yea I just dont see any mention of it anywhere so I dont really know where it came from

but if anyone does know lmk so I can go look

Just did!

drake actually doesnt have a contract right now which is why its so valuable
he was getting absolutely f***ed for his first few years - didnt see ANY royalty payments

now drakes contract basically works in that he makes an album and then licenses it to the label to distribute and promote and everything for him for a % cut
if he wanted to be fully independent he could do so right now with no issue, him getting the label to distribute just makes more sense for him

He be hoppin on the UK Drill joints too, so he prolly likes the artist in the first place

Facts

yea its impossible to say without accounting breakdowns of it all

but its a hell of a lot of money lol

There’s no denying that

id love to see it
I suspect a lot of this stuff is not even remotely interesting though
so much of it is stuff like "live albums dont count." or "you cant do xyz with the music without consent from the label"

great thread

streaming sales actually pay as much as another sale - thats how they're weighted

like Pablo alone would've been $15m for the label

plus because they figure this out on an album by album basis they're not gonna give him money they cant get back

so I doubt hes losing them money

exactly
especially now that he doesnt have a label attached to him he can do whatever he wants without there even being a financial arrangement

Help me understand the outrage. If you're a label signing a unknown artist and giving them money to record music, why would you give them most of the profits? More often than not the artist isnt even going to sell so youre losing money. Then for those artists that actually make it you need to make back the money plus everything else you spent on the failures.

How are these labels even making money, seems like they would just barely be profitable

Oh s*** didnt know this ignore what I said

But I gues $.00001 a stream adds up for an entire album

someone like Kanye has likely made the label millions and
that can erase the failures of hundreds of smaller artists
but even with those smaller artists, they will release and promote and do whatever they can to get the money they spent back
might even be stuff like getting those artists to write songs for the label

As a Kanye fan I believe he didn’t even start working on it

great thread

So what's the difference between royalties and sales revenue. Thought he only gave up 25% of his sales revenue according to that LA times article.

nahh its all done he just never released it beyond one showing

which LA times article?

"They have given me one of the greatest situations in hip-hop," Drake, 22, said of his team.

Under the unusually lucrative agreement he struck with Aspire/Young Money/Cash Money Records distributed through Universal, Drake received a $2-million advance. He retains the publishing rights to his songs and cedes only around 25% of his music sales revenues to the label as a "distribution fee," his managers said . By contrast, the overwhelming majority of new artists sign financially restrictive "360 deals" that sap their touring and merchandise income and offer much more restrictive profit-sharing.

A dissection of how the rapper was able to drive such a hard bargain underscores an evolution in the music industry. At a time when CD sales have declined by 15% over last summer's numbers and major labels remain more fixated on scoring hit singles than sustaining artist rosters, managers such as those working with Drake have stepped into the void to become king-makers in urban music.

"The record company doesn't have any ownership of Drake," Bryant said. "The label does not have participation on profits. They don't have ownership of his masters. We control his entire career. Those deals don't happen anymore."

latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/07/drake-from-teen-tv-star-to-rap-royalty-.html

Damn that contract extension is wild

It’s like if the cavs could keep on picking the team option on lebrons rookie deal

Yeah, this is my understanding 100%. Labels are essentially taking gambles on artists. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of artists actually end up losing money for the label. But then every so often you get lucky and sign a superstar and make so much money that it covers all the losses from everyone else.