Latest / Clone Wars: The Spinoff / Megan Thee Stallion, Label Battles, and the Artist Ownership Blueprint

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Megan Thee Stallion, Label Battles, and the Artist Ownership Blueprint · Clone Wars: The Spinoff

• 0:00
  Yo yo yo, welcome back to Clone Wars: The Spinoff, I'm Calvin
• 0:06
  Blingwell, and today we ain't talking about no dead catalog or no court-ordered
• 0:11
  seizure.
• 0:12
  Today we talking about a young queen who's still in the fight,
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  still got her pen, and still trying to get free.
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  DJ Universe in the building, and y'all already know I love when we get to talk about
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  somebody who's actively fighting for ownership while they career still hot.
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  That's a different kind of pressure.
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  Dandy Market here, and yeah, this one hit different because it's not
• 0:38
  abstract.
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  This is happening right now, in real time, while the artist still gotta tour,
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  still gotta drop merch, still gotta eat.
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  And I'm Dangerous Zygos, CEO of Currency Development, and my job today is simple:
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  break down the money, break down the leverage, and give y'all the blueprint so this
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  don't happen to you.
• 0:58
  So for them that don't know, we talking about the long-running back and forth
• 1:02
  between Megan Thee Stallion and her old label situation, 1501 Certified.
• 1:08
  She blew up worldwide, Grammy's, number ones, but behind the scenes she's been in a
• 1:14
  legal tug-of-war over her contract terms and how much control she actually had over
• 1:20
  her own output.
• 1:22
  And that's the part that get glossed over.
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  The world sees the trophies and the tour posters, but they don't see the artist
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  sitting in depositions trying to explain why she can't drop the music she already
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  recorded.
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  Man, that's the nightmare scenario for any artist on the come up.
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  You finally get the attention, the deals, the looks, and then you find out the paper
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  you signed when you ain't have leverage is now controlling your whole rollout.
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  Right, and this is bigger than one artist's situation.
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  This is the classic structure across the industry: young artist signs early,
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  before they got a hit, before they got a lawyer they trust,
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  before they even know what a recoupment clause is.
• 1:59
  Then five years later when they're a star, that same contract is the thing holding
• 2:03
  them back.
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  And that's why this conversation matters for everybody listening,
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  whether you got a deal or you independent.
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  The lesson ain't really about the lawsuit details, it's about the moment before the
• 2:13
  lawsuit ever existed.
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  The moment you put pen to paper.
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  Let's bring it back to the foundation.
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  In the 5% teachings, the very first lesson is knowledge of self.
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  Before you can negotiate with anybody else, you gotta know your own value,
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  your own worth, your own numbers.
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  Facts.
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  In Supreme Mathematics, Knowledge is one, Wisdom is two.
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  You can't apply wisdom, meaning you can't use what you know in the real world,
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  action, deals, contracts, if you don't have the knowledge first.
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  A lot of artists skip straight to wisdom, signing deals and making moves,
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  without ever doing the knowledge part.
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  That's real.
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  I tell young artists all the time, before you sign anything,
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  sit down and actually know: what's my masters situation, what's my publishing split,
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  what's my recoupment balance, what's my touring percentage.
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  If you can't answer them questions about your OWN deal, you don't have knowledge of
• 3:17
  self in this business, you just have a vibe.
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  And that's discipline too.
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  Legacy artists, the ones still standing twenty, thirty years later,
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  they all got one thing in common: they took the time early to understand the
• 3:31
  business, even when it wasn't fun, even when they just wanted to make music.
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  Understanding equals seven in the Mathematics, and understanding your contract IS
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  understanding your culture, your power, your future.
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  Here's the part that don't get talked about enough: while all this legal stuff drags
• 3:52
  on, the artist still gotta generate income.
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  That's where touring and merch become survival tools, not just side hustles.
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  Right, because the label can sometimes hold up a release, but they can't always hold
• 4:05
  up a stage.
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  If you built a real fan base, you can still book shows, still sell out venues,
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  and that revenue often flows differently than recorded music royalties.
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  And merch is even more direct.
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  A t-shirt, a hoodie, a vinyl variant sold at the merch table,
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  that's near 100% margin after cost, and most of the time the label ain't touching
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  that the same way they touch your masters or publishing.
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  From a financial literacy standpoint, that's exactly why every artist needs multiple
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  income lanes.
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  If 80% of your income is tied up in one contract that's in dispute,
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  you're frozen.
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  But if you got touring, merch, sync placements, and maybe a brand partnership
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  running separately, you stay liquid while the lawyers work.
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  That's the difference between an artist and an entrepreneur.
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  The artist waits on the check.
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  The entrepreneur builds five different pipes so no single dispute can starve them
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  out.
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  Alright, let's give the people the actual blueprint.
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  Step one: get an entertainment lawyer BEFORE you sign anything,
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  not after.
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  Pay for an hour of their time even if you broke, because the cost of a bad contract
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  is way more than a consultation fee.
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  Step two: understand the difference between a deal and ownership.
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  A check up front feels good, but ask yourself, what am I giving up for twenty years
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  to get this money for two years?
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  Masters, publishing, name and likeness, those are forever decisions.
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  Step three: build your team's knowledge, not just your own.
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  Your manager, your DJ, your producer, everybody around you should understand splits
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  and royalties too, because a strong team catches things a tired artist might miss in
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  the fine print.
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  Step four: keep building your independent lanes regardless of what label situation
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  you in.
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  Tour, merch, content, your own socials, your own email list.
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  Those are things nobody can take from you in a lawsuit.
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  And step five, the wealth move: whatever income you DO control,
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  don't just spend it.
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  Reinvest a piece into assets, real estate, a small business,
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  index funds, something that grows even while your legal situation is still being
• 6:15
  sorted out.
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  That's how you turn a fight for ownership today into generational wealth tomorrow.
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  Shoutout to every artist out there grinding through a tough contract situation.
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  We see you, and we hope this breakdown gives you something to work with.
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  Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding, that's one, two, three, and it starts with knowing
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  your own deal before you ever sign on the dotted line.
• 6:39
  Build them lanes.
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  Tour, merch, content, ownership.
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  Don't put all your eggs in one contract.
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  And remember, the goal ain't just to get a deal.
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  The goal is to build something that outlasts the deal.
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  That's Clone Wars: The Spinoff, we out.