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50 CURT

CASE STUDY MUSIC 1:

FRANKI GJOZA

HISTORY
CURTIS JACKSON WAS BORN IN QUEENS, NY ON JULY 6TH, 1975. HE

RECEIVED HIS RAP NAME, 50 CENT, FROM A NOTORIOUS STICK UP

ARTIST NAMED KELVIN MARTIN WHO WAS ASSOCIATED WITH POPULAR
RAPPERS AT THE TIME, RAKIM AND ERIC B.

HIS MOTHER WAS A DRUG DEALER AND SHE DIED EARLY IN

JACKSONS LIFE, SO HE WOULD SELL DRUGS, BOX, AND RAP IN HIS

FREE TIME TO EASE HIM AWAY FROM THE DEATH.

NONETHELESS, JACKSON EARNED HIS FIRST GIG IN THE MUSIC

INDUSTRY WHEN HE COINCIDENTLY BUMPED INTO FAMOUS

PRODUCER JAM MASTER JAY, IN WHICH JACKSON GAVE A SAMPLE OF
HIS MUSICAL ABILITY AND JAM MASTER JAY WAS IMPRESSED.

HISTORY
LATER ON, HE SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH COLUMBIA RECORDS THAT
WAS WORTH $1 MILLION DOLLARS; HOWEVER, COLUMBIA DROPPED
THE CONTRACT BECAUSE 50 CENT WAS SHOT NINE TIMES.

AFTER JACKSON RECOVERED FROM HIS WOUNDS, HE RELEASED A

SONG NAMED HOW TO ROB THAT CAUSED CONTROVERSY AND

WAS FOUNDED BY EMINEM AND DR. DRE. HE THEN SIGNED FOR
INTERSCOPE RECORDS AND RELEASED HIS MOST POPULAR ALBUM
IN 2003, GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN.

OWNERSHIP
50 CENT HAS SIGNED WITH MULTIPLE RECORD LABELS SINCE HIS

DEBUT IN MUSIC; HOWEVER, HE WAS MORE SUCCESSFUL IN SOME

PARTICULAR LABELS.

MOREOVER, HE FIRST SIGNED FOR COLUMBIA RECORDS FOR A SUM

WORTH ABOUT $1 MILLION DOLLARS. HE WAS ABOUT TO RELEASE HIS

FIRST ALBUM, POWER OF THE DOLLAR, BUT A GROUP OF MEN DROVE
BY HIS QUEENS HOME AND SHOT HIM NINE TIMES.

OWNERSHIP
DESPITE ALL THE FAME FROM INTERSCOPE, 50 CENT DECIDED TO

END THE CONTACT WITH INTERSCOPE IN 2012 AND PURSUED ON

HIS OWN RECORD LABEL, G-UNIT RECORDS. NEVERTHELESS, MOST
OF HIS SUCCESS CAME FROM INTERSCOPE RECORDS AS HE
CLIMBED THE LADDER TO BECOME THE MOST WELL-KNOWN
RAPPER OF 2003-2004.

AFTER RECOVERING, JACKSON RELEASED THE SONG HOW TO

ROB AND EARNED A SIGNING WITH INTERSCOPE RECORDS.

UNDER INTERSCOPE, JACKSON DROPPED GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN,
WHICH WAS HIS MOST POPULAR ALBUM.

PRODUCTIONS
THROUGHOUT ALL HIS MUSICAL CAREER, 50 CENT HAS PRODUCED
FIVE STUDIO ALBUMS. FOUR OF THOSE ALBUMS WERE UNDER
INTERSCOPE RECORDS WHILE ONE WAS UNDER G-UNIT RECORDS.

NONETHELESS, THE ALBUMS INCLUDE: GET RICH OR DIE TRYING, THE

MASSACRE, CURTIS, BEFORE I SELF DESTRUCT, AND ANIMAL
AMBITIONS.

HIS MOST FAMOUS PRODUCTION BY FAR IS GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN AS

IT FEATURED MULTIPLE HIT SINGLES SUCH AS IN DA CLUB, 21
QUESTIONS FT. NATE DOGG, AND DONT PUSH ME FT. EMINEM.

PRODUCTIONS
ADDITIONALLY, HE LATER RELEASED THE MASSACRE, CURTIS,
BEFORE I SELF DESTRUCT, AND ANIMAL AMBITIONS, ALL
ARGUABLY NOT AS POPULAR AS GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN.

