February 28, 2025 • 13 mins
We explore the intersection of music sales and artistry, questioning how industry metrics impact our connection to the music we love. This discussion challenges traditional views on what it means to be a true fan and the importance of separating commercial success from artistic merit.
• Understanding how album sales create pressure on artists
• The role of fans in shaping artists' reputations and careers
• Discussing the disconnection between commercial success and artistic quality
If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review or share this episode with a friend!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
yo.
So look, welcome back to.
I think we're gonna call thisspot that, like I said, you've
heard a little bit of me alone,then you maybe hear a little bit
of dodie alone, but we're gonnacall this section chatterbox,
right, because it's just a yapsession.
It's just for one of us to havean idea and get on here and
(00:23):
just go right.
So last week I talked about theindustry plant, right, the
industry plant topic.
Today I want to talk about thenumbers in the industry album
sales.
How many number ones you got?
How many all not money, not allthat right, I mean.
(00:46):
Also monetary value comes intoplay sometimes when you're
speaking to certain people.
You're an artist.
As an artist, you sign to alabel.
As the label look at you.
They need to see how manypeople are vibing with you.
You, as an artist, want to seehow many people are vibing with
(01:12):
me.
You drop your album.
You do 100,000 a week.
First week, not a week.
Your first week, you do 100,thousand.
That's good for you.
You're a new artist, you'regrowing a fan base.
Obviously your label say, okay,that's cool.
We looking at you and yourlabel also say I think we can
(01:35):
grow with this, let's continueto build.
And then you get on social mediaand then you see the tons of
people calling it a failurebecause you didn't do what their
favorite artist can do.
Now, as the label and as theartist, you have the right, you
(01:58):
are in the right position to belike damn, my numbers don't look
the way I want them to look.
Damn, my numbers don't look theway I want them to look.
I'm arguing with fans onlineabout who did what numbers and
not even arguing.
I'm going to just say I statemy opinion sometimes.
But you'll have people arguingonline about who did what
(02:20):
numbers, talking about peoplethat neither one of them people
are in control of.
If they feel it don't change,if they get better, it don't
change anything in their lives.
I do understand, on one hand, ifyou are the fan of an artist,
you want to see them do good.
(02:41):
You want to see them grow oh,especially right now.
To see them grow.
Oh, especially right now.
Drake fans oh, my favoriteartist does.
He did 400,000 the first week,200,000 the second week.
Goes down from there sometimesdepending on what goes on.
But you can be a fan of aperson and be excited about that
, but when it comes to somethingthat you like.
(03:03):
When it comes to the art, doyou like that person Only
because they're doing good?
In sports reference, we seepeople all the time During Super
Bowl season, the NBA finalseason, you see people claiming
teams that, hey, fam, I've knownyou for a while, you've never
(03:23):
been A Kansas City Chiefs fan,but all of a sudden During this
season, during January andFebruary, you are a Kansas City
Chiefs fan Because they are Atthe Super Bowl.
Are y'all people actually likingthe art of the artists that
y'all are arguing for, or Arey'all just actually liking the
(03:44):
art of the artist that y'all arearguing for?
Or are y'all just fans of thenumber one artist?
Dolce put out an album andagain I talked about Dolce last
week.
Dolce put out an album.
She sells 11,000 the first week.
Now, as the label, as Dolce, youmight look at that and be like,
(04:04):
damn, I failed, I did not dowhat I thought I was going to do
when I dropped that album,especially looking at the way
that my fan base was growing.
You as a fan should not besitting back saying, well, damn,
I can't listen to her becauseshe only sold 11,000.
Or you as a fan of somebodyelse.
(04:24):
It shouldn't be a thing Likeyou like your favorite artist
only, or the people that youlisten to only did 11,000.
I've never looked at a projectthat I like and said, wait, how
many albums is it selling?
Because if I like the music, Ilike the music.
And then when you do so, I wantto shout out the ransom.
