Mixtape Madness

(Written Dec. 2012)

Mixtape Madness

Lets’ face it, we’re all staring in the face of a lie. Mixtapes of 2012 are not real mixtapes. Ask the 21-year-old Frank Ocean listening, Coachella drunken hipster about Doo Wop 95 Live, Kid Capri 52 Beats and Tony Touch 50 MC’s and expect vacant eyes.

MTV referred to mixtapes as “The Other Music Industry” but can it really be an industry with a near non-existent direct financial gain.

“Considering the consumers of Hip-Hop are mostly stereotyped as 'young, black and male' they don't really purchase legal music. That’s why a lot of Hip-Hop artists as they start out always have to do the traditional mixtape to win their fans over. Feeding their fans free music, causing a buzz gives that artist credibility. “ Akua Afram, music publisher.

There has to be a point when an artist’s financial eco-system has to be able to survive away from the platform it started on.

“A perfect example of this is Tinie Tempah, before his first commercial release with 'Discovery' he had a known underground track 'Wifey' and that was it. I think if artists are going to release free music, do it for a limited time i.e. 1 month, so it creates more value.” Akua Afram

Lets not confuse mixtapes and re-mixtapes which feature new lyrics over already popular production. The mixtapes I’m referring to are the 10track files of original music mixed and mastered posted on mixtapes hosting sites such as DatPiff and HoodTapes that are essentially free albums. Fabulous ‘The Soul Tape 2’ a mixture of the two and proves to be the perfect bridge between albums if presented correctly.

Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Friday weekly releases leading up to this album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, were a crucial bridge between his core fan base and those with a heavy mixtape appetite. Using left over tracks from his finished album, he grew anticipation for his full-length project by letting his audience into its concepts, while still leaving them thinking the best was still to come. Following the success of G.O.O.D Friday My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sold 496,000 the first week. Swizz Beatz then followed the same method with his Monster Mondays releases.

Starting a career constantly giving your audience a free product then expecting that same audience to come back and pay for that same product seems like an unrealistic concept. This method of selling music has become standard for new artists, setting them up to fail financially setting a glass ceiling in the music industry outside of the Hip-Hop world.  

“At what point do you have a restaurant and not have a till. It’s the same concept people are following with music. I hear this all day “I’m just giving people a little taste of what’s to come”. Most rappers continually put out mixtapes and it still doesn’t help them sell records, its not working.” Amaru Wilcox

The problem comes for new artists when transitioning mixtape fans from expecting free music into buying costumers. Mark Asari says the transition hangs on building a brand “I'd say aim to get people to buy into you as a person/brand, that’s the only way they would wanna support you”.

I recently saw a conversation on my Twitter stream that read, ”Eve wants to make a comeback” “She’s left it way too long” “ She should put out a mixtape because no one is about to pay for her music”

Even artists who have had decade long careers have to pressure to release free music. The mentality of waiting for an artist to release music has changed completely. Why should people buy an Eve album ten years after her last release when there are so many other emerging female MC’s to fill that void for free?

Unground Hip-Hop fan Calum Bolt says his attitudes have changed towards free music over the past three years “I’ve been investing in artist who have moved from mixtapes to albums, I didn’t before. I’ve realised we have to progress the culture and give people who are talented their dues. “

Aysha Brown, heavy mixtape hosting site user has a different view buying music from artist she discovered during their mixtape days “I download all my music, why shouldn’t I when I can get it for free”

Nicki Minaj is a mastermind of the mix-tape to album transition with audience brand investment. Over the past two year she has been the face of major campaigns with Mac makeup, Barbie, Pepsi and sits alongside Mariah Carey on American Idol. Pink Friday sold 375,000 copies the first week giving Nicki the second highest first week sales for a female hip-hip recording artist behind Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauyrn Hill.

The Odd future/ Nicki Minaj effect is the best way for this to be explained, Odd Future isn’t just a group they are a lifestyle. Fans can live the Odd Future life not by downloading the music but by buying into the lifestyle, everything from hoodies to socks and skate board wheels. Odd Futures business model doesn’t seem to depend on music, it’s all about the life style this is evident by the way clothes are sold on their website. Cashing in on the band t-shirt revival, clothes are photographed being worn in the street by people who mirror their target audience.  

