JMT haben sich nach jüngsten Gerüchten fürs erste aufgelöst, den Vertrag mit BG gekündigt und die schmutzige Wäsche wird jetzt so richtig gewaschen...
zuerst ein interview mit Chuck Wilson (CEO BG Records). Chasee is der Community Manager von BG, korrekter Kerl soweit eigentlich^^ CW = Chuck Wilson. Das Interview ist vom 15.4
Zitat:
CHASEE: First I want to thank you for doing this interview. I know you are a busy man.
CW: Its all good man. I’ve never done one of these and really its long over due.
CHASEE: So how is everything?
CW: I’m feeling great. I have a beautiful wife and two boys now. Its all about family and friends in life.
CHASEE: Congrats on the family man. So….I know we are going to do this interview in a few parts so I’m just going to wander around a bit. How are things with Babygrande?
CW: The music business is incredibly tough right now. I don’t think people realize how really bad things are. Its all about survival whether you are an artist, label, studio or any part of this ecosystem its all about survival.
CHASEE: So what type of things are you doing to survive?
CW: Diversifying….focusing on efficiency and really building true partnerships with artists where we work as a team to create revenue and break bread when we make bread. By that I mean its no longer a front end business. How can you advance an artist large sums of money against future sales when sales are completely unpredictable now due to store closings and piracy?
CHASEE: So you no longer give advances?
CW: I’m not saying that but they are waaaay more conservative now. I think Babygrande is in a great position to survive and possibly become a permanent fixture in the music business if there is the slightest upturn in the business. We have a great brand that is know across the globe. My wife and I were on our honeymoon in Singapore and someone literally slid a demo package under our door. I couldn’t believe it.
CHASEE: That’s hilarious. Babygrande has always had an international perspective on things. Is that part of your vision?
CW: For sure. Before starting Babygrande I traveled to Japan, Europe, China, South Africa, Canada and really learned first hand about the impact hip-hop has had around the world. Its truly amazing…and I always have listened to artists from around the world like MC Solar and Les Nubians from France and Youssou N’Dour from Senegal, Skwatta Camp from South Africa and many many others. Whe I was in Europe I was in the car with some cats from Germany and they played me some crazy beats and they were all produced by this kid named Shuko. I connected Shuko with AOTP and the rest is history. Our collaborations with artists from around the world is one of the things I am most proud of about the label.
CHASEE: You mentioned AOTP. There has been a lot talk around the web about Babygrande and Jedi Mind Tricks and the AOTP camp. Are they leaving the label?
CW: Wow. We really could do an entire interview about this subject alone. Let me say this first, Babygrande is seven years old now. I started this label in my apartment. Then moved into a one room office that was really a film projection room so we had to leave the room every time the main tenant needed to screen a film. Today we have about 3000 square feet in Manahattan where I run Babygrande, my film company and my new media company. I say all this because a lot has changed since 2002 and that’s how long we have been working with Jedi Mind Tricks….seven years. Tell me..how many indie artists that are as big as Jedi Mind Tricks have stayed with one label for that long when they themselves do not own the label?
CHASEE: I can’t think of any.
CW: Exactly. So that is an accomplishment in and of itself and a testament to a mutual respect and loyalty, despite the ups and downs. Remember, Jedi Mind tricks had their own label before coming to Babygrande, Superegular Records, and it didn’t work out. Jedi Mind Tricks make great music and have a great live show. But don’t get it twisted, they had a team of smart, experienced businessmen that very much helped them get to where they are today. I mean I didnt say hey it would be cool to start a label one day. I signed my first band to a major in 1999 for over a million dollars, and this was while I was Director of Business Affairs at BET in DC. I was writing business plans for billionaire Bob Johnson all day and working with artists all night--ask around about me on the DC scene they will all tell you I paid my fucking dues bro. Citizen Cope, W. Ellington Felton, Asheru, Sharky, Kokai, and on and on...they will all tell you Chuck Wilson is no joke. My best friend played me Jedi Mind Tricks when I was A&R at Priority and I fell in love with the music instantly. So much so that I put a large part of the money I made from “Soul Plane” into building their brand. HARD CASH. And this was after Jus Allah had left the group. I really want to clarify that point—Jus Allah left Jedi Mind Tricks because he wasn’t happy with the politics of the group. It had nothing to do with me or Babygrande. I was really nervous about whether they could be successful without the original three members. This was a big risk in my mind. But after meeting with Vin and Stoupe in Philly, I was convinced it was worth the risk. That was a defining moment because I it seriously could have gone either way for me. Not only that, but I personally assisted them in getting their classic album, “Violent by Design” out of the mess called Landspeed Records just before they went bankrupt. If that record had gone into the bankruptcy who knows what would have happened to it. I begged them to do their first tour and then used that success to secure them the booking agent they work with to this day. You gotta understand, I’m walking into meetings talking about Jedi Mind Tricks and cats are looking at me like I’m crazy. This is real shit—I fought for that group with pure passion and determination. I used all of my education, experience and resources to take them from underground obscurity to underground notoriety. The record where all of this was in sync was Visions of Ghandi. Look at the features on that record—I made everyone of those happen and put my name on the line for Jedi Mind Tricks. I was in the studio alone getting G Rap, Canibus, Non-Phixion, Tragedy, GZA, and on and on. They didn’t even want to do the Non-Phixon feature and now Vinnie and Ill Bill are talking about doing an album together. In that same year we released Canibus’ “Rip the Jacker” which was a smash. I put that entire thing together and thank God Canibus trusted me because he had no idea who Stoupe was or Jedi Mind Tricks for that matter. I came up with the idea and brought those two together, figuratively speaking because they have never met. I could go on and on about this. I’m only speaking on this because of what has been flying around the web.
