Once and for all, what are great sales numbers in hip hop?

[SirBiatch]

We got Cheapsey flopping with 40K but people swearing it's great sales. Yet when Wale or some other discarded rapper does something similar (I could be wrong on Wale - I'm really not on sales like that), y'all swear no one cares about them. Which one is it? Why are y'all so inconsistent? You can't see how full of shyt you look from the outside?

 

[SirBiatch]

Rocky coasting and still killing the competition

 

[kingdizzy01]

 

[SunZoo]

 

[Standing on business]

I personally don't care about sales but in one thread they call 40k certified a flop, but in that nipsey thread they're calling it good numbers. Which one is it?

 

[Boogie]

I think it depends on the artist situation.

 

[SuburbanPimp]

I honestly don't know anymore with these fuzzy streaming numbers, YouTube included, and whatever else goes into sales now

Which basically means I myself really don't care about sales anymore.

But 40k sales? Depends on how big of an artists you are. Not bad for Nip being that I've never heard a song of his on the radio before... I didn't know there were such high expectations for this album or his music

 

[SirBiatch]

I think it depends on the artist situation.

Which is why sales convos are so silly. None of us know the artist's situation.

 

[thewiseman]

Sales have never really mattered to me. Rocky and Drake pump out fantastic music---them having lots of sales just make their respective haters 10x more mad

 

[MoroccanBoy]

What does how many sales have to do with how music sounds in your ear?

 

[Piff Perkins]

You still trolling on this despite countless people explaining it to you huh.

Context. Not every rapper is on the same level or in the same situation. If you're Drake or Kendrick or Cole today...the expectation is what...at least 400k first week right? But you'd be stupid to call Wale a flop for not doing those numbers, because he isn't on their level.

I like to focus on diminishing returns in rap sales: MOST rappers sale less in their first week with each album. Ross is a great example of that principle, as is everyone on MMG except Meek to a certain level. There are exceptions. Big Sean's first two albums sold under 90k first week. I think the first one did 87k and the second did 77k. But his third album did around 170k first week. The next album did 153k first week. I'd expect his next album to do less, ie get back on that diminishing returns trend.

On the flip side, if you're an indie artist like KRIT or Nipsey, doing 30k+ is a success. Hell doing 20k is a success for indies if you really want to break the math down (see: Gibbs/Madlib album).

----

Skipping back to major labels, there are a host of rappers who hover around 100k-160k first week. Future comes to mind. Then there are rappers who are under that. ASAP Rocky's next album will probably do what, 80k maybe? Schoolboy Q is in the same boat, most likely. If Rocky or Q's album were to sale 50k first week they would be flops.

Below that you get into c-tier artists who do 60k or less. Ferg for instance.

 

[SirBiatch]

You still trolling on this despite countless people explaining it to you huh.

receipts or it never happened

Context. Not every rapper is on the same level or in the same situation. If you're Drake or Kendrick or Cole today...the expectation is what...at least 400k first week right? But you'd be stupid to call Wale a flop for not doing those numbers, because he isn't on their level.

I like to focus on diminishing returns in rap sales: MOST rappers sale less in their first week with each album. Ross is a great example of that principle, as is everyone on MMG except Meek to a certain level. There are exceptions. Big Sean's first two albums sold under 90k first week. I think the first one did 87k and the second did 77k. But his third album did around 170k first week. The next album did 153k first week. I'd expect his next album to do less, ie get back on that diminishing returns trend.

On the flip side, if you're an indie artist like KRIT or Nipsey, doing 30k+ is a success. Hell doing 20k is a success for indies if you really want to break the math down (see: Gibbs/Madlib album).

----

Skipping back to major labels, there are a host of rappers who hover around 100k-160k first week. Future comes to mind. Then there are rappers who are under that. ASAP Rocky's next album will probably do what, 80k maybe? Schoolboy Q is in the same boat, most likely. If Rocky or Q's album were to sale 50k first week they would be flops.

Below that you get into c-tier artists who do 60k or less. Ferg for instance.

so basically it's a fanfiction game. Which is fine. I just want y'all to be honest about it.

The reality is that you have no idea what any artist's situation is. The lines between indie and major are so blurred that you don't know who is really what and the ins and outs of the deal, each album deal, etc. So to analyze success through sales is silly as fukk.

Cheapsey is a plant who got famously exposed in The Booth for being signed to a label for years. A major label at that. Now he's in 'partnership' with them - whatever that means. So if he's got ties to a major label, and he's 'not like the rest of these rap nikkas', then why is he outchea flopping like the rest of these rap nikkas?

 

[Piff Perkins]

receipts or it never happened



so basically it's a fanfiction game. Which is fine. I just want y'all to be honest about it.

The reality is that you have no idea what any artist's situation is. The lines between indie and major are so blurred that you don't know who is really what and the ins and outs of the deal, each album deal, etc. So to analyze success through sales is silly as fukk.

Cheapsey is a plant who got famously exposed in The Booth for being signed to a label for years. A major label at that. Now he's in 'partnership' with them - whatever that means. So if he's got ties to a major label, and he's 'not like the rest of these rap nikkas', then why is he outchea flopping like the rest of these rap nikkas?

I worked at a label

And no, the lines between indie and label are not blurred at all. Especially when it comes to album sales where an indie artist is actually making solid money from them, whereas (most) label artists aren't. For labels, the album is moreso an entry point to the real means of making money off the artist: touring, specifically.

Nipsey's partnership is pretty clear breh, it's a standard distribution deal with promo.

The one area I'd agree with you on is that fans often pit all of this in dire terms - ie a flop means you failed big time, it's game over etc. ASAP Rocky can have disappointing sales on his next album and still be fine, depending on how his deal is structured. He has a 360 deal so you know RCA is eating off everything anyway, and Rocky does a LOT of shyt outside of music. As long as he remains relevant on some level, it's all good.

Flip side...Wale was flopping and had no revenue fallback plan for the label. So Atlantic dropped him.

 

[Techniec]

Any rap fan with a sense of history and any semblance of knowledge will understand the issue at hand

But OP is a cornball faccot who got into rap with the 8 mile soundtrack so no wonder hes confused

 

[SirBiatch]

I worked at a label

And no, the lines between indie and label are not blurred at all.

At all? Despite the fact that some indie labels are owned or distributed by major labels?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees the lines are blurred

-Indie Label- The term ‘Indie Label’ can be a bit misleading these days, due to the fact that some large Indie labels are actually distributed by Major Labels. Nevertheless, a ‘true’ Indie Label means they are independent from any Major Label.

Nipsey's partnership is pretty clear breh, it's a standard distribution deal with promo.

The one area I'd agree with you on is that fans often pit all of this in dire terms - ie a flop means you failed big time, it's game over etc. ASAP Rocky can have disappointing sales on his next album and still be fine, depending on how his deal is structured. He has a 360 deal so you know RCA is eating off everything anyway, and Rocky does a LOT of shyt outside of music. As long as he remains relevant on some level, it's all good.

Flip side...Wale was flopping and had no revenue fallback plan for the label. So Atlantic dropped him.

so his contract is available for public viewing and been verified by multiple sources?