Beat Kangz of Comedy - epic fail?

[The Audacity Works]

Unfortunately, I didn't go to NAMM this year, but a lot of friends went, and they're equally amused. Here's what we know so far:

 

• The Beat Kangz were showing the Beat Thang at the Pintech booth. Pintech is a budget electronic drums company from South Carolina that (I believe) licenses mesh head tech from Roland, but sells them at a much lower cost. Their electronic drums aren't bad, but their drum brains, at least according to an ex-roommate of mine, sound like ass. Great customer service tho'.

 

• According to a friend in the Numark/Alesis/Akai booth checking out the APC40, the Beat Kang guys showed up with the Beat Thang around their neck. After striking up a conversation with an end user, they proceeded to insult the MPC and tout the Beat Thang as the "MPC Killa".

 

• According to a PM from an employee of Roland US who hangs out at Fantomized, the Beat Kangs showed up in the Roland booth at NAMM—allegedly right next door to Pintech—and were trying to push Beat Thang on people in the booth. They were kicked out not once, but twice. At one point, it was suggested that the NAMM guys could, and would disable power from the entire Pintech booth if the Beat Kangs entered the Roland booth again with the Beat Thang around their necks. No further disruptions took place.

 

• Therefore, the only company babbling about "haterz" is the one actively hating on other MI companies.

 

• The Beat Kangs designed sounds for a Zoom drum machine called the StreetBox (SB-246). Its samples are considered to be pretty good, although the whole machine is decidedly budget. It also has pads that light up along with the sequences, similar to the Beat Thang.

 

• The Beat Kangs claim they went to Akai with the Beat Thang but were turned away, only to have Akai not only steal a bunch of their ideas, but a collection of their sounds as well. I can only assume they're speaking of the Akai XR-20 drum machine, a budget box similar to the SB-246 that doesn't sample.

 

• The Beat Thang touts no load times, yet its memory is based on volatile RAM (256MB, half that of the MV-8800) and its storage on either USB or SD cards. Streaming uncompressed samples from SD cards results in a maximum polyphony of 4 to 6 mono notes, assuming a large enough RAM buffer is provided. The two SD slots would provide a maximum of 6 simultaneous stereo samples, hardly enough to produce proper tracks. Most likely, the "instant load time" claim references the built-in ROM sounds. As anyone knows, any budget drum machine or Casio keyboard has ROM sounds, and similarly, have "instant load times".

 

• The Beat Kangs have a video on their YouTube channel where they spend several minutes poking fun of an overweight woman on an LA street corner.

 

• One friend was told the Beat Thang would probably sell for $1500. Another was told $1000. A third was told "We don't know yet, but likely way less than $1000". On more than one occasion, a legitimate technical question was met with "hip hop guys don't care 'bout that".

 

• The Akai MPC was slagged incessantly in the Pintech booth.

 

• Yee941(2) claimed to not work for the Beat Kangs, yet knew intimate details of their NAMM booth as well as all members' schedules. He later admitted to being hired for his "guerilla marketing tactics". If awareness magically equated sales in MI, he succeeded.

 

• Allegedly, other forums have suggested the Beat Thang is a hoax, hence the insistence by Beat Kangz members that it is, indeed "real". Few, if any HC members have questioned its existence. Only its legitimacy.

 

• None of the Beat Kangz are embedded OS programmers, nor are they electrical engineers. Therefore, there is a group of engineers, product designers, managers, and investors who have willingly allowed the Beat Kangz to represent their incredibly hard work (and significant startup capital). They more than likely will read this thread—and not like it one bit. I feel extremely sorry for the people who've worked on that box, knowing that all their hard work will most likely result in anemic sales at best.

 

• No matter how cool the Beat Thang may end up being, very few people will buy one, because BKE, as a company, fosters a lack of faith in providing professional service, support, sales, or even distribution. Can you imagine the Beat Thang guys discussing margins, repair networks, stock adjustment, or dealer agreements with Guitar Center executives?

 

• Worst of all, the Beat Kangz' beats are marginal at best. They're not terrible for dirty south, but that's like saying waterboarding isn't a terrible way to be tortured.

[carbon111]

Nice recap, AW.

 

However, you forgot to mention how they claim Roger Linn stole the idea for the Linndrum2 from them, blue pads and all. Creepy.

