STREETS OR COMMERCIAL

                            STREET OR COMMERCIAL 

This is a major decision more then 95% or all HIPHOP artist are faced with when creating music. 

HipHop artist are suppose to be the reporters of the streets, but when the commercial labels want to use your talents they want you to be more commercial. Going commercial is not selling your sole, but if you really enjoy the way you make music now then going commercial may not be the way for you. 

Keeping your albums street or less radio friendly is still profitable and in today's world with all the outlets via social media, media and digital sales a STREET artist with the right marketing can make just as much or more then a commercial artist when you wage in these factors.


STREET ARTIST:  STAY INDEPENDENT keep most of your royalties, other then paying back the producers and engineers you established a working relationship with, even tho the total earned may be lower then a MAJOR LABEL you end up keeping more in your pocket.

If you add the amount that an artist has to repay back after dropping one album on a major label compared to the amount an artist (that is a good independent artist with a fan base) makes back on his or her album the difference may not be to different.

YES independent artist have to work way harder, but the turn around on royalties is worth it.

NOW if you want to just get with a major label and have them pay for everything like for makeup, or people to pick your clothes etc ( in house) remember that every new person introduced into your circle comes with a $ pricetag.

Labels give advances, that's not because they like you, they give advances based on betting they will make double the amount they gave to you back.

getting a $100k advance may help you now but if you factor that now you owe that label at least $200k to start even seeing any money after the sales start, but if you factor also the recording cost, engineers, promotional cost etc, that major labels are now deferring unto the artist you could find yourself in a $400K hole before you even start seeing any royalties.

Independent artist with a strong small team usually spend around $5,000 to make a real album,
that covers producers cost and a possible music video. along with social media push, mixing mastering etc.

So even if you go and spend or invest $10,000 into your album, and promise out royalties to some featured artist or producers, you still start seeing a early return on your investment WAY FASTER then going into a MAJOR LABEL, so weigh your options heavily before signing away music.

5 COMMON MISTAKES INDEPENDENT ARTIST MAKE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

This is a short list of  5 COMMON MISTAKES INDEPENDENT ARTIST make when promoting your music and your brand over social media.


1.  Paying for views

fake views = fake views the numbers don't mean a thing especially in the social media generation.
A & R'S can tell who's numbers are fake, try explaining to a label how you got 1 million views and didn't make one cent from it or  why your not in demand to do shows somewhere?

2.  Paying for followers

Don't pay for followers, if your going to pay for something pay for real promo, like on www.thenxtstar.com . fake followers means no real fanbase so who are you promoting your new  music to on social media when you do drop it?

3.  Don't over pay for promo never pay per tweet.

Don't over pay for promo & never pay per tweet or post unless you know 1,000% that the posting party has a real following, a bunch of social media promoters have built fake accounts with a bunch of egg face, no pic accounts following them and these are the accounts they are going to promote your music to. If they have fake followers then you will be wasting your money.  If your paying for real promo as for a weekly or at least daily rate some places can offer a deal on 1,000 post etc. but make sure these posts are being posted on different times and also during peak hours or else you just wasted your social media budget on posts no one really viewed seen or heard.

4. DON'T PAY TO HAVE VIDEOS ADDED ON NETWORKS

Most video networks and websites make a money off of advertising etc. and for them to charge you to ad more content to a site they are making $$ off of, without offering you a percentage is crazy,
only add your video to free sites like youtube and monetize your own videos, and of course sites like www.thenxtstar.com because we don't charge to add your videos ever and you keep 100% of your monetized earnings. DO NOT PAY TO GET ON VEVO.COM you can take a few minutes and put a formal request to have a channel created on vevo by yourself. Vevo will respond in a few days and let you know if they are interested or not.

5. DO NOT DM ( unless requested) . 

So many artist make this mistake, of sending tracks and videos etc. via DM, Most of the companies execs, artist, producers etc. don't check the DM'S for new content. if you really want to reach out to them request a email address for submissions or find the email in the social media account. most professionals have a formal submission address included on their social media page.