HISTORY

     The iStandard Producer Showcase was started in New York City in March of 2005 by 2 young & budding entrepreneurs, Don Di Napoli of Prototype Entertainment & J Hatch of Inasirkl Music Group. Di Napoli had an idea to start an event where the Hip-Hop/R&B Producer/Pop Producer would be able to platform their music in front of personalities (label executives, established producers & artists, publishers, attorneys, etc.) that could potentially change their careers, but format it where there was more of an interaction between the panelist and producer, with verbal feedback & constructive criticism, as opposed to “beat battles” where it was all about “who could flip a certain sample” or “who could make a beat in a 30 seconds.” Since J Hatch was running some of the most successful Industry artist showcases in the city, Di Napoli contacted him as the obvious choice to partner with on this endeavor. They spent time mapping out each step, and formulated a plan that would live on for over 4 years, 12 major U.S. cities, over 1200 producers, and countless success stories later.

The iStandard Producer Showcase has been held monthly in New York City (formerly at The Remote Lounge and now at Don Hill’s) since March 16, 2005, and in Philadelphia (at Fluid Night Club) since April 4, 2006. The event is also a part of the Remix Hotel series (www.remixhotel.com) in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami & Las Vegas, plus as the main event of the One Stop Shop Producer’s Conference, held annually in Phoenix, AZ by Hip-Hop industry mogul and CEO of Money Management Group Sha Money XL.

In 2008, iStandard stepped it up a few more notches by securing the first iStandard showcase appearance in Chicago and at the A3C Hip Hop festival in Atlanta, and our first ever Beats on the Beach 3 Day Music Seminar in Miami FL.

In 2009, iStandard has already laid out the ground works on expanding to Boston, Toronto, Houston, and beyond, and is slated to coordinate our iStandard Producer Showcase at the 1st annual Bay Area Producer Conference and one of the largest and most prestigious entertainment conferences available, the ASCAP ‘I Create’ Expo in Los Angeles.

FORMAT

The format of the iStandard Producer Showcase is as such: 10 to 12 up-and-coming Hip-Hop/R&B/Pop Producers are chosen a month in advance via submitting tracks thru iStandardProducers.com, and once they are picked they are asked to prepare a CD of five tracks formatted at 1-minute each. Producers from all over the United States, as well as from areas like Germany, England, Croatia, Norway, Ghana, Italy, Canada, Poland, and more have participated in our events. As each producer steps onto the stage, they are asked by host J Hatch their producer name, influences, equipment they work with, and artists they would like to work with. From there, the DJ plays their CD in front of our Industry Judge Panel and a crowd of industry “movers & shakers”. Each panel member has a score sheet, rating producers 1-10 on Originality, Marketability, Usage of Elements (samples, live instruments, etc.), Fidelity, & Overall “Super-Producer” Potential. After each producer has gone, all of the scores are tallied up, and a winning producer is announced. The winning producer receives a prize package from our sponsors consisting of products and media exposure that will enhance their production repertoire and increase their awareness within the music industry. Some of our sponsors include Roland (www.rolandus.com), Ableton (www.ableton.com), IK Multimedia (www.ikmultimedia.com), ASCAP (www.ascap.com) Remix Magazine (www.remixmag.com) and more. Additionally, more than 40 producers have been issued licensing deals with MTV/Viacom, plus producers that have been in the show have worked on songs with artists such as 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Fabolous, Jill Scott, The Clipse, Joe, and more

Personalities such as Just Blaze (Producer for Jay-Z, Usher, Kanye West, etc.), Rockwilder (Producer for Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Pink, & more), Sha Money XL (CEO of Money Management Group- Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, Hi-Tek, etc.), Lenny Santiago (VP of A&R Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam), Conrad Dimanche (Senior VP of A&R Bad Boy Entertainment), Omar Grant (Creative Director of A&R at EMI Music Publishing), Stephen Pena (Entertainment Attorney for Scott Storch), and Kylee Swenson (editor-in-chief of Remix Magazine), are just some of the personalities that have judged our events (see below for other judges).

The iStandard Producer Showcase has been covered in such publications as XXL, Scratch Magazine, Remix Magazine, as well as endless websites, blogs, etc. 2009 looks to be an even bigger year, with expansion to other cities, increased media exposure, countless sponsorship opportunities, and success stories galore!

www.iStandardProducers.com

iStandardProducers.com is a revolutionary website launched by iStandard, Inc. in March of 2007, that is specifically geared towards assisting the Hip-Hop/R&B Producer in connecting with Executives and A&R’s at major and independent record labels, as well as creating endless networking opportunities that only the World Wide Web can provide. It is also the home of a calendar of all iStandard events, a spotlight for the winners of the iStandard Producer Showcases, and an information tool for its members and viewers. Since the inception of the iStandard Producer Showcase, so many inquiries have been received from producers all over the world, and some are not always able to attend or participate in our live events. This site caters to their needs of making those connections and truly makes iStandard a worldwide entity.

Each member of iStandardProducers.com has their own personal production page, where they can label each track to what artist they feel it would be appropriate for. The site features a unique search mechanism, where record labels, managers, attorneys, artists, and publishers can search for tracks by simply entering an artist’s name or the style of production they are looking for! Recently implemented was a monthly Opportunity Page, where members can submit their music directly from their hard drive to A&R’s of various projects from labels like G-Unit, Atlantic, Violator, Def Jam, and more. Plus, viable figures in the production world such as Zach Katz, Sha Money XL, Ken Lewis, Hi-Tek, Amadeus, Bob Celestin, & Ariel Borujow have been interviewed and offer advice and knowledge to the site’s viewers. Shady Records Senior Director of A&R Riggs Morales even went as far as calling iStandardProducers.com “The Future of Production Shopping”.

Even though iStandardProducers.com is a fairly new avenue of visibility for iStandard and the producers it is assisting in reaching their goals, it is already receiving 800,000 - 1,000,0000 hits per month (and escalating monthly) from all over the world!