Album Sales Week Of 3/15/11 (Travis Barker, Action Bronson + SXSW & Industry News)

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It was a slow week for Hip Hop releases…especially for Planet Asia.

Travis Barker “Give The Drummer Some” – 28,513 (53% digital)  [read review]

Action Bronson “Dr. Lecter” – 224  (56% digital)

Planet Asia “The Bar Mitzvah” – 5  (100% digital)

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Austin, Texas was pure craziness last week during SXSW.  What is often described as “Indy Rock Spring Break” became a Hip Hop extravaganza with incredible shows being held every night.   It’s no secret that Odd Future ran the show.  It wasn’t a bad week for the high-school-age rap crew as they made their first appearance at MTVu’s Woody Awards and ended the week by being dubbed as “the future of Hip Hop” by Diddy following an impromptu performance by the rap game mogul.  I can’t exactly say that OFWGKTA’s shows went off without a hitch – technical issues led the group to leave Billboard’s showcase early (not before telling the crowd “f*ck Billboard”); at the Thrasher Showcase, Tyler The Creator broke a fans nose during an epic stage dive; and during their event-ending performance of “Sandwitches” on Sunday, Tyler was hit square in the eye by a projectile Mountain Dew bottle…that’s the cost of going hard.

iHipHop was on-hand at  for the Village Voice Media showcase, headlined by Wu-Tang ClanTrae The Truth sent the crowd into a frenzy as he performed for his home state earlier in the showcase.  The crowd was also hype for the female performers on the bill, as Erykah Badu surprised the audience by DJing for the Clan and Marz Lovejoy won the crowd over during her set, which was named one of the best of the week by The New York Times.

There were also several ‘secret performances,’ which seemed to spread quicker via Twitter than via word of mouth.  Among them was Kanye West’s concert at an abandoned power plant.  These secret shows weren’t very secret, making the Kanye show an absolute zoo to get into.  That’s besides the fact that the show was put on by VEVO and in order to gain admission you had to receive a text message confirmation.  There were quite a few technical error/capacity problems, making “f*ck vevo” a trending topic on Twitter that night.  Otherwise, the show was dope with Jay-Z, Mos Def, Big Sean, Kid Cudi and Pusha T all taking the stage that night.  213 was also in the house to celebrate the life of the late great Nate Dogg, who passed away unexpectedly last week.  With Snoop Dogg, Warren G and The Dogg Pound carrying the West Coast on their back, the crew performed several Nate Dogg classics, most of which they had collaborated on….it looks like Coachella and Bonnaroo need to step their game up

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Last week, I touched on how Google is readying their cloud-based music service.  Now it appears that Apple may get a jump start on the competition when they re-launch MobileMe for free in April.  The service will move everything from documents, photos, video, and music from your computer to your cell phone.  This means that Apple will have created a ‘music locker’ to retain songs purchased off iTunes, accessible from virtually anywhere.  If that isn’t enough, it looks like this could open a lane for Apple to finally offer iTunes as a monthly subscription service (they already do it with publications).  Early reports suggest Warner Music has already signed onto this.  Steve Jobs might need to fall back just a bit so he isn’t subpoenaed again for creating a digital music monopoly.