Photo Credit: LaRussell (X/Twitter)
Independent rapper LaRussell takes a pay-what-you-want approach to his new album with a goal of selling 100,000 albums in 30 days.
Independent Bay Area rapper LaRussell decided to take a unique approach to selling his new album, Something’s in the Water. He’s set a pay-what-you-want model for the release with the goal of selling 100,000 albums in 30 days independently. Fans can pay as little as $1 for the album.
“I’m setting a goal for myself to sell 100,000 albums,” said LaRussell in a post on the former Twitter. “Even if you got to buy an album for $1, $2, whatever—please help me hit this goal. I just want to show the world that this is possible independently and at home within our own region and our own people.”
But the rapper says he was floored to receive a major endorsement from NBA superstar Kyrie Irving, who paid an impressive $11,000 for the album. Turns out, supporting independent artists like this earns plenty of press for a famous basketballer, too.
“This morning I woke up, and I had a sale for $11,000, and I’m like, who the hell would give me $11,000?” said LaRussell in a video posted to X. “And it happened to be Number 11 on the Dallas Mavericks.”
The rapper says he already sold 1,000 pre-sale units within the first 24 hours, with several supporters paying $1,000 and one paying $5,000. LaRussell’s pay-what-you-want pricing model comes on the heels of his other efforts to keep things independent and affordable, including community-backed merch sales and offer-based ticketing. Even Bandcamp hosts its Bandcamp Fridays promotion, which sees 100% of profits generated during those Friday sales returned to the artists who earned them.
LaRussell’s album is available through EVEN, a platform that enables artists to sell directly to fans for whatever price they want to pay. It’s an approach that isn’t often utilized, but which was influenced by Nipsey Hussle, whose 2013 mixtape went for $100 each. To support Nipsey’s hustle, Jay-Z bought 100 copies.
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