Chance the Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’ was a big independent success story of 2016, albeit one backed by an exclusive deal with one of the biggest companies in the world: Apple.
On Friday, Chance responded to questions about whether that relationship compromised his independence, with a flurry of tweets.
“I never felt the need to correct folks on my relationship with @apple but now that more people have tried to discredit my independence, I wanna clear things up. @apple gave me half a mil and a commercial to post Coloring Book exclusively on applemusic for 2 weeks,” wrote Chance.
“That was the extent of my deal, after 2 weeks it was on SoundCloud for free. I needed the money and they’re all good people over there. I feel like if I didnt clear it up people would keep trying to discredit all the work we did to make Coloring Book what it became.”
He went on to suggest that artists “can gain a lot from the streaming wars as long as they remain in control of their own product” while stressing that transparency is important.
“If you come across oprtunities to work with good people, pick up cash and keep your integrity I say Do It.”
He’s the first artist to talk publicly about the terms of a deal with Apple: Drake was rumoured to have signed up to a $19m promotional partnership with Apple Music in 2015, but neither party has ever confirmed that figure.
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