Trapital by Dan Runcie

hip-hop business + strategy

MEMBER UPDATES

Get smarter on hip-hop. Strategic insights in your inbox.

WEEKLY ARTICLE

How Rappers Started Getting More Mileage Out of Their Music

Artists now get the most out of their music with re-released projects, visual albums, and more. But how much is too much?

Childish Gambino at Outside Lands Music Festival 2019 (via Paul Kuroda/San Francisco Chronicle)

When “Old Town Road” became the #1 song in the country, Lil’ Nas X told us that he was gonna “milk tf out of this song.” At 18 weeks and counting (and likely 18 remixes and counting) the 21-year-old rapper delivered on that promise. Some folks felt like he gamed the system, but those critiques missed the big picture. Hip-hop has been on this tip for a while.

This year, Drake released two albums of previously recorded music, So Far Gone and Care Package. Beyonce charted three times this year; one live album, one rerelease, and a curated project for a Disney remake film. And if we date back to last year, Bey and Jay’s Everything is Love felt like a compilation of songs that didn’t make the cut for Lemonade or 4:44 (…we can ALL admit that now, right??)

Beyonce’s Lion King co-star, Donald Glover, has done the same. It’s been almost three years since his last album, Awaken, My Love! But Childish Gambino finessed a worldwide tour out of his song “This is America,” dropped Guava Island (which was essentially a visual album for “This is America”), and released an EP to keep fans satisfied.

Artists should have no shame maximizing their work. If there’s too much rehashed material though, fans may soon complain about the lack of originality. But when fans get that new material, it might get ignored for the old material that they love. Finding the right balance is an exercise in both efficient production and understanding consumer behavior.

The path to efficiency

In the 80s and 90s, artists maximized their music through compilations and greatest hits albums. Now That’s What I Called Music was one of the highest-selling albums each year. CD sales were so lucrative that the industry could overlook other revenue streams. If other routes were pursued, they were justified as marketing expenses to drive more CD sales. There were one-off instances like Prince’s Purple Rain film, but most artists didn’t have the clout to pull that off.

In 2016, Pitchfork wrote about the decline of greatest hits albums:

Greatest hits collections, once a staple of the holiday season, have essentially disappeared… Whereas albums were often given thorough single-disc expansions featuring unreleased tracks, single mixes, and the like, it’s now either feast or famine, with noteworthy classics blown up into $100 boxes, or entire catalogs getting shoved into a chintzy cardboard box.

In the digital era, once a catalog enters a streaming service or an MP3 store, there’s no need for a reissue and, therefore, there’s no reason for a label to mine the vaults, searching for old music to make new again.

The music industry refers to CDs as its ‘cash cow’ phase, but that’s a bit reductive. Growth was still high and sales were booming. But labels and artists made so much money that it clouded opportunities elsewhere.

Let’s look at DMX’s career. He debuted with It’s Dark and Hell is Hot then dropped Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of my Blood just seven months later. In less than a year, he then released …And Then There Was X. There was no room for the albums to breathe. Some might say X dominated that era because of his body of work, but there were plenty of other artists at the time who dominated without releasing three albums in nineteen months.

Besides his concerts and his lightly promoted Live at Woodstock ’99 album, DMX did not have additional content revenue streams from existing bodies of work. His greatest hits album didn’t come until 2007.

If X came out today, his team would be all over the current wave. There would have been a visual album for It’s Dark and Hell is Hot. Amazon would have created a docu-series about the making of “Ruff Ryders Anthem.” He would have landed a sponsorship deal with Yamaha for all the ATVs in his music video. And Guy Raz would have hosted DMX on How I Built This to talk about how the Ruff Ryders came to be.

Is that excessive? Probably. But fans would have bought in. Let’s be honest. In 1999, DMX could have sold water to a whale.

We need a podcast on how DMX performed for an endless crowd of white people at Woodstock ’99.

