Nelly: Chief Keef Made Mistake With Record Deal

[Malik]

"it's not different than starting a business"

you do know that it's a reality that most businesses fail?

you just used a terrible argument... Wiz already had a major label deal years before he dropped Kush & Orange Juice.

on top of that, he was already signed to Atlantic when that came out..

There was no "bidding war" for Drake... that was just a tactic to draw interest in him, and it worked.


that $50,000 wasn't to record an album, that's just the money it would take to press up copies of said album.


you're over simplifying it...

I do know that

That's why I said "no harder than starting a business". It can work for you if you put in the work. Being independent is like running a business. People start businesses everyday. You two in here talking about it like its the boogie man.

And the point about Wiz & Drake flew over your head. Regardless of Rossum backing Wiz, you think it took thousands of dollars to record his first few mixtapes? You & I could release this shyt

And the point about the bidding war was that Drake was flaming (nh) at the time. He could've easily took whatever amount of money, 50k, 100k & recorded an independent album. That's what alot of people thought he was gonna do.....he had a strong chance at going gold independently & it would've changed the way we looked at the industry.


If you an artist that wants to go independent, just follow the steps of the cats before you, mixtapes/videos/etc. and if you get to the point that you're seriously bubbling..........you should have some dough from touring.........just record your own album in house or sign to an independent instead of signing to a major. Its not that difficult to grasp

 

[McSpacey]

Under the unusually lucrative agreement he struck with Aspire/Young Money/Cash Money Records distributed through Universal, Drake received a $2-million advance. He retains the publishing rights to his songs and cedes only around 25% of his music sales revenues to the label as a "distribution fee," his managers said. By contrast, the overwhelming majority of new artists sign financially restrictive "360 deals" that sap their touring and merchandise income and offer much more restrictive profit-sharing.

Source: LA Times - July 18, 2009​

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

Breh, Drake's deal isn't up he hasn't renegotiated yet therefore the deal that he is in now is the exact same deal he came in with. Meaning before he had a 2 album sales history he was able to negotiate a contract that was in his favor (or at least fair). You are correct with Kendrick, but who's fault is it that Chief Keef didn't do the same? Kendrick dropped Section.80 independently. He could have taken a deal a dropped it with a label, but he didn't. He only sold 5k first week, but he was establishing a sales history and showed labels that he could be profitable with or without them, so if they wanted to get down with his movement they had to be fair and not treat him like any artist just walking off the street who they jerk.

The thing that Nelly is saying in this video and what I'm backing up is Keef was HOT already! He already had a million youtube views, was getting radio play in the CHI, had a Kanye West co-sign, was doing shows, had a movement, etc. If he would have stayed on the indie grind to establish a sales history to show labels that he was ready, willing, and capable of doing it on his own then he would have had leverage walking into those meetings. Who's fault is it that he didn't wait it out?

Drake had a co-sign from a Weezy that was on top of the world and a major following from his Degrassi days, so he wasn't just some regular dude begging for a deal. J Cole has a 360 deal, but he had ZERO buzz. When he was introduced to the game via his first mixtape he was marketed and promoted as "the first artist Jay Z signed to Roc Nation", so in his case a 360 was beneficial because for whatever reason he had the talent, but couldn't do it on his own. Keef on the other hand may not have the lyrical talent that Cole has, but he was successful at getting himself hot. Like I stated earlier I understand his decission because going indie isn't for everybody. You have to be highly educated to do it, but just commenting on what Nelly said, if Keef could have done it it would have been very beneficial and he was on his way.

we're talking about show money... if i'm Chief Keef, how can i command/demand the same type of money as Drake who's already got 2 Platinum albums,Grammy awards,Multi Million dollar grossing tours, 10+ radio hits ?

Nelly is speaking from the perspective of somebody who's been in the industry for 15 years, and had a chance to see what the industry evolved into.

Y'all make it seem like 360 deals are the devil, and anybody who signs to a major is an idiot....and that being independent is the best thing ever.

 

[TAYLONDO SAMSWORTHY]

He just dropped GAME

Nelly: Chief Keef Made Mistake With Record Deal - YouTube

 

[McSpacey]

we're talking about show money... if i'm Chief Keef, how can i command/demand the same type of money as Drake who's already got 2 Platinum albums,Grammy awards,Multi Million dollar grossing tours, 10+ radio hits ?

Nelly is speaking from the perspective of somebody who's been in the industry for 15 years, and had a chance to see what the industry evolved into.

Y'all make it seem like 360 deals are the devil, and anybody who signs to a major is an idiot....and that being independent is the best thing ever.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo. I'm not saying Keef can command/demand the same type of fee right now. I'm saying if he would have kept pushing he could have been in the position where his performance fees would have went through the roof. Drake couldn't command that during his So Far Gone days either, but if he would've just jumped at any deal on the table and still became the artist he is today he would've been feeling the effect financially right now because the label would have been taking a huge percentage of his show money now. Of course he splits up his show money now, but if he was signed to a 360 his pice would have been a lot smaller. When he did the deal with Sprite they would've got a nice piece of that also.

