How Much Does Empire Records Pay?

Empire distribution is an independent American record label that was founded in 2010 by Ghazi Shami, a Palestinian-American music technologist, record producer, and entrepreneur. Empire has its offices and studios in New York, Nashville, the UK, and the Middle East.

This music company offers distribution, marketing and other music-related services to both artists and other record labels including Universal Music Group.

For example, in 2018, Empire signed a global distribution agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) and this deal allows both record companies to work on select artist projects.
It should also be noted that this deal is non-exclusive, meaning that Empire distribution can continue working with other labels and artists.

Thus Empire distribution has worked with artists such as XXXTentacion, Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B, DRAM, and Anderson Paak. They have also released music from artists such as Tyga, Lil Duval, Snoop Dogg, Iggy Azalea, and The Free Nationals.

Empire has also extended it’s deals to Nigeria and the entire African continent having distributed music for artists like Burna Boy, Olamide and the whole YBNL Nation artists, Black Sherif, to mention but a few.

Having seen the endless list of artists that has signed one music deal or another with empire distribution, so many upcoming artists are therefore eager to know how much an artist can earn if he eventually signs to this label.

For that reason, I have taken the time to write this article to help these kinds understand how much empire records are paying their artists.

How much does empire records pay?

Empire records has not stated their payment structure for artists who are signed to their label, but what we know is that empire distribution began their core payment practices by having a digital distribution system that allowed them to deliver music directly to streaming and retail platforms, and also developing a software which allowed music managers and artists track their royalties which were paid monthly.

Another way to understand how empire records pay their artists, is to look into some notable deals and royalties most of their artists has earned from this record company.

For example, in 2017, XXXTentacion released a debut album titled “17” on Empire distribution and the album charted on the top 200. However, he went back to release his sophomore album on Capitol Records and before his death he returned to sign another deal with empire distribution which was worth $10 million.

According to an interview with a notable magazine known as Variety, Young Dolph said he turned down a $22 million major label deal to sign with Empire distribution as an independent artists. According to him “Empire is on deck with people who love to do this shit just as much as I do…whether you got money to deal with it or no money to deal with it, the best relationships are going to be the ones where you understand each other.

From what we understand in this article so far, in terms of royalties, Empire Distribution are paying monthly royalties to their artists, which was a key factor in their early success. However, the exact royalty rates are not publicly disclosed.

We can therefore conclude that Empire Records is a independent label, and their payment structure will vary from one artist to another considering their location and popularity before the deal.

So if you’re looking for a more specific information, I recommend checking out Empire Records’ official website or contacting them directly.