When #Tidal was released back in 2014, many artists including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Madonna pledged their allegiance to creating an environment for real artists to receive all of the coins that they worked fervently for. How would you feel if you created something that millions of people felt entitled to and weren’t even willing to pay you for it? What if they took control of your art and manipulated it into something that you didn’t stand for? Take Prince, for example, whose entire career was devoted to standing up for pure artistry and being rightfully compensated for it.
In this day and age, it’s difficult for consumers to place value on music because there are pseudo-artists just selling lyrics over beats and passing it off to us as real music. No wonder why people have a difficult time understanding why they should buy albums or pay for a streaming service when a lot of today’s music lacks real substance!
This is where Beyoncé’s #Lemonade comes in. She set a new standard with this film and has, in the same breath, shown artists what it takes to get people to want to engage with music again. Going the extra mile will only increase the digits in their bank accounts, so why not put in the effort? The last time people were this thirsty for an album was when Michael Jackson came out with Thriller! He put so much work into that it plus that epic video and it is still being viewed today. For goodness sake, Thriller is still the highest selling album EVER, so clearly there’s a method to working extra hard. Do you want to just make music and no one remember it 30 years from now or do you want people to know that you were here?
Lemonade was an epic call to action for entertainers to be more creative in this new era of music. It only makes sense that if everything is moving digitally, with music streaming and the new RIAA certifications, then artists are going to have to change up how they present their art to the masses! (*Read: Quit being lazy!)
There is so much to learn from the way that Lemonade’s marketing plan was executed as well. It was intelligent and it worked. For whatever reason, record labels have slowed down on elaborate marketing promotions for their artists, perhaps in a struggle to find footing in the digital world. However, artists can really do it all themselves and Beyoncé has illustrated this as the founder and president of Parkwood Entertainment. Artists are giving too much creative control to these record labels and are voluntarily losing out on their power and influence as musicians, which in turn is causing their creativity to suffer.
During a screening for her visual album back in 2013, Bey said, “I started my own company when I decided to manage myself. It was important that I didn’t go to some big management company, I felt like I wanted to follow the footsteps of Madonna and be a powerhouse and have my own empire, and show other women when you get to this point in your career you don’t have to go sign with someone else and share your money and your success—you do it yourself.” Even though she said “women” this definitely applies to the fellas as well.
Aside from all of that, it is very symbolic that Prince passed away just two days before Lemonade was released, because he was all about self-expression and being aware of the power that he had as an artist. Known for being way ahead of his time, it’s almost as if he laid the blueprint for this musical era and Beyoncé was the only one who could kick off this paradigm shift.
What are your thoughts, Roommates? Let’s talk!
