Veteran hip hop MC Skillz and neo-soul talent Dwele have both felt the excitement of signing to a major record company and the defeat of not enjoying the experience. For a variety of reasons, the two, who are now signed to independent label Koch records, felt that it was time to free themselves from the limitations of their prior major contracts.
When hip hop veteran Skillz signed his first recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1995, he expected the best. The Virginia MC believed that he would be promoted properly and they would do all they could to sell his 1996 debut, From Where???.
It didn’t take him long to figure out that they were not doing all they could. Two singles into the albums promotion, Skillz knew they were not on the same page.
“There’s no development at a major. They throw it against the wall and if it sticks, they go with it. And if it doesn’t, they go on to the next thing. Nobody’s really focused on building a career. They’re just focused on what’s hot right now,” say Skillz.
Signed to Virgin Records in 2000, Dwele also felt that he was mismanaged.
“Release dates kept changing. People were getting fired in the label and they’d replace them with people that had different ideas. I was getting bounced around a lot,” says the Detroit singer who in spite of his label woes, released two albums under the Virgin label – his debut Subject (2000) and Some Kinda…(2005). “For the first time in my life, I felt really out of control with what I love.
Both artists believe majors are generally scared to put effort in to an artist who is unlike what the mainstream audience is used to and wishes. “I’d go back to the drawing board and they’d be like ‘That’s not your sound,’ I heard that a lot,” says Dwele. “Who knows my sound other than me? For a minute it felt like the song wasn’t the right song unless somebody else produced it, somebody who was more established.” Though there may be label staff who work towards the advancement of the artist, it takes a great deal of money to properly promote an album – which many labels fear will not be recouped on an artist that is not an easy sell.
“It’s all about who you are going to push the button for and who you aren’t going to push the button for. And that’s the bottom line,” says Skillz. “Everyone knows that’s the coined phrase in the industry. Either you’re going to push the button on this artist and make sure that they do or you’re not. It’s real simple,”
Dwele is pleased at Koch now and the progress he has made with his latest release, Sketches of a Man.
“I have a lot more control. I get a chance to actually stretch out and do more things creatively that otherwise I probably couldn’t have done with Virgin. Right now I can’t see myself going back to a major,” says Dwele.
Skillz does not have lofty expectations of his label; he just wants them to put effort into his next album Million Dollar Backpack.
“They put just as much work into a Ray-J single as Def Jam does into a Ne-Yo single," says Skillz. "That’s the solution. I don’t expect Koch to part the Red Sea for me,”
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Comments
1.
wiwi says:
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July 15, 2008 at 8:22 am