Denver Celebrates Mandela Day With Reggae And Poetry

Rockers Movement has partnered with Inity Weekly to unite Denver’s diverse communities in the spirit of service and as a plea to “increase the peace” at this year’s Nelson Mandela Day celebration. The event will be held on Friday, July 17th at 7 p.m. at Casselman’s Bar & Venue in Denver.

The Mandela Day celebration will feature Virgin Islands reggae band, The Akae Beka, with Vaughn Benjamin of Midnite.

 

 

They will be supported by The Reminders, the dynamic Colorado based conscious hip-hop act recently featured in the Denver Post, and DJ Milky Dubz.

All acts are known to instill positive and intelligent lyrics into their music, and their contribution to this event will surely catalyze a spirit of positive activism.

 

 

It will be The Akae Beka’s first show since what Vaughn Benjamin described as a “life changing last few months” after postponing a tour earlier this year with Midnite.

He says that life changes, convictions, and revelations compelled their new name The Akae Beka, and believes that Denver’s Mandela Day celebration is the perfect platform to debut the new moniker, which falls right in line with their aspirations to educate and encourage activism.

The night will also feature a poetry segment, as well as a live art painting demonstration, all in honor of the fight for justice and the spirit of service that Nelson Mandela committed to others.

Mandela International Day was launched in recognition of Nelson Mandela’s birthday on July 18, 2009 by a unanimous decision of the U.N. General Assembly. It was inspired by a call Nelson Mandela made one year earlier, for the next generation to take on the leadership role in addressing the world’s social injustices.

In its first year, the Mandela Day celebration in Denver received a great deal of positive press coverage. Rockers Movement and Inity Weekly received accolades for taking Denver’s thriving live music scene and adding to it a beautifully executed campaign before, during, and after the event that promoted a spirit of service and community.

Now more than ever, it’s crucial to instill a sense of hope and to encourage leadership that will effectively stamp out injustices.

Rockers Movement and Inity Weekly joined forces in 2014, as their ideals for positive change were in line by utilizing the arts as a tool to unite the people.

They are proud to be a part of the Denver community and are grateful for the support received at the 2014 Mandela Day celebration.

They are looking forward to growing the event every year, and more important, increasing the impact the event has on the community.

 

MANDELA Day in Denver

 

 

Advance tickets for the celebration are currently on sale, and can be purchased online at Casselmans.com. General admission tickets are $25. Ticket prices are subject to change and cost more at the door on the day of the event.

For more information about Nelson Mandela Day and Inity Weekly visit www.inityweekly.com or our partner Rockers Movement at www.rockersmovement.com.

 

 

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11 Resources That Every Musician Should Be Using (2020)

11/23/2020 – We’ve learned about a lot of cool new tools So we’ll be adding those shortly. Post in the comments so you’ll receive an update.

Everyone out there who makes music knows “the struggle”. The daunting and unforgiving task of making a name for yourself in the music world. On your road to fame, two things will make your journey that less arduous: one, being organized, and two, being resourceful. In our opinion, the later of the two, along with your raw talent, will ultimately determine your growth factor.

So, in an attempt to make your job a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of resources (that you could start using today) which we truly believe can be instrumental in helping you achieve success.

If you have a suggestion you think should be added to this list, please leave a comment down below and if we add it, we’ll send you a $10 iTunes gift card as a thank you for your contribution.

Enjoy!

1. Buffer

buffer

Website: buffer.com

Cost: FREE (for basic features)

Why you should use it:  With so many social media accounts available today, it’s hard to stay on top of them all. Using buffer will allow you to schedule automatic posts to your Facebook fan page, Twitter, Google plus, and now Pinterest account too. You can customize different post times for different accounts. It really comes in handy if you don’t have a dedicated social media manager.

2. Next Big Sound

nextbigsound

Website: www.nextbigsound.com

Cost: FREE (for basic features)

Why you should use it: Ummm, because Pandora just bought it or to put it simpler, Next big sound allows you to track your growth across multiple platforms, including, soundcloud, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia.

3. NoiseTrade

noisetrade

Website: noisetrade.com

Cost: FREE

Why you should use it: Noise trade allows you to release your music without requiring people to pay for it. What makes it different from other music hosting platforms (band camp) is that it gives people the option to leave you a tip in an aesthetically pleasing manner. And trust us, a lot of people do! One more thing, you’re still able to collect an email in exchange for a download regardless of whether your fans leave you a tip or not.

4. WIX

wix

Website: www.wix.com

Cost: FREE (for basic features)

Why you should use it: Wix.com allows anyone to create a free website. Businesses and artists miss out on potential fans when they don’t have a dedicated place for people to find out all they want to about them. Keep in mind that a Facebook page is NOT a website. With Wix you can send people to one single place to hear your music, watch your videos, subscribe to your newsletter, find your social media accounts and see when your next show is.

5. MailChimp

mailchimp

Website: mailchimp.com

Cost: FREE (up to 2,000 subscribers)

Why you should use it: Relying solely on social media to reach your fans is a pretty bleak marketing strategy. Every artist NEEDS a mailing list by which they can reach their fans directly. You provide the emails and Mail chimp provides the convenience of messaging them.

6. AUDIAM

audiam

Website: www.audiam.com

Cost: FREE (25% administrative fee if it gets you additional money from other people using your music on YouTube.)

