Everything Is A Rollout
Written By: Vince Scott
We're in a simulation, my friends. There's no other way to put it. Every day there’s a new story or viral video that’s crazier than the last. I won’t lie, I'm just as caught up in the rapture as you. My thumbs move at the speed of Usain’s feet all up and through Tik Tok. The algorithms have us locked in and if there’s anyone or anything that has figured that out it's the music business.
It used to be when artists wanted to reach you and me they’d cop a billboard, maybe do some radio interviews, shoot a few videos then sit back and watch their respective album do numbers off the good music and promo alone. Well, we’re not in bumass Kansas anymore dog. A rollout is super necessary.
You wanna do numbers? Rule the streaming platforms? Get people to watch that video you made with the girl from IG who you promised would get “exposure”? You’re gonna need a rollout. But what is a rollout today? The answer is a rollout is EVERYTHING.
Seems like every day we see another artist tweet about how music manager “x” or record label exec “y” is holding their album hostage. “I need yall to tell them to release my album! it's my best work”. The fans tweet and demand the music and boom, the album drops with videos and ads a few days to a week later as if everything was already planned. The artist thanks manager “x” and we all go back to normal.
At least once a month now your favorites do some interview or performance where they start talking wild reckless, an “out of context” clip comes out, and “cancel culture” is at their neck. Then one apple notes apology later they got new music droppin’! And the worst part is half the time it's trash!
Arguing with your baby’s mama/daddy on IG live is a unique rollout but we’ve seen it attempted. Beefing with friends and associates as well. Shit, I watched Ye use an album(Jesus Is King) as a rollout for a presidential campaign that was a rollout for another album(Emmanuel). You still with me? I know this can get very confusing but I’m all out of bullet points and whatnot. I say all of that to say this. We need to spot the rollout red flags. Labels feel the need to do this cause they feel we have short attention spans and they also feel like outrage sells. While I’m sure that will never change I do miss the days where the artists knew the music was good enough to speak for itself.
Well, my friends, that's it for me. I’ve got places to go and people to see…and by that I mean it's time to be completely washed and tuck another uneventful Friday night into the books. One thing is for sure though. We absolutely need to abolish the notes app apology b. There is no sympathy in your thumbs. Stop it.
