Yelawolf Talks Problems With Shady Records & Interscope

[Manly Moose]

Its funny that Jimmy used to be nothing more than a producer, making hits with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

[radioactivejaber]

I think that Shady Records really overestimated their promoting "power" with Yelawolf. I think that after Hell The Sequel dropped with very little promotion and the "Eminem Factor" buzzing, they thought that if Yelawolf simply name dropped Eminem in most of his interviews, he would go #1. Gross overestimation

[AshRoarshock]

I think that Shady Records really overestimated their promoting "power" with Yelawolf. I think that after Hell The Sequel dropped with very little promotion and the "Eminem Factor" buzzing, they thought that if Yelawolf simply name dropped Eminem in most of his interviews, he would go #1. Gross overestimation

Exactly! Em will sell no matter what. Em co-signed album.... nah. Nobody falls for that shit these days. Too many people have put their name on shit in the past and it turned out to be garbage.

TBH I think both singles from radioactive were two of the weakest songs on the album. Glad Yela is back to his own thing. He doesn't make shit on a big label album anyways after all the studio costs and promotion fees they charge. It's all about the performances and selling merch at the shows. So if he gives away great music and gets the same rotation then whats the difference.

[Manly Moose]

Frankly, I doubt Jimmy is head of promoting over there. He runs the company, we have no clue what he does with individual artists, if anything at all. He's probably not directly involved and we just blame him because we know who he is; at least thats what it seems like we're doing.

[AbramIsaac]

I think Yelawolf is going back to what he was doing before in the sense that he's not catering to a label that won't support him anymore.

So he's returning to his natural evolution, armed with the experiences from the Radioactive album cycle. Now we can watch him do what he does best: make unique and interesting music without the pressure to please Interscope. Hell, at this point, I'd be willing to bet that he'd keep recording free mixtape albums and doing live shows before he'd let Jimmy or anyone else shelve him for not being commercial enough.

Yela moves well on his own. His home is Shady, but his team is Ghett-O-Vision, and they've been doing this for a while now.

[cheeseburger]

I think Yelawolf is going back to what he was doing before in the sense that he's not catering to a label that won't support him anymore.

So he's returning to his natural evolution, armed with the experiences from the Radioactive album cycle. Now we can watch him do what he does best: make unique and interesting music without the pressure to please Interscope. Hell, at this point, I'd be willing to bet that he'd keep recording free mixtape albums and doing live shows before he'd let Jimmy or anyone else shelve him for not being commercial enough.

Yela moves well on his own. His home is Shady, but his team is Ghett-O-Vision, and they've been doing this for a while now.

Hell to the Yeah!

The videos Ive seen from Yelawolf is way better than the ones made since his new signing. Dont know if videos are important these days, but to me they are. If I really like a song that doesnt have a video for it, Ill picture on in my head. Then the song grows even more on me.
And for Yela as an artist I think its good to be a little bit more independent. Im supporting him on whatever move he makes though. Lets hope it doesnt break any bonds between him and Shady.

[AbramIsaac]

Well, as far as videos go, I don't expect much from Interscope, but maybe Ghett-O-Vision will shoot videos independently.

I wonder, if they have the legal right to do so, why haven't they? Is it possible that they have stipulations in the contract that prevents them from doing so? If that's the case, why were they able to shoot one for Marijuana? I mean, I can't imagine them losing their video rights by linking with Shady from across the hall at Interscope...

I'm hoping for videos, but I'm sort of confused about the details of licensing restrictions when it comes to the Shady/Interscope/G-O-V deal.

[cheeseburger]

I actually like where this is going. Hes taking the Hopsin route. Being let down by a major label, putting up his finger and going his own way. This gives buzz, material to write about and the underdog advantage. I actually believe that Yelawolf could stand on his own against Shady, if he had to. But I know that they wont start fighting so it doesnt matter. The problem is with interscope, not Shady records

[AbramIsaac]

Yes, this situation is similar in some regards, and I think it will lead to some good music.

What's going to happen is Yelawolf recording original content "mixtapes" instead of doing an album through the major. Hopefully, he'll shoot his own videos. He's already demonstrated that he is willing to do a ton of interviews to support his projects, and being on a major does give him more press attention. The money will be in live shows, and since booking isn't handled by Interscope, he'll do fine there.

For the most part, he can just totally work independently of Interscope, which will allow him to make the music the way he wants. The only down side is that with these mixtapes, he's not getting song royalties. Since almost all of that money goes to the label anyway, this isn't going to hurt him that much, and he can make a living off of touring and merchandising.

Really, the only difference between him being independent and him on a major is the likely release of an official album every one to two years with a few big name features and some lackluster support from Interscope. Other than that, I'd say he's poised to do most of the work now on his own, which works to his advantage, and ours as well.

This is what will separate Yelawolf from previous artists that got fucked by signing to a major: he's willing to tell them to wait around all they want, but he'll be building something in the meantime.

[cheeseburger]

Your post leaves me speechless and very satisfied, thank you.

[AbramIsaac]

Oh wow, really?

I guess the other thing that separates him from some of the others is genuine artistic talent.