[drxcm]

 

Unfortunately, I didn't go to NAMM this year, but a lot of friends went, and they're equally amused. Here's what we know so far: • The Beat Kangz were showing the Beat Thang at the Pintech booth. Pintech is a budget electronic drums company from South Carolina that (I believe) licenses mesh head tech from Roland, but sells them at a much lower cost. Their electronic drums aren't bad, but their drum brains, at least according to an ex-roommate of mine, sound like ass. Great customer service tho'. • According to a friend in the Numark/Alesis/Akai booth checking out the APC40, the Beat Kang guys showed up with the Beat Thang around their neck. After striking up a conversation with an end user, they proceeded to insult the MPC and tout the Beat Thang as the "MPC Killa". • According to a PM from an employee of Roland US who hangs out at Fantomized, the Beat Kangs showed up in the Roland booth at NAMM—allegedly right next door to Pintech—and were trying to push Beat Thang on people in the booth. They were kicked out not once, but twice . At one point, it was suggested that the NAMM guys could, and would disable power from the entire Pintech booth if the Beat Kangs entered the Roland booth again with the Beat Thang around their necks. No further disruptions took place. • Therefore, the only company babbling about "haterz" is the one actively hating on other MI companies.

 

 

Tossers.. Good products speak for themselves.

[kooki_sf]

• Allegedly, other forums have suggested the Beat Thang is a hoax, hence the insistence by Beat Kangz members that it is, indeed "real". Few, if any HC members have questioned its existence. Only its legitimacy.

 

 

 

my guess is its just another box for a roland sampler.

[ShakaCthulu]

Unfreakingbelievable.

 

 

Yeah, the Linn thing was pretty freaking hilarious. I don't know if that was unintentional comedy about the blue lights.....I have to believe it was intentional, because otherwise the House of Blues neon sign, blue light specials, etc are stealing his baby's formula. That's a lot of 187 to perpetrate.

 

I think these jokers are just being as outrageous as possible to get people riled up and talking about their product, and it seems to be working...now at page 15 on this thread?

[drxcm]

I think these jokers are just being as outrageous as possible to get people riled up and talking about their product, and it seems to be working...now at page 15 on this thread?

 

Could be, any publicity is good publicity, even if it makes you look like a turkey.

 

[xmlguy]

I'll add a few points of my own.

• Beat Kangz' claims AKAI stole their idea and beats with the XR20. The problem with that idea is that AKAI announced the XR20 at Winter NAMM 2008, and were shipping in late spring. The XR20 is a ROMpler beatbox. I bought one and returned it because it ONLY had hip hop/rap beats, which is less useful to me than an MPC that can use anything. The XR20 also has a crazy stupid mic input with no gain control and plugging anything into the mic input turns it into a NOISE monster. If AKAI stole their ideas and sounds, it had to be more than a year ago, while Beat Kangz have been incredibly slow to market with a real box.

• AKAI says where it gets its samples and loops for the XR20 from Chronic Music. Having listened to the XR20 as well as the Chronic Music demos of their sample library, I think AKAI is using these samples, not from Beat Kangz. Listen for yourself at ChronicMusic.com to the FreshMaker demo.

• I also noticed the vid with the Roland guys subtitled as corporate spies. Guess what, when you show stuff at a trade show, then other people see what you show, that's not spying: it's called observing. In this case, they were observing and taking notes. I would love to see those notes. I bet they say: (1) these BeatKangz guys are fools and nothing to worry about. (2) the sushi at NAMM sucks, we need to find a good sushi bar nearby the convention center.

• It appears that any product feature of another company that happens to be similar to what they chose makes them victims of corporate spying and thievery.

• On the video demo done in their hotel room, they say that the product they're showing is a prototype. The real one will have a 3.5 inch color LCD. In other words, they are still in the prototype stage. The "Pre-order now" appeal on their marketing info becomes more unethical, in that light, if they are selling a non-existant product, meaning a production model, not a prototype.

Let me be the first to predict that Beat Kangz will go out of business as soon as the venture capital funding runs out. The reason actually has little to do with their foolish behavior, although that may hasten the end. I don't think there's any room for a narrowly focused beatbox at or near $999, regardless of it's features. With the XR20 selling for around $250, it's a tough sell for anything above it. The XR20 sounds FANTASTIC, definitely pro quality sounds, beats, features, and dynamic range. It rocks for this music. If AKAI came out with the same hardware with a more well rounded ROM, there is no question that I would buy it. I don't see why any brokeass producer would need or want anything more to make beats, and the MPCs dominated the category like XEROX dominated copying.

