NO FUTURE 4 MIXTAPES ?!?
Dear friends,
I just received this interesting article about evolution of the mixtapes business during the past years & also some reflection about his future... Personaly I do agree with the global article point of vue but I've to read it more focused to publish my own vision of this great article....
Dont hesitate to post your comments friends...
ARNAUD aka Evolution MS
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The
Free Mixtape/Street Album phenomena is killing the revenue flow in the
Hip Hop game. Artists are not getting paid, producers are not getting
paid, etc.. I say leave the MULTIPLE Mixtapes for the DJ's and the
rappers should go back to giving out singles and samplers and creating
quality EP's or Albums that they can market and sell.
Rappers have trained their audience to
expect free music all of the time with the multiple releases of Free
Street Albums.. CRAZY!
Stop painting rap fans with a broad brush. Not every rap fan wants free throw away music.
Rap fans are not demanding this free clutter music; it's being shoved on them.
Many aspiring Rock & Roll, Pop,
Country and R&B artists are building solid fan bases without giving
away free albums. Rappers Take Note!
Your fans must either want to be you or believe you. You must know your target market and your music has to resonate with them.
As an Artist you must understand that your
Fans don’t just buy your music; they buy your Lifestyle, your Brand and
your Movement as well.
You don't have to keep putting out
multiple free street album/mixtapes of original music to attract fans.
You can release other free content from your brand like music videos,
freestyles, video diaries, audio from radio interviews, video from
concert performances, etc.. Nowadays it's no longer just about selling
CD's; It's about selling or providing "Content" and conveying the
mission of your Brand and your movement.
Try something different to build a
fanbase. Look into the possibility of producing and starring in your own
short films or long version music videos and add your music as the
score. Think outside of your circumference.
Give away a single or a sampler to attract
fans and then get them excited about buying a full length album or EP
from you. Give them something to look forward to. When rappers
constantly give away whole street albums of original music right out of
the gate, it's like a woman giving up everything on the first date.
There is no momentum, no excitement and no build up to what comes next
because she gave up everything on the first date. And it's the same with
artists.
Many upcoming rappers take the mystique
& excitement out of their brand by giving away everything up front
in the form of FREE Street Albums.
At least 70% of the independent rappers
who put out multiple FREE Street Albums last year did not make a dime
from their endeavors. FACT!
The crazy thing is that my next door
neighbor's 10 year old daughter made more money selling lemonade last
summer than many unsigned rappers made all year from their music
endeavors which included Free Mixtapes and Showcase performances.. The
little girl gave out samples, she advertised, did a raffle and then she
sold lots of lemonade drinks and ices. (Apply basic business principles
to your music projects and watch your revenue grow by three fold)
The game plan for most unsigned rappers
consists of giving away Free Street Album/Mixtapes and paying to be in
showcases. And that's it.
The average rapper spends $1500 to put out his Free Mixtape/Street Album..
Who's getting paid off of your FREE
MIXTAPE/STREET ALBUM? LET'S SEE (Count With Me): The Studio, the
engineer, the graphic designer for the cover, the CD manufacturer,
perhaps the DJ you paid to host it, and perhaps the producers of the
original tracks, the mixtape marketing company, and Datpiff or any other
mixtape website that posts your mixtape in order to draw traffic to
their site with the expectation of selling ads based on that traffic,
etc
I know an unsigned rapper who paid $2500
to a well known DJ to host the rapper's FREE mixtape/street album. And
the DJ didn't even promote it. Next the rapper spent $1500 to get a
collaboration on a song with a popular upcoming MC that went on the FREE
mixtape/street album. Then the rapper paid the studio and engineer to
record and mix the FREE mixtape/street album and he paid a graphic
designer to design the cover. Then the rapper spent $500 duplicating the
CD's. And finally the rapper paid $1500 to a mixtape marketing company
to promote the Free mixtape/street album. At the end of the day, this
rapper spent close to $7000 on a Mixtape/Street album that he gave away
for free. He got 12,500 downloads at the end of the day.. Was it worth
it? I say NO! Most independent rappers are just following Lil Wayne and
Drake and have no idea what they are doing.
