REGAINING CONTROL OVER BLACK MUSIC

- By Michel McFadden 

Since its’ inception, the foundation of the music industry has been Black music. The main problem that Black people have suffered from in this business is the understanding of how to properly package, market and distribute Black music on a broad scale. Some of these reasons have been the lack of finances, knowledge or in some cases just plain stupidity. Before I go into the meat of my topic let me take you back in time so that you can gain some much needed perspective.

Prior to segregation, the Black community had no choice but to support its’ own on every level of social and economic development. The Black community, during this time in history, didn’t have the best of what was available but what the community had, it OWNED. When we needed heals for our shoes, we went to our own shoe makers. When we needed cakes, we went to our bakers or grandmothers who were the bakers for the whole community to make our cakes. When we needed clothes we went to our stores to buy our clothes or we made them ourselves. The early to mid 1960’s spawned a growth of Black entrepreneurs, the likes of which, to this day has never been seen before given the circumstances. And these Black business pioneers opened businesses and services to service many of the needs of the Black community. As the picture is being painted, you can see how one dollar would turn 10 times in the Black community before it left. Do The Math.

After segregation, we lost all that we owned. And in doing so, we lost control, power and the ability to economically empower ourselves by building industries. How could this have happened, you might ask. The answer is quite simple. Our own thinking. Since slavery, we have been taught that the Whiteman’s water is colder than the Blackman’s water. And because we wanted the better things that the Whiteman had, we forgot about building our own so we destroyed what we had built by taking our money and giving it back to the White man. Thus making the Whiteman richer and the Blackman poorer. Our power lies in OWNERSHIP and no place else. We need to change our thinking fast or we are going to miss the best opportunity to regain control over a product that is made by Black people that generates billions of dollars for the White man every year. This may be our last chance if we don’t do something about it.

Black music, mainly hip hop/rap and hip hop/ r&b is the number one genre of music in the world. According to Billboard, Black music (mainly hip hop/ rap and hip hop/ r&b) generated 4.7 billion dollars in 2005 for the major labels. According to the U.S. Census Records, there are 35 million black people of direct African decent in America. Let’s do the math. Black music yielded 4.7 billion dollars in profits last year. There are 35 million Black people in America. The music industry could take 35 million dollars from their 4.7 billion dollars and give every Black man, woman and child 1 million dollars a piece. And with the interest that 4.7 billion dollars generates, the industry wouldn’t even miss the money. Why do we beg the government about reparations when we are generating billions of dollars yearly from music that we create? Again, Do The Math.

What we need to be about the business of doing is operating our own record labels and distribution companies. Since Black people are the creators of this multi-billion dollar product, by right we should own, control, distribute and take the Lion’s share of the profits. It’s time to invest back into ourselves so that we can save ourselves. If we came together collective and executed this plan with surgical precision, there would be NO reason for Black people to be in poverty unless they choose to be there. With advancements such as digital downloads and mobile technology there is NO reason why we can’t do this. There are enough of us with talent, money, resources and knowledge of the music business, that we can regain control over the music that we create. We can build powerful record companies and we don't have to sell out to the man. We can do it as independents. Suge Knight, owner and CEO of Death Row Records built a 750 million dollar empire by the time he was only 37 years old. Within 6 short years of opening Death Row as a independent label, Suge Knight (love him or hate him) turned Death Row into a force within the music community. Remember, Death Row took Tupac, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg around the globe.

On my closing note let me say this. There are many Black people that claim that they do not like the imagery and stereotypes that are attached to the hip hop culture. Well guess what? If you don’t owned it and control it, ain't a DAMN thing you can do about it. So stop bitching and invest back into your youth so that we can turn this thing around. Blessed is he who understands.

Michel McFadden is a freelance writer his credits consists of:

- The New York Times

- CBS News.com

-Source Magazine

- XXL Magazine

- Vibe Magazine