AFTER JACKSONS LAST ALBUM, ANIMAL AMBITIONS, HE DECIDED

TO SLOW DOWN ON MUSIC PRODUCTION AND FOCUS MORE ON
ACTING AND ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES. CURRENTLY, HE IS
THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF T.V DRAMA POWER, AND EARNED
$100 MILLION DOLLARS FROM VITAMIN WATER WHEN THEY
WERE BOUGHT BY COCA-COLA.

DISTRIBUTION
AS MENTIONED BEFORE, JACKSONS SONGS AND ALBUMS ARE DISTRIBUTED
THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES BY INTERSCOPE GEFFEN A&M;
HOWEVER, HE HAS ALSO BECOME VERY POPULAR WITH AUDIENCES
GLOBALLY, ESPECIALLY EUROPE.

AN EXAMPLE OF INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION IS HIS HIT

HIT SONG IN DA
CLUB. THE SONG REACHED A PEAK POSITION IN MULTIPLE INTERNATIONAL
COUNTRIES INCLUDING AUSTRALIA, CANADA, DENMARK, IRELAND, NEW
ZEALAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM, GERMANY, AND SWITZERLAND. THIS
SPECIFIC SONG WAS AN INTERNATIONAL HIT INCLUDING MANY MORE.

DISTRIBUTION
FURTHERMORE, GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN ALSO SOLD 800,000 COPIES

WITHIN THE FIRST WEEK OF RELEASE, AND TODAY IS ON THE TOP 50

MOST SOLD RAP ALBUMS. IT IS AT THE 10TH POSITION AND HAS SOLD
8.4 MILLION COPIES IN THE U.S. AND 12 MILLION COPIES GLOBALLY.

MARKETING
TODAY, CURTIS JACKSON IS KNOWN AS A JOKER AMONGST THE

CELEBRITY COMMUNITY. HE MARKETS NEW PRODUCTIONS THROUGH

TALK SHOWS AND INTERNET/TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS.
RECENTLY, HE HAS BEEN ON CONAN MULTIPLE TIMES AND HAS
ENDORSED THE TELEVISION DRAMA, POWER.

ON OF THE BIGGEST MARKETING SCHEMES 50 CENT HAD TOOK PLACE

IN 2007. 50 CENT WAS GOING TO DROP HIS ALBUM CURTIS ON
SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2007; HOWEVER, KANYE WEST WAS ALSO GOING TO
RELEASE ALBUM GRADUATION ON THE SAME DAY. THE TWO HAD A
RAP RIVALRY TO SEE WHO WOULD MAKE MORE SALES. KANYE WEST
ENDED UP SELLING MORE ALBUMS, BUT BOTH RAPPERS PROFITED.

EXCHANGE
ULTIMATELY, CURTIS JACKSON WENT FROM RAGS TO RICHES AS HE

BECAME ON OF THE MOST WELL KNOWN RAPPERS IN HISTORY. HE SOLD

A TOTAL OF 37,358,000 MILLION ALBUMS AND HAS A NET WORTH OF
APPROXIMATELY $135 MILLION DOLLARS.

WHEN HE CUT HIS CONTRACT WITH INTERSCOPE, HE EARNED

APPROXIMATELY $23 MILLION DOLLARS. BUT THAT DOES NOT COME

CLOSE TO THE AMOUNT OF MONEY HE EARNED FOR INTERSCOPE
RECORDS. IN HIS SONG NAMES STRAIGHT TO THE BANK HE SAID,
WHEN I MADE 80 MIL, JIMMY GOT PAID. BASICALLY EVERY TIME 50
EARNED HIMSELF SOME MILLIONS HE MADE THESE PEOPLE RICH AS THEY
GOT A SHARE OF IT.

WORK CITED
"THE 50 CENT APPROACH TO CONTENT STRATEGY: GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN'"CONTENT
MARKETING INSTITUTE. N.P., 2012. WEB. 17 NOV. 2016.
SERPICK, EVAN. "KANYE VS. 50 CENT."ROLLING STONE. N.P., 6 SEPT. 2007. WEB. 17 NOV.
2016.
HARDEN, SETH. "50 CENT TOTAL ALBUMS SOLD - STATISTIC BRAIN."STATISTIC BRAIN. N.P.,
2016. WEB. 17 NOV. 2016.
"50 CENT BIOGRAPHY."BIO.N.P., N.D. WEB. 17 NOV. 2016.