Chance the Rapper's New "Independent" Hustle

By Uloop Archives on May 28, 2016

In a few short years, the talented Chance the Rapper has grown from another aspiring Chicago rapper into one of this generation’s most influential artistic voices. While he is not quite ubiquitous yet, he has certainly carved out quite the name for himself. At the ripe young age of 23, the raspy-voiced wordsmith can already boast of high accolades from his home city, collaborations with Madonna and Kanye West, and even a meeting with President Obama.

By itself, that’s an awe-inspiring resume. It becomes all the more impressive when you consider his rise. The two projects that brought his name into the rap canon, 10 Day and Acid Rapwere both free digital mixtapes crafted and released by his own volition. The tapes were only available for download on DatPiff, a popular database of free mixtapes. Yet, they caught the attention of fans far and wide.

Taken by CZR-E for The Come Up Show. Image via Flickr.

What sent Chance shooting up to the top were the quality of these tapes. 2013′s Acid Rap in particular was considered a free masterpiece, a ray of sunshine in contrast to the dark drill music that had characterized the Chicago rap scene. Chance’s yelps, sing-songy whine, and funny yet thoughtful lyrics wowed several listeners. The rap world went crazy for this young one, and it all came from an honest-to-gawd direct-to-DatPiff mixtape. There was no major promotion, no sales, no backing other than his agent and manager; it was entirely Chance’s grind, and word-of-mouth took care of the rest.

Following Acid Rap’s critical and popular success, the biggest names in rap began hounding Chancellor Bennett, hoping to sign him. This was all playing to Chance’s initial plans; after 10 Day‘s release, he had entertained thoughts of signing to a major label and releasing a studio album. However, he declined all of them.

This was totally unprecedented; ever since the early 2000s, when mixtapes began taking the form of free albums instead of DJ mixes, the mixtape has consistently served as the means to an end. G-Unit’s 50 Cent is the Future served as the buzz-generator for 50 Cent while he was on the come up, paving the way for his official major-label arrival, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Lil Wayne’s mixtapes served as placeholders between his albums, giving his fans something to occupy themselves with while he worked in the studio to release more albums. The line remained in effect: mixtape, then proper studio album. Even when artists like Gucci Mane took the mixtape game to a whole new level, dropping dizzying amounts of free music, the tapes were still bookended by for-sale albums.

Chance flipped this concept on its head. The mixtape could be the means and the end itself. After infamously declaring the death of the record industry, a new set of rules was now in effect. A label, a proper studio outfit, deals with suits did not have to be the goal. A young, hungry artist could make their way without selling a single copy of any of their projects. The money, you ask? Why, touring of course. Not to mention the countless invitations for guest features and opportunities for songwriting credits.

To hell with the system, right? Stick it to the man! Chance the Rapper, representing the dream in indie success, would continue to embrace the grind and the ensuing image that came with it. Everyone loves a Horatio Alger story. Chance’s self-driven rise to success was inspiring, and the continued dedication to his ideals and artistry was even more so. There are plenty of artists who sell out, but no, not Chancellor. He is free of the evil shackles of the music industry, while still enjoying the success other indie artists wish to attain.

All of this makes Chance’s co-sign of Apple just the slightest bit confusing.

After Acid Rap, Chance joined a band of Chicago musicians called The Social Experiment. Their debut album, Surf, was released in 2015. Like all of Chance’s projects, the album was free. Curiously enough, the album was distributed on major platforms: iTunes had it available as a free download, and Spotify had it available for streaming. It was not just a DatPiff release, like previous tapes. This sent some heads scratching. If this was to be a free album, why wasn’t it just another Chance mixtape? Being self-released, how did this get to so many huge platforms? Also, if the album was on streaming services, did this mean that the artists got subsequent monetary returns based on the number of streams, technically making it commercial?

As such, Surf is not a Chance the Rapper solo mixtape — he is noticeably absent from some of the tracks — so bewilderment quickly gave way to enjoyment of the album.

