Volume 2, Issue #4

Whyte Out

Christopher Lieb a.k.a "Whyte Out" began his rapping career by battling other emcees in the lunch room of his high school. A lot has changed since those days. After winning B.E.T's 106th and Park freestyle Fridays, Whyte Out has become one of the most sought after "up and coming" east coast emcees.

This Kentucky native is definitely making a name for himself. Whyte Out has just recorded a song with the dirty, dirty's very own Bone Crusher called "Beddar Not Say Nutin". The video was shot during the month of May and should starting airing on B.E.T and MTV2 this summer.

5 facts about Whyte Out:

1. Christopher started his rapping career in the lunch room of his high school. His skills were honed by flowing about topics that included everything from fish sticks to tartar sauce. "I would challenge anyone to a battle because I knew it would force me to grow."

2. Whyte Out views himself as much more than a battle emcee. His lyrics are a based on his struggles and background. While he admits his stories are not tales from street, he has encountered extreme adversity as a Caucasian male attempting to entering a predominately African American male role. "Some people don't take me seriously because of my color, but I use that as a motivator to crush them in a battle."

3. Not only did Whyte Out win B.E.T's 106th and Park Freestyle Fridays, he was actually the first rapper to be retired from the show. Sub-sequentially he was entered into the shows Hall of Fame. Whyte Out has also won the Hip Hop Conference Emcee Batttle at the University of Maryland hosted by WPGC in Washington D.C.

4. Whyteout.com--Whyte Out's promotional website-- has generated over 250,000 hits. It has also been ranked as the 174,000 most visited websites our of 900,000 according to www.ranking.com. On this site you can see video clips from 106th and Park, up coming shows and other pictures.

5. Whyteout continues to broaden his horizons as an artist. He recently signed a sponsorship deal with clothing company T.Y.O.T.U (The Year Of The Underdog). He continues to position his music on mix CDs and participates in events like the Funk Master Flex Car Show to keep his name and music in front of his fans. Finally, Whyteout will be a featured artists on a DVD film titled "Gorilla Flix". The title is scheduled for release in fall 2004.

Shinedown

Mainstream rock has been a staple of Atlantic Records for years. It comes as no surprise that Shinedown, a rock band based in Jacksonville, FL., chose to sign with Atlantic Records to promote and distribute its first album "Leave a Whisper".

The band has scored #1 positioning on Billboard's heatseeks chart. And with the the release of thier second single "45", the group has seen an increase in total units sold--to date more than 189,000 in the US. Atlantic is also beginning to putting more of its muscle behind Shinedown, so expect to hear more from Shinedown very soon.

5 questions for Shinedown:

1. How has Florida influenced your music? “We love Florida, especially Jacksonville. The weather is great for touring and it gave us the ability to play all year round at outdoor and indoor venues. Naturally, we learned to appreciate touring because of this. Now, when we go on road we are able to give the fans a show they won't forget."

2. Are you going on tour with Van Halen this summer? “Speaking of national tours, yeah we are. We were surprised to learn that their management wanted us to open for them this summer. It's an incredible opportunity and we are planning a show that will definitely warm the fans up for Van Halen."

3. What is the next single from Shinedown? “After receiving incredible feedback from our acoustic version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man, we feel pretty confident that this will be our third single. The label also feels strongly about this given the surge in units sold after this song was aired on WAAF, Boston."

4. Has that prompted the label to push you to re-record Simple Man? "Yeah. And we were happy to do it. In fact, we have also re-recorded 45. The label feels that these bonus items along with other material on the enhanced CD will help drive sales with the re-release of "Leave a Whisper.”

5. What else have you done to keep you name and music in the public eye? “The good news is that the public seems very receptive to our music. We sold out our first two headline events and we performed 45 on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. As we said earlier, we are repacking our original CD with new material and we have a heavy touring season ahead of ourselves.”

Are personalized ring tones, the next revolution in music?


If you haven't heard of personalized ring tones, it's just a matter or time before you will. The promise of personalized ring tones has everyone--customers, labels, artists and carriers--buzzing about the next generation of mobile phones. Carriers in Japan and Europe have seen this industry explode over the past few years. And as U.S. carriers prepare to roll out the next generation of phones, all indicators suggest the U.S. market for ring tones will explode as well.

In terms of the music industry, ring tones represent a significant growth market for artists and labels alike. More importantly, ring tones are another avenue for artists to continuously expose themselves to new and existing customers. This value is so attractive that artists are positioning not only their songs but also their voices as ring tones. Amazing as it may seem, one day you may be able to have Justin Timberlake let you know that you have an incoming call.

While I am not completely sold on the idea of purchasing ring tones, I can not deny the value in using them as a promotion vehicle. This is an incredible outlet for new artists to have their music played wherever, whenever. Companies like Xingtone (http://www.xingtone.com) have created software that gives consumers the ability to use any audio content as a personalized ringer. This powerful software levels the playing field by taking control away from entertainment companies and empowering the consumer to choose the content they want to use.

The freedom of choice is the true driving force of the digital revolution. In this regard consumer demand will be stimulated only when the consumer has the ability to control his/her choices. If entertainment companies, carriers and artists try to dictate the content consumers have access to for ring tones the future of this industry in the U.S. may never come to fruition.

Q: Do I need a lawyer if I have a manager?

-- Jason Pryce

A: Actually a lawyer and a manager are both integral parts of an artist's team. In some cases a lawyer can be a manager. However, I believe that an artist should have a uniquely qualified professional for each roll.

Your entertainment lawyer should be specialized in contract review and negotiations, legal disputes, strategic and long term legal planning for his/her artist.

Managers, however, function as a buffer between an artist and any external forces. It is the manager's responsibility to book, negotiate, schedule and make the artist's experiences as painless as possible. Ultimately, the manager's intimate relationship with an artist leads him/her to become an unseen partner of the artist.

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