And the saga continues with the drama that Universal is causing with their attempt to stop the natural order of the hip hop ecosystem of promotion on the internet, namely on hip hop sites and blogs. Drake who gave us free music that made him the biggest artist to debut since 50 Cent, is not happy with the way the machine is handling their business. This reminds me of a verse, “I sold my soul to the devil, I know its a crappy deal, it came with a few toys like a happy meal.” Kanye West….
Around two weeks ago, a blogger got his hands on the list of sites that Universal Music Group is trying to block from posting songs from its label. Around the same time, Drake leaked a couple tracks from his upcoming Take Care LP, and they were posted on many of those websites. Universal did what it always does: It squashed all the download leaks. Drake Tweeted about being mad about the songs being taken down. This then became a story. But this is wack on both sides. Here’s why:
Universal is essentially penalizing downloaders and websites for posting a song that came from its own artist. In some sense, they are fighting against their own free promotion. This isn’t the first time websites with artist-approved leaks were attacked: R.I.P. OnSmash.
But it’s also dumb from Drake’s perspective, because he’s coming off like a man of the people here, just trying to let his fans hear his music. But if he really has such a problem with being signed to Universal, why doesn’t he just go back to being indie? He could have been a revolution but instead he joined the matrix. And now he’s feeling the other side of the spectrum besides the fame and fortune because only an artist could or would just give it away. Prince tried to warn us. This is just the beginning. Major record companiies are fighting for their lives. The internet is going to give birth to an artist that won’t sign to them and remain relevant with the masses. Or is that artist already here? The revolution will not be televised. It will be online.
Leave a Reply