00:00:00
this is blond by Frank Ocean and this is
00:00:03
what it did to the music
00:00:05
[Music]
00:00:09
industry there's not a more fragile
00:00:11
industry than music One move and
00:00:13
everything can be disrupted in my whole
00:00:15
life I feel like it's existed in this
00:00:17
we've never been so back it's so over
00:00:19
roller coaster ride and currently we're
00:00:22
here AI Mass layoffs consolidation
00:00:25
nepotism hits that come and go and a
00:00:27
lack of investment in new Superstars to
00:00:29
lead the Next Generation some say it's
00:00:31
the quality of music or blame social
00:00:33
media but I think there's much more to
00:00:35
it than that and the deeper I look the
00:00:37
more this one moment replays in my mind
00:00:40
and not just because it's been on a
00:00:41
constant Loop since 2016 I I promise I'm
00:00:44
okay but because it completely changed
00:00:46
everything the release of FR oan blonde
00:00:48
exclusively on Apple music sent a signal
00:00:50
to artists that the power had shifted
00:00:52
and The Gatekeepers of the past no
00:00:53
longer held the keys to the kingdom the
00:00:55
Domino that was blonde sent off a chain
00:00:57
reaction that I believe helps explain a
00:00:59
lot of the music industry's current
00:01:00
Mysteries like why are new Superstars so
00:01:03
rare the music industry's relationship
00:01:05
to AI why all these artists are dropping
00:01:07
on Instagram now and whether or not the
00:01:09
music industry we once knew is dead in
00:01:11
some weird Tangled way I think it all
00:01:13
connects back to this so to explain the
00:01:15
mess I think we have to break down the
00:01:16
Domino that fell to create it in the
00:01:18
first place because how did no one in
00:01:20
the industry see this coming I mean it
00:01:21
was all there even in his name what know
00:01:25
about rolling down in the Deep when your
00:01:27
bra goes num rank o one of modern
00:01:30
music's great storytellers not only
00:01:32
because of the complex narratives and
00:01:33
deems the interweaves throughout his
00:01:35
music but also from the actual real life
00:01:37
Revenge tale he was plotting on the
00:01:39
industry from Christopher Brew to Lonnie
00:01:41
Brew to odd future in Frank Ocean
00:01:43
because that story isn't just Frank
00:01:45
Ocean finessa label out of $20 million
00:01:48
this was a 7-year game of chess that he
00:01:50
was playing with universal music group
00:01:52
so let's start then in 2009 3 years
00:01:54
after moving from New Orleans to
00:01:55
California he was able to quickly make a
00:01:57
name for himself within the industry as
00:01:58
a songwriter writing tracks for Beyonce
00:02:01
Justin Bieber John Legend and Brandy and
00:02:03
caught the attention of the legendary
00:02:04
Tricky Stewart who helped him secure a
00:02:06
deal at Death Jam and imprint of
00:02:07
universal music group and then nothing
00:02:10
Lonnie Brew became a shelv artist on the
00:02:11
de Jam roster With No Label support or
00:02:14
future but it's around this time when
00:02:15
he's introduced to Tyle the Creator and
00:02:17
the rest of odd future who actually
00:02:18
bring him in as one of their own and in
00:02:20
his exposure to the tile and the Odd
00:02:21
Future movement as he was sitting as a
00:02:23
sheld artist Lonnie Brew was inspired
00:02:25
more than ever before and decided to
00:02:27
take matters into his own hands ditching
00:02:28
the name lonni brew and creating music
00:02:30
under a new moniker one that he could
00:02:32
use to operate in secret without his
00:02:33
label knowing Frank Ocean the name was
00:02:35
in homage to Frank Sinatra in the film
00:02:37
Oceans 11 in which Frank Sinatra played
00:02:39
Danny ocean The Mastermind puts together
00:02:41
a team to pull off in El laborate Casino
00:02:43
Heist on New Year's Eve and uh remember
00:02:45
that for later long story short Frank
00:02:47
drops stalia aler for free on his Tumblr
00:02:50
page in February of 2011 and it is an
00:02:53
instant sensation and immediately grabs
00:02:55
the attention of all the major labels
