Kid Cudi Goes After Universal Again, Wonders Why His Millions Of Video Views Aren't Translating Into Radio Airplay

from the umg-is-still-there-to-take-a-cut-of-whatever's-earned-WITHOUT-its-help dept

Hip hop artist Kid Cudi is at it again, tearing into Universal Music for its lack of support. Last February, Cudi decided to branch out stylistically with his album "WZRD," citing Pink Floyd, Nirvana and the Pixies as inspiration. The label's response was to ship only 55,000 physical copies and continue pushing Cudi towards completion of another album in the vein of his first two.

Cudi took to Twitter to express his displeasure and became his own promotional team. The result? "WZRD" debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart -- all without label support. Now, something else has caught Cudi's attention and (re)raised his ire at his label. Apparently, he's racking up millions of views at Vevo -- but his latest singles (which are the "return to form" Universal seemed to be seeking) are getting no radio push from Universal, unlike other artists with similar view totals.

"King Wizard 3.4 million views on Vevo, Just What I Am has 4.3 million and my shit is not on regular rotation on radio. Hmmm," Cudi Tweeted from his account, @ducidni.

"Trinidad James got 4.1 million views on his hit (rightfully so), and I hear that jam EVERYWHERE. Wheres my fuckin spins???" the rapper born Scott Mescudi added.

It must be noted that Cudi has racked up three million views in a little less than a month. His previous track, "Just What I Am," has 4.5 million views in two months, all without label support or radio airplay. Here's Cudi's Twitter rant in full:


Interestingly, Kid Cudi's official site (which is owned by Universal Music) includes his Twitter feed and it appears that UMG has decided to edit out any disparaging tweets. His "Im talking numbers..." tweet now floats freely in a context-free void, following his last, pre-rant tweet of "Dentist :("


UMG's not actually putting words in Cudi's mouth, but it's certainly taking quite a few out of it. Fortunately for Cudi, UMG doesn't control his actual Twitter account, but after the events of the last several months, I'm willing to bet it wishes it did.

If Cudi can push this volume with little to no support, it's probably a good indication that he could strike out on his own and move on from UMG. Of course, nothing in the major label world is quite that easy, what with contractual obligations and the fact that the third party that controls his creations would be more than willing to hang onto his catalog in perpetuity, even if it feels it's not worth supporting.

Filed Under: kid cudi, music industry
Companies: universal music

KiD CuDi's WZRD Debuts At No. 3 Despite Being Swept Under The Rug By Universal

from the the-fans-have-spoken dept

Last week we wrote about WZRD, the new album from KiD CuDi on which he went in an entirely different direction from his usual style. That's the kind of thing that makes big record labels nervous (they'd prefer artists just keep churning out variations on their first success) and CuDi's label Universal Republic was no exception. After the release, CuDi took to Twitter to vent:

Ok so just a heads up, my weak ass label only shipped 55k physicals cuz they treated this like some indie side project tax right off. So i apologize on behalf of my weak ass major label. And I apologize for the lack of promo, again, my weak ass major label. They tried to rush me thru this so i can just give em another MOTM, but guess what? Fuck that, next album is WZRD. MOTM3 on hold til 2014. who mad??? not me and @DotDaGenius. So its def gonna be tough to find one in the stores guys, I'm sorry about that.

Apparently fans were prepared to make the effort, because WZRD debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This is especially funny in the wake of RIAA CEO Cary Sherman's recent interview, in which he claimed record labels were needed to "separate the wheat from the chaff" and "designate who is worth promoting and marketing". It seems the legacy gatekeepers aren't quite as good at curation as they think—at least I bet Universal is wishing they'd gotten a few more copies of WZRD out there, and put some promotional weight behind the project. Maybe, if they'd put a little faith in their own artist, they could have had a #1 on their hands.

Filed Under: kid cudi, labels, music, promotion, wzrd
Companies: universal music, universal republic

If Major Labels Are All About Helping Artists, Why Do We Keep Seeing Artists Calling Out Their Labels For Screwing Them?

from the just-saying dept

It still really amazes me that anyone takes the major labels or the RIAA seriously when they make claims about how they're doing what they do to help artists. The labels have a long and detailed track record of screwing over artists at every opportunity. We're seeing some details around that in some of the recent lawsuits we've covered. But, as we've heard time and time again from various artists, it goes much further than just fancy RIAA accounting.

The major labels tend to pick ahead of time just a few "winners" that they're going to put any real effort behind. If you're signed to a label, but aren't one of the chosen few, you're pretty much screwed. The label still owns everything, but you get no real marketing support, and you're limited in what you can do. So your album "flops" even though it was destined to do that from the beginning. To some extent, this is the nature of the business model that the majors have set up, where they only make money on a very small number of big hit albums, that they spend a ridiculous amount of money promoting. Everything else just isn't worth it for them. Of course, that doesn't mean those albums are bad, or that they might be quite profitable if they weren't locked into the majors' obsolete way of doing things. But for the artists who get the short end of one of those types of label deals it can be incredibly frustrating.

Take, for example, the situation of KiD CuDi, a hip hop artist who's been considered one of the bigger up and coming acts these days. However, he recently decided to go in a slightly different direction, and put together a more rock-influenced album, citing inspiration from Pink Floyd, Nirvana, the Pixies and ELO. That album came out yesterday, and apparently Universal Music decided that it wasn't going to support the album much at all, leading CuDi to unload on Universal via Twitter for its lack of support. Put together, his tweets read:

Ok so just a heads up, my weak ass label only shipped 55k physicals cuz they treated this like some indie side project tax right off. So i apologize on behalf of my weak ass major label. And I apologize for the lack of promo, again, my weak ass major label. They tried to rush me thru this so i can just give em another MOTM, but guess what? Fuck that, next album is WZRD. MOTM3 on hold til 2014. who mad??? not me and @DotDaGenius. So its def gonna be tough to find one in the stores guys, I'm sorry about that. I gotta go out and find one too, becuz my weak ass label never even gave us a copy of our own album. FAIL!!! Im lettin Universal Republic have it, fuck it. What they gon' do, spank me?? hahahaha. AND Teleport 2 Me, Jamie aint on the radio!!!! like helloooooooooo????? HIT HIT HIT!!!

Obviously, Universal Republic made a decision not to support this album, because they don't think it'll bring back what they want it to. And that's their decision -- but that's one of the risks of signing with a major label, and it's one of the reasons why more artists should really think twice about giving so much control to an entity that might just decide to stop supporting you. I don't begrudge Universal making this decision, but it again highlights that the major labels aren't looking out for the best interests of the artists at all. They're looking out for their own best interests.

This isn't to say that all labels are bad. Artists can find some smart and innovative independent labels that still give the artists plenty of say and control, but the majors are the majors, and to think they represent the artists is clearly a joke. So when it comes to public policy debates, why do politicians and the press still continue to assume that the RIAA and major label view is what's best for the artists?

Filed Under: kid cudi, labels, music, promotion, wzrd
Companies: universal music, universal republic