THEORY: Mixtapes should only be limited to "Underground/Unsigned" artists

[MegaTronBomb!]

The thing that separates the aspiring unknown artist from the SERIOUS unknown artist is MONEY! if you're serious about blowing up and wanting to make it, it doesn't matter if you have a mixtape or album, have SOMETHING and with MONEY to promote/features/tour you'll make an impact all on your own

It's not even money breh.... let's keep it 100.

it's who you know,who can put you in position to build relationships and how you decide to go and pursue your goal.

with a macbook,garageband and a HD Camera/DSLR... you have the tools to create quality music, and visuals.

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

Look at ya man Fab for instance tho. His first 2 radio singles flopped. And his album got pushed back to next year. Now he is about to release another Soul Tape to build up the buzz. Why not take a couple of songs off that, shoot some dope videos and gun for street singles. Rather than dropping a 10 track mixtape with only 3 bangers? Why not jus work those 3 bangers into the cycle run? Why not use those street mixtapes as b-sides to tha radio oritented shyt he has been putting out


I swear labels are getting so damn lazy nowadays

The labels aint lazy per se, it's the rappers..... they don't truly take this shyt as a profession.... it's just something they do to make money.

if you just left some of these dudes alone, all they'd be doing is partying, spending money on clothes and taking selfies...they'd never make music

Fab is just fukking lazy, no cuts about it.

He could've easily just dropped an EP with 7-8 tracks, shoot low budget/minimalist videos out of pocket...and hit the damn road for a tour.. at this point in his career, he should have a fanbase that's big enough to were dropping quality music will get him back on the radar.

 

[Rominati]

The labels aint lazy per se, it's the rappers..... they don't truly take this shyt as a profession.... it's just something they do to make money.

if you just left some of these dudes alone, all they'd be doing is partying, spending money on clothes and taking selfies...they'd never make music

Fab is just fukking lazy, no cuts about it.

He could've easily just dropped an EP with 7-8 tracks, shoot low budget/minimalist videos out of pocket...and hit the damn road for a tour.. at this point in his career, he should have a fanbase that's big enough to were dropping quality music will get him back on the radar.

You right man. Some of these rappers are just grown ass kids

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

You right man. Some of these rappers are just grown ass kids

The love the lifestyle, more than they love the craft/profession.

it's alot of these rappers, who spend all day on social media, but rarely are promoting their music, or doing shows.

Fab is one of them.

i really think Fab truly lacked the work ethic and determination to ever be great.... he had all the tools to be great ( lyrics, radio singles for bytches, reputation for murdering features, dudes thought his clothing game was sick etc.)

Fab is one of those dudes, who'd be cool with never rapping again, if he had a sick closet,nice whips and just got to hit the club and all the events.

 

[Danie84]

The only reason an established artist should ever drop a mixtape is to feed their audience the fillers and leftovers from the retail album, but that's coming from a 90s kid point of view

 

[C-Styles]

It's not even money breh.... let's keep it 100.

it's who you know,who can put you in position to build relationships and how you decide to go and pursue your goal.

with a macbook,garageband and a HD Camera/DSLR... you have the tools to create quality music, and visuals.

at the end of the day though, the foundation of putting your music out is PROMOTION and what does it take to get the best promotion?? $$$$$$$!

 

[45123]

Eminem doesn't care about selling records? WOW
Any Label would be happy if their anchor artist did platinum no matter if he averages 5 million for the last 15 years? WOW
No artist attempts to go platinum? WOW

As far as losing money, i may be wrong, I dont know how much money they really spent promoting this album. I will retract that one, they probably wont lose money if he only sells a million, they just wont make that much money, and they will lose the oppurtunity to make a sh!tload of money off the eminem brand for this 2 year sales cycle.

I don't know what Em cares and doesn't care about, but at this point why would he give a single fukk if his album didn't go diamond or 5x platinum?

People don't just shoot for something like that, going diamond or plat happens over time, it's not a matter of planning and dropping singles or videos like you would during an album run. This is just common sense.

Artists don't attempt to go platinum because if you need to attempt, you're not a platinum selling artist. People like Jay-Z, JT, Adele, etc. don't "attempt" to go platinum, it just happens... at the same time, artists like Wale or Big Sean don't "attempt" to go platinum because it's not a realistic projection....

+ You said a platinum record is an "abysmal failure" for Em, when he's only had 2 diamond records in his career (both of which came out over a decade ago) and the rest have all sold platinum. Start making some sense breh At best MMLP2 will be 3x plat by 2015 and you're damn right Interscope would be happy with that

 

[scuba]

I don't know what Em cares and doesn't care about, but at this point why would he give a single fukk if his album didn't go diamond or 5x platinum?

People don't just shoot for something like that, going diamond or plat happens over time, it's not a matter of planning and dropping singles or videos like you would during an album run. This is just common sense.

