The coverage stopped because Frank Ocean released Blonde — his real new album that weekend. He released Blonde independently; Endless fulfilled his contract with Universal Music.

Endless became a footnote in Blonde’s reviews and analysis.

Blonde soared to number one on the Billboard 200, and made Frank Ocean over a million dollars in one week. Consequently, Universal Music lost what could amount to millions of dollars on Endless as Blonde stole all of its thunder.

Sounds like the makings of a great courtroom drama, right?

Universal Music technically has every right to sue Frank Ocean. Most label contracts have a stipulation saying that artists can’t release a new album after their contract expires without waiting for a pre-determined period of time. That means Universal could sue Frank for releasing Blonde so soon. (Although this Billboard article suggests that Universal isn’t considering suing him).

That same Billboard article, though, makes it sound like a shame that this is happening. Perhaps as a result of Frank’s actions, Universal will no longer allow exclusives tied to any streaming services. Take it with a grain of salt, but apparently the first streamed exclusive on the cutting board was a new Gwen Stefani record.) Universal Music, the world’s biggest record label, is once again at odds with Apple Music (and Tidal, and Spotify).

This Isn’t About Labels

Of course, the issue is more complicated than that.

Frank Ocean wasn’t the first artist to have major success with an independently-released, exclusively-streamed record. Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book climbed to number eight on the Billboard 200 this year. It was one of the most successful independent music releases of all time.

These aren’t situations where Apple was just paying for things. There’s intimate creative involvement from the Apple side, down to actually directing videos. Labels are rarely involved.

Drake has also climbed to number one as a streaming exclusive this year with Views . That record is still one of the most-streamed albums on Apple Music, months after its release.

Sean Glass wrote an incredibly eye-opening post about how Apple Music exclusives actually work (he worked at Apple, so he would know). It turns out that Apple has an active creative involvement in every exclusive they have a hand in. The key quote is this: “These aren’t situations where Apple was just paying for things. There’s intimate creative involvement from the Apple side, down to actually directing videos. Labels are rarely involved.”

In these cases, Apple is actually acting as creative producer for the singles, albums, and videos. Glass suggests that Drake’s “Hotline Bling” video (among countless others over the past decade) wouldn’t exist were it not for Apple’s creative involvement, support, and financial backing.

Frank Ocean isn’t the first to independently release an album to mass success. Chance the Rapper, who has always been unsigned, had similar success earlier this year.

This is a shift in the way music is produced. Traditionally, labels fund the projects as money-makers for everybody involved. But that’s changing. Physical album sales are still declining. The money musicians make from merch and touring has become more integral to their income. The album is becoming a portfolio piece for both the streaming companies, like Apple, and the musicians who use albums to sell tickets to shows.

The album is becoming a portfolio piece for both the streaming companies, like Apple, and the musicians who want to sell tickets to shows.

This isn’t a bad thing. Although it’s a giant shift in the way artists make music, it’s more in line with our “music on demand” culture now. Streaming companies make music a service instead of a product, much like Netflix and HBO are in the “storytelling as a service” business.

As artists realize they don’t need the record labels anymore, and streaming companies look for ways to differentiate themselves, an exclusive album becomes more important for everybody involved.

This isn’t about labels. This is about creative freedom.

Music and Television

The television metaphor is apt. Imagine Universal Music, Sony, et. al as conventional networks like ABC and NBC. The conventional networks are concerned with marketability and number-one hits, so their creative involvement places limits on an artist’s creative expression.

Now think of Apple Music and Tidal as HBO and Netflix. Their goal is to create platforms where people want to be, largely thanks to compelling and creative stories that are well-told. Similarly, Apple Music and Tidal want to create platforms where people want to be, largely thanks to compelling and creative music that is well-made and smartly-produced.

Apple Music and Tidal don’t want to limit creative expression; they want to encourage it. Again, similarly to Netflix and HBO, these companies are interested in paying artists whatever it takes to get the highest-quality, most creative work they can come up with.

The channels we listen to music on are changing. Naturally, the distribution and production process is too.

Back to Frank Ocean. Frank Ocean doesn’t need Universal Music. Chance the Rapper doesn’t need a label. For that matter, neither does Drake, Kanye, or Gwen Stefani. Beyoncé certainly doesn’t need one.

So why bother with them?

Think of Apple Music and Tidal as HBO and Netflix.

Frank Ocean has Universal Music in a bit of a panic, as he probably should. The labels originally existed to help distribute and market music. Now that there are more financially interesting and creatively stimulating ways for artists to do that, they don’t need the labels like they used to.