In all honesty Chief Keef did the right thing because of the type of artist that he is. He isn't focused on making classic albums like Drake or Kendrick, or even A$AP Rocky, so I think he pretty much hit his peak. He's strictly in it for the money (which there is nothing wrong with dealing with the circumstances he comes from), so he's trying to get as much as he can upfront as quick as he can. It's kind of like a crash & grab thing with him. He's striking while he's hot and like I said numerous times in this thread, I understand his decission. Kendrick and Drake on the other hand are thinking about down the road because they know they're value is only going to go up if they keep approaching the game like they do, so they're smart enough not to part with their rights. In the Chief Keef case the label may take a loss and he'll run off getting his little 20k a show as long as he can cater to his core audience which is cool if he's cool with that, but if he would've have waited he could have been straight for life.

How many artist blow through MILLIONS of dollars and then end up crying broke? Just because you're rich now don't mean you'll be rich later. That's why it's better to worry about the long-haul, but it is what it is.

Edit: I do think 360 deals are the byproduct of greed, but if it can help someone support themselves and their family more power to them. Indies have their downside too because it's harder to get off the ground, but if you're already off the ground and willing to do the work you can see a lot more of the financial reward.

 

[Insensitive]

These nikkas talking like that shyt is easy. Even with a 360 deal, hypothetically speaking lets say the label takes a 10% piece of your touring and merchandise.


Ya dumb nikkas, if ya wasnt signed to a major, how would ya even fund your TOUR n PRODUCE merchandise?


You gon buy your own tour bus?, hire your own driver? Book all those hotel spots? And holla at a clothing company to make your shirts and stuff all by yaself on ya own dime? All the while paying for insurance at these large venus?


I used to party promote, insurance at a small club alone is like $10,000 lol


Some of ya need to be realistic with this shyt b lol

A couple cats do it.
They buy their own room in an affordable hotel.
They drive themselves.
They have their own studio, in house production
or handle the production themselves
Only sell digitally and charge a premium price for hard copies,
sell hard copies at shows etc.

A lot of the best indie cats have to wear a bunch of hats.
And the main reason they do is to cut down on expenses.

I'm sure dudes like Hopsin, Tech N9ne, slug etc. are tracking
their expenses in fact I remember Slug (of Atmosphere) saying
budgeting was one of the most difficult things initially of course
money isn't a problem for him anymore but I'm sure back then it
was.
All the previously mentioned cats either have their own studio's, handle production for themselves or have their own in house production.
And I know Hop has his own merchandise.

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

I do know that

That's why I said "no harder than starting a business". It can work for you if you put in the work. Being independent is like running a business. People start businesses everyday. You two in here talking about it like its the boogie man.

And the point about Wiz & Drake flew over your head. Regardless of Rossum backing Wiz, you think it took thousands of dollars to record his first few mixtapes? You & I could release this shyt

And the point about the bidding war was that Drake was flaming (nh) at the time. He could've easily took whatever amount of money, 50k, 100k & recorded an independent album. That's what alot of people thought he was gonna do.....he had a strong chance at going gold independently & it would've changed the way we looked at the industry.


If you an artist that wants to go independent, just follow the steps of the cats before you, mixtapes/videos/etc. and if you get to the point that you're seriously bubbling..........you should have some dough from touring.........just record your own album in house or sign to an independent instead of signing to a major. Its not that difficult to grasp

i'm not talking about Rostrum... i'm Talking about Warner Bros. ....you know, where he was signed back in 2008?

Drake wasn't gonna go independent at all...dude was already signed at the time that "bidding war" was going on... you still believe that bidding war was real?

you're oversimplifying it to the point of near absurdity.... people are in here actually being realistic, and understand that there is a lot of shyt that goes into being independent.

you in here saying get yourself hot as Drake, drop 5 mixtapes and pony up 50 racks and you're set

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

A couple cats do it.
They buy their own room in an affordable hotel.
They drive themselves.
They have their own studio, in house production
or handle the production themselves etc.

A lot of the best indie cats have to wear a bunch of hats.

I'm sure dudes like Hopsin, Tech N9ne, slug etc. are tracking
their expenses in fact I remember Slug (of Atmosphere) saying
budgeting was one of the most difficult things initially of course
money isn't a problem for him anymore but I'm sure back then it
was.
All the previously mentioned cats either have their own studio's, handle production for themselves or have their own in house production.
And I know Hop has his own merchandise.

Tech N9ne also tours like 250 days out the year..and has slowly built a fanbase over nearly 20 years.

there is a LOT of work that goes into being an independent artist, cats just throw the "independent" tag around cause in their minds "Independent= better" no matter what the artists situation is.

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

Nooooooooooooooooooooo. I'm not saying Keef can command/demand the same type of fee right now. I'm saying if he would have kept pushing he could have been in the position where his performance fees would have went through the roof. Drake couldn't command that during his So Far Gone days either, but if he would've just jumped at any deal on the table and still became the artist he is today he would've been feeling the effect financially right now because the label would have been taking a huge percentage of his show money now. Of course he splits up his show money now, but if he was signed to a 360 his pice would have been a lot smaller. When he did the deal with Sprite they would've got a nice piece of that also.

