Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Drake - breaking big without a major label

Great story in today's DigitalMusicNews on actor-turned-rapper Drake:

"Until recently, the typical game plan for rappers was to develop some buzz, get discovered by a major label, and blast some songs nationwide. But today's hip-hop artists are blasting that dream to bits, thanks to mixtapes, the internet, and a totally different set of economic rules.

One of the biggest songs on the airwaves is a catchy rap ballad called "Best I Ever Had" by newcomer Drake. According to data found on BigChampagne's BCDash, "Best" is currently ranked #2 on Mediabase's Urban chart and #3 on Hit-Rhythmic. That's quite impressive, especially given the lack of a major label push. Instead, this Canadian rapper has topped the charts based on internet buzz and guest appearances."

Read on here.

There is a MySpace page for Drake, but apparently the only only official site is Drake Ringers, which sells ringtones based on the music.



Whatever you think of tracks like Best I Ever Had, he's certainly (no doubt unwittingly) following The Manual's advice that the lyrics should be what every girl wants her boyfriend to tell them...

See also - We Are Hunted - a chart based on online buzz

2 comments:

patrick said...

That's a great story, wonderful to see independents getting that kind of attention.

Fresh said...

Blog writers have become the new DJs and dark clouds are the distribution networks.

It took almost a year for Drake to break into main stream media and 9 months for his song to get picked up by radio.

You would think traditional outlets would be jumping on these new artists before their platforms become obsolete.

And Drake has a website/blog where he releases new music.
http://octobersveryown.blogspot.com

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