Phonte on the internet and hip-hop

TSS: I promised to come back to the whole internet thing so let me take you to downloading, your presence online w/the forum, being here now and all….How does Tay feel personally about all of this? Do you think cats way across the map would know LB without the worldwide web?

Phonte: I fucks with downloading, man…..a lot of the artists I listen to now, and ended up buying all their stuff on the strength of downloading..

TSS: Basically, I hope that’s what a lot of people do honestly…get open to some shit because it’s free, love it and then show their full support financially

Phonte: I know LB wouldn’t be ANYWHERE without the power of the internet. It’s more than one way to make a dollar, man..I tell cats all the time, look at your CD’s as a loss-leader just like Best Buy sells their CD’s at a loss, hoping that you’ll walk in to buy the new Ne-Yo CD for 3 bucks, and walk out with a DVD player. That’s how you have to look at your career as a recording artist…believe me, I know…lol. You’re not gonna make much money of your CD, unless you do crazy numbers. So you pretty much use your CD as a way to make other streams of income. So if people download the CD, but come to a show ($20) and buy a T-shirt ($25), you’ve won…