Execs are to blame and this is why. Execs care about profit. They want Billboard charting singles, artistic integrity be damned. CEO of Cash Money records Brian "Baby" Williams says all the time, "We just about this money". I'm sure would artists would love to give the fans the music they like but there's always some label head telling them, "Oh yeah we love that song, but so and so made this song and sold x amount of copies, so let's make one similar, but we still love this other song". I know most hip hop fans would rather hear the best songs, not the most popular ones. It's a business and that's all about profit. So that single has to chart. Take Lupe Fiasco and his album "Lasers", If he is to be believed.
Quoted from his wiki page:
At a performance in New Zealand in February 2010, Fiasco performed new material from the then-titled We Are Lasers for the first time. He claimed that the album was complete and waiting for a release date from his label, Atlantic Records. However, Atlantic feared that the record lacked commercial singles, and presented Fiasco with songs the label wanted him to record. Fiasco declined, as he was told he would not have ownership of the songs.
So what happens, the artist feels he doesn't need "singles" because it's good music regardless so I shouldn't have to record new songs to fit in with a radio format. He feels his music can stand against anyones. but the exec won't take a chance and says make a more formulaic song, something they can dance to, with a catchy hook.
As we have seen, the artist wasn't happy with Lasers, the fans were not happy with Lasers, but it had catchy singles and they label moved units and that's all the exec cares about, because guess what, he's getting a bonus now. The fans wanted The Cool, Food and Liquor, Lupe. A label exec made the decision to give them something else.
Quoted from his wiki page:
At a performance in New Zealand in February 2010, Fiasco performed new material from the then-titled We Are Lasers for the first time. He claimed that the album was complete and waiting for a release date from his label, Atlantic Records. However, Atlantic feared that the record lacked commercial singles, and presented Fiasco with songs the label wanted him to record. Fiasco declined, as he was told he would not have ownership of the songs.
So what happens, the artist feels he doesn't need "singles" because it's good music regardless so I shouldn't have to record new songs to fit in with a radio format. He feels his music can stand against anyones. but the exec won't take a chance and says make a more formulaic song, something they can dance to, with a catchy hook.
As we have seen, the artist wasn't happy with Lasers, the fans were not happy with Lasers, but it had catchy singles and they label moved units and that's all the exec cares about, because guess what, he's getting a bonus now. The fans wanted The Cool, Food and Liquor, Lupe. A label exec made the decision to give them something else.
