It has historically been tough for artists to gain exposure and build a fan base. From 1940’s -1980’s the platform to reach a large audience was radio, then TV and print magazines. That generally required a label and their resources. In the late 80’s...

Hip-Hop started to learn how to do things independently. Press their own cassettes, gain distribution with regional distributors, gain coverage in niche magazines, but this required grind and still required capitol.

In the mid 90’s, independent artists had the ability to reach people across the globe, virtually for free via the world wide web (www.). A global niche independent music community began to form on various chats, message boards, & websites. Niche genres and community had strength.

In the late 90’s - 2000’s, CHH started to grow in online communities and the strength of a niche was evident. Power of large platforms like radio, magazines, and distribution started to fade as indies leveraged MySpace that brought artists the ability to connect direct to fans.

Mid-late 2000’s saw the launch of iTunes and access to global digital distribution, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, email lists, large indie music blogs, etc.- the power of niches was more evident. Death of magazines, CD’s, record stores + enter streaming, ad platforms, algorithms...

+ focus and reliance of artists for exposure, leaning on large gatekeepers for visibility and access to their fans, the cost to access the worlds music catalogue reduced to virtually $10/mo - overwhelmed fans with too much music nearly for free, and music lost impact and value.

Now we find ourselves back in the place of indies trying to figure out how to reach and build an audience. Realizing that the large companies have re-established their gate keeper position under the disguise of serving artists and fans. Now more than ever...

During a pandemic, with the music industry shut down, gate keepers back in control - we’re being forced to find new ways to maintain and grow a fan base. The direct to fan relationships being imperative and possible by utilizing ads, text message services, crowd funding sites...

live video, zoom video calls and more. The ability to be successful is there, it is just scattered and takes research, passion, and lots of hard work. Now more than ever we’re seeing the value and power of niche communities like CHH...

And Rapzilla, being built in 2003, has seen and adapted to all of these eras of change and persisted because of purpose (Jesus), passion (CHH), and community (niche). We’re seeing the shift and value coming back to the indie artists especially in a niche. We’re seeing artists ...

Realize that our community is strong despite our differences and flaws. The leaders among the artists and behind the scenes people are realizing that being on one accord, and leveraging a small niche has more value than gatekeepers that control reach with our fans. We CHH.