There is that final scene in Martin Scorsese's Casino, where an all-but-blind Robert DeNiro has walked away from his casino empire to become what he was in the beginning: a gambler. Perhaps there is a parallel there in the career of Jonathan Shecter.

Shecter was one of the founders of The Source magazine, the "Bible of Hip Hop," and he was instrumental in getting the magazine from dorm-room periodical to something that was carried at 7-Eleven, and back then, every significant record store chain. By 1995, when the purists say the music soured, Shecter left the empire, presumably with plenty of chips to cash in.

In the years since, Jon has launched numerous companies, many in the online space. Among them, Game Recordings, a single-specializing label that was instrumental in the careers of Royce Da 5'9" as well as Purple City's Agallah, in addition to Hip Hop Honeys, a DVD series that mixed softcore pornography with a Hip Hop edge. Today, he helps deejays including AM and Mark Ronson earn top dollar with Las Vegas gigs.

Today though, the '88er is a self-taught poker fanatic. As HipHopDX revisits some instrumental people in the Hip Hop publishing industry, Jonathan Shecter says that no matter what the hustle is, you've got to gamble smart.

HipHopDX: You started your career in traditional publishing with the Source magazine in 1988. The publishing game has had to change with the start of the Internet. How do you see the traditional publishing game going in the future? Will only a handful of magazines be able to exist?
Jonathan Shecter: You know it’s interesting… In the early, heady days of the Internet, every commentator was predicting the fall of printed media. What’s funny is that many of the websites that were supposed to kill magazines ended up collapsing themselves, or changing business models (particularly in the music arena), while most of the major magazines have continued to publish.

So declaring the death of magazines may be premature. That said, I think it’s clear the web is a better vehicle for advertising, and thus it will continue to supplant printed media. A glance at any newspaper company’s stock chart will show that pessimism is certainly the consensus of the market. The advertising support for magazines is declining, but I think magazines will continue to be a valid business for at least 10 years—especially for titles that have a robust web presence as well.

I do most of my reading online, although I still appreciate a good magazine with well-written articles and great artwork. Not much in the music space has been holding my attention lately, but I do love the new Conde Nast Portfolio—a very high end business/money magazine. I think it’s clear XXL rules the Hip Hop space. The Source never really established itself online, but don’t blame me, ‘cause I left in 1995 before the Internet boom…

DX: Do you have any regrets not getting into the .com space either as a content provider or as a business investment?
JS: Well that’s not actually true. I have invested in and helped start a number of websites over the years. But I certainly could have done more to capitalize on the momentum of content moving online. At the moment, my company maintains a number of websites, and we’ve actually had success for many years making money online (especially in the “sexy” space). Our sites include: www.HipHopHoneys.com, homebase of the Hip Hop Honeys DVD series, www.MoneyForHoneys.com, an affiliate site, we offer 50/50 revenue share, www.UrbanDVDClub.com, great deals on the top titles in urban/Hip Hop DVD
www.hiphopsite.com/product/listByLabel/name/game, we are close partners with the long-standing HipHopSite.com, on this page you can download the entire Game Recordings music catalogue, www.KeithFromUpDaBlock.com, singer, rapper, comedian… Keith From Up Da Block is a one-man entertainment machine-- the funniest parody artist since Weird Al, check him out.

DX: When we spoke a couple of months ago you described the deejay hustle in Las Vegas as the deejay/club scene on hyperdrive. Like the dot com era. What factors play into that? Is it because people don't worry about $ when their partying in Vegas?
JS: It’s amazing out here in Vegas, and the nightclub scene is a big factor. The clubs here are thriving, mega-successful businesses, mostly located inside huge, luxurious casinos. In many cases, the clubs are partners with the casino and they have a mutual stake in driving as much traffic as possible into their venues. The stakes are very high and the clubs compete with each other to draw the best deejay talent, artists, celebrities, events, etc.

As a result, Las Vegas is definitely the deejay capital of the world, bar none. No other city treats deejays as well in terms of money, in terms of marketing support, in terms of business in general. I’ve been lucky to be the Vegas rep for top deejays like DJ AM, Mark Ronson and Stretch Armstrong, so we’ve been on the cutting edge of the deejay business here. DJ AM in particular is at the top of the food chain, and his current residency at Pure (Caesar's) and LAX (Luxor) is one of the most lucrative deejay deals ever negotiated. But every weekend, there’s big name artists performing up and down the Strip, popular but cheesy Hollywood celebs hosting parties, and deejays from around the world spinning. Continued on page 2 »