Black Star: No Fear of Time /// NEW ALBUM 5.3.22

[T.he I.nformant]

If you bought the Black Star album in the last 20 years, you paid Universal Records, which is one of the biggest companies on Earth. You know who you did not pay? You did not pay Black Star, because we didn't see any of that money. You know, people come and say, "Hey, what about what I want? I want the vinyl. I want it on Spotify. I want..." What you want does not matter. Know what I'm sayin'? What Black Star wants matters.

I love Black Star but I really don’t know what this means. What the consumer wants (accessible music) has to matter in order to get the artists what they want (to get paid).

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I love Black Star but I really don’t know what this means. What the consumer wants (accessible music) has to matter in order to get the artists what they want (to get paid).

The crazy thing is he talked about vinyl specifically as if artist are not making huge stacks of money on vinyl sale. Put the album on Spotify, sell vinyl, cd, and concert, and other merch… They would make a fukking killing.

it’s not rocket science. unless luminary paid them a handsome fee for exclusive access then they most certainly are going to make less on this than what I just described

 

[Aquarius Snake]

The statement combined with not dropping it is why I said it’s pretentious. The statement is absolutely worded poorly

People in 1999 would’ve given all their money to Blackstar for the album if possible. We don’t have anything to do with universal music group. I hate that he didn’t make more money for his previous work but that’s not our fault

He’s coming off like he’s angry at his own fans for wanting to support via vinyl or CD.

Exactly. It’s not our fault they signed a shytty contract. Saying it’s not about what the fans want is doofy talk. So why should we pay for the new album if it’s not about what we want? Then on top of that, they don’t drop the album on the advertised release date?

That’s a lot of nerve. Dude needs to get over himself. Pride comes before the fall.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Exactly. It’s not our fault they signed a shytty contract. Saying it’s not about what the fans want is doofy talk. So why should we pay for the new album if it’s not about what we want? Then on top of that, they don’t drop the album on the advertised release date?

That’s a lot of nerve. Dude needs to get over himself. Pride comes before the fall.

I truly hate they had a bad contract. I really do

blaming your own fans is never a good look, though. I guarantee some of their fans won’t be getting luminary anymore when and if the album drops

 

[ROBEEZYKILLA]

LoL wtf are they doing 20 plus years in the game pulling shyt like this they just lost of customers/fans with this stunt

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

WHAT THE HELL IS A LUMINARY

 

[Chip Skylark]

This is a cluster fukk. There’s no way this album is 9 songs 16 minutes

 

[Aquarius Snake]

WHAT THE HELL IS A LUMINARY

It’s the entry fee to have Talib Kweli tell you he doesn’t care what you want and he’ll do it when he feels like it, apparently.

 

[Zero]

 

[Unknown Poster]

 

[Zero]

I get what he’s saying but talib is pretentious


I want to go back to how you're releasing the album and the statement that you're making with it, but it's also a risk putting your music behind a paywall like that.

It's a risk for who?

I mean, maybe that's the wrong question. But putting it behind a paywall means...

That means the artists get paid. If you are truly a fan of Black Star, then you will respect the fact that what made sense for us, business-wise, was for us to put it on Luminary and get paid regardless of what happens in the music business. If you bought the Black Star album in the last 20 years, you paid Universal Records, which is one of the biggest companies on Earth. You know who you did not pay? You did not pay Black Star, because we didn't see any of that money. You know, people come and say, "Hey, what about what I want? I want the vinyl. I want it on Spotify. I want..." What you want does not matter. Know what I'm sayin'? What Black Star wants matters.

Right there, he let you know what time it is.

I'm extra good on this.

 

[Legal]

To be completely honest I don’t see whats so pretentious about his statement. They wanted to get paid for their art and they did. He even broke down the hows and whys.




You know whats pretentious? NOT releasing the goddamn album when you said you would. Its 11amEST and I don’t see no damn album on the app

It just comes off as pretentious because he's directly talking down to his audience, and telling them that what they want doesn't matter, while simultaneously asking them for their money. And like you said, it REALLY doesn't help that the album wasn't available when it was supposed to be.

Breh out here explaining how he got fukked over on their last deal as if the general fan of theirs wasn't already shytting on major label business back in '98.

shyt like that makes me wonder if he knows who the audience for this album is.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

It just comes off as pretentious because he's directly talking down to his audience, and telling them that what they want doesn't matter, while simultaneously asking them for their money. And like you said, it REALLY doesn't help that the album wasn't available when it was supposed to be.

Breh out here explaining how he got fukked over on their last deal as if the general fan of theirs wasn't already shytting on major label business back in '98.

shyt like that makes me wonder if he knows who the audience for this album is.

Exactly. 20 years ago fans absolutely hated that artists got fukked over so bad by labels, but there wasn't a mechanism in place to directly support artists besides going to their live shows. We're on the consumer end of the equation here. It's crazy to be mad at fans 20 years ago for this and it's still crazy to be mad at fans for it now.

fukk, I mean...if anything, people are showing more than ever the past few years that they're willing to support the shyt out of artists they love on merch and physical media. Fans really want to support their favorite artists, and blaming them for not being familiar with Luminary and wanting to support by buying vinyl instead is really stupid.

Edit: Also, people are used to what they're used to. Luminary costs half of Spotify prices, and you're asking people to spend that on a brand that has zero proven track record, for an album that that doesn't exist yet, and wasn't marketed at all.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

at the caption. Still not out yet BTW

 

[Mastamimd]

It's out