Hip Hop music has always been the best selling music genre since its creation. However, things have drastically changed and Rap sales are always declining. Every once in a while, a mainstream album will top the charts, but it doesn’t happen as often as it used to. Most people know a reason or two that this is happening. The internet is only one of the main reasons and it isn’t fully responsible. This article will show another significant reason that a lot of people wouldn’t even consider.
A main reason for declining record sales is the lack of creativity in new music. Rap artists are choosing to follow the lead instead of innovating like the artists did in the golden age of Hip Hop. That era ended in the late 90’s, but Hip Hop continued to soar into the new century. Today, Hip Hop has lost its innovation and in turn, lost many dedicated fans. Is this the artist’s fault or the fan’s? Is there nothing left to say on a Hip Hop song? Most albums today come out with a bunch of generic filler songs and a couple of singles. With the lack of new content, there is no question why fans don’t go out and buy new albums.
The internet has basically killed Hip Hop album sales. Piracy of Rap is worse than any other music genre. This may be the number one reason that Hip Hop sales consistently decline. Why pay when you can get it free? Piracy is a huge problem to music sales, not just the Rap genre.
What effect does this all have on Rap music? Many popular record labels are now losing their artists and going bankrupt. Musicians are trying to make more music to make up for the fact that they are now getting much less profit per album. Upcoming artists don’t do very well unless they follow whoever is popular at the moment. The quality of music, in the golden age for example, is nowhere to be found. Fans are tired of hearing the same stuff from new artists so they stop buying new albums and the circle continues.
Is there any way that the fans of Hip Hop can revert the game back to the golden age? Piracy will never stop, no matter how much we would like it to. We can go out and purchase the original artist’s albums and show the music industry that quality music does still sell. We may even be able to create the 2nd golden age. Only time will tell if Hip Hop can get back to its roots.
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