February 10, 2015 How To NOT Get Ripped Off When Buying Rap Features
Unfortunately, it’s not that uncommon for hip hop artists to have a less desirable outcome than they expected when buying a feature from another rapper. Business acumen, professionalism, and ethics are often times absent even from more established artists in the industry.
I hear or read horror stories all of the time. From more subjective claims like “They just gave me some throw away, filler verse” to more serious situations with bigger repercussions like “They took 6 months to get the verse to me and I had to push my album back” or even worse “I paid them and they never sent me the verse”.
Bad news is, if you’ve had one of these negative experiences it’s probably your fault. Because it’s very rare for them to happen if you take some simple preventative steps to protect yourself. Whether you have previously been ripped off or not, if you follow the steps below you will greatly reduce your risk of getting hustled in the future.
How To Protect Yourself
This is a basic principle of business that applies to most scenarios involving transacting money: make sure documentation exists and is accessible to all parties involved that outlines the details and expectations of the arrangement (emails, receipts, invoices, contracts, etc).
You should always have some sort of legally binding document drawn up. Can’t afford a lawyer? Google is free. Open up Google in your browser and type the following search terms and then sift through the results: “free sample side artist agreement” or “free side artist contract template”
Don’t have a documented contract? Emails are often times enough to get your money back when things go bad if you use a secure service like PayPal (which you should). If you pay for something and don’t receive it you can open up a claim with PayPal in their Resolution Center. The other party has a limited amount of time to dispute your claim and provide proof or deliver what you paid for. If they fail to do so PayPal will refund your money.
At the bare minimum you should make sure you have documented proof of (1) how much you are to pay and when and (2) when they are expected to deliver the verse by and how they are expected to deliver it (most likely email). But the more details the better: verse length, file formats, song concept, anything relevant to the transaction. Avoid cash payments, checks, or money orders at all costs.
What if they insist on a money order or a less secure payment method? This next step is especially important if you choose to proceed in this scenario: Insist on only paying a 50% deposit and the other half once the feature is delivered. This is a typical business model used by freelancers and independent contractors and it’s a good way to protect both them and their clients. I know a lot of artists would probably prefer to be paid in full in advance but honestly this is not an unfair request and you should be very wary of anybody that has an issue with it.
One thing that is imperative for you to understand if you want to effectively operate on the business side of the music industry is this: Everyone will always ask for more money than you should pay, and will almost always settle for less money than they are asking for. Everything is negotiable. This is true whether you’re talking about feature rates, performance guarantees, record contracts, or t-shirts at the merch booth. (Next time you’re at a rap show and the booth says shirts are $15 – tell them you only have $12 on you and see if you don’t walk away with a shirt anyways.)
Side Note: Although everything is negotiable not everyone is willing to negotiate in every situation. Certain circumstances require you to have a certain level of clout before you hold any bargaining power.
You can research or learn anything online for free with a combination of Google and social media. Don’t buy a feature from an artist without asking at least 5 other artists who have gotten a feature from them previously how much they paid and how their experience was. You can probably figure out how negotiable an artist’s feature rate is just with a little research.
Being cutthroat is a trait that is treated as a skill and rewarded in this industry for better or for worse. If you allow yourself to be perceived as someone who makes emotional decisions with their business then you become a target for the money hungry wolves scouring for people to eat off of.
This is an excerpt from Buying and Selling Rap Features, a two part blog post series that attempts to serve as a guide for indie rappers when it comes to one of the most dubious aspects of the industry - rap features. Check out the full guide:
Buying and Selling Rap Features: A “How To” Guide (Part 1)
Buying and Selling Rap Features: A “How To” Guide (Part 2)
This article was written by TJ Bear a Brand & Web Designer for music artists, music industry professionals, and small businesses at Mind Under Mohawk. TJ is also an independent hip hop artist and self-proclaimed “zombie killer” under the alias Saint Warhead. Follow TJ on Twitter: @mindundermohawk @saintwarhead
Reader Comments (2)
Come on guys we are talking about rap. There is always something going on ( an I am not saying that in a bad way ) Think about what happened with the biggest name in rap music. GONE.. and this is continuing to happen. Even know. Really sad that's not gonna stop. The KL Rappes and http://mimp3.org/ said the same thing last week.
Great job!