B. Summers

Drake, Wale, and a lot of other rappers are either putting out mixtapes or releasing singles for fans to download free of charge. Some would ask why not charge for your hard work? After all you’ll never get rich by giving away your product. Or can you?

If you think about it an album has about 15 songs on it. Now for every one song there are probably two other songs that didn’t make the cut. So if you’re doing your math, thats at least 30 incomplete songs that may have a good verse or two. These disposable lyrics are what is used to make “never heard before” LP’s and also make fans think a decesed musician is still around. But more relevant to the subject, these disposable lyrics can be given away. You can think of them as audio flyers tossed effortlessly to prospective album buyers and concert attendies.

So yes, you can get rich from giving away free mixtapes. For the mixtape is the rapper/singer’s ever updating business card. The real money is in the shows and endorsements.

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