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Are Record Labels bad? Who will get dropped?
Member Since: 8/9/2006
Posts: 323
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Are Record Labels bad? Who will get dropped?
This is an interesting article that I read from another forum. It was written in August.
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Approx. CD Sales:
#1 Bob Dylan - 189,242
#2 Danity Kane - 123,271
#3 Young Dro - 103,909
#4 Jessica Simpson - 99,076
#5 Christina Aguilera - 98, 623
Lately I've been thinking about all the tirades and rants that have been spouted by many recording artists about their labels and the antics that are pulled all in the name of selling an album. Everything from the good (Motown grooming it's artists from the inside out, setting an industry standard) to the bad (Motown dropping such groundbreaking artists like Diana Ross for not selling enough records).
A while back A Tribe Called Quest professed with industry rule #4080 that record company people are shady. But are they all bad?
Don't get me wrong, I support the independent artists. I champion the mainstream artist that set very hard lines about how their art will be commissioned and marketed. However in these days of lucrative contracts and artists freedoms, no one is admitting that the strong arming of the record labels are something that is still needed. Artists can sometimes get out of hand.
Kelis was on "106 & Park" on the day her album dropped discussing the lack of support her label Jive gave her and how they had differing ideas of how to push her album Kelis Was Here. She said it was she who insisted that "Blindfold Me" featuring Nas be the second single instead of other favorites. Behind the scenes Jive was trying to discern if "**** Them Bitches" or "Lil Star" might be more appropriate. Fast forward a week or two and we see that Kelis moved just about 62,000 units her first week, selling less than Paris Hilton. In it's second week Kelis Was Here won't even crack the top 50, only moving about 18,000 units. Will she be dropped by Jive next?
This just in... Jagged Edge has been dropped by Columbia. That's the latest unconfirmed news floating around these halls. Insiders believe it's because J.E. lost their drive to perform. They expected to just sell based on their reputation. We here on the outside saw it coming a long time ago.
Christina Milian disagreed with the "suggestion" from her label to record "SOS" a song that later sent Rihanna platinum. Very soon after the release of Christina Milian's cd release, she was dropped by Def Jam.
Next up is big Bey. Beyonce made public declarations that she is solely responsible if her sophomore effort B'Day flies or falls. She recorded the cd without the labels influence. Thus far everyone is expecting it to sell well, but for the first time there has been a huge public backlash, something that probably wouldn't have happened had she allowed the machine to be involved.
SOHH... are the labels all bad? Yea, sure the above are extreme circumstances, however these strong arming corporate machines have been put in place to do what they have done with so many artists prior to the ones I've mentioned.... SELL ALBUMS. SONY makes hits like a factory (Mariah, Fugees, Destiny's Child, Barbara Streisand, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Jackson) so does Jive (R. Kelly, Usher, Ciara, N'Sync, Justin Timberlake).
Are a lot of these artists getting out of hand because they've had a success or two? Are the labels setting certain people up to make an example for their cash cows? Or are the cases of Kelis, Christina Milian and the like just situations where an artists is willing to sacrifice commercial success for the sake of their art?
What about Jay Z and Def Jams lack of support to Method Man, Redman, Joe Budden and LL Cool J? Is it that they just aren't hot anymore? Is the label right not to make much ado about nothing?
Hmm that may be too much to think about, SOHH **** it all and get to our new joint of the day. It's from Justin Timberlake; titled "Love Stoned/I Think She Knows". I love how he is influenced by Michael Jackson on this one and how he attached the interludes to the end of a song.... Usher better come hard. SKDAMC, what say you?
As a Kelis fan i am extremely worried about this...I've noticed alot of members here are feeling the new album 'Kelis Was Here' so can i ask that when you have a spare moment, can yall log onto MTV.com and vote 'Blindfold Me'?? It aint listed, so you'd have to manually enter it in, but we need support otherwise my favourite girls career may be at stake!!
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Member Since: 11/22/2004
Posts: 2,991
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I think record labels are the reason 85% of the time. Take Vitamin C for example. She got dropped from Elektra Records after her second album bombed. "The Itch" did really well. But it was because lack of promotion. The artist does not do promo or plan appearences so it wasn't her fault, it was the record label's. Christina Milian, I don't think she got dropped because of record sales like people are saying because it peaked higher then "It's About Time". Again, it's promo. "Say I" didn't get alot of promo. The question is: If Christina did "SOS", would Def Jam have given her more promo? About Kelis, even though I like Jive, if they drop her, it is their fault, because even though her album is flopping because she decided the second single, if Jive gave her more promo, she might have been more open about their suggestions as single. Then again, look at Britney Spears. Jive wanted "Outragous" as her first single from ITZ. She fought for "MATM" and that was a hit. Then Jive wanted "Outragous" to be the 2nd single. She fought for "Toxic". Another hit. Then they wanted "Outragous" for the 3rd single. She fought for "Everytime". Again, a hit. Then she released "Outragous" as a 4th single. Flopped. So, all in all, record labels are mostly at fault with artists being dropped.
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Member Since: 7/1/2005
Posts: 12,107
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I have to admit, I think "S.O.S." (Rescue Me) is a one time fluke and wouldn't have sounded quite right with anyone but Rihanna. Christina Milian was right with rejecting that song. Perhaps she should have kept Jennifer Lopez's "Play" though...Although I do agree that artists should have a certain amount of control, I'm sure we can all agree that if they do branch out on their own and fail, they will be dropped, whereas if they fail with the company, like say Utada and Islands Of Def Jam, she will be given a second chance ultimately. It's a gamble really.
