Atlantic Records Has Reportedly Called Albums “Mixtapes” to Avoid Fairly Compensating Producers

[Self_Born7]

 

[Alvin]

he signed a shytty deal and had a terrible lawyer. He basically said fukk my rights ill just take this meager up front pay

Sheeesh that song was everywhere.

 

[Tribal Outkast]

But streaming better tho.... nikkas still getting jerked even though streaming is supposed to be better. I always thought that these free mixtapes would hurt these guys eventually... We have got to stop letting people whore out the culture so they can make their money and run.. that shyt crazy smh

 

[fukkyalifestyle]

Wiz isn’t on a 360 because of him going to a label after kush and orange juice

This is wrong and he made that album while signed to Atlantic. Make shyt up, bruhs.

 

[Bigblackted4]

This is wrong and he made that album while signed to Atlantic. Make shyt up, bruhs.

Didn’t mKe it up because he made deal or no deal independent on rostrum the year before I said I corrected myself duke

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

You think it's hard being a recording artist in 2018? Try being a record producer.

According to Eric "E. Dan" Dan—one of three producers who make up Pittsburgh-based music production and engineering squad ID Labs—the reason why Atlantic Records will often label a full-length release as a "street album," "commercial mixtape" or "compilation album" is to avoid having to fairly compensate the producers who worked on the project.

Referring to Wiz Khalifa's Khalifaproject, E. Dan explained to fellow producer DJ Pain 1 in an interview for BeatStars: "The Khalifa album, I don't know what they called it, a 'street album'? They came up with some really clever name that essentially meant, 'Everyone involved, you're going to get paid half what you normally do.' I've seen it happen often over the last few years. Anything to save a buck for these labels."

2016, Wiz Khalifa, who is signed to Atlantic Records, released Khalifa, a 13-track project which, according to Wiz, is not a full-length album, but rather a "compilation album" made up of material that didn't make the cut for prior Khalifa albums. On it, E. Dan scored six placements, but according to the producer, because of marketing semantics, he was not paid his regular rate.

The same thing also happened to E. Dan in 2013, when Atlantic Recordssignee Snow Tha Product freely released Good Nights & Bad Mornings 2: The Hangover, a mixtape that contains four of his productions.

"They called it a mixtape," E. Dan said. "They didn't treat it like it was an album, which is just their way of not paying me a whole lot."

Though Khalifa might not have been a proper album release, the label certainly treated it that way. The month before its release, the Travis Scott-assisted "Bake Sale" was formally released as a single, reaching as high as No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It's highly unlikely that Atlantic Records is the only major label employing this somewhat unsavory tactic to save on production costs, but just because everyone is doing something doesn't mean it should be accepted as kosher. The label ate off that ("compilation") album. The producers should have, too.

DJBooth has reached out to a representative at Atlantic and will update if/when they respond.

Update: Rook from J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, Matt McNeal, manager to DreamvilleMC Cozz, Benny Cassette and DJ Burn One are also familiar with this tactic

Atlantic Records Has Reportedly Called Albums “Mixtapes” to Avoid Fairly Compensating Producers - DJBooth

I been telling y'all this shyt for YEARS

nikkas swear people call them mixtapes so they can be happy they flopped... so that's why they'd make it available for free?? which would ensure a flop anyway

no... they do it so they can rap over beats, not pay for beats, get lower rates... but most importantly... not count it against ALBUMS owed, so the artist doesn't even get to count it.. the word mixtape is all about legality and payment

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

To be fair, the 'altape' concept, pioneered most famously by Weak Mill, also benefits artists. So if you're about to release an album that you've been advertising for years, and no one gives a fukk, you can just call it a mixtape at the last minute and make it seem like it was a boss move

bullshyt and lies... nobody ever does this and a label would never waste the marketing dollars promoting an album and changing at the last minute to a mixtape.. plus all contracts related would already be attached with an official album. it would be hell to pay to try to change that at the end


but nice try... hate clouds your judgement

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

woooooow

Not only is this Ferg's best song by far, it's the song that gave dude a career.

