While this year marks the 20th anniversary of “Fight The Power,” I'd like to point to a lesser known commemoration from 10 years back, when Public Enemy left DEF JAM and entered the world of digital distribution. It started when I had reached an impasse with DEF JAM’s major distributor at the time, Universal. PolyGram, in the early 90s, had been on an acquisition mission of black culture, catalog and music. First setting sights on the urban music R & B scene they brought in the producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. They needed a classic black catalog so $300 million was plopped down for MOTOWN from a company named Boston Ventures who a couple of years earlier paid Berry Gordy only $60 million for it. Then there was rap and hip hop and DEF JAM had made its mark the previous decade in a big way.

Being in the hole financially with SONY, POLYGRAM saved the day in 1994 by paying for DEF JAM and housing it within its new 50th and 8th street headquarters. The smoke never really cleared after these major transitions especially for myself, who was delivering Public Enemy and other records into that system. The delivery of video and master tapes sometimes would find conflict before leaving the building. More than that, the standard of manufacturing, marketing, distribution cost was higher with increasingly less chance of airplay return. The average promotional single needed 5000 pieces made and then mailed - more often wasted - into a GAVIN-ized CMJ college radio abyss. These costs were kick ass in the 90s. A lot of wasted maneuvering at high stakes.

Contrary to popular belief it wasn't just the growing dissatisfaction with the DEF JAM direction that altered my view, it was the problem of trying to create within the limitations of a gigantic unknown POLYGRAM machine from a previously stealth, understood SONY program. It took four years to get it down and know all the players involved, and by that time another merger was on the horizon to create more chaos. I had to figure something out. On the other end I had gotten tired of creating extra versions of mixes I felt would never reach the DJs. If it did, it was up to them to expose it to the crowd. Too many middlemen, especially in video. 3- 6 people, whether it was a MTV or BET at the time, would pick and choose what would be programmed for the audience. Like said, too many middlemen.

In 1998, smack dab in the middle of Public Enemy headlining the SMOKIN GROOVES tour, we created www.publicenemy.com and it became one of the very first artist sites in rap and hip hop. The Terrordome became what netizens would later call a 'blog'. My points were heard and read beyond any interview I could do, direct from the source. For the previous years leading up to it, I wondered when there could be TV on the web, if people could eventually email songs, and how about folks becoming one with the artistry. A seamless artist-audience relationship. All I could do back then is dream, wish, write, and wait. So I waited. And wrote.

It was over as far as Public Enemy and Def Jam was concerned. If I was going to deliver any future art it was going to ride some new roads indeed. After He Got Game’s gigantic budget, movie and play, somehow this 'new' digital freedom for words had to be even more rewarding in 'sight and sound'. In the fall of ‘98 Public Enemy got off Def Jam / Polygram by uploading new and old music on the web. After a cease and desist order by confused Universal legal workers, PE negotiated upon the uses of this new digital. Not calling it a threat but also not exuding any weakness either. Public Enemy landed a digital distribution recording venture with the innovative music businessman Al Teller, the man who first signed DEF JAM to CBS in 1985 in the afterwinds of Michael Jackson’s Thriller money and the aftermath of RUN DMC’s Krush Groove.

All this to say that when Public Enemy’s There’s A Poison Goin’ On was released in 1999 it was like break-dancing on the digital moon. Coupled with Shawn Fanning’s world-shaking file sharing ware NAPSTER, the road to sonic freedom was essential discovery. Involving myself into wanting necessary components and supersites to explain the music, since television had blocked hip hop out, I started (with partners) Rapstation.com in 1999, and the SLAMjamz Digital Recording label in 2001. The necessity for these supersites spawned massives such as OKAYPLAYER.com and ALLHIPHOP.com. For the first time in music industry memory the business seemed to not have the dominant word on the configuration of the distribution.

In 2009 it's foolish for anyone to say they didn't see it coming.

QUESTION- what appeals to you about SellaBand's model? What does it offer artists, and why is there a need for it?

Fast forward to my involvement with SELLABAND. Since 1999 I have gone non-stop in promoting the opportunities in digital music. Panels. Lectures. Conventions. Seminars. At the world’s largest music conference MIDEM in January 2008, I was on a panel discussing artist survival in the new digital planet. There were supersites, wireless phone companies and new artist music management models such as SELLABAND. It s concept was again eliminating waste at the base. Eliminating the hopes of anonymity to mainly support artists and instead making the fan a participant from minute one. Calling a fan a believer is like taking a sports team approach, it builds the support base in reverse.

As a proven system in Europe, my belief in making SELLABAND work in the USA is based on the strength of an artist rebuilding locally within the radius of their home area, then possibly raising participation nationally and internationally upon proving themselves. Proving themselves LIVE is an important aspect here. It used to be the backbone of the record business, in fact up to the 1990's performance art was sacrificed for the the illusion of instant stardom without merit via videos. The business made the mistake of using this supplement as a replacement. SELLABAND’s approach provides a default of public relations where every fanatic is important and focused upon.

This sets another initiative for endorsements, licensing and publishing opportunities to follow because the reasons surrounding the artists’ DNA should be clearer understood. Notwithstanding, the SELLABAND model is similar to a stock investment into the future course of the artist’s project, really in essence making the fan a true believer and participant. The music business is healthy, the record business is not. This model has the best potential into replacing the old version of recording company.

QUESTION- are artists in the US starting to think about going outside the label system to release their music? How does this compare to other ways of doing that?

Since the collapse of the record business as we knew it, many artists have started as far back as 5-6 years ago to prepare their careers on the digital turf. Many have done this because of the recognition of the available tools provided. Of course many artists had been trained to view the record companies by what they really were the for the past 20 years, multi national banking agencies.

So many at the turn of the century were resigned to use the digital tools in lieu of signing a traditional deal to make the artists rich, famous and more comfortable in recording and touring. When deals were less available many opted to explore, to find out what else could be offered. A downscaled reality was an answer. Going one by one unit, in whatever configuration the fans wanted, at a time was the resort. The major label system as we knew it could at best only support its handful of artists with the same promotional ways.

QUESTION- on hip-hop specifically, my perception is that some of the big-name hip-hop artists are fairly clued in about digital rights and opportunities - but I'd be really interested to get his views on whether this is true at a more grassroots level too, and how it's changing

Unfortunately this has come at a delayed response from the major hip hop artists, because their companies had lost money and therefore staffing as well, many big name artists have mimicked the beef of their employers. At the start of the digital curve, major record companies convinced their naive artist base that the digital aspect of downloading was criminal and was robbing them blind of any royalties.

At the same time they neglected to get across the fact of excessive waste in lieu of marketing, promotion and exposure in the business nearly wiping out many back-ended royalties. Many hip hop grass-roots organizations looked at other genres and applied it to rap as a Do It Yourself model. In the squeeze of offline independents and retail getting smashed out of business by millennium costs, the digital area from the floor up was a savings in the prices of manufacturing, production, promotion and distribution. It was an easier transition from ground zero cost, now whatever money was made was based on how much was saved and how many tasks were directly accomplished without middle or third party personnel.

As said before, this record company model is a more focused, streamlined version in reverse mode when it comes down to figuring its financial base, with little or no waste of expense. Big, mid name and past marketed artists in hip hop have much to gain with reconnecting familiar name brands with the SELLABAND system. It has started working in Europe and the UK with success cases. The strong background of hip hop and rap music in the US and North America is a reason I feel SELLABAND can return a new sense of record company infrastructure to the business.

Chuck D Public Enemy

www.publicenemy.com

www.SLAMjamz.com