"They're not making substance material _ they're not really
going into creating a sound," complains the rap veteran Snoop
Dogg.
"It's all about making the hot song for right now, but the
artists who will stand the test of time like myself are about
making records, not songs," he added. "You got to make a quality
album so you can hold people's attention. It's like a movie. If you
make a movie that got (only) one good scene, ain't nobody gonna go
see it."
Acts like Dem Franchize Boyz, a group on Virgin Records (a
division of EMI Group PLC), have definitely caught America's
attention _ "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" was the party jam du jour
last year _ but they aren't on the charts today. And they're not
the only ones.
Young Dro, on Warner Music Group Corp.'s Atlantic Records, had
everyone doing the "Shoulder Lean" last fall, and his ringtone
sold more than two million copies. He hasn't had a top 10 hit
since. And while Rich Boy's "Throw Some D's" was so potent even
Kanye West did a remix, the Interscope artist has been pretty much
M.I.A. on the charts since then. The ringtone went platinum, but
Rich Boy's debut album has sold only 354,000 copies.
Not that record labels necessarily have a problem with all that,
especially when those artists are racking up huge ringtone sales _
most of which sell for about $1.99 for a snippet of a song,
compared to 99 cents for a whole song on iTunes.
"That's just a business mind-set for the record companies ...
instead of artist development, they're looking for that," says
Jermaine Dupri, president of urban music at Island Records. "It
makes the record companies not want to artist-develop the groups
anymore because that's what they're into _ they want to try and
sell as many ringtones as possible."
Mims, another Virgin Records act, was huge on the ringtone
market and the pop charts, with "This is Why I'm Hot." The slick
street anthem shot to No. 1 and was a platinum ringtone. But the
album only sold 290,000 copies and Mims has yet to have another hit
_ which one veteran act finds troubling.
"He doesn't have another one? At least one more?" 50 Cent said
in a recent interview, blaming it on the lack of artist development
on the record label's part. "And then you're surprised that people
don't want to spend their money on CDs anymore?"
"In today's music business, (fans) buy singles of songs that
they like but they buy albums of stars that they love," says
"Big" Jon Platt, a top executive at EMI Music Publishing. "There
would be a time back in the day where you would know everything
about an artist. Today you don't know what half of these artists
look like."
But it's not only record labels who are looking for ringtone
raps to boost their coffers. Some in the industry blame rappers who
are increasingly whipping together simplistic, catchy songs aimed
at the ringtone market.
"About one or two weeks ago, one of the saddest things happened
to me, when (an artist) played me a record and said, 'This would
make a hot ringtone,"' said Platt, president of west coast
creative at EMI.
"Right now the state of where we are at in hip-hop, it's
different," 50 Cent says. "I don't think they want the lyrics to
be complex _ they want it to be simple, catchy. The Southern-based
artist can be credited (with) that, because they're dancing, so now
your record has to pretty much be catchy. It doesn't have to be
super content, extreme content. It has to have a good rhythm to it
and dance."
Seventeen-year-old Soulja Boy says that's what people want to
hear these days.
"People don't want to go to a club and hear (about) people
getting shot or hear about your life story," he says. "People
want to ... have fun and dance and party."
Still, Soulja Boy, on Interscope Records (a division of
Universal Music Group), knows about the pitfalls of some of his
predecessors, and is hoping not to fall into their lot. Already,
he's got a song "Soulja Girl" rising on the charts.
"When I did my album, I went into the studio (thinking), 'I
gotta have each song on here where it will be good as a single,"'
he says. "I believe I came out with an album full of singles, so
I'm good."
Though Dupri admits that there have been times when he's signed
an "ringtone act" (Dem Franchize Boyz were his group when he was
president of urban music at Virgin), he says there needs to be a
balance between acts signed simply for ringtone success and
long-term prospects.
"You have to try and play both sides of the game," he says.
But for all the concern about what the future holds if the
industry focuses on ringtone rap stars, Platt sees an even more
worrisome aspect of their success.
"If it wasn't for these singles blowing up, and some of the
digital downloads and the ringtones, it's kind of scary of where
the business would be at this point," he says, noting the rap
genre's 21 percent sales dive in 2006. "It's a Catch 22. It's not
selling albums, but it is helping drive the genre further because
there's been no big (new) artist to carry it."
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