In the music industry, there has always been controversy surrounding the ownership of an artist’s masters. We’ve heard artists take to social media to air out their record labels or executives who have contractually taken ownership of the original recordings of their music. Kanye West made a plea last year, Taylor Swift has publicly made an enemy of Scooter Braun over much of her catalog, and many independent artists have come forward to brag that they have full ownership of their creations. However, Jim Jones recently shared a video to social media where he asks those independent artists if they even know how to capitalize off of their master’s flex.
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“To be an independent artist is very dope,” said Jones. “That means you keeping the power within yourself. Dope. There are a lot of independent artists talking about, ‘I own my masters, I own my masters’… My question is to you artists who say ‘I own my masters’: Do you even know what to do with your masters once you own them? Do you know how to cash in on those masters? Or are you owning your masters like you own a chain? Get back to me if you know exactly what a master even is. If you understand the whole method.”
“And remember, this ain’t the seventies when the masters used to be big reels and stuff like that like Michael Jackson and them was doing it,” he added. “It’s a bit different. Masters are digital. There’s no physical thing that you can grab onto. But do you know how to cash in on them? Let me know and I’ll holla back.”
Check out his clip below and let us know if you agree with Jones that many artists boast about masters without knowing what they’re for.