Original albums are lucrative, but they are costly too. Artists produce dozens of tracks and collaborate with a bunch of people for each project. The final product is just the tip of the iceberg. By staying true to its model, the industry bypassed opportunities to earn additional revenue from output with lower marginal cost. It takes far less effort to monetize existing work than to create new work from scratch. High margins are great, but efficiency behind those margins matters too.

There’s a production-possibility frontier curve with new music production vs. monetizing older music. Time spent on one is less time spent on the other.

Each decade, the industry gets closer to peak efficiency:

The end of CDs and the end of high entry barriers

The internet has driven the push for efficiency, but that push started out of necessity. Once CD sales declined and digital music grew, the industry was forced to pursue additional revenue streams. In today’s digital streaming era, albums are viewed as loss leaders. The industry began to maximize everything else–live performances, merchandise, and content production.

The content landscape has also evolved considerably. The internet made it easier for small budget creators to produce without access to gatekeepers. Guava Island was not Childish Gambino’s first visual album. In 2013, he released Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, a fairly low-budget production based on his album Because the Internet.

But a lot has changed since 2013 too. Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Hulu, and others have produced more content than ever. Hip-hop has also grown in popularity and power. That confluence made it easier for visual albums and documentaries to reach the masses.

These changes expanded the traditional model. Here’s how the old model compares to the new one:

Artists have repurposed their music into behind-the-scenes podcasts, repackaged loose singles, visual albums, and more. Each piece of content became its own entity that supports the artist’s brand.

Content needs to reinforce itself

Today’s big names have shown what’s possible when they maximize their music, but there’s still a balance to strike. As I wrote last month in Why Chance the Rapper Started Selling His Music, the Chicago rapper got everything out of Coloring Book and then some.

Remember, Chance went on not one, but two international tours to promote the mixtape. He hosted the Magnificent Coloring Day music festival in Chicago. He sold millions of dollars worth of hats, performed at numerous other music festivals, landed endorsements deals, and more.

It was a blessing and a curse. His team did a fantastic job maximizing Coloring Book’s useful life, but it didn’t set Chance up for longevity beyond the mixtape run.

By the time The Big Day came around, his buzz ended. And as the charts results showed, fans weren’t fully bought in.

Each piece of an artist’s ecosystem needs to reinforce itself for the present and future. As the buzz for one piece of content ends, something needs to take its place. The best version of this is the well-known Disney content chart. Each outlet leverages its IP, which further strengthens the ecosystem:

Disney’s chart from 1957 is still relevant today.

Fans may grow tired, but no time soon

Right now, rappers are in luck. Hip-hop is on a nostalgia wave. “Real fans” want the songs that their favorite artist made before they became mainstream. It’s another reason why Drake’s fans made such a big deal about the re-release of So Far Gone and Care Package. A fan who publicly identifies with older songs usually comes from a genuine place, but it’s also a performative act. Telling someone that you miss ‘Comeback Season Drake’ is a subtle way to say “I was up on this shit before y’all.” Meanwhile, telling someone that “One Dance” is your favorite Drake song won’t strike intrigue with anyone.

That “performance” has a monetary value. The industry knows it can cash in on that, but there’s a limit.

In the film industry, nostalgia has matured. Anything worth a remake has gotten a reboot, sequel, and prequel. A lot of stuff that’s NOT worth revisiting has also gotten reboots. Fans will pan the industry for its lack of originality, yet still come out in droves to watch the latest iterations of franchise films. If Hollywood produced less of these films, the complaints would surely subside, but money would be left on the table. The same can be said for music festivals. Each year there are several think pieces about how there are too many music festivals and the market is saturated. But last weekend I just attended Outside Lands in San Francisco, which had its largest crowd ever. Numbers don’t lie.

Hip-hop’s not there yet. Fans have yet to complain about the wave of repackaged content. That means that more money is left on the table. Drake, Beyonce, Childish Gambino, and Jay are getting theirs. Everyone else needs to catch up.

