Honey LaRochelle has come up with this crazy fresh conceptual mixtape that’s full of lust and flavor— Known as the Urban Honey Bee…

Vancouver born, Texas raised, Florida reformed, Brooklyn saved, Denmark adopted, Croatian loved, Miss Honey Larochelle has been making audiences around the world laugh, cry, and jump out of their seats. Fresh off another European tour, “The Urban Honeybee” has been buzzzy in the studio crafting a kaleidoscope of music that spans adventures in love, sex, dance, intimacy, and honesty. “Clean Lust and Dirty Laundry” is a juicy exposé that showcases her crisp, soaring soprano gift and captures her dynamic songwriting and production skills.

Honey collaborated with an amazing line up of producers on “Clean Lust and Dirty Laundry:” Lions Share (Anthony Hamilton, Pharoahe Monch), Caviar (T.I), Danish Reggae producer, Pharfar (Beenie Man), and several up-and-coming geniuses. Her warm yet edgy mash-up of classic soul, hip-hop, and electro-pop is sure to make an impact on her listeners and on the industry itself. With the final touches blended and mixed by fellow Canadian Super-DJ Miss Erica Dee, you should bee excited. Bee very excited.

Honey Larochelle, the “Urban Honeybee” with a modern day pin-up girl image, airs out her growth, transition, mistakes, and passions on a clothing line for the world to see. This is not your average mixtape built on other people’s beats or songs. The honey of this record is all-original ear candy.

And download her mixtape here:  Pay what you want….Clean Lust and Dirty Laundry

A couple weeks back we highlighted Mobile Backstage. This week we’re all about Artists recommending other Artists. Enter: Headliner.FM

I first learned about them via Twitter when I saw certain artists I follow tweeting about other artists they were into to their fan base.

I thought it was brilliant.

Natural, organic and effective.

I watched their moves- researched the growth of a new artist that was endorsed or broadcasted and fans started multiplying.

Then…more and more artists/labels started using the platform and the next thing you know…SUCCESS.

I ran into one of the founders in SF a few weeks back at SF Music Tech Summit - Bill Cromie…. Here he shares his vision and values..

1) Tell us about your platform/app.

Headliner.fm is a new social sharing application that rewrites the rules of sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms. On Headliner, artists who make music similar to yours recommend you directly to their fans in their newsfeeds and timelines on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms–for free.

2) What makes it attractive/compelling and different?

On Headliner, musicians recommend each other to their fan bases, much in the same way that artists open for each other in the real world. With Headliner, musicians can choose who they want to recommend to their fans, just the same way that they pick who they want to be their opening act at a gig. Fans get curated recommendations of music that their favorite bands like, and the bands help each other reach out to new fanbases.

3) How do you provide a richer experience for the user/fan–what’s your end result?

In the end, it’s about enabling the community of artists to help each other, and about artists choosing to recommend music to their fans that they think their fans will like. We believe that the traditional marketing model where you pay to play (and it doesn’t matter what you sound like, it only matters how much of a marketing budget you’ve got), we think that model is broken, especially in the world we live in now, where artists and fans can communicate with each other in real time on the social web.

4) What was your motivation behind creating/inventing this tool/vehicle for artists?

Artists have always supported one another by touring together, writing music and releasing tracks. We wanted to allow this type of behavior for people on Facebook and Twitter and make it easy for artists to find and support each other. We realized that the tools available to market and promote yourself were really focused on the needs and budgets of big brand name companies. Technology and the internet has democratized the creation and distribution process for artists and musicians, but the one remaining piece of the puzzle, marketing and promotion, remained far too costly.

5) What’s been your biggest impact in the marketplace thus far?

Well, you know, people always ask about the big name artists who use Headliner, and we’ve had some amazing experiences working with people like Pitbull, All Time Low, 3Oh3, Diddy, Travie McCoy etc. But the real story is the thousands and thousands of bands that are helping each other out every day on Headliner.fm, recommending each other to their fans, spreading the word, and making it happen. On average, we send out recommendations to about 15 million people a day. That’s the power of collaborative marketing, and that’s huge!

6) Where do you see music and technology going in the next 5 years?

