What Is An Independent Rappers Salary?

Okay so we’ve finally come to addressing the average salary of an independent rapper. Many rappers including those who are unsigned, brag about big cars, money, jewelry and living in mansions. In reality there are not many of them who live like that.

I’ve been in the music industry for a long time now and have witnessed many rappers who claim that they are living large struggle to get by or live a life that is very common to all of us.

I’ve seen rappers who claim they own the latest jewelry, house and car not actually buy it but rent it. Rappers for the most part have to talk about these material items to create a facade that people but into, hoping it will help them sell more records.

As for the independent rap artist there are many who earn a decent income and live off it until they retire. One thing about being a music artist is it comes with no benefits or retirement plan, so you have to save for a rainy day.

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Also Read: 5 Reasons Why You’re Not Making Money As An Artist

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How Much Money Does An Independent Rapper Really Make?

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Okay so a hip hop artist’s salary really depends on a bunch of factors. It’s obvious that if you are a brand new rap artist that no one has heard of, chances are you aren’t making any money.

In order to make some money you would have to be somewhat known and have somewhat of a following. Meaning there are people out there that know your music and are willing to purchase it every time you drop a project.

This is the first step to making money as an indie artist, you must build up a following. Keep in mind that your following doesn’t have to be big for you to make good money. Charging $10 an album or $10 a show ticket to 1,000 people = $10,000.

Imagine doing that with a following of 3,000 people, or a following of just 5,000. The numbers really do start to add up and you start to see that you really can make a good income from being an independent rap artist. This is what we call a working artist.

A working artist is someone who works to make an income from their music, and won’t necessarily make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year doing it. One of the things I always tell indie rap artists is that not everyone will make it to Jay-Z, Drake, Kanye, or P.Diddy status in wealth and musical longevity. So if that turns out not to be you don’t get upset. You have to work with what you have and receive the blessings meant for you.

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Also Read: How Do Independent Rap Artists Make Money

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Most Independent Rappers Work Full-time Jobs

A lot of independent rap artist already work full time jobs to support themselves as well as their rap career. There is no need to be a starving artist because their is no shame is getting a 9-5 job in order to support yourself and feed money into your rap career. You’re going to need money anyway for studio time, to shoot your videos, and mix and master your tracks, so having a job will help with that.

When you have a job I know sometimes you’re not motivated to come home and work on your music. if this is the case you need to schedule days where you work on your music after work and even on the weekends. You don’t have to work on your music all night, just set aside about 2 hours a night on the days that you choose and at the ed of the month you will see those hours add up. Any progress is good progress.

If you are still working and making music chances are you aren’t making any money at all, or you’re making a little ad it’s not enough to supplement your current job income.

Getting Paid For Featuring On Tracks

one of the ways an independent rapper gets paid is through getting featured on a track. On average an unsigned artist that has a good size following will get paid anywhere from $5,000 – $22,000 for a track feature. This is really good money.

The more of a popular indie rap artist you are the more you’ll get paid because you bring attention and listening ears to the music being released. That’s why I said it’s important to remember that your income is directly related to the fan base you have. Build your fan-base and you can potentially build your income.

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Also Read: How Much Do Rappers Make Per Show

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Get Paid To Endorse Companies

Many independent artists have endorsement deals. And I’m going to be honest with this one, in order to get an endorsement deal you have to have an established fan-base.

There are however companies that pay up and coming artists to endorse there products, if they they think those artists have the potential to build a solid fan-base. My advice is to look up online which companies endorse indie artists and contact them to get information on what their requirements are.

Here are some of the main companies that endorse rapper:

• Coca-Cola
• Red Bull
• Monster Energy Drink
• Pepsi
• Mountain Dew
• Sprite
• Supreme Clothing
• Best Buy
• Hennessy
• Budweiser
• Bathing Ape

Getting Paid Through Performing

Getting paid through performing is going to be one of your largest incomes as a rapper. I’ve seen independent artist make a killing getting paid for performing at a show. Indie artists can expect anywhere from $10,000 – $30,000 a show! You get paid two ways when doing a show; one is through your Performing Rights Agency and the other is through ticket sales or a performance fee from the venue owner.

On average independent rap arts get paid $3,000 a show to start and can rise their fee to $35,000 a show when they become more popular. I’ve even see $45,000 a show from popular indie rap artists. As for getting a cut from the ticket sales that is something you would have to negotiate with the venue owner on your percentage.

Making Money Through Licensing

To me, this method of generating income as an artist is number one. I see it as an artist’s bread and butter because long after you stop selling records and no one is buying your merchandise, you can still be receiving checks from music licensing. It’s an incredible thing.

So a quick example of this is getting radio spins. In order for a radio station to play your songs they have to license it from you. The reason for this is because your songs have a copyright to them, and using it commercially without your consent and without compensation is illegal under music copy right law. Now doesn’t that sound sweet

The rate at which you get paid differs from country to country and is set by the country’s Copyright Board. Please check the royalty rate of your country to see how much you can be making from licensing. How will you know when your music is played at different stations? How will you collect your money? What paper needs to be filled out to license your songs to radio stations? Relax and take a deep breath. The music entity that handles all of that is called a Performing Rights Agency.

These are your ASCAPs, BMI, SOCAN etc. If you’re not registered to one I suggest you do so. They monitor radio stations to detect when your songs are being played and collect and distribute any royalties owed to you.

Music licensing is a powerful source of income for an artist. I absolutely love it. You are owed a royalty every time a radio station plays your music, or when a DJ plays your track in a club or at a concert. You are even owed a royalty when someone adds your music to visuals and uploads it to Youtube. Music licensing has endless possibilities and is very lucrative.

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Also Read: How To Get Paid From Internet Radio

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Make Money Through Youtube

It’s an amazing time we’re in right now to make money from social media. Right now than ever before you can monotize your social media platforms and start earning money within a few months. For an independet rap artist this can be a great way to earn an extra income. A place like Youtube has been proven to be a platform where people have earned income that has supplemented their current work wage.

In order to accomplish this you have to become a Youtube Partner. Becoming a Youtube Partner will allow you to make money through companies that advertise on Youtube. You get a small percentage of that advertisement revenue every time someone watches your video.

This is great for those artist who vlog their experiences as an artist, whether it’s a performance, studio time or music conferences. It’s also great for those rappers that have music videos. Once you register as a partner and you’re accepted, just upload your videos, drive traffic to those videos, and get paid for views. Sign up to become a Youtube Partner click the link.

In conclusion you now see the many ways you as an independent rap artist can make money. There is a huge opportunity for you to earn a big salary as an artist it all depends on your taking action and exploiting all the avenues I’ve listed above. I know independent rap artists that make $50,000-$90,000 a year and they are living very comfortable. The fact is not all of you are going to be millionaires, that’s just the simple truth! But if you have no issue with earning $80,000 a year instead of working for minimum wage and living broke like you are now, music can be the way to do it by going after the income sources that were list in this article.