The disparity between the sales of Hip-Hop albums compared to other genres like Country and Rock is almost impossible to ignore because it’s all down the attitudes of the consumers. Lady Antebellum saw 347,000 units sold in first week of their album ‘Own The Night” being released where as Meek Mill sold 167,000 units for Dreams & Nightmares on billboard after releasing nine mixtapes.

Mixtapes biggest casualty is the producer who gives unreleased beats to artists recording mixtapes.  Mixtapes are free so no publishing money is generated in order for producers to be paid. Lil’ Wayne explains to MTV why he didn’t use original beats for his No Ceilings mixtape.

“I don’t like to do real songs on there, cause the producers be wanting their money. So I just do shit that’s already out. It’s easier.”

If producers have the same mindset as artists who aim to gain exposer from mixtapes, there is a huge flaw in this concept. The over saturation of mixtapes in Hip-Hop means mixtapes have a very short shelf life.  On the rare occasion when mixtape songs make it onto commercial radio, it’s difficult for a producer to receive the correct amount of publishing because negotiations on publishing splits rarely take place for songs initially intended for mixtapes.

Mixtapes launched Frank Ocean’s solo career along with writing songs for artist such as Beyonce, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Some would say Channel Orange selling 135,000 units the first week is a respectable achievement but is it really when Mumford & Sons album Babel sold 600,000 units its first week. Bear in mind Frank Ocean gained an almost cult following and constantly fed his fans with free music. His Nostalgia, Ulta mixtape has almost 600,000 downloads and 1.46 million views on datpiff.com.  This huge gap in sales between genres was again on display when Dr. Dre protégé Kendrick Lamar released debut Hip-Hop album of the year ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city sold 241,000 albums on Billboard, while just one place above him on Billboard Taylor Swift’s album ‘Red’ sold 1.2 million (October 2012).

When record labels cite financial plans to invest in Hip-Hop artist it makes sense for them to make lower risk investments with an almost guaranteed return. This can be found in Multi-Rights (360) deals. UK record labels made £76million from multi-rights deals in 2011.

In Multi-rights deals the artist receives an advance as usual then the label gives financial support in terms of marketing, merchandise and touring but the artist must give the label a percentage of all revenue streams as a brand. This can benefit the artist in terms of the label’s commitment of the push to make money because they have more streams of revenue.

The Weekend proves that is it possible to tour after releasing free music. With label backing better tours can be produced with both parties making a profit. Branding opportunities can increase with larger financial backing investing in the Odd Future method and creating a lifestyle with a bigger impact. The key to make artist profits increase and not being a slave to the labels in creating an agreed time scale. If an artist agrees to a six-album multi-rights deal the percentage an artist receives should increase with the release of each album and the brand assets the label owns should be reduced.

It’s not only new artist are signed to 360 deals both Jay-Z and Madonna have Multi-Rights deals with Live Nation totaling in $270,000,000 paid to the artists.

Music publisher Akua Afram explains the differences in attitude towards Hip-Hop music’s financial representation in the United Kingdom compared to America “If you look at the staff make up of these labels, they are not really into Hip-Hop. Most of the CEOs in UK labels are mostly from affluent backgrounds. Since they see Hip-Hop as genre that doesn't sell as well, labels feel it makes more sense to do these '360' deals and also the usual stigma "hip-hop' doesn't sell in the UK". So labels might as well buy into the brand and the live side.

Whereas in the US, it's completely the opposite and also bare in mind, most high-profile artists, managers and producers i.e. Jay-Z, Rodney Jerkins and Salaam Remi even have high positions in labels, so their decisions hugely affect the trends of tomorrow. I personally don't believe in 360 deals for a recording artist.”

Branding is the critical element to artists not getting stuck in a mixtape state of mind. Not limiting the audience and it’s value to the wider market place, is the only way to grow the culture of Hip-Hop’s competitive economical value.