We think that the music and technology scene is rapidly accelerating, just take a look a the explosion of the streaming music world. Music has always been at the forefront of both the technological and social world, often despite the best efforts of the traditional music industry. Now that technology has become social, I think we will see a renaissance of creativity. We had four major genres in the past because Walmart needed some way to organize chunks of plastic; similarly the distribution channels required the release of an album. Now, there are genres being created every day, every new song or recording is pushed live on the spot. So many of the traditions of the music business stemmed from limitations that simply no longer exist, and as we move into a sharing/streaming/social/always-on world, the importance of collaboration and cooperation will be paramount.

7) In your own musical discovery, who have you listened to in last 10 days that you found either from recommendation tools or curators/DJs?

I’ve started listening to this band Tinariwen, that I found through my friend Jeff Smith of the Lucent Dossier Experience (who are also an amazing band/circus/dance troupe/extravaganza). Tinariwen are this amazing Tuareg blues band that has a seriously funky groove to it.

Lastly, who is one of your favorite Thought Leaders(role models) today and why?

I’m a huge fan of Paul Graham of ycombinator.com. Headliner.fm isn’t a ycombinator company, but I love his outlook and his essays on startups, software, culture and business. Reading his essays ( here: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html ) gives one a concise insight into not only how startups live and thrive, but why they die, how they change, and what it’s like to live, breathe, sweat and hustle in a startup.

Thank you Bill- great answers/ very educational—

Artists if you’re not using these tools and this platform– get on it straight away!!!!

I came across Mobile Backstage back in March at Canadian Music Week and I was intrigued enough to do some research and now…I have a few artists who are building out their apps and ready to engage with their hand helds direct to fans.
When it comes to mobile technology there’s a ton brewing from Finland and here we chat with Jussi Ruusila – Creative Minister.

1)    Tell us about your platform/app
Mobile Backstage is a modern, intimate and personal way to connect bands and fans. It’s not just an app, but more a service designed to get the fans to  participate more. One could say it’s a fan club that lives on mobile and
Facebook. While just about everything in music has changed lately, being a fan hasn’t really changed since the time of The Beatles. It has just adapted with the technology  – and Mobile Backstage is the latest development on that front. It has been designed to give fans reasons to engage. Mobile Backstage lets you share the most important moments of being a fan with others, and in real time. Bands and artists can think of it as service that they can utilize to amass a transportable fan community that they can carry with them throughout their career.

2)    What makes it attractive/compelling and different

From the fan’s perspective, Mobile Backstage is unique, because it feels real – it provides direct 2-way communication with the band. It also offers a way  to get recognition from peers and ultimately from the band members. It’s a sort of like an über fan club for the generation on to go. This of course requires a commitment by the band, but I think more and more bands are understanding how important it is to make it worthwhile to be a fan. All the content in Mobile Backstage is created together by the band and its fans. It doesn’t contain any recycled material or bios (and I’m sure fans actually know more about those things than the labels execs who actually wrote them).

3)  How do you provide a Richer experience for the user/fan-  what’s your end result?

The fans use Mobile Backstage because of the band, not because it’s Mobile Backstage. Facebook etc. are for those who like the band; Mobile Backstage is for those who LOVE the band. It’s much more intimate and personal. Usually  artist relations with the fans are based more illusion of interaction than any actual interaction. With Mobile Backstage, the band can connect directly to their fans – commenting in real time to a push notification from the lead singer of your favorite band directly on your phone is the next level of fan engagement.

4)   What was your motivation behind creating/inventing this tool/vehicle for artists.

I’d say Mobile Backstage was born from the actual need for that kind of
service. My co-founder in Mobile Backstage (CEO Paavo Backman) and I had an  indie label in Finland for ten years. Because of the lack of funds at the  beginning, our marketing was mainly based on activating the fans. And this was pre-Facebook, even pre-MySpace. The results were still really overwhelming; we were able to get #1 artists in Finland with marketing budgets of $50. Allowing 2-way communication between the band and the fans achieved really surprising results. There were, for example, hundreds of fans waiting for one band in a railway station the first time they played in Russia or Germany without any  paid advertizing. We thought that surely there has to be some solution available that would allow us to do this kind of viral marketing with mobile phones. But once we couldn’t find one, we had to build it our own.

