Following months of rumors, Jay-Z has proven the gossip to be true by not renewing his contract as president of Def Jam Records and officially stepping down from the position.
“It’s time for me to take on new challenges,” he said in a statement.
Allegedly, the label’s parent company, Universal, refused to compensate the man also known as Shawn Carter in a way that was satisfactory to him. According to the New York Times, Universal declined to renew the contract due in part to what may be considered a lackluster performance during his three years in the executive position.
Despite discovering pop sensation Rihanna, Jay-Z can’t brag about his rap record sales figures for artists such as Young Jeezy, Freeway and even his own releases.
Despite having “retired” from recording, though, the rapper is slated to continue recording for Roc-A-Fella in the wake of his November release American Gangster. Under a separate long-term recording contract with Def Jam, Jay-Z owes the company at least one more album.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Jay-Z expressed dissatisfaction with the current business model of the industry.
“It’s really about trying to invest in the future, trying to invest in maybe coming up with a new model, he said. ” Because going in hard making records with artists and throwing those records into a system that’s flawed is not exciting for me. It’s not the music; people ingest music the same way. It’s just that the model of selling CDs has changed. So doing things the typical way is not in the best interests of anyone and not exciting for me.”
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