Joe Budden's gamble on himself is now paying off like a winning lotto ticket, one scratched with intention. This is how The Joe Budden Podcast pulls in a jaw-dropping $1 million a month through Patreon, according to a recent New York Times profile. Yes, per month. It's thanks to an adoring and expanding audience of roughly 70,000 fans paying between $5 and $50 a month to support his unfiltered takes and patented brand of barbershop honesty. Patreon itself confirmed to Vulture, and it's a runaway victory for Budden as the top-earning performer on the platform.
And that's no kind of smoke and mirrors routine. Signing cuts are nothing new, but we've also heard of them playing out in some wildly unexpected ways, especially this offseason. Just weeks ago, Budden "accidentally" tweeted a screenshot of his earnings, $902,000, for the world to see. The post went viral, and though he subsequently attempted to walk back his words, he conceded it wasn't entirely a mistake. He laughed about the moment on a recent episode, saying, "I said to Ian, 'Yo blackout all this other s###. I've got to get to that $30 million on him."
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What makes Budden's story so captivating is the voyage. Before the millions of podcast listeners, before the executive decisions, there were filthy rap verses and industry annoyances. Budden was the rapper who'd given us "Pump It Up" in 2003, then established a place in the underground elite as a member of the lyrical supergroup Slaughterhouse. But when rap politics and media red tape intervened, he pivoted.
He then hosted Everyday Struggle for Complex, but left after receiving only $500 a week. And then there was the Spotify spat, from which he walked away, saying the platform didn't respect his vision.
This is part of what makes Budden, today, a template for creators who want both the bag and the freedom. If the estimates prove accurate, he and his team could secure $12 million by the end of 2025, all on their terms.
A rapper turned rebel turned revenue machine, Joe Budden is living proof: When you've got the mic and the platform, you don't need anyone else to green-light your value.
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