Chance the Rapper reflected on the public perception and misunderstandings surrounding his landmark deal with Apple Music for his 2016 album Coloring Book.
In a recent interview with Bootleg Kev, Chance explained that the deal with Apple occurred in the middle of a streaming war, where various platforms like Tidal and Spotify were securing exclusive releases to get people to subscribe. Chance's situation was unique as his music had only been on platforms such as Datpiff and SoundCloud, and he emphasized that the deal was with an "independent artist that's going direct to fans."
According to Chance, the deal was significant for a company like Apple, which made phones, to promote an artist who was explicitly "anti-record label." However, fans saw it differently and claimed he was no longer independent since he signed a deal with a major company.
"I feel like I took a hit from people like making it seem like they built my album or built my infrastructure," said Chance before clarifying that, despite the mainstream attention, he's always remained independent. "My entire time. It's been scary."
Chance also challenged the idea of labels signing unknown talent, stating, "labels don't sign n****s that no one's ever heard of anymore." Instead, Chance said labels prioritize artists with an established fanbase and want to "see hard tickets" and "people invest in it" rather than focusing solely on talent. Chance built his own following from the ground up and explained how an artist can truly understand the independent game.
"The key to understanding it is like if you can get a team around you that can help you organize into like exactly the spaces that you choose then you can continuously like you know build your fan base," he said. "I started out in libraries and putting on my own shows at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago. It's like 400-person cap venue. But I'd go to all these schools after school with my dad and my friends and save money and be selling tickets hand to hand or passing out CDs, and that built a fan base."
He added, "Everybody is independent till they're not, and I know enough people and seen enough movies to know that usually when you're not, you seem to have the same troubles, if not more."
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