Maybe there really is no accounting for taste. Despite the healthy heaping of critical accolades for Amerie’s fourth album In Love & War—not to mention Idolator’s own five very legit reasons you should pick the record up (there’s still time!)—the sales figures don’t lie. More »
While he’s not going to be the label’s new CEO (boss L.A. Reid reclaimed the title after Jay-Z’s departure), Shakir Stewart has been named Executive Vice President of Def Jam, which basically makes him Jay-Z’s replacement. While he can take credit for signing Ciara to LaFace (where he and Reid began their professional relationship) and signing Beyonce to a publishing contract in 1999, it’s believed that the real reason he’s being given the promotion is that he’s responsible for signing Young Jeezy and Rick Ross to the label. Admittedly, these acts are younger and arguably more successful than the fogies like Nas and the Roots that Jay-Z was responsible for, but I’m pretty damn scared what’s going to come from a label run by a guy who takes pride in turning charmless, one-dimensional self-aggrandizement into music-business gold.
Is Def Jam drowning in debt? Rumor has it that the label is 100 million dollars in the hole, and that it needs to put out some mega-selling records ASAP in order to make up its losses. I guess now we know why that Janet Jackson video had such a low-budget feel to it! More »
Is Def Jam drowning in debt? Rumor has it that the label is 100 million dollars in the hole, and that it needs to put out some mega-selling records ASAP in order to make up its losses. I guess now we know why that Janet Jackson video had such a low-budget feel to it! More »
Now that Jay-Z is out at Def Jam and once again purportedly making eyes at Steve Jobs, Public Enemy frontman and early Internet adopter Chuck D has declared his intentions to seek Jay’s throne high-backed office chair, regardless of the fact that Def Jam has made no overtures towards him regarding the position. And, yeah we’re not sure why anyone would want to take a job as the head of a giant record label at this point in the industry’s history, but Chuck’s always been something of a “fixer”, whether it’s racist governments or creatively and financially stagnating business models. Perhaps as a way to prove to the suits that he’s given the label’s future some thought, he’s drafted a list outlining the changes he’d make beyond “release anything else we can from Rihanna’s album as a single, immediately.”
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.
Yesterday, news that Warner Music Group would be making substantial staff cuts spread around the music world; today, Jossip is claiming that Def Jam is getting in on the personnel-shedding act as well: Is Def Jam floundering? More »
– Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony plan to sue The National Enquirer after the publication claimed that the couple was “caught up in a heroin scandal.” Lopez’s testimony will be read by a 22-year-old session singer and sweetened with Auto-Tune. More »
– Keane’s next UK single will come out as a memory stick packed with screensavers, videos, and other extras. Here’s hoping caffeine pills are also in the package. [Guardian, via Coolfer] – T.I., Ludacris, and Outkast’s Big Boi are all set to feud–in another Def Jam-branded video game. More »