When I occasionally go to Sam Ash, I see lots of kids asking about MPCs, and they don't mean Akai MPCs, they mean anything with buttons and a sequencer that they can use to make beats. How you gonna sell a $1,000+ Beat Thang to them? You aren't. I show them the XR20 and what it can do, and they like it. More important is that they can afford it. If you want a Beat Thang, buy an XR20. Just don't plan on getting any use out of the mic input. Buy a mini mixer for that.

And finally, recessions are a terrible time to introduce a new, expensive, non-essential, music industry related product of any kind, much less for a narrow slice of the market. They have a whack business model in a whack economy.

• AudacityWorks, I stole your use of the • because • I • am • spying • on • you. You comment about waterboarding was hilarious. I tried to steal it but it was too good. I have to live with just merely wishing I had thought of it first.

[Space Peeps]

any publicity is good publicity, even if it makes you look like a turkey.

 

 

i think this is true when you're talking about people.

 

i could be completely mistaken, but i think that assertion is wrong when it comes to products. yes, more people will be aware of the product, but the brand itself can become tarnished. my understanding is that you want to build integrity when you're building a brand. you have to make people aware of your brand and then you have to get them to buy your brand. if the brand is tarnished, it's more difficult to get people to buy it.

 

perhaps it works along the same lines as that saying, 'if you throw enough mud, some of it will stick'. i'm sure that they're likely to get some sales from their approach but i'm willing to bet they'll lose more sales than they make. that's how i see it. i know that they lost their chance to make a customer out of me.

[soundwave106]

When I occasionally go to Sam Ash, I see lots of kids asking about MPCs, and they don't mean Akai MPCs, they mean anything with buttons and a sequencer that they can use to make beats. How you gonna sell a $1,000+ Beat Thang to them? You aren't. I show them the XR20 and what it can do, and they like it.

 

True. And this is also what the Zoom SB 246 can do. The best hope of the Beat Kangz (IMHO) was to fill in a niche: a low-cost, simple, battery-operated beat box that *also* can sample, the next step after the preset battery-only beat boxes. Akai has the MPC-500 but I haven't heard good reviews of this box (plus there is room for presets; I don't think the MPC-500 has any). The Roland SP machines have limited sequencing. So there's room for taking the Zoom box, adding some limited sampling ability, and making a nice affordable intro beat box... which has both presets to get you started and some sampling to throw in your own beats.

 

Beat Kangz is *killing* themselves right now. Acting all cocky on the Internetz is one thing, but you don't take your guerilla hip hop campaign to a *trade show*. That story in itself just made me go .

 

Although I'm speculating, I'd be willing to bet that many retailers at NAMM heard about the Beat Kangz shenanigans. That's going to kill *way* more business than any Internet threads. I'm wondering if any store will even consider the Beat Kangz at this point.

[wetwareinterface]

By not having any rom or sample capabilities, it'll drop the price significantly and allow people to have the sequencing capabilities of the BT for a fraction of the cost. Some people may not like the internal sounds but like the sequencing. Pretty simple idea really.

but these retards won't earn any cash from said device, as it will lack their only contribution to the product their lame sample set. it would then be nothing but the remainder of the company that's building this for them's work and sold by said company directly.

also you don't have filters
don't have lfos
probably no envelopes either.
that must be what the "easier" to use portion is based off of, nothing here to confuse some ass clown who's so smoked out on blunts he can't even find a power outlet let alone program a drum machine. it's just straight samples and not even good quality ones either, just 44.1 16 bit. and those "pro studios" they recorded all those great sounds in were probably the front living room of their grandma's house in tampa bay where their cousin tanisha came over and played her loaner school violin for the strings.

[tjwett]

i honestly don't even think AKAI, Roland, Korg etc are their real competition. for one thing, you have to be in the store and on the shelves to be competing. i don't see that happening. getting major MI chain distribution worldwide is way expensive and way difficult. we're talking mass production here. that's a much bigger deal than people think. i don't think any of the big 3 are sweating this thing at all, probably having a good laugh with everyone else.

 

the Thang is going to be a beginner's box, no way around that. it's going to be lacking too many essential features. ya know, the ones that they said "don't matter to hip hop makers". but it will have the chain swinging, the custom grillz, the ridiculous name and the light show and that will indeed attract beginners to it. right now beginners making beats are not buying MPCs, kids don't have any money. they are using software. problem is, they aren't buying that either. the primary tool of choice for kids making beats on youtube etc is a cracked copy of Reason or FL Studio. and maybe if they get serious they eventually buy some MIDI pads as a controller. that's about it. again, kids with no money choosing between stealing software or actually buying something. the odds are not good, but that will be their true competition at some point, potentially.

