Why don't cats like Jay/50 Cent/Kanye release their own ****? How much would it cost?

[Harry B]

correct me if im wrong because i very well could be. but in the 90's on Prince tried doing this and was blackballed from radio and mtv for a while. when he left warner brothers. and he can still

pack MSG...



...without a record label promoting him

...without a video on music television programs

...without a current hit song on the radio

...without a typical CD release to promote.

so i would love to see kanye or jayz doing this in this age. when they can put their videos online get buzz for their singles via internet.

They are not just trying to pack msg, they are trying to move millions of records and be on every radio station, tv-channel, magazine and on all over the world. Like the dude said in order to promote their wide variety of brands and other things.

also

2003: N.E.W.S (distributed by Big Daddy Music Distribution)
2004: Musicology (distributed by Columbia Records)
2006: 3121 (distributed by Universal Records)
2007: Planet Earth (distributed by Columbia Records)

Prince is distributed by major labels, just like Jay-z is distributed by different labels. His last album was distributed by Atlantic, WTT by Def Jam next album might be WMG. And I don't think someone like Kanye or Jay-z is Prince, dude sells shows of his name. Kids who only heard 2 or 3 classic songs, buy his $500 tickets just cause it's prince. Maybe in their hometowns and stuff, but not all over the world like Prince.

And I think they wanna be Michael Jackson, not Prince.

 

[LilJuicyTaco]

Wacky D is on point as usual.

The idea of them distributing their own music in terms of cd's is obsolete in my opinion. It would have been a great idea in the 90's IN THEORY. The truth is THEY wouldn't let that happen just like THEY won't let some guy get very far with his water powered car. There is a system in place that is controlled and a couple of rappers playing Neo in the Matrix just won't be tolerated. It's not really a money issue as to why they can't do it. It's deeper than that.

Let's say you buy dope from the mob wholesale and you sale it for retail. Let's say you get to the point where you don't need the mob no more. Can you just tell them to go fukk themselves as you attempt to corner the market? NO! The same with music. All of the cards are in their hands. Not just the stores that sell the music but tv, the radio, internet other industries such as the technology that powers the music etc. If you managed to get the idea off of the ground they would just shut you down another way using the interconnections that encompass the entire spectrum.

Irv Gotti, Suge Knight and J. Prince were rumored to have tried to start a music distribution company. People like Professor Griff said that for years. Irv Gotti interviewed by Sway said that the were really starting a union for music industry artist so the could eat even after they fell off. Irv said the feds came for him shortly after and that could never materialize. It was beyond just talk and a person who helped bring unions to one of the professional sports was on board. To the idiots saying that Irv, Suge and J. had illegal ties and that was there downfall is BS. The entire industry is just a mob racket, do your homework!

Just for the record I could see 50 trying to get something going but not Jay or Kanye.

 

[YouMadd?]

mac miller is doing it right...

shocking... young jewish guy knows how to handle business

Doing it right by being signed to an independent label? Never seen that one before... What a smart Jew

 

[Zach Lowe]

That indie shyt only makes sense for small artists

Jay/Kanye/etc would be foolish to do that

 

[boskey]

Also worth mentioning and in line with the Tech N9ne comparison...Jay-Z, like most super paid rappers....isn't even making most of his money from the direct sales of his albums...they're not so much strictly in the music industry, as much as they're in the "selling personality business"...all the big money deals that guys like Jay and Puff made a big bulk of their fortune from, has been built off the strength of their fame...their brand...just as, or realistically, even more important than whatever money Jay is seeing from album sales each cycle...he's getting the major label to put the entire bulk of their promotional might into marketing not just Jay-Z's music...but Jay-Z the brand...his single being played every half hour on every radio station in every market in the country is as good of promotion for "Jay-Z, the brand" as any actual traditional advertising that he'd normally have to pay for....is it worth giving all of that up, to get maybe a dollar or two bigger cut on every album sold? Accounting for everything that goes into doing all on his own? Judging from how each and everyone of these guys behave when it's time to re up, unless they're completely washed and have absolutely no other choice....I'm gonna have to side with no

This is pretty much it. The cost of putting out an independent album is not high at all. Thousands of independent labels are doing this every single day. So all of ya'll talking about the risk and cost of distributing being in the millions (or trillions says kingofkings ) are really exaggerating. The whole point of being indy is that you don't have to press and sell a million. You can do 100,000 and still make your the same money if not more...

The greatest risk is to the "brand". Like I said before, the big names in hip hop love the attention too much. If they go independent then they lose the ability to get their song on the radio and MTV 1,000 times a day.

But this only pays off for like 1 in 20 rappers. Dom Kennedy or whoever else should never ever worry about his cross promotional ability. He should be focused on getting paid for his music and getting show money. But you also def get bigger show money if you're signed to a major and getting that exposure...so thats another advantage.

It really is up to the artist to decide which way to go. Neither one guarantees success. But the fact that 99% of all rappers are looking to get signed by a major doesn't really mean that that is the best option. It just means they're being sold a very good piece of bullshyt....

 

[YBE]

This is pretty much it. The cost of putting out an independent album is not high at all. Thousands of independent labels are doing this every single day. So all of ya'll talking about the risk and cost of distributing being in the millions (or trillions says kingofkings ) are really exaggerating. The whole point of being indy is that you don't have to press and sell a million. You can do 100,000 and still make your the same money if not more...

