The Dream left Def Jam at the top of last year and
recently formed his own record label, Contra-Paris,
through Capitol Records. During an interview with
Billboard, The Dream spoke on the evil in the music
business and blames labels for only caring about their
stock interests and, in doing so, treat their clients
terribly.
“When the Atlanta Braves were owned by Ted Turner,
he was very passionate and did whatever it took to do
something good–and eventually he made money,”
said The Dream. “Labels used to be the same way.
Now they’re corporations, and it’s only about their
stock.
For me, that’s
where the evil
started…
artists are
treated like
slaves. We
have terrible
contracts, we
have
streaming
services that
pay one-tenth
of a cent per
play, we have
no laws to protect us.”
The talented artist also had interesting takes on race
in the music world. According to The Dream, white
artists are at a supreme advantage when it comes to
making money and having longevity in music. “If you
got a hit and you’re white, there are no limits to what
you can do,” says Terius Nash. “If you’re black and
you have a hit today but can’t do it again tomorrow,
then your ass is out of here. When the industry uses
you up, that’s it. You’re gone. It’s a constant battle for
our culture. We can’t say no to radio, we can’t say no
to Spotify, and we can’t have a concert because
nobody will come.
And the
whole time,
everybody is
taking our
culture to
enhance the
pop side of
things. By
the way, the
pop side
doesn’t
mean you
have to be
white. Bruno
Mars is pop.
Nobody lists
to Bruno
Mars like
he’s a black
artists.
Which I’m
sure for him,
he’s like,
‘Thank
God.’
There are urban artists and then there are pop artists,
and urban artists get things taken from theme. We
create the swag, and everybody knows it.”
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