This is it right here.
As someone who worked as an A&R forever, I can speak to how important it is/was, at the labels. There's no more development for artists because labels don’t want to pay for it anymore. So they're just putting people out, knowing they'll fail eventually, but they'll just replace them with another artist in two seconds. It's the new model because the money isn't coming in the way it used to.
this is the truth. As much as I hate labels, many of them did a great job promoting artists, finding the right beats for them, and developing them. Let's use 2 artists like Nas and John Forte for examples. We all know Nas' first song was BBQ with Main source. Then he had an appearance on "back to the grill" with Serch, a track on the Zebrahead soundtrack and by the time Illmatic was released in early 94, we were anticipating that shyt. John Forte would be on The Score, Wyclef singles, hot track from When We were Kings, etc. His album was anticipated, but it wasn't as hot as it should be. The point is, the red carpet was laid out for them and people flocked to the stores to buy their albums upon release. Artists today decide they want to start rapping in February, go viral with a bs track in May, have an album drop in September with bullshyt ass beats produced by their "mans" or other garbage ass youtubers, and you never hear from them again. Rinse and repeat.
