Bun B claims that artists “get in debt” by signing deals with major labels, and UGK is no exception.
In an interview with B High ATL, the Texas rap legend opened up about his experiences with major labels, including Sony.
“I mean, UGK was signed before. We were right there, but we had to wait because we moved forward with his last two albums,” he said. said to He waits seven years after achieving it. Since 2000, there has been a seven-year period of fundraising. So in 2027, I think the balance will be clear. “
He continued:
“UGK said he never earned a single dollar in royalties from the sale of our music and hadn’t had its publisher for about 17 years.”
Bun asserted that the math behind paying off UGK’s debt to Sony was still something he was studying, but he thought it wasn’t particularly tough to figure out if you had a good attorney.
Because I believe UGK is still losing at least $2,000,000 with that label, he explained. It is based on percentage. It never really matters how much money your art generates; what matters is how much money you generate from the money your art generates.
“I mean, we have a 15% contract, and that 15% isn’t even close to paying off their debt. 85% of them benefit very easily, but… if you’re 10% If you sign and your album sell 1 million records, your 10% is 100,000 and their album is 900 [thousand].
“So they gave you the money back, but you probably paid them upfront, so you still owe them money. You had to make the video and make the album.” So you owe them 55, which is pretty low.”
In conclusion, he said the best thing young artists can do is to avoid upfront payments and self-finance as much art as possible. “It’s debt, we’re piling up debt,” Bung said.
Bun B isn’t the first to criticize the way major labels do business. Rap’s biggest indie, one of his artists, Russ will hit majors in June, claiming his artists are likely to be obsolete and realizing how poor their business is. He said that more and more artists are doing it.
“I think [big labels] will eventually become obsolete just because the juices aren’t worth the pressure,” he said. They don’t do anything you can’t do yourself. I think some artists are not business savvy and just want to be artists, so they take the label approach and have a team that does everything for them.
“But you can find a team that will do it all for you, and you’re still an unlabeled artist. Today’s artists are their digital marketing. Digital marketing is the biggest business in the music industry. I think it’s one of the façades, they come up with a label and say, “This is your digital team.” And it’s like, “What exactly are you doing?” ”