This should have the labels running scared. Their entire business model has an expiration date. Hot tip: Whenever you hear somebody complain about how there are too many “streaming exclusives” on social media or in the news, find out if that person has a relationship with traditional music media or labels. They usually do.

The bottom line? Timed streaming exclusives are good for musicians, which makes them great for us as music lovers.

Frank Ocean and Blonde aren’t the final nail in Universal Music’s coffin. Neither is the inevitable Taylor Swift exclusive. When Adele about-faces and releases her new music as an exclusive digital one day, that’s when the labels are completely dead.

Frank Ocean, along with Chance, Drake, and Kanye, have proved that any musician can do it without a traditional label. And one day, they all will.

The post This Is How Frank Ocean & Streaming Will Save Music appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

It seems that the fame got to her, in the way that sudden fame can seem suddenly alienating and confusing for many musicians. Emily’s D+Evolution feels like a direct response to that success, as Spalding runs in the opposite direction of much of what she was known for and chooses to grow by pushing jazz into unexpected, prog-rock like directions.

Good Lava and Judas both feel positively polyrhythmic, with unpredictable and jazzy guitar riffs guiding pummelling alt-rock tracks from beginning to end, and Spalding’s voice somehow uniting all of these wild elements together. The two tracks are great summaries of what you can expect from the rest of the album: although Spalding’s gone electric, her musicians are still playing jazz. Wild drums, virtuoso guitar parts, driving bass lines that completely ignore the main riff while tying the whole track together, time signatures that are difficult to predict and harder to understand, all these things are key components to the jazz experience.

This is an authentic jazz record, but it’s done with rock music. And while plenty of people have played jazz rock before, this feels like a rare time when it’s a jazz band becoming interested in rock music — not the other way around.

At the centre of it all is Emily, a character that Spalding recently told NPR came to her in a dream. And while she claims Emily, which is also Spalding’s middle name, isn’t some sort of Slim Shady-style Id being worked out through her Ego, it seems sort of obvious that’s the case in a lot of ways.

fHaving naturally taken chamber jazz as far as it could go, moving into alt-rock territory could be perceived as an evolution or de-evolution by Spalding’s audience. As a character, Emily is a way for Spalding to avoid taking the brunt of the weight that comes with criticism, a way for her to use an alter ego to explore something new without allowing it to hurt the goodwill she’s built up as a jazz performer — much the same way that Slim Shady allowed Eminem to become completely, publicly outrageous without ever necessarily being perceived as a total lunatic or real menace to society (at least, not by his fans).

All that being said, Emily feels more attuned to social justice and hippy love than Esperanza is. It’s not that Emily allows her to explore lyrical insanities, so much as Emily allows her to experiment with the form without sacrificing her jazz roots. She’s taking the form electric the same way that Dylan took folk rock electric — and it’s incredible.

The post Esperanza Spalding: Emily’s D+Evolution appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

If I had to pick my own preferred single from the record, I’d choose Urban Photograph, which is catchy but still dynamic. That being said, I’m pretty sure Freak is the actual single, and it’s not a bad choice — like one commenter on Rdio said, it’s “9 words over and over.”

I love Kids & Love, which is just beautiful. And We Should Go To France is just so catchy and involving, while Winter’s Calling tugs on the heart. Urban Cone sounds amazing with big speakers and is just great to dance to. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The post Urban Cone: Our Youth appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

My expectations for Hesitation Marks were really high, and I’m actually very pleased. This is a Reznor who isn’t so filled with rage and self-loathing, and his music sounds more mature — but he hasn’t lost his sense of artistry.

Find My Way is as introspective as his best tracks were, and Copy of A has the same intensity as some of the best tracks off Slip or With Teeth. Come Back Haunted is dangerously sharp and dramatic, and will be sure to please old-time fans. All Time Low has that same old groove and bounce he’s familiar for, but is a good example of a track that isn’t as dark as it would have been in years gone by. I Would For You is fantastic, but it’s quickly toppled by In Two. While I’m Still Here is beyond impressive, playing with elements I never would have thought Reznor would have tried.

The album isn’t perfect, and some tracks are clearly flawed and lack the bite that vintage Nine Inch Nails carried. Reznor isn’t as angry as he used to be (and if he was, the record wouldn’t sound authentic at all). This isn’t the best Nine Inch Nails record, but who cares? We should just be glad he’s back.

The post Nine Inch Nails: Hesitation Marks appeared first on Unsung Sundays.