How iTunes and "ringtone rap" changed the game. (4th in a series)

 

How buying music 99cents at a time changed music's focus

It's really not the fault of MIMS. When MIMS's first single came out, he sold a million ringtones 99 cents at a time. "This is why I'm hot" played in subways, offices, schools and street corners throughout the country. He took advantage of a great way to earn a ton of money. His album on the other hand was terrible. Deservedly or undeservedly he has been the posterboy of the era of rap music in the mid '00s derisively described as "ringtone rap".

The story starts, not with MIMS, but with Steve Jobs. As a response to rampant illegal downloading, Apple, under Jobs, chose to take advantage of digital downloading and helped create a system, iTunes, for buying music online in a quick and easy way. Apple wasn't the first or last to sell music online, but they did so in the most effective way, and they had the most popular (legal) service by far. It changed the way people legally consumed music. Rather than buying a 15 dollar album and enjoying a song or two, consumers were able to obtain music a la carte. It allowed them to sift through the rubbish and just get what they wanted

In response to this, artists focused more on singles, since that would be all that consumers would buy. This was especially true if you were a new artist. People would be unlikely to buy their entire album, but if they focused on a catchy single or two they could sell a lot of singles and make more money. This was made to be even more true when ringtones began to be sold later in the '00s. A 30 second clip of the song, usually the chorus, was the focus, rather than a 50 minute album

When people say, "hip hop is dead", this era is why. The '90s had a ton of classic albums, as opposed to the '00s with very few. This wasn't because of a lack of talent, but rather a lack of necessity. In the 90's you had to make your album as good as possible to make money. In the '00s there was a different way to obtain that reward. The pendulum has swung back in the direction of attempting to create classic albums now. This is because people generally don't buy ringtones anymore. This is also due to societal pressure within the hip hop community to create better albums. Still, the artists of the mid ‘00s who took advantage of the era made a ton of money doing it, and created some memorable singles because of it.