The time did eventually come for Chance’s third mixtape, a prospect which had fans buzzing with excitement. After multiple teases, a couple of free singles, and a song debut on Beats 1 Radio, Coloring Book was released on May 13. However, something was unusual about this release: ads graced the top of the iTunes store, boasting about “The new mixtape — exclusively on Apple Music.” This was a truthful claim. A download had been made available on DatPiff, but was quickly removed. The tape wasn’t even available for free download on iTunes, like Surf had been. Coloring Book was the latest willing hostage of a streaming service.

This isn’t a new idea; it was Future who kicked off the concept of the exclusive streaming release earlier this year, launching his February album, EVOL, on Apple Music and iTunes. Shortly thereafter, Kanye West followed with a similar strategy, releasing The Life of Pablo as a TIDAL exclusive. Unlike Future, Kanye did not offer a paid download option; it was stream on TIDAL or bust. This doubled TIDAL’s previous subscriber account, with more than a million users signing up for free trials just to listen to the album.

Eventually, both artists allowed their albums to expand to all major streaming platforms. The damage was already done, however. Beyoncé and Drake both followed suit and released their highly anticipated albums through TIDAL and Apple Music respectively. Just like Future and Kanye before him, Drake has since let his album get to Spotify, while Beyoncé has yet to do the same. Clearly, the exclusive release has become the new norm, and Chance is the latest to embrace it. However, representatives for Apple Music have claimed that Coloring Book will only remain exclusive on the service for a couple weeks, before presumably branching out as Drake’s album did.

The question remains, though: why Chance? The artists who have taken advantage of exclusives thus far aren’t some indie darlings; they’re some of the biggest names in the game. Furthermore, each artist was purposefully marketing and selling an album, an intentional product for retail. Chance the Rapper does not fall into either of these categories. He is popular, yes, but he is not a Drake, Beyoncé, or Kanye. Plus, Coloring Book is still a mixtape, or so Apple and Chance would have you believe. Looking at his Twitter, he is still enthusiastic about his claims that Coloring Book is a free product; it just happens to be on a streaming service. And as The Social Experiment pointed out, if you were a subscriber and you streamed the tape on your phone, you could download and save it as well.

Something still feels off. A mixtape is supposed to be available for universal consumption, right? It’s in the very name; the earliest mixtapes were actual tapes, passed out on the streets to promote music. Fencing in a mixtape through a streaming subscription, even temporarily, does not seem to fit the grassroots concept. Chance still doesn’t appear to be a major label signee, but is being an Apple crony really any different?

Since Apple Music doesn’t share Spotify’s “freemium” model, most subscribers are paying for the service. To have to pay for even the right to listen to Coloring Book technically doesn’t make the tape “free.” There are several new subscribers who are using the free trial of Apple Music thanks to both Views and Coloring Book, but the fact remains that it’s a paid service. Plus, it has been announced that Coloring Book will chart on the Billboard 200 based on its Apple Music streams. The Billboard 200 ranks albums based on sales. Free music doesn’t chart because it doesn’t sell; only paid-for products chart on the Billboard 200.

If this were any other artist, this might not be such a hot discussion. By contrast, this is Chance, someone who built their entire career off of free music aversion to corporate sponsorship. Not only that, this is someone who said they would commit themselves to those ideals, even after major labels chased after him like rabid dogs. How is it possible, then, that Chance retains this while landing exclusivity with the largest digital music marketplace in the world? Moreover, how does an artist like Chance land such a deal with Apple, while still apparently working with minimal outside control?

For Apple, connecting with Chance was most likely an image thing. As streaming services become the default mode of music consumption for most listeners, competing services need aces in their sleeves to stand out. By its launch, Apple Music became the proud household for acclaimed albums by Thom Yorke and Dr. Dre. It was a way of benefiting off the growing vitriol toward Spotify, whose shockingly low monetary returns on streams turned off many artists. By gaining the endorsement of artists who spurned Spotify, Apple Music could brand itself as a service who actually cared about its artists and wished to fairly compensate them — a much-needed boon to the legitimacy of streaming services.

