The Gate Keepers Are Afraid: Rise Of The UnderDog

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]The same people who own the labels own [music] the prisons. Literally the same people? Literally the same people who own the labels [music] on private prisons. The records that come out are really [music] geared to push people towards that prison industry.

[00:00:16]>> But they didn't make you write those lyrics. [music] >> It's not about making somebody write the lyrics. It's about being there as guardrails to make sure certain songs make it through and certain songs don't.

[00:00:28]This ball, you going to lose your pension over that one, homie.

[00:00:32]Imagine this. For decades, [music] the music industry played gatekeeper.

[00:00:39]I tell you it is lonely at the top. It is lonely at the top because it's too many Negroes who are 45 plus being gatekept. [music] >> They locked your favorite songs behind ironclad copyrights, sued kids for sharing tracks, and decided exactly who [music] got to make it. They smiled on camera, dropped empowerment anthems, and told [music] you they cared about the culture.

[00:01:00]All while pocketing every last dollar.

[00:01:03]But something changed. Suddenly, >> [music] >> they're letting anyone slap their biggest hits into a TikTok, a Reel, a Short.

[00:01:11]Free game for your videos.

[00:01:13]But why the 180?

[00:01:15]Why open the vault now?

[00:01:17]It's because you [music] have the power.

[00:01:20]And they're terrified.

[00:01:23]Let's look into the method of madness of industry locked behind the gate.

[00:01:38]The trouble was, while her records were selling millions, she was only taking home thousands. $170 million in sales, and you got $1,972?

[00:01:49]Is that right?

[00:01:50]>> Yeah, that's right. That's true.

[00:01:52]A [music] measly $2,000. That's all Braxton says she got from her first contract. The record label took a big slice of the pie. I don't understand how that's feasible. What happens is they'll give you an advance on the next record.

[00:02:06]And then the next record so you stay in kind of stay in debt in a sense. And that says Braxton is what [music] brought on bankruptcy number one back in 1998.

[00:02:21]Let's rewind [music] for a second.

[00:02:23]For 70 years, the majors, the big three labels controlled [music] everything.

[00:02:28]Radio play? Their call.

[00:02:30]MTV rotations? Their call, too.

[00:02:33]Even using a song in [music] your home video could get you sued into oblivion.

[00:02:41]They shaped [music] what you heard, what you danced to, and what you believed.

[00:02:45]And yeah, >> [music] >> sometimes they pushed the wrong message, glorifying access, heartbreak, [music] and materialism. But controversy sells streams and keeps people hooked.

[00:02:56]They acted like [music] family.

[00:02:58]"We discovered the talent. We nurtured the art."

[00:03:04]They were the gate. Behind the scenes, pure profit machines. [music] Then, came smartphones, social media.

[00:03:11]Suddenly, you could broadcast [music] yourself to millions.

[00:03:15]No label, no A&R.

[00:03:17]Just you and your phone and a beat.

[00:03:21]Platforms exploded [music] with user-generated content.

[00:03:25]Dances, skits, challenges.

[00:03:27]And the label?

[00:03:29]They watched their old money crumble.

[00:03:31]Album sales tanked, [music] traditional promo became useless.

[00:03:35]So, what did they do?

[00:03:37]Let me tell you.

[00:03:39]They generously [music] opened the floodgates, easing licensing for short clips, viral sound libraries.

[00:03:47]"Use our music [music] and go wild." It looked like progress, but when you zoom in, it's pure survival mode.

[00:03:55]They're not empowering you out of kindness. They're scared that the independent creator, [music] bedroom producers, and everyday posters can now blow up without them.

[00:04:05]You're the new gatekeeper.

[00:04:07]And they're fighting [music] to stay relevant by latching on to your creativity.

[00:04:26]You are now tuned in to Method Madness.

[00:04:31]million dollars from his live shows.

[00:04:34]Now, this is like the interesting thing.

[00:04:36]Remember I told you the labels, they're always trying to figure out a way to get money?

[00:04:41]They're trying to figure out a way how to increase their revenue. And in trying to increase their revenue, what they've been doing is like trying to hit the streaming services over the head. They're asking Spotify, could you raise the prices? Could you da da da?

