Would you buy the digital rights to a rap battle?

**Profess** · 01-05-2021, 11:56 PM

This article describes a musician that sold the digital rights to a song for a NFT token bringing in 26k in Crypto.

https://www.coindesk.com/musician-se...-26k-in-crypto

Over the past year or so some battle rappers have been talking about obtaining royalties for their battles. Well, actually, Math is the only one that I am sure has discussed this. Anyway, with some battles going on apps now, does that mean there is less chance of receiving royalties via youtube?

Could anyone speculate if they think fans would buy the digital rights to battles, or if battlers could be compensated with a split of the token proceeds, and would spitting token proceeds make more sense than traditional music industry royalty agreements?

**Emancee** · 01-06-2021, 08:15 AM

It's a tough one that comes up. Mos Prob (remember that guy?!?) was one of the first to question it after his wedding proposal was turned into a viral vid, but he just got regular pay. I remember making the argument on the DF forum that it doesn't work like that, after all some battles horribly underperform (every other Mos Prob battle ever, lol) and if the battler doesn't have reasonable case for the underperforming ones, they don't have any for the overperforming ones either.

That said, if it is a battle that has viral potential, it may be worth the investment. You probably could have bought Mos Prob and Rapunzell vs. Eek and Enigma for 10p and a pack of lager before it went viral, but obviously it would have been a good investment. Whereas a battle like Shotty vs. Ill Will would have seemed like a great investment beforehand, but is struggling (relatively speaking) because of how meh it was.

That said, this will probably be a moot point if all leagues go the way URL is going as virality means something very different on Caffeine.

**Profess** · 01-07-2021, 12:45 AM

I remember the name, but I had to go back and look him up. I watched a few mins of him vs Soul earlier today.

I agree. I don't think you should be able to retroactively say, "Hey, I want dividend payments now that I see how profitable this piece of work is." Because you made an agreement, the employer took a risk, and would have had to pay up even if the battle was a flop. Perhaps that is why Rowan named the league 'Don't Flop?' but not I have digressed

Hmm.. suppose it's not URL selling the digital rights to the battle. Perhaps it's Caffeine that sells the rights. As far as I know, they only care about the live stream. And if they do own the content, then they might have an interest in profiting off of it in another way. Traditionally record labels license music to other entities that want to use it.

I'm realizing that if Netflix was to offer battles on their platform then they might do that by buying the licensing rights. Anyway, battle rappers would be wise to advocate for a battle rap blockchain. I'm curious how that could work.

Leagues, fans, investors, etc could own the digital rights to battles and share the licensing profits if a system like that was created. It would provide the transparency that is allegedly lacking in the legacy system of residual payments in the entertainment industry.

**Emancee** · 01-07-2021, 04:37 AM

For sure. What would be very interesting would be if someone sampled a rap battle in a song. That would soon tell us accurately who owned what.

**Profess** · 01-07-2021, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emancee

For sure. What would be very interesting would be if someone sampled a rap battle in a song. That would soon tell us accurately who owned what.

I wonder if that has already occurred. Could see someone using "You gonna get this work" that way. I've seen videos on youtube that have clips from battles taken down for copyright infringement perhaps that is a solution for that too.

**Emancee** · 01-07-2021, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Profess

I wonder if that has already occurred. Could see someone using "You gonna get this work" that way. I've seen videos on youtube that have clips from battles taken down for copyright infringement perhaps that is a solution for that too.

A friend of mine told me that apparently Knxwledge sampled Loaded Lux, anyone know the track?

**Profess** · 01-08-2021, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emancee

A friend of mine told me that apparently Knxwledge sampled Loaded Lux, anyone know the track?

I googled it looking for a Lux battle lyric being sampled. Not sure what this is, but maybe this is what your friend is talking about. My guess is that Knxwledge sampled something from a Lux track.. don't recognize it tho and am not familiar with Lux's or Knxwledges music. On the surface, this just looks like a cypher that Lux is in.

YouTube

When I saw Knxledge was on Stones Throw, I recognized the label and that led me to checking out Anderson .Paak. I was listening to Ventura earlier.. dope album

**Hughms** · 01-09-2021, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emancee

It's a tough one that comes up. Mos Prob (remember that guy?!?) was one of the first to question it after his wedding proposal was turned into a viral vid, but he just got regular pay. I remember making the argument on the DF forum that it doesn't work like that, after all some battles horribly underperform (every other Mos Prob battle ever, lol) and if the battler doesn't have reasonable case for the underperforming ones, they don't have any for the overperforming ones either.

That said, if it is a battle that has viral potential, it may be worth the investment. You probably could have bought Mos Prob and Rapunzell vs. Eek and Enigma for 10p and a pack of lager before it went viral, but obviously it would have been a good investment. Whereas a battle like Shotty vs. Ill Will would have seemed like a great investment beforehand, but is struggling (relatively speaking) because of how meh it was.

That said, this will probably be a moot point if all leagues go the way URL is going as virality means something very different on Caffeine.

Do you know if they're still married?