21-12-2017 15:55 GMT

[PROMOTIONAL FEATURE]





LATELY













Starting his music career just after senior year in high school, Loon E wasted no time getting his foot in the door of the Released back in 2016, "Lately" is being looked upon as one of the critically acclaimed independent releases that put California, US underground rapper, Loon E Lou on the underground hip hop map and cemented his name in the minds of local and national independent hip hop fans and critics for good.Starting his music career just after senior year in high school, Loon E wasted no time getting his foot in the door of the music industry by collaborating with local artists and bands in the Gonzales area of California, before quickly delivering his first project, "Loon E Lou Presents: The Moonlight/UGH Mixtape" - a collaborative album featuring various songs with local underground and independent musicians in 2009. He followed up with his first official solo album, "So Much To Lose" in 2011.



Loon E continues to make a name for himself independently, releasing chart-worthy independent hip hop hits and classics, each more anticipated than the last, and is on his way to becoming one of California's fastest rising Loon E continues to make a name for himself independently, releasing chart-worthy independent hip hop hits and classics, each more anticipated than the last, and is on his way to becoming one of California's fastest rising independent hip hop acts











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21-12-2017 01:22 GMT





IAN ELECTED INTO THE WAMI BOARD OF DIRECTORS









Ian And The Dream have had an amazing year already - back to back gigs all year round, radio and TV appearances locally and nationally, lots of local and national press, including their recent features in the Huffington Post for their song, "Gimme Money For Christmas" which was recognised as one of the most viral new Christmas records in the region, and prior to that for their show-stopping performance at the big Milwaukee Brewers game where they performed the national anthem at the beginning of the season back in 2016 - and they continue to enjoy an illoustrious independent music career that just keeps getting better and better with every passing moment, as they journey towards their ultimate goal of global domination in the world of pop rock.





The band's lead singer, Ian Ash recently got elected into the Wisconsin Area Music Industry's board of directors. Having been established for 38 years now, the WAMI is a volunteer run organisation representing the interests of musicians, bands and music industry professionals in the Wisconsin area. The organisation runs awards ceremonies, seminars, workshops and other initiatives to foster the development of artists in the region, and as a member of one of the most revered music acts in the region he's in a position to make invaluable contributions.













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17-12-2017 22:47 GMT

[SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLE]





WHY MUSIC LOST ITS COMMENCIAL VALUE, PT. 1 OF ?





Special feature article by emerging indie writer, The Ghostwriter.







It's Sunday evening in London, UK. The sun has gone down and the noise levels have dropped low enough so all that can be heard is the sound of occassional cars driving by ever so silently. This is when I like to let my hair down and write. I should be



In case you are wondering who I am, I'm wondering the same about you too. I'm a ghostwriter, only known as The Ghostwriter. Soul searching got me here, so chances are when I find what my soul is searching for I may need to find a new job as well. Writing brings peace to my mind and helps me focus, and ideally reading this should do the same for you too, my honorable friend on the other end of this keyboard. My pen name was The Bastard prior, I felt it described how I felt deep down inside, but that was too strong, and that's another story. I like to remain annonymous so I can write what I like, within reason of course. I don't mean any harm or write hateful things, but I do like my curse words and hip hop slang very much - possibly owing to countless hours of African-American stand up comedy that have added up over the years - Mike Epps, Wanda Sykes, Katt Williams, Cedric The Entertainer, Dave Chappelle, Earthquake, Bruce Bruce, you get my drift; so you'll probably never read from me in your local or national newspaper (but who knows).