 

i think if the Kangz switched gears, just very slightly, they could make a lot of money in the beginner/toy market. halt development on the OS down to a basic sequencer, which is where i think it probably is at this point anyway. drop the USB, RAM and compact flash and just include the 3000 presets and a basic sequencer. they could keep the price really low and get this thing on the shelves in Target and probably Toys R' Us way, way easier than Guitar Center or Sam Ash. there are a million toy/electronics companies in China that already have worldwide distro and would happily take on a trendy box like that. hell even Yamaha have a line of instruments that you can only buy at toy stores.

 

i'm totally not trying to diss with this. i think with the name, looks and very direct marketing they already have put in place that this is a much better market for them to be in. even their video makes a cool kids toy commercial. kids would eat this thing up! the only real change they need to make is drop the foul language to appease parents and this thing could be showing up under christmas trees by next year.

[zoink]

And finally, recessions are a terrible time to introduce a new, expensive, non-essential, music industry related product of any kind, much less for a narrow slice of the market. They have a whack business model in a whack economy.

 

 

Yeah, but it's got custom grillz! Custom grillz I said!

[arctic88]

It looks like a Fusion and an ASR-X had a baby and put lights on it.

[The Audacity Works]

 

but these retards won't earn any cash from said device, as it will lack their only contribution to the product their lame sample set.

Unfortunately, the Beat Kangz were probably paid upfront. It takes serious capital to build a hardware MI device. Development and manufacturing for two prototypes of my first box (which should sell for $399) may end up costing $600,000. The business infrastucture, scalable audio/MIDI engine, and tech licensing pushed that up quite a bit, but still. These guys probably got paid.

 

And whoever paid these guys have to be pretty worried right now. If I were the BKE investors, I'd:

 

1. Demand the Beat Kang guys immediately stop their insipid, self-defeating "guerilla marketing" campaign. Keep them from the public for the time being. This needs to blow over, and quick.

 

2. Instead, have them focus on sound design. Content is key here. The Beat Thang needs hundreds of extra kits available online, or better still, a simple .MVO-style kit import facility with an online community where users can easily share custom kits. It's VERY important to make sure users understand that BKE is not responsible for any copyright violations, because shared kits will undoubtedly result in illegal samples being distributed through their website.

 

3. Stay low for a few months while these threads disappear and people start to forget what douchebags these guys are.

 

4. Hire a proper PR person and separate product manager, preferably one with extensive MI, product design, and sales experience. ALL written communication with the media or public at large (and this includes online forums as well as your own e-mail-based tech support) MUST be done by these two people, NOT the Beat Kangz. There's a reason MI companies designate specific people to act as liaisons.

 

5. Slowly build an attractive, cool, inviting website with no written ebonics, complete with plenty of technical data, walkthroughs, and non-shaky videos that focus on the product, not the content providers. In fact, don't have them in the videos at all, as least for now.

 

6. Tell the Beat Kangz to stop cussing. Most of us aren't offended by "motha{censored}a" this and "spoutin' {censored}" that, but you automatically alienate both the Christian (gospel, R&B) market and a large number of parents who might otherwise buy the Beat Thang for their kid. It's pathetic that I even need to type this one out.

 

7. For trade shows, the Beat Kangz certainly add some sort of street cred (even though their weird promo video screams Will Smith meets Bad-era Michael Jackson), but it's IMPERATIVE they be kept on a short leash. If you have to rewrite their contract to avoid future PR disasters, do so.

 

8. Consider adding other types of sounds to the Beat Thang. Making it exclusively for hip hop really limits its commercial viability. You may be missing out on 50-70% of your potential market.

[ElectricPuppy]

Development and manufacturing for two prototypes of my first box

Oooooh, details, please!

 

 

 

videos that focus on the product , not the content providers.

THIS. I don't know these guys, so I don't really care about their antics or that they're BEAT KANGZ or any of that crap. I want to know about the product.

[tjwett]

 

Oooooh, details, please! THIS. I don't know these guys, so I don't really care about their antics or that they're BEAT KANGZ or any of that crap. I want to know about the product.

 

 

ha, what product?

 

product |ˈprädəkt|

noun

1 an article or substance that is manufactured or refined for sale

 

a prototype and a piece of plastic injection moulding does not equal product.

