Musicians Don’t Get It As “Cash Me Outside” Girl Danielle Bregoli Signs With Atlantic Records
I don’t normally write articles like this or many at all as my blog is mostly about gear reviews. But my social media feeds have been rabid about Danielle Bregoli, the “Cash Me Outside” Dr. Phil girl, signing a record deal with Atlantic Records a few days ago. The posts really give me the giggles. Things being said like, “She’s not an artist”, “Listen to the Autotune”, “She has no talent”…… Here’s the problem, you’re all absolutely correct. But what everyone throwing a fit can’t get their head around is none of that matters. I’m going to try to decode this in a few paragraphs.
Music is in a total state of disarray it’s an absolute mess. It’s so bad guitar sales are down something like 50% even from last year and have been declining for a while (don’t absolutely quote me on those numbers, I read them in another article I’m choosing not to quote) but you don’t need to be a rocket scientist or even an avid musician to see how screwed the art form we love really is. You also have no business crying about it in my opinion when we are not only part of the problem, but also largely failed to adapt to the current climate.
Here’s the thing, all the musicians and bands that are upset they’re not getting the attention from labels that “Bhad Bhabie” is as she’s penned herself just look at the freaking stats. Dr. Phil blew her up because her and her mother are a collective mess, however as far as ratings are concerned she was a gold mine for Dr. Phil. Pair that disaster with a repeat visit to Phil, toss an arrest in there, some probation all of which is keeping her relevant in the 24 hour American gossip news network and what you end up with is a recipe for stardom. I’m not certain who the architect of her latest rise is but that person is a damn genius and I wish they could manage my band. Stay with me here.
Her video “These Heaux” which is… you know… pronounced “ho’s”… Has been on YouTube for approximately 3 weeks at the time of writing this. In that time, she’s pulled 27,330,859 views. 575,616 likes and 339,531 dislikes. Like it or not, those are freaking stellar numbers. But the planning on this is what built the perfect storm. Not that I would encourage you to watch the video but if you do you’re going to notice a few things.
First being the audio production. The music is good, no 2 ways around it. They obviously had someone that knew what they’re doing put together the beat for this song. The beat itself is catchy and well put together.
Second, it has a hook. Again, someone that knew what they were doing was smart enough to make a catchy hook stick in your head. This drives the replay value which generates revenue.
Third, Video Production Is Spot On. There is actually a making of with this video. Which I tried to watch but she talks a lot in it making it mostly not worth the watch. But the take away from it is this…. The video is very well done. They claim it’s a single take video. They had to run it multiple times but it’s start to finish done with what appears to be a DJI Inspire or something similar.
This was well orchestrated, well produced and planned. And when someone can gather 27 million hits on a video in 3 weeks you can be absolutely certain a major label is going to take notice. Whoever her team is gambled their resources, rolled the dice and scored. Now this is all piggy backing on her ability to stay current. We know she’s not a rapper she’s being coached along. She clearly can’t sing otherwise we would hear at least a small section without pitch correction. But not only is she breaking her ground but she could also be seen as someone who’s filling a void left by the sudden collapse of Iggy Azalea’s career with Danielle being the new fake accent girl in hip hop.
Here is my bigger problem with the music community’s response and it’s the lack of understanding. People still think they should be heard because they’re an artist, or they’re good at their craft. And logic would tell you that should be the case but 30 seconds looking into the big picture can show you that none of it matters. Nobody cares about artistry anymore, they generally don’t care about music much anymore. Have you tried to play a live show lately? You better be a cover band, and you better have a unique spin on it or you’re playing for the opening bands and that’s it. The music industry has one thing it’s concerned about and that’s profit. And like it or not, 27 million YouTube hits in 3 weeks = Profit.
Hip Hop is losing ground as a genre. It took it longer than Rock and Country but it happened and now what’s left of the industry is looking for something to keep the lights on for a bit longer. But artists need to work harder than ever in order to make it in the music world. If there really is a “make it” anymore. And the bigger question is do you want to “Make It” I wasn’t able to find any specifics on her deal but if I had to guess it’s a 360 deal, small advance and she has zero control. This will blow up soon enough but until then they will get the spotlight.
Atlantic was the best spot for her to land. They have a heavy stable of hip hop and pop artists they can pair her with. So it will be interesting to see which artists are going to sell themselves to the devil in order to try and boost sales. But remember, this girl needs to turn a profit what’s it going to be like when she tours? We’re not exactly looking at artists that worked their way up. Paid their dues and are now reaping the rewards of their effort. Americans love a couple different types of stories they like coming from the ground up stories, and they love watching train-wrecks. And Danielle Bregoli has found a way to tell both stories simultaneously.
GearZombie
