In June 2015, US rapper Russ made $600 from his music. In June 2016, exactly 12 months later, with no label and no major label marketing budget, he made $100,000 in a single month. The only difference was time, and the 200 songs he had released by then.
Russ (born Russell James Vitale) has released music through TuneCore for 15 years. He was signed with Columbia Recordsfrom 2017 to 2020, but returned to independence thereafter. He owns a record label and collective called DIEMON, which stands for “Do It Every Day Music Or Nothing.”
Speaking with Andreea Gleeson (TuneCore’s former CEO) during a keynote at SXSW in Austin last week (March 18), the American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and best-selling author said: “We were doing it every day. Literally every day. That was the habit. Making music every day.”
Gleeson described Russ as the definition of a multi-hyphenate —an artist, songwriter and producer. Addressing the artist, Gleeson said, “You have been charting with the music that you’ve been releasing and often are the only independent artist sitting on the top charts like the Billboard 200 in a sea of major record label releases, which is just so incredible.”
Gleeson said artists today are building their own careers and owning their music. “So many times when you would sign those record label deals, you would give up ownership, or for a period of time, etc… Artists [now] are building a much different, deeper understanding of both the creative and business side, which is kind of making them a little bit dangerous, because when they sit across tables to negotiate, they know much more.”
“Artists [now] are building a much different, deeper understanding of both the creative and business side, which is kind of making them a little bit dangerous, because when they sit across tables to negotiate, they know much more.”
Andreea Gleeson
About two months ago, Russ became the second-highest RIAA-certified independent rapper in history. His most recent album, W!LD,debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on the indie chart, No. 2 in rap, and No. 3 in overall album sales, according to Gleeson. All copies were signed by Russ himself, sold directly through his own website, highlighting the importance of direct relationships with fans.
“Even signing the vinyl — and I signed myself, all 18,000 or 20,000, whatever it was. And you know, it’s exhausting. It’s so much physical work. But it’s like every single one of those is a real person. So that was the reminder that was just really unjading for me, because I’m sitting there signing all these vinyl.
“There’s real people behind these comments, behind these DMs, behind these numbers. And signing the vinyl with my hand and doing the in-person activations — it just makes it real.”
Russ explained that going direct-to-fan isn’t just about having a shop on an artist’s website, but also about years of genuinely talking to fans — Discord sessions, Instagram group chats, FaceTimes, responding to DMs.
“The ability to even sell direct to fans is because there is a direct-to-fan relationship there. I’m not just an artist posting on Instagram and hoping that people buy my stuff. You have to really create that bond.
Russ
“The ability to even sell direct to fans is because there is a direct-to-fan relationship there. I’m not just an artist posting on Instagram and hoping that people buy my stuff. You have to really create that bond. You have to create that relationship. And it’s something that I care about deeply because fans are the infrastructure of your entire career.”
The artist also shared how consistency in building a catalog helps propel an artist. “I think success at the end looks really dramatic, but it’s really just consistency — staying alive long enough to compound… It’s 15 years of putting out songs and building a catalog that, again, if you stay consistent long enough, it’ll compound, you know.”
By June 2015, Russ said he had 200 songs in his catalog, 11 albums and about 30 or 40 weeks into weekly releases. “So I had 200 songs out. Again, when the music is great and you’re consistent enough, your fan base sniffs you out.” Russ said this was pre-algorithm when fan bases “sniff out” artists.
“And once people found my music, they were able to become diehard fans because there was enough music to stay.” In 2017, Russ said he dropped a song every week on SoundCloud for 2.5 years straight.
Russ compared his method of putting out music to the Netflix model: “imagine your artistry and your career is a TV show, and each album or each year is a season, and you’re just adding episodes to the season.” He says he gave people “the ability to not have two favorite songs from me, but 50.”
“Out of 400 songs, if you only like 40 of them, you only like 10%, that’s still 40 songs. It’s a ton of music.”
All of the 200 songs he had by June 2015 were owned by him, all distributed through TuneCore, and none of it was tied to a label deal. Russ has so far amassed24 billion streams and sold more than 35 million singles to date.
“Giving up ownership of what we were doing wasn’t even on the table.”
Russ
“Giving up ownership of what we were doing wasn’t even on the table,” Russ said of his label DIEMON.
As MBW previously reported, in June 2020, Russ published TuneCore income statements to Instagram “for inspirational purposes” showing his monthly earnings from his music between 2013 and 2017.
His revenues are reported in those statements as $48.66 for the month of August 2013, rising to well over $100,000 on average per month from June 2016 until October 2017 when, during that month, his statement shows that he earned over $280,000.
Russ also highlighted the need for artists to study the industry. “We were obsessed with watching everybody’s interviews. All the Breakfast Club interviews, all the Hot 97 interviews — we were just obsessed with binge-watching those. They were always on the TV. That’s how we kind of learned about CarolLewis the booking agent, and PeterSchwarz at that time.”
“Just studying some of the business side of things. But again, just being entrepreneurial in spirit and boss-minded.”
The real treasure, according to Russ, is “self-mastery.” He said, “It’s a treasure that you’ll never quite grab, and it keeps you in pursuit. It keeps you motivated, focused, and in this place of internal validation.”
“They say putting in the work always drives more results than pure talent that doesn’t put in the work. And [Russ is] the epitome of that.”
Andreea Gleeson
As someone whose music career had been solitary (“It’s so isolated. I’m downstairs in my basement by myself making songs, which I love, because any artist in here knows you kind of need that environment and that safe space to just be weird on the microphone without any judgment), Russ says filming the movie Don’t Move, showed him the need for community. He then found two unknown Australian producers on TikTok and made his album W!LD with them.
Russ hinted that he’s working on a deluxe version of the record. “I think it’s incredible. It’s so good.”
Gleeson described Russ as “the Kobe Bryant of musicians” — “They say putting in the work always drives more results than pure talent that doesn’t put in the work. And you’re the epitome of that.”
