AEG Distro is the product of living life as a musician and pivoting fully to business. Founded by rapper and entrepreneur Shortyo, the self-acclaimed “King of the Kounty,” AEG Distro is trying to replicate what typical music distribution does but with a little more to include record label services. The journey to AEG Distro becoming a reality started years ago when Shortyo began his music career. He fell in love with hip-hop listening to music by NWA, Eazy-e, and Ice T even though his home state, Pennsylvania, had hip-hop artists like Grandmaster Flash, KRS 1, and other musicians who dominated the East Coast scene at the time.
From his first rap group with two friends in grade school, which earned him a nomination for “Most Destined for Rap Stardom” by his eighth-grade teacher, he went on to have a rap music career that has earned him some success.
Looking back at his career over the years, Shortyo said, “Music is something I love wholeheartedly. Money was never a motivation for me, as I wasn’t doing it for money.”
In 2004, he entered a rap battle competition called “The Cypher” on 100.3 The Beat (Radio-One) in Philadelphia and won against his opponents for ten consecutive weeks. Five years later, he released his first album titled King of the Kounty, which peaked at number 59 on the US Billboard Top 200 Chart.
Shortyo was on a laser-focused drive towards success. The first single on the album titled “Stripper” featured Grammy Award-winning artist Young Berg and the next single titled “That’s Right” featured multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Wayne.
Over a decade after his professional sojourn into the music industry began, Shortyo has decided to go into the music business by establishing his own music distribution company.
“We offer the same distribution services as DistroKid, except we also offer label services to artists without being tied down to an exclusive record contract,” he said. AEG Distro offers artists advances on future royalties, music video development, social media marketing and promotion, and radio marketing and servicing.
AEG Distro sets itself apart by offering artists things no other digital distributor currently offers. Shortyo understands how challenging it is for many musicians to get their music out to their audience, and he’s willing to contribute to that. His goal is to build AEG Distro into the biggest digital music distributor while helping upcoming and established artists reach audiences globally. Through AEG Distro, Shortyo is showing the music world that there is more to him than dropping wordplays and punchlines on songs. He has proven himself as a rapper, and now, he wants to show the entrepreneur side of him.
He’s still very much a musician, even though he left Universal Music in 2020 to become independent. His latest album was released early this year with the lead single, “Cheat Code,” featuring Offset from the Migos. While he continues to chase success on multiple fronts, he wants to give other artists a chance at a headstart to pursue their own success.
Learn more about AEG Distro on the company’s official website.
