Jeremih Explains Selling Off Music Assets, Claims He's Still 'Broke'

Jeremih is sitting pretty these days after selling off a portion of his catalog for a pretty penny ... which begs the question, is the writing on the wall for music industry royalties???

Joe Budden seems to think so -- per the rants in his past pair of podcasts, and Jeremih had more riddles than answers when we caught the R&B wiz at LAX Friday to weigh in on this exact issue ... but we think we can read between the lines.

Back in January, Jeremih and HarbourView Equity Partners reached a deal that signed over a chunk of his publishing rights -- his discog booming with hits, starting directly with his debut single, 2009's "Birthday Sex."

Jeremih tells us he still maintains some ownership over his records but couldn't give his full endorsement if other artists should follow suit.

He notes the musical landscape was different back then -- release a hot track and the radio took care of the rest but in today's social media era, promoting music has become more volatile and every artist has to choose the best adventure for themselves going forward.

We tried to squeeze more advice outta him -- but the "Oui" singer took an infamous cue from his "Final Lap" tour headliner 50 Cent and copped a plea ... namely, that he's hurtin'.