All Points West Starts Tomorrow

Ok, ok, ok. I know some of you might be slum and slow to the punch so I have to throw this post up for you. All Points West is going down this weekend. Now, if you don't know, All Points West is a three day music festival thats going down in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ across the river from NYC.

This year acts performing include Chairlift, The Ting Tings, MGMT, and is headlined by the one and only Jay-Z who just took his Roc Nation imprint over to Sony for a distribution deal. Keep in mind that Mr. Carter always has some tricks up his sleeve for his shows and news just broke of an MGMT collaboration on his upcoming Blueprint 3 album. So who knows what could go down.

If you're still trying to find some tickets you can cross your fingers and hope they still have some available HERE. If you've already got your tickets then find me mingling out there!

-NorthwestNick@Sony

Roc Nation + Sony Music Entertainment

So there's been a lot of confusion lately about this whole Roc Nation and Sony Music distribution deal. Most of it is because many folks don't know exactly what Roc Nation is. So I'm here to break it down and educate and see if I can't help smooth it out.

Firstly, Roc Nation is headed by Ye's big bro, Jay-Z. It's his venture, under Live Nation, that allows for the funding of all Jay-Z's business deals under the Roc Nation umbrella.

Now what exactly does Roc Nation do? Well, the small staff essentially has their hand in in a little bit of everything. They manage such songwriters as James Fauntleroy ("No Air" "Love Sex Magic" "Take You Down") and Makeba Riddick ("Upgrade U" "Déjà Vu" "Get Me Bodied"). They co-manage rapper Wale and singer Melanie Fiona. And artists signed to Roc Nation include Jay-Z, J. Cole, and the Sugababes.

The relationship that Roc Nation holds with Sony Music Entertainment is a distribution deal. Sony will distribute albums released by Roc Nation artists. These new 360 Deals which Live Nation has been handing out are actually pretty interesting when you look at the ramifications they may hold for the future of the business.

For now, however, I hope this kind of cleared up the confusion that I know a lot of people had in regards to Mr. Carter and his new company. In the meantime, look at for Roc Nation/Sony albums in the coming months.

-NorthwestNick@Sony