CHASEE: That’s pretty insane stuff.
CW: So to answer your question…Its not that Jedi Mind Tricks is leaving Babygrande. Its that the relationship has run its course on all levels. Served its purpose for both of us and its time for them to do their own thing and its time for Babygrande to start a new chapter in our legacy. Last year I offered them the opportunity to leave and they wanted to stay. We still have a bunch of records we will release with them but all in all, its time for them to do their own thing. After seven years I think they are more than ready for it. And I am ready to work with new artists and get the same thrill I got working with JMT—honestly that’s why I am in this business in the first place. Once that thrill is gone, and it always goes at some point in this business, its time to change the pattern.
CHASEE: So what about the remarks that Vinnie made?
CW: I have not talked to Vin in about six months. I’m sure he is disappointed with the performance of AHOV. We all are. That’s probably the root of the frustration. All those guys have known is success so AHOV has probably been pretty hard on them. Like Iron Mike getting knocked out by Buster Douglas.
How do I feel about it? I feel like my instincts were right last year and they should have been doing their own thing already. Those guys have lawyers. They are on top of their business. So all in all that’s the worst part about what was said. Those guys have been compensated more than fairly and quite frankly we will probably never make our money back on AHOV or Decalogue, based on the amount of money that was paid up front for those records. The core elements of the original contract they signed in 2002 have never been renegotiated and they have never even requested to renegotiate. We have had to clarify many many things but that same deal from 2002 is still intact. To sum it up, what he said was just not true and I’m sure if pressed he will say as much. But I’m numb to this type of stuff now. I didn’t realize this when I started Babygrande but the label is always the bad guy—ALWAYS. Jimmy Iovine said it best….to paraphrase, he said when the artist is successful the label had nothing to with it and when they fail its all the labels fault.
CHASEE: Why do you think AHOV underperformed?
CW: Because they broke the formula that they created and I enhanced with Visions of Ghandi. You don’t take Raisin Bran and one day decide to take out the raisins. The record had no clever or notable features and they had their largest budget ever to work with in making the record—and I mean LARGE. For the fans, even before they heard the record, once they saw the tracklisting they were already disappointed because they knew they were not going to get raisins in their Raisin Bran, Also, the way in which Jus Allah was woven back into the group was sloppy. In short, all of the delicate relationships that made JMT successful were out of sync. Stoupe is now just a beatmaker for JMT, not their producer—I just don’t think he cares any more—but that’s just my theory. What I know for sure is that Babygrande had ZERO input on AHOV and that was a first. With Servants, along with the features, Babygrande came with the strategy of incorporating indie rock vocalists into the record. This opened them up to the Pitchfork crowd and this was very successful. I credit Jesse Stone with making this happen, but even then he had to pull teeth to make that happen and convince them to do it. They broke the formula and it showed in the record. Let me say this, when we all worked together it was magical. We guided the business decisions and had just enough input on the records and Vin and Stoupe consistently and masterfully executed the creation of the music by working together.
When I got that Kool G Rap feature , with clearance from Rawkus, I did my part. And when I first heard Animal Rap there was no doubt that Vin and Stoupe had done their part.
