LaRussell is rewriting the rules of the game in real time, and the culture is watching it happen.

The independent artist out of Vallejo, California, just made history after NBA star Kyrie Irving paid $11,000 for his digital album “Something’s In The Water,” officially marking the highest price ever paid for a digital album purchase. To put that in music-business terms, it would take around 3 million Spotify streams to generate that same amount of money. And Kyrie wasn’t the only one tapping in. Within the first 24 hours of release, he brought in $57,000 from 2,600 fans, with Snoop Dogg purchasing the album for $2,500 and Cedric the Entertainer spending $1,000. 

Instead of chasing traditional release strategies, LaRussell is running a 30-day mission to sell 100,000 albums independently through EVEN, a direct-to-fan platform that lets artists sell music before it ever touches streaming. Fans can name their price starting at $1, and what’s happening next is the part that has the industry side-eyeing spreadsheets.

Ninety-seven percent of buyers are paying above the minimum, with the average fan choosing to spend $22. Don’t confuse it with charity; that’s fans deciding what the music is worth to them and backing it up with money.

Irving explained his decision during the purchase, saying, “You earned it. You deserve it. You worked your ass off, so I thought I would just contribute…I know you will pay it forward…I’m putting my money where my mouth is.”

Beyond the numbers, the California native is making the experience personal. He’s hosting a daily livestream called the “LaRussellthon,” where fans can watch him work, hear the stories behind the album, and even get calls directly from him thanking them for their support. He’s also hand-burning CDs himself and shipping them out, keeping the fan-to-artist connection tight and intentional.

LaRussell has been honest about the pressure that comes with betting on yourself at this level. “Me venturing off to sell a hundred thousand albums independently is something that in my heart, I feel like I could accomplish,” he shared. “But in my mind and in the world, there's still that fear of like, ‘damn, I could possibly fall short.’ I've never sold a hundred thousand albums… All I have is the belief in myself and my community, and it's something special about that.”

EVEN founder and CEO Mag Rodriguez sees this moment as bigger than one release, saying, “What LaRussell just proved is that streaming can come second. When artists own the relationship with their fans, a single supporter can be worth more than millions of streams — before a song ever hits Spotify.”