As artists pursue what’s next, these efforts still need to fit the artist’s brand. Each piece should sync. If Blueface decided to make a documentary about the making of “Thotiana,” he should probably stop while he’s ahead. It would make far more sense for A$AP Rocky to do a future documentary on his ongoing trial and tribulations with the Swedish government and how it impacted his music, and his relationship with the public.

It’s preemptive thinking–as Rocky is still in the thick of his legal battles–but based on where things are going, it’s bound to happen soon enough.

Trapital is one of LinkedIn’s Must-Read Series. Get the next article in your inbox.

Trapital is written by Dan Runcie: info [at] trapital.co

RapCaviar’s Big Advantage


Dan explains why Spotify’s RapCaviar playlist still has a competitive advantage over its competitors and why that won’t change anything soon. But that doesn’t mean the other digital streaming providers should give up! Each competing playlist can still take steps in the right direction.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | SoundCloud | YouTube | RSS

Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co

Links Discussed:

Hip-hop’s influence continues to grow. Take your insights to the next level. Become a Trapitalst.

Why Spotify’s RapCaviar Playlist Can’t Be Matched

As each digital streaming provider builds its own ‘RapCaviar,’ they will need to do more than just copy Spotify’s flagship playlist.

Tierra Whack performing at a RapCaviar Live concert (via Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

Both Apple Music and Amazon have recently upped their playlist games. ‘Rap Life’—formerly ‘A-List: Hip Hop’—is Apple’s rebranded flagship playlist. It’s led by Ebro Darden, head of global hip-hop and r&b at Apple Music, host on Hot 97, and creator of this suspect top 50 rappers list. Apple’s playlist debuted with a photo of J. Cole rockin’ a classic Nas shirt.

Last month, Amazon’s new ‘Rap Rotation’ playlist made a statement with a flashy, star-studded promo commercial and an active YouTube channel with interviews featuring rising rappers. Yet oddly enough, Amazon’s debut playlist used the same J. Cole photo in its initial picture! Come on. You’re tellin’ me there are no other stock photos to choose from?!

This lack of variety is yet another sign of the limited differentiation among these major hip-hop playlists. By design, most of these playlists will feature the same popular rap songs. But no one wins if they all pursue the same strategy.

The current gold standard in playlists is Spotify’s RapCaviar. The marquee playlist has proven its ability to acquire new subscribers, generate standalone revenue, and influence which artists break out. (Last fall I wrote that the playlist should be spun off from Spotify so it could earn more as a standalone entity.)

RapCaviar might be the frontrunner, but other playlists from competing services need to run their own game. Each company has its strengths and growth objectives. Its playlist strategy should reflect that.

RapCaviar is an economic moat

Spotify got several things right with RapCaviar. Its short-form interviews and exclusive video clips add a personal touch to the standard tracklist. Its RapCaviar Live concert series yields higher profit margins than streaming because of its standalone revenue earned outside the major record labels. And the playlist’s public display of its follower count (nearly 12 million) is a boastful flex. The only reason we count playlist followers is because Spotify wants to brag.

That power comes from Spotify’s freemium tier. Technically, RapCaviar could make these same moves if the service was paid-only like Apple Music, but the flex would be less impressive. RapCaviar has millions more followers because of its ad-supported tier. Some of those followers are subscribed to other music services —and therefore less likely to switch— but Spotify can still extract value from them via live events and merchandise.

It’s harder for Apple Music and Tidal to do the same. ‘Rap Life’ and Tidal’s ‘Thoro Hip Hop’ playlists need to help attract new subscribers and reduce churn. They can still do live events and sell merchandise as well, but the scope is limited when its outside audience is not exposed to the brand.

Spotify has built an economic moat with RapCaviar. The playlist’s size is an advantage that demonstrates power, which begets more features, bigger artists profiled, and richer data. It’s a competitive advantage that’s hard to match.

