I think we're confusing what the record labels are angry at here. They are sick of playing the "exclusives" game -- Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc. rather than mad at Ocean for screwing over Def Jam.
Had Frank Ocean tried to scout another label to release his new album physically with streaming, I don't think they would have a problem.
I think any retailer/streaming exclusives is bad for everybody - fans and businesses. For once, I can agree with the record label's feelings on this.
I think we're confusing what the record labels are angry at here. They are sick of playing the "exclusives" game -- Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc. rather than mad at Ocean for screwing over Def Jam.
Had Frank Ocean tried to scout another label to release his new album physically with streaming, I don't think they would have a problem.
I think any retailer/streaming exclusives is bad for everybody - fans and businesses. For once, I can agree with the record label's feelings on this.
Not quite. The streaming thing is a tiny piece of the puzzle. The main issue here is that his conduct with Def Jam was not exactly encouraging. As far as other labels are concerned, this is someone who is not a good and/or trustworthy person to do business with. He pulled a roundabout stunt so he could make more money from the album. Congrats to him and his bank account. But that doesn't mean other labels are going to be foaming at the mouth to work with him. Quite the opposite. He's shown disdain for the label system, so why would he (or anyone else) expect other labels not to show disdain for him?
I mean maybe he just didn't care to be pushing it and whether it would do well. But they definitely lost out and this was such a big missed opportunity....tons of people were waiting for his new music and he gave a really great album that had a lot of hype at first. It's a bummer that they just let it fizzle out and didn't do anything to push it further.