lots of hatin' goin on from "artists" towards labels nowadays.
The same muthafuckaz that risk their own bread and food outta their family's mouths to help launch and further careers on what turns out to be skanless, selfish and koniving artists. I know there are labels out there that can identify with this. I mean for the longest time an artist is makin appearances here and there...but in reality aint doin shit... the label comes along and invests in that artist's name and likeness and all of a sudden releases the album that artist had been tellin people was "coming soon" forever. The artist's ego swells a lil bit and claims the area is on lock, but in actuality the album aint sellin much of anything. Sometimes the label loses chunks of money and if not business minded, can go under from the blow of a project that flopped. Does the artist care? naw. Does the artist understand what recoup means? naw. Does the artist believe the label owes them the equivalant of of 10,000 units sold even though the shit aint even sold 1000 copies which is far from recouping expenses? damn right. The artist then thinks because they soaked enough game from the LABEL that they can establish their own label and begin to call themselves CEOS when in fact they don't know the first thing about what a REAL CEO does as they talk about multiple releases and taking the game over but struggle to finish and release one let alone 25 in the course of 2,3, 5 years! Try... getting a tax ID #, getting a ficticious Business Statement, opening a DBA account, balancing the books, tracking, sales, consignments, promotional events, and the list goes on. Rappin' is the easy part. Yes it takes talent to do that part of it, but it takes just as much talent to sell the shit. It's that same mentality and lack of business sense and saavy that is continuing to plague the independent rap game. Recording the album is the easy part. Selling the album is a whole nother ballgame. I challenge the same people that sell less than copper and expect platinum royalties to TAKE THE MONEY OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET and spend it on their very own project and take it and sell it and see how much of that money they actually RECOUP after returns, consignments, bad debts, promo expenses, mastering, manufacturing costs etc. Then you can sit down with me over lunch and tell me how the game works and how your label ripped you off.... oh excuse me.. you own your own label ... is it possible to rip yourself off? nobody to blame and accuse but youself. take a long look in the mirror and say to yourself... am i really as hot as i think i am? or am i full of hot air? hmmmmm.
who am i to say this? i'm nobody... but i do have around 8 years invested in this rap shit from street and retail promotion to funding and executive producing albums. Learn about the game you claim to be takin over that way the chance of your ego gettin crushed and you bein extremely humbled is less of a burden to shoulder. Learn what expenses are and remember knowledge is key.
The same muthafuckaz that risk their own bread and food outta their family's mouths to help launch and further careers on what turns out to be skanless, selfish and koniving artists. I know there are labels out there that can identify with this. I mean for the longest time an artist is makin appearances here and there...but in reality aint doin shit... the label comes along and invests in that artist's name and likeness and all of a sudden releases the album that artist had been tellin people was "coming soon" forever. The artist's ego swells a lil bit and claims the area is on lock, but in actuality the album aint sellin much of anything. Sometimes the label loses chunks of money and if not business minded, can go under from the blow of a project that flopped. Does the artist care? naw. Does the artist understand what recoup means? naw. Does the artist believe the label owes them the equivalant of of 10,000 units sold even though the shit aint even sold 1000 copies which is far from recouping expenses? damn right. The artist then thinks because they soaked enough game from the LABEL that they can establish their own label and begin to call themselves CEOS when in fact they don't know the first thing about what a REAL CEO does as they talk about multiple releases and taking the game over but struggle to finish and release one let alone 25 in the course of 2,3, 5 years! Try... getting a tax ID #, getting a ficticious Business Statement, opening a DBA account, balancing the books, tracking, sales, consignments, promotional events, and the list goes on. Rappin' is the easy part. Yes it takes talent to do that part of it, but it takes just as much talent to sell the shit. It's that same mentality and lack of business sense and saavy that is continuing to plague the independent rap game. Recording the album is the easy part. Selling the album is a whole nother ballgame. I challenge the same people that sell less than copper and expect platinum royalties to TAKE THE MONEY OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET and spend it on their very own project and take it and sell it and see how much of that money they actually RECOUP after returns, consignments, bad debts, promo expenses, mastering, manufacturing costs etc. Then you can sit down with me over lunch and tell me how the game works and how your label ripped you off.... oh excuse me.. you own your own label ... is it possible to rip yourself off? nobody to blame and accuse but youself. take a long look in the mirror and say to yourself... am i really as hot as i think i am? or am i full of hot air? hmmmmm.
who am i to say this? i'm nobody... but i do have around 8 years invested in this rap shit from street and retail promotion to funding and executive producing albums. Learn about the game you claim to be takin over that way the chance of your ego gettin crushed and you bein extremely humbled is less of a burden to shoulder. Learn what expenses are and remember knowledge is key.
