July 26, 2022
Bobby Shmurda was once signed to a label, but he’s now independent and dropping knowledge for those looking to navigate the music industry.
During a recent visit to The Party Starters Podcast, the Brooklyn rapper broke down the differences between signing to a major label and being an independent artist. To help illustrate his point, Bobby used the drug game as an analogy.
“You can think of independence like this: [think of] your albums and EPs as bricks, pounds, just for the streets,” he said. “You got a bunch of traps — distributors or labels. You can give an EP here, you can give an album here, you can give a half a pound here, you give a pound here, you give half a key here. It’s just like we did in the hood.”
He continued, “Labels are different. They’re gonna give you all the fame, they’re gonna put you in front of everybody’s face, where everybody gon’ love you. But you ain’t getting no money. You gonna be wearing everything for free, going everywhere for free and the point in time you act up, ‘Bitch get your ass [out]!’
“And you don’t [own your music] and you don’t even make no money. Every 30 days, I need that check, I need my own check. Your music gone, you don’t get no money. You better get your ass up and get on them stages… It’s a pimp and ho game.”
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