You're Not Too Cool For Paperwork

THIS IS THE YEAR We get our P&C Lines

In the world of hip hop, where culture-defining bars meet heavy beats and underground vibes often break onto the mainstream stage, understanding your rights as a creator isn't just smart—it's essential. Let's peel back the layers of what every hip hop artist should know about copyright.

1. What Is Copyright, Really? For the young MCs and seasoned vets alike who thrive on breaking norms, copyright might seem like a stiff suit in a cypher’s world. But at its core, copyright is the legal shield that protects your creative hustle—or at least the product of it. It gives you ownership of your work, from the lyrics you spit to the tracks you produce using those midnight muse moments.

Copyright in a Digital World:

The digital age is the playground where most of hip hop's magic happens. When your tracks pop off on SoundCloud or go viral on TikTok, strong copyright comprehension ensures credit and cash flow land in the right place—your pocket. Remember, a copyright doesn't mean creativity under chains; it means safeguarding your soul's work.

2. Copyright Registration: Necessary or Nah? Sure, you can technically claim copyrights by the act of your genius alone—by fixing your genius to a tangible medium like an MP3 file. But here’s the kicker: initiating a formal registration process with the U.S. Copyright Office amps up your legal leverage. And even though pushing paper isn't as thrilling as scribing rhymes, don't sleep on how it enhances your ability to sue in case someone jacks your flow.

Why Hip Hop Artists Can't Ignore Registration

- Guard against sampling without permission: Let's be real. Hip hop's history is rooted in sampling. Register your work to stand firm if and when someone borrows too heavily.

- Boost street cred and business savvy: Knowing your legal muscle helps label execs take you seriously. Your art is your asset.

3. Public Domain and Sampling: Tread With Caution:

In the rap game, blending sounds is an art. However, stepping into the realm of public domain—compositions not protected due to expired copyrights—requires a fine sense of legality. But don't let your beats or bars fall into the hands of overzealous claims.

Sampling: The Fine Print for Hip Hop Artists

• Know what's fair game: Just because a track's been around doesn't mean it's up for grabs. Investigate before you rewire those melodies.

• Permission is power: Clear samples with original artists. This move not only keeps you clean legally but also shows love to those who came before.

4. Infringement: More Than Just Fighting Words: When it comes to infringement, consider it a lyrical battle but without the backing track. If someone appropriates your work without your blessing, the quiet outcome isn't just resentment; it's legal tussles.

Defending Your Art, Hip Hop Style

• Reclaim your flow: Don’t hesitate to call out those who copy you sans credit. While you're dropping truth bombs, keep them accountable through the right channels. -

• Legal reinforcement for cheap bite-back: Copyright enforcement is not about shutting down creativity; it's about safeguarding originality and ensuring that you, the innovator, get the props and bank you deserve.

5. Crew Dynamics vs. Lone Wolves: Who Owns What? In hip hop, collaborations and crews are as natural as a graffiti tag on a subway train. But when it comes to copyright, collective creation can muddle ownership waters.

Sorting Out Copyright in Teams

• Define roles upfront: When you're working with a clan of talent, discuss copyright splits before the track hits the club. Transparently hash out who owns what—or you'll be left bumping heads, not tracks.

• For the lone wolves: Secure your beats, bars, and hooks. You're on your own, but that means every piece is truly yours. Protect it.

Conclusion

Sure, copyright ain't the most exciting hip hop matter, but overlook it and you might fiend for royalties you're never gonna get. Protecting your work means stamping your voice on every corner of your journey. Remember, the goal isn't just to be heard, but to be recognized and rewarded. Keep the hustle legal, so the paper trail matches the fire tracks you drop.

WAR ROOM: Getting Started

First thing you need to do is get the following in order:

1. Notebook

2. Pen

3. PC, MAC, or Laptop with Internet access

4. A BUSINESS-oriented email account (not suckadick@yahoo.com)

5. An hour or two per night

6. A calendar

7. DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You probably have all of these things, right?

Remember, touring isn't easy for rock bands, so expect it to be at least twice as hard for a hip hop act.

So the plan is, "we go on a local or statewide tour" This is the first type of tour you will execute; easy for a rapper from New York, but harder for a rapper from Wyoming, and that is the way it is.

Not that Wyoming doesn't produce sick rappers, I don't know any rappers from Wyoming, but I won't put it past them to have an elite ripper or two in that state.

If you've got some real good friends, you can ask them to help be your committee.

**Clarification Note***DO NOT PUT YOUR CAREER IN SOMEBODY ELSE'S HANDS! You still need to have total confidence in your future, enough that you want your own influence on it. You can get a TRUSTWORTHY and psyched friend or family member to help you plan and communicate with the world. They probably want to help anyway, right?

You should still plan this by yourself, at least the first time, so you know what goes into it, and if you ever enlist the services of another, you know what to expect from deadlines to cost.

So, in a local draft of a plan you want to open up GoogleMaps which we will use forever and again.

Then add a tab to this window. Go to Google (they're just the best, period) Zoom in to your state, find a circular route beginning and ending in your hometown.

