Music pirates give 50 Cent a (boot)leg up on fame - Good example
Posted on 06/02/03 18:47 by Jan Willem                             
Music pirates give 50 Cent a (boot)leg up on fame - Good example

On Yahoo we can find another sucess story of how music 'pirates' can help artists. Because good music easily finds its way on the internet some artists don't need a good marketing machine, just putting their music on file sharing networks is enough.

50 Cents, a rapper, has found this out. His bootlegs were distributed and picked up by many rap fans. Also Emimem listened to his music contacted him and offered him a contract.


None of this fazes 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson, 27), who for the past two years has built a huge following by putting out more than four albums' worth of material on the underground mix-tape market. That was how he attracted the attention of Eminem, who signed him to his Shady Records imprint last year for a reported $1 million.

''I wouldn't exist as an artist without it,'' he says of the bootleg market. ''If you can create enough of a demand to be bootlegged before you have a deal, it is the greatest form of promotion.''

With In da Club and its still-hot predecessor, the 8 Mile soundtrack cut Wanksta, the mainstream is catching up to what the underground has known about for months. Though much of 50's music details his rugged upbringing on the streets -- he's a former crack dealer who three years ago was shot nine times, and was arrested in New York in December, accused of having two loaded guns in a rented SUV -- he's in the mood for a good time on his current hit.


This is a good example of the way it also works, while some artists might sell less because their music is shared on file sharing networks, other artists are discovered. Maybe the recording industry should care about the quality of their music, because people will always be willing to pay for GOOD music. Read the entire story here.

Source: Yahoo.com

more cdfreaks.com news
3
Sony faces Blu-ray patent lawsuit
04:00
1
Panasonic chases European Blu-ray recorder market
08:22
4
Man arrested for music piracy
05:50
14
August Blu-ray movie sales drop
05:47
5
RIAA wins case after defendant deletes evidence
05:20
0
New low-price SSD's from Samsung
18:46
0
New Blu-ray media announced by Panasonic
17:30
Reactions
Discuss this article with your fellow community members! We appreciate your valuable input, but please keep the reaction policy in mind and make sure your reaction is constructive.
By WRFan, Thursday 06 February 2003 20:57
yes, a good example of how capitalism works. whether you steal or buy, you are consuming anyway, and that's all that capitalism demands of you. No wonder this guy is speaking about 'demand' - a typical capitalist term ('supply and demand'): 'If you can create enough of a demand'. To make it more clear, as opposed to individual businesses, like the Hollywood studios or Microsoft, capitalism itself doesn't care how you consume, you could download warez, buy gucci shoes, fuck hookers or do some shopping in the most expensive boutiques, as long as you consume, capitalism is satisfied. It also shows the incredible pragmatic ability of capitalism to regenerate itself, it's like a phucking cockroach, you try to poison it, but here it is again, alive and ready to do more harm, despicable, but somehow preserving the air of innocence and the spirit of self-sacrifice. This article shows very well the incredible ability of capitalism to adapt itself to any conditions, just like a rat or a cockroach can adapt to any poison you try to poison it with. In the 80s Reagan administration supported nuclear armament, but when demonstrators went on the streets, protesting against nuclear armament, Reagan all of a sudden started to allegedly support them. And here's just another example: it seems that warez etc. do harm capitalist industry, but here we see it again - as always capitalism managed to profit from it. Because consumerism stays consumerism, in whatever form it appears, and as long as you consume, capitalism will always manage to capitalize on your inability to free yourself from capitalist economy
By Mgz, Thursday 06 February 2003 22:46
It seems to me that Eminem buy bootleg,too Wink J/k Big Grin 50 cents is even better some contract with BIG RECORD COMPANY
By themushroom, Friday 07 February 2003 10:29
I wonder, how many of the bands that had their MP3's available for free from mp3.com (back in the Napster era, before mp3.com got sued and started to suck) got picked up by big labels. :7
By icey, Friday 07 February 2003 11:12
The reaction by WRFan has me wondering who did a doctorate in capatalism Smilie
By Seán, Saturday 08 February 2003 13:02
SeánI've come across an article before (can't remember where), but it says that some singers love to get their music out to as many people as possible, including free P2P such as Kazaa, etc. The reason is that when they do a concert, they can expect a wide audience since one can listen to it without first getting the CD (or listen to the radio) and they can make many times the profit than they would have selling CDs! Smilie
By Storn_Par, Sunday 09 February 2003 23:20
@TheMushroom: I know of some of them. Linkin Park, for example (at the time still called Hybrid Theory, i believe). Also the deathmetal band Chimaira (now on Roadrunner Recs). There are more, but I can't recall right now.
By sharedawealth, Monday 10 February 2003 16:02
WRFan, Good point about the dynamics of Capitalism!
Name: Email:



Your comment:

Receive notification on new comments?