Much has been made about Apple’s efforts to obtain exclusive access to albums from select artists for Apple Music. Thus far, Apple Music has offered albums from artists like Drake, Chance the Rapper, Frank Ocean, and others ahead of other streaming platforms.
In a series of tweets this afternoon, Chance the Rapper offered up more details as to how his partnership with Apple came to be…
The artist offered the details after some tried to “discredit” his independence because of his Apple partnership. Chance the Rapper famously lacks a deal with a record label and has made all of his music available for free, making the Apple Music partnership a bit out of character.
Chance explained in his tweets that Apple came to him with an offer of $500,000 to have exclusive rights to his “Coloring Book” album for two weeks. Apple also gave him what he needed to create a commercial to promote Coloring Book, seen below. After the two-week exclusivity window, “Coloring Book” became available for free on SoundCloud.
The move on Chance the Rapper’s part drew criticism from some of his fans, who had grown used to him always making his music available for free on SoundCloud. He explained in his tweets today, however, that he “needed the money and they’re all good people over there,” referring to Apple.
Chance also offered up his thoughts on the so-called “streaming wars” and how the artist can benefit. He explained:
Exclusive content on streaming services has become a point of contention in the music industry over the last year or so. Some labels, like Universal Music, have even go as far as to say they won’t agree to any further exclusive streaming deals.
If you come across opportunities to work with good people, pick up cash and keep your integrity I say do it.
Services, however, use exclusive content as a way to lure customers from competitors. Tidal is notorious for long-running exclusive content, while Spotify has spoken out against the practice and called it bad for both artists and consumers.
You can view Chance the Rapper’s full thoughts in the below tweets:
I never felt the need to correct folks on my relationship with @apple but now that more people have tried to discredit my independence..
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) March 17, 2017
I wanna clear things up. @apple gave me half a mil and a commercial to post Coloring Book exclusively on applemusic for 2 weeks https://t.co/dMWwptrHHH
That was the extent of my deal, after 2 weeks it was on SoundCloud for free. I needed the money and they’re all good people over there https://t.co/5kIhv0YaKS
I feel like if I didnt clear it up people would keep trying to discredit all the work we did to make Coloring Book what it became https://t.co/05v81I38ur
I think artist can gain a lot from the streaming wars as long as they remain in control of their own product. https://t.co/6agVO3uIdf
I just wanna remain transparent. Folks out there without a deal need to know they’re doing everything right just keep at it. https://t.co/5udstMPX62
If you come across oprtunities to work with good people, pick up cash and keep your integrity I say Do It https://t.co/yF0gBPkLhY
