The rise of the underground industry

In the last few years a shift has occurred in the genre of rap music allowing unsigned artists to gain notoriety. The internet has allowed unsigned artists to get their music out on download sharing websites, allowing millions of fans to discover them. In the past it was nearly impossible to get any momentum in their careers without going through a record label. The labels are trying to keep up with this new trend, but some artists are giving away their albums for free so new fans will download them. This makes it nearly impossible for labels to compensate and they are taking heavy losses.
The most notable of these underground rappers are Mac Miller, Chris Webby and Wiz Khalifa. Miller has already made over 1.5 million dollars in his career but he recently signed with a label to go main stream. Webby’s success has not been nearly as profitable but he has sold out all of his shows on his latest tour “Websters Lab” compared to when he first started performing for only 10 people. In an interview on Youtube, he stated “the reason I don’t sign with a label is that I’ve started a business and I don’t want to be bought out by the local big chain.” It is undisputable that these rappers have met major success but they still haven’t come close to competing signed rappers who have advertising, sponsors and more artists to work with. These artists like Eminem and his net worth of $150 million along with 50 Cent’s $250 million (half of 50 Cent’s money is from a $100 million deal with Coke for buying his self-started Vitamin Water) still have a huge advantage and a much bigger fan base that unsigned artists could only dream of achieving.
Underground rappers use websites to get their music known. Typically they give it away for free so people will not hesitate to download it. The websites they tend to use include datpiff where people can download thousands of albums for free.
Youtube is also used to post music videos, songs and interviews for publicity. Whether underground becomes the new mainstream or it just fades away, the change that has happened shows how big of an impact a single website can have on the music industry.