Some of the hottest watches I've ever seen from the designers over at FLÜD!

BoomBox (Gunmetal)

$90.00

TableTurns (Silver Linked)

$70.00

And my favorite of them all...the MPC2000XL!

The BPM White (MPC White/Gray)

$80.00

FLÜD Watches Home

Need some soundfonts?

Came across some free soundfont sites that might help with your Hip Hop/Soul/R&B production for all you digital producers out there. Enjoy!

Sound Fonts - Home Musician

Their sound font library is very similar to Hammer Sound's

SF2MIDI

Nice selection of sounds ranging from reed instruments, strings, percussions and more. 

HitSquad

HammerSound

The Grand-Daddy of them all!

Shade Cobain - TEARS

Pittsburgh's very own Shade Cobain is back alongside The Fighting Words with this new beat tape entitled "TEARS"! Check this hotness out!

DOWNLOAD AND SUPPORT

This Week on Industry Knowledge With Akil Esoon: Create A Website To Showcase Your Beats!

Create A Website To Showcase Your Beats!

I've received many emails over the last two weeks from up-and-coming music artists and a few hip-hop producers asking how they can create their own band website to showcase their music or beats. So I figured I would take a moment and explain how easy and effective it really is.

What Are The Benefits Of having A Band Website?

There are many benefits to creating a band website, we will go over some of the key benefits right now.

Control.

Having complete control of what is on your band website and it’s pages gives you a huge advantage. This allows you to be able to create and design your own website from scratch or use a template for your band website from a place like ThemeForest, which means the design and hard annoying work is already done for you, all you would need to do is add your music, beats, videos, pictures and whatever else you want displayed on your band website, that is entirely up to you!

Exposure.

Chances are that if you’re making music or beats, you’re trying to get your hard work out there for the world to hear. Having a website to showcase your beats or your bands music makes it really easy for people to find on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. It also gives a central place for your trusty online followers and local fans to get updates on your music and upcoming music events you or your band may be involved in. You can also link all of your social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud and include recent message snippets right on your home page

Millions of people are using search engines to find new music to listen to and purchase everyday, you can really take advantage of that depending on how involved you get with your music, like they say “if you build it, they will come”. So if you’re making great music you can be sure people will be coming back to hear more.

What Will I Need Too Get Started?

The cost to actually start your own website is very minimal. Here is what you will need to start your own website.

Domain Name.

You will need a domain name (eg; mybandname.com or mybeats.com). You can go to a place likeGoDaddy.com to search for an available domain name that will represent you or your band, and costs 5-10 dollars to own for an entire year.

Web Hosting.

Once you have picked out your bands domain name, you will need to buy web hosting, which will be the place where you log into (typically via FTP) to upload your files for your websites design and content. Having good hosting is very critical, some places offer hosting for as little as 2 dollars a month, but you end up with slow support and a lot of downtime.

Over the years I have found that HostGator is by far the best place to host your website. They have hundreds of awesome features such as unlimited emails, unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth and MUCH more, their support team is very quick and will help you with any questions as well. I have included a price comparison of their hosting plans. You can find a full comparison of ALL features by clicking here.

What Do I Do Now?

Once you have selected your bands domain name and pointed it to your new web hosting account, you can start working on your website. Add as much or as little content and information as you want, even a basic website is better than none.

You have a ton of options as a producer of musician. You can showcase all of your work, add a shop for people to buy your beats and music, build a community and a stay connected with your fans, It’s up to you, you are no longer bound by any rules.

All-in-all, it isn’t as hard to get started as most people think. Technology has allowed us as people to put together great websites in as little as an hour, with no basic knowledge of design whatsoever, and the limitless benefits to having your own website are often overlooked. Are you ready to expose your work and talent to the world? I’d suggest that you create a band website today.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, Get at me right here on The Beat Jawn! Ramadan Mubarak! -AE