Going head-to-head with RapCaviar is a tall task. Instead, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon need to focus on their strengths.

Apple Music needs to expand past the iPhone

Apple Music is most prevalent with iPhone and Mac users in North America. It’s one of the reasons why Apple Music surpassed Spotify in paid U.S. subscribers.

But as iPhone growth slows and the U.S. market saturates, Apple Music needs to continue extending its global footprint. Here’s a segment of a recent Billboard feature on Oliver Schusser, head of Apple Music:

As VP of Apple Music and VP international content for Apple, Schusser took on an arduous task: running the company’s most important online service at a time when iPhone sales are slowing and the company’s online businesses are becoming increasingly important. (In addition to Apple Music, his purview includes iTunes, the App Store, Apple Books and podcasts.) At home in Apple’s culture, Schusser was expected to bring a global focus to the division, along with some much-needed structure. “We’re looking at this as a business,” he says, “and we look at our numbers in a serious way.”

Rap Life, which is geared toward American hip-hop fans, can help this goal by considering which artists trend well internationally. That doesn’t necessarily mean focusing on more international artists. Some American rappers are more popular in different regions.

According to Kworb, a data collection site that gathers streaming data from the major DSPs, Travis Scott is streamed quite often in North America and Eastern Europe, but not as much in South America. Meanwhile, Young Thug’s streams are constant across different parts of the world. Maybe Thugger’s ad-libs resonate more internationally? Who knows. These differences matter though, since Apple Music has become more targeted as it rolls out in different countries.

‘Thoro Hip Hop’ Needs to Attract Tidal’s Niche Customer

Last November, I wrote an article about Tidal’s core customer:

Tidal still needs to attract customers that are bought into Jay Z’s mentality. Consumers buy based on emotion and justify with logic. The ideal Tidal customers are inspired by the opportunity to support the artists, but rationalize their purchase because of the higher sound quality and other features.

Tidal’s most passionate supporters are those who vote with their dollars. The company is forward about its efforts in criminal justice reform and similar initiatives. With the wide range of promotions that Tidal offers, there’s enough data to further segment who these customers are. The Thoro Hip Hop playlist could lean more heavily toward conscious rap. Tidal can also bolster its existing conscious rap playlists so that they get more limelight and recognition.

Tidal, like Apple Music, has its own well-known music journalist at the helm. Elliott Wilson, co-host of the Rap Radar podcast, leads curation for Thoro Hip-Hop and #CRWN– his interview series with popular artists.

Unfortunately, Tidal currently splits its branding between #CRWN and Thoro Hip Hop, which makes no sense. Most of the artists interviewed on #CRWN get heavily featured on Thoro Hip Hop that same week. It makes more sense to combine these two brands into one.

Amazon’s ‘Rap Rotation’ Should Team Up with Alexa

In April, Amazon launched an ad-supported music tier. It will be instantly available on the 100+ million Alexa-powered devices that are now in households and vehicles across the world. Since Alexa already knows a lot about us—more than it should, honestly— Amazon can promote Rap Rotation with listeners who are most likely to tune in. And once they start listening, Rap Rotation can feature ads for products that Amazon knows these customers would be interested in. This engagement will also help funnel listeners to become paid subscribers.

Rap Rotation already acknowledges the cross-promotional opportunity with this recently-made launch video:

The closing words are “Hey Alexa, Play Rap Rotation on Amazon Music.”

Rap Rotation, like RapCaviar, is available on both free and paid tiers. It’s similar to Spotify in that the playlist has other opportunities to monetize its free tier. But Amazon Prime subscribers and Alexa device owners are more prevalent in wealthier households, which may shift the strategy.

I’ve had countless conversations with friends who have Alexas and Echos set up but have yet to sync them with their Spotify, Pandora, or other accounts they subscribe to. Alexa can address this friction by suggesting its new playlist to anyone who asks to play hip-hop songs without an associated account set up.

