Free Kanye, Free Uzi, Free Tunechi, Free Ski Mask, Free…. I think you get it. The last 20 years have changed music and the way we consumed it but with that change came more corruption within the industry. Artists as of recently have been getting themselves into really bad contracts where they either can’t get off their deal or they do and they lose their masters worth thousands (or even millions) of dollars. Lets back it up for a moment, masters according to HipHopDx.com “…is a term used to refer to the original sound recording copyright of a song. When an artist records a song, he or she is also creating an original sound recording protected under United States copyright law.” This is essential for artists that want to make money off sampling and streaming services but in some contracts artist sign, they aren’t allowed to own their masters that they might want to use in the future if they terminate their contract. 

The most famous example of an artist losing their masters because of a terrible contract is Taylor Swift (and now maybe Kanye??). She has expressed her frustration on Twitter and other social medias a numerous amount of times but as of now she currently doesn’t own a single one of her 6 previous records, that belongs to her (old) label, “ Big Machine Records”. Other examples an artist going through contract disputes is Lil Uzi Vert, an Atlanta rapper who has released some of the most viral songs of the 2010s such as “XO TOUR LIFE”, was in a heated contract dispute for 3 years and during that time had dropped almost nothing because he wanted to get out his contract, the details are unknown about what the feud was about but from 2017-2020 Uzi’s label wouldn’t him drop features with other artists either. At the beginning of this year he was finally set free after begging his label and creating a social media stir with people on twitter creating the #FreeUzi movement to show their support of him. After that he dropped his long-awaited album, Eternal Atake, then he dropped a second album the next week. He didn’t have any industry help from anyone during his promotion for his album and reached the #1 spot by himself.

Labels since then have been called out by young rappers who signed B.S deals at the beginning of their careers because they had no understanding of what was in it before they signed it. As recently as last night Kanye West, one of the most controversial figures in music (and in general), posted a video of himself peeing on a Grammy he won, then proceeded to post his contracts from labels over a series of over 100 tweets, after all of that he had said that signing to a label is “Modern-day slavery”. While he is acting manic, I understand that he is frustrated with his label because they have been conning artists since music streaming became mainstream. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg and within the next year I can guarantee another artist will be put in this situation again because of how the industry works, all they want is money and nothing else. 

One question I want to pass off to you is, do you believe artists should sign to big labels or do you think it’s smarter to go independent and try to create your own following?