In all honesty Chief Keef did the right thing because of the type of artist that he is. He isn't focused on making classic albums like Drake or Kendrick, or even A$AP Rocky, so I think he pretty much hit his peak. He's strictly in it for the money (which there is nothing wrong with dealing with the circumstances he comes from), so he's trying to get as much as he can upfront as quick as he can. It's kind of like a crash & grab thing with him. He's striking while he's hot and like I said numerous times in this thread, I understand his decission. Kendrick and Drake on the other hand are thinking about down the road because they know they're value is only going to go up if they keep approaching the game like they do, so they're smart enough not to part with their rights. In the Chief Keef case the label may take a loss and he'll run off getting his little 20k a show as long as he can cater to his core audience which is cool if he's cool with that, but if he would've have waited he could have been straight for life.

How many artist blow through MILLIONS of dollars and then end up crying broke? Just because you're rich now don't mean you'll be rich later. That's why it's better to worry about the long-haul, but it is what it is.

Edit: I do think 360 deals are the byproduct of greed, but if it can help someone support themselves and their family more power to them. Indies have their downside too because it's harder to get off the ground, but if you're already off the ground and willing to do the work you can see a lot more of the financial reward.

Let's look at the reality of things...

reckless 17 year old, with legal trouble and street beef..... there stands a good chance he wouldn't even make it to see 20k a show if he was just another unsigned cat running wild around chicago....Look at Lil Jojo

having a major label deal, getting major label money, and getting out of chicago was probably more appealing than being an independent artist.

 

[Insensitive]

Tech N9ne also tours like 250 days out the year..and has slowly built a fanbase over nearly 20 years.

there is a LOT of work that goes into being an independent artist, cats just throw the "independent" tag around cause in their minds "Independent= better" no matter what the artists situation is.

Most of these cats have been grinding several years though.
A lot of recent examples started their Hip Hop Journey's
nearly a decade ago both indie and mainstream.
That's just apart of the game.


I definitely agree with you though there isn't anything easy about going independent you have to handle things that would typically be done by
the major. Overall though I think they can pull in more cash because they keep a lot of hands out of the pot.
I'm certain someone like Hopsin is eating good off of digital album sales, merch sales, shows etc.
And I'm certain dudes like Slug (Of Atmosphere) and Tech N9ne are sitting on over a million.

 

[DaveyDave]

we're talking about show money... if i'm Chief Keef, how can i command/demand the same type of money as Drake who's already got 2 Platinum albums,Grammy awards,Multi Million dollar grossing tours, 10+ radio hits ?

Nelly is speaking from the perspective of somebody who's been in the industry for 15 years, and had a chance to see what the industry evolved into.

Y'all make it seem like 360 deals are the devil, and anybody who signs to a major is an idiot....and that being independent is the best thing ever.

360 deals are the devil. as if the fukkin labels weren't taking enough of the artists money they have to take part of everything?

 

[boskey]

If this thread was about Jigga not helping JCole or Diddy not helping Red Cafe or something a lot of the comments in here would be "J Cole needs to help himself get hot! Stop waiting on another man to feed him!"...so why sign to a major label?

The game right now is a bunch of artists recording hundreds of songs and giving them away for free on the Internet hoping to build a buzz...but being independent is too hard?

But I get it. Hip hop is about getting rich or at least looking rich. So if it works for 1 out of 50 artists those are good enough odds. Meanwhile we got the brokest artists and the brokest fans. I wonder why

Smarten up Nases

 

[Mac Casper]

If this thread was about Jigga not helping JCole or Diddy not helping Red Cafe or something a lot of the comments in here would be "J Cole needs to help himself get hot! Stop waiting on another man to feed him!"...so why sign to a major label?

The game right now is a bunch of artists recording hundreds of songs and giving them away for free on the Internet hoping to build a buzz...but being independent is too hard?

But I get it. Hip hop is about getting rich or at least looking rich. So if it works for 1 out of 50 artists those are good enough odds. Meanwhile we got the brokest artists and the brokest fans. I wonder why

Smarten up Nases

you've got all the pieces of the puzzle but they're misshapen and not connecting right

 

[RTF]

If 50 was signed to a 360 though Interscope would have got a healthy piece of that Vitamin Water deal. They would'ge took a nice piece of Dre's Beats too. The concept of a 360 deal is: we invested money, time, and resources into making you famous, so therefore all of your success is a byproduct of our efforts, so PAY UP!

Nelly did the right/only thing at the time he came into the game. At that time the Internet was nowhere near what it is today, so it was A LOT harder to connect with fans then. 50 was the last successful artist to come into the game before it went completely digital.

Jimmy Iovine owns half of the beats business. That's the industry connect.

The game is harder no doubt but it remains the same. Only difference is labels now want a slice when an artist leverages their name/fame for cash

 

[GMOGMediaTV]

Nelly is a much better business man then he is an Artist.