Earlier this week, Variety confirmed that Nelly sold “select recorded-music assets” to HarbourView Equity Partners, a global investment firm from Newark, NJ. Included in the purchase were hits “Hot in Herre” and “Dilemma,” which features Kelly Rowland.
Nelly is currently signed to label RECORDS CO, which is owned by Sony Music Entertainment and frequently collaborates with Columbia Records. It is unclear if Nelly has ownership of his masters, but this purchase indicates that he is in a position to make financial decisions about his music. A position that many artists don’t find themselves in.
Artists that own all of their masters or a portion of them include JAY-Z, Rihanna, and 21 Savage. In 2016, Frank Ocean famously bought himself out of his contract with Def Jam, releasing his critically acclaimed album Blonde independently shortly thereafter.
Frank Ocean described his relationship with Def Jam as a “bad marriage,” a sentiment that many artists can relate to due to business practices from record labels that seek big payouts for themselves, but little to nothing for the artists like the infamous 360 deal.
This is why many artists are trying to negotiate better contracts or outright own their masters. The fact is without the artists, record labels wouldn’t have a product to sell.
“To me the worst thing Chief Keef ever did was get a record deal,” Nelly said in a 2013 interview with VladTV.
At the time, Chief Keef was raking in millions of views on his music videos… independently. The rise of the internet has weakened the distribution power of record labels, which used to make labels a necessity for artists when music was primarily listened to on physical formats.
But, labels still have a role to play. Ice Spice, who independently gained popularity from her song Munch, signed a record deal with Capitol Records and 10k Projects in September of last year and since then she has appeared on the cover of multiple high-profile magazines and an invitation to the Met Gala.
Record labels remain essential because of their connections to many different industries that can lead artists to bigger and better opportunities, but they need to provide artists contracts that reflect the value of their work.
Article by Enzo Luna