At a time when artists are selling their catalogs to publishing empires or a Wall Street firm, Sean
Love Combs AKA P. Diddy, has decided to reassign publishing to artists, songwriters, and producers
who helped build Bad Boy Records since its launch, in the 1990s.
Combs says he is being a man of his word and doing something he feels passionate about,
“strengthening the black dollar,” he shared with AP News back in July.
Bad Boy artists that received publishing rights include Ma$e, 112, Notorious B.I.G.’s estate,
Faith Evans, the Lox, and many more unspecified creators.
Though Combs is being praised by many for this generous act, some artists are saying this good deed is not what it seems. Aubrey O’Day, from the all-female group Danity Kane stated the publishing is worth only a few hundred dollars.
O’Day mentioned during her appearance on the Only Stans podcast, “Danity Kane’s publishing rights which were once bought by Sony are worth $800 – $900 dollars. In order to receive those publishing royalties we have to sign an NDA stating we will never disparage Puff, Bad Boy, Janice Combs, Justin Combs Music, EMI, or Sony ever in public.”
She went on to say, “That’s the deal we were offered, and when I say we, not every artist got it, Day 26 didn’t get it.”
Former Bad Boy artist Mark Curry also had some unpleasant comments about the whole ordeal. In a recent post on social media, he revealed Combs gave him his publishing back some years ago but only after the value depleted. Curry stated he is paid about $400 a year from publishing.
In response to Curry’s comments, Combs stated on a national radio show, “That’s just not the truth. Whatever the value of your publishing is, that’s the value of your publishing. I’m not doing things for people. I’m doing what God tells me to do.”
Combs is assumed to have rejected a nine-figure deal for the entire Bad Boy Records portfolio, choosing to return the publishing rights to the label’s former artists.
Some people are going as far to say they believe Combs actions are a publicity stunt to promote his new album, “The Love Album: Off the Grid”. It is Combs first solo album in more than a decade.
The star-studded album has nearly 30 features from a variety of recording artists including Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, Jeremih, Ty Dolla $ign, The Weekend, Summer Walker, H.E.R, CoCo Jones, Jacques, Justin Bieber, 21 Savage, Babyface, and Burna Boy.
Shockingly, “The Love Album: Off the Grid” is not packing the punch when it comes to sales. Even with all the big name artists, it reportedly accumulated less than 30,000 sales within the first week of being released. Though music lovers have posted positive comments about the album on social media, it draws the question of whether the negative feedback from the publishing rights situation impacted the album sales.
Interested in listening to “The Love Album: Off the Grid” for yourself? Check out the video link below.
