A Rock The Bells Fail: Grassroots Hip Hop Must Support Local Hip Hop Media (EDITORIAL)

UPDATE: Though it took a while, Rock The Bells has reached out in response to this editorial and the issues we faced in our attempts to cover them in the past. I appreciate that they did so. We spoke, and the communication was very favorable. Stay tuned for a thorough follow-up.

Last year, our organization requested media access to the New Jersey leg of the Rock The Bells festival.

The experience was not pleasant. 

I believe it is insulting and shows a callous lack of concern when so-called grassroots organizations, who have built giant hip hop operations on the backs of fans, eager participants and media, turn their backs on that same support network.

The following are the exact words from an email sent to Guerilla Union and Rock The Bells, including RTB founder Chang Weisberg on September 4, 2012.

I never received a response. 

Now, after the announcement of the 2013 lineup, I am convinced that in many ways, the Rock The Bells ideal has become corrupted, and no longer represents the mindset it once did,  of an independent-minded organization with a dedication to the advancement of hip hop music and culture.

It is unfortunate. For these reasons, we will not be requesting media access this year, nor publicizing the festival. Probably won’t mean much to them, but it means a lot to us. 

(Difference is, we’re principled.)

For those interested, I am reprinting the letter I sent last year. Feedback is welcome.

On Tuesday, August 21 [2012], Jonathan Yost, publicist at Guerilla Union, promised me, for the second time, that our publication would soon be informed as to the status of our repeated requests to cover the New Jersey leg of the travelling festival.

“Sorry about that!” the response to my email read. “Things have been crazy with our California dates. We are shooting to have the press list finalized on Friday, with confirmations going out no later than Monday. –Yost”

This was after a July 27 inquiry as to the status of said request, which prompted the following response, on July 28:

“We will be sending out more info in the coming week, but we did get your application! –Yost”

After not receiving “more info” in July, and not receiving any word of confirmations as promised in August, I wrote one final plea to the Guerilla Union staff on August 28th:

I have just submitted my weekly prerecorded segment of The NY Hip Hop Report to “The Show” a bi-weekly music and news program that airs on New York City’s WBAI-FM. In it, I have once again mentioned the Rock The Bells NJ event in a positive light. This will now mark the third outlet where we have done so (BirthplaceMag.com, The NY Hip Hop Report weekly radio show and now a segment on WBAI), all reaching a relevant, engaged audience.

However, I have yet to receive the response regarding our inclusion to actually cover the festival, now promised on several occasions.

I am continuing to inquire, mainly so that I can be fair to our mostly volunteer staff, to be able to tell them whether or not they should make themselves available to cover or to cover those who will be covering.

Please let us know the status of our repeated inquiries as soon as possible.

Thanks.

-M

The response to this?

Silence.

I understand that Rock The Bells is, as other festivals are, giant logistical clusterfucks to organize and produce, and in an age of everybody-and-their-mother-having-a-blog, it’s increasingly difficult to determine who is actually worthy of coverage.

Of course, our publication has been granted press access to South By Southwest. The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. CMJ. A3C. We regularly receive tens of thousands of highly engaged New York-area hip hop loving visitors to our website. We also have a weekly online radio program and a segment on a prominent NYC-area FM radio station. We were noted by the Columbia School of Journalism. We’re listed in the New York Times blogroll. Personally, I am an award-winning new media journalist and digital strategist. We’ve been around consistently for more than two years.

So yeah. We’re not just some ol’ blog.

I also understand that “confirmations going out Monday,” doesn’t necessarily mean, “we will also let you know if you were NOT selected”.

But it would have been nice.

I didn’t write and demand coverage like some arrogant, entitled prick. I asked for an answer because I have volunteers who donate their time, energy and occasionally money to our collective efforts and it is incredibly unfair to them for me to ask them to hold open a date to help cover a significant event, or cover those covering said event, without a confirmation.

We also had planned different angles with which we were going cover the event. It would have been different than coverage by other “approved” media sources (coverage, by the way, that more often than not is simply mediocre).

My communication with Guerilla Union was professional. I followed the instructions. We attended and publicized the New York press conference. We noted additional artist announcements. We spoke excitedly about the concert, utilizing all of our channels to help spread the word.

In return, we were pretty much shrugged off, pushed aside and eventually ignored, never receiving access to the event, or even the courtesy of a denial, despite the fact that we had given a fair amount of press.

I would love to know why.

It’s particularly upsetting after reading interviews with Chang Weisberg, and being inspired at how he personally sacrificed to pursue his vision, pouring his heart and soul into his vision, despite financial tribulations and the countless difficulties creating and maintaining something like this must invite, and succeeding, bringing together countless artists and fans for a yearly celebration of hip hop music.

It is with these kinds of entrepreneurs I often relate to, admiringly. After all, I birthed my publication and its ancillary entities by myself, bootstrapped it myself, despite having a demanding full time job, a wife, children and a handicapped dog.

Two years later, we’re still not drawing much revenue, and while this is in part by design, this entire enterprise is very much a labor of love for me and others involved. I can understand the desire to turn your love and respect for the music and culture into something respectful and significant, and usually receive kudos from organizations that recognize our professionalism and often complement our genuinely groundbreaking perspective.

Our reputation is strong. We’re not the biggest media entity, but we have integrity. We don’t receive the most page views, but our readers are engaged and loyal. We don’t cover everything, but we don’t peddle bullshit. We have built solid relationships with artists, DJs, producers, managers, venues and other media sources.

I would think that we would be considered by most to have “paid dues”. (See what I did there?)

In any event, I only hope that when we reach the pinnacles we are striving for, we will be granted the ability to recognize those who are worthy of our attention, and find ways to not ignore them when they seek to help us along, or support our efforts, even if we are so big that we might feel we really don’t need them.

I simply would have appreciated the same.

Congratulations on a historic event.