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FEATURED What Makes An Artist Successful/Unsuccessful?

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You have personal success. If you achieved your goals then that is a success.

Then you have label/job/company success. Did you achieve the goals that they put on you.
 
Success is subjective... IMO boils down to did an artist achieve the goal they set out???

Their goals could be financial and and just maximise profits...

Maybe their goals solely on making an impact, be-it on the music/art, a genre or even society as a whole and not financial...

It might be mainly fame...

Or maybe they have multiple goals want to achieve...

Just because an artist didnt make fortunes or maybe have much of an impact or hits doesnt make them successful or unsuccessful, imo subjective and personal opinion...

Though the public are free to speculate but ultimately I think its the artist who decides how much of a success they were...
 
Sixto Rodriguez from the documentary 'Searching For Sugar Man' is a prime example...

Some called him a failure because his initial album didnt sell and said he could had been the new Bob Dylan...

Little did anyone know his album was pirated (or something like that) and he was revered as Elvis or The Beetles in South Africa during apartheid but know one who wasnt in South Africa knew this!!!

Even when he found out in the 00's, he was working in a factory or building site in Detroit, just playing local clubs with his back to the crowd... He didnt want the money or fame he just liked performing art...

Ultimately he wound up doing couple mega shows in South Africa and becoming somewhat or a star due to the documentary and soundtrack etc but still have most his money away....

He made an impact on a country during its turbulent times, thats his version of success, even though he never became 'the new Bob Dylan'...

I only just found out he died recently... RIP...


www.imdb.com

Searching for Sugar Man (2012) ⭐ 8.2 | Documentary, Biography, Music

1h 26m | PG-13
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com

 
Objectively, success is album sales/streams, ticket sales, and longevity.

But music is subjective.

for me, why do I care how much Eminem or Drake sells if I dont listen to either one?

If you ask me, success is how much I listen to your music.

An artist I listen to are successful. Artists that I dont play are unsuccessful
 
There’s no right answer. Your definition of success for someone might not be what theirs is.
 
Having a dedicated following. If you have a concentration of fans who adore your music even if the never seen you in person. You are a success. Of course how big that following determines how large of an success...

But if it's still niggaz spitting your rhymes 10+ years after you dropped them.. that shit successful.

Budden definitely a success. He was very influential during the initial satellite radio stage of the game when djs were getting these shows and having those cyphers.

I remember one of the livest ones I think it was green lantern... Budden was beefing with niggaz in the hallways then came in the booth still mad and killt that shit

I remember this shit clearly.. this was the top topic in hip hop when it dropped... don't disrespect the game

 
Sounds like we’re going right back into that “sales = greatness” argument, which is bullshit.

Guys like Em and MC Hammer would’ve be Kings of Hip-Hop is that was the case.

No. Sales does count, but only about 25%. You have to have a discography worth listening to, a commercial appeal anyone cares about, and a legacy people will remember, or at least revered.

That’s why I dropped the National Registry of Recordings list. THOSE artists may not have the most sales, but it’s clear the impact on their work has had its long-lasting effect not only on the culture but on music as a whole.
 
That being said, here’s the list of Hip-Hop artists whose work has been persevered into that list:

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The entire list is here: National Recording Preservation Board

THAT is success to me. Where people want to IMMORTALIZE your work because it’s that good and that special or that significant of stature. None of these records are diamond-certified, but they’ve had their time in the spotlight of Hip-Hop and will be known as parts of the building blocks of it.
 
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The ability to create hits

If you cannot create a lane for yourself and be popular in THAT lane, you cannot be successful.

Make a hit song for the people in the lane you are trying to appeal to.
 
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