Dope interview. They pissed me off when they kept pushing the Cassie and Puff questions. Like they were trying to get a rise out of him.
I really respect him as a musician and producer. And he is right the internet and social media has changed the game and there will be no more Kanye Cinderella stories of success. He is right Kanye's story is 10 yrs old and the way music was discovered then was still controlled by the major media outlets.
I think it's genius he is working on that "grid" to track fans' moves and demographics like Amazon does its customers. When he gets that poppin he will be the next billionaire in hip hop.
But until that technology gets developed, if I was a new artist I still would sign a 360 deal with a major making only $50k a yr.
Les talking he making 80-100k after cost an album independently. But he makes his killing off touring. As an independent artist you know how much hard work it is to build a social media presence, fan base, a viral youtube song, and the cost to tour out of pocket? I'd rather let a major rape me out of publishing and everything else as long as they do their job and do all that marketing and business side stuff to make me a star. All I need is a good manager who can leverage that fame into other ventures such as reality shows, commercials, endorsements, etc. I know the label gets a piece of that too but a good manager can keep the fame gravy train going even after you get dropped.
Yea, that model was good for the artist back then... the whole sign to a label, let them financially
rape me on the front-end but i can cash out from touring, endorsements, movies, etc on the backend...
The label didn't care about having their hands on anything else because record sales were enough...
Now?
Not so much, if artists were making pennies to the dollar on album sales imagine how much they
are really making in 360 deals. Not only that but people seem to think it's as easy as "hey, they'll
make me famous and i can cash out from all these endorsements" It's only a special kind of talent
who can pull endorsements deals or even a certain level of fame for that matter... if you aren't at
Eminem, Jay, Kanye level then you're ****ed.
Gaga is an example of someone recent, who the label has gone all out for and seemed to cash out
early... but where is Gaga at this very moment? People stopped giving a ****... so if that's someone
of high artistic caliber, imagine a mediocre act coming into a label?
Even artists who have been on labels for years... let's say The Dream for example, what kind of
endorsement can The Dream pull? What kind of products can The Dream sell to an audience?
Even a Brandy or a Keri Hilson or a Tinashe... Schoolboy Q? Kendrick Lamar? Even a Drake...
and all those artists are equally talented but not all of them are brands that can move product...
Kanye can move product, Gaga can move product, Michael Jackson in his days moved product...
it takes a special kind of act with a certain kind of image to be able to cash out from label fame,
not everyone can pull it.