Kollegah’s assets: Hartz IV or millionaire?

How much money does Kollegah have?

In the USA, rappers earn a lot of money and show it off. In Germany, people keep a low profile, but this could also be because rappers like Kollegah don’t earn as much as their American colleagues. People don’t talk about money. People love money. That is at least true for the self-proclaimed “boss of bosses” Kollegah. He loves to promote life on a grand scale in his music videos, but there are no reliable sources about his actual earnings.

There are various estimates circulating on the Internet: between Hartz IV level, standard income of around 2,000 euros, a reasonable fortune of 7 million euros and a not entirely serious 10,000,000 euros (from drug dealing). But how much of this is really Kollegah’s private fortune? Kollegah’s  estimated fortune is 15 million euros. Here we have included album sales and fees from live performances, as well as income from YouTube advertising and merchandising, minus taxes.

Kollegah’s net worth: This is how his income is made up

Successful rappers in the USA earn their fortunes through “side businesses” such as soft drinks, fashion labels or their own record companies. In Germany, Kollegah & Co.’s fees come primarily from merchandising, performances, tours and advertising deals . Most rappers earn little from their albums alone.

Revenue from album sales and streams

A rapper like Kollegah can only book an average of ten percent of the record proceeds as income. The rest goes to the record company, video production and retail. So if a Kollegah album is downloaded for just under 10 euros, he might get 3 euros. Kollegah and Farid Bang received a gold record for “JBG 2”, which means  at least 100,000 albums were sold . After deducting video production costs of around 100,000 euros and numerous promotional expenses, there weren’t many euros left over from album sales alone. We estimate around 50,000 – 200,000 euros per person. You won’t get rich from that.

” Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 3 “, on the other hand, was a real hit. After its release in December 2017, the collaboration album went platinum. According to figures from the Bild newspaper, the BMG publishing house made over 4 million euros from album sales alone, not including streaming. BMG takes 40% of this directly and the two rappers each receive 15% of the sales proceeds. In addition, a seven-figure sum is said to have been paid to the artists for the rights. In August 2018, the two then released their next collaboration album “Platin war gestern”, which, however, did not match the success of JBG3.

In an interview with laut.de, Kollegah said of always delivering songs that sound the same: “We can easily milk the fans for another five or six years!” Has he cracked the million mark? We think so! The signs are good and the album “King” was released on May 9th, 2014. It reached gold status (at least 100,000 albums sold) within 24 hours and platinum status within the first four weeks. This means that it was sold at least 200,000 times. This is also a great financial success for Kollegah, as around EUR 3 per album sold goes into his own account. A new record was even set for the German-speaking region on the streaming platform Spotify . King was streamed more than three million times in two days.

After “King” (2014), the album “ Zuhältertape Volume 4 ” was released at the end of 2015, which also reached gold status and was the last album under the Selfmade Records label. The studio album “ Imperator ” was released in 2016 under the band’s own label “Alpha Music Empire” and also went gold. The next album, “ Monument ,” was released on December 7, 2018 and fell short of expectations. The next and eagerly awaited album, “ Alphagene II ,” was released on December 13, 2019 and was able to build on previous successes by reaching number 1. “ Zuhältertape Vol. 5 ” was released on October 8, 2021 and “ Free Spirit ” on August 5, 2022 – both albums fell short of expectations. Only “ La Deutsche Vita ” was able to become a number 1 album again with its release on July 7, 2023.

Albums:

Earning money from music streaming

According to his own statements, Kollegah receives around 3,500 – 6,000 euros from Spotify and Apple Music for one million streams of his music.

Income from your own music label

In March 2016, Kollegah announced that he had founded his own label Alpha Music Empire . The Warner Music Group is responsible for distribution. In the song “Fanpost 2” he hints that he has signed a deal with the major label worth 6 million euros . The first signing of Alpha Music Empire was announced to be the rapper Seyed from Wiesbaden. Shortly afterwards, the video for the song “MP5” was released, together with label boss Kollegah. The debut album “Engel mit der AK” followed in June 2016 and entered the German album charts at number 3, as well as number 4 in Austria and number 5 in Switzerland. Since a music label gets around 1/3 of the CD revenue, Seyed’s album is likely to have put some money into the pockets of the self-proclaimed boss. Since 2018 he has also  signed the artists Jigzaw and Gent .

