how well do popular underground rappers do financially?

[RidonKs]

guys like masta ace or doom or atmosphere or j5

income wise, are these guys pretty well off, or just doing okay?

[GOBB]

J5 and Masta Ace are well off. Still creating music and doin shows.

[Jello]

guys like masta ace or doom or atmosphere or j5

income wise, are these guys pretty well off, or just doing okay?

According to google searches, some underground artists make more than commercial artists.

[v-unit]

According to google searches, some underground artists make more than commercial artists.

Are you serious? Commercial artists get a fat check just for signing somewhere.

[L.Kizzle]

Are you serious? Commercial artists get a fat check just for signing somewhere.

No they don't. Some of these commercial artist no nothin' about the business and basically sign their lives away.

[Sanity]

If you're willing to do a lot of the backbone work yourself going independent can be better for an artist. Moving 250,000 units on an independent label can get you some good money

[RidonKs]

J5 and Masta Ace are well off. Still creating music and doin shows.

enough to continue doing their thing, sure. but is ace making seven figures? a lot of the more popular underground guys have their own labels (rhymesayers, def jux, j-live's label, etc), to which the lesser known cats are signed. i dunno, it just struck me that i had no idea how much a guy like ace made; the range in my head was like 250k to a full mil.

it would also kinda put a damper on the content in a lot of the songs, particularly ace's. although i wouldn't really care that much, most of his albums are just full length dramas anyway. lol

According to google searches, some underground artists make more than commercial artists.

links?

[Jello]

links?

http://ezinearticles.com/?Undergroun...ine&id=2088524
Most of it is anecdotal evidence from forums and such.

[rezznor]

Are you serious? Commercial artists get a fat check just for signing somewhere.

no. they get a fat advance. they have to pay that money back.

[L.Kizzle]

There are only a couple of mainstream rappers makin money. You think these cats like Dorough and JS Boyz or whatever are making big money just cause they're on the radio all the time? OF course, they're making mor money then us ...

[Nanners]

atmosphere has to be doing alright. ive been to a few of his shows and they are always completely sold out.

[playtetris]

If you're willing to do a lot of the backbone work yourself going independent can be better for an artist. Moving 250,000 units on an independent label can get you some good money

who moves 250k on an independent label in the current climate (2k10)? wu only pushed 180k for their last release.

i'd say guys like atmosphere, masta ace do pretty well. they are constantly touring and would get (minimum) a grand per guest verse. jean grae was recently selling a collab with her for $800. if i wasn't broke at the time i would've paid for that ish immediately.

[Sanity]

who moves 250k on an independent label in the current climate (2k10)? wu only pushed 180k for their last release.

i'd say guys like atmosphere, masta ace do pretty well. they are constantly touring and would get (minimum) a grand per guest verse. jean grae was recently selling a collab with her for $800. if i wasn't broke at the time i would've paid for that ish immediately.

A good example is the Insane Clown Posse. I know they're hacks but they have such a cult following they move pretty good units.

[playtetris]

atmosphere has to be doing alright. ive been to a few of his shows and they are always completely sold out.

in that link i posted

( http://www.babygrande.com/scoreboard.jsp ) it shows just how well atmosphere are doing. 140k for their two most recent albums? that's VERY impressive in this climate.

[playtetris]

A good example is the Insane Clown Posse. I know they're are hacks but they have such a cult following they move pretty good units.

yeah. ghostface is another decent example. 340k for fishscale (which was quite an edgy release)? very impressive.