#017: Kanye West: Destructive Force & Savior to the Music Industry?

“Your actions reveal your true motivations” - James Clear

Kanye West is an enigma. He has made some of the best music created in the last 20 years, but also has sent a tweet stating that, ““BILL COSBY INNOCENT!!!!!!!!!!” (4). Kanye has supported and contributed too many mental health initiatives and has fought for the rights of artists in many mediums, but also has repeatedly supported Trump and stated that Harriet Tubman, “never actually freed the slaves” (1). Most people aren’t as good as they appear on their best days or as bad as they are on their worst, but it seems like Kanye West has taken that to the next level.

Ever since Kanye appeared on the radar of the US public in 2004 with the release of his debut album College Dropout, he has had an endless string of controversies. From interrupting Taylor Swift at her MTV VMA speech (2009), to stating that, "When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice” on TMZ (2018) (5), most of his controversial moments have been calculated moves to keep Kanye relevant and to drive people to continue talking about him. But in 2020, things took a turn for the more destructive when he entered the presidential race. Does Kanye have any real chance of becoming President of the United States? Absolutely not. But he does have the ability to take votes away from Joe Biden and with many states expected to be incredibly close, time will tell if Kanye West plays any part in the re-election of Donald Trump. What remains clear is that the presidential bid is being conducted in (secretive) partnership with the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. From this perspective, Kanye is a threat to the future of democracy in the United States and appears to be a puppet for Trump.

So is there any good news surrounding Kanye as of late? Absolutely. As we near closer to the election, it seems that Kanye has now turned his focus away from politics and into an emboldened fight for recording artists against the oppressive contracts from record labels. On September 16th, it appeared to be just another Kanye meltdown when he posted a video of himself urinating on one of his 21 Grammy Awards (3), but what followed could end up being on of the biggest drivers in the change of record label contracts moving into the future. Kanye’s demands are simple… he wants to reclaim the ownership of his own music (ie his master ownership rights) from Universal Music Group. Kanye has three things in his favor that could allow him to be a part of real change for recording artists everywhere: 1) Leverage — he is a mega-star who commands attention and makes a ton of money when he releases music, 2) Past Legal Rulings — Prince was able to recapture ownership of his masters due to the ‘35-year Law’, which returns master ownership of a song back to the artist 35 years after release (2), and 3) Taylor Swift — yes, the same Taylor Swift from the 2009 VMA’s, who did a deal with Universal Music Group in November 2018 that allowed her to keep all of her masters for the music released during the term (6). The reason that I believe that this recent conversation, started by Kanye tweeting his old record deals, could lead to change is because Kanye isn’t simply demanding to own his masters again (ie Taylor Swift); he’s demanding a change for all record company contracts with all artists moving forward.

Many are stating that Kanye is being a sore loser for signing a bad record deal, but I don’t agree. The music industry has changed dramatically since his debut release in 2004. If a record label always uses their leverage to get the upper hand in a negotiation, then why shouldn’t Kanye? Lastly, he is putting his money where his mouth is. On September 23rd, 2020, Kanye committed that he will return his 50% share of master ownership back to the artists signed to his G.O.O.D. Music record label and will not cease his demands for recording artists to own their own music until it becomes the ‘norm’ across the music industry, especially with The Big Three (Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group) (7).

The future months will determine how this latest Kanye saga plays out, in regards to the U.S. Presidential Election and with his fight for artist rights. But one thing is clear — Kanye West is an extremely complicated figure who can’t be easily placed in a box. I have been irate at Kanye over many PR stunts that he’s pulled over the years that have been harmful and destructive, and I will again I’m sure, but in his fight for artist’s rights I stand by his side and support him fully.

(1) Chiu, Allyson. “'Woefully Uninformed': Kanye West Slammed for Saying Harriet Tubman 'Never Actually Freed the Slaves'.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 20 July 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/20/kanye-harriet-tubman/.
(2) Ingham, Tim. “Kanye West's War Against Record Contracts Could Actually Work -- for Kanye, Anyway.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 22 Sept. 2020, www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/kanye-west-universal-masters-war-1064225/.
(3) Johnson, Zoe. “Kanye West Posts Video of Himself Peeing on Grammy Award: Watch.” XXL Mag, XXL, 16 Sept. 2020, www.xxlmag.com/kanye-west-grammy-peeing-video/.
(4) Jones, Marcus. “Here Is The Definitive Timeline Of Kanye West's Controversies.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 15 Oct. 2018, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/marcusjones/kanye-west-controversies-timeline.
(5) Staff, TMZ. “Kanye West Stirs Up TMZ Newsroom Over Trump, Slavery, Free Thought.” TMZ, TMZ, 14 May 2019, www.tmz.com/2018/05/01/kanye-west-tmz-live-slavery-trump/.
(6) Wang, Amy X. “Taylor Swift's New Record Deal Affects Thousands of Other Musicians.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 20 Nov. 2018, www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/taylor-swift-universal-republic-deal-spotify-758102/.
(7) West, Kanye. “I'm Giving All Good Music Artist Back the 50% Share I Have of Their Masters.” Twitter, Twitter, 23 Sept. 2020, twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1308844645212880896.

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JAY’S SONGS OF THE WEEK:
BJRNCK - “Waiting On You”
Tom Gregory - “What Love Is”
Saba - “Mrs. Whoever”
Justin Bieber - “Holy” (ft. Chance the Rapper)