Mixtape vs. Album – On this website you will only find links to download mixtapes and not albums (unless leaked, in which case the artist has chosen to leak his or her album before its due date to further promote it or build up hype), What's the difference between an album and a mixtape? Mixtapes are legally free to download because the artists release the songs together as a way to gain popularity and fans realizing that most fans don’t want to pay for music (who wants to pay when you can get it free). This is a way for upcoming artists (such as Chiddy Bang, Chris Webby, Cam Meekins . . ) to gain followers quickly because the fans aren’t risking wasting their money and if they like what they hear they arem ore inclined to buy an album when it comes out or see them in concert. Also big name artists tend to release mixtapes either right before their album release to build hype or if it has been a long time since they released an album, so they will drop a mixtape to satisfy their fans. A big artist such as Lupe Fiasco may release a mixtape and chances are it is him rapping over someone else's beat or it isn't his best material because that is what is saved for the album.
Covers / Freestyles / Remixes / Leaks – Often times on mixtapes you will see a rapper remix (or freestyle) over another rapper’s original beat, this would make the song free then because the rapper would have to pay the other rapper to use his or her beat which they don't want to do. The rapper would have to pay the producer of the original beat and the artist who originally covered it in order to avoid copyright infringement; however, if they don’t charge any money for it then the original producer/artist can not sue the cover because it didn’t make any profit. For example, Black and Yellow was a very popular beat and almost every rapper out there remixed it adding their own verse because they liked the beat. It gives fans something to listen to. A cover is when an artist will use the exact lyrics and beat of another artist and just use their voice instead of the original. An artist may do a cover because they like the song as a whole and want to put their own twist on it. They obviously wouldn't be able to sell the song for money because it is not their material. Finally, an artist often leaks a couple songs off of an actual album. They usually do this a week or so before the song will become available for purchase. This creates hype around the song and spreads the word around before it is made available for purchase. Remember anything posted on the site is for promotional use and if a song is leaked and posted on the site it is your responsibility as a user to download that song for the period that it was intended to be free and then purchase it when it becomes available to do so. Support the artist it is their job to do what they do not paying them is like not getting paid to work a shift at Mcdonalds, your getting cheated out of money so support the artist whenever you can.
Sampling – Many current hip-hop songs will sample older songs to make a new original beat. What this means is they take an original song, take a snippet of it, change around the beat or pitch or some part about it, add some of their own beats and then rap over it. Sampling is a tricky business if you are trying to sell songs with sampling in them, because it is very similar to a remix in the sense that it is someone else's beats or lyrics, even if you change it completely it is still someone else's work and the artist usually needs to give them a sum of the profit to keep from being sued. A well known song with sampling is Opposite of Adults by Chiddy Bang. Chiddy Bang would be forced to get the permission of MGMT to sample their Kids beat and if they said yes they would probably make Chiddy Bang give them a sum of the profit that was made off of that song.