In fact, I'll go a step further - this is easily the craziest club record I've heard in several years. When that shyt comes on, it's fukking pandemonium


edit: the owners of the sample got 50% of publishing right off the bat? fukk.... how do we champion hip hop millionaires like Hov/Diddy etc and they can't fix this basic fukking problem? How are we still allowing cacs (usually) to rape us for samples?

nikka did you make the sample? no... then you don't own it.. who made the sample? he sets the price.. ain't no allow

if you paint something, you can charge me $5 or $500000000000.. i'm either gonna pay it or not pay it. but you made the art and you own it, so you set the price. don't like the price, don't use my shyt

also, producers are only speaking of their up front fees. they get a bag up front, they also get production credit, and if they are really smart, they'll argue for a percentage of all sales of the record (points on the album).. it's the rapper who really gets fukked when picking beats with samples.. he's the one who has to pay up out of his budget, not the producer

 

[ZEB WALTON]

producers get fukked on everything in hiphop. unless you make ya name as one, which in itself is damn near impossible unless you have a rapper constantly using your beats which leads to other placements, you stuck with no leverage. if its a sample beat ... theyll "juicy" you (pete rock -> trackmasters).

basically if you ask for ya cut of a song, they wont fukk wit you. theyll just get another producer with no respect for himself to rip off. is it worth it to get 500 and zero publishing to get ya name out? yea maybe... for a lil while... but after doing multiple beats in the industry and then a hit song and no percentage comes back from sales?!!!?.... fukk THAT. id rather choke than give a cheap mofo rapper a hit song if he trying to pay me 500.

rappers are the biggest hoes in music. fact. i lost count how many times these cheap mufukkas thought they were something special, acting like they was doing me a favor jumping on my beats. half the time its barely worth the time to goto their hood.

also, producers are only speaking of their up front fees. they get a bag up front, they also get production credit, and if they are really smart, they'll argue for a percentage of all sales of the record (points on the album).. it's the rapper who really gets fukked when picking beats with samples.. he's the one who has to pay up out of his budget, not the producer

this rarely if ever happens to new producers coming up. they expect you to drop off beats and keep it moving.. that is unless you are already a known producer.

but these guys know whether or not you been on so they act accordingly and just speaking of "paper" or "contracts" gon get you laughed at while they say NEXT to the other 100 producers waiting in the lobby begging to work with dudes...

i mean how many times have we heard "i didnt get credit". aint no future money coming and they wont even know thaty until the record drops where they listen and hear a high hat changed, look in the credits and see it was "produced" by someone else

woooooow

edit: the owners of the sample got 50% of publishing right off the bat? fukk.... how do we champion hip hop millionaires like Hov/Diddy etc and they can't fix this basic fukking problem? How are we still allowing cacs (usually) to rape us for samples?

thats actually not that bad (well...compared to other examples). all method man got for All I Need was a fukking lexus... marvin gayes estate got 100...ONE HUNDRED...1 hunnid... percent of every dollar that song made... fukking marvin gayes kids eating off tical...

it sucks tho cuz how much would a cover cost?i doubt itd be 100 but cause its hip hop... this shyt is why RZA "fell off" and HAD to go digital... cause why would he sample when he making music for 10 heads and the publishing all going to the samples. that shyt KILLED the hiphop sound but thats another thread for another day

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

producers get fukked on everything in hiphop. unless you make ya name as one, which in itself is damn near impossible unless you have a rapper constantly using your beats which leads to other placements, you stuck with no leverage. if its a sample beat ... theyll "juicy" you (pete rock -> trackmasters).

basically if you ask for ya cut of a song, they wont fukk wit you. theyll just get another producer with no respect for himself to rip off. is it worth it to get 500 and zero publishing to get ya name out? yea maybe... for a lil while... but after doing multiple beats in the industry and then a hit song and no percentage comes back from sales?!!!?.... fukk THAT. id rather choke than give a cheap mofo rapper a hit song if he trying to pay me 500.

rappers are the biggest hoes in music. fact. i lost count how many times these cheap mufukkas thought they were something special, acting like they was doing me a favor jumping on my beats. half the time its barely worth the time to goto their hood.



this rarely if ever happens to new producers coming up. they expect you to drop off beats and keep it moving.. that is unless you are already a known producer.

but these guys know whether or not you been on so they act accordingly and just speaking of "paper" or "contracts" gon get you laughed at while they say NEXT to the other 100 producers waiting in the lobby begging to work with dudes...

i mean how many times have we heard "i didnt get credit". aint no future money coming and they wont even know thaty until the record drops where they listen and hear a high hat changed, look in the credits and see it was "produced" by someone else



thats actually not that bad (well...compared to other examples). all method man got for All I Need was a fukking lexus... marvin gayes estate got 100...ONE HUNDRED...1 hunnid... percent of every dollar that song made... fukking marvin gayes kids eating off tical...