(04:48):
Right, ransom is if y'all beenlistening to the podcast, ransom
is an artist.
That is undeniable.
He's he's one of the bestrappers I've heard.
I guarantee he's not doing50,000 the first week, 100,000
the first week.
But I don't.
I don't look at that as a fanand be like get your numbers up,
(05:09):
because I don't care, say, andyou can take it how you want it,
I don't care if that artistfails or not, in a sense of what
numbers they do, because Idon't know what their business
look like and half of y'allpeople don't understand the
independent numbers mean so muchmore than a signed artist
(05:31):
selling eleven thousand or tenthousand the first week.
But if Ransom put out an albumtomorrow and I'm the only one
that buys it, he literally sellsone copy and I like it, that's
all that matters.
I don't know Ransom to be likehey, y'all need to go do this
(05:51):
and if y'all don't support thisand he need to give up If y'all
not listen to it, so why wouldyou even make this music?
Because it doesn't matter to me, because if the music is good,
the music is good.
When did it become A thing thatPeople are online Talking as if
they are In the music industry?
When did it become A thingwhere we can be like Like
(06:15):
another thing?
Ticket sales you see peoplearguing and you see it a lot
more after this whole Drake andKendrick thing but you see
people arguing.
Ticket sales you see peopleliterally wake up every day, go
to Ticketmaster, log in, type inKendrick, lamar or Drake
(06:42):
Screenshot that they are or arenot selling tickets Again.
Me and my son is going to Tylerthe creator in Charlotte in
March.
If we get to that Tyler thecreator show and I see that
motherfucker is empty, it's meand two other families Guess
(07:03):
what.
I don't care what he sold, aslong as he still put on the show
.
I'm going to move even closerbecause there's room now for me
to put on the show.
You, as a fan, I know weentering into this whole Stan
culture thanks to one of myfavorite rappers.
Eminem created the whole Stanculture and it's like you have
(07:25):
to just fight tooth and nail forevery aspect of this artist I
get.
You get to a point where yougot to separate the artist from
the art if he's like doing crazyshit and maybe if you do
something Too wild that youdon't listen to him no more.
But I don't really care nothing, like when it comes to personal
(07:50):
lives With some of theseartists.
I don't know the personal lifeof these artists.
Like during the Kendrick andDrake back and forth, everybody
talk about some oh, he did moveto New York, he did do this, he
not married.
I didn't know Kendrick wasn'tmarried, because I don't care.
Now, if you put it in the musicand I find out that way, that's
(08:12):
one thing.
But for you to be, I'm not.
I'm not so much of a fan ofsomebody where I'm digging into
the numbers and trying to findout their record deal, like when
Drake said um, you're doing somany splits, your pants might
rip.
That's a good diss in a song.
But me as a fan and you as afan should not be like yeah, who
(08:36):
is he?
Ain't he splitting his shit upwith so-and-so?
Ain't he doing this Because itit shouldn't matter.
I think we are getting Into apoint, and I know I mean shout
out to the people who makepodcast mics and shout out to
Rollcast For making thisbeautiful machine.
And yes, we are all entitled Toour opinion.
So me saying this Is just myopinion.
(08:59):
There will still be peoplearguing about who sold the most
records and who didn't sell andwho ain't got number ones and
who did this, but I don't thinkthat should be your focus.
You got people that Are onlineTalking about Well, so and so
(09:28):
never did a beat with so and so,or so and so never did a song
with so and so.
So they must not like eachother.
Y'all know who.
I want to do a song together.
I want Kendrick Lamar To do asong With.
I want Kendrick Lamar To do asong With a, a Starlito Right.
I just want to hear how itwould sound.
But since they haven't Done asong together, there's not been
(09:50):
one time that I said, oh, theymust not like each other, not
once.
And if they didn't like eachother, why does that matter to
me?
You should just be a fan Of themusic.
Why are you so intertwined?
And if the artist sell or not,I don't know.
