The reason why Chance The Rapper turned down $8 million
Chance the Rapper has found tremendous success throughout his career, becoming a highly popular artist and picking up multiple Grammy wins and nominations, but, through it all, he’s also turned his back on millions of dollars to hold onto his independence.
Appearing on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, Chance spoke about how, rather than accepting a record label’s offer to sign him for $8million some time ago, he decided to stay free. Not only does that mean he maintains autonomy over his work, but it also presents him with financial opportunities, because it means he keeps control of his own intellectual property (IP) rights.
“Your IP is anything that you create…Anybody that’s a rapper right now that don’t got a deal, you own your masters, right?” he cautioned, adding, “And you own all the royalties associated with your masters, and you could pass down that IP to your children.”
Chance argued that, as an artist, the “most important thing that you own is your image and likeness”, because it means that you retain your freedom to do what you want. If you want to appear on someone else’s song, for example, you will be able to do so without first seeking permission from a label boss. But in terms of making money specifically, staying independent also offers further opportunities beyond royalties and record sales. Performing gigs, selling merch, featuring in ad campaigns, these things are “going to continue to make [their] own money”, and, when done correctly, being independent can be lucrative in these endeavours.
Chance believes that, in light of opportunities such as these, it is better to own his own IP, rather than a label owning it, for if the company can promise the artist a big amount while making triple that for themselves, why shouldn’t the artist just try and make the money by themselves.
He clearly believes in the benefits of operating this way, but it is certainly risky, for if things go wrong, an album doesn’t sell, for example, then an independent artist will be left to deal with the consequences without any backing. As he poignantly reflected in an interview with Effective Immediately in August, “It’s a gamble. I’ve gotta really bet on myself, so I do go broke all the time, you know what I mean. And I do be up all the time”.
But, ultimately, it’s worth it for Chance. To be in control of his art is worth the stress and challenges, and it was even worth turning his back on millions of dollars of record label money. “The fact that there’s not a middleman,” he said, “the fact that there’s not somebody else that’s in control and deciding when I do radio tours, and when [I] drop a single, you know, who can be featured on my album, and what samples are gonna get cleared… It’s all up to me. And that makes it harder on me, but that also makes it real and makes me be the person that gets to decide what success looks like.”