Hip Hop legend Ice Cube backs Aussie tech so musicians can ‘put food on the table’

The meagre earnings musicians get from streaming platforms ‘ain’t how music should be’ Ice Cube says. ‘It’s meant to be about soul and longevity, not just boosting some wack algorithm.’

Ice Cube has partnered with an Australian tech start-up to help musicians take on streaming giants like Spotify, Apple, and TikTok by selling their songs direct-to-consumer.

The renowned rapper and actor told The Daily Telegraph he bought a “substantial stake” in Aussie company, MyPremo, because streaming isn’t “putting food on the table,” for artists.

“When you’ve been in the game as long as I have, you know the struggles first-hand,” he said. Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Sr) formed world-famous rap group N.W.A with friends Eazy-E, Dr Dre, MC Ren and DJ Yella in 1987.

Rappers Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube perform at Coachella in 2016. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

“Streaming has its perks for exposure…but recording ain’t cheap, and many artists out here are strugglin’ n will never break even. Many of my friends, big and small in the music business, are feeling the squeeze. All ya gotta do is listen to what Snoop has been talking about for a long time n y’all know what’s goin’ on out here.”

In a recent Business Untitled podcast, Snoop Dogg revealed, “I got a billion streams…that sh-t wasn’t even $45,000.”

Ice Cube pictured at the Park Hyatt Sydney. Picture: Jonathan Ng/Daily Telegraph

Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, pays artists between $0.003 – $0.005 per stream. That’s $3 per one thousand streams, before other parties like record labels, managers, and credited songwriters take their cut. And as of January this year, any songs that are streamed on Spotify less than 1000 times earn no royalties at all.

“Streaming is all about the latest and greatest. There ain’t no room for the classics,” Ice Cube said. “Artists gotta keep churning out new stuff after new stuff just to stay in the game. But that ain’t how music should be — it’s meant to be about soul and longevity, not just boosting some wack algorithm.”

Ice Cube’s MyPremo page.

Ice Cube has partnered with Australian tech start-up MyPremo. Ice Cube (4th from left) with the MyPremo team.

Perth-based entrepreneurs Cody McDowell and James Gillies founded MyPremo in 2020 and were overheard practising their business pitch in a Los Angeles cafe by one of the N.W.A rapper’s “people”.

McDowell, who formerly ran construction businesses, came up with MyPremo after he saw how little his musician friends were making from thousands of streams.

It’s a content monetisation platform that he says will rival the likes of YouTube, OnlyFans, and Patreon, with a pay-per-use, rather than subscription-based model. Artists keep 80 per cent of their earnings. As of today, it has 1500 registered creators and an audience of 75 million.

After landing in Australia, McDowell said he got a call which he initially thought was a prank. Ice Cube had invited the duo to meet him the next day in Las Vegas, courtside at a BIG3 combine basketball game. “One of my people told me about these Aussie dudes and said they had some tech thing goin' on that I might dig,” Ice Cube said.

CD album cover of "Straight Outta Compton: 20th Anniversary Edition".

“I invited ‘em to Vegas, gave ‘em a few minutes n’ they hit me with this question: ‘Where would I sell a dope 5-minute video, straight to my fans right now?’”

“Record labels don’t sign on talent, they sign on attention,” McDowell said. “So as an artist who’s had to build a huge digital fanbase to get noticed, why wouldn’t you sell to them directly?”

“Back in the day, making music was about the art, the message, not just numbers on a screen. Now, it’s all about clicks, views and algorithms,” Ice Cube said. And listen – the love for real music and the process of making real music is gone.”

“I feel like I can make a difference with this – cut out the middlemen – and give power back to the people who make the music, and use technology for a good reason. That’s why I’m backing them all the way.”
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