There’s also plenty of low-hanging fruit opportunities to cross-promote with Amazon Prime. Rap Rotation can easily be shown to anyone who pre-orders the next NBA 2K video game. But Amazon has the data to dig deeper and be even more precise.

It’s impossible to completely avoid the overlap in songs featured on these flagship hip-hop playlists. Artists like DaBaby and YBN Cordae are having a moment and are heavily featured on everyone’s playlists. Avoiding cultural zeitgeist would be foolish.

But playlist curators and the companies they work for need to balance what’s ephemeral, what’s relevant to its company’s objectives, and still instill a personal touch. It’s not an easy job, but it’s the only way to come close to achieving what RapCaviar currently has.

This article was discussed on the Trapital Podcast: RapCaviar’s Big Advantage

Trapital is one of LinkedIn’s Must-Read Series. Get the next article in your inbox.

Trapital is written by Dan Runcie: info [at] trapital.co

Roc Nation’s Wild Year

Dan breaks down Roc Nation’s wild and eventful 2019–a bunch of execs got fired, there are new co-presidents for the record label, and a new joint venture record label with Meek Mill: Dream Chasers. There’s been A LOT going on, but the company needs to be intentional about its next steps.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | SoundCloud | YouTube | RSS

Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co

Links Discussed:

Why Roc Nation Needed to Restructure

Jay Z, Jay Brown, and Desiree Perez have made sweeping changes at Roc Nation, but those changes were critical for the company’s future.

The first person Meek Mill needs to sign to Dream Chasers is his barber. Came in fresh. (via Greg Allen/Invision/AP)

Back in December, I wrote Why Roc Nation May Move on From Its Record Label. Here’s a segment:

Roc Nation Records still has 24 artists signed to the label, but the sports division has nearly double that number. The music side of the house focuses more on artist management, most recently supporting Mariah Carey’s new album, but many of its managed acts are in the twilight years of their careers.

If trends continue, Roc Nation Records will be more symbolic than it is impactful. The label may soon become a mere vehicle for the 4:44 rapper to drop his own albums and an excuse to host bougie brunches before the Grammys. It’s an inevitable, but logical, outcome based on the management structure that Shawn Carter and Roc Nation CEO Jay Brown built. The business can still thrive regardless of changes in the music industry.

Soon after, changes started happening. In January, Phil McIntyre was out as president of Roc Nation Management. In March, Benny Pough, president of Roc Nation Records, was let go. In May, the company fired Azim Rashid (SVP Promotion), Orlando McGhee (SVP A&R), Gita Williams, (EVP Marketing), and Fairley McCaskill (Sr. Director Publicity).

I wasn’t surprised, but still, damn! Roc Nation cleaned house like a #1 seed that just got waxed in a second round playoff series.

Despite the changes, Roc Nation’s not moving on from its record label just yet. It’s turned a new leaf. Roc Nation’s Shari Bryant and Omar Grant have been named label co-presidents. The announcement came two days before Meek Mill and Jay Z’s announced the company’s new joint venture —Dream Chasers.

What a week. What a wild first half of 2019! As Roc Nation gears up for this next chapter, it will need to maintain alignment within each business unit and across the entire music side of the company.

Promote from within

Roc Nation’s recently-fired execs all had brief stints at the company. Benny Pough came and went in less than 18 months. Phil McIntyre was at the company for less than ten months. Azim Rashid was there just over a year. Same with Fairley McCaskill. That’s barely enough time to evaluate the results of any strategic moves.

For an entire cohort of execs to depart, it means one of two things happened: One, the initial wave of 2017 and 2018 executive hirings was a strategic mistake. The company’s power trio (COO Desiree Perez, CEO Jay Brown, and Jay Z) made these hires with a particular vision in mind but made a costly pivot away from that. Or two, there was an HR-related issue. (There were rumors that these firings were connected to Roc Nation’s lawsuit with Daniel Franco, the boxer who sued the company for injuries he sustained as a signed athlete, but I’ve yet to see anything conclusive on that front).