it sucks tho cuz how much would a cover cost?i doubt itd be 100 but cause its hip hop... this shyt is why RZA "fell off" and HAD to go digital... cause why would he sample when he making music for 10 heads and the publishing all going to the samples. that shyt KILLED the hiphop sound but thats another thread for another day

you dead right.. i wasn't factoring in being a no name at the time. even half a name will only get you what they got. and the lawyers are in on it too. so even hiring a lawyer will get you fukked. that's a sad game

 

[Hyperion]

nikkas so dumb you don’t get rich off the music it’s just a platform for other ventures. These nikkas should be selling drums or software or sum shyt instead of cryin all the damn time. This is a hustlers industry.

Producers do sell drum kits, at least the ones that are doing the online beat game. That's how a lot of them make bread, if it's not off the leases or the occasional placement. Cardiak for example has a ton of kits for sale, same with Illmind. Some producers even sell MIDIs and loops, so if a producer buys that kit and uses it, and that song ends up being used by a bigger known artist, the original producer actually gets writing credits for that. Essentially, the same way you'd have to go about samples, albeit most likely a LOT less cheaper.

This situation though is exactly why many online beatmakers are saying that they're not chasing placements anymore. People are getting sharked left and right for their hard work.

woooooow

Not only is this Ferg's best song by far, it's the song that gave dude a career.

In fact, I'll go a step further - this is easily the craziest club record I've heard in several years. When that shyt comes on, it's fukking pandemonium


edit: the owners of the sample got 50% of publishing right off the bat? fukk.... how do we champion hip hop millionaires like Hov/Diddy etc and they can't fix this basic fukking problem? How are we still allowing cacs (usually) to rape us for samples?

The problem with sampling is probably way deeper than what a few millionaires can do. The issue is obviously that when you're using someone else's work, they deserve to be properly credited and compensated. Tackling that would involve a lot of court battles, and rewriting the entire sampling law, including interpolations and how everything would work. Not to mention, how the original artist can or can't give permission to the artist sampling. For example, if you made a song ten years ago about suicide prevention, and some rapper used the sample for a song about killing people on some 21 Savage shyt, you may not want your song being used due to it being a complete contradiction of what you originally made your song for. But if the laws change, the original artists may not get a say. Sure, some musicians just want the check cashed, but what about when you're dealing with a Prince or Beatles, those who don't play when it comes to their art? It's a slippery slope, and it'd take years for people to get something started. It goes well beyond Hip Hop, and I don't think we can put that on one man alone, it'd have to be a big movement. And it'd shake up the music industry as a whole.

It's not impossible, but basically I'm saying that if it were so easy, it most likely would've been done by now. Or at the very least, progress would've been made. Instead, folks are getting sued off of free mixtapes with samples.

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

rappers are the biggest hoes in music.

GOAT QUOTE of this thread!! ^^^

Most of these rappers i dealt with were worthless ungrateful parasites

And i can only imagine ita worst now that we live in the FINESSE (run off on da plug) era

got me reminisicing about my days offerring pay to play (airplay) for artists to be heard on our radio shows...

And this one particular rapper had the nerve to tell my intern ...

"Sheeiit i feel yall should be paying me the way my name is buzzing in these streets"




I was like

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

Every beatmaker and hip hop producer should watch Zaytoven's movie

"BIRDS OF A FEATHER"

 

[ZEB WALTON]

GOAT QUOTE of this thread!! ^^^

Most of these rappers i dealt with were worthless ungrateful parasites

And i can only imagine ita worst now that we live in the FINESSE (run off on da plug) era

got me reminisicing about my days offerring pay to play (airplay) for artists to be heard on our radio shows...

And this one particular rapper had the nerve to tell my intern ...

"Sheeiit i feel yall should be paying me the way my name is buzzing in these streets"




I was like

Only rapper i ever met who didnt think they were more important than they were was MR MFN Exquire. Talkin with dude like talkin to friends. Ironically at the time he was the most popping of the ones i fukked with snd the only one i WOULD have expected it from yet dude would have convos with me about psychic world of walter reed by killah priest and old wwf lol. Gained mad respect for him.

The other rappers were too cool for school. The lack of awareness is scary.

But for every one cool rapper theres 50 hoes. One dude who will not be named called himself a 9.5/10 ... if i posted sons songs youd laugh at the arrogance and complete delusion of it all.

Rappers are the fukking WORST