By releasing his new, long-awaited album Blonde independently, Frank Ocean literally changed the game. But, that move could land him in some serious legal trouble.
In case you missed it, after four years of waiting, Frank Ocean finally satisfied his fans and dropped two separate projects last week. One being a 45-minute visual album called Endless and the full proper album Blonde. After each project dropped, internet sleuths noticed that Endless was released on Island Def Jam, while Blonde was void of any IDJ credit and released independently. As we would all find out, Endless was released to fulfill Ocean’s contract with IDJ, resulting in him being able to drop Blonde on his own as an Apple Music exclusive.
Frank essentially pimped the system by using Def Jam’s marketing and resources to create two albums but only give them one.
And that’s why Universal Music Group, Def Jam’s parent company is pissed. So pissed that company CEO Lucian Grainge reportedly sent out a memo to all executives under the UMG banner notifying them that no artists signed to the company will be allowed to have albums exclusively released with any streaming service, including Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify. That means virtually every other rapper or singer that you listen to right now stands to be affected if the news The Guardian is reporting is true. This also includes artists like Drake and Kanye West who have benefitted and made history with their exclusively streamed albums.
Billboard writes that Ocean could be sued by his now former label for his back-to-back album releases.
Billboard’s Dan Rys writes:
After an interminable wait (in music industry standards, at least), Ocean fulfilled his contractual obligations, sources tell Billboard, and increased his potential profit share from 14 percent to 70 percent of total revenues from Blond within a 24-hour period, seemingly pulling a fast one on the biggest music company in the world in the process. Def Jam and its parent Universal, stuck with an overshadowed visual album that isn’t for sale, and cut out of any revenue from the “proper” album that’s headed to the top of the charts on the strength of 225,000 to 250,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 25, were left with what amounts to a very long music video and without one of their marquee artists.
For one, many record contracts are based on minimum-delivery clauses, meaning that if Ocean’s deal was just for two albums, he typically would have had to deliver them within a set time frame, and at a label-acceptable level of quality, in order to fulfill his contract. In addition, most recording contracts stipulate a window of time during which an artist can’t release music on any other label, so as not to compete with the current project — in this case, DefJam’s Endless. By delivering Blond within just 24 hours, it raises the question of whether Universal even knew it was coming — and what they could have done about it regardless.
Frank’s actions should not come as a big surprise. His time with Def Jam has been rocky for most of their relationship. After he released his breakthrough debut Nostalgia, Ultra, Def Jam sought to capitalize by trying to sell it at retail.
Frank reacted by blasting them on Twitter saying (via Complex):
“i. did. this. not ISLAND DEF JAM. that’s why you see no label logo on the artwork that I DID. guess its my fault for trusting my dumbass lawyer and signing my career over to a failing company. fuck Def Jam & any company that goes the length of signing a kid with dreams & talent w/ no intention of following through. fuck em. now back to my day. i want some oatmeal and toast. brunch swag.”
At the end of the day, we see Ocean walking away with his freedom while a larger company is reportedly trying to keep artists in control, essentially protecting their investments.