Anyways, now that that's out of the way, let's get right down to it - why music lost its commercial value. It's Sunday evening in London, UK. The sun has gone down and the noise levels have dropped low enough so all that can be heard is the sound of occassional cars driving by ever so silently. This is when I like to let my hair down and write. I should be listening to music as well, but I'm not, why?In case you are wondering who I am, I'm wondering the same about you too. I'm a ghostwriter, only known as The Ghostwriter. Soul searching got me here, so chances are when I find what my soul is searching for I may need to find a new job as well. Writing brings peace to my mind and helps me focus, and ideally reading this should do the same for you too, my honorable friend on the other end of this keyboard. My pen name was The Bastard prior, I felt it described how I felt deep down inside, but that was too strong, and that's another story. I like to remain annonymous so I can write what I like, within reason of course. I don't mean any harm or write hateful things, but I do like my curse words and hip hop slang very much - possibly owing to countless hours of African-American stand up comedy that have added up over the years - Mike Epps, Wanda Sykes, Katt Williams, Cedric The Entertainer, Dave Chappelle, Earthquake, Bruce Bruce, you get my drift; so you'll probably never read from me in your local or national newspaper (but who knows).Anyways, now that that's out of the way, let's get right down to it - why music lost its commercial value.

"Smoke Weed Everyday", the infamous line by the late Nate Dogg comes to mind. Never in the history of music, have we experienced so much commanding language, literally telling us to do stuff we were told not to do all our childhood, Good God! This decade of music has come with a lot of change, but change is good so hopefully, it is leading us somewhere amazing.



One of the first things many musicians directly or indirectly hear at the start of their music careers, something that many music industry professionals find themselves saying often, is that "music is subjective", in other words everyone has their opinions and tastes, and everyone perceives it differently in general. The essence of that freedom to perceive it differently is invaluable and seems to be declining more and more, as is the use of metaphors which is severely lacking as well in lyrics nowadays. Artists just come out and say anything - "I'll Kill You", "I've Got 6000 guns and 22 kilos of cocaine", "I'm the Sh*t - and you're Sh*t", et cetera et cetera. But it's the same for almost everything else, many things are subjective hence the statement is indeed valid however, that's not to say many music industry professionals don't just say it as a way of avoiding telling new artists if their record is crap when they are pushed to the wall with that somewhat redundant question, "how's my song?" or "what do you think about my album?" No one in their right minds would tell a musician who has (hopefully, or ideally) spent countless hours, days and even months trying to create their very best work that their record is crap. It could even be dangerous. Chances are, it often means the record isn't good because if a record is even the slightest bit good people feel something and they'll say it straight away.





But anyways, back to the subject of the matter, as we seem to have strayed a little bit once again. The point was that music seems to be all about the same things now, and very little of it has to do with anything that's happening in the world as a whole. The world's economy is progressing at an all time low, countries are on the brink of bankruptcy, dictators are brandishing their nuclear weapons arrogantly and defiantly, terrorists are trying to kill EVERYBODY, and yet, every single song is about Ferraris, Lamborghinis, fairy tale mansions, parties, sex, orgies, and (seemingly amazing) drugs, whether it's hip hop, R&B, pop or rock. When did we all become sex maniacs, drug dealers/users, playas and pimps? Everyone's a gangster and every other person's girl friend is a whore, and yes, she has been had many times as well? That shouldn't be a problem at all since everyone is allowed to feel how they want and every artist is allowed to paint whatever picture they like, however, that's just one possible theme that an artist or band can adopt in their music. If all artists and bands are doing the same thing, which appears to be happening more and more, it raises questions about authenticity (since each claims it's their reality) and highlights a lack of originality and hence further adds to the lack of any real value. There's no reason to listen to say, Rick Ross, over Meek Mill, Drake over Lil' Wayne, Iggy Azalea over Nicki Minaj, or even Cardi B, or Justin Bieber over Chris Brown? There doesn't seem to be any need for real excitement anymore when new music is released. No longer do we need to eagerly anticipate our favorite artists' next record, someone else will probably come out with something similar before we even finish listening to our favorite new song or album. Without that loyalty from fans, music careers can't last long enough for artists to evolve completely and we could be missing out on the best of some truly talented musicians.



A big thumbs up if you've read this far, "reading is fundamental". The world needs more people like you. Until the advent of the new universal language, built only on emojis, keep it up, share this so that others can be like you, and see you in part 2.



Have an amazing day, and a very pleasant week as well, savoring every blissful moment as the holiday season rapidly approaches.



I'd ask you how my writing is but I fear there is a chance you might say, "literature is subjective".

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