An HR-related issue may still be plausible, but the strategic misstep is much more likely. Most of these hires were high-ranking execs at other labels. Pough was an EVP at Epic Records. Rashid was an SVP at Capitol Records. Roc Nation likely wanted to match the experience and maturity of its roster with execs who have been around the block.

It’s an understandable move, but there were several drawbacks. First, firms often hire waves of seasoned execs to course-correct and implement a new strategy. If Roc Nation’s goal was to better serve today’s artists who are skeptical of label contracts and want to own their masters, that’s a tough ask to put on a group of execs who all came from traditional record labels.

Second, those execs were all top-heavy, external hires. Their presence can discourage Roc Nation’s homegrown employees who want to build their careers with the company. If leadership roles are only filled by outsiders, employees may build resentment toward those hires and the managers who brought them in. Companies need a healthy balance of internal promotions and external hires to maintain organizational health.

The elevation of Bryant and Grant sends a strong message. Bryant started her career as an intern back at Roc-a-Fella Records, while Grant had been with Roc Nation for nine years. Their hires echo a sentiment that’s close to Jay Z’s heart. At the Roc Nation-Dream Chasers press conference last week, Hov said “Got to clean the floors up before you own the building.” Throughout his career, Jay Z has brought his friends along the journey and put them in positions to blossom. Desiree Perez, Jay Brown, and Ty Ty have all worked with Jay Z for decades and are all in leadership positions at Roc Nation. That mentality is a large reason why rappers, athletes, and entertainers want to partner with Roc Nation. If that went away, Roc Nation would lose its edge.

Jay Z, Jay Brown, and Desiree Perez (listed collectively at #41 on Billboard’s 2019 Power 100 List)

The (co-) CEOs of the R-O-C?

The leadership change is exciting, but the decision to split the label’s presidency role is head-scratching. Companies normally justify co-CEOs and co-presidents with a clear delineation of responsibilities. Salesforce, Whole Foods, and Oracle have proudly embraced this model. But Roc Nation has not spoken on it yet.

The Billboard article about the co-presidents was pretty vague:

“The pair will be tasked with boosting the imprint’s talent roster, while developing strategies for current signed artists.”

To be fair, co-leadership structures are fairly common–even when the title doesn’t reflect it. The decision to team Grant and Bryant up might be a reflection of Roc Nation’s COO-CEO structure up top. Desiree Perez is the COO, Jay Brown is COO, and Jay Z is the founder. But they operate more like a ‘Big 3’ that collectively lead the company.

But even with a clear designation of roles and responsibilities, the lack of a clear lead can make decision-making difficult—especially for a company that is under drastic changes. It can also cause added stress. If one person’s slate of responsibilities has more influence on the company’s future, the “co” title might seem meaningless.

Segment the business units

Last year, Roc Nation launched Equity Distribution—an independent distribution service company. It’s not nearly as public as competing services but has made headlines by signing Jay Z’s old friend Jaz O, Ryan Leslie, and others. There’s now a great opportunity to define the scope for Roc Nation, Dream Chasers, and Equity Distribution respectively.

Roc Nation’s label should still focus on the smaller segment of popular, experienced artists who are later in their careers. Dream Chasers should serve up-and-coming artists who have the potential to pop. And Equity Distribution should focus on the vast number of indie acts who are just starting out, or those who want to avoid record label contracts altogether.

It’s an opportunity to segment the long-tail:

In my December article, I compared Roc Nation’s strategy to Amazon since both companies started with a core product—books and record label contracts, respectively—then expanded. But a much better comparison (and aspiration for Roc Nation) is Disney Studios.

