Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Aaron DaCosta's Final Paper

Aaron DaCosta
Professor Williams
Digital Media
27 March 2014
Label Expiration?

“Revolutions are still televised, but they get Tumblr'd, tweeted and YouTubed first (Weiss, “Odd Future Wolf”). Since the year 2000, advances in technology and changes in public taste have tested the very foundation of the United States music industry. Traditionally, several large record labels such as Interscope, Atlantic, and R&R controlled not only the when and how music was released to consumers, but who could release it. However, with the genesis of digitalized music, declining CD sales, and online piracy, music has become more easily accessible and distributable. Unlike in the past where artists would take their demos and mix tapes to a record label that would decide whether or not the public would like it, social media platforms give the artists the necessary tools to share their music directly with listeners and get immediate feedback. Numerous new upstart groups and artists took advantage of this change in music distribution to share their albums and gain notoriety. Passion Pit, Chance the Rapper, and Tyler the Creator all utilized the internet and social media to further their respective careers to previously unimaginable heights without record label backing.
            In 2008, Michael Angelakos started what would become Passion Pit when he recorded Chunk of Change EP as a Valentine’s Day present for his girlfriend at the time. Prompted by his friend, Michael put the project on MySpace where the lead single, Sleepyhead, has racked up over three million plays. A testament to the speed and power of social media, Angelakos’ relatively quiet life was completely up ended almost overnight.

“After Angelakos' first Passion Pit project-- 2008's Chunk of Change EP, a Valentine's Day present to a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend-- generated a swarm of buzz, the band shuttled from Boston house parties to upper-tier indie label Frenchkiss to major label Columbia in less than a year” (Fitzmaurice).
            Social and digital media not only helped launch Michael’s career, but held it together through some extremely stressful times. He was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder at the age of 18. This serious condition can make life very difficult, let alone embarking on a national tour. While working on their most recent album Gossamer, Michael fell into a deep depression but was able to keep working on the project through the power of the Internet. Since high fidelity sound files can be shared almost instantly, recording no longer has to happen in one take at the same studio, allowing Angelakos and his band mates to collaborate from different locations.




Social media helped the band reach out to fans and promote good will when it was forced to cancel several tour dates to give Angelakos a mental health break. Passion Pit shared details via their official Twitter page and could answer fans questions.
Chancelor Bennett, a Chicago, Illinois rapper, known by his stage name of Chance, has rocketed to the forefront of the hip-hop mix tape scene in the past two years and is beginning to draw national mainstream attention. Chance recorded his first mix tape 10 Day while he was serving a suspension from his high school in 2011 (Weiss). The stabbing death of Chance’s close friend Rodney Kyles Jr. in 2011 drove him to do some serious soul searching.

The tragedy eventually inspired Chance to redouble his efforts on his rap career. He brilliantly coupled using the traditional tactics of unsigned rappers like passing out copies of his work on the streets and appearing at local venues with social media coordination through Facebook, Twitter and online distribution of his work through the popular sites DatPiff.com and Fake Shore Drive. These strategies and hard work soon paid off; Chance became a Chicago celebrity almost overnight selling out multiple venues and attracting massive crowds everywhere he went (Hyman). “Barely out of his teens, Chancelor Bennett has already transformed himself from a suspended high school student to the young Chicago rapper universally adored” (Weiss, “Situation Critical”). His success has proved that maybe it is not ever necessary to sign a record deal.
            Not content to be a much talked about rapper, Chance parlayed his newfound fame into spots as an opener for Childish Gambino and Eminem’s national and international tours. This decision gained him even more notoriety, instantly attracting record labels. “Chance … took business meetings with "nearly every major label," including a sit-down with Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid. But for now, he says he's holding off signing with anyone.




"There's still more time," he says, "and still so many stages to Acid Rap" (Hyman). However, these companies did not see that the attention also gave him the ability to launch a national solo tour, The Social Experiment Tour, and book huge festival and college show dates as a completely independent artist. The concept that a performer could not only put together such a massive tour, but sell out almost every venue without any record label sponsored promotion or interviews was virtually unheard of until Chance.
            Tyler Gregory Okonma, the eccentric and sometimes obnoxious young rapper/producer, perhaps has utilized the freedom that the Internet and social media afford artists more effectively than anyone else in the industry has. During the past four years, Tyler grew his content from horror-core and shock-core rap with great potential to some incredibly musically and thematically complex work.


He was able to do this because he developed at his own unique pace and worked without the limitations of censorship or commercial viability via the social media site Tumblr. Tyler spoke about the informality of this process with SPIN magazine
 “When you started posting songs to Tumblr, did you have a plan in mind?
I don't know. I'm half-half. Sometimes I know what I'm doing, sometimes I don't. Some people say, "What were you thinking when you made Bastard or Goblin?" I didn't know it was gonna become sequenced like movie albums that you have to listen to beginning to end. I didn't do that on purpose but I did, it's like my subconscious knew what I was doing... I just made a website just to put all of our shit on, just all the skate videos and songs and shit, and people just latched on” (Shepherd).

As Tyler learned and became more professional, his YouTube channel functioned as a digital demo tape of sorts, allowing him to share his work, receive criticism, and grab the attention of labels. By the time he inked his one album deal with Sony; he already obtained a massive fan base, had millions of twitter followers, and won an award for his music video Yonkers. Social media empowered Tyler so much that when he eventually signed his contract he had all the leverage.
Since Tyler was already so popular when he decided to accept a record deal, he had a lot more control over the terms of the contract.
“His hands-on approach is beginning to reap rewards. Odd Future just signed a deal with Sony/RED for distribution rights to its albums, but nothing else. The group will retain “100 percent creative control” and there will be “no third-party participation,” the co-manager Christian Clancy said in a statement” (Caramanica).

Tyler has used his autonomy to branch out from just composing music. He produced a sketch comedy TV show, directed a music video that went viral, and designed his own exclusive clothing line.
Passion Pit, Chance the Rapper, and Tyler, The Creator all rose from relative obscurity to national fame in the blink of an eye. Each performs a different genre of music, began their careers in different cities, and interacts with fans in different ways. However, the power of social media and the Internet allowed them to develop in ways previously unimaginable. Their success is a testament to the ability of a format to change longstanding industry traditions.
Works Cited
Caramanica, Jon. 3Angry Rhymes, Dirty Mouth, Goofy Kid." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 07 May 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Fitzmaurice, Larry. "Inside the Brilliant and Troubled Mind of Passion Pit Leader Michael
Angelakos." Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc., 19 July 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Hyman, Dan. "Chance the Rapper: High Times and Wild Nights in Chicago." Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone, 24 May 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Shepherd, Julianne E. "Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator on Race, Broken Homes, and Waking Up
Rich." SPIN. Spin Magazine, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Weiss, Jeff. "Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All Is Performing Rap on Its Terms." Los
Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Weiss, Jeff. "Situation Critical." Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc., 7 May 2013. Web. 24 Mar.
2014.


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