Freekey Zeekey Promo & Live Online Press Conference

Freekey Zekey - Book Of Ezekial

I was going to give AllHipHop a hard time for some of the rather grand sounding claims in their latest press release regarding partnering with such entities as Amazon.com when they've actually simply joined Amazon's affiliate program and implemented their new aStore options.

But, hey, joining an affiliate program is a form of partnership and they've done a nice, straightforward integration of the aStore into their site that can be found under the top of the page tab marked estore.

And you, my friend, can do the same.

This strangely friendly tone from your resident industry watchdog is due to the announcement of a "live online video press conference" at AllHipHop for Freekey Zekey's new album Book of Ezekial.

Promo Video for Freekey Zekey's Book Of Ezekial

Though live press conferences have been held online for quite awhile, I haven't seen this on a hip hop site before [please correct me if wrong in comments with links if available] and it strikes me as a really smart move.

The conference will be held online at a promo domain, http://allhiphop.com/promo/freekey/, however, creating a separate section or stand alone site for such live promotional events focused on an entertainment niche like hip hop or a larger yet coherent niche like urban music could do quite well.

AllHipHop is in an especially good position to do this kind of thing because they're in New York, where so much hip hop promotion occurs, and they are well positioned as a leading source of hip hop news to the point that they've become a go to site to break news and to drop rumors.  But many other New York based operations could do the same thing.  And you don't just have to be in New York.  A strong regional focus or hip hop niche could be a powerful base for becoming the center for live online press conferences and other events if you handle it properly.

Seriously, if I was part of a bigger organization with the resources to create such a site, I'd be on the phone babbling like a maniac right now.  Instead, I'm just babbling at ProHipHop.

I hope to check out the live conference at 3:30.  If you check it out please add your comments below or drop a link with your online response in the comments.

Update:
Just watched the "press conference" which was actually more of an online meet and greet for the fans.  You know, this mislabeling and claiming history is a bad move but one that may not matter to fans at all.

The event started at 3:45 and ended at 4:05.  Despite starting late, I thought Freekey conducted himself quite well and put on a good show for his fans.  He rolled with some problems with a rough gracefulness and was pretty funny about it.

Interestingly enough, Freekey mentioned more than once that he wanted to be able to actually see the people sending questions and those comments, like everything he said, came across as genuine sentiments.  And I say that as someone who doesn't give Dipset a pass on anything.

Apparently it will be archived.  Video streaming was providing by Ustream.tv.  This was a good event for AllHipHop to organize even if it wasn't what they said it was.  I think they're definitely on to something.

By the way, if you were one of the 250 or so (not many people saw it live), I was the guy freestyling with Kalimania regarding purple bagels.  I also was one of the NC folks representing and the one who shouted out Raleighwood.  I also claimed to be Freekey and, later, Elliot Wilson to see if I'd get a response but nobody bit.  Basically, it was a madhouse in the comments section so I joined in cause I don't get to do that too often.

Eating purple dipset bagels on a short yellow bus!

Update 2:
TechCrunch has a timely post from Nick Gonzalez about Ustream.tv, the company providing the services for yesterday's Freekey Zekey live fan event.