I have the opportunity to sign a distribution deal for a mixtape. In an interview with a rapper, I heard that he signed a distribution deal (80/20) without an advance for just his first mixtape and ended up making over a million dollars from this in a few months. Do y'all know if it is common to sign a distribution deal without getting an advance and what would be the benefits of this compared to getting one?

99.9% of the artists try to break through in the U.S. and then focus on conquering the rest of the world (mainly by touring Europe). However, has anyone ever thought about an approach of doing this the other way around by targeting major European countries like France, Germany or Italy - where English is not their first language - in order to break into the U.S. market using the leverage of fans, airplay, etc. that you've built up?