How will artists survive in Hip Hop these days

The music industry is just about dead, and the how come doesn’t really matter, its done and over. The real question now is what next? How does an artist eat in an environment like this where CD sales have dropped 30% since last year and continue to freefall drop ?

For rock&roll bands, touring and merchandising will become more important than ever. In the very near future I predict all labels will be begging you to download their music for free as long as you promise to buy a T-shirt on your way out the concert. Rap acts though don’t tour very much. There are more rappers than there are fans these days. And that makes it even harder to establish a real fan base and keep them. Getting them to buy your music is a joke. Only rich kids in the suburbs buy cds these days and not many of them do that anymore either. Hip Hop is in turmoil these days and will only get worse. Im from the old school and I miss the days when only one new album would come out a month. Now that there is home recording on every block in every hood, tracks are recorded at a vicious pace. Every artist has the dream of being the next rap superstar. Im not a dreamer or a dream crusher but it will be hard. Most indie artists try like hell for a couple years then you never hear from them again after they fail. To survive in this industry you need a niche or a gimmick or some major money behind you talent and good tracks will not do it. The 1 hit wonders are here and gone in the blink of a eye in hip hop. The Labels are so out of touch with reality they saw this all coming but did nothing about it. 99% Of all songs and CDs on Itunes have not sold one single copy. If you think you have made it because you have your music on itunes you will be very dissapointed. You can promote until your fingers bleed and nothing will happen and nothing will sell. Its done and over checkmate.

As 50 himself admitted in a Vibe Magazine interview, when asked about declining music sales industry wide, he said he doesn’t care if less people buy the record, as long as they buy his clothing, vitamin water, videos games, and movies. 50 is in the business of selling a lifestlye, with music as the bait, a trick that P Diddy and Jay-Z  learned long ago. In order to survive in Hip Hop and eat off the music you need sponsors.

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