategies to the fans wants and needs. I think a common personal issue that artists deal with is that they have a certain image of themselves which they are not willing to bend. Or a fear of loosing credibility if they do certain things a certain way. This is where you as an artist decide if you want to make music your JOB (and a job always brings rules with) or if he does it on his own terms as a hobby.
Myself, I had to realise that (especially now) I cant do everything for everyone for free, because I do want my music related work to pay my bills. Its that simple. And it really has nothing to do with selling out (Busta Rhymes - Abandon Ship), it just means that you take what you do and love seriously.

Ok, i think this is enough for today, i`m loosing my train of though lol... actually getting another online lesson right now on how to put together this website... dont forget... www.istillloveher.de .. check it out..hit me up...

Song of the day:
Common - The Hustle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsoIJdOsPUc