Russell Simmons & Steve Rifkind Team Up To Launch All Def Music

Here’s the facts.  3 BIG names attached.

Steve Rifkind (Founder of Loud Records  and SRC

Russell Simmons (Founder of Def Jam)

Brian Robbins (veteran film and TV producer)

“How [Russell] built Def Jam and how I built Loud was through the streets and through grass-roots marketing,” said Rifkind according to LATimes.com. “Cut to 20 years later, we’re applying this same formula, this same blueprint, using YouTube as our street team, using YouTube as our A&R source, using YouTube as our branding machine.”

First artists on the new label are Asher Roth(who will be developing his own TV show?!) and Youtube rapper/actor/comedian Spoken Reasons (star of hit comedy The Heat).

Overheard at New Music Seminar (Via Hypebot)

Courtesy of Hypebot

The festivities got under way with a part.convert on Sunday night, and since then it’s been a constatnt stream of keynotes, panels and seminars.  Here are some of the most quatable quotes so far:

• Matt Harmon of Beggars Group: “An indie label looks for artists because they have real interest in music.”
• @bryancalhoun: “If you dont geo-target & personalize your lists, then you aren’t maximizing your direct to fan. You are just spamming via @sarahmary

• Bandzoogle CEO @DavidDufresne: “Musicians need mobile-friendly websites—not apps. “Email is the ultimate app.”
• @AudiophiliacMan: “If you really love the band you should BUY the album and if you buy the album it should be the best quality”
•  Kenny Gates @piasrecordings: “Streaming is replacing piracy.”
• Paul Campbell, CEO, #AmazingRadio: “We pay artists 100 x more than streaming for in-store performances.” (via @MosesAvalon) and “What we’re really interested in is having people lean forward while they are leaning back.”
• “”only 30 mil people in the US who pay for music on iTunes, only 100 mil in the world”  via @mostdefinitemax

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