Here’s a segment of what I wrote last week in my update on Meek Mill’s joint venture:

“Roc Nation’s signed artists are further along in their careers than most record labels. It makes strategic sense for Dream Chasers to focus on younger artists instead. That way, Roc Nation can focus on its core competency (established acts) and still have a vested interest in rising artists. It’s no different than Disney Studios managing both Fox Searchlight for art-house films and 20th Century Fox for its blockbusters.”

Each of Disney’s film studios has a distinct brand of movies that they release. But most record labels don’t have that. Due to all major label mergers and acquisitions, it’s hard to differentiate a “Capitol Records rapper” from an “Interscope rapper.”

Roc Nation has an opportunity to improve upon that. It’s a lofty goal. But it’s attainable with the right discipline.

Two weeks ago, Meek linked up with a producer whose beat went viral on Twitter. It was an exciting moment that speaks to the power of social media, but it felt like a one-off move.

But yesterday, Meek went back to the Twitterverse to pose a question:

I’d throw the question back at him. Meek – we need some more details bro. What is Dream Chasers looking for? How does that differ from what Roc Nation’s label should be looking for?

The answer should be clear. Otherwise, Meek’s DMs and mentions will just be full of demos with somebody’s rappin’ cousin freestyling over the “Ima Boss” beat.

This article was discussed on the Trapital Podcast: Roc Nation’s Wild Year

Trapital is one of LinkedIn’s Must-Read Series. Get the next article in your inbox.

Trapital is written by Dan Runcie: info [at] trapital.co

 

White Rappers and Black Rappers Have Different Business Models

Top 40 radio still segments white rappers and black rappers, which places more effort on rappers and media outlets to account for the difference.

Russ performing for a sea of cell phones in Saskatoon, Canada (via @RussDiemon)

Last November, Russ sold out the Staples Center. It was an impressive feat for a rapper who came up fairly recently. Yet on that same tour, the 26-year-old performed for fans in Allen (Texas), Amarillo (Texas), and Saskatoon, Canada. Clearly, these aren’t your standard hip-hop markets. But it echoes something that Russ said in an interview last month with Joe Budden.

“Being white make it easier to reach the masses, but being white makes it harder to reach hip-hop.”

‘The masses’ are the largely white audiences that listen to American pop music. ‘The masses’ can be easily reached via the Billboard Pop Songs chart and Top 40 radio stations that white rappers often dominate. Russ knows this and has positioned his business model accordingly. But Russ also acknowledges the double standards that benefit rappers like him, G-Eazy, Post Malone, Macklemore, and others. Now more than ever, these rappers can succeed outside of the traditional gates of hip-hop.

Despite hip-hop’s popularity, non-white rappers rely on different (and often less effective) channels to reach the masses. Black rappers may get more buy-in from hip-hop media, but shows like The Breakfast Club only reach a subset of the addressable market. The structural differences in radio airplay still hold weight in the streaming era. And the way things are going, those differences will continue to grow over time.

Double Platinum with No Co-Sign

White rappers have benefitted from heightened media exposure for years. Twenty years ago, Eminem had a borderline residency on MTV’s TRL. He stopped by often, referenced the music video countdown show in his songs, and used the platform as his personal distribution channel to reach fans.

But Eminem also had a co-sign from hip-hop legends, which today’s white rappers no longer need. New York Times music writer Jon Caramanica wrote about this in 2016:

“Initially, a co-sign — an imprimatur of authenticity, or at least tolerance, given by an established black artist — was essential. Think of Dr. Dre shepherding Eminem, or Run-D.M.C. taking the Beastie Boys on tour. … But now we have arrived in the post-accountability era of white rap, when white artists are flourishing almost wholly outside the established hip-hop industry, evading black gatekeepers and going directly to overwhelmingly white consumers, resulting in what can feel like a parallel world, aware of hip-hop’s center but studiously avoiding it.”

This ‘parallel world’ gives white rappers preferential treatment on the pop music charts, which reach a wider audience than the Hip-Hop/R&B charts that black rappers rely on. These charts inform the songs that get played on the radio, which still accounts for discovered.

