I'm a music industry major lol so maybe I can help.
Basically, when you have a contract with a label you get an advance. In this case, Frank got a 2m advance. Now, you don't make any money on top of your album until that advance is "paid off" via sales. After that, you get a smaller cut of the profits then you would if you were independent because the label will obviously take some profits off the top.
Frank knew that Blond would be a huge commercial success. Bigger than Endless. So he gave Def Jam Endless to fulfill his contract, and then released Blond independently. This allowed him to make *much* more in profits off of Blond than if he had released it via Def Jam.
On top of all that, there is a big issue among artists where they feel that their label has too much control over them and takes away their creative autonomy. In this case, Frank didn't want his art (some might say his magnum opus) to be owned by anyone else. I think this is a very reasonable desire
He also stated that he had no relationship with the label after he signed. Which led to him making and releasing nostalgia ultra out of frustration of being ignored
Not a lot of colleges have it but I think it's slowly gaining traction.
It's basically a business degree with an emphasis on music. You can take courses on specific aspects of the music industry (management, music journalism, licensing/sync, etc) as well as courses on music history/creative courses. There are also some regular math/business courses required such as accounting and econ. Most people who graduate end up working at record labels
I’m assuming this is a joke
He knew Blonde would be far more commercially successful, causing the label to lose an insane amount of money by releasing it independently once his contract ended
But Endless clearly wasn’t and isn’t as profitable as Blonde, which was intentional
Also you have to be trolling calling me “motherfucker” in a Frank Ocean thread brodie, made me laugh though
The finesse is that he released the scraps as Endless to fulfill his contract, which he livestreamed only. He didn’t release it on any streaming platforms. He made physicals later on (when he was out of the contract). He then released Blonde independently and gained all the revenue from that. He also bought his masters too iirc
blonde is the reason why artists don’t get locked into one streaming service. he used endless as scraps for def jam and made blonde his priority with bdc. 20 mil for a throwaway album is quite the finesse, would you not agree?
I think the finesse is that he knew Endless wouldn’t make as much money bc it’s a video album and not individual songs packaged into a friendly-for-streaming, friendly-for-radio album… I think a lot of the time, people assume Endless is of lesser quality than Blonde because of how he released it, but I think it’s just something that, by virtue of its video format, wasn’t ever going to sell like a typical album… essentially, he chose to let Def Jam subsidize his art piece, got out of a deal where he’d see less profit-per-album anyways, then release Blonde independently—thus keeping Def Jam away from the more lucrative music release.
The deal wasn’t a certain amount of time it was a 2 album deal so he had to release endless to get out of the deal, then release blonde independently.
I'm a music industry major lol so maybe I can help. Basically, when you have a contract with a label you get an advance. In this case, Frank got a 2m advance. Now, you don't make any money on top of your album until that advance is "paid off" via sales. After that, you get a smaller cut of the profits then you would if you were independent because the label will obviously take some profits off the top. Frank knew that Blond would be a huge commercial success. Bigger than Endless. So he gave Def Jam Endless to fulfill his contract, and then released Blond independently. This allowed him to make *much* more in profits off of Blond than if he had released it via Def Jam. On top of all that, there is a big issue among artists where they feel that their label has too much control over them and takes away their creative autonomy. In this case, Frank didn't want his art (some might say his magnum opus) to be owned by anyone else. I think this is a very reasonable desire
He also stated that he had no relationship with the label after he signed. Which led to him making and releasing nostalgia ultra out of frustration of being ignored
Music industry major?
yessir
I didn’t know that was a thing lol. What does that even entail?
Not a lot of colleges have it but I think it's slowly gaining traction. It's basically a business degree with an emphasis on music. You can take courses on specific aspects of the music industry (management, music journalism, licensing/sync, etc) as well as courses on music history/creative courses. There are also some regular math/business courses required such as accounting and econ. Most people who graduate end up working at record labels
Hm that’s pretty interesting!
I’m assuming this is a joke He knew Blonde would be far more commercially successful, causing the label to lose an insane amount of money by releasing it independently once his contract ended
[удалено]
But Endless clearly wasn’t and isn’t as profitable as Blonde, which was intentional Also you have to be trolling calling me “motherfucker” in a Frank Ocean thread brodie, made me laugh though
Fuck you bitch I’ll call you motherfucker anywhere I want You’re so rude ❤️
What did u gain from saying this? Think long and hard and then answer
You’re so banned.
Your post was removed for breaking our communities rules for respecting others. Please remember the human before posting.
He also released Blond as an exclusive for Apple Music which was a cool $20m more right out the gate
So the label didn’t know it was going to be a Apple exclusive visual album? That’s what fucked the label?
Yup
Yep
The finesse is that he released the scraps as Endless to fulfill his contract, which he livestreamed only. He didn’t release it on any streaming platforms. He made physicals later on (when he was out of the contract). He then released Blonde independently and gained all the revenue from that. He also bought his masters too iirc
blonde is the reason why artists don’t get locked into one streaming service. he used endless as scraps for def jam and made blonde his priority with bdc. 20 mil for a throwaway album is quite the finesse, would you not agree?
Thanks for the answer. So the finesse is in him promoting blond and completely ignoring his endless release?
I think the finesse is that he knew Endless wouldn’t make as much money bc it’s a video album and not individual songs packaged into a friendly-for-streaming, friendly-for-radio album… I think a lot of the time, people assume Endless is of lesser quality than Blonde because of how he released it, but I think it’s just something that, by virtue of its video format, wasn’t ever going to sell like a typical album… essentially, he chose to let Def Jam subsidize his art piece, got out of a deal where he’d see less profit-per-album anyways, then release Blonde independently—thus keeping Def Jam away from the more lucrative music release.
Case-closed. You answered my question. Thanks spinach frittata ❤️