Jack Antonoff Says He Asked Label to Drop R. Kelly

In all fairness, I'm not sure why they're keeping him either.

 

R. Kelly makes his label money. They're not going to drop him. Same goes for Chris Brown. You can do dumb shit all you want, but if you can still pack arenas and have platinum singles, you're okay. They would easily drop Bleachers before even thinking about possibly dropping R. Kelly, though. That's how major labels work.

 

Am I out of it or what was the last R Kelly hit? I thought that Christmas album tanked?

Edit: Looks like his last LP, in 2015, has sold around 462,000 total. Hm.

 

I had no idea the guy was still popular like that.

 

This is 100% true.

 

I was just talking to a friend about this last weekend... If you said "Yo check out this news article, apparently R Kelly just ___________", I would believe anything you put in that blank. He's an awful human being.

Music-wise, the new stuff is still really enjoyable. Every time I turn on "Marching Band" I get so hype

 

It's not just Bleachers they would be dropping though, if it came down to it. It would be Jack Antonoff, writer and producer for Lorde, Taylor Swift, etc. Jack probably has some influence at this point.

 

R. Kelly is scum, but man "Trapped In The Closet” is the best Unintentional Comedy Album Ever.

 

so sad that he's had to ask multiple times. when will #MeToo affect the music industry? so many abusers still in the charts. xxx had a number 1 album, chris brown has a nation wide tour in arenas and the kids eat it up. disappointed af

 

Pretty sure R. Kelly barely even tours anymore and hasn't sold well in years. Didn't he literally cancel a bunch of shows when those allegations first came out?

Also-- don't be crazy. Sony does NOT want to piss off or drop Antonoff. Aside from RCA, he's also on Sony/ATV for publishing which is HUGE given his work with other artists alone. If in your theoretical argument they had to choose.. it would not be Jack getting the boot.

 

R. Kelly has 14 consecutive albums that debuted in the Top 10. Even if his last two albums didn't do so well, Sony will still keep him around because he's considered an icon in R&B music. The only way he can get dropped is if people stopped buying/streaming his music and stopped going to his shows, but that will never happen. He makes money, so they'll keep him around. Activists have been protesting at his recent shows, but Sony are turning a blind eye to that.

 

Yeah but even then, if they dropped him or didn’t renew, chances are they would still own his old masters/back catalogue. So they really have nothing to lose other than new material. They could still make $$ on his back catalog without continuing to give him a strong platform.

Of course this is all theoretical. It took quite a while for them to start cutting ties with Luke (which they haven't even done fully).. but it’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds. The new allegations are pretty awful.

 

I guess I’m out of touch. I assumed hands down that Jack Antanoff was more valuable to the label than R.Kelly, given his multiple hats and huge success.

 

This latest Bleachers album flopped though, right? I liked a decent portion of it but it was kind of one note. R Kelly is a scrub either way...

 

Idk why who's more valuable is even being discussed. He's not saying "drop him or I leave the label"...they don't have to choose at this point. Thus, they continue to choose both and will until that's no longer a money making option for them.

 

wat

 

Do you define "flop" based on what you don't like?

And regardless.. if you read my former post, he's a one of the biggest producers and songwriters in the world right now, and his publishing deal is through Sony as well so he's definitely a hugely important asset.