The Music Cold War; Frank Ocean’s Place in the Streaming Timeline
August 19th, 2016. Every Frank Ocean fan remembers where they were on this date, as this was the date that Frank Ocean appeared unannounced on Apple Music 4 years after his grammy-winning debut album Channel Orange was released. In my basement, home from college, I sat, watched, and listened attentively on my tv/speakers to a mind-numbing visual of Frank wood-shopping, continually asking myself: What is he building? Why is he building? Where are the drums?
On that day, Endless fundamentally changed the record industry. The concept for the visual album, “Endless,” is a comically literal exit where Frank Ocean builds a staircase emblematic of the tedious effort he put in to leave his record contract and regain control of his masters (Endless was the final album on his contract). Frank shortly thereafter released Blonde, one of the greatest albums of the decade, under his own company Boys Don’t Cry with complete ownership, freedom, and with cash lining his pocket from an Apple Music exclusive release. It was at this moment that the music industry Cold War came to a head.
To document the Cold War’s history up to this point:
- June 1, 1999 — Napster is founded by Sean Fanning & Shawn Parker
- December 7, 1999— RIAA files lawsuit with Napster
- March 13, 2000 — Metallica files lawsuit with Napster
- February 2001 — Napster peaks with 26.4M users
- July 11, 2001 — Napster shuts down and pays $26M to copyright owners
- October 7, 2008 — Spotify application launches in Sweden
- July 2011 — Spotify launches in the United States
- June 2015 — Spotify raises $526M at $8.53B
- June 30, 2015 — Apple Music launches in 100 countries
- February 6, 2016 — Apple Music launched exclusive w/ Future’s “EVOL”
At this point, the “streaming wars” had begun. Apple Music released exclusive, editorialized projects with heavyweights such as Drake, Taylor Swift, Chance The Rapper, and Future, while Spotify remained incisive and data-heavy with their punches, focusing on playlist curation and algorithmic recommendations with properties such as Todays Top Hits, Discover Weekly, and their RISE program. Though streaming’s David and Goliath took different approaches, the end-goal remained simple: become the premier streaming service & increase the independent music market share.
As the streaming wars continued publicly, it was a blip compared to the real Cold War that brewed between the streaming services and the major labels. Even to this day, the major label market share eats at margins for streaming services. While streaming services try to build the indie market share, the major labels have massive catalogs and can strip it from the platforms at a moment’s notice. The result is a silent agreement; ownership in the DSP’s in exchange for artists’ rights and catalog.
Everybody wins, right? The streaming services get their IPO’s, the major labels keep their market share, the VC’s who are rich get billions richer, and thousands of employees cash out their options. But what about the creators? Where does this leave them?
On August 19th, 2016, Frank released one of the greatest albums of all-time through Stem, an independent distributor, with complete ownership of his masters. On this date, Frank Ocean marked a tectonic shift in the music industry.
Frank represents the independent creators, owning their business, and generating sustainable income while living the live they want to lead. He stands for artists who can today, “have a decent life living off just a thousand fans who are invested in you and will purchase what you make,” Frank Ocean via W Magazine.
Two days after Frank released Endless & Blonde, the aftershocks were felt.
In the words of Tim Ingham from Music Business Worldwide, “Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group and widely regarded as the most powerful executive in the music industry, had reportedly ordered the company’s labels to stop the practice of making “exclusive” distribution deals with streaming services.”
“Blonde” marks a new era for the landscape of music. It is the official announcement of the “upload” button for streaming services through tools like Tunecore, DistroKid, CD Baby, Stem, and others. It is the start of an era of kids making music in their bedroom, uploading it to streaming services, and generating income.
As we await Frank’s pending releases and appreciate what he’s doing for music culture, we remember an unforgettable date in music industry history.
On August 19th, 2016 music exclusives died, and the 99% was born.
