Kanye West and the Fight for Music Ownership
Image Courtesy of EDMTunes
By Katie Van Lew
Throughout 2020, the highly decorated artist Kanye West has been at the forefront of controversy. West first came under scrutiny from the public eye when he announced his “2020 Vision” campaign which would be the foundation for his presidential campaign. West has had a complicated history with social media, as he is known for his public Twitter rants that often lead people to believe in a distorted perception of West and his artistic, and sometimes politically-driven, vision.
In 2018, West opened up to the world with his mental health struggles, crafting ye, which would go on to dominate the US Billboard 100, becoming his eighth, consecutive album to debut at number one on the charts. As artists are often perceived as god-like figures, ye humanizes West, showing the world that even the most lucrative and creative figures in the music industry struggle.
Since 2018, West has had an aptitude for going on Twitter rants, flooding his followers’ timelines with Tweets that seem rather arrogant, illogical, and rash. West’s Tweets are often ridiculed, and contribute to the “meme” culture that Twitter breeds. After West’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder became public knowledge, many followers empathized with West. As for others, West continues to be the laughing stock of the Internet.
Amidst his Tweets flaunting his net worth and tweeting about his daughter’s favorite emojis, West uses his platform to produce a voice of hope for artists.
In a Tweet released September 15, West said, “Contracts in all industries need to be simplified now. Complicated contracts are how businesses, music companies and sports take advantage of talent. We will expose these contracts and make them transparent now. Support new talent, startups and amend all old contracts.”
Despite the lavish and luxurious lifestyle that many artists flaunt on social media, artists, specifically musicians have become slaves to major labels such as Sony and Universal. West’s latest Twitter rant exposes the corruption of major labels and the unfair legal binding that many artists are enslaved to.
West describes music labels as just that: modern-day slavery.
In continuance with his exposé, West tweeted,“When you sign a music deal you sign away your rights. Without the masters, you can’t do anything with your own music. Someone else controls where it’s played and when it’s played. Artists have nothing except fame, touring, and merch.”
His series of Tweets address the pressing issue of artists’ rights to their music. Major music labels more frequently than not take advantage of artists’ hopes, dreams, and visions. They actively rob artists of their creative vision, dictating every aspect of their creative process and the product that is released to the world. Aside from the complete dictatorship that major labels berate artists with, music labels own artists’ masters. This is problematic in that the same artists who push out record-breaking, Grammy-awarded albums, do not even have the ownership nor rights to their own music. West then proceeded to release ten contracts with the music label Universal to the public, enlisting all attorneys to review the legal documents.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions about Kanye West; however, his advocacy for musicians’ rights is an admirable feat on behalf of artists everywhere.
West incites a sliver of hope for his fellow artists in a Tweet released on September 18, leaving them with a lasting promise.
“This is a call for all artists to unify … I will get my masters, I got the most powerful lawyer in music and I can afford them but every artist must be freed and treated fairly.”
