Idolator
He may be, according to a report in Rush & Molloy that says contract-renewal talks between the hip-hop star and Universal Music Group have broken down.
And unsurprisingly, it's because Jay "wanted big, big money that was way out of sync with the realities of today's record business," i.e. all the cost-cutting that his parent company's been doing via layoffs over the past week or so. Add to that the fact that people are starting to see American Gangster as something of a flop (it's sold 695,000 copies in four weeks and is slowly sliding down the SoundScan charts), his lack of visibility around the office, and the artists who have been pretty disgruntled with his leadership and the writing's on the wall—even if, as some observers have claimed, IDJ is going to throw most of its resources into hip-hop and R & B in the coming years. Not that companies in the current era aren't used to having overpaid show-runners who have been the source of much "bad boss" public ire from a dwindling roster of employees, but giving Jay a raise amidst all this chaos is too far for even the record business to go.
Jay-Z in Jam over contract [Rush & Molloy]
Comments
Fine with me. Let him start up another label himself.
@onetakedizzle: Any guesses on the first shitty token rock band signed to said label?
B should be leaving Columbia any second now...
Maybe he's just trying not to lose earning potential on spending time in the office instead of out doing something more lucrative, but it does seem stupid for him to ask for too much money when the whole Def Jam prez thing was always clearly more about prestige and power for him than anything else.
Anyway I don't think anyone would say he's done a great job at Def Jam, he should probably go back to just focusing on Roc-A-Fella now that they have a decent active roster for the first time in years (Kanye and Freeway and Beanie albums in '07, Jadakiss and Uncle Murder and Tru Life and Peedi Crakk albums due in '08).
Well now that he's no longer needed for weekly staff meetings with Ultragrrrl, do they really have any significant reason to keep him around?
@Camp Tiger Claw: You have to think that Linkin Park has been exhausted beyond repair. As awesome this world would be if he signed Creed, I just don't see that happening.
My heart says Ben Folds, my head says "You're too fucking optimistic"...
Pshaw. Didn't Jay read that thing from Guy @ EMI about artists being too greedy? But wait, Hov is an exec too and no one (in the biz) is claiming they're underpaid. Shit...this is just too damn confusing.
Seriously though, what has he done at DefJam other than piss other artists off?
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