Chance the Rapper may have long eluded a major label signing [including Columbia, Republic, Def Jam, RCA, Atlantic, Interscope, Shady and Capitol among others] in order to proudly retain creative control over his music, but that doesn't mean he hasn't agreed on a good business venture every now and then. During a question and answer exchange with fans, the Chicago rapper divulged that Apple Music cut him a lofty check to release his Coloring Book mixtape. Without getting too much into the particulars, Chance admitted he was paid $500,000 for exclusive rights to stream the album for all of two weeks.
Back when Coloring Book was released it made history as the very first streaming exclusive project to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The project has since enjoyed critical acclaim, taking home the Best Rap Album Grammy while becoming the first exclusively streamed work to ever win honors at the prestigious awards ceremony. It wound up ranking within the top three albums of the year by critics at Rolling Stone, Complex, Esquire, and Stereogum.
Apple is known for treating it's most popular artists to huge deals, as was the case in 2015 when the company graced Drake with a $19 million Apple Music deal and his own Beats 1 radio show to boot. Drake is soon to release his highly anticipated playlist, More Life within the coming weeks, but although it will be streamed through Apple Music it will not be exclusively released by the streaming giant. On Friday, March 17, OVO Sound producer and Drake's right-hand man Noah "40" Shebib announced via tweet that More Life is complete. While the project is not expected to outdo the record-setting streaming dynamo that Views was, it should do well enough to put Drake back at the top of the rap game after months of touring.
Source: theverge.com
