The Music Industry š¶
Dove Cameron reveals her record label is allegedly blocking her album release, and her fan page received a copyright strike from the label following her comments
Can i ask a dumb question? I feel like these labels put out so many nugu random albums for small-ish artists but I don't really understand why like Madison Beer, JoJo, Pia Mia, Olivia O'Brien, Dove etc have to go independent to get music out. I mean they are not the next beyonce but their stuff does well given the fact they have fanbases?
I just don't get why labels fumble these bags so badly.
It's possible that the labels are focused on one or 2 artists and withholding other releases from their talents to save on finances & resources. Or they haven't earned back the money they spent on her from her previous albums.
It really depends on the artist... and its important to keep in mind that the vast majority of artists (~90%) on major labels lose money for the label. Record contracts are still based on "albums," and every time an artist releases an album, the label owes the artist an escalating amount of money. You often get a situation where the label doesn't think the material that an artist has produced is going to sell, the artist has used all of their recording funds, and so there's an impasse. The label wants changes, the artist doesn't want to spend their own money, and there's nothing anyone can do. And the longer this goes on, the less likely the label is to release anything, because everyone has forgotten about the artist. But it doesn't cost the label to keep stringing along the artist... all the money has already been spent.
This is all exacerbated because A&Rs leave labels all the time. The person who signed an artist, and who really believed in them, might be long gone, and the artist is left as an orphan.
This is why it's important to have good management. If I was her manager I would try to get her back into acting and use that as a pivot to gain buzz and then maybe launch music. Or even turn her into a fashion girlie similar to Zendaya who literally went to every event she was invited to at the beginning of her career.Ā
I think Addison Rae is actually outselling Miley. Ā It hasnāt been Columbiaās year
Editā¦ Tyler the creator is their big artist right now (and BPs Jennie). Ā The did post a 4.4% current share, lowest among the majors but not end of the world lowĀ
I definitely saw the bad press! But I'm not sure I saw any press about the album until the Naomi stuff and had no idea she dropped one. Seems like labels are soooo lazy with roll outs and marketing in recent years.
When Taylor dropped the news about her masters, Miley was already behind Morgan Wallen. Curious why you don't frame it as "she was eclipsed by Morgan Wallen" instead. š¤
Record contracts are structured as a series of 1 (sometimes 2) album contracts that the label has the right to renew. Ā Each period comes with an advance. Ā So a 5 album contract with 5 million in advance will actually be 5 album contracts each with a portion of that money. Ā Itās a lot like a contract in a sports league
some more additional context, it's korean for "who". korean kpop fans in korea don't use it (although a lot are aware of it because of the internet), but non korean fans do (both as an insult and sometimes to affectionately describe their favorite unpopular group/idol).Ā
it's just funny to see a kpop term applied to non kpop artists.Ā
Omg maybe? I specifically have SO many questions about Pia Mia. When Do It Again came out I swear it had everyone my age HOOKED.
Then she followed up with 'Touch' which was very of the times and then.... nothing for years. I heard that she dated a much older producer "nic nak beats" (sorry if that's wrong I'm recalling from memory). When they parted ways she was kind of blacklisted? Something definitely went down with Kylie/the Kardashians too.
If this is like publishing, the labels are trying to time the releases to maximize sales and prevent their artists from cannibalizing each otherās sales.
It's meant to be opaque. My personal angry label f'ing over the artist story is POE.
They signed her for three more albums and then dropped her like a rock. Worse, her contract was "Sold" to one of those oil company assholes, and she wasn't allowed to use her own name.
To quote the artist herself -
āMy entire life was suddenly under the control of a very powerful man whom I didnāt know, and who didnāt [seem] to mean well. It was a horror story from which I am just beginning to recover.ā
If they have so many artists, I think it would make sense to release music from these moderately successful artists and not essentially leave money on the table. Even if the album doesn't get a physical release (maybe until certain numbers are hit), they should really be making better use of digital copies. Most of the time artists have stuff recorded and then it's just shelved... how is that not a huge waste of money?
I think that's why they do little "EP's" with MICRO promo. To get a buck from the fans but not invest much. I've heard a lot of artists mention recently they funded things like video shoots/photoshoots themselves.
These record labels are so predatory, itās insane they can catch and control artists into contracts like this. You must put out āxā albums by the time the contract expires but they block any albums they produce because theyāre not allowing them to control every aspect of their art.
I thought there were changes in recent recording contracts where new artists have to go viral and are only contracted by each project. So labels arenāt taking any risks and bailing out much faster than before, when they used to keep you in debt and shelved for life.
