Should Today’s R&B Artists Take the Independent Route?
The tail end of the summer has been a comeback season of sorts for several R&B heavyweights. Gone are the glitzy days of million-dollar music videos and monstrous marketing budgets that peppered the 90s. Now, social media has allowed the artist to become the machine and given record labels less power. Let’s take former R&B/pop heavyweights, Monica and Brandy. Both women are now independent artists and calling the shots in their musical careers. Following their record-breaking Verzuz battle (or “celebration” as they dubbed it), they earned a combined total of well over 20 million streams. Monica took the opportunity as the perfect platform to launch her new single, “Trenches”, which received the highest streams of any Brandy or Monica song, following their Verzuz battle. The spike in music had nothing to do with a record label push, but everything to do with a longstanding history of hits…and a few feuds along the way.
It’s no secret that record sales are nowhere near as high as they were twenty-plus years ago. However, artists are benefiting from getting a larger slice of the pie for music released through their own labels. Take Ledisi for instance. Her latest album, The Wild Card, sold over 38,000 copies (including streams in its first week). The sales landed her a top 10 Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart debut. On the other hand, Toni Braxton’s first venture on her new label, Spell My Name, faired much lower in sales (just over 7,000 sales and streams). Both albums were stellar and despite heavier promotion from Toni Braxton’s label, it didn’t translate into sales.
Prince was far ahead of his time with his struggle to be an independent artist. Remember the strange “slave” marking across his jaw back in the day? He was very vocal about why artists should have control of their own music. This notion may be especially critical for R&B music, as it hasn’t seen some of the mainstream/Pop success it once had long ago. Time will tell, as other R&B artists like Mary J. Blige and Anthony Hamilton prep new albums set to release soon (the latter being another independent album).
What are some of your favorite label-driven or independent R&B releases lately?