Popular video aggregator website WorldStarHipHop.com is one of the most popular websites in the world. The site is laced with viral videos, hip hop videos , fight clips and also features independent artists. The site is listed as one of the top 1000 websites worldwide and in the 300 in the US alone according to Alexa ranking.
Independent artists want to create a buzz and investing in themselves is one of the keys to opening doors in this saturated industry. Some artists spend money on publicists, Facebook and Ad campaigns and some go as far to pay for non existent view on YouTube to help build their buzz online.
WorldStar has a lot of videos on their site that they do add themselves, but if you're an artist who want to promote their latest project here is the pricing information.
WorldStarHipHop Submission Pricing:
$750 : Music video / freestyles / Audio slide shows & music video trailers (videos about hip hop and music videos only) - 1 - 5 day turnaround - Videos must have the following " UNSIGNED ARTIST. USER SUBMITTED. LABEL SUBMITTED. or ANYTHING SUBMITTED
$850: Video Dissing Popular Artist
$900: Music Video Submission w/ 24 hr Turnaround
$1500: Mixtape commercials / beat making videos / promotional trailers / dvd trailers / video blogs
$1500: Promo Fight Clips
$2500: Infomercials (no how to make money online videos allowed)
$4000: One day "Big Cinematic Box" - Top of the homepage.
$3000: One Day below "Big Cinematic Box" - Top of the homepage - $5500 for two days
If you have an extra $750 to spend on your video promotion what other avenues could use promotion wise? Does your video even mesh with the type of content that WorldStar is showcasing?
-You could invest that $750 on a better video?
-Utilize Facebook Ad campaigns to create sponsored posts for your video
-Buy ads on Youtube ( no not buy Youtube views ) - buy actual advertising on the site
In recent years numerous reports of illegitimate tactics used by WorldStar to increase viewership has come to light including popular Youtube comedian Steven Jo indicating that $4000 payment for a "cinematic big box ad" had skewed numbers.
If you're an independent artist and generate less than 50,000 legitimate youtube views you don't have any "buzz" online according to the site. Do the millions of of visitors to the popular hub actually watch videos titled "Unsigned Arist", "Label Submitted", or "User Submitted"?
50 Cent recently won a lawsuit against the site stating likeness infringement and has gone on the record stating that a lot of the viewership is "fake". 50 Cent does run his own website Thisis50.com so naturally it could also be part of his competitive nature.
Here is a copy of the court documents from the 50 Cent vs. WorldStarHiphop case.
The truth of the matter is WorldStarHipHop.com is a business and does very well for themselves and have recently inked a deal with Adult Swim for a new tv show.