How’s that for today? I have to get back to work but we can pick up on this in part two. Cool?
CHASEE: No problem Chuck. How many parts are we doing?
CW: As many as we need to (laughing).
nun ein Interview das Bernie Paz grade über myspace verteilt hat
Zitat:
JMT's Vinnie Paz responds to his former record label's CEO
JMTHIPHOP.COM caught up with JMT’s frontman, Vinnie Paz, to get his responses to a recent interview posted by the CEO of JMT’s former label, Chuck Wilson.
Q: How are things?
Vinnie: Good man, real good. I feel re-invigorated. Just back in the studio making music for ourselves again feels good. I’m actually kinda glad that Chuck decided to start putting our business in the street. For the first time, I have a chance to speak honestly about that relationship. We’ve spent most of the last four years playing the good solider and keeping our mouths shut in interviews and whatnot, so it definitely feels good to talk directly to our fans about the situation.
Q: Where do you want to start?
Vinnie: To be honest, man, this whole thing could be over with if he stuck by his word. I’m confused because he ducks our calls and e-mail for two months and then publishes an interview saying our relationship has run its course and that its time for both parties to move on. All we’ve been trying to do since January was hand in this last Army of the Pharaohs record that we owed him to finish out our contract with him and move on. He didn’t want to respond to us or pay us, so we made the decision for him and moved on by ending our deal with him last month.
Q: How do you respond to Chuck’s statement that “...the relationship [with Jedi Mind Tricks] has run its course on all levels. [It] [s]erved its purpose for both of us and its time for them to do their own thing and its time for Babygrande to start a new chapter in our legacy.”
Vinnie: That’s funny, actually, because we couldn’t agree more with that statement, which is why we ended our deal with him. It actually feels good to hear him say that. I’m just confused as to why he doesn’t stick by his word and move on too. All we have asked him to do for the past four years is either pay us on time or drop us from the label and let us do our thing somewhere else. He was constantly complaining about how the music business in general is crumbling and how he couldn’t pay us on time and each time we responded by saying, “Cool, if we’re not profitable anymore, then drop us from the label and let us do our own thing.” But he always wanted it both ways, he never wanted to pay us, or account to us on time but he never wanted to let us walk from the contract either.
We finally made that decision for him and moved on by ending our contract with him, but he’s still sending our attorney letters saying that he rejects our termination, that we’re still his exclusive property, and that basically he’s going to sue anybody who tries to do business with us. So, he’s saying one thing on his website and then doing the opposite behind the scenes.
Q: Why have you been quiet about all of this up until this point?
Vinnie: Look, man, as an artist, it’s tough to talk about a situation regarding your record label and not sound like you’re whining. Our fans don’t want to hear about all of this business shit, they want to hear great music. I don’t even want to hear myself talk about it; I’d rather be in the studio right now trying to make great music.
We recognize that we’re extremely fortunate to enjoy the career that we have, and we would never make a blanket statement that Chuck hadn’t helped our career in the past. But the last four years have been a nightmare with this dude. This is a dude who was telling us we were his flagship artist and the reason he started his label, and then turning around and stringing us along when it came time to pay us. He became the master of excuses, so, of course he lost our respect through the years.
We’re not the headache-type artist who just blames their label for everything that goes wrong. And we don’t take sole credit for all the success we had. It does take a team of people to be successful in this business and at one point in our career he was a part of that team until he started hitting us with the excuses. For him to come out now in an interview and try to paint us as some type of typical crybaby artist is just fake.
Q: Chuck said that he won’t make a profit from A History of Violence or Decalogue, how do you respond?
Vinnie: That’s real simple, let’s do some basic math together, because I want our fans to know this. Jedi Mind Tricks as an entity has sold over 400,000 albums for Chuck since we signed to his label in 2002. That number includes our records, AOTP, the records we’ve done under the JMT Presents banner, and Stoupe’s role as producer on Rip The Jacker. You take that 400,000 and multiply that by a wholesale price of say 11/unit. You subtract $3/unit for distribution fees, and you get a gross of about 3.2 million dollars. Subtract some marketing money and you’re still talking millions of dollars in profit that Chuck has made from our music.
If Chuck wants to break down the profitability of each individual record that’s fine, but if you look at the big picture of this seven-year relationship, we’re the most profitable business investment he’s made since he started his label. That’s unquestionable, no matter how he decides to do his math.