Artists under Alpha Music Empire:

• Kollegah (since 2016)
• Seyed (since 2016 – 2018)
• Jigsaw (since 2018)
• Ghent (since 2018)
• Ash (Since 2018)

3 Earnings from many performances

Good money can also be earned through tours and appearances at various festivals. However, it is not possible to say with any certainty what the bottom line will be. In 2014, Kollegah had a total of 22 gigs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland through the “King Tour” alone. If we realistically calculate around 10,000 euros per concert for the bad boy, then the tour alone would bring in 220,000 euros. In addition, the sale of T-shirts brings in a few thousand more. In order to make more profit from the gigs, however, the ” Alpha Music Group ” was founded without further ado, which organizes all events and tours as its own booking and live agency. The agency also works for other artists such as Pietro Lombardi and Conchita Wurst.

4 Revenue from merchandising

Kollegah also earns good money with merchandising ( selling T-shirts, sweaters and caps). He also has his own jewellery collection, which is very provocative with its “brutal” necklaces. In addition to the merchandise, Felix Blume founded the fashion brand ” Deus Maximus ” in November 2015. This is priced significantly higher than the merchandise items; you can dress in the boss’s style for as little as 40 euros.

5 Youtube and social media

Kollegah’s YouTube channel ” Alpha Music Empire ” alone has almost 1.2 million subscribers and over 275 million video views. It can be assumed that between 100,000 and 300,000 euros are earned per year from this. His Facebook page has over 1.8 million fans and 1.6 million Instagram subscribers. This is the perfect place for merchandising and advertising.

6 Fitness guru thanks to boss transformation

Kollegah also does a lot of advertising for his fitness program “Bosstransformation” outside of music. For 197 euros, the program promises to reduce body fat and build muscle mass at the same time. Other German rappers such as Farid Bang and Majoe have also tried out the fitness program with success. Thanks to his incredibly good self-promotion, the rapper has already been able to convince many people to join his program and is earning really good money alongside music. According to his own statements, it has now been sold 30,000 times.

7 Bestselling book author

In September 2018, Kollegah published his first book entitled ” THAT’S ALPHA: The 10 Boss Commandments .” It immediately stormed the bestseller lists and, according to his own statements, sold over 80,000 copies in the first two months. He is currently already thinking about his second book.

8 Shisha bar “Alpha Lounge” in Düsseldorf

In June 2019, the rapper opened his “Alpha Lounge” in the Oberbilk district of Düsseldorf. This bar will be a great success as many fans hope to meet their idol in person.

9 Money with real estate and land

The rapper has developed another source of income through clever real estate deals. In an interview with Orange, the rapper is said to have bought a factory site in Turkey and owns several condominiums. This includes a 70m2 apartment in Düsseldorf. Kollegah also owns several speculative properties.

10 Fan rip-off with “Alpha Mentoring”

Kollegah cleverly ripped off his fans with his own life coaching program. For around 2,000 euros, he wanted to improve the lives of his “disciples” and turn them into real “BOSSENS”. In return, they got access to a Facebook group, live video chats and great sermons from the self-proclaimed messiah. VICE sneaked undercover into “Alpha Mentoring” and uncovered the rip-off system. A major event with ex-business partner Dirk Kreuter was also planned under the name “Alphaoffensive”. A ticket would have cost up to 2,500 euros. However, the event was canceled due to major criticism.

Kollegah: Street boy or brilliant businessman?

Hesse, born Felix Blume, has a Canadian father and a German mother. But his father was known for one thing above all: absence. After his mother’s divorce, he was said to have been poor. In his songs, he raps in the best gangster style, or as he calls it: pimp rap. Kollegah is not stupid. Not only does he have a high school diploma, but he is now also studying law at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. He understood early on that you can make money with weapons, drugs and women – especially in the music business. In 2003, he therefore appeared for the first time as a rapper under the pseudonym TONI. In 2004, Kollegah was already competing for Hamburg in the federal state battle. He cleverly used the Internet to boost himself. He also offered his first mixtape “Zuhältertape Vol.1” for free download. A smart PR ploy that later paid off.

Successful albums

He signed a record deal with Selfmade Records in 2005. His first real solo album was released in 2007. However, not before it was postponed in the media due to a criminal trial: Kollegah was caught with amphetamines and cocaine – and found guilty. Nevertheless, his image as a gangster is repeatedly questioned. Also because he converted to Islam as a teenager and is less flexible in this respect than in his lyrics. Private and business life strictly separated? Kollegah would probably not have been as successful with strictly Islamist lyrics – not financially, of course. The pimp image is good for his fortune, that much is certain. In 2011 he managed to enter the top 10 of the German album charts for the first time.

The “Boss” has made it to the top. And he owes this not only to his creative rap technique, but also to a keen nose for business. His income must have increased many times over with his success. A collaboration with Bushido and Farid Bang on the track “Gangsta Rap Kings” on Bushido’s album “Sonny Black” also bore fruit.