Del F. Cowie writes on How Hip-hop’s Mixtape Culture Is Changing the Game and considers the current phase of mixtapes as free digital downloads:
"Well-known and established artists as aesthetically varied as G-Unit and Talib Kweli…are increasingly offering full mixtapes directly from their MySpace pages or through other social networking ventures. Radiohead’s ‘pay what you want’ model for In Rainbows ushered the free music debate into the spotlight…"
"The difference with what is currently occurring in hip-hop is that artists are releasing music online through mixtapes and don’t even give you the option to hand over anything — forget ‘pay what you want.’ To tweak the ‘We got it 4 cheap’ mixtape mantra of Virginia rappers the Clipse, consumers of online mixtapes are saying ‘We got it 4 free.’"
Lots of unsigned rap artist are not watching the newest trends and are still thinking that they can make a mixtape and actually make a lot of money off of it.(If your hustle is just that good…maybe) Newsflash…It isn’t 2000 when the mixtape game was uncharted territory for most unsigned rappers.The secret is out and my grandmother is dropping her mixtape next week(I’m kidding).
But seriously the mixtape game is saturated beyond measure. Major label rap artist do mixtapes and give them away for free,so the next 100,000 unknown emcees should do the same.If they don’t have to buy thier favorite artist mixtape….what makes you think that they would pay for yours.Follow the blueprint.
“If you do what they do,you’ll get what they got”(Origin Unknown)