Q: What do you have to say in response to Chuck’s statements about A History Of Violence? Chuck said, “The record had no clever or notable features and they had their largest budget ever to work with in making the record—and I mean LARGE.”
Vinnie: Chuck needs to refresh his memory. Truth is, I financed the production of that record out of my own pocket in order to deliver it on time, like I have the last three Army of The Pharaohs records. Chuck can talk about how large our advances are all he wants, but you have to actually pay the advance to the artist so they have enough time to use it to make a record and secure the big-name guests he’s talking about.
Last August, we were still fighting with him to pay us our advance for AHOV which he wanted to release October 1. How many great records are made in a month? Our only regret now is going along with that bullshit. Most artists wouldn’t have even started the record until the advance was in their bank account, but we’ve always come out of pocket for this dude to keep things moving forward. If we waited for Chuck to pay us our advance to start AHOV, we would still be in the lab working on that record. In retrospect, that’s what we should’ve done, it would’ve been less rushed.
Q: How do you respond to Chuck’s statement that A History Of Violence’s underperformance is analogous to Iron Mike getting knocked out by Buster ..Douglas..?
Vinnie: Chuck’s definitely a comedy writer. I find it hard to believe that we’re washed up-- which I guess is what he’s getting at with that analogy?--when I go on tour in Europe back in February and play in front of 1,000 crazy fans at Elysse Montmarte in Paris, or play to a packed house at the Henry Fonda Theatre in L.A, or to 2,000 kids in Bogota, Colombia. Everyone in the music business, Chuck included, knows that you can’t quantify an artist’s success by album sales these days.
I can go on tour and do a show with a thousand kids and half of them are coming up to me saying, “I love your music; I downloaded all of your shit.” Those fans don’t show up on Soundscan numbers, but they’re out there, I’ve seen them everywhere I go on tour. You have the biggest artists selling 60,000 units their first week when 10 years ago they would’ve been selling a million units their first week.
So to address his comment about “underperformance?” Maybe his business is underperforming right now, but demand for our music around the world has never been stronger. If he hasn’t been able to turn that into album sales, is that our fault as the artist or his fault as the CEO of the record label?
We just got invited to play the Montreux Jazz Festival in ....Switzerland.... this summer--one of the most prolific music festivals in the world. One of my idols, Miles Davis, played that stage. It’s a massive honor and feels like a new pinnacle of our career, yet I’m supposed to believe that we’re “underperforming.” I think Chuck’s definition is skewed. It’s a tough time to own a record label right now, so I understand he’s probably saying that stuff out of his own frustration with his business.
Q: What do you think about Chuck’s quote that “...the way that Jus Allah was woven back into the group was sloppy?”
Vinnie: Again, I have to take that with a grain of salt. This is coming from Chuck who basically created a Jus “solo album” behind Jus’ back, and without Jus’ approval, by doing backroom deals to purchase scraps from previous studio sessions and assembling them into a record and then pawning it off on Jus and JMT fans as an actual album created by Jus. I have a hard time taking criticism from a dude who pulls moves like that.
Look, we’ve received a lot of feedback from our fans about AHOV, good and bad. We always listen to our fans, because our fans drive our music. We’re going to incorporate some of the feedback and keep trying to evolve from record to record. All I can say is that AHOV was a difficult record to make with all the drama going on behind the scenes trying to get Chuck to pay us and that’s reflected in the record.
Q: Anything else for now?
Vinnie: Nah, man, it’s been good to finally speak truthfully about all of this behind-the-scenes stuff that we’ve been dealing with for the past four years. It’s been a giant headache that had definitely started to affect our music negatively. I think the fans heard it. We heard it. We’ve spent so much time fighting Chuck to get paid that we haven’t been able to really focus on making music.
Since we ended our deal last month, I’ve never felt better. I’m in the lab working hard. You know what’s funny, man? All this boils down to something real simple for us. Chuck said it himself, “The relationship [with Jedi Mind Tricks] has run its course on all levels. [It] served its purpose for both of us and its time for them to do their own thing and its time for Babygrande to start a new chapter in our legacy.”
We already moved on. And he seems more than ready to do the same. So I don't get why he sent our attorney a letter this week telling him that we’re still under contract and that he’s basically going to sue anyone who does business with us? We actually agree on the only thing that matters right now, which is that it’s time for both parties to move on, yet this dude’s publishing interviews on his website confirming that he feels the same way and then running around behind the scenes threatening to sue us for ending our contract.
