Independence or get a deal?

[killafifth]

Would you rather get a deal or build your self as a brand. Is their a need for artist to submit to industry standards since the internet alows independent artist to become lucrative ?

[CharlesJones]

Good topic. Independent is the best way to go for underground rappers. Mainstream rappers are the ones that wanna get record deals and they'll do anything to get one so they can be famous and sell records hahahahahahahahahahaha.

[madchild]

Vinnie Paz said when they left Babygrande Records, the label was taking 50% of the tour sales and JMT was making very little from each record sale once everyone took a cut. Touring 6-months out of the year was where they were making their money. It only made sense for them to leave and start their own label. It also didn't help that Stoupe didn't tour so they had to hire a DJ and Vinnie kept paying Stoupe back home to keep working on production and convinced him to take side-projects. Babygrande pretty much folded after JMT left, since they practically funded the company's operation and new artists. Vinnie does a pretty good job of marketing and networking nowadays.

Havoc or maybe it was Prodigy said at one point going independent was the way to go when they distributed their solo project through Koch with their own money. On the other hand, it sounded like they had it easy when they were signed to G-Unit Records as a group.