The Transcendent Music Movement Presents: The Black Keys

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Black+Keys/+images/58154643

The Transcendent Music Movement Presents: The Black Keys

One summer day as I was watching television, a commercial came on and completely grabbed my attention.  It was not the car that being advertised, but it was the music on the commercial that really captivated me.  The song was Tighten Up by The Black Keys.  After further review, I realized that I had discovered a gem. The Transcendent Music Movement presents The Black Keys.

The Black Keys are one of the most electrifying musical groups gracing stages across the world and making records in today’s popular music culture.  Their combination of blues, soul and psychedelic rock, as last.fm describes it, makes the group very attractive to a wide audience of listeners.  Their pleasantly unique sound is very exciting and is mostly due to their pioneered instrumentation.  I do not claim to be aware of every artist and band’s work but I am sure that most people would agree that there are very few bands that offer a sound even remotely similar to The Black Keys.  Particularly in modern popular music, there are not many groups who can balance making music that appeals to a large audience and still remain true to the roots of classic blues and soul.  They sufficiently and amazingly managed to incorporate a traditional blues and soul sound in to their progressive rock style.   

 

The group consists of a Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney.  Dan is the lead singer and guitar player.  Patrick is the drummer and they have other varying contributing musicians.  The duo hails from Akron, Ohio.  These guys had really humble beginning launching their music career from Akron.  The group has labored long and hard and has truly earned their respect in the music industry.  They released their first album in 2002 and created great music that was used in movies, video games, TV shows and commercials.  It was not until 2010 that the band recorded an album in a legitimate studio.  The album was Brothers, which included Tighten Up.  Tighten Up was the song that I heard on that Subaru commercial.  The song was also used for the 2011 FIFA soundtrack.  Apparently, it really because popular from a viral YouTube video called Dancing T-Rex.  After increased popularity and their album’s incredible success, The Black Keys found themselves winning three Grammy’s. 

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Black+Keys/+images/51463261

Recently they released their sixth album, El Camino.  This album is sure to continue in the exponential success of the Akron, Ohio band.  The steadfastness and perseverance of The Black Keys is extremely commendable and their story is an encouraging one.  The Transcendent Music Movement will continue to support the unique work of this great band.  We look forward to them continuing to create TRANSCENDENT MUSIC.

http://www.theblackkeys.com/product/el-camino-cd

The Transcendent Music Movement Presents: Wale and his Self-Publishing and Distribution Efforts

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The Transcendent Music Movement Presents: Wale and his Self-Publishing and Distribution Efforts

Musicians increasingly are finding value in self-promotion and self-production.  These activities have become prevalent particularly in the advent of home music production software and Internet publishing and distribution tools.  Tools such as MySpace, iTunes, CD Baby, Reverbnation and others are some of those mostly used for self-promotion or publishing.  One newly popular Hip Hop artist who earned a recording deal using these tools is Washington D.C. native Wale.

Wale was born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin.  His parents are Nigerian immigrants who raised their son in Washington D.C.  When Wale became of age he attended college.  He transferred schools twice before dropping out and pursuing his career in music.  Wale worked hard developing as a locally recognized artist.  He first got commercial exposure with one of his tracks being played by a local DJ over the radio.  This type of word-of-mouth promotion resulted in him earning national recognition from Hip-Hop magazines and others.  With Wale realizing his potential to become a national recording artist, he began to consider other promotion artist.  Wale did this by promoting mixtapes and by creating a commanding MySpace presence. 

http://www.killerhiphop.com/wale-bait-remix-lyrics/

Wale’s MySpace presence could arguably have been the single most contributing factor that led to his popularity.   In the spirit of self-publishing and distribution, Wale and his team used the methods as a means to another end.  Even those who have great success self-promoting and distributing, a recording contract with a major recording label is usually still a sought after goal.  Wale captured the attention of several major recording labels before Interscope Records signed him to a recording contract.  He has obviously transferred the responsibility of publishing and distributing his intellectual property had been transferred over to his recording company.  A major recording deal offers the artist leverage and greater distribution power.  Now Wale is working with Maybach Music Group accomplishing the same.

The record labels use their resources to publish and distribute Wale’s work.  This is incredible leverage for the artists.  In Wale’s case, he does not have to worry about using his personal assets to record and promote himself.  The major recording companies also have the capacity to have your music reach every corner of the planet using both conventional and online mediums.  Wale has done a great job of first working hard for himself, particularly with his self-publishing and distribution efforts.  From that hard work he gain the attention of recording companies to take on the burden of those efforts.  Now he is an internationally known Hip-Hop artist creating TRANSCENDENT MUSIC thanks to his pioneered self-publishing and distribution efforts.