Kanye West Says He’s Giving GOOD Music Artists Back His Share Of Their Masters

Over the past week or so, Kanye West has been on a crusade to re-write the rules of the music industry, with the goal of creating a world where musicians have more ownership over their creative works. He believes that artists should own their master recordings, and now, as the founder of his GOOD Music label, he’s doing everything in his power to make that happen.

The label apparently owns a 50-percent share of its artists masters, but now Kanye says he’s giving those shares back to his artists: He tweeted today, “I’m giving all Good music artist back the 50% share I have of their masters.”

Artists currently signed to GOOD Music include Big Sean, Teyana Taylor, Pusha T, and Q-Tip. It’s not clear if this give-back applies to former GOOD Music artists as well. If it does, receiving ownership of their royalties are Kid Cudi, Common, John Legend, Desiigner, Mos Def, and others.

Sean offered a response to the news, tweeting, “Thank you!!! This would help so much.”

Earlier this month, Kanye went on a Twitter rant on the topic of masters ownership, writing, “In the streaming world master ownership is everything… that is the bulk of the income … in COVID artist need our masters … it’s more important than ever before. […] When you sign a music deal you sign away your rights. Without the masters you can’t do anything with your own music. Someone else controls where it’s played and when it’s played. Artists have nothing accept the fame, touring and merch.”