[00:04:55]And you have to think about where we are currently in um hip-hop.

[00:05:01]Young Boy is tour gross 70 million dollars. He signed to Capital. Was it for like two or three albums? For like 35 million. Right? So, for for two to three years, 35 million dollars, the label is kind of looking at it to say, well, through our promotion and also you dropping this music, obviously had a whole career before Atlantic.

[00:05:24]They're looking at it on on the aspect of Young Boy is making 70 million from shows, yet they're still trying to monetize strictly his streams to try to validate why they paid him 30 35 million dollars.

[00:05:44]Right?

[00:05:46]What does that mean?

[00:05:47]It's not that there's not money in music, but it feels like labels are in this weird position now because all the money are going to these ancillary places that they're not really in bed with these artists with. Rod Wave, yeah, he might get whatever money from Alamo, but he's going to go on tour and he's going to go make $40 million. He's getting $2 million He's getting $2 million per show.

[00:06:12]So, basically his recording contract, he's not really bugging that much on the record label, but the record label is realizing, "Hey, we're the engine for all of this money. So, what's going to happen?"

[00:06:24]>> [music] >> If you don't believe me, we'll take a look at some cold, hard proof.

[00:06:31]Anzley in 2022, TikTok's bombshell.

[00:06:36]If you haven't heard of Anzley, don't worry [music] cuz I haven't either, but everyone else has.

[00:06:41]She's a multi-platinum star who sold over 165 million records, and she went public on TikTok. She's got a song she loves currently, and she wants to release [music] it now, but her label, Capitol, says no.

[00:06:56]Not until they can fake a viral moment on her TikTok first.

[00:07:00]Everything is marketing, and they're doing this to basically every artist these days.

[00:07:05]The irony, her frustrated video itself explodes. Millions of views. These nuts.

[00:07:12]But the message was crystal clear. Even established artists are being held hostage until the label can engineer user-generated buzz.

[00:07:21]This isn't old-school promo. [music] This is the industry admitting they need organic videos, your trends, your creativity to make anything work.

[00:07:30]They're not creating a wave anymore.

[00:07:32]They're desperately surfing on yours, and they're forcing artists to fake it even if [music] they have to. Scary, right?

[00:07:39]It shows you how deep their fears Fleetwood Mac's Dreams.

[00:07:44]This was the ultimate piggyback.

[00:07:46]>> [music] >> A guy named Nathan Apodaca, just some dude on a skateboard, films himself cruising down the highway sipping cranberry juice [music] five into Fleetwood Mac's 1997 classic Dreams.

[00:07:59]He posted on TikTok. One video, pure magic.

[00:08:05]All of a sudden, millions of creators copy it. The song gets hundreds of millions of streams. The sales jump 374% to be exact. Streams spike 89% and all of a sudden, it re-enters the Billboard charts 43 years later. Mick Fleetwood himself even recreated the video. The label Warner watched the old catalog print money all because one regular person made a fun clip.

[00:08:32]They didn't plan this. They didn't pay for it. They just sat back and collected [music] while your kind of content, raw, creative, and shareable provide their asset.

[00:08:42]Classic piggybacking. And it happened again and again. Old tracks, new hits, all riding the wave of everyday creators scrambling for virality. The industry didn't save the song, we did. They just cashed the check.

[00:09:02]You are now tuned in to Method Madness.

[00:09:08]>> [music] >> So, at the end of the day, the music industry acts like your friend.

[00:09:13]They let you use their music. They smile and say, "It's all about the culture."

[00:09:19]But behind the curtain, >> [music] >> they're scrambling. They're scared of you.

[00:09:23]With nothing but your phone and an idea, >> [music] >> you can broadcast yourself straight past their gates. They're not giving us the keys to the kingdom. They're hitching a ride on [music] our bus, influencing what trends, what blows up, what gets pushed, all while pocketing [music] the dollars from the streams and data you generate. The strange part, now that we have the power, we can flip it for real.

[00:09:46]Create our own terms, support independent artists. The question is, when will you get started?