3 minutes ago, Soda Pop Queen said:

Y'all have a point when it comes to black artists masters. Historically, they have always been the most ****** over in the music industry so them managing to gain ownership of their recordings means a lot. It's symbolic. The downside to this is, they are forever chased in some way because of it... oftentimes to their deaths. TPTB won't allow them to finish a game that was never set up for them to participate in, let alone win. It wouldn't surprise me if this is the real reason why Bad Gal has not put out another album since Anti. Obtaining your masters as a black artist puts a target on your back.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat nervous about Lady Carter who is, for the most part, as autonomous as one can get while still being platformed on a large scale. I hope she never falls out with Sony/Columbia because if she decides to stop distribution with them, it might be a wrap I fear. Some get onto her about not promoting her newer music enough but maybe there's a deeper reason why she's tries to stay off radar as much as possible, even when her singles are hits. She won't even use any of Sony's budget for music videos anymore. She was paying for a lot of the visuals last decade out of her own pocket. She don't want them to double back later and say she owe them any money. I surmise this is one of the reasons daddy had to go. He was allegedly misappropriating funds.

I agree with you, but I also think she may have the upper hand on Columbia since 2011: After 4 leaked and a 2012-early 2013 album was scrapped right before the Super Bowl, there was a month or two in 2013 of articles speculating Beyonce would part ways with her longtime label. I think that's when negotiations took place for her to acquire her masters, and Self-Titled was a mid-negotiation surprise to flex her bargaining power with Columbia. If I didn't know any better, I would assume Columbia Records in 2013 offered her a similar deal to Taylor Swift's 2017-2018 rejected Big Machine masters deal (offering her ownership of one old album for each new album) ... but she instead took it.

This would explain her hands-off approach with Columbia since 2013 (wanting autonomy and less opportunity for leaks), that unusual spurt of official albums in 2018/2019 (Homecoming: The Live Album, Everything Is Love, The Lion King: The Gift ), and Parkwood/Columbia suddenly appearing on all her new RIAA certifications for even her early albums after that point. If my math is correct, Lemonade, EIL, Homecoming, and The Lion King: The Gift helped her buy back her first four solo studio albums.

Her declaring in this 2020 Obama x YouTube Covid Graduation video that she now has her masters would lead me to believe this three-act trilogy is her victory lap / crown jewel as an owner.

13 minutes ago, trainsskyscrapers said:

I agree with you, but I also think she may have the upper hand on Columbia since 2011: After 4 leaked and a 2012-early 2013 album was scrapped right before the Super Bowl, there was a month or two in 2013 of articles speculating Beyonce would part ways with her longtime label. I think that's when negotiations took place for her to acquire her masters, and Self-Titled was a mid-negotiation surprise to flex her bargaining power with Columbia. If I didn't know any better, I would assume Columbia Records in 2013 offered her a similar deal to Taylor Swift's 2017-2018 rejected Big Machine masters deal (offering her ownership of one old album for each new album) ... but she instead took it.

This would explain her hands-off approach with Columbia since 2013 (wanting autonomy and less opportunity for leaks), that unusual spurt of official albums in 2018/2019 (Homecoming: The Live Album, Everything Is Love, The Lion King: The Gift ), and Parkwood/Columbia suddenly appearing on all her new RIAA certifications for even her early albums after that point. If my math is correct, Lemonade, EIL, Homecoming, and The Lion King: The Gift helped her buy back her first four solo studio albums.

Her declaring in this 2020 Obama x YouTube Covid Graduation video that she now has her masters would lead me to believe this three-act trilogy is her victory lap / crown jewel as an owner.

I would like to believe she has the upper hand on them but they are still making a lot of money off of her while they have those distribution ties.

and yes, the trilogy is indeed a flex in several ways but she's still keeping a relatively low-profile, all things considered.

Edited January 18Jan 18 by Soda Pop Queen

Easy, $$$.

5 hours ago, trainsskyscrapers said:

I would probably have my music proceeds sent to a specific account and eventually roll it into a trust so my current family, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can still receive any royalty funds in perpetuity... but you do you. We're looking for generational wealth with consistent passive income deposits over here.

I mean you can still sell you masters, put the money into an investment account trust that passes on. It would actually help a lot in being able to diversify your portfolio and maximize returns.

I guess people love instant cash... Nicki will have to sell her post-2020 masters to pay her debts, and she'll likely only get $25 for it

CASH