Don’t try to become a rapper!
It’s not worth it.
Source: Bundesverband Musikindustrie e.V.; DE YouGov Media & Entertainment; GfK Entertainment
Because streaming doesn‘t get you enough money. And streaming is the current way to listen to music and will continue to be so, as forecasts show. A 2024 study on the German music market by the German Research Network for Digital Culture shows that 68% of all artists earn less than a single Euro per year from streaming. The system is to blame as artists aren’t paid based on how much they are actually listened to, instead, all streams are essentially pooled together and then distributed amongst them. In 2023, 75% of streaming revenue went to 0,1% of musicians. Great for Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny – not so great for Apollo34 and Amok82.
Those two are standing on stage in a small club in Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg on the evening of Easter Sunday and perform their newest song together. Besides Apollo and Amok, around a dozen other rappers will perform tonight at the underground hip-hop event „Rapril April“. They all have between a couple hundreds and a couple thousands social media followers. Not enough for the big TikTok breakthrough hype.
„We don’t have a big social media marketing team that puts us on the map. But through our street credibility – graffiti, breakdance, hip hop – we’ve managed to make ourselves a name without all that stuff around us, which is considered so important nowadays“
– Amok82
Rapper and Rapril April organizer Freddyeinz is happy that he didn’t book an up-and-coming TikTok star. Maybe there would be more people here, but they would have left after that one act, which would have hurt the sense of community that is so important to Freddy.
In fact, the atmosphere tonight is consistently positive. Everyone is happy to be there, everyone supports everyone – no provocative looks are thrown around the crowd, which is not a given at hip-hop shows. The proportion of women is also higher than one would expect at an event like this, probably around 40%.
Freddyeinz founded Rapril April 13 years ago with the motivation to create a stage for himself.
„I haven’t studied event management or something like that. I had to learn self-taught and I am not by far on the peak, there are still 60, 70, 80 percent that I have to learn. But you grow with every event, with every event you know what things are still to do.“
– Freddyeinz
In the early years, the event took place in the same youth club where Freddy also worked at. Then came the move to a larger venue – and with it, financial challenges. Not once has Freddy made profit with Rapril April. Nor is he among the top 0,1% on Spotify & Co. Especially the first Rapril April after a two-year COVID break was financially tough, even though the vibe was great:
„That’s what’s always so curious, that you know, okay, everyone that’s here is having fun and all are saying oh, how amazing. But on the other side I am looking at the finances a couple of weeks later and I know that it was the exact opposite of amazing.“
– Freddyeinz
Source: GfK Entertainment
In the end, the love for hip-hop seems to outweigh everything else – even if Freddy watches the current developments of his favorite genre with concern. He says the fast pace isn‘t good for the music and indeed, it seems like the absolute mainstream hip-hop peak is slowly over. But that right here in the dark and sweaty club in Berlin, that’s not the peak anyway. That right here is the base. And here people cannot not try to become a rapper. Whatever everyone says.
