I have been fascinated by the Magna Carta… Holy Grail experience from the announcement during the NBA finals all the way through the digital release last week via Samsung’s Galaxy platform. The evolution of Sean Carter is complete, because he truly is a “business, man” instead of just a businessman with this partnership. Between the setup, the hype and the payoff, it has been a stark example of just how quickly the music industry and the technology it utilizes has changed. Now that the latest from Mr. Carter is being made available to the general public, let’s take a look at the hits and misses of this music industry experiment. And if you’re not careful, you may learn something before it’s done!
- The Set Up – Hova teamed up with Samsung via commercial to let the world know about Magna
Carta… Holy Grail on June 16th during Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Would the announcement have been earlier if the Heat had swept the Spurs? Probably, but who cares? For once, I was in the right place at the right time, having picked up a Samsung Galaxy S3 only a few months earlier. On June 24th, the app was available on Google Play, and I downloaded it early that morning. What I thought would be a race against time didn’t end up being all that bad, as the Play store only showed about 30,000 downloads of the app by the time I got it at 6AM Mountain Time. That may have been because of… - The Hook – Nothing in this life comes without a cost, and that holds true for the “free” download from Samsung of MCHG (I’m done spelling it out). In order to access the important content on the app, you were forced to tweet on Twitter or post on Facebook to the world that you were doing so. Once you had done their bidding, then you were graced with the lyrics or video for that day’s song release. If that wasn’t bad enough, the permissions you gave the app to allow it to exist on your phone were even worse. Not only could it identify your call status, but it allowed tracking via GPS and modifying your storage. Granted, to download the album would make a change to the storage on your phone, but a lot of users balked at this. Killer Mike’s infamous postings to Twitter passing on free music were picked up by Billboard and went viral. Speaking of Billboard…
The Hype – Jay-Z’s folks approached Billboard about two weeks prior to announcing the Samsung deal, inquiring about how the million copies would be reflected on the Billboard Top Albums chart. End of story? Hardly. The new Billboard, in its attempts to be relevant, inserted itself into the story instead of simply reporting on it. Rather than attempt to be nimble and roll with the rapidly changing landscape of music retail, they took a more cautious approach, and then hyped it every chance they could, including on the cover of their own magazine. While I understand that you can’t just jump into chart methodology changes, the release of MCHG proves that the paradigm for delivery content to end users is changing rapidly, and decisions like this are going to occur more and more often as competitive companies will not want to announce delivery innovations to the marketplace until they are ready to launch.- The Payoff – So July 4th rolls around, and I wake up, do my normal morning routine stuff, wander out to the kitchen where my phone charges and access the app. There’s an update to the app waiting (I counted five over the course of two weeks), and then the album downloads. Sweet! I play the first track (“Holy Grail” with Justin Timberlake), and I am loving it. Now…to figure out how to get the music to my iPod. Even though I am a devoted smartphone user, I still do not utilize my phone for my music. I have decided that I want my music on a separate device for some reason, and this experience doesn’t do anything to make me change my mind. The nice thing about using the app to listen to MCHG is that the lyrics come up with each track, allowing me to follow along at home (I’m not going to try that while driving for obvious reasons). Sadly, not everyone had a positive experience with the download on the 4th, as many app users discovered issues with downloading the tracks, causing an already less than perfect situation to become even less ideal. Add to that the almost instant leak of the album to the Internet, and what started off as an exclusive idea suddenly becomes a bit of a joke.
- The Aftermath – I’ll leave the formal review of MCHG to others, but to my ear it is on the strong side of Jay-Z’s discography. It’s a mature work that straddles the lines between jet-setter, businessman, devoted husband and father. Even with 1 million in sales banked, the record is still expected to sell another 300-400K over the first week of release. Did the Samsung deal help or hurt sales? I’m going to guess there will be an impact, but when Kanye is posting his worst debut week ever while still being highly visible and viable as an artist, drops may be inevitable.
- The Future – From a business standpoint, it’s clear that the gatekeepers (Billboard especially) need to revamp their own models to keep up with an ever-changing marketplace. You cannot make pronouncements about how the model has to change quickly without having the ability to do so yourself when the time comes. If the RIAA can make a change to acknowledge a purchase of units right away, then the leading trade magazine should be able to respond at least partially in kind. They create unique charts for every sub-genre known to man, so why not publish a parallel chart that allows for these types of deals to captured without tainting their pristine main chart? Purchasing or at least downloading an app and engaging in activities on said app are actions by a consumer that should be monetized and allow for receiving content in return as a viable (/endrant) For artists, innovation is now a reality rather than a luxury or an option. There are so many avenues available now to promote their work, so those who innovate and think outside the box are going to be rewarded for it with devoted audiences in unexpected places. MCHG may not be a monumental release, but it has set off a series of tremors that will leave the landscape unrecognizable in a matter of years if others follow in its tracks.
