Wall Street Journal: How Hip-Hop Transformed the Music Industry

[davideduardo]

In part, the copyright and pay-walled article says:

"In the mid-2000s, Jay-Z became president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, making the boardroom cooler than ever. Lil Wayne dumped unofficial albums on fans, anticipating the new ways they would consume music in the streaming age. And Cardi B started rapping about her “money moves.”

Hip-hop has especially transformed the way the music industry does business. It changed how musicians earn income, how producers construct songs and how labels market and sell albums. It bred generations of groundbreaking rappers-turned-business people who reinvented the pop-music machine. Today, pragmatism is valued over preciousness."

The whole article is at 50 Years Later, Everything Is Hip-Hop and you may get access if you have not visited previously this month.

 

[CTListener]

Interesting. A way of letting your fans think you're rebels operating outside the music industry machine when everything you're doing actually makes that machine more money. I'm seeing that in country music, too, though not to the extent that it's taken hold in hip-hop. Hey, if it drives fans to buy music, it's all good for all concerned.

 

[boombox4]

Hip-hop elements made it into pop music by the early 1990s, and were adopted in rock music by the late 1990s... so, yeah, it was pretty influential.

The idea of the musical artist "street team" originated in hip-hop, but the rise of the importance of social media on the internet sort of made that an anachronism.

 

[TheRob]

I enjoyed the article. The WSJ comments are, predictably, amusing.

Overall, the message is one of empowerment and creativity to work outside the traditional systems to market yourself, build an audience and set up profits far beyond the popularity of your works.

 

[Kelly A]

I'll be glad when the HipHop anniversary finally moves on. NPR, and many news outlets have been falling all over themselves going through the genre's history, likely to show themselves as somehow plugged into the generation. It's getting to be a rather fake display.

 

[radiofan2023]

I'll be glad when the HipHop anniversary finally moves on. NPR, and many news outlets have been falling all over themselves going through the genre's history, likely to show themselves as somehow plugged into the generation. It's getting to be a rather fake display.

I want to hear Scott Simon spit bars!