After all, if Pusha T was more concerned with Len Blavatnik than Lil Wayne we would have never gotten some dope music, and more than money and power, that’s what really matters. So maybe the lesson here is that we’re better off not thinking about who’s really in control, maybe we’re better off walking past Vincent Bolloré on the street and not recognizing him. The albums that we live and breathe these men think of as penny stocks, a fact so intimidating it makes me want to curl up in a ball and never leave the house again. The most powerful people in the music industry aren't even in the music industry at all, they’re above it. There’s Len Blavatnik, the CEO of Access Industries, a company that owns Warner Music and sounds like the evil corporation in a science fiction movie-he’s worth almost $20 billion. There’s Li Ka-Shing, a pivotal shareholder in Spotify whose net worth is $26.6 billion (that’s almost 4 Bollorés, or 52 JAY-Zs). We treat JAY-Z as a god with the power to make or break a career, but really, he’s just another cog in the machine, and Bolloré’s far from the only member of the actual Illuminati, or even the richest. As someone who has made music his life, it’s baffling to get some perspective.

Thinking about the numbers, the money and the power Bolloré has makes me feel small and honestly, is frightening. What’s G.O.O.D Music to a man who buys and sells the entire label’s worth in under an hour? I bet he doesn't even listen to music, he probably listens to dark, ominous tones or The Imperial March on loop. I don’t know about you, but there’s something so comforting about even Lucian Grainge sweating his bosses like the rest of us. But who are these bosses? Who has the ability to fire the most powerful man in music? A French multinational mass media company called Vivendi.īolloré isn’t pictured with rappers, or music execs, because he meets with presidents and world leaders. Back in June, it was reported that unless serious changes occur, Grainge will need to find himself new employment.

In fact, he’s about to get his ass fired. Lucian Grainge could single-handedly end a lot of people’s careers, but even Lucian could be forced out. Simmons, considered a hip-hop pioneer, started Def Jam with Rick Rubin in Rubin’s. If you look even higher, Grainge has a superior, and that’s where the real money and real power lay. The label is a joint venture with Island Def Jam Records, created from the merger of Island Records and Def Jam. Remember how scary Gus was? He was a kingpin, there was no one man more powerful, right? To us, Lucian may be Gus, but to the lowly rapper, he’s as high as anyone could possibly be. Basically, Pusha T is Jesse, G.O.O.D Music is Walt, Def Jam/Steve Bartles is Mike and Lucian Grainge/UMG is Gus.

Since I’m not exactly a businessman, I like to put things into terms I can understand- Breaking Bad. Not only is LL Cool J the very first rapper to put out an album on Def Jam records, but he became one of the first and biggest solo superstars in hip hop history, while still a teenager.

Who owns def jam records