jd

When I read that Hov wasn’t making American Gangster available on iTunes, I didn’t think much of it. As a concept album, it just made sense that he wouldn’t want people to hear the songs out of context. Not once did I think of any other implications it might have.

Apparently, Jermaine Dupri did.

“More artists and producers are gonna take back control of how their art is sold because [Jay-Z's] strategy has paid off. Maybe Hova coulda sold another 100,000 to 200,000 units by playing it iTunes’ way, but he still had the number one album last week. He STILL sold 425,000 units. Even more, he’s proven you can still sell an album without those guys.

Jay made everyone realize that iTunes taking what we give them and doing what they want with it isn’t the way it has to be. He put the light on and made other people realize, “Oh these guys are just selling our music, they ain’t making it.” If anything, WE made iTunes. It’s like how we spent $300,000 to $500,000 each on our videos and MTV and BET went ahead and built an entire video television industry off of our backs. We can’t let that happen again. These businesses exist solely because of our music. So if we as artists, producers and label executives stand up, those guys at Apple can either cooperate, or have nothing for people to buy and download on their iPods.

Apple thinks that’s never gonna happen. They think that we as the record industry will never stick together. But Universal sells one out of every three records. All it’ll take is for Warner Music to say, “You know what, I’m with you,” for us to shut ‘em down. No more iPods! They won’t have nothin’ to play on their players! We can take back the power if we’re willing to sacrifice some sales to make our point.” (“Jermaine Dupri: A Good Album is More than Just a Collection of Singles” The Huffington Post)

This rant, the latest from JD’s Huffington Post blog, makes me feel highly inferior.

Not only does the Island Records Urban Music president talk about trying to abolish a burgeoning means of entertainment facilitation that millions of us enjoy and depend on, he basically speaks as if consumers are objects. Like we don’t deserve to have things our way. He refers to “those guys at Apple” like they’re heartless tyrants trying to gang up on his music industry. When really, all they’re doing is making consumers happy, which is their job. By now, you’d think an adept figure such as Dupri would know the main principle of business…the customer is always right.

When we want our music digitally, we’re not in the wrong, and neither is Apple for supplying us with a new and possibly more efficient means of delivering it.

For record companies, and execs like Janet’s husband, they might feel that they’re on the wrong end of what they believe to be a raw deal. Really though, it’s just life. As unpredictable as it always is, especially in big business, he should know that the times change faster than top of the charts.

The big boys, no pun intended, buck up and change with them.

When Dupri arrogantly and ignorantly says that he’s going to round up his cowboys and phase out millions of of people’s three-hundred-dollar iPods, just so millionaires like himself can continually up their stock portfolio, he sounds like a greedy Communist. One who seems to have forgotten that his whole So So Def empire exists solely because of the people who buy his music…because of us. It’s most definitely not the other way around. He needs to get off his damn high horse, and look the fuck around. If we want something, we’re going to get it, no matter what a few people of prestige have to say about it. Quite simply, the power is in the numbers.

Which is unfortunate for JD, because his aren’t very high as of late.