11 comments
Big Money says:
Jul 9, 2013
I highly respect Jay-Z’s business acumen. I’m sure that, no matter what happens as a result of this, he pocketed quite a bit of coin and did so in a somewhat unique way.
I’m an iPhone user, and I don’t buy a ton of digital music, so the whole Samsung deal didn’t really make much difference to me, as long as I knew that I would eventually be able to buy a physical copy of the album.
Billboard Magazine has turned into a fucking joke. If I could collect my thoughts on it in a coherent fashion, I would.
I got through about half of the album on Spotify today. It’s pretty good, all things considered.
Ernie says:
Jul 9, 2013
My two cents.
In regards to Billboard, you’re spot on with how they (meaning Bill Werde) made it about them instead of the story. The “editorial” in the issue I got is so self-conscious it’s hallucinatory. However, I don’t agree with a non-paying app counting as a sale, just as with Prince in Britain giving away copies with a sale of a paper (and at least that involved a “sale”). Basically the album app is a Trojan Horse for a big data mining bot that I really don’t have respect for in term of either “art” or “commerce”. But whatever.
Listening to what I have online of the set I guess I’m underwhelmed. Like a lot of high-profile non-gangster rap, it seems more product placement than poetry, almost like a reality show for the blind. Meh. Justin Timberlake makes is swallowable if only because a melodic hook is there.
At least he can lay claim over Kanye, though Kanye doomed himself already with immersing himself in the “true” reality wallow of the Kardashians, which totally negated whatever “brand” he is trying to keep up.
It’s sad that just being lyrically superior to Tyga makes you a rap legend. Meh.
John Hill says:
Jul 9, 2013
I don’t think the app itself makes it count, but the activity and giving up personal info via tracking should have some type of value. So maybe there should be an album chart for free content (mixtapes, giveaways, etc) with the only criteria being the consumer has to actively request/download the content.
As for the album itself, I do like it. The beats, the vibe, and the content are not visionary or groundbreaking, but sonically I think it’s solid. Jay may never be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but his longevity and his moments of true brilliance have cemented him as a legend in the field.
John Hill says:
Jul 9, 2013
I’ll give Billboard (and Werde specifically) credit for one thing: they have fueled a more meaningful dialogue about where the industry is going. Now if they’d just get out of the way and let the industry do that, they might have a more positive reputation.
Big Money says:
Jul 10, 2013
Oh, Jay DEFINITELY gets into the R&R HOF. He’s a shoo-in.
Both Yeezus and MCHG are good albums. Yeezus is controlled clusterfuckery, while MCHG is one of Jay’s better “autopilot” albums. One’s max effort, one’s min effort, but both are solid (if not up to the best of both artists’ work)
John Hill says:
Jul 10, 2013
I don’t know about the R&R HOF shoo-in. I see B.I.G. and 2Pac getting in before him, mainly because I think mainstream perception of Jay is successful but not innovative. I’d argue that point all day, but from a big picture view it would be a heavy lift for him to get in.
GG says:
Jul 10, 2013
If Jay-Z doesn’t get in, then no one gets in from this era, save Outkast. He has to.
I enjoy the album, but I don’t love it. That’s kind of my relationship with most of Jay’s catalog.
Big Money says:
Jul 10, 2013
I think he’s really the first successful artist/businessman/conglomerate. Also, he has more #1 albums than anyone other than Elvis. That’s hard to ignore. Critics love him, fans love him, and he’s 17 years into a successful career, which is more or less unprecedented for a rapper (save for LL and The Beastie Boys.) 2Pac and BIG will get in first, mostly because a) they’re dead, and b) they recorded first, but Jay is probably a first ballot HOF’er.
Trey Stone says:
Jul 10, 2013
I was surprised that I think this is his worst album cuz I feel like I’m easier on his post-retirement stuff than most. His flow’s just fallen off so much and that’s a big part of why he became so successful/respected in the first place. + there’s no good beats to paper over it, Timbaland in particular drops some pretty bland loops
some rappers can get away with not having the best flow but I don’t think Jay is one of ’em, without the technique he’s missing something core to why he was one of (or the) greatest
Trey Stone says:
Jul 10, 2013
on the plus side this album’s release has me relistening to a bunch of his ’96-’03 material, so many great songs
John Hill says:
Jul 10, 2013
You can’t go wrong with that era, but I feel like the new tracks are more about vibe than just beats. If there is a disappointment, it’s that the hardest beats belong to tracks that clock in under two minutes.