Domain name industry experts Monte Cahn, Jeff Neuman, and Scott Pruitt have teamed up with Digital Asset Monetary Network, Inc. (DigitalAMN), a Public Accelerator-Incubator, to reintroduce the generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) .HipHop with lower wholesale pricing and an end-user focused marketing strategy.
Dot Hip Hop, LLC purchased the rights from Uniregistry to become the registry operator of .HipHop in June of 2021 and received formal approval from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in March of 2022. With very little end-user marketing since the initial launch in 2014, combined with relatively high registration prices, the .HipHop gTLD has had minimal adoption by registrars and end-users. However, the hip-hop movement has continued to grow exponentially during that time, as most recently evidenced by the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent. Additionally, many of the world’s most successful companies advertised during the Super Bowl, including Pepsi, IBM, McDonald's, HP, Cheetos, Nike, State Farm, Sprite, Chrysler, Adidas, Chevrolet, and others used hip-hop themes in their advertising campaigns. According to Juice Rodriguez, recently quoted in AdWeek, “Hip-hop isn’t just a genre at this point, it’s the epicenter of culture. No matter what your interests are—whether it be in sneakers, gaming, NFTs or art—then music will naturally be intertwined. Brands should comfortably lean in, as the alignment in hip-hop is just an organic way to reach new worlds.”
Dot Hip Hop, LLC intends to leverage the ever-growing popularity of hip-hop while lowering the standard wholesale registration price by 80%, and aggressively marketing directly to potential end-users, which include DJs & MCs, songwriters & musicians, creative writers, digital artists & NFT creators, dance studios & dancers, recording studios, music labels, the fashion & apparel industry, promoters, events, marketing agencies, activists, fans, and more.
“Domain registries that have invested in marketing directly to end-users have been the most successful in the last few years,” said Scott Pruitt, CMO of Dot Hip Hop, LLC. “This simple strategy of end-user outreach and lower prices combined with the enormous growth of hip-hop as a worldwide cultural and economic force, make us extremely optimistic about the future of our company.”
Monte Cahn, Executive Managing Director of Dot Hip Hop, LLC, remarked, “I am more than excited and thrilled to be a part of Dot Hip Hop! Having a top-level domain like .HipHop will provide tens of millions of individuals, along with small to large corporations with online identity and digital branding solutions that meet the needs of the entire global hip-hop community. In addition, we intend to make the latest technologies available to complement .HipHop domains; including blockchain and ENS integration.”
Ajene Watson of DigitalAMN and Executive Managing Director of Dot Hip Hop, LLC, stated, “Notable American rapper Noreaga asked Grandmaster Caz on the Drink Champs podcast, did he ‘ever think hip-hop would make it this far.’ Caz responded, ‘No. But I always hoped that it would or could.’ Caz said that without even realizing that hip-hop would one day have its own extension; which would give him the ability to brand his identity online, using a domain name that represented him and the culture he helped give life to. That’s going to be the power of .HipHop. And as a child of the culture, I am humbled and look forward to working with this team to make our contribution to this incredibly impactful, global community, as we head into hip-hop’s 50th Anniversary.”
"We are excited to take our first step to bring .HipHop back to the hip-hop community," said Jeffrey Neuman, Chief Legal Officer and Partner of Dot Hip Hop, LLC. "By making .HipHop domain names more accessible at lower prices we hope to give a new voice to a cultural phenomena that allows many generations to express themselves in ways that no other music genre has ever allowed before."
For more information or to register a .HipHop domain, please visit https://get.hiphop
About Dot Hip Hop, LLC
Dot Hip Hop, LLC was founded in 2021 by Cahn Enterprises, Inc., Digital Asset Monetary Network, Inc. (OTCMKTS: DATI) and JJN Solutions for the purpose of serving as the domain name registry for the .HipHop top-level domain. Its mission is to give artists, musicians, athletes, entertainers, and the people of the culture, the ability to further brand their identity with domain names that fully represent and encapsulate who they are. Hip-hop is, and has always been, more than music. Hip-hop represents an eclectic culture, which has defined several generations around the world for nearly 50 years, and will continue to do so for many years to come.
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