[Delicious Lamprey Problem]

Here's a puzzle. Their PR guy* has a Bachelor of Science, Recording Industry Management (Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN). You'd think there would be more evidence of a possessing a clue.

* It's amazing what one can find out with a little searching, isn't it?

[tjwett]

AudacityWorks: i'm sitting here reading through your points and while totally poignant and relevant, after each one i'm going "well yeah, obviously". that's the best part of the whole thing. this is like high school business 101 stuff. and they've done every single thing that should be totally obvious, totally wrong. i love it. that, combined with DLP's little discovery makes me think again about whether this is just some really weird social studies experiment and there is nothing real about it at all. i mean, it all just boggles the mind.

[setAI]

how can you guys still be hung up on the Beat Thang marketing?

 

 

for godsake!

 

 

you know- you guys do realize that we 30-50 year old sound designers and gigging musicians are a minority- for every one of us there are 100 teenage boffin hip-hop/dance wannabes who will probably buy this thing even if it is overpriced crap- simply because it is aimed at hip hop kids

 

and if they did a normal ad campaign - no one would be talking about them at all-

 

some of you actually think the marketing will hurt them because a couple of old white prog rockers on KSS think they suck and won't buy from them?

most of the kids who would lurk in this forum to check out gear info will just think the locals are typical rockers who don't get hip hop and only care that the 'thang looks like classic knight rider so must be for the hardcore-

 

personally- I think I will stick to my plan on picking up a used sp-555 -

[xmlguy]

Here's a puzzle. Their PR guy* has a Bachelor of Science, Recording Industry Management (Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN). You'd think there would be more evidence of a possessing a clue.

 

 

They all have zero gangsta street cred. They're posing. They're middle class. He appears to be an articulate, talented, funk musician and vocalist. But that doesn't play in the rap world. It's a complete sell out to pose gangsta just to sell a product. His roots are rock and funk.

[AfroRouge]

how can you guys still be hung up on the Beat Thang marketing?

It's because the marketing angle they're taking fails with this group, which isn't as monolithic as you paint it as anyway, and you know that.

They might sell some to kids if they meet a competitive price point, sub $300. Those kids probably won't see much of this discussion anyway.

And the best part is, those kids will eventually tire of the Beat Thang and want something more powerful. And guess what they'll buy? An Akai.

[The Audacity Works]

Oooooh, details, please!

U motha{censored}as don' even KNOW. It's gonna be tha {censored}. Digidesign and Apple and M-Audio and MOTU and Roland and Korg and Yamaha and Tascam be shakin' in they kicks when I be rollin' up with this thang! They gonna be spyin' and hatin' and try'n to jack my {censored}, ya dig? So I gotz ta' keep it on tha downlow, dawg.

 

Aw yeah, bitchaz. Keep a lookout in 2019.

 

/not a drum machine

//taking forever

///love you guys and all the above MI companies!

[Acid Hazard]

They all have zero gangsta street cred. They're posing. They're middle class. He appears to be an articulate, talented, funk musician and vocalist. But that doesn't play in the rap world. It's a complete sell out to pose gangsta just to sell a product. His roots are rock and funk.

 

 

I can't believe that one of their dad's (who is an ex-Marvin Gaye guitarist) would even think to think this is OK antics. But maybe he's as egotistical as they are, as he seems to keep on about how many people he's worked with.

[ChristianRock]

I can't believe that one of their dad's (who is an ex-Marvin Gaye guitarist) would even think to think this is OK antics. But maybe he's as egotistical as they are, as he seems to keep on about how many people he's worked with.

 

 

Maybe he was brought in and didn't find out what was going on until he was already there.

[cram1960]

how can you guys still be hung up on the Beat Thang marketing? for godsake! you know- you guys do realize that we 30-50 year old sound designers and gigging musicians are a minority- for every one of us there are 100 teenage boffin hip-hop/dance wannabes who will probably buy this thing even if it is overpriced crap- simply because it is aimed at hip hop kids and if they did a normal ad campaign - no one would be talking about them at all- some of you actually think the marketing will hurt them because a couple of old white prog rockers on KSS think they suck and won't buy from them? most of the kids who would lurk in this forum to check out gear info will just think the locals are typical rockers who don't get hip hop and only care that the 'thang looks like classic knight rider so must be for the hardcore- personally- I think I will stick to my plan on picking up a used sp-555 -

 

 

 

Go read the reactions at the futureproducers forum (which is populated by a lot of hip-hop heads.)..same as here. Don't stereotype "them" either. They're not as monolithic as we aren't here either .