Why Signing a Record Deal is a Trap

In 2017, XXXTentacion was on top of the underground hip-hop scene after his debut single, Look At Me, became a huge hit while he was in jail for domestic violence charges. While a couple of record labels offered him traditional multi-album deals with large advances, X refused and chose to sign a distribution deal with Empire that included $100k and two singles. When the head of Empire, Ghazi Shami asked him, why he would do his deal over the other deals, X replied, “Because your deal makes me a partner and their deal makes me a slave.” And that’s really what it comes down to for a lot of artists looking to make it big in the music industry. How far are you willing to strip yourself down in order to become famous and make millions of dollars? As someone who wanted to be an artist in the music industry at one point, I can definitely say nowadays that my opinion of record labels has largely shifted to completely distrusting them and the process they have when it comes to managing and distributing talent. So join me dear viewer, as I explain why signing a record deal is usually the worst thing an up-and-coming artist can do to their career. We’ll take a look at the good, the bad, and the disgusting practices of these record labels and how they keep tricking artists into selling their souls for some clout. aciid (YouTube): ‪@priincesscii‬ aciid (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Obid... shiit talkin mic drop:    • shiit talkin mic drop performance - aciid ...   Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:00 What Do Labels Do? 1:26 THE Record Deal 2:19 Hit Em With the 360 Deal 3:17 Welcome to Death Row 4:27 Cash Money Records 5:31 October's Very Own 6:38 Drop & Gimme 50 (The Splits) 9:01 Why Do They Keep Signing the Contract? 9:42 Going Independent 10:51 Final Thoughts 11:18 Outro Here's the official Spotify episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2xci... 👇🏾 JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Drop a comment with your thoughts—I'm replying to as many as I can. THE TUNED IN HUB: 🔗 Tap in here: https://beacons.ai/xavierrants SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: The goal is 1000 subs so I can unlock monetization. If you enjoy the rants, hit that Subscribe button and help me get there! ☕ Support the vision: https://ko-fi.com/xavrants2006 CREDITS & BUSINESS: Business Inquiries: tunedinprod@gmail.com Creative Director: ‪@nnossarres‬ Background Music: FifteenPrevail, MIG, Grailz, Let Me In, Settimio “Am I worth it, did I put enough work in?” - Kendrick Lamar ⚠︎︎ This video contains clips that I DO NOT own and claim no ownership of. Contains material that comes under fair use. ⚠︎︎ #MusicIndustry #RecordLabel #IndependentArtist #MusicBusiness #VideoEssay #OVO #Drake #FrankOcean #CashMoneyRecords #DeathRowRecords #PostMalone #360Deal #MusicContracts #PopCultureAnalysis #MusicLedger