Breaking Down This Week in Pay for Post F**kery Posted by Nathan S. on 04/11/12 | Filed under Features, Pay for Post

I didn't necessarily intend to become the rap interwebs sole crusader against Pay for Post F**kery. Believe me, I get why so few other people, even the good ones, bother to speak about it publicly. As a general rule, going out of your way to call someone out for f**kery, especially when you'll most likely end up in the same room as them eventually, is a headache.

On the other hand, not a week goes by without some artist (or other blogger) sending me a new example and thanking me for speaking on it, so....fuck it. Sweet baby jesus knows I should be used to pissing people off by now.

Our most recent example comes from a surprisingly prominent site. Not a huge site, but prominent enough that I'm blacking out the specific names. Not because I'm particularly worried about pissing them off, but because even though there's only a small chance that I'll get sued, it's frankly a bigger chance than I feel like dealing with. If y'all want to get together and create a Nathan S. Legal Fund feel free - then I'll really start dropping the hammer.

Still, even without the specific names there's still a lot we can get out of this . Email and breakdown are below.



1) First off, it's crucial to realize that this is a template email. I'm sure there are a few people reading this nodding their heads and thinking, "Yep, that looks familiar". The email's designed so that the sender only has to replace what's inside the quotation marks in the subject line and send an email every 30 seconds.

Pay for post is a volume game. There are relatively few people actually willing to pay for a post. So if only 10% of people even respond to an email like this, and only 10% of those eventually ever pay, for a site to make any money they have to send out hundreds, if not thousands, of these emails.

In other words, if you get one of these emails you're not special. You're just another proverbial fish in the ocean they're hoping gets caught up in the net.

2) Perhaps most importantly, is it worth $500 for a single or video post? Long story short, no. Just no.

If you're not a well known artist - and let's be honest, if you're even thinking of paying someone for a post you're not well known - even on the largest sites you'll be lucky if a few thousand people check out the post. Frankly, that's a best case scenario. More likely, a few hundred will see it. And of those people who see it, how much of an impact (per dollar) will that post have on them?

Realistically, using the example above, you'll pay $500 to get your video posted and be lucky to get 500 views off it. Is it worth paying $5, or even $1, for a YouTube view? Almost definitely not - especially considering that there are so many other ways to get those views (Facebook, Twitter, non-fuckery sites, etc.) that are completely free.

3) Frankly it's kind of hilarious that they're charging an extra $250 for posting a mixtape/EP versus a single/video. At first glance it makes sense: a mixtape contains more than just one song, so it should be more expensive than a single track. Right?

But from the website's perspective, there's really no difference between the two. They'll most likely do the exact same amount of work (post the cover art, write a few sentences, include a link) whether it's a video or a full project. In fact, I guarantee I've put more time into this post alone than they've ever spent writing about a $750 mixtape.

4) The most f**kery infused claim in this email is easily the claim that they will "make sure that other music sites have it as well."

How exactly are they going to "make sure other sites have it"? And exactly how many other sites? What are they going to do, send out an email blast? Tweet it out? Carrier pigeon? Believe me, there's an abyss of difference between sending out an email blast and someone at a music site actually opening it.

Second, while not explicit, I think there's an implicit promise there that they can influence other sites to post as well. This is complete and total bullshit. Personally, there are only a small, small handful of sites that I check to see what music they're posting. And the reason I check those sites, and trust their co-sign, is because I'm completely sure that they don't take any money for a post. Ever.

On a closing note, the most important thing for artists to realize is that pay for post is NOT the norm, it's NOT just "how the game is played." The vast majority of sites don't take any money for their posts, especially the biggest and most influential sites.

Think about it. If you were actually running that important of a site, you'd make the majority of your money off ads. It's not even remotely worth risking your reputation with advertisers, artists and your peers chasing a few dollars here and there from random rappers when you've got major companies paying you thousands for ads. (Speaking out which, shout out to the new Toyota Camry. Toyota, moving forward.)

So as always, remember: pay for post f**kery is called f**kery for a reason.

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