IMO any artist that iz mainstream doez not have a loyal fan base cuz there fanz are gonna have a love hate relationship with that artist/group.
An artist can sell a mill everytime they drop on a major with the big push(video, radio, hype etc)but az soon az they go indie the sales drop 2 about 200,000. There so-called fanz won't even know that the artist has an album out cuz it aint all over BET,MTV, radio etc.
Where an artist like ICP, Esham, TECH N9NE & X-Raided have fanz that stay waiting on new material from them. Even if that artist haz a 4 or 5 year lapse in between albums there fanz will some how keep them relevent by alwayz talkin about them, askin when the artist new joint iz gonna drop etc.