Hip-hop/rapper artist Immortal Technique gave a perfect analogy to describe the strife between music artists and record labels that have persisted for decades. “A record deal is a loan with horrible interest rates.” Unlike a house where you own it after paying it off, in the music industry, the label keeps ownership of your music even after you are done paying it off. That is an injustice, unfair, highly problematic, and just plain wrong.
Huge music artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Kanye West, and many more were victims of bad legal practices in the music industry. Very few artists were immune to the predatory practices of signing into bad record deals like new homebuyers did by signing terrible predatory loans during the housing bubble. Mostly the uneducated and ill-informed were harmed by signing these deals.
As per usual in most disturbing statistics, black/brown people historically have been hurt the most by these asymmetrical and wrongful record deals. This is the main part of what it means to “sell out” or “selling your soul to the devil” which means giving up your rights, giving up your intellectual property, and essentially, what a music artist created and then handing over their creative rights (masters)to someone else. Hence, you become a “slave” which is what Prince wrote on his face and expressed to the rest of the world during his battle with his record label to gain back ownership of his music catalog. Musicians preach this message all the time, “Own your masters!”
All of these things and other factors can sometimes converge in a negative light, where then artists are attacked or may be called crazy, which in turn may amplify or trigger mental episodes. They become more guarded and suspicious of others and may turn to drugs as Michael Jackson did in the last 15 years of his life to cope and sleep well at night. It can also lead to false beliefs, inaccurate conspiracy theories, and seeking out revenge as has occurred to Ye.
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