Those with commission fees are incentivized to advise artists on digital strategy and playlist placement, fully embracing their role as artist service providers, while DistroKid “makes $19.99 a year per artist, whether their albums make a million dollars or nothing at all,” Kaplan told me. Stem charges a 5% commission without any per-unit fees, while DistroKid bills a flat annual rate of $19.99 for unlimited uploads. CD Baby takes a 9% commission on digital sales atop fees of $9.95 per single and $49 per album TuneCore charges similar fees for singles and albums, without taking a commission. Frank Ocean and pop-rap duo Jack & Jack are just a few examples of independently distributed artists who have topped the iTunes album charts.īusiness models vary across distributors. DistroKid uploads nearly 600 new albums daily and paid out $2 million to its artists last month, while competitor TuneCore pays its artists over $40 million in total every quarter. Some of the biggest players in the field, including CD Baby and Sony-owned The Orchard, were founded pre-Napster. The concept of an “indie distributor” is neither new nor small. Commenting on Ludacris' move, DistroKid CEO Philip Kaplan wrote that “musicians at all levels increasingly have access to the same platforms used by the most successful artists in the world.” What is perhaps even more important is that the logic also travels in the other direction: the most successful artists in the world are now demanding access to the same tools used by DIY creators. This incremental shift of major artists toward indie distribution suggests that the idea of a level playing field in the music business is not as far-fetched as we may think. “Three days after we finished the album, it was up on every major platform, and now I know exactly how much money I’m making from it.” “It was the perfect slam dunk: we cut up the revenue pie evenly and easily without any transparency issues so that we could just focus on our creativity,” said Jeff. Similar to DistroKid, Stem’s main selling points are its clean, artist-friendly dashboard interface and its automated, consensus-based model for royalty splits. The Los Angeles-based startup touts a more public profile in the tech world than most other distributors, having raised $4.5 million in April 2016 from the likes of Upfront Ventures, Gary Vaynerchuk and artist-management magnate Scooter Braun. Stem gained recognition that same month as the distributor behind Frank Ocean’s album Blonde, whose stealthy release strategy circumvented the major-label system and sent shockwaves through the music industry. “I don’t normally get that emotional on projects, but when we finished up the album and I sat down and listened to it from beginning to end, I broke down.”
#LUDACRIS VITAMIN D VIDEO MODELS FULL#
“I’ve been doing music professionally for over 30 years, and this was the first time I ever had full creative control,” Jeff told me. Jeff not only documented the entire recording process on Facebook Live but also decided to release the album independently through a distributor called Stem. "She got them handlebars/ Gotta keep a tight grip on that donkey/ She be givin' out battle scars/ 'Cause she got a tight grip on that monkey/ She told me, all the way, go straight to that a**/ Make a student be late for the class/ She make a n***a wanna holla even through a couple dollars/ So I gotta get straight to the cash/ I love big cheeks in between them sheets," Ludacris spits the first verse of "Vitamin D".Rewind to February 2017, when prolific hip-hop artist DJ Jazzy Jeff, who first rose to fame alongside Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, worked with over 30 collaborators to record his new album Chasing Goosebumps in just seven days. In addition, the raunchy lyrics make the song naughtier. In the end of the video, Ludacris wakes up from his sleep and realizes that all is just his fantasy.
Elsewhere in the clip, Ty Dolla, who dresses as doctor, mixes business and pleasure by lying on the bed with two girls in lingerie. He then puts on surgery gloves and observes the girls who flaunt their assets as he delivers his verses. The four-minute video begins with Ludacris in CGI abs saying hello to women in nurse ensembles. Ty Dolla, whose specialty are breasts and buttocks, prescribe the girls with Vitamin D, which has nothing to do with sunlight and calcium, but has everything to do with sex. The music video features Ludacris and Ty Dolla playing doctors as they are surrounded by scantily-clad ladies. AceShowbiz - Although Ludacris is gearing up for " The Fate of the Furious" release this Friday, April 14, the hip-hop star has released a music video for his new single "Vitamin D" ft.