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Bobby Shmurda explains why right now is 'the best time to be independent.' The ways we consume music have drastically changed within the past decade. Physical album sales are practically obsolete while streaming services dominate the way consume media, whether that’s film, television or music....

Bobby Shmurda emerged in the rap game just as DSPs were beginning to be introduced. Unfortunately, his incarceration prevented him from witnessing the evolution of the music industry. During our recent cover story with Bobby, he explained how reading books on the industry allowed him to prepare himself for his release. And while he had a better understanding of how to use DSPs as leverage for his independent journey, he also revealed that he found out that it takes a lot of money to have a platinum record. I think when I was in jail and I got the book, I was reading it and they was telling me like, streaming is taking over now. So this is the best time to be independent because this was going on. No one buys records no more. Nobody buys records to go platinum, you gotta put up a lot of money to platinum. Like you gotta put up f*cking half a million probably to go platinum, you know what Im saying? Sh*t they dont tell the artist though. But Im gonna tell the artist because Im a gangster, full-blown. What you gon do? He explained. Hes spread this knowledge with his friends from his neighborhood in hopes that they could make a better situation for themselves. Streaming is where you make that money at. So keep putting out constant content, and I tell all the n***as in the hood that. Why? Because I want them to stay f*ck out of trouble, he said. Id rather the mothaf*ckas be on the corner selling content than selling crack or something, tryna get their streams up, cause we run this sh*t now. But a lot of mothaf*ckas dont know that. Read our full cover story with Read more