Plus, the backing of legends like Thom Yorke and Dr. Dre is all well and good, but let’s face it, those are some old guys who peaked an eternity ago. Streaming services are primarily a youthful enterprise. It makes more sense for Apple Music to get the endorsement of, say, Taylor Swift. Then again, the type of people who eagerly listen to Taylor Swift probably don’t listen to Future and Chance the Rapper much. Having the latter two artists’ endorsements covers an entirely new listening demographic altogether.

Lately, Apple Music could use more of that positive image boost, considering the serious scrutiny it has undergone in the past few weeks. James Pinkstone, a composer and dedicated music consumer, wrote a blog post called “Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously.” that shortly went viral. Pinkstone claimed that the service itself went into his computer and deleted all of his music files. Other writers soon popped up with pieces relating matching tales. The music lovers of the internet went into a collective outrage. Despite official claims contrary to the stories told in these posts, Apple Music’s reputation has sustained some damage.

It’s likely that the fine folks at Apple Music couldn’t care less about mixtapes, despite Chance’s lament; rather, their image benefits from having him on their side, which gives sense to their end of the partnership. But then why would Chance the Rapper, independent champion of the world, give his music to corporate control?

A simple yet probable answer: a Grammy. The prestigious golden gramophones bestowed by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences come with an important restriction: they can only be rewarded to commercial music. Free music, like Chance’s previous releases and so many other mixtapes, cannot win a Grammy unless they come with a price tag. Earlier this year, Chance expressed interest in a Grammy in his verse on Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam.” Although he duly noted you have to sell a record to get a Grammy, he also claimed he’d make his next release so good the Recording Academy would have to notice. It would be a mixtape, but it would be an undeniable one.

Fans eagerly responded to Chance’s call to arms. A petition was created and addressed to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, demanding that free music be eligible for a Grammy. Although it quickly gained thousands of signatures and a glowing endorsement from Chance and his fellow artists, it seems it has yet to truly make a change in the award ceremony’s rules.

So what’s an “independent” artist to do if he wants to release free music but still win a Grammy? The ingenious solution: a streaming service exclusive. This way, the tape is technically free, as it does not have any individual units for sale, but it also technically isn’t, since the streams are most likely compensating the artist.

There you have it: Chance the Rapper pulled a Faustian deal with Apple Music so he could maybe win a Grammy. Yes, he made his way to the top on the the basis of his incredible music, but once you hit the big time, everyone sells out sooner or later. Chance the Rapper may not be technically signed to any label, but his creative work has been placed under the (temporary?) ownership of Apple Music. He may be independent by the traditional definition, but he is no longer by any means independent; he is affiliated with Apple Music and all it stands for.

This may be disheartening to those who rooted for Chance’s label-free, cost-free artistic mission. Then again, it may just be another doorway opened for the future of music. As streaming services slowly become the default mode of music consumption, the commercially-established lines between albums and mixtapes, free and paid-for, and other such terms seem to become meaningless. In the next few years, music lovers will witness more of their favorite artists doing exclusive releases and deals with streaming services, hoping to give their respective services an edge in an already-saturated market. As the traditional music industry becomes increasingly fractured, the internet will build a new frontier from the scraps. Perhaps aligning with a particular service will be the new “signing to a major label deal.”

Corporate control and distribution of music will reinvent itself over the next decade. For music lovers, it is either a frightening or exciting new time. If you want to keep listening to music from your favorite artists, you may have to get used to shelling out to different streaming services, the real money-makers here. Whatever Coloring Book is, it’s not a traditional mixtape by an independent artist though. Who knows if such terms will still matter in the next few years, though?

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format