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Russ is a recording artist from Atlanta who has figured out the music industry. Once an artist struggling to make ends meet, he is now one of the highest paid hip hop artists in the world. All because he bet on himself and stayed independent, focusing on complete ownership.
The music business is all about leverage. In my videos on why your favorite musicians are broke, I detail the contracts that new artists sign that leave them earning significantly less money than they were led to believe. Major record labels succeed by signing artists with little leverage into deals that allow the label to earn multiples on their initial investment if the artist blows up.
I may have talked about why your favorite artists are broke. Well, Russ doesn’t fit that description at all. Major record labels hate Russ because he’s been providing the blueprint to stay independent and make millions for a few years now. Sadly, many people are turned off by his tone and aggressive attitude to overlook the gems he drops.
Russ is outspoken, arrogant, and loves to call out the fake B.S. in the music industry whenever he can. He rubs some people the wrong way and may not even make music you like. But I think he’s hands down one of the most enjoyable interviews to listen to regarding the music industry.
Russ will always have my respect. The ability for someone to make 11 albums, only attain 1,000 followers, and still pursue a career making music is a level of confidence that I can appreciate from afar. Imagine having so much conviction in your ability to reach your dreams that you don’t quit and try a different path after releasing 11 projects. He released more music than some artists do in their entire careers before his TuneCore ever started paying the bills.
Russ is the antithesis to the music industry. Long known for trapping artists into bad deals, Russ has created the best deal ever within the music industry: complete ownership. There is no advance money that needs to be paid back, there is no royalty split that leaves an artist years away from seeing money from streams, there is no section in a contract detailing how he will only be keeping 50% of his touring money. He keeps all of it. 100%. Complete ownership.
I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed listening to Russ in interviews so much is because I can relate so much to his come up. I spent five years making over one hundred videos on KZfaq with no views or income and less than 1,000 followers. Russ made songs, I made videos. We both believed in ourselves to keep making product even when the market hadn’t caught on. I wrote, produced, and made all of my KZfaq videos and own 100% of the media. The entire income comes to my bank account. Complete ownership.
Once Russ started to blow, he did sign a distribution deal to Columbia Records. But here’s the difference. At that point, he had a large fanbase spending money on his product. He had a large fanbase streaming his music. He was making more money than he could ever spend. Most importantly, he had the leverage. He could walk from a deal if they didn’t accept his terms. It turns out, they did.
Unfortunately, all new artists aren’t in position to make 11 albums before making any money. Most new artists need to pay the bills and want to pursue music full time. So they sign the deal. And some blow up, most don’t.
If you’ve been paying attention at all, Russ has been providing the blueprint for being one of the most financially successful artists in the industry today. And he did it his way. Love him or hate him, he’s been preaching complete ownership for many years. If new artists begin following the Russ model, we may see deals start to favor artists more. Until then, Russ is going to keep sharing the blueprint with anyone who will listen.
Resources used:
Forbes: • Russ: How I Maintained...
Russ: • Russ On The Music Indu...
• Russ On The Industry B...
VladTV: • Russ Says Artists are ...
Pull Up Joe Budden: • Pull Up Season 2 Episo...
• Russ On Why He's Hated...
Big Boy TV: • Russ on 'Shake The Sno...
Steve Stoute: • Steve Stoute and Russ ...
Vlad TV: • Russ: Music Game is No...
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