As Pop puppets go, few come as overrated as Rihanna.
However, in recent years, the star’s narrative is becoming less Pinocchio and more power.
Granted the shift hasn’t been without its problems – as evidenced by the delay in the release of her new album, it looks set to be very lucrative move for the Bajan belle once the LP arrives.
Find out why below…
The 27-year-old’s official website was relaunched this week and while many basked in the aesthetic changes, it was the update on her biography that was most notable:
now recording her first album under the roc nation label with the ownership of her masters, she is busy adding more credits to her burgeoning resume: executive producer, fashion designer, actress, astute business entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Beyond the flowery rhetoric, it’s the ownership of her masters part that resonates with us most.
To put it simply, this means Ms. Fenty now owns her new music moving forward.
As Disc Makers potently highlights:
For decades, artists who signed a record deal with a label were expected to turn over the rights to their sound recordings – the actual studio/live recordings of their material. As part of a typical record deal, relinquishing these “master rights” was part of how an artist secured the financial support of the label to pay for the recording and release of the record.
With the master rights under their control, labels could then license the master recordings to third parties for placement in TV or film, use in commercials, or for use in another work (e.g. sampling) without the artists’ consent or monetary gain. Unless an artist had earned back all the money invested by the label in the recording and promotion of a record, all master license fees would stay with the label.
Say what we do about Rih, there’s no denying — this is major!
Of course, there’s the tall task of selling said music for any of this to matter. But, in the same breath, it’s an incredibly good look.
The model now joins the likes of Mariah Carey as one of the few superstars to own their music masters.