CENO Down 2 Earth interview

What happens when independent artists no longer have to wait for a record label to fund them?

Los Angeles independent rapper CENO has an album coming November 6 called The Album.

It hasn’t been released yet.

But 6 figres has already been generated around the project.

No major-label album release.

No hit record driving the numbers.

No millions of streams.

And that’s where the story gets interesting. Publications including AllHipHop, The Source, The Hype Magazine, Music-News.com and a growing list of music outlets have begun covering the unusual story behind CENO and asking essentially the same question:

How does an independent artist generate six figures before the public has even heard the album?

The answer involves a new platform called Imblem and an entirely different way of thinking about the relationship between artists, their audiences, creative works and royalties.

But the $ is only part of the conversation.

The bigger question is what this could mean for the future of the music business. #westcoasthiphop #southcentral #musicbusiness