(AllHipHop News) Chance The Rapper is a champion of going the independent route in the music business. The Acid Rap, Surf, and Coloring Book projects were all made available for free, but the Chicago native still managed to earn a reported $32 million over a 12-month period.
Despite Chance’s success, there have still been debates in the industry about the potential reach of an indie act. Apple Music’s Head of Artist Curation Carl Chery talked about that topic while on Everyday Struggle.
“Chance is an anomaly. He’s special,” said Chery. “But his success is misleading. Now you have all these other aspiring artists thinking you don’t need a label. Chance is special. He’s charismatic. He’s smart as hell. He’s just special.”
Chery’s comments on the Complex show inspired a DJ Booth article that included the author writing, “[Chance] should be allowed to talk about leading the independent artist charge while knowing full well that the level of success he has achieved isn’t realistic for everyone.”
“This is wack. Yall steady tellin [people] they need a label/publisher/distributor to achieve success as an artist. [That’s] a lie,” tweeted Chance in response to DJ Booth.
“Its only unrealistic because of the conditioning all artists are exposed to by different forms of media creating the narrative that you need to be discovered or put on in order to be successful. We [wouldn’t] seek out deals if mfs knew there were other avenues,'” added the “No Problem” performer.
He continued, “Also have some damn patience, all your favorite artists are locked up in deals and until they get out (and stay out) you wont see the realization of their full potential… EVERY ARTIST HAS ‘IT.’ If ‘it’ means the access and ability to be successful (assuming this success is individual to the artist) while retaining ownership of your pub/masters and royalties from other media appearances, full oversight of metrics etc. THEY ALL HAVE ‘IT.'”