(10:10):
I just think that's a weirdstance to be on, especially when
you argue with somebody online.
You on one side are you and theother person on the other side
arguing and neither one of y'allactually know anything about
the industry that you speak of.
I know a little bit.
I don't know a lot to bedebating because I don't know
(10:31):
what nobody contract is.
And when we get into the wholecontract thing, drake put out
some sexy songs for you and thenyou got Drake fans saying, oh,
this is his final album with UMGbecause it's in UMG.
It says also distributed by UMG.
That don't mean this is it.
You don't know his contract.
(10:54):
Y'all hear one person speak ofone thing and then y'all just
run with it.
And yes, I probably do that too.
But the way that some of y'allspeak of it With factor, when me
and my brother Doty Get on thispodcast and we talk I speak
from, well, maybe I could seethat, or Do you think this?
(11:17):
Or I've heard this Once.
Some of y'all hear something,y'all speak with it.
Y'all speak with it.
Y'all speak on it withauthority, like y'all just y'all
behind the scenes and y'allknow everything for sure Y'all
don't know everything for sure.
Please, please, look, step backand just think sometimes on
what am I or what are you?
What are we speaking on?
(11:37):
That's all.
What are we speaking on?
That's all.
And then, when it come tonumbers, the numbers is only a
failure or a win.
If it fits your narrative,kendrick dropped G and X.
It was supposed to be a flopbecause he sold 319.
Drake and Party Next Doordropped an album and it did 249.
(12:04):
But that's not a flop.
But Drake is the biggest artistin the world, but he's been
suppressed.
No, he's not been suppressed.
Why would his record labelsuppress him if they want to get
their money back from him?
And then, if you go to AppleMusic or Spotify, he's not been
suppressed, his name iseverywhere.
But just be a fan of the music,be a fan of the TV shows, be a
(12:29):
fan of the art, if you like it.
It doesn't matter how manyrecords are sold.
If you like it, that's the onlything that should matters.
Also, I do appreciate y'all Ify'all have listened to this so
(12:49):
far, this 13 minutes of ramble.
This is Chatterbox, and I'll beback, or Dodie will be back
with another single episode, butwe will also be back this
Monday with a podcast.
Peace.
yo.
So look, welcome back to.
I think we're gonna call thisspot that, like I said, you've
heard a little bit of me alone,then you maybe hear a little bit
of dodie alone, but we're gonnacall this section chatterbox,
right, because it's just a yapsession.
It's just for one of us to havean idea and get on here and
(00:23):
just go right.
So last week I talked about theindustry plant, right, the
industry plant topic.
Today I want to talk about thenumbers in the industry album
sales.
How many number ones you got?
How many all not money, not allthat right, I mean.
(00:46):
Also monetary value comes intoplay sometimes when you're
speaking to certain people.
You're an artist.
As an artist, you sign to alabel.
As the label look at you.
They need to see how manypeople are vibing with you.
You, as an artist, want to seehow many people are vibing with
(01:12):
me.
You drop your album.
You do 100,000 a week.
First week, not a week.
Your first week, you do 100,thousand.
That's good for you.
You're a new artist, you'regrowing a fan base.
Obviously your label say, okay,that's cool.
We looking at you and yourlabel also say I think we can
(01:35):
grow with this, let's continueto build.
And then you get on social mediaand then you see the tons of
people calling it a failurebecause you didn't do what their
favorite artist can do.
Now, as the label and as theartist, you have the right, you
(01:58):
are in the right position to belike damn, my numbers don't look
the way I want them to look.
Damn, my numbers don't look theway I want them to look.
I'm arguing with fans onlineabout who did what numbers and
not even arguing.
I'm going to just say I statemy opinion sometimes.
But you'll have people arguingonline about who did what
(02:20):
numbers, talking about peoplethat neither one of them people
are in control of.
If they feel it don't change,if they get better, it don't
change anything in their lives.
I do understand, on one hand, ifyou are the fan of an artist,
you want to see them do good.