Why you should use it: How many home videos or even “professional youtubber” videos have you seen that have a song playing in the background? Chances are they just put that song in their video without acquiring a sync license let alone permission. If that was your song being used, Audiam would automatically find it and place ads in that video which the revenue generated from it would go to you. It’s free to use and Audiam only takes a small cut when they collect money on your behalf. Side-note: The guy you created TuneCore is the same guy who created Audiam.

7. Dropbox

dropbox

Website: www.dropbox.com

Cost: FREE (up to 2gb)

Why you should use it: In the music business being organized can save you a lot of time and frustration. Enter Dropbox – It’s the one place you can store press photos, press kits, MP3s, show flyers, and any other essential material you could possibly need to send someone while you’re on the go. They have an app for every platform, so if you add a file via one, they’ll all update at once.

8. Eyedea Worx

eyedeaworx

Website: www.eyedeaworx.com

Cost: Prices Vary

Why you should use it: Image is everything in this business. Eyedea Worx is your one-stop-shop for quality CD printing & duplication, album cover printing as well as all your marketing paraphernalia like key chains, lanyards, thumb drives, t-shirts and more through their off shoot NotionWorx.com.

9. Sound Exchange

soundexchange

Website: www.soundexchange.com

Cost: FREE

Why you should use it: With rise of streaming music services like Pandora and Spotify, it’s essential you sign up for sound exchange as your music could be playing across one of these platforms and you not even know it, but what’s worse is that you could be getting paid for the streaming of your music and not even know it. While ASACAP and BMI collect payments from terrestrial radio, Sound Exchange is a performing rights organization with the sole purpose of collecting royalty payments from streaming music services. It’s a different realm, with a different payment structure.

10. Legal Zoom

legalzoom

Website: www.legalzoom.com

Cost: $10 – $30 per document

Why you should use it: By now you’ve either heard the rumors or experienced it for yourself – there are some shady people in music industry. Handshake deals and trusting some of these people to do the right thing might be the wrong mindset to have. Legal zoom gives you the means to protect your interests through the means of standard legal agreements and contracts. Most of which are less than $20. It’s important to put everything in writing so all parties will know what’s expected and what will be expected should someone not hold their end of the deal.

11. PledgeMusic

pledgemusic

Website: www.pledgemusic.com

Cost: 15% commission on each pledge

Why you should use it: Releasing a quality project can get pretty expensive, especially if you make no comprise when it comes to quality. Pledge Music can help you raise the funds to finance your next project by leveraging your loyal fan-base. It’s like kickstarter but for people who make music.

12. Suggestions???

If you found this article helpful, please share it with your music buddies so they can benefit too!

Denver Post Article Infuriates Denver’s Hip-Hop Community

On Wednesday May 13, 2015, the Denver Post published an article on their website claiming that the death of a Denver rapper by the name of KL Tha General is the reason for all the recent gang violence the city has experienced since the beginning of the new year.

Written by veteran blogger Kirk Mitchell, the article attempts to tie Kevie Durham’s battle-rap lyrics to real life scenarios in what many are calling The Denver Post’s last ditched effort to tarnish the defenseless rapper’s name in order to gain viewership.

The headline, “Rapper whose murder triggered Denver gang war should’ve been in prison” incited anger among Denver’s hip-hop community as those who knew him allege his juvenile past is irrelevant and that the article falls short in regards to proving a viable connection between Durham’s death and the numerous shootings that have been occurring around the city. Only capable of citing Police Chief Robert White’s acknowledgments

“Denver Police Chief Robert White recently acknowledged that a gang war in which up to a dozen members from four street gangs have been murdered has its origin in Durham’s death.”

…Mitchel continues on to make the case that if Durham were extradited to North Carolina instead of being released to a halfway-house back in 2012, he would have been found guilty and locked away in prison, thus would have not been attending the venue the night he was killed in 2014 and thus Denver would not be experiencing a gang-war at the moment.

Many well-known figures in Denver’s music community are denouncing the Denver Post article and calling it a bias unfounded judgement of Durham’s character and a dismal attempt at placing the weight of Denver’s gang problems on one person.

Kirk Mitchell did not return phone calls to answer questions regarding his article. However, sources close to KL Tha General confirm that Mitchell will be writing a follow-up piece to this article which will contain the specifics on the connection between Durham and a few of the more recent shooting victims.

 

 

You can read the entire Denver Post article here:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28104235/rapper-whose-murder-triggered-denver-gang-war-shouldve

Photo credit: David Shankbone

Featured EP: DeColo – “Breakfast For Dinner”

With this being our first time hearing a project from DeColo, we must say we are pretty impressed. “Breakfast For Dinner” is DeColo’s first solo EP and it serves as a testament to his versatility and creativity as an artist.

Not only does he showcase an exceptional repertoire of punchlines, he also takes prime opportunity to demonstrate his developing singing ability, which is pretty impressive in itself.

Overall, “Breakfast For Dinner” is a brilliant introduction to the Colorado music scene for the simple fact that DeColo manages to use his artistry to tell a story most of us can relate to in one way or another.

If you trust our opinion, scroll down and hit play. You won’t be disappointed! This is #mileHImusic

 

Favorite Tracks: Mila (Feat. A Meazy), The Fire (Feat. Damien The Architect)

 

More info: watchdecolo.com

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