Talked about Nas international fanbase vs North America
Said Nas and Mass Appeal are HUGE in India and that if North American fans treated Nas like he’s treated in India he’d be so rich he’d probably retire (She said it as a joke)
Talked a lot about sales and insinuated that Nas hopping on Soundtracks is an attempt to reach younger fans because the Core fanbase isn’t doing enough
I asked her if Nas is supposedly not doing so well with these algorithms why are so many artists and companies still clamoring to work with him. She basically said that Mass Appeal is more of a media/entertainment company and not just a label and the fact that Mass Appeal does business with every major company we can think of Nas will always be front and center because he’s the face of the company. She also said Nas has friends in high places that love him and like being associated with him so Nas will never have a problem getting placements.
Said Nas is most popular in India, Africa, Australia, and The UK. She said Nas is willing to do more special stuff for the fans overseas like meet & greets and special song performances because he’s more appreciated and the fans are extremely respectful.
She said Nas team was dismayed by the sales reception for KD3. Said Nas will go back to working with other artists but he thought the fans would support and be appreciative he held down an entire album dolo.
I pointed out that Nas is the only rapper besides Jay-Z to have 15 top ten debuting albums and does that signify support and consistency? She basically said the albums need legs and that international support is what makes the albums turn a profit.
She spent some time trying to educate us on how sales and streams work and how bigger artists fans do this and that and Nas fans aren’t really up on streaming. She basically said that Billboard will “bend the rules” when it comes to counting bundles towards sales for artists like Taylor Swift and Travis Scott but Nas wouldn’t get that same treatment.
She mentioned Nas gets a lot of internet support but that doesn’t translate to sales
She said Nas DOES sell a shytload of merch and she’s trying to get more bundles and merch packages poppin. She said Nas fans “Show Out” for Merch
She confirmed KD3 was mostly recorded while he was on tour with the Wu. Said it might be the most expensive of the KD albums because Nas had to fly Hit Boy out several times both in America and overseas
She basically confirmed a new album is coming. She said the team is trying to strategize how to best reach fans. She specifically said interviews and being on the Breakfast club doesn’t move the needle
Billboard stopped counting bundles towards album sales after Nicki Minaj's last album fukkery....in 2018. Has nothing to do with Nas being singled out. Billboard recently revised the rule and as of last month has started counting bundles again. So all the recent Nas albums came at a time when bundles were not being counted. To make her claims sound even dumber, I'm pretty sure Nas didn't have any Kings Disease tours announced for any of those albums. The entire point of the bundles was to put your tour on sale shortly before an album release, and anyone who bought tickets would count as an album sale in the first week. So she's complaining about something that his team didn't even attempt to do.
I simply refuse to believe Nas is delusional about sales and expects big numbers in 2021-2023, especially given the complete lack of promo on at least two of the albums (Magic, KD3). And I refuse to believe that the big "appeal to young/new fans" move Nas decided on was doing some soundtrack songs instead of, you know, getting big young artists on his albums to increase sales. Kodak has been saying he wants to work with Nas, Drake has tried to get a Nas verse, Kendrick shares the same manager as Nas, SZA is a Nas fan, Cole apologized to Nas and presumably wants to work with him again, Tyler is a big Nas fan, Schoolboy Q said Nas is his favorite rapper, etc. Lot of people WANT to work with him.
It's not that "Nas fans aren't up on streaming" either, it's that older artists/legacy artist fans aren't up on streaming. Older fans prefer to just buy an album and they aren't using Spotify. Which is why whenever an old rock, pop, metal, etc band drops a new album you see the physical sales are way higher than the streams whereas it's the opposite for younger artists. I also never see legacy acts complaining about album sales.
The Dave Matthews Band has made a comeback after a five-year break with their latest album, Walk Around the Moon.
www.forbes.com
Anyone think Dave gives a shyt? I don't lol. That band will do what they always do: tour and make a killing. Which is also what Nas is doing, and why I seriously doubt he's sitting around on the road crying about sales. This is her, not Nas' sentiment.
. Nas on Spotify has been at steady 10.3 to 10.4 million followers, that song with Metro jumped to 10.8 in not even a day. Do features that matter R-means are cool, but it's obvious what features get the streams up he hasn't done them. Again, I'm not believing that Nas is so called disgruntled about the sales he doesn't move like he does. She also said labels might not see the interest with a K-Dot or Cole Nas collab so there's no push for it I'm calling BS on that. Since she keeps bringing up the other guy his top 10 currently on Spotify 6 Ye on 1 his wife 1 A keys 1 Rihanna only 1 song is a solo
I’ll take another hit boy album and a metro album
woke up with distant relatives in my head this morning.
is an unheralded masterpiece for our culture