00:02:57
including de jam and Universal who now r
00:02:59
very interested in being in the Frank
00:03:01
Goan business and then realized oh [ __ ]
00:03:03
he's already signed here in deleted
00:03:05
tweets Frank made sure to let the world
00:03:07
know that he did this entirely on his
00:03:09
own and it's dep Jam for leading him on
00:03:11
to paraphrase a moment now in retrospect
00:03:13
that seems like the Catalyst of what was
00:03:14
to come later but harsh sweets aside
00:03:16
Death Jam doesn't really care and Pony's
00:03:18
up the money for Frank to record his
00:03:19
debut album Channel orange the album
00:03:21
arrives a year and a half later the
00:03:22
critical claim a Grammy World Tour and a
00:03:25
bunch of now out of character public
00:03:27
appearances and interviews Frank Ocean
00:03:29
was now a star and everyone was asking
00:03:32
what's next and the answer was nothing
00:03:34
pretty much near silence for years aside
00:03:37
from the occasional post or appearance
00:03:39
or feature on a con West album for some
00:03:41
reason he just always was showing up
00:03:42
there but it was during this time that
00:03:44
Frank was making major moves in silence
00:03:46
that would have major ramifications on
00:03:48
the future of the industry he fired his
00:03:50
team and hired a new manager and
00:03:52
publicist convinced the label with his
00:03:53
newly minted aist status to give him a
00:03:55
$2 million advance for his next album
00:03:57
agreed to making that album like many
00:03:59
others at the time and Apple music
00:04:00
exclusive and finally the opportunity to
00:04:02
buy not only his master recordings but
00:04:05
himself out of his death Cham contract
00:04:07
once the album release this as you might
00:04:08
expect took years to sort out and in
00:04:11
that time was creating unfathomable
00:04:12
amounts of hype surrounding the album
00:04:14
every day the album didn't come the more
00:04:16
leverage Frank was gaining and when the
00:04:17
business finally settled Frank Ocean's
00:04:19
sophomore album endless released
00:04:21
exclusively on Apple music a black and
00:04:24
white Visual Album that could only be
00:04:26
played from start to finish with no
00:04:28
potential for a radio recck or a hit
00:04:30
because it was pretty inaccessible for a
00:04:32
joeo and that was it that was Frank
00:04:35
Ocean's sophomore album for a few hours
00:04:37
because then the chess move is made the
00:04:39
Domino Falls it was revealed within
00:04:41
minutes after the release that Frank
00:04:43
wasn't done yet he actually had secretly
00:04:45
negotiated another deal at Apple to
00:04:48
release his next album for a rumored $20
00:04:51
million and it wasn't going to take
00:04:52
another four years but like 18 hours
00:04:55
blam was released independently on Apple
00:04:57
music on August 20th 2016 when number
00:05:00
one on Billboard selling 276,000 units
00:05:03
and netting him over a million dollar in
00:05:06
its first week of release that went
00:05:07
directly to him while also completely
00:05:10
stomping on the release of Death Jam and
00:05:12
Universal's own Frank Ocean album what
00:05:14
Frank had effectively done was show his
00:05:15
peers that this is possible you don't
00:05:18
have to be a chance to rapper that never
00:05:19
signed you could be Frank Ocean and as
00:05:21
it was written in the history books how
00:05:23
much can you tell me about the
00:05:25
transformative Frank Ocean deal um I
00:05:29
would like to like you know Oceans
00:05:35
11 Frank's moves ultimately open to can
00:05:37
of worms we report starting to leak out
00:05:39
the weekend this all went down that
00:05:40
Universal Music Group CEO Lucian green
00:05:42
was losing his mind over this and
00:05:44
immediately banned streaming exclusives
00:05:47
forever because think about it you guys
00:05:48
are the ones who are supposed to get
00:05:49
away with exploiting talent for your own
00:05:51
personal game right and now the kid
00:05:53
who's saying A Potato Flew Around is
00:05:55
going to pull the rug from under you
00:05:56
