Kanye West says the music industry is “a broken system that needs to be fixed” amid his latest rant about buying his own masters
The 43-year-old rapper recently hit out at Universal Music on Twitter when he alleged they have been keeping him from buying and owning his master recordings, and has now said he is “committed to doing whatever is necessary” to make sure all artists going forward will be able to own their own recordings
26 September 2020
He said: “The desired effect will only be achieved when every artist owns their masters. I’m Team ‘Free Artists.’ I’m committed to doing whatever is necessary so artists own their own copyrights. The response is awesome because everyone knows this is a broken system that needs to be fixed. Currently, artists take advances to make records and yet when they repay those advances the record company still owns the records.
“Imagine a bank lending you money to buy a house and then when you’ve repaid that mortgage, them telling you they still own it. [Prominent music lawyer] Joel Katz showed up; [Hipgnosis Songs Fund founder] Merck Mercuriadis showed up; Steve Rifkind showed up. I’ve put together a group of advisors to get me the information I need to succeed on behalf of all artists.”
Kanye also elaborated on his plan to help Taylor Swift - whom he has been feuding with for many years - in her own quest to buy her masters from Big Machine Records, after he tweeted to insist he would get in touch with label boss Scooter Braun.
Speaking to Billboard magazine, he added: “All artists need to be free and own their rights. Taylor Swift deserves that, just like everyone else. As I mentioned before, Scooter Braun is a friend and we’ll be having that discussion.”
In his initial Twitter rant, the ‘Bound 2’ hitmaker insisted his children - North, seven, Saint, four, Chicago, two, and Psalm, 16 months, whom he has with Kim Kardashian West - will be the legal owners of his master recordings.
He fumed: "MY CHILDREN WILL OWN MY MASTERS ... NOT YOUR CHILDREN ... MY CHILDREN ... MY CHILDREN ... MY CHILDREN
“EVERYONE AT UNIVERSAL AND VIVENDI PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY LEGAL POWER AND USE MY VOICE UNTIL ALL ARTIST CONTRACTS ARE CHANGED STARTING WITH GETTING MY MASTERS FOR MY CHILDREN I WILL NOT STOP I PROMISE YOU IM AM PETTY AND VERY PERSONAL (sic)"
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