Jermaine Dupri - Can somebody tell me what the goal of being an independent artist is today because all of the things that people are chasing is shxt

[Tommy Gibbs]

Why would an artist want to say no to a tour?
The biggest downside for many indie artists is being unable to book venues and festivals unless they have heavyweight management.

fatigue. I used to tour non-stop with a group (managerial responses and other stuff) and it's tiring. Now we weren't on a level of a drake, kendrick or any big time artists, but indie and doing 3 shows a week living out of a suitcase gets tired quick. Now I guess it's cool when you're younger, but I was in my early 30s doing this and I, along with others, got tired of it. And then they may have families as well.

 

[Knucklehead]

fatigue. I used to tour non-stop with a group (managerial responses and other stuff) and it's tiring. Now we weren't on a level of a drake, kendrick or any big time artists, but indie and doing 3 shows a week living out of a suitcase gets tired quick. Now I guess it's cool when you're younger, but I was in my early 30s doing this and I, along with others, got tired of it. And then they may have families as well.

The point I was trying to make is that booking a tour as an indie act is extremely hard and takes a ton of money upfront. Insurance companies and gear rental services don’t even want to talk to you, most venues won’t return a call and promotion in every city is completely on you and also nearly impossible to break into without existing contacts. The label may take a cut but they facilitate all of this and get the tour off the ground in the first place which is a prohibitive challenge for most acts that don’t have deep pockets.

 

[TheRtist]

nikkas talking about it they own they’re creative expression but they’re still putting out trash shyt.

exactly.

& being told when to drop might be good business advice more than anything.

ie. "Dont drop because you not hot enough for it to make good business sense"

It happens in other fields. Im sure in Silicone Valley the same statements are heard when its time to release a new app.

 

[MJ Truth]

Indie artists have more freedom creatively

They’re not using it for the most part. If you’re trying to profit off of a product, inevitably you’re going to have to limit your subject matter regardless of you being indie or major.

 

[Mike Wins]

Benny dropped 3 projects last year, only one on Def Jam (and that album was an Alchemist/Hit-Boy produced album)

Meanwhile Stove God Cooks is on an indie and is trapped in a slave deal.

For sure you can do bad business at any level of the business. Ain't Stove God label a "mini major" type label that's known to be shady?

Don't know the details but seem like Benny's deal with Def Jam is uniquely favorable since he can still able to drop independent projects on the side. He would never have the leverage to negotiate a deal like that without his independent track record.

Still maintain artists like Ransom, Conway, Boldy and them usually gonna be better off going the independent route. Because they never gonna reach a wide enough audience to get a major bag and serious support from a big label. And will be forced to compromise their sound in a way that alienates the core fans, but don't really reach a wider audience. And it's never been cheaper and easier to record and release music that's available worldwide. No question they got to grind harder than major label artists, but there's no easy way to make money as a musician.

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

Indie artists usually can say "no" to a 40+ city tour if they want to with no repercussions.

And how are they going to eat?

 

[Sonic Boom of the South]

The irony with a lot of rap indie or major is mafukkas will talk all that big talk like they balling and they really struggling and getting ripped off.

If they could just be humble and stop being a minstrel act maybe they could actually be happy and financially successful in a decent way instead of lying like they some fukking multimillionaires.


Also mafukkas need to stop being 40yr olds lying about crime activities in they fukking music on some clown shyt. Some of these dudes living off a jail sentence from their 20s and talking shyt about a regular mafukka paying taxes like they ass aint been a regular mafukka paying taxes for like 20 years.




nikkas got kids that's old enough to give them grandkids and still on that clown shyt.

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

And how are they going to eat?

they will obviously tour, but they are not obligated to live on the road 8 months out of a year with contract obligations. You don't have to do over 100 shows a year to have a decent living. The Roots did that because they wanted to.

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

they will obviously tour, but they are not obligated to live on the road 8 months out of a year with contract obligations. You don't have to do over 100 shows a year to have a decent living. The Roots did that because they wanted to.

Most independent artists literally live off show money
The Roots weren't independent and they were moving units
Curren$y can't even move 15k ...why wouldn't he be on tour all year?

 

[Art Barr]

This is what Dupri is really getting at but people aren’t picking up on it.

Dupri not getting at nuffin but self equating.

From his golden spoon upbringing of sellout c00n like privilege.

Art Barr

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

Most independent artists literally live off show money
The Roots weren't independent and they were moving units
Curren$y can't even move 15k ...why wouldn't he be on tour all year?

I'm not talking about currensy. I don't even know any of his music lol. I'm talking about the independent artist being able to say "no" and a label making them get on the road. We all know they live off show money. Absolutely no one is disputing that, but as an indie artist, you can say, "I'm sitting this tour out" and not have the contract obligations of a major label artist. As an indie artist, you can basically pick and choose what you want to do. You can call up your homeboys and ask for slots in their shows opening and so forth. You can do tradeoffs with other indie artists such as you go to their city and they come to yours. The whole point I was making is that indie artists have FREEDOM. If you sign to Interscope and they say you're going on a 50 city tour, you're going on that tour with no negotiations.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Dupri and most artists who came up under the 90s record label structure think like that. They're used to having the label book them the best hotels, food budgets, studio time, first class flights, etc. Who wouldn't prefer those perks over staying at a shytty Days Inn and driving state to state in a van? That independent lifestyle isn't for everyone and more people need to be honest about that. If you're coming in the game for clout and COMFORT, it's not for you. If you're simply a true artist who wants to own his shyt and doesn't care about label perks then you won't mind the independent grind. Guys like Curren$y grinded for a long ass time while hanging with homies who had major record deals and guess what? In 2025, Spitta is set for life whereas a lot of those homies got dropped from the label years ago and are broke.

Some people have no interest in putting commerce over art. And I salute that, I'd never denigrate people for doing what they love on their own terms.

 

[Bolzmark]

Surprised that JD would ask this. How many artists of ALL genres end up complaining about their record labels and blaming them for their downfall?

 

[patscorpio]

JD should not be complaining about somebody following trends lol. man was and is stone cold with the music but he's been biting fads or riding waves for most of his career

 

[Mac Ten]

Shut up and make my beats fakkit

I’ll pass on that…


That JD and Curren$y album was meh.


Unless JD is doin some R&B, I’ll pass.


He’s the P. Diddy of ATL( JD doesn’t dabble in Baby Oil like that)