Artists don't attempt to go platinum because if you need to attempt, you're not a platinum selling artist. People like Jay-Z, JT, Adele, etc. don't "attempt" to go platinum, it just happens... at the same time, artists like Wale or Big Sean don't "attempt" to go platinum because it's not a realistic projection....

+ You said a platinum record is an "abysmal failure" for Em, when he's only had 2 diamond records in his career (both of which came out over a decade ago) and the rest have all sold platinum. Start making some sense breh At best MMLP2 will be 3x plat by 2015 and you're damn right Interscope would be happy with that

Dude, honestly you think you are talking 'common sense' but you are talking a very naive version of how albums are made and promoted.
I dont want to talk down to you, and honestly its not that important, its really a thread about mixtapes, i am going to let it go. Thanks for the conversation though.

 

[45123]

Dude, honestly you think you are talking 'common sense' but you are talking a very naive version of how albums are made and promoted.
I dont want to talk down to you, and honestly its not that important, its really a thread about mixtapes, i am going to let it go. Thanks for the conversation though.

So for the sake of conservation tell me how albums are actually made and promoted, because I fail to see why any label would habor expectations of an album going diamond when that shyt comes once in a blue moon

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

at the end of the day though, the foundation of putting your music out is PROMOTION and what does it take to get the best promotion?? $$$$$$$!

the thing about is that Money is it's not how much you spend, it's how you use it.

and if you know how to effectively use social media, forums, your local scene and your social circle, you don't really need to spend much of anything... if you know what you're doing.

word of mouth is far more powerful,potent and lasting than anything you can pay for.

 

[CELL]

Don't blow this out of proportion now. Kanye, Drake, Jay, Em, Cole released a mixtape of his album throways have released the biggest albums of this year that have outsold every one and not released any type of mixtapes this year.

Snoop fukked around and released a tape fair enough, Wayne stays trying to flood the market with his bullshyt and MMG for some weird reason seem to like releasing mixtapes. THAT'S IT.

 

[Tetris v2.0]

I love free music. The odd thing is, I'm more than willing to pay for quality music to reward the artist, but the actual albums end up being weak, and the free tape doesnt get a physical release...

 

[Danny Up]

There is no damn reason why artists backed by major labels should be wasting time & resources on putting out free mixtapes on datpiff n livemixtapes. They should simply save these songs for their album. Or work it into their next album promo cycle like Drake does.

All this damn free music is turning rap into one big gumbo soup, where there is no difference between a joe schmo mixtape and a Young Jeezy "Its Da World" series. Its hurting both sides of the spectrum. Also sucks when these artists mixtapes are better than their album. (Rich Forever, Detroit). Artists should jus stack up these songs and consolidate them into the best body of work they can. Rather than splitting it down the middle. Jus for the sake of dropping 40 songs in one year. When cats only fukk with 6 to 7 of them.

Back in the day mixtapes used to mean something. Used to be when a artist was hungry and on the come up. But now its jus like something to hold you over for tha week. I bet people aint even bumping that Nip or Games new joint like dat no more.

How many artists are Drake? Drake is basically guaranteed a release date and actual soundscans.

All this free music ain't free. It's stuff the artist will get charged for anyway. Why not put it out and get a buzz, that way the label can't say "you ain't buzzin" right.

Plus y'all cry about CdD prices, why cry when the artist throw you a bone?

 

[SunZoo]

There's label and radio pressure, but nobody from Shady or Interscope actually came through and told them what to make or how to sound. Slaughterhouse's album was exec. produced by Em, so as far as I'm concerned all those poppy songs were Em's doing/Slaughterhouse's wish to blow up on radio. Eminem is Eminem, he can make what the fukk he wants and still sell a million records.

Nah, relapse ONLY, did 2 mill...you think they were happy with that? I highly doubt it was em's idea to scrap the sequel only to turn around and make such a huge run at top 40 hits. All this "he can put out ___ and it'll still sell"...yea relative to everybody else, but his bar for success is much higher, and the notion that him being such a big artist somehow gives him extra weight to throw around doesn't really make sense.

The most he could really do is...take a hiatus, and we see how that worked out. I honestly think they let him run with the horrocore theme just to get him back in the studio.

 

[SunZoo]

All music is free brehs.

music is only as valuable, as you deem it is.

IMO, mixtapes aren't being used correctly..... up and coming rappers should use them to gain fanbases, and rappers that are already on, should be using them to show appreciation to their fanbase.
cats dropping 6-7 mixtapes just cause, when they can accomplish more with a solid 3-4 and actually taking their profession seriously.

rappers who are already on, need to start scrapping mixtapes... and get back to making EP's

Spot on with this. The idea that you need to put out a full lenght LP is dying, and should have died a long time ago.

I honestly feel like you might have more room for themes/concepts if you shied away from long ass projects and came with 6-7 tracks, you could still drop a couple of those a year as a established act rather than doing tapes.