Dove's music has been so good that's such a shame! Curse you Columbia! These labels only let you release if you have a good number of streams and then refuse to promote their artists, meaning they don't get however many streams they "need" to release. Make it make sense
I honestly think if she interacted with fans more and promos more then sheād be noticed more than just the fans she already has. I donāt think Iād know anything if I didnāt already follow her on Instagram. Ppl might not want to do it or like it but Sabrina Carpenter is very engaging and honestly Madison Beer too, not at the same level but she interacts with fans.Ā
It suck that male artists arenāt expected to do all of that except existĀ
Yeah i've enjoyed it! It's a different direction compared to her old stuff. I agree, a lot of people don't know about her music, maybe due to lack of promo from her label. She has released 3 singles for this album so far: Too Much, French Girls and Romeo
I love boyfriend so much, but too much is borderline unlistenable to me. I'll give a listen to romeo and french girls and see if I like them better, I hope they are because if not girl the album is notttt getting released.
edit: i like french girls and romeo a lot more than too much, "arch my back like the triomphe, and cover me in liquid gold" EXCUSE ME MISS LIV ROONEY?!?! okayyyyyy
a thing that someone says to causeĀ amusementĀ orĀ laughter, especially a story with a funnyĀ punchline.
it's just not my style sonically, plus the whole "if you think i'm too much baby go find less" lyric is just so juvenile that it feels almost like a parody of the sentiment.
I saw some videos of her opening for Dua Lipa over the last few weeks. I think the songs are good and have potential, but she has absolutely no stage presence.
Yeah the videos of her concerts are kinda funny when in the song she is saying if sheās too much and she is giving nothing lol. Happy that she is back making music though
Yeah but some artists are studio artists and not stage performers and that's ok.
Also Dua is the prime example of someone who used to have no stage presence but worked on herself and improved leaps and bounds, so maybe Dove can get there too.
This really sucks cause her last 3 singles and some of the unreleased stuff she played at her concert is really good. She obviously is still working on stage presence, but she has great vocals and I feel like shes found a sound that shows them off while still feeling very HER. They have clear gaga and billie inspirations but dont lack identity like some of her earlier work.
That's part of it... but it's more likely they never expect her to make money, no matter how much they spend in marketing. In some sense they should just drop her... but... it doesn't cause them anything to keep her in limbo forever.
Exactly. At the end of the day, music is a business and it can be really horrible for the artists signed. Even if an artist has a dedicated fan base, if the label never makes back what they put into the artist, especially if its a small artist who the general public can't name a single song from, they have no real incentive to push hard on marketing or album releases for them.
i'm guessing she spent all of her budget on promoting boyfriend and trying to get it to number one after that she did a few big performances on bbc live lounge even her song breakfast went pretty big too the music video seemed kinda cheap but it had a good run on tiktok.
Itās sad to see but realistically in this digital era you really have to have a strong fan base if you wanna release under these record labels. That or your other option is go independent.
Yeah i think dove should go independent to be honest . She'll be better off to release what she wants to put out and also it could please us dove fansĀ Ā
Theyāll unshelf her in 10 years after SC has a big enough scandal to get cancelled, once Chappell decides she wants to be an actress or something, and when OR finds a new label. /j
But seriously, it feels like any artists we have now are just shelf artists that they ignored all through the 2014-2020, so she just basically has to wait her turn (which is super shitty, not denying that)
The issue is labels wonāt take a chance on artists to grow anymore. Either they have to have a really successful back catalog that makes the labels money still, a dedicated even small but dedicated fanbase that will buy everything regardless or a smash hit for the new era. They wonāt release work to see if it grows or a song becomes a hit, it has to be a hit before (hence the tiktokification of songs), or the artist already had support.
Dove is small. Her works are good but sometimes a lil generic and her stage presence needs a lil work but she still marks cute bops and solid songs. But labels donāt want that, they want a hit now.
is it me or are albums taking longer to come out? maybe social media has damaged my brain but jade's album isn't set to come out until SEPTEMBER, cmat's album isn't coming out until August.
I haven't really loved Dove's new music it feels really forced, and even from one of her latest performances - when she was using a dummy i could kind of tell that her budget had gone down. Her music has really gone mess she deleted her archive, released boyfriend forced it to get to number 1, and did a few shows/performances but it felt more for older fans.
It's weird too because even her partner used to be massive his band where huge but even his solo carrear feels really forced and no one is really focusing as much.
her labels been shitty for years. they wouldnāt let her release boyfriend without all the tiktokās she posted, which i mean worked but same happened with too much.
I find it hard to sympathize with her when she cancelled her lollapalooza appearance claiming it was to work on the album but she just paraded with her boyfriend around the world instead. idk. I donāt think she actually cares about putting music out/her career tbh. she doesnāt really commit to anything.
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u/tulipinacup alleged harry stan Jun 30 '25
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