James Blake is the latest artist to voice his critique of the music industry’s current state, and the co-signs keep rolling in. Ye, Metro Boomin, Tyler, the Creator, and The Alchemist have all reviewed and approved his thoughts via a social media reshare or comment.
Find out why artists are rallying against a system they think is broken below.
SHEIN works hard, but TikTok works harder
Blake’s peer-reviewed academic post was prompted by another user on X who highlighted his previous critique about TikTok. “Remember when my Godspeed cover went viral? Neither me nor Frank [Ocean] ever made a cent cause it was an ‘original sound’ in every video,” said Blake.
“Most people didn’t even know it was me because my name didn’t show up…The industry is beyond f*cked, and musicians are getting f*cked harder than anyone,” he said in the original quote.
Like SHEIN, the fast-fashion retailer notorious for ripping designs from other brands and producing cheaper copies, an artist isn’t paid for a TikTok sound that goes viral if it’s ripped from a random video.
Virality doesn’t pay the bills
Sir James Blake couldn’t let that one example be the poster child for his thoughts on the industry, so he elaborated.
James Blake on X
The death of the music industry
Blake believes the evolution of physical albums to digital to streaming to viral sounds is preparing us for AI-generated music, which won’t pay artists at all.
He took it a profound step further and explained how TikTok/reels affect the songwriting and arrangement process of music while conditioning listeners to only enjoy a song snippet and not an entire song. Ironically, he shared this commentary in an IG reel—the format he said is killing the industry.
Similarly, Vince Staples, a man who has never met 2 dots he can’t connect, shared a more cryptic and hilarious version of Blake’s opinion.
On a recent episode of Complex’s Deep Talks, he pinpoints the exact moment the music industry was doomed—promise it’s not what you’d expect.
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