yeah they were furious and I think they
00:05:58
knew what was about to happen as a
00:05:59
result result because everything was
00:06:01
different now a superstar that they in
00:06:03
part helped create was now completely
00:06:05
free and independent it was like the
00:06:07
spark of the rebellion in ya fiction
00:06:09
terms the Domino fell and everyone was
00:06:11
now operating in a post blonde music
00:06:13
industry so when talking about the
00:06:14
release of Angie Martinez ASAP Rocky
00:06:16
said the record industry had been
00:06:17
whipping artist ever since and by the
00:06:19
turn of the decade Joe Buon implied the
00:06:21
Charlamagne that the labels were trying
00:06:22
to put the genie back in the bottle by
00:06:24
Banning exclusives after Frank and that
00:06:26
that movie was going to have even more
00:06:27
impact in the decade to come and Joe as
00:06:29
usual couldn't have been more right one
00:06:31
of the people observing very carefully
00:06:32
was actually the man part of responsible
00:06:34
Larry Jackson who in the last few months
00:06:36
has been made out to be like this
00:06:37
mysterious Wizard of Oz as figure that
00:06:40
runs gamma and was in all those Drake
00:06:42
conspiracy theories during the Great Rap
00:06:44
beef of 2024 you know the one with
00:06:46
dragon
00:06:48
kendar what you think I'm that much of a
00:06:51
hack that anytime I bring up the rap
00:06:52
beef I'm going to bring up when are
00:06:54
y'all going to learn but Larry Jackson
00:06:56
is a veteran in the music industry from
00:06:57
his time at J Records or any scope and
00:07:00
eventually being brought into Apple to
00:07:01
help develop Apple music and run it he
00:07:03
actually was an integral piece to the
00:07:04
puzzle of Frank gan's master plan and he
00:07:07
SI that moment is one that imbued him to
00:07:08
know what he could do which was to leave
00:07:10
Apple music and go raise over a billion
00:07:12
dollars in capital from companies like
00:07:14
apple a24 Eldridge to create gamma a
00:07:17
media company that was made to compete
00:07:18
with the major labels and act as a
00:07:19
partner to artists Artists Own all their
00:07:21
masters still and Gamma was there to
00:07:23
help in service to that music whether it
00:07:25
be marketing or distribution because
00:07:27
Larry Jackson had enough of what was
00:07:29
going on wanted all the major labels in
00:07:30
regards to how they treated artists and
00:07:32
talked about them behind closed doors
00:07:34
gamma's made deals with not only New
00:07:35
Town like sexy red and for bats but also
00:07:37
brought in artists like Snoop Dogg Usher
00:07:40
Rick Ross Willow Jaden Rich the kid and
00:07:43
Gamma is just the start of all this see
00:07:45
companies like Kendrick Lamar and Dave
00:07:46
free PG Lang which has been described as
00:07:48
a service company and not a label but
00:07:50
you know acts in a similar way like
00:07:52
gamma does and if you've noticed on any
00:07:53
of the releases by baby keer Kendrick
00:07:55
Lamar since the launch of PG Lang the
00:07:57
music is being released under exclusive
00:07:59
licensing deals with the major labels
00:08:00
like a Sony or Universal and through
00:08:03
their own LLC or PG Lang it's little
00:08:05
details like this that signified the
00:08:07
massive switch in traditional music
00:08:08
industry methods as opposed to it being
00:08:10
you know like an inter scope release or
00:08:12
something because it used to be that you
00:08:13
would go sign as a new talent to a major
00:08:15
label and then if you were established
00:08:17
you would resign or find another label
00:08:19
to go to because you needed that machine
00:08:21
behind you so to keep the train moving
00:08:23
you needed to sign away things like your
00:08:25
Masters because what were you going to
00:08:26
do but it just wasn't like that anymore
00:08:29
because everyone saw what was possible
00:08:31
and even if they're cracking down on the
00:08:32
artists they have left ever since some
00:08:34
of them had even more leverage now than
00:08:36
Frank Ocean did I.E Drake who in the
