He started putting out mixtapes as a teenager, first as part of a group called Ill Spoken, then by himself. At age six, he taught himself piano, drums and guitar (Miller hasn’t given up the latter, regularly reeling off rock hits like Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” between rap songs at a recent New York show, he flipped the guitar onto his back and played an impressive solo). Born in 1992, he hadn’t yet started first grade when Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. Miller’s rise is all the more amazing when one puts his age into context. “It just depends on how far we want to take it alone. “With Mac, we've proven that we-and other independent artists-can sell records by ourselves,” says Grinberg. He doesn’t enjoy some of the perks that often come with a major label deal-like the ability to tap into a broader publicity network and get favored status from radio stations-but he’s already connected, directly through Twitter, to his massive fan base.
Miller also rakes in tens of thousands per night in merchandise sales, thanks largely to the wealthy suburban high school and college students who are the primary consumers of his music.Īnd unlike Pittsburgh pal Wiz Khalifa, who signed a multiple rights deal with Atlantic Records that calls for him to hand over a slice of all revenues to the company, Miller is still fully independent. He expects to play almost as many shows in 2012, and his nightly rate is now approaching $150,000. Miller played over 200 shows in 2011, grossing an average of $40,000 per night. The buzz is there, and the money is starting to roll in. If he's not in the studio, it's because he's doing an interview or coming up with merch ideas.” Not necessarily sitting there and responding every tweet or every fan, but being a symbol of someone who doesn’t think that anymore more special than anyone else.”Īdds Rostrum Records founder Benjy Grinberg: “He's relentless … If he's not doing a show, he's in the studio writing music. “I’m just looking for creative ways to get all that content out there. “I flood the internet with what I feel is quality content,” says Miller, settled into a cushy red chair opposite the Dali. One, titled “ Donald Trump,” even elicited a video response from the billionaire real estate developer himself. His quirky, low-budget YouTube videos have clocked over 200 million views. Instead, he’s relied largely on social media to build his following, releasing a new song for every 100,000 Twitter followers (he now has 1.4 million). Miller went from mixtape maven to national sensation without the help of a major record label or a big radio hit.
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