It’s all good. If he wants to keep making statements, we’ll keep defending ourselves, and let our fans sort out the truth for themselves. But in terms of our contract with Chuck, we’ve already moved on… he should just give it up and do the same.
edit: e-beeeeeeef soap opera
(knapp 20 min alt)
Zitat:
CHASEE: So picking up where we left off…there are a bunch of questions that people have either messaged me or posted in the boards. I want to try and address as many as possible.
CW: Cool.
CHASEE: So what really happened with the Jean Grae and Jus Allah situations?
CW: The Jean Grae situation is very simple. When Jean was bought out by Blacksmith Warner Brothers we specifically addressed the Jeanius album and many other recordings that were recorded during the term of our agreement with Jean and in most cases funded by Babygrande. The agreement specifically provided that none of those recordings could be released without our permission. They released it anyway and claimed that they had “re-recorded” everything which was not the case. So, we just returned the favor and took some of the other masters from this batch and released “Evil Jeanius.” We also took distribution of “The Orchestral Files” from Traffic which was also released without our permission. Again, we were presented as the bad guy in this situation but we were just protecting our contractual rights. Don’t you think Warner Brothers would have sued us if they really had a claim? Yes and of course we haven’t heard a peep from them. We will always protect our contractual rights, that’s just part of the business.
The Jus Allah situation was extremely frustrating. In short, we started the album got just over half way through it and Jus just disappeared… Street date was set, retail programs booked, money was invested and I wasn’t in a position to be left holding the bag and taking a loss on the project. That’s just not my style.
CHASEE: What happened to the True Master album?
CW: We just couldn’t agree on terms.
CHASEE: What direction is Babygrande headed?
CW: We are just going to continue to work with artists that we feel are good for our brand. We are also going to take some chances as we always have done. I don’t think there is an indie label in the US that in the last five years has cut as many checks to artists, producers as we have. We have given breaks to so many artists its ridiculous. Its about maintaining and expanding our brand right now.
CHASEE: What else are you working on besides Babygrande?
CW: Triumph Media holdings, Inc. I made a bet four years ago and it is really paying off. I launched the first hip-hop social network on the internet, iHipHop.com, and today we are the largest with over one million registered users and between 65,000 and 100,000 unique visitors a day. As an entrepreneur this has made dealing with the downturn in the music business survivable.
CHASEE: How old is the site now?
CW: It turned two last November.
CHASEE: That’s really impressive.
CW: We were the first to market as “CrackSpace” which became semi-controversial on the web and that really helped popularize the site organically. Then we relaunched as iHipHop last July and since then the advertisers have been all over it. All of the old media money is going to the web and we are very well positioned to take advantage of that now and in the future.
CHASEE: So I just got emailed an interview with Vinny Paz responding to your interview.
CW: Nice!
CHASEE: His main point is that they were not paid on time. Do you have a response to that?
CW: Sure. When JMT finishes their contractual obligations to Babygrande, I’m pretty sure they will attempt to run their own label again. At that point they will realize how difficult it is to get paid “on time” by your distributors from around the world. This is something that we have had to deal with since day one and honestly it has caused many many relationship problems over the years. It is by far the single most thing that I hate about being an indie and we have had to battle through it since day one. But the fact of the matter is that they were always paid, and once they finish their obligations to Babygrande, they will be paid anything that is outstanding. I should also mention that there were several times that I had to wait an unreasonable amount of time for releases, in some cases years.
CHASEE: Vinny says they ended their deal with Babygrande.
CW: That’s not legally possible given their contractual obligations. So maybe on an emotional level or something they feel they have ended it but there are still many rivers to cross before it’s legally over.
CHASEE: Vinny says while you may have lost money with AHOV and Decalogue, you made millions in the past.
CW: Ok so what. Whatever we made we were entitled to. Whatever we lost on those two records is just offsetting the net net of what we ultimately made. The “Your good man you made money in the past” argument doesn’t really make sense to me. Each album is an investment with very specific re-turn on investment goals and those two records are not likely to ever break even.
CHASEE: Are you going to read his response?
CW: No. After the first statement he made there really is no need to.
CHASEE: The recent interview?
CW: I have been advised not to discuss that statement but that was the turning point. That’s what got us here. Now we just have to handle that business.
CHASEE: So in Part 3 I want to get more into the state of hip-hop and the industry.
CW: Sounds good.
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Die Frau hat ne herrliche Stimme und der beat passt perfekt dazu, wobei das schon klare Pop-Formen annimmt und ein bisschen an Dido erinnert
