how the fukk do these rappers only make 90cents of each album sale..
- Thread starter Malcolmxxx_23
- Start date
the cac mamba
Veteran
mortuus est
Veteran
Dont believe anything in this thread when kneegas are in strip clubs and have mansions and nice cars after their first album tbh
mortuus est
Veteran
elz had a mansion when his first album came out
you can still become a rapper brehs
Thats not even the worst part some of you are stating that the label makes a large share because of "mad money for features, marketing, samples, legal consulting, studios, transport, videos, payola" and while that's true all those expenses are coming out of the artists share. Meaning that 90cents per they're making is used to payback their advance and such
The Devil's Advocate
Call me Dad
you're both kinda right... the advance is the only part you pay back tho
say i'm broke as fukk.. how the hell am i getting an album with swizz, dre, drake, and hov in a million dollar studio with it being in stores across the WORLD and my video shot and on mtv and going on 3 tours this year.... I'M NOT!!!
so the label steps in.... they give you a 1 million dollar DEAL... you might get 200k up front.. that's your advance. you will pay that back later... the other 800k is used for all the above i just named.. from studio time, to producers, to features, to every damn thing
so your album is done and it's in stores.. in your contract it says exact how much money or sales you must have, before you start getting royalties.. say they put it at 500k. that's how many albums you have to sell, in order to get back their 1 million they gave you. if you never reach that, they just lost money on you.. you'll probably never get another release, but they'll keep you on the label in case you can find another hit one year....... welcome to the shelf
if you sell 500k, well now they back at zero. they haven't lost and they haven't gained.. that's not what a company is here for.. to break even... so you might get another chance.. you might not... but most likely you broke even so if you keep coming strong, they'll keep putting you out... but your budget will be severely cut on the next album......... welcome to the underground
if you sell 1 million.... well now you made them money.. after 500k you start making your own money.. you don't have to pay back the advance in cash, you keep that 200k, plus now you making 90 cent an album.. if you hired a manager, lawyer, barber, got 30 man entourage, hair stylist, regular stylist... that's on you to pay them.. nobody told you to hire them or bring them in the first place (another reason rappers go broke).... but the label will be in RUSH to put you out again.. they wanna use you up before your flame burns out.... welcome to an album every year and non stop touring
at any time, depending on your buzz and sales, you can be moved up and down.. that's why some artist come out hot, then all the sudden they can't sell and cry about the label... realizing the label never loved YOU, just the money you made for them...
independent is just a variation.. less budget, less sales, but less you gotta sell to get back, and less perks
I see, so the 200k advance is accounted for once you hit that sales mark. So how a nikka like Ace Hood on his 4th album. Unless his budget is small (<300k) I dont see how he making money. I suppose his singles make some money, how does single sales contribute to how much an artist has to payback the label or what they get from the label?
nikkas ain't even seeing 90 cents... 
The Devil's Advocate
Call me Dad
that's so old school... my post was... i should have stated that... what MOST labels now are doing is DEMANDING a 360 deal... they won't even sign you if you won't sign one.. unless you come with a name already and have a proven track record..
in the past, singles didn't sell crazy like albums.. it was all budgeted into that contract regardless.. so single sales would help reach that goal.. but the main point.. ONLY THE MUSIC YOU MADE FOR YOUR ALBUM WAS CONSIDERED TOUCHABLE BY THE LABEL..
so back to 360 deal... for somebody like an ace hood.... THE LABEL CAN NOW TOUCH EVERY DOLLAR YOU MAKE... tour money, we want 20%.. some bum want you on a song, we want 15%... oh you selling shirts now, we want 15%... oh you got a hot single, we want 25%... oh you got a commercial, we want 10%
now while you think that might be shytty, if you're underground, can make good singles or do mad shows, it's great... lets take ace hood... they might give his album a budget of 300k.. but he only has to sell 100k to make it back.. now if it didn't make it back in the past they might shelf him... but nowadays they say... ok cool you sold 50k.. but you feature on a lot of songs so we can make 35k back off that... plus you always on tour with khaled, so we gonna make 100k off that... and then your singles pop, so we gonna make 250k off that...
so they let him keep dropping albums cause they know it'll keep his name out there and get him (THEM) money in other ways. where if he had an old style deal, they wouldn't make money off none of the other stuff, so they wouldn't give a shyt if he did 300 shows a year, and 500 features, cause they don't get a dime and it still wouldn't translate to record sales
The Devil's Advocate
Call me Dad
actually that's real... independent you could make... and i believe they said they got 7 a record... that much easy... cause the record label wasn't paying you shyt... so everything was COMPLETELY out of your pocket.. all they would do is give you 30-40gs of marketing money and put it in stores...
they did NO work for the artist, so they was happy to get $3.00 a record for putting it in the stores.. which is why back then, those koch records never sold shyt.. cause they never got any promotion..
in that case you HAVE to be established cause all the budget is 150% on you to come up with
FeloniousMonk
Dont mind me..Im a azzhole
You must be reffering to Koch.
They actually give artists $5 a unit.
$8.75 was him coming outta Def Jam
You just better be established or have some hellafied marketing and promotions..
Thus one of the reason Fif called it the graveyard label for rappers....
Good break down, but you're a little high on sales side. If they invest only 1,000,000 on you, you don't have to sell 500 K for them or you to start making money. Record labels double their investments in you, after you hit 200,000 K if they invest 1,000,000 in you. And that's just if the album is only 9.99 a pop. Some are more, some are less. But that's about the mean.
But you broke that down well, explaining.
But before the artist gets paid. The label heads take their cuts, the producers, engineers, etc...all get theres before you see a dime. So the average artist on a major ends up between 300-500 sells for their album. They're probably see around 90k-100k off their album sales. Which is good money but not "lavish". And most of these nikkas have an image to uphold and friends and family that depend on them so if they were just regular folks that be great money. But for a artist, that's not much, so they still gotta tour and do concerts to keep generating income. Most artists on a major will make anywhere from 2 K-25K a show depending on their popularity and what markets they have a big fan base. (We not talking major stars, just the average record label artist). In 360 deals, the labels even get a piece of that money. But artists who aren't in those deals, and most are nowadays, but for those who aren't, they can clear a cool 500K a year (And that's the 2K a show artist. The 25K a show artist is a millionaire depending on how many shows he's willing to do a year. It's really up to the artist at that point). Which is really good and will allow them to maintain a nice lifestyle and help their close family and friends without struggling.
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Now artists that have a history of selling major records can rework their contract to get a larger chunk. So let's say an artist first album goes platinum or something crazy like 2x platinum plus, the label will be willing to rework their deal in most cases cause they want to keep their cash cow happy. So they'll give the artist a higher percentage of the profits for their next album. But you really gotta establish you can sell crazy like that next go around. And they can usually tell from buzz and other way of determining the market.