(02:41):
You want to see them grow oh,especially right now.
To see them grow.
Oh, especially right now.
Drake fans oh, my favoriteartist does.
He did 400,000 the first week,200,000 the second week.
Goes down from there sometimesdepending on what goes on.
But you can be a fan of aperson and be excited about that
, but when it comes to somethingthat you like.
(03:03):
When it comes to the art, doyou like that person Only
because they're doing good?
In sports reference, we seepeople all the time During Super
Bowl season, the NBA finalseason, you see people claiming
teams that, hey, fam, I've knownyou for a while, you've never
(03:23):
been A Kansas City Chiefs fan,but all of a sudden During this
season, during January andFebruary, you are a Kansas City
Chiefs fan Because they are Atthe Super Bowl.
Are y'all people actually likingthe art of the artists that
y'all are arguing for, or Arey'all just actually liking the
(03:44):
art of the artist that y'all arearguing for?
Or are y'all just fans of thenumber one artist?
Dolce put out an album andagain I talked about Dolce last
week.
Dolce put out an album.
She sells 11,000 the first week.
Now, as the label, as Dolce, youmight look at that and be like,
(04:04):
damn, I failed, I did not dowhat I thought I was going to do
when I dropped that album,especially looking at the way
that my fan base was growing.
You as a fan should not besitting back saying, well, damn,
I can't listen to her becauseshe only sold 11,000.
Or you as a fan of somebodyelse.
(04:24):
It shouldn't be a thing Likeyou like your favorite artist
only, or the people that youlisten to only did 11,000.
I've never looked at a projectthat I like and said, wait, how
many albums is it selling?
Because if I like the music, Ilike the music.
And then when you do so, I wantto shout out the ransom.
(04:48):
Right, ransom is if y'all beenlistening to the podcast, ransom
is an artist.
That is undeniable.
He's he's one of the bestrappers I've heard.
I guarantee he's not doing50,000 the first week, 100,000
the first week.
But I don't.
I don't look at that as a fanand be like get your numbers up,
(05:09):
because I don't care, say, andyou can take it how you want it,
I don't care if that artistfails or not, in a sense of what
numbers they do, because Idon't know what their business
look like and half of y'allpeople don't understand the
independent numbers mean so muchmore than a signed artist
(05:31):
selling eleven thousand or tenthousand the first week.
But if Ransom put out an albumtomorrow and I'm the only one
that buys it, he literally sellsone copy and I like it, that's
all that matters.
I don't know Ransom to be likehey, y'all need to go do this
(05:51):
and if y'all don't support thisand he need to give up If y'all
not listen to it, so why wouldyou even make this music?
Because it doesn't matter to me, because if the music is good,
the music is good.
When did it become A thing thatPeople are online Talking as if
they are In the music industry?
When did it become A thingwhere we can be like Like
(06:15):
another thing?
Ticket sales you see peoplearguing and you see it a lot
more after this whole Drake andKendrick thing but you see
people arguing.
Ticket sales you see peopleliterally wake up every day, go
to Ticketmaster, log in, type inKendrick, lamar or Drake
(06:42):
Screenshot that they are or arenot selling tickets Again.
Me and my son is going to Tylerthe creator in Charlotte in
March.
If we get to that Tyler thecreator show and I see that
motherfucker is empty, it's meand two other families Guess
(07:03):
what.
I don't care what he sold, aslong as he still put on the show
.
I'm going to move even closerbecause there's room now for me
to put on the show.
You, as a fan, I know weentering into this whole Stan
culture thanks to one of myfavorite rappers.
Eminem created the whole Stanculture and it's like you have
(07:25):
to just fight tooth and nail forevery aspect of this artist I
get.
You get to a point where yougot to separate the artist from
the art if he's like doing crazyshit and maybe if you do
something Too wild that youdon't listen to him no more.
But I don't really care nothing, like when it comes to personal
(07:50):
lives With some of theseartists.
