Two days ago I was walking on 14th street on the east side of Manhattan going to grab some lunch when I ran into an aspiring rapper by the name of SK who asked me “Do you want a CD?”. I replied, “Sure, why not”, and as soon as it was in my hands he asked me for a donation. I returned the CD and went about my day but I could not stop thinking about if selling CD’s on the street in 2010 actually works. I had to tweet about it.
I got responses from so many people, mostly from those speaking about a similar situation happening to them and sharing their disapproval of music solicitation on the street.
After all the discussion on twitter about it, I had to go back and find these guys. I wanted to see if their methods were successful and if they have other methods of distribution. I was pretty surprised to find that SK has music on iTunes and many other destinations. It is good to know that these guys have a plan and selling CD’s on the street is just one part of it. We disagreed on the percentage of sales that digital music represents in all music sales and the official number from 2009 was 40% according to Nielson.
Like most aspiring hip hop artist that are oblivious to the digital world, SK seems pretty ignorant and clueless to how up and coming artist need handle themselves and their music. Of course, hustling your music to the public is a good thing, but it cant just be the only thing you depend on to get your music out to the masses. Also, I dont think his “research” is quite on point…word of advice, leave the statistics and legit info to Jabari. SK and others need to be caught up on technology, the digital world and how the music industry is and has been progressing and making its own transitions.
Regarding his music, he has a great flow and a distinct voice, but that distinct voice sounds exactly like a Joe Budden record with a hybrid of a Method Man sound. Nothing right there stands out and makes him an individual or his music “original” in a sense. In my opinion, just another cat looking to get a quick buck in music and be just like his idols he sees and listens to everyday.
I hope he continues to work hard, learn and progress in his music and hopeful career.
I agree with SK needing to stand out. Me seeing a CD cover that does not look that unique is not enough for me to purchase when some of my favorite artists are releasing free mixtapes online and in person.
Exclusively selling your cds on the street is not a good idea but if you have strong marketing skills and have proven your skills through shows in your community why not. People have come up to me and freestyled on the street about anything they see and impressed me so much that I purchased the cd. It’s all about how you market yourself and the additional work you put in. Zshare downloads and myspace listens do not equal money in the artists pocket and unfortunately too many artists try to rely solely on these methods of promotion in my opinion.
My opinion on selling music in the streets is I feel you will rarely be successful in selling music on the streets. But there are always people watching so maybe somebody will see their work ethic and their grind and take a chance on them. As far as their actual sales I believe that they probably won’t get to far if they are just planning on selling their music in the streets. You have to have some internet presence to be successful in this day and age.
well im out there every day and im an inspiring producer and there is not one thing wrong with what we do we move atleast 200+ cds in a 5 days work week so you tell me how bad that is. In 2009 alone we moved almost 40,000 cds and thats with not one person knowing who we are and what we are about. but numerous amounts of times through the day now we have people come up to us saying my cousin got that i need to get one you guys are hot. witch hey its not a huge record deal but it is word of mouth and its moving. we also have more then 1 song on itunes and we use the streets as a way to get the music to the people who are really going to take it home and listen to it. we work extremly hard with everything we do and put our all into. so for any of you to to sit and say its a bad promotion you tell me how what better way it is to have 40,00 units out and be independent? and to hate on us and say anything negative about what we do is just more fuel to our fire because it wont stop us from making music and standing out in the freezing cold to hustle our music and give it to the people because how else are we gonna get into the studio how else can we pay to get on radio shows how else are we gonna put ourselves in the loop becasue that green thing is whats going to set anything up for you. so if anything maybe you guys should come stand out with us one day and you might truly learn something. SK PIfstarz all day were not gonna ever stop till we on the top. but thank you for putting us up on the webpage and guys support the movement because trust me its gonna go somewhere no person on the earth is as hungy as we are