Being Realistic how much do you homeboy rappers make?
- Thread starter FRONTLINE
- Start date
I didn't say 10,000. I said 1,000. If you can't move 1000 units within the first 3 months of having it pressed, an artist should think about a new hustle. But the question was are homeboy rappers making money. If they can move their first initial pressing then easily they are making it more than a hobby. I consider homeboy rap a nitche market. Those nitche markets, as mine, are what sells more these days. The Andre Nickatinas, the Big Tones, the Brotha Lynch Hungs, they all market to a certain kind of consumer. For example my last project sold 4000 units because I market to a small circle of a fanbase. Its easier to be the biggest fish in a small pond. My market isnt over saturated. I'd imagine with little effort and talent somebody in this market can be making a huge amount even with the days of downloading and bootlegging.
Shows are what matters too. These days nobody wants to buy records like they did 5 years ago unless they are in your face. I move more units at shows than I do in stores or online sales.
Shows are what matters too. These days nobody wants to buy records like they did 5 years ago unless they are in your face. I move more units at shows than I do in stores or online sales.
my bad mars, I thought you said 10,000 units for some reason. This day and age, it's almost seems hard to move units at 9 bucks each unless you got like 18 tracks on there. There's so many mixtapes for 4 or 5 bucks out there with great production cause they're stealing beats from bigger, high profile artists.
I remember seeing Richie Rich on Rap City back in the day and he said "we don't have mixtapes in Oakland, that's why our sales do so well. You giving someone all the beats they wanna hear for 5 bucks?!? That's shutting down a lot of record sales. That's why we don't have mixtapes in the O."
Well, mixtapes took off and they're shutting down record sales everywhere. Not just Cali. Too many low quality albums out there and as a consumer I don't feel like gambling with my money anymore with cd's. If I hear it from someone else and it's tight, then I'll think about picking it up.
Also, the live shows topic. If you can bring in 200-400 bucks from a live show, then sell another 10 cd's or whatever, you're doing pretty good for yourself for a night of work. But one don't come without the other.
I remember seeing Richie Rich on Rap City back in the day and he said "we don't have mixtapes in Oakland, that's why our sales do so well. You giving someone all the beats they wanna hear for 5 bucks?!? That's shutting down a lot of record sales. That's why we don't have mixtapes in the O."
Well, mixtapes took off and they're shutting down record sales everywhere. Not just Cali. Too many low quality albums out there and as a consumer I don't feel like gambling with my money anymore with cd's. If I hear it from someone else and it's tight, then I'll think about picking it up.
Also, the live shows topic. If you can bring in 200-400 bucks from a live show, then sell another 10 cd's or whatever, you're doing pretty good for yourself for a night of work. But one don't come without the other.
That's kind of why try to give the buyer the most for their money with packaging. Nice design and artwork, digipacks, big booklet inside all the extras that they can't download. Make it worth that 10 bucks. But again with the nitche markets it seems that most fans are collectors. They WANT to have copies of those CD's. The genre is small so the risk factor of not finding that pressing again for them is a reason to buy it while its in stock.
I'm probably one of the few artists from the Bay that actually tours the entire country, so I see it as your CD downloads could also be a blessing. If they know your songs from downloading it they will come to the shows and probably buy a copy. That's when the hustle factors for homeboy artists should be kicking in even though in some areas the markets for obvious reasons may be skippable.
Like for example if I do 30 shows in one month at $500 each by contract. That's $15,000 by itself without factoring in CD and merchandise sales. The last two months I was on tour. That's why its so important to rely on other things than JUST CD sales. Constantly do shows. Have CD's there. Have merch for them to buy. The bigger vareity the more of the chase for a sale from each person there. Talk to every artist that's opening and every fan you can after your set. Even if 7 people show up in one city your planting a seed for your money tree to grow every time you come back and water the plant.
The best part is when you get home all those artists that seen you perform, and talked to may just hit you up for a verse for their album. That's another way to get paid. In a market like this people love the music because its about something they LIVE for. They need it. Thats why Woodie had so many fans. He was feeding a fanbase that was hungry for music of his kind. The opritunity to feed that hunger in a nitche market is always there. Your a young kid in jr high lookin around at the life he thinks to himself I need a red belt, a red shirt, and a CD that talks dirctly to me. He may not feel the new Jacka CD because its not talking to him. But he may pick up a Big Tone CD and be sold because that's what hes doing. I'm a fan of homeboy rap because of that reason. Not because I live the life but because its so unique and its passionate and it speaks to a crowd directly that nobody else has.
I'm probably one of the few artists from the Bay that actually tours the entire country, so I see it as your CD downloads could also be a blessing. If they know your songs from downloading it they will come to the shows and probably buy a copy. That's when the hustle factors for homeboy artists should be kicking in even though in some areas the markets for obvious reasons may be skippable.
Like for example if I do 30 shows in one month at $500 each by contract. That's $15,000 by itself without factoring in CD and merchandise sales. The last two months I was on tour. That's why its so important to rely on other things than JUST CD sales. Constantly do shows. Have CD's there. Have merch for them to buy. The bigger vareity the more of the chase for a sale from each person there. Talk to every artist that's opening and every fan you can after your set. Even if 7 people show up in one city your planting a seed for your money tree to grow every time you come back and water the plant.
The best part is when you get home all those artists that seen you perform, and talked to may just hit you up for a verse for their album. That's another way to get paid. In a market like this people love the music because its about something they LIVE for. They need it. Thats why Woodie had so many fans. He was feeding a fanbase that was hungry for music of his kind. The opritunity to feed that hunger in a nitche market is always there. Your a young kid in jr high lookin around at the life he thinks to himself I need a red belt, a red shirt, and a CD that talks dirctly to me. He may not feel the new Jacka CD because its not talking to him. But he may pick up a Big Tone CD and be sold because that's what hes doing. I'm a fan of homeboy rap because of that reason. Not because I live the life but because its so unique and its passionate and it speaks to a crowd directly that nobody else has.