I don't know the personal lifeof these artists.
Like during the Kendrick andDrake back and forth, everybody
talk about some oh, he did moveto New York, he did do this, he
not married.
I didn't know Kendrick wasn'tmarried, because I don't care.
Now, if you put it in the musicand I find out that way, that's
(08:12):
one thing.
But for you to be, I'm not.
I'm not so much of a fan ofsomebody where I'm digging into
the numbers and trying to findout their record deal, like when
Drake said um, you're doing somany splits, your pants might
rip.
That's a good diss in a song.
But me as a fan and you as afan should not be like yeah, who
(08:36):
is he?
Ain't he splitting his shit upwith so-and-so?
Ain't he doing this Because itit shouldn't matter.
I think we are getting Into apoint, and I know I mean shout
out to the people who makepodcast mics and shout out to
Rollcast For making thisbeautiful machine.
And yes, we are all entitled Toour opinion.
So me saying this Is just myopinion.
(08:59):
There will still be peoplearguing about who sold the most
records and who didn't sell andwho ain't got number ones and
who did this, but I don't thinkthat should be your focus.
You got people that Are onlineTalking about Well, so and so
(09:28):
never did a beat with so and so,or so and so never did a song
with so and so.
So they must not like eachother.
Y'all know who.
I want to do a song together.
I want Kendrick Lamar To do asong With.
I want Kendrick Lamar To do asong With a, a Starlito Right.
I just want to hear how itwould sound.
But since they haven't Done asong together, there's not been
(09:50):
one time that I said, oh, theymust not like each other, not
once.
And if they didn't like eachother, why does that matter to
me?
You should just be a fan Of themusic.
Why are you so intertwined?
And if the artist sell or not,I don't know.
(10:10):
I just think that's a weirdstance to be on, especially when
you argue with somebody online.
You on one side are you and theother person on the other side
arguing and neither one of y'allactually know anything about
the industry that you speak of.
I know a little bit.
I don't know a lot to bedebating because I don't know
(10:31):
what nobody contract is.
And when we get into the wholecontract thing, drake put out
some sexy songs for you and thenyou got Drake fans saying, oh,
this is his final album with UMGbecause it's in UMG.
It says also distributed by UMG.
That don't mean this is it.
You don't know his contract.
(10:54):
Y'all hear one person speak ofone thing and then y'all just
run with it.
And yes, I probably do that too.
But the way that some of y'allspeak of it With factor, when me
and my brother Doty Get on thispodcast and we talk I speak
from, well, maybe I could seethat, or Do you think this?
(11:17):
Or I've heard this Once.
Some of y'all hear something,y'all speak with it.
Y'all speak with it.
Y'all speak on it withauthority, like y'all just y'all
behind the scenes and y'allknow everything for sure Y'all
don't know everything for sure.
Please, please, look, step backand just think sometimes on
what am I or what are you?
What are we speaking on?
(11:37):
That's all.
What are we speaking on?
That's all.
And then, when it come tonumbers, the numbers is only a
failure or a win.
If it fits your narrative,kendrick dropped G and X.
It was supposed to be a flopbecause he sold 319.
Drake and Party Next Doordropped an album and it did 249.
(12:04):
But that's not a flop.
But Drake is the biggest artistin the world, but he's been
suppressed.
No, he's not been suppressed.
Why would his record labelsuppress him if they want to get
their money back from him?
And then, if you go to AppleMusic or Spotify, he's not been
suppressed, his name iseverywhere.
But just be a fan of the music,be a fan of the TV shows, be a
(12:29):
fan of the art, if you like it.
It doesn't matter how manyrecords are sold.
If you like it, that's the onlything that should matters.
Also, I do appreciate y'all Ify'all have listened to this so
(12:49):
far, this 13 minutes of ramble.
This is Chatterbox, and I'll beback, or Dodie will be back
with another single episode, butwe will also be back this
Monday with a podcast.
Peace.
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