I think Odd Future were the last artist to ever sign a deal like that cause Sony didn’t know what to do with them,they just wanted in on the OF hype. Artist now carry no weight when signing deals beyond numbers,something that really doesn’t exist beyond a computer. I feel like unsigned artist actually don’t know their true worth and signed artist are getting bamboozled now more than ever.

T.I.,50 Cent,Jay-Z,Kanye,Dr.Dre,Diddy and Master P are the last true moguls in Rap,where they had their feet in a lil of everything. Tyler,Rocky,Travis and Drake are moguls to a lesser extent but their still not of this generation. No one this gen seems to be on course to have that kind of status beyond rap and it’s all by design.

Either rappers now have no real business sense or their getting the weakest contracts in music history and no one cares. We’ve seen the bs contract Migos had and Megan’s label trouble while a guy like Rocky was given a real no strings attached 3 million dollar deal for I think like 2 or 3 albums by RCA Records in 2012. Streaming killed normal contracts,let alone the 80/20 deal.

These dudes are locked in 360 ass deals with no mogul potential in sight cause of the design of streaming. Artist hold no real cards other than a streaming number converted from an algorithm and streaming service labels have deals with,smh.

idk but Drake won

Trab

Really forgot about him bout to add to op

He really did,him and Travis are the only ones on path to becoming moguls comparable to Jay-Z and Diddy

“You ain't own it right away,
you had to wait on niggas

Man, I'm only 29, have some patience with us”

I guess getting figuratively f***ed isn’t as bad as getting literally f***ed

What do you think an artist should do to leverage their growing presence? Do you think labels are wise to an artist trying to squeeze them? Ive been interested in deals and stuff but i guess i suck at google cuz i never get the links i want to see

Don’t forget Russ. Did u know that he only signs distribution deals and owns all his music? Also he writes and mixes it all. He also disclosed that he signed with Columbia to release his first album the day he signed, other rappers keep it a secret

It’s questionable cause when top guys are stuck in crazy deals,there’s bad deals going around. Some people can work their way out of a bad deal tho,I can see NBA Youngboy making real bank in the future cause it seemed like he exceeded expectations meanwhile someone like Doja Cat could possibly be in some heavy debt soon like Kreayshawn.

It just depends I think,everyone’s so monkey see,monkey do now. There’s no real reason a label should offer artist real money deals now.

Don’t sign lmao

Just realized Sheck Wes is f***ed. Hes signed to Cactus Jack AND GOOD Music

If your gonna sign a deal,I feel like you need to establish a real world presence first. Do shows,create a real team and let your numbers build,don’t jump on a deal just cause you have a big hit. See if you can keep that momentum going and invest in yourself.

The catch with a distribution deal tho is that he’s paying for advertising,videos,his lifestyle etc. Only thing labels do is give him whatever backing a label does in 2020 cause the whole point of a distribution deal is that the label prints the CD’s.

Can Russ really justify a distribution deal?

It does, but for established artists.

Drake, Wayne, Taylor... I'm sure all have very favorable deals with Republic.

Bruh this sounds so empty-headed lol.

This is some perfect world nonsense.

You think hit records just fall into your lap??? Even still if you get a hit record the reson major labels have a purpose is because they still actually PUSH your music. A hit record from a label signed act and an independent act will have TWO VERY DIFFERENT REACHES.

No huge amount of new real life artists can do what you say because the overhead will eat them up. Hence why new acts sign deals

!

and interscope lol

Thats most definately not what a distribution deal is mate.

And russ never had a distribution deal. He signed a record deal which gave him the rights to 100% of his masters and publishing and instead of an advance or whatever. It was a 50/50 profit split between colombia and him

Hence why no new acts have leverage within a deal. It’s also why the trap sound is so popular cause it’s cheap to make that kinda music and usually the kids making that music are broke,I will admit.

But if they could just hold on and not worry about that rapper image for a moment,people will call them for shows,they’ll get exposure,it’ll work out. It’s just a process artist don’t wanna go through now cause the money is thrown at them and these labels tell em “you’ll never get this chance again”.

You right, with all the media discourse over streaming, this angle has been slept on, probably also by design

So what is a distribution deal besides it being a way for artist not having to worry about pushing their music out for sale?