The Diva & The Digital Panagea - Chris "Preach" Smith

Photo Credit: Columbia Records
Let me begin by stating that this isn’t yet
another Beyonce’ think-piece to add to the
multitude currently out there since she 
sprung her latest self-titled album on an
unsuspecting world nearly two weeks ago.
I’m not knocking her achievement but 
instead, I think there’s a couple of things
brought to light in the wake of her album
release that haven’t been fully examined.

I got inspired to write this partially because
of a funny little encounter I had the night
before. I met up with an out-of-town friend
who was back in NYC for the holidays. We 
go to grab coffee at a Panera Bread and 
wind up striking a conversation with the
young sister behind the counter. (Shoutout
to Isis, thank you mama!)It starts with her
cracking a joke on my friend’s H&M bag 
saying, ‘You better be careful, the Beyonce’
Illuminati might have you with the looks of
that bag.’ We all laugh about it, and talk 
about the album. Out of the three, I confess
that I haven’t really heard it. But the convo
stood out because of the impact of the album
with NO press whatsoever. The power that is
word-of-mouth. And it’s helped out the superstar
in a major way, with it not only going above
platinum level in sales but also being the fastest
selling album ever on iTunes. But let’s be real;
while that viral success is definitely her genius
work, she has a mighty hefty machine behind
her in her label. And she also has to be thankful
for those who have already been clearing the 
way for her in this fashion, primarily in hip-hop.

Hip-hop artists with substance to their music 
have relied more and more on digital delivery
to get more sales and acclaim from the public
without having to fork over a generous share
to a label. Take the output from this year alone;
you’ve got two albums that weren’t sold in a
physical store at all that are tops amongst all
the other hip-hop albums. Run The Jewels, the
self-titled album from the mighty duo of El-P
and Killer Mike has gotten(and rightfully so) 
major love. Keep in mind that the album was
free and it had a bit of promotion before. It also
was solely digital. The other example that comes
to mind is the Brownsville, Brooklyn MC Ka’s 
rugged third album, The Night’s Gambit. The
entire range of promotion from the album came
from Ka’s DIY procress and through videos that
he directed and shot himself. And to bring the
point home, look at Chance The Rapper’s Acid
Rap, being hailed as an album of the year by 
some. A mixtape of sorts by a cat from Chicago
who was below the radar until that dropped.
Their success was built upon that movement
of artists making their work known through online
channels. Whether it’s through mixtape websites
like DJBooth.net or Datpiff.com, or in the usage
of outlets like Bandcamp and Soundcloud, there 
is literally no middleman in sight. And Beyonce’s
move put a bold underlined stroke to that point.

The success rate has been mixed, mainly because
there is a fickle side to today’s music listener. A 
good deal of them tend to go with whatever is 
popular because the PR machines for the artists
and their respective labels craft images to get you
to buy the music. The end result? It’s not so much
the talent that gets rewarded, but the effectiveness
of the campaign. If you did away with the excessive
promotions for some artists, I guarantee you they 
wouldn’t be as relevant as they are now. Labels 
balance their books on an artist or group being 
able to recoup their promo money via sales and 
other factors. So they stand to gain by lulling you
into thinking something is hot whether it’s by playing
the song on the radio 3 times an hour or slipping it
into ads. For those who don’t have the finances 
behind them, direct digital distribution is the way 
to go. It’s also a way for those music artists to fully
reinforce their position in the game. Take Talib Kweli.
He dropped Prisoner of Consciousness earlier this year
and wound up dropping Gravitas via his own imprint,
KweliClub.com. All while prepping for and embarking
on a tour with the latest music sensation, Macklemore.
He was repping Gravitas for two months prior to its
release date - two days after Beyonce dropped hers.
So you’ve got an artist in Talib making serious moves
and utitlizing emerging industry innovations. Will he
get the proper acclaim for it in a widespread fashion?
I hope so.

And there’s the rub - we’re at a key moment in time
with regards to not only how the music is getting to 
the masses, but what kind of music they’re willing to
consume. Beyonce’s album dropped at a time where
NO Black acts topped the Billboard chart at last report.
That’s a first in the chart’s history and marks a distinct
change seen in less than a decade. Consider that a 
few new artists like the producer/MC Oddisee, owe
a great deal to the power of word-of-mouth. Her success
scares corporate giants and shines a light on the bulwark
of artists who paved the way for her to blow up. Look
at the response from Target and Amazon, refusing to 
sell copies of her album. To do so in their minds would
be to add to a death knell for CD’s that began with the
rise of Napster and has eradicated companies like The
Wiz, Blockbuster and Virgin Megastore. Labels are nervous
because that added cost of CD production they could
shank an artist for in their deal would be gone. But the
indie artist and their respective distribution teams don’t
worry about that too much. This is freedom; there’s
more room for creativity and innovation. Groups like
Mello Music, 9th Wonder’s Jamla Records, Fools’ Gold
and others all get to fully present their music to more
eyes now than ever. They’ve been changing the game,
expanding it from when cats like DJ Drama, J.Period,
Green Lantern and others would break exclusives on
their mixtapes. (That’s another article in of itself.) In
some ways, it’s like a return to the old days where there
was a multitude of record labels. Like Panagea breaking
apart. So, Beyonce’s sudden album drop may just be a
louder bell being rung in the ears of the powers that be,
buoyed by the continued progress of hip-hop artists who
don’t match her same widespread appeal. And maybe this
will allow for that emerging better balance in hip-hop to
gain a more solid footing.