Roger Fingas
The decision by Universal Music Group to end exclusives may have also quashed an Apple Music deal involving Lady Gaga and Universal's Interscope label, a report claimed on Friday.
The exact terms of the Lady Gaga deal weren't mentioned by HITS Daily Double. Universal CEO Lucian Grainge is believed to have halted exclusives after a debacle with Frank Ocean, who recently released a visual album on Apple Music for Universal's Def Jam in order to fulfill obligations, but then quickly released another album — Blonde — on his own label as an Apple Music exclusive. As a more conventional release, Blonde is also likely to be more profitable.
Sources for HDD claimed that Universal was unaware Ocean had a second album ready to go. The artist could potentially find himself in legal trouble, depending on whether or not his contract included a standard clause preventing him from releasing two albums simultaneously the way he did.
Apple is now regularly wielding exclusives as its main weapon against rivals in the streaming space. While most of these deals are temporary, some albums — most notably Taylor Swift's 1989 — are permanently locked up. Universal's shift away from exclusives could undermine Apple's strategy.
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Wesley Hilliard
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Andrew Orr
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20 Comments
"The artist formerly known as Lady Gaga" could perhaps do exclusives with Apple :)
She rocks what ever!
Those buffoons don't they get that the music industry is the Titanic streaming is literally the last deck with lights on. Biting the hand that feeds you will only put exploiter supper evil mega corps like UMG out of business, can't wait till all artists in all fields are freely independent and retain all the benefits of their labours, not that I fully support what Frank did seems a bit shady but one can understand
Man this exclusive would have been awesome for Apple.
I say give the artists some money for their hard work. I'm sure these exclusives help artists in an era where YouTube can stream your sh** for free, Spotify and kids steal music.
The sooner artists all sell directly to listeners the better. Screw worthless middlemen. Then, if they want to offer something as an exclusive to Apple or whoever, they can. The entire music "industry" are the walking dead.
The artists who WANT to run their own business would thrive in a post-label world.
What at about the ones who would rather not be CEOs of their own management, touring, recording, etc company?
i point this out being a small business owner who consciously made the decision to build my own business. Though it works for me, and others (including some musicians), it's not for everyone.