5)  What’s been your biggest impact in the marketplace so far.
I probably have a god complex, but I feel we might have unnoticedly changed a tone a bit when people speak about mobile apps for bands. When we started
talking about fan engagement, direct/personal connection, harnessing of the
fans etc. the others were just interested in bringing the web to mobile. For
me it was clear from the start that utilizing mobility means much more than
just squeezing down web content to mobile screens. We have been trying to
participate in as many conferences as possible, and we have been trying shout out our gospel of fan engagement for several years without anyone having paid much attention. Now, suddenly it seems that everyone is catching up; super serving the fans seems now to be everyone’s mission.

6)  Where do you see music and technology going in the next 5 years

It’s really dangerous to predict anything. We couldn’t foresee 700 million
people in Facebook or app stores. But if anything, the future will surely be
more about direct to consumer. Reaching and activating your fans is going to
be even more important. We have just seen the few first years of mobilized fan experiences. The integration of web and mobile services will allow more ways to find and monetize the fans. Technology will surely play a big role in creating and utilizing all sorts of new monetization models. Ultimately it comes down to a question of who owns the fans.

7)  In your own musical discovery, who have you listened to in last 10 days
that you found either from recommendation tools or curators/dj’s.
I might be just me, but using available recommendation tools usually
disappoints me (and I sometimes DJ myself only to get a chance to hear good
music at the bar…). Last week though I was listening to a great late Scottish indie band Arab Strap on Spotify and tried it’s tools to find some interesting  related artists. Nothing really new came up, but reading the band bio on Spotify led me to google the singer Aidan Moffat to see if he has released  something new on his own. From that, I found this great record of his called Everything’s Getting Older that had gone completely unnoticed.. So does this count?

Lastly, who is one of your favorite thought leaders(Role Models) today and why?

I used to read a lot of Andrew Dubber (Newmusicstrategies), Mike Masnick from
Techdirt (connect with fans + give them reason to buy = $$$) and Terry McBride (take care of your fans and the business will take care of itself…). Now I  find myself reading them much more sparsely. Somehow the new ideas seem to have dried up – now everyone is just repeating the same jargon. Music Think Tank still makes good reading, though. I don’t think there is a single role model today. I was just at MusicTech Summit in San Francisco and heard Aaron Ray from The Collective in one panel. He had many similar thoughts as I do. And I think Linkin Park is a perfect example of a band that has really adapted to the changes in the music business and super served their fans from the beginning.

Here’s a learn the basics on Youtube:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you find this Q&A interesting please feel free to share and if you have any comments, I’d love to hear them.

Produced by none other than Revive Da Live. Celebrating their 5th Anniversary.

Featuring The Revive Da Live Big Band under the direction of pianist Marc Cary and trumpeter Igmar Thomas - With special guests.   I can only imagine who will be in the house– going to be a night to remember!

The Elam family will be in attendance and the proceeds and donations go to his son K.C.Elam.

Here’s a very special exclusive video from DJ Premiere interviewed and shot by Eric Sandler.

Tickets are $20.00 in advance and $25.00 at door.

10PM-   Le Poisson Rouge - Thursday April 21st!
Guru meant a lot to me– I came up in my career with him whether rocking Gang Starr on the radio when I DJ’d back in the day in Atlanta or my first record gig at EMI/Chrysalis working ‘Hard to Earn’- 3rd album and then staying in touch supportive and even through his illness- we were talking on phone about me doing publicity for 7 grand and his next project….  Life is so fragile.  We have to live each day as if it’s the last as tomorrow isn’t promised to us!

I’m there in full force and spirit Thursday- It will be very touching and beautiful!

I went to this Uganda Break Dance Project screening of a film called ‘Bouncing Cats’ at NYU not long ago and I was introduced to this girl Genesis Be by my friend and esteemed colleague Martha Diaz of the Hip Hop Education Center/Hip Hop Association.

Genesis hosted the affair- I was immediately drawn to her charismatic personality and energy.  We stayed in touch and I asked her to rock an Efficacy which got a great reaction from fans when we premiered it on ThisIsRealMusic - It’s now up on my Youtube channel-  peep it here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Genesis Be is not your average MC by any means- firstly- she’s deeply rooted in the south- Mississippi to be exact – it’s very much reflected in her rhymes and rhythmic arrangements.  She moved here to NY to study at the Clive Davis School of Recorded Music..She’s also a self-starter/entrepreneur and has formed an organization called StriveTillIRise - What started out as T-shirts has now become a movement.  You can read more here: Washington Square News.

I’m expecting big things from Genesis Be so stay tuned.. I’m trying to convince her to call the album  ‘Mississippi to Manhattan’