Brent Faiyaz: Changing the Blueprint of IP Ownership in the Digital Era
Intellectual Property is in a weird place right now.
We all saw what happened when that Drake & The Weeknd song made with AI hit the internet last week.
It garnered over 250k streams in a few days, a ton of press, and eventually a cease and desist order from Universal Music Group.
And although today’s piece isn’t about Artificial Intelligence, it brings up an even more pressing topic:
OWNERSHIP.
Ownership is everything when it comes to intellectual property. It’s true in any industry, but especially in creative fields where the lines between art & commerce tend to get blurred.
Often in the creative industry, business people will try to convince the creatives that they shouldn’t worry about money — a “true artist” is only concerned with creativity. Budgets are tight these days, ya know?
But, we both know that’s bullsh*t.
Why?
Because from the moment you create anything of value, someone somewhere is going find a way to own it and use that ownership to get paid from it. So, as the owner of your work it’s important to know what you’re entitled to financially.
This is especially true with us being in the early stages of AI adoption.
THINK ABOUT IP IN THE CONTEXT OF A RECORD DEAL…
When we started to have these conversations with the labels, it was like, these n****s are trying to pay me 11% out of 100%. Just because you motherf*ckers give me some money early? F*ck that. You crazy. That sh*t don’t make sense. - Ty Baisden, DJ Booth
The quote above from Ty Baisden of Sonder/Lost Kids highlights a big issue with the music industry: Record deals suck. A lot. They’re basically loans with excruciatingly high interest rates, and even if you pay it back, you still don’t own your Intellectual Property afterwards.
It’s like layaway, but the company keeps the product after you pay it off. And because it was on layaway, you never really took it home to begin with. A paradox, no?
Similar issues happen in marketing all of the time. Remember happened with Coinbase & Ogilvy?
Coinbase made a great super bowl ad, and the agency wasn't credited for it. After being called out by a member of Ogilvy’s team, Coinbase said that the omission was mistake, and that they didn’t realize the idea came from an outside agency.
Whether that’s true or not, the issue being raised here isn’t just about credit. It goes to a larger issue:
Ownership.
The next generation of creatives are tired of trying to figure out how to get what’s fair. They’re realizing they do the lionshare of the work for a small percentage and are ready for change.
That brings us to a unique case study in music that we should be paying attention to:
Brent Faiyaz
Brent Faiyaz is an independent R&B artist who moves like he’s with a major label.
To date, he’s done records with The Neptunes, Drake, GoldLink, Alicia Keys and more, but you also might remember him from the that smash hit record a few years back named “Crew,” where he sung the chorus.
Brent and his team spent over seven years building his core fanbase by bootstrapping and not relying on outside help from labels, and as a result, they have control over the IP generated through their record label “Lost Souls.” In essence, they control their fate in ways that stars twice their size can’t.
However, despite his indie success, Brent’s business partner Ty often tells the story about how hard it was to get major record labels to do a fair deal with him.
In the interview below, Ty recounts when he asked labels interested in partnering with Brent for an ‘all'-in’ deal of $150K for his next body of work. All of the labels said ‘No.’
For that price, a few of them wanted Brent to sign with them for 4-5 albums so that they could “grow with the deal.”
And honestly, when you do the math…
A $150k advance for 5 projects nets out to a $30k advance per album. Although, I should note that you typically get a new advance every project **if you’ve recouped the advance & recording fees on your last one.**
Regardless, it’s still pretty low in terms of compensation — especially when you’re also giving up the rights to the master recordings and any royalties that the masters generates.
Needless to say, Brent & his team passed on the major label offers.
Fast Forward To Now
and Brent just announced that he turned down a $50 million dollar record deal!
Instead of signing to a major label, he will be partnering with United Masters, a Steve Stoute backed venture that focuses on music distribution for indie recording artists.
His deal with UM also includes infrastructure for a creative agency, which is perfect considering that Stoute also runs Translation agency in New York.
Brent, his business partner Ty and the team over at Sonder took a longer road to success that required ample investment but the proof is quite literally before us: He still owns his work, and now has a venture that will give him opportunities to access brand deals on a major scale.
The Implications Are Clear
We talked about it in the piece on artists opening their own creative collectives. That message continues to ring true today:
Artists are now becoming artist-partners in the work they create. They’re more business savvy than ever before, and they expect a fair cut of the work.
Does that mean that the creative industry will change?
No.
There will always be people who choose traditional record labels, traditional creative agencies, etc. Having the infrastructure and financial backing is essential, and for many artists a major label deal presents their best path to success.
But for those who are looking for something different, artists like Brent Faiyaz are showing that there is a way to do it. And although independence comes with its own hardships, if you can weather the storm, the rewards balance it out just fine.
Peace.