Epic's 'Music First' Approach: Delay Album Release; Drop Band When They Leak It

from the uh-what? dept

Last month, we wrote about how the band Death Grips, an indie sensation who had signed with Epic Records (owned by Sony Music), had decided to release their latest album for free all over the internet, after some sort of dispute with Epic over the release date. The band was already considered one of the top authorized downloaded bands on BitTorrent due to earlier releases it had put online for free itself. However, with Epic trying to take a standard "slow down and wait" approach, the band posted its new album to various file lockers and started tweeting out links, noting that "the label will be hearing the album for the first time with you."

Last week, the band posted a screenshot of an irate email from the label about this. Epic notes not only that is it absolutely furious about the leak, but that (1) the release is a breach of contract; (2) since Epic owns the copyright, the label considers the leak to be infringing; (3) the band's decisions have "financially damaged Epic"; (4) even though Epic still intended to release the album, the album would not count towards the recording commitment in the band's contract and (5) while Epic still intended to collect money for the sale of the album (which, again, would not count towards the recording commitment), Epic would not cover the cost of recording the album. Those last two points are the really interesting ones to me. If it's not counting the album towards the recording commitment, and it now refuses to pay for the cost of the album, it seems wrong to then still consider it something that Epic gets to sell and to keep all the revenue from.

Either way, it appears that won't be an issue, because just a few weeks after that email was sent, Epic officially began the process of dropping Death Grips from the contract. This probably won't surprise many people, though it will be interesting to see if Epic retains "ownership" of the work in question or if Death Grips is able to get back control of its masters. That said, Epic's "statement" about this move is absolutely hilarious for being obviously, blatantly, false:

Epic Records is a music first company that breaks new artists. That is our mission and our mandate. Unfortunately, when marketing and publicity stunts trump the actual music, we must remind ourselves of our core values. To that end, effective immediately, we are working to dissolve our relationship with Death Grips. We wish them well.

First of all, Death Grips had already "broken" without Epic's help. Second, since when has a major label ever really cared about "the actual music" as compared to the ability to make money off of it with marketing and publicity stunts? And, really, if it were just about "the music," then why would it have freaked out so much when the band made "the music" available for free?

Filed Under: breach, contracts, death grips, free, music, releases
Companies: epic records, sony music

Band Gives Away Latest Album After Label Attempts To Shelve It Until 'Sometime Next Year'

from the how-does-NOW-sound? dept

Well, if nothing else, you can't knock Death Grips' work ethic. After becoming an indie sensation with their critically-acclaimed 2011 debut, "Exmilitary" (still available for free on Soundcloud), Death Grips signed with Epic and released "The Money Store" in April, 2012.

Rather than rest on their newly-signed laurels, Death Grips announced that they would release another album in October. And release it they did, only without Epic's involvement or blessing. The unofficial release of their third album began with this tweet:

The label wouldn't confirm a release date for NO LOVE DEEP WEB "till next year sometime"

— Death Grips (@DeathGripz) October 1, 2012

"The label wouldn't confirm a release date for NO LOVE DEEP WEB 'till next year sometime'"

Death Grips was looking to put another album out in October and if Epic couldn't keep up with their release schedule, so be it. Another tweet followed, implying that Epic itself hadn't even heard the new album yet:

The label will be hearing the album for the first time with you

— Death Grips (@DeathGripz) October 1, 2012

"The label will be hearing the album for the first time with you."

And away they went, dumping their brand new album into various file lockers and tweeting the links to every new upload and blog entry referring to their impromptu release party.

We only have Death Grips' version of the events at this point, but it looks as though release date negotiations must have gone off the rails sometime on September 30th. A string of tweets paraphrasing a sample used on "Exmilitary's" first track, "Beware," set the stage:

He came to me with money in his hand
He offered me I didn't ask him. I wasn't knockin someones door down. I was running from that.
I looked at it and said this is a bigger jail that I just got out of.
I run the underworld guy. I decide who does what and where they do it at.
What am I gonna run around and act like I'm some teeny bopper somewhere for someone else's money?
I ROLL THE NICKELS. THE GAME IS MINE. I DEAL THE CARDS.

About 12 hours after uploading NO LOVE DEEP WEB to their own site, it went down. Death Grips tweeted that Epic had shut down their website. Epic has since denied it had anything to do with the shutdown. Currently, Death Grips' site is still down. It's entirely possible that the sudden influx of traffic crashed it. There have been no updates on the site's status from Death Grips.

That being said, there are a few reasons Epic might have delayed the release.

1. Major labels like to shelve things, sometimes indefinitely. This seldom makes artists happy, no matter the justification.

2. The album art (definitely NSFW -- unless you're treating this person for erectile dysfunction or are This Guy) was still under discussion.

3. Epic wasn't happy with Death Grips topping the Bittorrent charts, legal or no. Death Grips seems to be fine with it. They're still giving away their first album at Soundcloud (although you're more than welcome to purchase it). Possibly they were considering "alternate distribution" and Epic iced the album in order to talk some sense into them. Not that this plan worked...

So, what have we learned? For starters, pissing off your artists in this day and age can have some serious repercussions, especially if you're in the business of collecting a chunk of every album sold. Windows are made to be broken. Buyer beware. Etc. Does this mean you should kowtow to every demand from your signed artists? No, but this does mean that setting release dates arbitrarily simply won't work anymore.

You also might want to take a good look at the artist you're signing and ask yourself, "Is this a good fit for a major label?" Between the explicit album cover, the Bittorrent numbers, the abrasive, uncompromising musical style, the fact that their first album sounded "like it was recorded under someone's house with a webcam" and the general volatility of the recording industry, maybe everyone involved should have realized it was never going to work out.

Filed Under: death grips, give away, labels