Jeremih is the latest R&B male to take aim at his record label this week.
Following in the footsteps of R. Kelly and August Alsina (who both made headlines for slamming their teams), the 28-year-old took to Twitter to vent his frustrations with Def Jam.
His grievance?
The imprint’s alleged lack of support of his new album ‘Late Nights.’
No longer biting his tongue, the singer directly addressed the issue and provided additional context.
His words below…
He then added:
Yikes!
While we don’t endorse passiveness and do understand his emotion (given how much work goes into making music), we are beginning to wonder why so many acts don’t seem to digest that the system is not “fair” and has never been.
It’s about who brings in the most money and how much Return On Investment a label feel they can make on a release.
Will a Jeremih album (not single) ever bring in seismic sales to justify an all-out promo campaign? Will they ever recoup on that?
Again, not saying any of this is “fair,” especially as it’s plausible to argue that we’ll never truly know the answer to those questions because such a push isn’t being afforded to such artists. But it’s a reality.
At this point, it’s becoming increasingly clear that musicians (especially of the Urban persuasion) need to look at their major label deals as a platform more than anything else. All the other leg work they need to do themselves. Or at the very least, cultivate a team of their own to help them do that.
Quoting the famous Papa Pope: sometimes you have to work twice as hard to get half as far. True tea. Sad tea. But real tea, nonetheless.