Billionaire music and fashion icon, Kanye West has threatened to battle Universal Music Group over demands to be released from his recording and music-publishing deals.
In 2003, the 21-time Grammy winner signed with Roc-a-Fella Records through Def Jam. Def Jam is a subsidiary label of Universal Music Group. In addition, the rapper established his music label, GOOD Music under Def Jam as well.
However, Kanye is now fighting to have ownership of his music masters and be released from the deal.
A “master” is the jargon used to refer to the underlying rights to a song. Literally, the “master recording” is the original version from which everything else stems.
A CD, a stream, an appearance on a movie soundtrack, being released publicly at all — all of those are licensed by the holder of the master rights. This also means that the holder of the master has control over the financial gains from the recordings as well.
Put simply, controlling the master rights essentially means you have control over what is done with the song or album.
When you sign a music deal you sign away your rights. Without the masters you can’t do anything with your own music. Someone else controls where it’s played and when it’s played. Artists have nothing accept the fame, touring and merch
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
Kanye West tweeting on Wednesday, has begged fans to pray for him as he will do everything within his power to get his masters from Universal music.
Everyone please cover me in prayer … I AM ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PEOPLE ON THE PLANET AND UNIVERSAL WONT TELL ME WHAT MY MASTERS COST BECAUSE THEY KNOW I CAN AFFORD THEM … BLACK MASTERS MATTER
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
According to Kanye, he and his children should be the one to earn from his masters not the bosses at Universal music.
MY CHILDREN WILL OWN MY MASTERS … NOT YOUR CHILDREN … MY CHILDREN … MY CHILDREN … MY CHILDREN
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
He said a lot of artistes are bound to contracts that are almost impossible to get out of.
This is how it be when artist try to get our masters … the stairs are covered with lotion pic.twitter.com/1pyNK0xkWW
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
EVERYONE AT UNIVERSAL AND VIVENDI PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY LEGAL POWER AND USE MY VOICE UNTIL ALL ARTIST CONTRACTS ARE CHANGED STARTING WITH GETTING MY MASTERS FOR MY CHILDREN I WILL NOT STOP I PROMISE YOU IM AM PETTY AND VERY PERSONAL
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
Headed by CEO Lucian Grainge, Universal Music Group is owned majority by French media conglomerate Vivendi.
Kanye said he is fighting for all artistes and he wants to buy off his masters so his children would not have to work for another company.
ALL THE MUSICIANS WILL BE FREE
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
Over the past few days, West has been extremely vocal about Black ownership within industries that profit from them the most.
In previous tweets on Tuesday, West called on Kendrick, Drake and J. Cole to join him in the fight as he was fighting for all black artistes.
Bono can I get a retweet Love you Paul can I get a retweet love you Drake Kendrick even Taylor We need you right noooooow ⛷
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
West also said he made his billions from fashion and not music as no one makes billions from music due to the control of artiste’s masters by big music corporations.
I am the only person who can speak on this because I made multi billions outside of music no musicians make billions inside of music I’m going to change this
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
The fashion entrepreneur has also followed through on his complaints about the music industry by tweeting out dozens of pages from his recording contract with Universal Music Group.
I have to tweet page by page The PDF is not loading on twitter
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
After referring to the music industry as “modern day slavery,” West tweeted;
Here are my ten Universal contracts … I need every lawyer in the world to look at these
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
After posting illegible images of contracts, West then began tweeting out the pages, two at a time.
However, it is unclear what his objective is in posting the contracts, which are written in the densely-worded legalese common to all such agreements and show that his deal has been renegotiated multiple times, with West represented by some of the top attorneys in the music industry.
His recent tweets also included mention of his publishing deal with Sony/ATV, however he and the company — which he sued early in 2019, followed by a counter-suit from Sony/ATV — settled their legal battle late last year. West seemed to have Universal primarily in his sights on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, West tweeted out an exchange with an unnamed adviser where they discussed his options for getting out of his label and publishing deals. Such contracts typically do not allow artists to withdraw from the deals whenever they want.
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
Regardless, he called out multiple top executives by name over Twitter on Tuesday and Wednesday, including Vivendi chiefs Vincent Bollore and Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Universal chairman Lucian Grainge, Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer and veteran artist manager Irving Azoff, who is a close friend of the family of his wife, Kim Kardashian.
EVERYONE AT UNIVERSAL AND VIVENDI PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY LEGAL POWER AND USE MY VOICE UNTIL ALL ARTIST CONTRACTS ARE CHANGED STARTING WITH GETTING MY MASTERS FOR MY CHILDREN I WILL NOT STOP I PROMISE YOU IM AM PETTY AND VERY PERSONAL
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
He also tweeted a video of someone urinating on a Grammy Award placed in a toilet, all in protest to drive home his demands.
Trust me … I WONT STOP pic.twitter.com/RmVkqrSa4F
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
The rapper also called out the editor of Forbes, Randall Lane, in another tweet and shared some of his personal contact information, a tweet which has since been taken down by Twitter.
West and his family have publicly stated that he suffers from a bipolar disorder, and his recent behavior bears many symptoms of a manic episode.
It is similar to a meltdown he experienced in July, which almost broke his marriage to his wife, Kim after publicly talking about their private affairs.
See some other tweets below, including some tweets containing photos of his contract with Universal Group;
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
HI GUYS … TRUST ME WE WILL NOT STOP … HITBOY FIRST TO STAND UP … I DIDN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HIM PRODUCING FOR BEYONCÉ … I HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE FACT HE WAS SIGNED TO ME AND I DIDN’T KNOW BUT I KNEW JAY AND BEYONCÉ AND HIT-BOY … JUST FOR CLARITY
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
90% of the record contracts on the planet are still on a royalty A standard record deal is a trap to NEVER have you recoup, and there’s all these hidden costs like the “distribution fees” many labels put in their contracts to make even more money off our work without even trying.
— ye (@kanyewest) September 16, 2020
