Joe Budden is getting candid about his career podcast earnings.
According to Vibe, the rapper-turned-podcast-host recently shared that he has earned at least $7 million since he made the career transition, pocketing a reported $4 million from that after taxes.
“Off podcasting, off of this?” Budden said during an episode of “The Joe Budden Podcast.” “All together in the whole 10 years? About $4 million… Gross is $7 million.”
He also opened up about how he and his team managed to get to those numbers, noting that inking partnerships with various brands along the way has been beneficial.
“Early on we were doing it for free,” Budden recalled. “Then we hit a little lick, Spotify. Then n—as left, the building crumbled a little bit, and my friends came and saved the day.”
As previously reported by AFROTECH™, he shared the real reason that he walked away from Spotify’s initial offer.
“In business, there are signs, for me, that show faith in a relationship,” Budden said at the time. “And me coming from music, morale is important in any creative field, right? So, there were a lot of signs that said, ‘This ain’t gonna go well.’ No matter how big the show was.”
When the initial contract, which spanned two years and required two episodes per week, ended the streaming platform was looking to renew for a reported $20 million. However, Budden was not sold on the offer that was at hand.
“At the height of the negotiation we were expecting a high eight-figure sum, and it seemed like that would come, but it felt like – and this is all based off of emotion an assumption – like a call got made. It was very abrupt. As abrupt as it was for the public was as abrupt as it was for me.”
Moreover, when his co-hosts suggested that he wasn’t being truthful about his earnings due to the low figure — which he says ranged from $3.5 million to $4.5 million — Budden doubled down on his transparency around the figures.
He also encouraged others in the podcast and media industry saying that they too can make it in this space if they dare to dream big enough and put the work behind it to make it happen.
“It’s not unachievable,” said Budden, who has been dubbed “The Podfather” due to his success within the industry. “Like, this is not unimaginable if you work hard, keep your head down to the finish line man, and just focus on the content and what you need to do… $4.5M.”