00:08:39
years that followed had the industry at
00:08:40
the edge of their Siege waiting for his
00:08:42
next move as he was reaching the end of
00:08:44
his Universal catch money you have
00:08:45
propelled him in the Superstar them and
00:08:47
if you don't think Drake was taking
00:08:48
notes from Frank I mean subtlety's never
00:08:51
really been his Forte has it so when it
00:08:53
came down to make some big decisions
00:08:54
Drake opted to stay but this time it
00:08:56
would be much different his new LeBron
00:08:59
side deal was rumored to come in around
00:09:01
$400 million and not only included music
00:09:04
but visual projects merch touring a
00:09:07
glorified 360 some would say but in
00:09:10
reality Universal music group is just
00:09:11
bankrolling him now and to top of off he
00:09:14
owned whatever he was releasing because
00:09:16
he was also now in a licensing agreement
00:09:17
with universal like Kendrick effectively
00:09:19
working with universal as a partner
00:09:21
instead of their employee and Taylor
00:09:23
Swift I mean she was moving like a Mafia
00:09:25
Boss when it came to setting up her new
00:09:26
deal because not only did she gain
00:09:28
ownership of her future Masters and Not
00:09:30
only was she able to get Universal to
00:09:32
agree that any shares of Spotify stock
00:09:34
that were sold needed to result in
00:09:35
distributions to their artist regardless
00:09:37
of any outstanding debts they owe to the
00:09:39
label but as she was leaving her old
00:09:40
label big machine Records who were in
00:09:42
the midst of selling her Ms to the
00:09:44
highest bidder Taylor essentially said
00:09:46
[ __ ] you I'll do it myself again and her
00:09:49
fans knew that the old versions were now
00:09:51
IL legitimate thus driving down their
00:09:53
value the power dynamics were completely
00:09:55
shifting and the labels had to make
00:09:57
deals in ways that they never had to
00:09:58
before because the artists are now
00:10:00
offering you a piece of the pie and you
00:10:02
don't get to decide how big of a slice
00:10:04
you want anymore and I mean it's a it's
00:10:06
a pretty good pie because in the
00:10:07
streaming era market share is everything
00:10:09
and when a streaming company values a
00:10:10
10-minute song of a faucet running the
00:10:13
same way they value a drake stream
00:10:14
having his many artists as you can as
00:10:16
well as the biggest artist still by your
00:10:18
side means everything because the
00:10:20
streamers are paying the labels based on
00:10:21
a market share model which means if your
00:10:23
artist accounted for 30% of the streams
00:10:25
you'll be paid 30% of that time period
00:10:27
revenue and then you now as the the
00:10:29
label have to go divvy all that money
00:10:31
out to everyone involved so what do you
00:10:33
do to retain market share post Frank
00:10:35
Ocean become a bank for these people
00:10:37
give them whatever the hell they want
00:10:39
and also maybe explore the idea of
00:10:41
consolidation which you know if you've
00:10:42
been paying attention this all seems a
00:10:44
little funny right but this isn't even
00:10:46
the half of it because the industry we
00:10:47
once knew was now dead and the dawn of a
00:10:49
new one was upon us and in order to
00:10:51
never allow what had just happened to
00:10:53
happen again in a different font they
00:10:54
found a way to dive with the art as much
00:10:56
as they could
00:10:58
[Music]
00:11:02
this year has been weird to say the
00:11:03
least not just for things that actually
00:11:05
matter but things in the entertainment
00:11:07
industry have just been odd like why are
00:11:09
five of the biggest artists just
00:11:10
randomly dropping singles on Instagram
00:11:13
now why is Drake who sent CE to CIS lges
00:11:15
is the creator of that fan-made AI
00:11:17
collaboration between the weekend and
00:11:19
him now posting dis songs with AI
00:11:21
features from Snoop and Pac why is
00:11:23
Spotify after a decade and a half now
00:11:25
changing the streaming thresholds
00:11:26
demonetize why is the market for music
00:11:28
publishing booming right now with all
00:11:30
the labels and private Equity firms
00:11:31
trying to get their hands on it why is a
00:11:33
label like Rock Nation offering direct
00:11:34
to Consumer distribution because I've
00:11:36
been paying attention to the
00:11:37
entertainment industry from most of my
00:11:38
life at this point and what I've learned
00:11:40
is that nothing is ever really random a
00:11:41
w actually isn't just a w there's
00:11:44
usually something else going on I don't
00:11:45
know why I chose W and what actually
00:11:47
drove me in the direction of picking up
00:11:48
the pieces of blond's impact was thanks
00:11:50
to one of my favorite voices in The
00:11:51
Music Space Curtis King who in his video
00:11:53
covering my video the Messi Rebrand a
00:11:55
post bone response to a point I made
00:11:57
about the lack of new male Superstars
00:12:00
and popular music saying that he thinks
00:12:01
it was completely intentional so that no
00:12:03
one can ever become bigger than the
00:12:04
company again and in doing that not only
00:12:06
rid the idea of a superstar but create
00:12:08
templates and whatnot of different kinds
00:12:10
of artists that can fill certain roles
00:12:11
because why rely on three or four
00:12:13
artists to guarantee your next meal why
00:12:14
not just even at the playing field now
00:12:16
so that no one rules Supreme and that's
00:12:18
why I think putting everything we talked
00:12:19
about so far in the rear view of this
00:12:21
much larger conversation actually makes
00:12:23
perfect sense because look at what
00:12:26
happened which leads me to today in a
00:12:27
fascinating interview Lucian into the
00:12:29
beginning of 2024 addressing the rise in
00:12:31
artificial intelligence it put a lot of
00:12:33
what we're talking about into
00:12:35
perspective especially this quote I
00:12:37
haven't spent 45 years in the music
00:12:39
industry for it to become a freefor all
00:12:41
and from what I'm now Gathering Lucian
00:12:43
is preparing to rule the industry hand
00:12:45
in hand with the big tech companies in
00:12:46
order to restore what he feels is order
00:12:48
and the first order of business is to
00:12:50
show the power you still
00:12:55
hold in August of 2024 Universal Music
00:12:58
Group in meta new a continued
00:13:00
partnership between the two companies
00:13:01
one meant to evolve creative and
00:13:03
Commercial opportunities across meta
00:13:04
platforms which include Facebook
00:13:06
Instagram Horizon and WhatsApp oh oh
00:13:10
threads with the urement of financial
00:13:11
compensation for artists and songwriters
00:13:13
protections against unauthorized Ai and
00:13:15
an expansion of monetization
00:13:17
opportunities for umj which immediately
00:13:19
stood up to me as oh this is why they're
00:13:21
all dropping on Instagram and this
00:13:23
Assumption of mine has now been reported
00:13:24
by industry insiders like deiza as well
00:13:27
as famous investor Ian Dunlap who while
00:13:29
guessing on the Joe Button podcast
00:13:30
revealed that he's heard that Mark
00:13:31
Zuckerberg and meta are looking to
00:13:33
dominate the music industry and that
00:13:35
there's a war to do so between Zuck Tim
00:13:38
Cook of apple and Daniel e of Spotify
00:13:40
because I mean think about it instead of
00:13:41
relying on a mysterious foreign company
00:13:43
and their algorithm to feed Snippets of
00:13:45
new music to audiences might I add a
00:13:47
company that we also just had a very
00:13:49
messy and public dispute with this year
00:13:51
let's just go direct to Consumer on
00:13:52
Instagram we're already arguing in the
00:13:54
comment sections and group chats let's
00:13:56
just directly meet the audience and at
00:13:58
the same time cut out the guys who
00:14:00
screwed us in the past whether that be a
00:14:02
recent friend of me like Tik Tok or the
00:14:04
other one that showed artist how much
00:14:05
power they hold over us and a very
00:14:07
obvious benefit you're now in bed with
00:14:09
the people who control the algorithm
00:14:11
which you know if you're on the artist
00:14:12
end of this this looks good if you're
00:14:14
going to align yourself at a major label
00:14:16
you can now have your artist prioritized
00:14:18
or also on the other side of that
00:14:19
deprioritize anyone that steps out of
00:14:21
line so if you start to train the
00:14:22
audiences and dropping directly to them
00:14:24
on the social media platforms that they
00:14:26
practically live on you can eventually
00:14:28
just wean them off the streaming
00:14:30
services especially when the dsps are
00:14:32
about to be flooded more than ever
00:14:34
because music isn't music to these
00:14:36
companies anymore it's and I hate this
00:14:38
word content and the industry is ready
00:14:40
to refer to music as sounds and not
00:14:43
songs anymore cuz if you didn't know
00:14:45
these social platforms don't pay artists
00:14:46
based on views or listens they're paying
00:14:48
you based on the amount of Engagement
00:14:50
you generate from it meaning how many
00:14:52
times it's used in things like user
00:14:53
generated content which feels so [ __ ]
00:14:55
dystopian and depressing because you
00:14:57
know like what's going to happen to the
00:14:58
idea of of an album or just you know the
00:15:00
traditional music experience because for
00:15:02
Howen range Lucy Andres over the market
00:15:04
share model of streaming royalties he
00:15:06
has no issue with his banner stars being
00:15:08
looked at the same way as whatever the f
00:15:10
this
00:15:14
is to put it as simply as someone in the
00:15:16
music industry did for me what Instagram
00:15:18
did to photography is what AI is about
00:15:20
to do to the music industry it's
00:15:21
becoming completely democratized and
00:15:23
anyone will be able to make a
00:15:25
professional sounding song with or
00:15:26
without a doll skill or even Talent it's
00:15:30
all about to become even more
00:15:31
userfriendly and available than ever
00:15:33
before and we're going to be swimming in
00:15:34
an unfathomable amount of music and
00:15:36
while there's a lot to be argued about
00:15:38
whether or not this breaks down barriers
00:15:40
for people who have these Grand ideas
00:15:42
but don't have the means to execute the
00:15:43
suits are doing whatever they can with
00:15:45
whatever power they have left to create
00:15:46
a business model with this where they're
00:15:48
still going to come out on top and not
00:15:49
only embrace the tech but figure out a
00:15:51
way to still act as Gatekeepers in an
00:15:53
age of content oversupply as Lucian
00:15:55
frames it Spotify CEO Daniel e recently
00:15:58
announced that they putting in place a
00:15:59
1,000 play Within 12mon threshold in
00:16:03
order for monetization to go into effect
00:16:04
as well as extra measures to crack down
00:16:06
on streaming forums and Bots because
00:16:08
when the labels and Spotify do it
00:16:10
allegedly whatever but when some Joe
00:16:12
Schmo makes an AI ban and you have to
00:16:14
pay out millions of dollars of royalties
00:16:16
to him off fake streams rules needed to
00:16:18
be put in place Universal and the AI
00:16:20
company sound Labs have entered a
00:16:22
strategic partnership with each other
00:16:23
allowing artists to access voice cloning
00:16:25
models which makes you start to think
00:16:26
about a certain Universal Music Group
00:16:28
cash cow that publicly put AI in the
00:16:30
spotlight this year in alphabet the
00:16:32
company behind YouTube and Google have
00:16:34
been hard at work with the labels in the
00:16:36
development and stewarding of Google
00:16:37
deep Minds Lia a generative AI music
00:16:39
model that serves as the basis of the
00:16:41
new YouTube feature dream track which
00:16:43
will allow users to generate AI songs to
00:16:45
soundtrack their long or short form
00:16:47
content and even the ability to take
00:16:48
your favorite artist vocals and create
00:16:50
songs with them and before you say oh
00:16:51
well no one's ever going to allow it to
00:16:53
happen what artist is going to be cool
00:16:54
with that YouTube hosts an incubator
00:16:56
with all the labels and a bunch of
00:16:57
artists songwriters ERS and producers
00:16:59
back in 2023 where they got to use DET
00:17:01
Tech and see what it's all about while
00:17:03
also giving feedback and helping guide
00:17:05
the ship and where it all goes next some
00:17:07
of them were Charlie poth Papoose Ryan
00:17:09
tedar of One Republic the Frank Sinatra
00:17:11
estate John Legend Demi levado Alec
00:17:14
Benjamin Louis Bell and this next one
00:17:16
might send a few of you in the cardiac
00:17:17
rest cuz I know people go crazy when
00:17:19
anybody just acknowledges AI but Charlie
00:17:22
XCX and Troy Savon AI is brat but
00:17:25
translation the labels are trying to
00:17:27
figure out how they're going to make
00:17:27
money on AI and exploit whatever they
00:17:29
have so they'll be able to be paid until
00:17:31
the end of time with or without
00:17:33
Superstars and from what I've heard
00:17:35
through the grapevine this was the major
00:17:36
point of contention when umg was
00:17:37
renegotiating their licensing deal with
00:17:39
Tik Tok this year it barely had anything
00:17:41
to do with the legitimate Fair
00:17:43
compensation of artists fck out of here
00:17:45
so with the embracement of something
00:17:47
like this and the talk of no Superstars
00:17:49
popping up like they used to and real
00:17:50
artist development becoming a rarity
00:17:52
this is the perfect moment to make no
00:17:54
one stand out like they used to and just
00:17:56
have clones that fill certain archetypes
00:17:58
of what what once was that video I did
00:18:00
on the music industry estal just starts
00:18:01
to play back in your head a little bit
00:18:03
doesn't it and y'all who were in the
00:18:04
comments yelling at me saying things
00:18:05
like simples of always been a thing
00:18:07
you're reaching you're overreacted shut
00:18:10
up loser maybe you see what's happening
00:18:12
now it's almost like they've been
00:18:14
conditioning you to Crave the old for
00:18:16
years so that you can just pop in a
00:18:18
prompt that generates sexy Red's cover
00:18:20
of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl because
00:18:22
they're going to get paid for it and if
00:18:24
something's hot we can just attach
00:18:25
ourselves with a lucrative distribution
00:18:27
deal and plast you all over Instagram or
00:18:31
Whatsapp or Facebook for all the
00:18:32
grandparents out there with a lot of
00:18:34
insiders predicting that we're a year or
00:18:35
so away from the major labels launching
00:18:37
their own director consumer models like
00:18:39
a United Masters or a Dro kid I mean
00:18:41
Rock nation's already there the labels
00:18:43
are going to label one way or another
00:18:45
and for anyone who thinks Frank Ocean
00:18:47
acted out of his own self-interest and
00:18:48
didn't think about the consequences of
00:18:50
his actions you couldn't be more right
00:18:52
because that's what makes him the hero
00:18:54
of this story and for all the artists
00:18:56
out there Frank Ocean showed the artist
00:18:58
that power was always in their hands
00:19:00
Frank Ocean showed that the business
00:19:02
needed to be dismantled and Frank Ocean
00:19:04
got the labels to act like the Wolves
00:19:06
they always were because sheep's
00:19:07
clothing was so 2000 and no matter what
00:19:09
happens next the labels will do whatever
00:19:11
they can to St have the artist in the
00:19:12
back before they can beat them to it
00:19:14
because a message was received in 2016
00:19:16
and that's good music always wins and I
00:19:19
think a lot of people in the industry
00:19:20
noticed that and in retrospect the
00:19:22
formation of PG Lang and Gamma feel like
00:19:25
informed reactions of what they saw was
00:19:26
coming in the next few years and that
00:19:28
the real town out there eventually we
00:19:29
would need support in new homes all
00:19:32
while the Legacy labels run into a new
00:19:33
haunted house full of AI generated
00:19:35
monsters and it's all because some guy
00:19:37
in Brooklyn wanted to build him a
00:19:38
staircase