Equally important, when you put a Free
mixtape/street album on Datpiff or any other mixtpape site and generate
thousands of downloads, do you know the demographics (Sex, Race or Age)
of those downloading your mixtape? NO! Can you obtain the email
addresses of those downloading your mixtape? NO! Do you know the
location of those downloading your mixtape? NO! On these mixtape sites
you don't receive any real stats and thus you don't know who your
potential consumers are. And the crazy thing is that some rappers are
even buying download stats on Datpiff now. The only thing that you are
doing is making money for Datpiff. They use the traffic you draw to
their site to sell advertisements. RAPPERS WAKE UP! For many rappers
these Free Mixtape/street albums are just vanity projects and an
expensive hobby. And many spend little money advertising the mixtape
releases. Most rappers put out multiple free mixtape/street albums just
to stroke their ego, but they have no understanding that in many cases
they're just throwing away money and cluttering up the already saturated
Mixtape market.
And some rappers are even going as far as to buy Datpiff downloads and manufactured stats.
Fake Downloads On Datpiff + Fake Views On Youtube + Fake Followers On Twitter + Fake Fans On Facebook = FAKE MOVEMENT.
Just about every independent rapper has a
FREE mixtape on Datpiff cluttering the market place. Try Something
Different. Be Unique. Stand Out
It would make more sense to put the
mixtape on your own website and draw traffic there. You can set it up so
that people must enter a name and an email in order to download it.
Also you can put a traffic tracker on your own website and gather
analytic demographic data of the unique visitors who visit your site.
Moreover, you can also sell advertisements, bonus singles, merchandise
etc on your own site based on the traffic you draw there.
The bottom line is that many rappers are
just following a trend. Instead of having a plan, most indie artists
just make music and put it out like they're throwing darts against the
wall hoping to get lucky.
If Lil Wayne comes out tomorrow and states
that the Mixtape game is dead and he will no longer deal with it, then
watch how many rappers follow his lead.. SMH
ATTENTION INDEPENDENT ARTISTS: Are you
receiving publishing Checks? Do you sell merchandise? Do you sell
digital downloads? Are you getting paid from shows? Have you generated
revenue by licensing your music? Have you obtained funds from
Endorsements or Sponsorships? Do you get paid from doing features? Do
you keep track of money you spend and money you take in regarding your
music? Do you pay taxes based on income generated from your musical
endeavors? How much did you earn last year from your music endeavors?
How much do you expect to earn this year? How much did you invest in
Promotion last year? How much do you plan to invest in promotion this
year?
One hit single can generate millions for an artist via digital sales, publishing, paid shows, endorsements, ring tones, etc.
It is very important that every aspiring
artist and producer know and learn the multiple revenue streams in the
music business. Some of the Music Biz Revenue Streams include: CD Sales,
Digital Download Sales, Merchandising Sales, Tour Income, Licensing
Revenue, Publishing income, Ringtone Revenue, Endorsement Deals and
Sponsorship Revenue.
The key is to ATTRACT the masses to your
music. Convert folks into fans and capture them by being unconventional.
As an artist you have to get out there and meet with the people, engage
your supporters, hand out flyers, T-Shirts etc..
Don't be a backwards hustler.. What dude
you know in the streets who gives away all of his product and is able to
grow in the streets?
Big corporations give away free SAMPLES to
attract buyers, but they also invest in advertising and marketing to
sell the products as well.
PepsiCo is boosting its overall marketing
budget this year by as much as $600 million. SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES INVEST
IN PROMOTION. FACT!!
If you believe that nobody buys music
anymore, then you've already lost. You're just basically stating that
you're music career is a hobby.
Forget about putting out (3) three
mediocre FREE mixtapes in a row and concentrate on creating (1) one
CLASSIC ALBUM that you can market and sell.
The music business is NOT the LOTTERY.
That "Dollar and a Dream" mentality will not cut it. Get a Budget! Get a
Plan! And Get To Work! Do Remixes, Do Music Videos, Do Video Logs, Do
Contests, Do Shows, Do interviews, Get your own Merchandise, Connect
with DJ's and your fans.
There are millions of aspiring artists and
producers. So how do you expect to STAND OUT if you look, talk and
sound just like everyone else.
The music game is all "Smoke and Mirrors."
Don't get caught up in the illusion and Sleight of hand. Study and
Learn the biz for yourself.
MONETIZE YOUR MOVEMENT AND MAKE YOUR MOVEMENTS MAKE SENSE.
By Jesse Atkinson, CEO of Urban Threshold Inc and founder of the Underground Music Awards and The A&R Power Summit
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