Drake Tells Universal Music To Stop Taking Down The Music He's Leaking
from the stop-it dept
It's been an interesting week for Universal Music. The company was outed for their secret war on various hiphop blogs, including some of the sites of their own artists, such as 50 Cent, whose personal site was declared a "pirate" site on a list that Universal helped put together. Now, super popular Universal artist Drake is lashing out at Universal for issuing takedowns over his own music. Apparently, like many artists who value the promotion, he's been leaking his own tracks to the various hiphop sites and blogs that Universal has declared evil. And Universal has been taking them down, leading Drake to tell them to stop:![](https://i.imgur.com/XtAwx.png)
However, even granting that, this shows yet again how far out of touch Universal Music is, and how its claims that it's protecting "artists" are full of it. The artists know how promotion works these days. Universal Music, apparently, does not.
And this raises a much bigger issue: as ICE continues to seize domains and the PROTECT IP Act continues to move forward, are these really "rogue sites"? After all, if the artists themselves find them valuable as a means of promotion, and disagree with their own labels about whether or not these sites are useful, why is the government solely relying on the labels' definition of "rogue" sites?
![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copyright, drake, promotions, rogue sites, takedowns
Companies: universal music
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Whether he has actually signed on with Universal is probably irrelevant given what seems to be SOP at the major labels. They are not bashful about collecting royalties and taking down music that they don't actually have the rights to.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Total fail. He is under contract, and he should act like it. Whiner.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
It isn't about 21st century promotions, it's about respecting a contract that you sign.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
I agree that, ultimately, he has to play by the rules he signed - which is why I hope he drops his contract over this. But your notion that he used the labels then abandoned them is completely incorrect - he made his own career, then agreed to let the labels share in it after years of independent success.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"I agree that, ultimately, he has to play by the rules he signed - which is why I hope he drops his contract over this."
Do you have anything to say about the false assumptions you came up with before Marcus corrected you, or are you going to just ignore them as usual?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
This guy is, apparently, literally incapable of understanding that a musician can be successful without a label. Perhaps he works for one. He may also be a middle-aged lead guitarist in a struggling band with 30-year-old dreams about becoming the next Rolling Stones. I can't be sure. What I can be sure of, though, is that he's not worth talking to.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
But since you still seem to think Drake wouldn't be anywhere without label help (the exact opposite of the truth - so you, like Righthaven, are either being disingenuous or willfully dishonest) I don't expect you to understand any of this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.iqelections.com/universal-music-group-political-action-committee--6-3881-2010.h tml
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Can say this, however. If he transferred all rights to a third party (with nothing held back), and for the transfer he received something of value in return (a classic contract), then he is welching on his contract...suggesting to me that his word is not his bond.
This situation may happen to involve music, but the issue is something entirely different.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
As for "gross", it is simply amazing how many people who sign royalty bearing contracts do not appreciate the significance of the words "gross" and "net". They think "Hey, % of 'net' sounds darn good to me." Of course, after accountant wizardry, 'net' tends to be little more than miniscule.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"Universal needs to stop taking my fucking songs down."
1) "@hardraknoir" doesn't /tell/ them to stop, just opines that they "need" to do... something, because:
2) Vague on subject: what or which from qualifier "fucking" may be an entirely different genre or collection.
3) "taking" them "down" also vague, doesn't necessarily mean "stop copyright enforcement".
4) "Universal" is but part name, could be, er, universally applied and hence, not directed at who you assume.
5) From the above, Drake may well recognize the contract he's under and be skirting it, as an AC above opines.
So this is just Mike yet again slanting ambiguity to serve his purpose.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What an idiot
If he didn't want a record deal, why didn't he just release the music himself? Or sign with an indie who might have permitted this?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What an idiot
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: What an idiot
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: What an idiot
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: What an idiot
Wow, so he signs a contract with a major label, hoping to access the resources that he can use to take his career to the next level and reach a mainstream audience more easily than he might be able to do alone. Instead, he finds that not only do the label have no clue about how to market in the 21st century, they actively get in the way of his own attempts at getting exposure.
I agree he should have been able to have predicted this outcome, and he is bound by a contract he decided to agree to. However, his pointing out how badly the labels are interfering with his promotional material is neither hypocritical nor whiny, just as those of us who point out the problems with the labels from the outside are neither "pirates" nor "freetards". We're simply showing the realities of the labels and how broken they are, how utterly unprepared they are for the 21st century marketplace, over a decade into it.
"Why did he sign to a major record label? Because he wanted major label promotion and distribution."
...and as many artists are finding out the hard way, sometimes neither is worth the paper the contract is written on. They're so scared of "piracy" they will actively sabotage the promotion of their own products...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What an idiot
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Drake KNOWS how to promote in the digital age, he knows it equals more sales and more popularity. Without this type of promotion Universal would not have had the opportunity to sign and make money off him
The labels continue to prove how out of touch they are. Checkout the latest deal with 50 Cent signing Shawty Lo. That's the way the industry is moving and the labels are being left behind.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Damn it only took two years for someone to listen ... to funny!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So Drake, who built his own career releasing his music for free online, who has independent management, who has his label duties performed via Cash Money/Young Money, is having his DISTRIBUTION partner take down songs he posts himself on his own blog. That's why he says "your label". He doesn't consider himself to be on Universal (which he technically isn't).
Pretty unbelievable right?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
to bad for you and your fans.maybe you should think of putting your own stuff out.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Leaked the music, not the copyright to that music.
When I purchase a CD, I purchase the content, I do not purchase the copyright for that content.
When a record company gives away samples of it's offerings, they are doing just giving away samples, they are NOT giving away or signing the copyright rights to you, or them.
And Mike, why are you not able to work THAT OUT ?????
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Leaked the music, not the copyright to that music.
Nobody has ever claimed something as stupid as "when you buy a CD you get all the copyrights to the music." This insane rant of yours is literally the first time I have even heard that concept.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Leaked the music, not the copyright to that music.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
@Anonymous Coward
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]