[curryst]

In fairness, Tom MacDonald gets a lot of external publicity from conservatives; he's mostly a right-wing political rapper.

I've seen a big rise in conservative rappers on YouTube. I've got a conspiracy theory that the GOP is funding them like a record label. If so, it's a sweet deal for artists. The GOP cares far more about cultural effects than they do the money from the music.

[anoonmoose]

Yeah, Chance The Rapper is a more organic and less political example of a rapper making it without a label.

[lettergram]

I don’t doubt there is some of that, probably from all sides frankly.

However, the major point is that you don’t need the distribution.

Louis CK famously released a comedy special online with a download and just asked people to pay and not copy and share. He said he made more money off that than any other special he’d done.

[cameroncairns]

It wouldn't be the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUNuNilqrDQ

It's hard to find a reliable source here but there was right wing folk music being made to combat the threat of communism in the 60s.

https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/01/janet_greene_th.html