How LaRussell Made $447,655 From 19,370 Fans Starting At $0.99
LaRussell is an independent rapper from Vallejo, CA who runs his own company, Good Compenny. His first release on EVEN, I Hate When Life's Going Great, made $94K in a month in 2022. For SOMETHING'S IN THE WATER, his 16th release on EVEN and a full album with Lil Jon, he opened pre-orders on December 31, 2025 with a public goal of 100,000 albums and one rule: pay what you want, from $0.99. The album came out on March 1, 2026. By then the campaign had already earned $417,941.
DEC 31, 2025 → MAR 1, 2026
Album
Standout move: No tiers at all. One album, one minimum, and fans set the price. 98% chose to pay more than $0.99.
FIRST SIX DAYS
$100K
Reached on January 5
BEFORE RELEASE DAY
$417,941
93% of revenue came during pre-order
MEDIAN PURCHASE
$10
Against a $0.99 minimum
CHECKOUT CONVERSION
79.8%
19,418 of 24,346 checkouts completed
VISITOR TO BUYER
10.27%
193,566 unique visitors
REACH
54 countries
California drove 57% of revenue
$10
5,038 sales · $50,596
$20
3,098 sales · $62,169
$5
2,741 sales · $13,762
$1
2,380 sales · $2,394
$25
1,188 sales · $29,811
$15
965 sales · $14,534
$50
627 sales · $31,492
$2
516 sales · $1,037
The eight most common price points. 33 purchases of $1,000 or more added $140,778, and purchases under $1,000 still made up 69% of revenue.
$447,655 from 19,370 fans.
29,346 copies sold at an average of $23.11 per fan. That is the equivalent of 127.9M streams. $100K arrived in the first six days, and 93% of revenue landed before release day.
1
A minimum is not a ceiling.
With a $0.99 floor, 98% of buyers paid more and the average purchase came to $22.52.
2
Pre-orders can be the campaign.
Sixty days of pre-order produced $417,941 before the album was out.
3
Make the goal public.
A shared target and live sales counts gave fans a reason to buy today and bring a friend.
4
Your sixteenth release can beat your first.
His first EVEN release made $94K in a month. This one passed $100K in six days.
“I just want to show the world that this is possible independently and at home within our own region and our own people.”
LaRussell
Okayplayer, January 2026
