Our Shit, Our Rules Tweeting the hands that feed: Artists vs. Labels
In the new issue of DIY, we take a look at the rule-breaking artists going head to head with their own labels.
With the new November issue of DIY out now, we’re looking at music’s leading rule-breakers. The likes of Run the Jewels, Father John Misty, Shamir, and this month’s cover stars Hinds are all playing the game on their own terms.
In the ‘Our Shit, Our Rules’ issue, we’re also taking a look at the artists who won’t settle for anything less than total artistic control. Calling out their own record labels in public, and going against them to do things entirely their way.
Musicians can wait years before a record they made yonks ago finally makes it into the real world. But in an age where fans can get instant access to almost anything, some acts are taking release woes into their own hands, giving the people what they want, when they want (even if it pisses off label bosses).
Angel Haze
With their frustrations at their major label backers reaching boiling point and the release of their debut album ‘Dirty Gold’ pushed back once more to March of the following year, Angel Haze broke cover and leaked the record as Christmas 2013 approached. “I don’t count anything as a loss,” they assured DIY in a recent chat despite the fact that the stunt left their record sales dwindling, “it allows for me to have such succinct creativity and a freedom that’s palpable.”
Sky Ferreira
Sky’s never been one to shy away from scolding her various labels via social media. Way back in 2011, she branded EMI’s process “extremely frustrating” after they continuously delayed the release of any material. After Capitol then failed to have vinyl copies of debut album ‘Night Time, My Time, ready for release, she took it into her own hands, pressing the record out of her own pocket. Earlier this year, too, she put Polydor to rights for ‘ripping her off’ with regard to various video ideas, and then not providing her with any support post-release. “I think it did pretty well considering the circumstances,” she said on Twitter, before laying into the label once more; “Maybe I would have ‘sold more records’ if I had the resources to do so.”
Death Grips
Anyone could tell you signing a band like Death Grips is a risk, but few could have foreseen the firestorm that erupted back in October 2012. Uploading second album ‘NO LOVE DEEP WEB’ onto their website before their label Epic even knew it existed, Death Grips quickly decried the label as “BASIC AS FUCK” via Twitter after the site was taken down. The label were apparently “upset and disappointed” - a fact we only know because Death Grips posted the entirety of a confidential email from the label’s legal team as a Facebook status. Unsurprisingly, Death Grips were dropped by Epic a couple of days later.
Taken from the November 2015 issue of DIY, out now. Read it online, or pick one up from our lovely stockists.
Festival special! Featuring Wolf Alice, Kasabian, Lykke Li, Marmozets, Genesis Owusu and more.