Many radio stations are owned by broadcasting companies that own several stations in the same market. Despite hip-hop’s ubiquity as today’s pop music, these companies intentionally segment their stations to better sell the audience to advertisers. If the pop station overlaps too much with the hip-hop station, the stations lose value to advertisers who prefer targeted audiences. Therefore, pop radio remains as a channel to reach white audiences, and “urban” radio is the channel to reach black folks. The preferential treatment of white rappers on the pop charts is the problematic result.

The model for white rappers looks like this:

Media appearances are more important for black rappers

When black rappers try to get on the pop charts, it’s an uphill battle. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Future’s manager said that he couldn’t get “Mask Off” to gain traction on the pop charts. Remember, this was Future’s biggest song. It gave us the #MaskOffChallenge! Future had folks dusting off their flutes and recorders from elementary school to participate in the viral challenge, but pop radio was like, “Nah, we good with The Chainsmokers.” You hate to see it.

Since non-white rappers rely more heavily on the hip-hop charts and playlists, it heightens the importance of hip-hop media. A favorable appearance on The Breakfast Club carries more weight for a black artist who wants exposure with their core demo. But The Breakfast Club may not reach the white audiences who are willing to buy concert tickets for mainstream hip-hop acts.

That’s why traditional media outlets are equally important for black rappers to reach the masses. In that same Rolling Stone piece, Lil’ Uzi Vert’s manager discussed the importance of black rappers stopping by shows like ESPN’s First Take and Saturday Night Live as a way to reach the masses. Sure, arguing with Max Kellerman about who should win NBA MVP will get rappers airtime in college dorm rooms and airport bars. But it’s still not an adequate substitute for the lack of radio play and exposure.

As a result, the business model for black rappers looks a bit different:

In comparison, it’s less important for Russ to do promo runs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! or The Ellen DeGeneres Show to reach the masses. If anything, Russ’ media strategy has been more focused on promo runs with the core hip-hop media outlets. They provide access to circles that would be challenging to reach otherwise. But Russ’ desire to reach this audience comes from a place of acceptance, not a necessity for success. It’s an important distinction.

The markets will get more fragmented

For years, hip-hop has waited for the inevitable shoe to drop when white rappers take over. It’s an understandable fear given the cultural appropriation that’s happened in both rock and jazz music. Jay Z predicted this back in 2000. J. Cole predicted it in 2014. And Nicki Minaj alluded to it in 2017. The difference in business models already acknowledges a shift in that direction.

But a complete takeover is less likely to happen today. Music’s monoculture is the weakest it’s ever been. Today’s landscape is much more fragmented. And social media is too powerful to let it happen without severe backlash.

What’s more likely, yet just as alarming, is how the fragmented media landscape can make it harder for black rappers to catch their white peers. We could easily see another TRL-type outlet emerge that not-so-subtly caters to white hip-hop and rap-adjacent acts—the same way that TRL was a launchpad for Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Eminem, Korn, and others. As long as there are advertisers who want to pay for access to white consumers who listen to white rappers (which there are) it’s bound to happen. It’s just a matter of how much traction those outlets gain.

The most powerful examples of the differences are the ones experienced in real life. Last December, my wife and I drove through Arizona. We heard NF’s “Let You Down” on the radio at least six times in a two-day span. I had to double-check to see if NF was from Arizona (he’s not, he’s from Michigan). It was a bit odd—especially since the song came out a year in 2017. But it speaks to the difference in radio play. There’s not much “urban radio” outside of the Phoenix metro area.

It might be surprising to think about the power that a radio station program directors or mass media still have in an era when streaming, especially since hip-hop regularly dominates the Billboard Hot 100 and 200. But with more music released than ever, fans are more likely to revert back to the sources they trust to sift through all the options available.

Join the music execs and business leaders. Get Trapital in your inbox.

 

Trapital is written by Dan Runcie: info [at] trapital.co