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Banned
Member Since: 10/21/2001
Posts: 25,547
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There's way too much expectations for some of these big names like Aggy, Bee and JT. Whether or not you do well affects if you'll still be with that label.
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Member Since: 2/14/2005
Posts: 1,389
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Quote:
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Originally posted by dianasguy
Then again, look at Britney Spears. Jive wanted "Outragous" as her first single from ITZ. She fought for "MATM" and that was a hit. Then Jive wanted "Outragous" to be the 2nd single. She fought for "Toxic". Another hit. Then they wanted "Outragous" for the 3rd single. She fought for "Everytime". Again, a hit. Then she released "Outragous" as a 4th single. Flopped. So, all in all, record labels are mostly at fault with artists being dropped.
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She also didn't finish the video and once she got her 'injury', she lost all promo from the label. She probably stunted that leg thing.
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Member Since: 11/22/2004
Posts: 2,991
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Quote:
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Originally posted by LLJungleFever
She also didn't finish the video and once she got her 'injury', she lost all promo from the label. She probably stunted that leg thing.
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I love Britney, but that is something I do believe, because she never wanted "Outragous" as a single anyway.
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Member Since: 7/25/2006
Posts: 12,685
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i want kelis to get out of jive and join a new label
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Member Since: 6/19/2006
Posts: 114
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Record Labels have high expecatations from artist these days. Look at Jessica Simpson's man all that publicity and still not great sales. It's a shame because the album i think is her best. As for Christina Milian , i honestly didnt see any promotion for it like they say they did. As for SOS i love Rihanna but i think several artist could have made that a hit song. I dont know why Milian passed on it. As for Kelis, man that sucks because i thought Bossy was gonna do really good , and at first it looked like it.
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ATRL Administrator
Member Since: 8/27/2006
Posts: 5,277
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It's kind of depressing that we live in a word where promotion determines a record's success much more than the actual quality of the album. 
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Banned
Member Since: 5/10/2005
Posts: 12,050
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Quote:
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Originally posted by dianasguy
Then again, look at Britney Spears. Jive wanted "Outragous" as her first single from ITZ. She fought for "MATM" and that was a hit. Then Jive wanted "Outragous" to be the 2nd single. She fought for "Toxic". Another hit. Then they wanted "Outragous" for the 3rd single. She fought for "Everytime". Again, a hit. Then she released "Outragous" as a 4th single. Flopped. So, all in all, record labels are mostly at fault with artists being dropped.
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EXACTLY 
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Member Since: 8/9/2006
Posts: 323
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Yeah, the record labels have most of the blame IMO because they focus on making a hit more than everything else. The main complaint that started downloading in the first place is that they are sick and tired of buying albums with one or two good tracks. Now with ITunes, just buying those couple of tracks are a lot easier (and legal), therefore the rest of the album misses out. The labels want that number one album but longevity is forgotten about. Busta's The Big Bang is an example.
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Banned
Member Since: 10/21/2001
Posts: 25,547
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Didn't we see this a lot this year with D4L and most other rap/hip-hop songs?
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Member Since: 7/7/2005
Posts: 6,115
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Quote:
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Originally posted by ExProcrastinator
Yeah, the record labels have most of the blame IMO because they focus on making a hit more than everything else. The main complaint that started downloading in the first place is that they are sick and tired of buying albums with one or two good tracks. Now with ITunes, just buying those couple of tracks are a lot easier (and legal), therefore the rest of the album misses out. The labels want that number one album but longevity is forgotten about. Busta's The Big Bang is an example.
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Exactly... people go back to actually makin albums instead of singles along with people stop lettin people who are vocally challenged dominate... the industry would be doing a helluva lot betta.
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Member Since: 8/9/2004
Posts: 21,889
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Quote:
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Originally posted by dianasguy
Then again, look at Britney Spears. Jive wanted "Outragous" as her first single from ITZ. She fought for "MATM" and that was a hit. Then Jive wanted "Outragous" to be the 2nd single. She fought for "Toxic". Another hit. Then they wanted "Outragous" for the 3rd single. She fought for "Everytime". Again, a hit. Then she released "Outragous" as a 4th single. Flopped. So, all in all, record labels are mostly at fault with artists being dropped.
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LFR. I really didn't know about that ,did she? But yeah , she used to perfom a little bit of "Outrageous" during her ONYX tour and leave the stage before the song ends. So i believe ya. 
She fought for MATM because of oldvag Madonna and the timing of the VMAs kiss and publicity. R.I.P M-A-G-N-E-T version. That NFL version was wayyyyyy better and she sucks for throwing it away. Damn OldVag!
But "Outrageous" was going to be a hit for sure. It could've done pretty well at pop & urban charts. The video version had Snoop Dogg in it.It was produced by R.Kelly. The video looked very HOT.
Everything was great until she twisted her damn leg and that was the end of her best album and best era.
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Member Since: 10/19/2004
Posts: 13,032
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Quote:
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Originally posted by Lostw/oNatalie
Didn't we see this a lot this year with D4L and most other rap/hip-hop songs?
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Obviously record labels are bad since Aly& AJ have a deal.
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Member Since: 9/27/2005
Posts: 2,010
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This is something i've been saying for a long time now, and it's sad. The music industry is finally getting it's wake-up call. People are noticing that most music sucks nowadays. Everyone is using the same producer, resulting in everybody's songs sounding the same. It's just flat-out boring. Barely anything on the radio can be called music anymore.
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