Underground Fame
 

mainstream.............more money then underground........


click the link in my sig

i totally agree with you on that one. I would much rather be makin' real music and havin' enuff money to just rap for a livin', nuttin' else. Hollatchaboi.

-CJ-

real music is better then fake music, but i would probably touch the mainstremm just to see if i can make a good club banger, then go back to underground

How much does Underground pay compared to mainstream...

not alot i bet, underground is in the hundred thousands, maybe,
mainstreem in the millions

you get 500 thousand goin gold (from what ive heard) underground people dont realize 500 thousand dollars is alot of money lmao cause i dont care how much i make aslong as im in tha studio makin music.....

the money doesnt even compare tho yo

well thats you blay im quite content with 500 or 700 thousand off one album its a lavish livin thats alotta money cause im not in it for the currency i love makin music......

yeah i know i agree but im just sayin if ur takin money into consideration, they dont even compare.

but ayo, you are underestimating what it would take JUST to earn those 500,000.. whereas in mainstream when u get to the top u are earning those millions.

You wont get that much off of a gold album unless like Master P you handle EVERY BUISNESS ASPECT

sure you could...cause when you go gold in mainstream thats basicly nothin.....so only way to make ya money back in mainstream is to go platinum when you really think about it...

isn't it more difficult to go gold in underground...

Yeah, thas what i was thinkin, cuz dont nobody buy your shit.

not really i mean take hot 97 in NY underground artists be on that and how many people listen to hot 97?...alot so its not that hard...

Listening to the radio and buying records are two totally different things...

Mainstream all the way....

I'll sell outin a heart beat.

Exactly people would exept the money in an instant

For me its always been if you got a message that you want people to hear.. Then the more famous you can get, the further your message will spread. Money is important, but theres other things that come into play with what I'm trynna achieve through hip hop.

fuck that...

gimme green an I'll kick a baby in the head when he aint lookin.

listen to nostra if i made it underground i want hall of fame and respect with my message to make it to the mainstream and have an impact n message for all. Will the underground king of a town be remembered forever and read in books or will P.diddy for his empire and message in hiphop...nas for example will be in for both for his sick underground shit and his black views on society...If i make it big i support my family but ima work for a image and generation to build on...i want hall of fame n a place in time over cash tho

Who the hell told you that?? don't believe them monkies you see on their solid platinum leashes. The jewelry is rented and so is the cars. It's all for image so you think they're far more paid than they actually are. You know how many rappers are piss broke? Actually, I got a collab on a Nostra track about a topic a lot liek this.

But it's simple mathmatics.

Mainstream, First Contract: 10¢/ CD. Yup..no joke. Not even the BIGGEST of rappers is making more than 15¢/CD and that's with over 10 years in the game unless they own the label. Yeah, that's cents. Not Dollars. Lets say you go Gold...actually, lets overexagerate and say you go platinum on your first album (which is unheard of). That's 1,000,000 x .10 = $100,000 (gold would be $50,000).

Underground, First Contract: $5/CD Yup. Underground, going rate is $5/CD in hand. 10 if you own the label. Lets say you go Gold (which with proper distribution is realistic). 500,000 x 5.00 = $2,500,000. You just made literally 25 times the money with half the records sold. 50 times the money if you compare Gold against Gold. If you went platinum underground, that'd make you 5 million dollars of JUST the CD's.

Once agian, mainstreamers make NO money off rap it self. They make money off endorsements, advertising spots, commercials, doing call-signs, etc. whoring themselves. Their presence somewhere or on something. The only real money they'll see is on live gigs like concerts where they'll see 5k a show for a big venue on a first contract. Guys like Jig will see 50-75k. Maybe even 100 for a club venue at Speed or The Tunnel (when that was open). Jig will see a portion of ticket sales (which will pay better than a flat wad), and that's after 15 years of rap. On a ticket, he'll see 3 dollars tops, PER ticket and remember he's a big-dog in rap. Now check this..

Lets say Jig sold out Madison Square Garden to full capacity(which he did). MSG seats a little under 20,000 people. Now here's the math:

20,000 x $3 = $60,000. Jig made 60k form selling out madison square garden on cheap $20 seats. At 6 bucks/ticket on a $50-100 dollar ticket, he'd rake in 75k tops. That means that any underground head that went gold made more money than Jay-Z did on selling out the world famous Madison Square Garden. Seems strange, but it's true.

Split for profitability for an undergorund emcee's career is along the liens of:

CD: 60%
Live: 25%
Endorsements: 10%-15%
Other: 5% (underground mixtapes, pirate radio spots, magazine covers, etc)


Mainstreamer is more like:
CD: 2%
Live: 45%
Endorsements: 35% (though could be far higher depending on success of alternate things liek clothes, alchohol, and other material things)
Other: 18% (radio spots, callsigns, magazine covers, etc)

damn yo thats crazy*the fact i read the whole thing*]

but thats funny i thought it was the other way around, but i guess underground wins

but what does it mean to own your own label
EX: MM owns shady records, so does that mean he owns his own label?

or how NAS owns illmatic?

The guy that owns the label = makes the most money. They make the $5 (actually $7)/CD now with less headaches and WAY less work. Now when YOU go Gold or platinum, you earn THEM the 2.5 mil. They essentially make underground money with mainstream exposure. Now they have the experience of being jerked on their deal and know what the market is like, who their fanbases are, who can distrobute the numbers they need, who they need to bribe for spins, etc. While you make ¢10/CD.

what i meant was, who has there own label that is currently mainstreem?

billions*...at the end of the day..money wins.

Wow, that's a long list. There's quite a few, to be honest, but I'm sure you already know Dre, Nas, Master P, Diddy, and Jay do. Eminem dosen't own a label, he owns a sub-label on Aftermath, which means Em can't make a move that won't put a dollar in Dre's pocket. The more I think about it, there's quite a few emcees out there with their own label. Shit, even Peedy Pablo owns a label, and who can name more than 2 songs he EVER rapped on? lol.

its good to be respected, but dollars pays the bills, dollar dollar bill ya'll

Just out of curiosity where did you get all that infomation?

Seriously....I just want niggas to hear my voice. I want as many people as possible to hear my voice. I want the next great rap artist to look up to me. I want to roll up and hear niggas BANGIN my shit from their car. I wanna be performing to a sold out crowd who all know and feel every word of every one of my tracks.

Money is just a plus.

^ word to that.

Doomsday saved me some typing, and if you didn't know any of that and you're trying to be serious, you need to read up or fall back.

Id be underground....

i'd be underground in a second...

you guys think eminem owns his own lable, but actually shady is owned by interscope also. gunit is owned by interscope. roc is part of def jam, always has been, they just keep it on the low. so they aren't actually make the money that say Atmosphere makes because they own Rhymesayers. Distribution deals fuck over commercial artists even if they own their own label.

that and the rest, underground stays true, you most likely won't get famous but the real heads will hear it. not that most of you are real heads, but its all gravy.

^^^^^^^
where do you think alot of main stream artists came from?
UNERGROUND

They all started somewhere....

Acquired over time talking to different people, reading contracts and speaking to an entertainment lawyer.

not the real underground, when mainstream artists come out they aren't ever in the real underground like Immortal Technique, Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Aesop Rock etc etc...you kids are funny...\

chingy wasn't ever underground, he wasn't well known, their is a difference
50 wasn't ever underground, people just didn't like him in the underground, i know
etc etc etc etc etc etc

^^he's right. Just because no one's heard of you dosen't mean you're underground. Most of these homos you see kicking around in the mainstream today are backpack rappers with record deals.