You know your state, you know where the universities and the party cities are. Write down every town you want to visit in the same order of your tour. Something to help with that, would be to calculate the distances and driving times between each city.

You should be able to input the zip codes if you looked up the city zip codes for your targets on the Googlemap interface. Open a calendar, and find your dates and make sure they coincide with your driving times and distances.

A 10 city tour should last 2 weeks.

It won't be like you'll be writing any of those directions, you won't even have to print them out; you can if you want to and I'm sure it will help a bit to have it in front of you; However, it doesn't have the venues addresses, and you will want them to make a printout of your final plan-in-action file.

Oh yes, you will have a file for this.

It can create a lot of paperwork, which is why you should normally wait to have all of your tour information and confirmation emails on paper. And work off of your computer.

Once you can see what type of tour you'll be doing it looks like, "this isn't so hard" but we know better than to underestimate this process...

A poorly planned tour can drain your finances, effect your employment, and you could end up burning bridges with venues with a display of your poor planning which just appears as bad event management, regardless of your intentions.

But now you have an idea about what kind of tour is being created in your first steps.

BUILDING CONCENSUS I: Securing The Venue

You will be executing Part 1 and Part 2 of BUILDING CONSENSUS simultaneously.

College towns are the way to go. Especially if you can book your show for a Thursday night in these towns (most college kids have Friday off, or a late class, if that.) So a lot of venues have that night for a "college night" anyway. In your bigger cities, if you can link up with a great act, you want a weekday, Tues or Wed depending.

Try not to book on Sundays or Mondays, unless that is all the venue will give you. If you cannot give the venue a strong lineup with artists they may be familiar with (which is why you looked up the shows for each artist) They WILL most certainly not give you a weekend. Plus, most of these venue owners have a problem with hip hop, and "the kind of crowd it brings" So not having it on a Friday or Saturday night, helps you to put them at ease about it.

Let's face it, (now I'm going to go there) Hip Hop gets a bad rep from people who say they are serious about performing, but invite people who are looking for trouble, or they themselves are troublesome, ie; smoking weed in the venue, fighting, not buying drinks at the bar, bringing their own drinks to the bar, not tipping, etc...

You have to be very careful that you don't give yourself a bad name by not respecting a venue, which is the biggest reason they have reservations about booking hip hop acts in the first place.

It is this reason mainly that I created this blueprint, as a hip hop artist, you have too many tangibles that could hold you back from being successful at touring. And unless we identify these intangibles, we can't make moves. The more you understand, the better you can plan.

When you search for venues anywhere, you must use a filter like "hip hop/rap" to search for venues, the ones that show up don't quite "as-a-matter-of-fact" accept hip hop submissions, and there are some of course who want nothing to do with hip hop or rap. Metal is another one of those red-headed stepchildren that gets no respect. (Shout-out to the ginger kids)

Look for venues that are currently booked with hip hop acts and contact them.

If you're a RAPVeterans® NATIONAL Member, you will be invited to watch a live stream where I call venues on a circuit to make sure they will book hip hop acts. I don't care what it says on their profile, "any genre" don't mean a damn thing.

You need to make sure your spelling is pristine and that you should always communicate as a "representative" of the act. Don't say, "I'm a rapper, and I want to book a show", talk a bit about the date you have in mind (it should be so far away (month-s), the venue will most times have it open; Unless they are a national touring spot. Then who knows?)

Venues don't really care about your submission, they would rather meet you so whenever you find their booking email, you can send them your press-kit, wait 1 week, and then give them a call.

Be nice and professional, they might not even had a chance to look at your press-kit, and if you behave as though they slighted you, they will show you what that slight really could be...

You see, most venues usually have a SIN (Service Industry Night) and this is where venues offer drink or food specials to employees of other venues, just so you know, they talk and if you have made an impossibly irreversible impression, you can bet this is where, "you'll never work in this town again!" Can be true to the bone.

I got my first job by calling and showing up to the place EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR A WEEK, I'm not kidding you. They weren't even hiring, but I showed my earnestness and commitment to the objective; they appreciated that and hired me the next week. I loved that job.

So don't be afraid to call, the absolute worst thing they can say to you is they "don't want no nigger music here!"

That is an obvious worst thing, but even if that's what they want to say, they won't say it like that. So, "no" will be the worst (usually) that you will hear. Because of this, you need to compile a list of every venue willing to work in hip hop, that's all. Some cities have more than others, your job is to make one of those venues commit to a date.

If they'll listen, tell them your plan, which should include a roster or lineup, your touring dates, your promotional plan, etc... Most venue owners just want a professional act. If they don't have time, ask if you can send them your press-kit. You can send it blind, but if you ask, at least when they see your email, they know it was from the guy they talked to and they're more likely to check you out. Here is where you have your information. Like a business plan, but one for you to get them to agree to secure your tour date.

You might have already sent the press-kit... Send that shit again if they say yes.

They, like you and I, are tired of live music acts from all genres who plan poorly and suck. But then they blame the venue for not doing more.