Ebro’s on-air battle with New York rapper Stro recently sparked debate about not only the importance of radio play for mainstream artists, but also how artists even get on the radio.
Recently sitting down with HipHopDX Editor-in-Chief Justin Hunte, Lil Debbie, an independent artist, confirmed what has become more common knowledge–that major labels pay radio stations to have their artist’s music played.
“There’s a lot of politics. People are definitely paying for their shit to be on the radio,” she said via a segment of Friday’s (September 4) DX Daily. “Racks and racks. Over $10,000. I’m independent. Shit ain’t coming out of my label. That’s why I don’t try to do shit like that. I’m not paying someone $40,000 to get my shit on the radio. [I’m not] fucking crazy.”
Debbie also says that radio is important for mainstream artists in gaining fans who don’t have knowledge of underground Hip Hop or care to investigate the budding careers of up-and-coming artists.
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“I think the radio is important for reaching people who don’t know about the underground, people who don’t know the outlets to listen to up-and-coming stars, rappers, artists,” she said. “I don’t listen to the radio. I do once in a while. I’m like a Pandora, Soundcloud kind of bitch. But that’s because I know what’s going on.”
Watch the full DX Daily segment below:
