Not only do they limit the potential reach of a work of music, but they also represent an opportunity for artists to make money and distribute their products without a record deal. Ocean ditching a label and releasing music just through Apple is a move that, when taken with his friend Chance the Rapper’s independent release of his acclaimed Coloring Book via Apple, is a sign of why labels might want to ban exclusives. It would be a major change for the music landscape if Universal really did start blocking exclusives: Huge artists like Drake, Kanye West, and Rihanna are on the company’s roster and have all released exclusives to either Apple or Tidal this year. At least two sources confirmed to FORBES that his decision was influenced partly by Ocean’s move to partner with Apple for his newest album. On Monday, music industry analyst and critic Bob Lefsetz reported that UMG CEO Lucian Grainge sent an email to other executives stating that the company, which represents artists like Drake and Kanye West, would end all exclusives with music streaming companies like Apple. Ocean releasing music independently through Apple is a sign of why labels might try to ban exclusives.įorbes reports that Universal Music Group, Def Jam’s parent company and currently America’s best-selling record company, is not happy:įor UMG, Blonde has led to a massive rift with one of its key artists and a decision to decouple itself from the lucrative, but oft criticized practice of providing exclusive streaming rights. In releasing Endless to fulfill his record contract and then immediately releasing the more anticipated and more monetizable Blond(e) independently, he may be denying the conglomerate he used to work for their biggest potential payday from him yet.
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You can’t buy the tracks individually or buy any of it in the iTunes store-you can only stream the full video on Apple Music.īlond(e), it would stand to reason, is going to make more money than Endless for the simple fact that it’s actually for sale. Endless is a decidedly un-album-like “album,” a compilations of demo-like song snippets accompanying a 45-minute video of Ocean building a staircase. He’s previously had a strained relationship with his label, as seen when he put out his debut 2011 mixtape independently on his blog because, he said, Def Jam wouldn’t release it officially. Ocean isn’t giving interviews, and Def Jam hasn’t officially commented on the situation, but this all seems like some pretty remarkable maneuvering on the artist’s part. A source told Pitchfork that Endless, the aforementioned visual album that immediately preceded Blond(e), “fulfills Frank’s obligations to Def Jam and Universal.” On Tuesday, news broke that Ocean was no longer with the major label Def Jam and that Blond(e) had been released independently. To borrow and pervert a buzzphrase, he’s culture jamming, injecting some individuality into a corporatized system and, perhaps, antagonizing it. That a highly anticipated release from a major artist doesn’t have an agreed-upon title fits Ocean’s apparent business mission in 2016, too. Which is another way of saying the “e” is for “enigmatic.” It’d make some sense if it was: The so-called “God particle” can either contain mass or not, almost immediately disappears into nothingness after coming into somethingness, was first detected by humans in July 2012 (a few days before Ocean’s album Channel Orange arrived!), and, of course, is prone to mis-explanation and misunderstanding by laymen like me. The last song on Endless, the visual album he released 48 hours before Blond(e), is called “Higgs,” which may or may not be a reference to the subatomic particle of the Higgs Boson. That Ocean’s new album could be spelled either way might be a reflection of his own sexuality-lyrics on the album refer to relationships with both men and women.īut I’ve actually taken to thinking about the “e” in Blond(e) in even more high-concept terms-a symbol of all the ambiguity that fascinates Ocean. The most common theory for the meaning of the spelling duality is that the word “blonde” is a gendered adjective, referring to fair-haired women, while “blond” can apply to anyone. “I got two versions” are his first words on the first piece of Blond(e) music released to the public, the music video for “Nikes.” Incidentally, the version of that song that’s actually on the album does not have Ocean saying that. So it seems pretty clear by now the ambiguity is intentional-and of a piece with Ocean’s larger M.O. Cutting My Hair Was My First Revolutionary Act Michaela angela Davis
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