Independent Record Labels & Artists Are Competing!

Insight From: B. Brown - Bar-Red Entertainment Group (BREG)

If you are an Independent Record Company and/or Artist, keep the FAITH because independent artist MAC MILLER has just topped the Billboard Charts!!! That's right, Mac Miller of Rostrum Records, hit #1 on the Billboard 200 Charts! By the way, Rostrum Records is the original home of Wiz Khalifa too! Rostrum Records based out of Pittsburgh, PA of all places has had an outstanding 2011, 1st with Wiz Khalifa and now ending the year with Mac Miller. Amazing!!!

Mac and Wiz both concentrated primarily on making great music solely for their niche markets and continued to engage their fans and new fans via social media and eventually a movement began which led to Mac Miller's new success! 109,000 of Mac's 144,000 first week sales were downloads. I take my hat off to Benji Grinberg (CEO) and the entire Rostrum crew because I know it took countless hours of work, strategy, resources and more for these projects to finally take off.

To all my independents, keep investing in yourself, build a great team that will create, develop and excute a great game plan, and you may be sitting at the top of the Billboard Charts one day!!!

It starts with great music. Create the best songs that you can possibly make!

You will have to spend money on marketing and promotions. There's no way around it.

Network, network, network! You must connect and build relationships with the right people!

Work hard and work smart!!!

Check out the article below on Mac Miller's success ........

One Love!

Week Ending Nov. 13, 2011. Albums: From “Donald Trump” to #1

By Paul Grein | Chart Watch – Wed, Nov 16, 2011 11:48 AM EST

Photo: Roger Kisby/Getty Images

Just five months ago, Mac Miller was best known for a novelty rap hit about, of all people, Donald Trump. This week, the 19-year old rapper has the #1 album on The Billboard 200. Blue Slide Park enters the chart higher than the hit-studded Now 40 and the latest Twilight soundtrack, which boasts a big hit by Bruno Mars.
Blue Slide Park is the second debut album by a rap artist to open in the top spot in the past seven weeks (following J. Cole's Cole World: The Sideline Story). This reconfirms that rap fans are among the most active and plugged-in music fans. Digital sales accounted for the lion's share of the album's first week sales (109K out of 144K).
Miller's strong debut is a triumph of social networking. Miller has a combined 2.7 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace.

The album was preceded by the viral hits "Donald Trump," which has sold 441K copies, and "Knock Knock," which has sold 336K copies. Miller also released an EP, On And On And Beyond, and a series of seven mixtapes, including one with the Ill Spoken.
Blue Slide Park is the fourth album by a teenaged artist to reach #1 so far this year, which makes this the year with the most #1 albums by teenaged artists. Justin Bieber has had two #1 albums this year. Never Say Never—The Remixes hit #1 in February. Under The Mistletoe hit #1 last week. Scotty McCreery's debut album Clear As Day hit #1 five weeks ago. Of these three artists, only Bieber fits the usual mold of a teen idol.