The greatest risk is to the "brand". Like I said before, the big names in hip hop love the attention too much. If they go independent then they lose the ability to get their song on the radio and MTV 1,000 times a day.

But this only pays off for like 1 in 20 rappers. Dom Kennedy or whoever else should never ever worry about his cross promotional ability. He should be focused on getting paid for his music and getting show money. But you also def get bigger show money if you're signed to a major and getting that exposure...so thats another advantage.

It really is up to the artist to decide which way to go. Neither one guarantees success. But the fact that 99% of all rappers are looking to get signed by a major doesn't really mean that that is the best option. It just means they're being sold a very good piece of bullshyt....

 

[Harry B]

This is pretty much it. The cost of putting out an independent album is not high at all. Thousands of independent labels are doing this every single day. So all of ya'll talking about the risk and cost of distributing being in the millions (or trillions says kingofkings ) are really exaggerating. The whole point of being indy is that you don't have to press and sell a million. You can do 100,000 and still make your the same money if not more...

The greatest risk is to the "brand". Like I said before, the big names in hip hop love the attention too much. If they go independent then they lose the ability to get their song on the radio and MTV 1,000 times a day.

But this only pays off for like 1 in 20 rappers. Dom Kennedy or whoever else should never ever worry about his cross promotional ability. He should be focused on getting paid for his music and getting show money. But you also def get bigger show money if you're signed to a major and getting that exposure...so thats another advantage.

It really is up to the artist to decide which way to go. Neither one guarantees success. But the fact that 99% of all rappers are looking to get signed by a major doesn't really mean that that is the best option. It just means they're being sold a very good piece of bullshyt....

1. I'm talking about a distribution company, not a record label.
2. I'm talking about having equivalent services of a major label.
3. Jay-z, Birdman, Puff and them already have record labels, and have had record labels since the 90s. They are distributed through major labels though, all these indie companies are distributed through independent distributers, most of them, very big independent distributers eg Rostrum or Strange Music through Fontana.
4. Why the fukk would you wanna be distributed through a minor jew, than a major jew if your visibility, sales (specially internationally) and everything else is much lower which also means that your brand will loose value.
5. Where the fukk did I say that you need trillions for a indie label?.

Name 1 rapper indie who isn't distributed through a big company who is doing great and has commercial visibility. Rap-a-lot, Rostrum and Strange music is already excluded.

Do you dudes really think you are smarter than the HNIC @ Roc Nation, Cash Money and these labels? .

 

[boskey]

1. I'm talking about a distribution company, not a record label.
2. I'm talking about having equivalent services of a major label.
3. Jay-z, Birdman, Puff and them already have record labels, and have had record labels since the 90s. They are distributed through major labels though, all these indie companies are distributed through independent distributers, most of them, very big independent distributers eg Rostrum or Strange Music through Fontana.
4. Why the fukk would you wanna be distributed through a minor jew, than a major jew if your visibility, sales (specially internationally) and everything else is much lower which also means that your brand will loose value.

Name 1 rapper indie who isn't distributed through a big company who is doing good and has commercial visibility. Rap-a-lot, Rostrum and Strange music is already excluded.

Do you dudes really think you are smarter than the HNIC @ Roc Nation, Cash Money and these labels? .

Yeah I knew what you were saying but it was still funny.

 

[Harry B]

Yeah I knew what you were saying but it was still funny.

You never know with you dudes

 

[BREAD N BUTTERZ]

yea was talking to one of my peoples about that shyt....Jay, diddy and etc should just put out their own shyt.

I think Jay-Prince, suge knight and Irv gotti was going do something like that but it never materialized.... Don't kno why tho

beacuase the majors dont want blacks with brains in control on that level......that would set a dangerous precedent of completly shutting them out...its said lyor was the one to drop dime on irv to break that up

 

[rapdonttweet]

shyt is just wild to me. It's no reason why Jay-Z or cats of his stature aren't releasing their own shyt. You worth $400 million b.......it cant possibly be that difficult to press & distribute your own shyt to the stores

Ice Cube did that and now he's irrelevant, despite all his money and status. Radio stations weren't playing his shyt and promoting it like they do to anyone on a major.

 

[yesiambowling]

Yup the Big 4 pretty much run everything.


Universal
SONY
EMI
Warner



EVERY single artist in the game that we know of right now falls under one of those umbrellas.

EMI is being bought by Universal.

 

[Ninjaz In Paris]

This whole post is a massive exaggeration, we're talking about selling music not sending rockets to Mars. Especially when plenty of these guys have "run" their own labels for years. You think it took thousands of man-hours and complex strategy to get Big Sean's wackass album into stores?

If rappers can sell 10,000 copies from the trunk of their car. Think about what they could do with a couple dollars invested...

The rapper that sells 10k out of his Trunk is doing nothing but that in the streets all day & are accessible... the cats who are already successful mentioned in this thread aren't safe doing the hustle the indie cats do. Kanye down the street selling music out of his trunk in 2012? A robbery waiting to happen & I don't care how much security he has...

 

[Ninjaz In Paris]

EDIT:

You know what... never mind... I just read the whole thread and a lot of cats clearly have no idea how the music industry works... it's a shytload of sideline speculation & misinformation in this thread, wow...

Ya'll can have this one...

 

[WOAHMYGOODNESS]

louis c.k., a stand up comedian, recorded and released his own stand up show on his website charging nikkas 5 dollars to either stream/download or illegally download his special

he made over a million dollars and only kept half of the money and donated the rest to charity

it has to be a way for artists to do something similar