If you’ve been following the Twitter-sphere you might have picked up the leak of two of Katy Perry singles from her new album, PRISM, a little over a month ago.
As many had been eagerly anticipating that release, it goes without saying that the singles were retweeted and just like that, the planned October 22nd release of her album went up in smoke.
Allegedly, the leaks came from the infamous Perez Hilton and caused quite a stir at Capitol Records, Katy’s label, who were – how do you say – “pissed.”
As anyone who has used social media in this millennia knows, once something hits the interwebs, you can’t really take it back.
So Capitol should have run with it and pushed their marketing and promotions ahead to take advantage of the early buzz.
Or accepted the leak as great pre-promotion, as a litmus test to see which DJs in which markets were feeling and playing the records – and concentrate their efforts where buzz and spins were concentrated (or missing).
But Capitol Records, in typical dying record label form, blew its stack and started playing the blame game.
Instead of “capitalizing” (pun intended) on the moment, they started looking for someone to blame.
And do you know who ended up in their crosshairs? Chris Anokute.
“Chris Anokute? Isn’t he at Island Def Jam?” You ask.
That’s right.
But in the cover your ass shit storm that ensued, Chris became the scapegoat for the label’s ineptitude.
You see Chris, who used to A&R Katy Perry saw Perez Hilton’s tweet of Katy’s single and retweeted it (as did at least 60+ others who saw the tweet that morning).
Although Chris is no longer at Capitol, he and Katy remain close and she counts him among her closest friends.
So it went without saying tag when he saw Perez’s tweet, he shared the link to Katy’s single with his 14k followers.
Sharing is what friends do in the age of social media.
Right?
Well not if you’re a label exec.
Allegedly, the powers that be at Capitol and Island Def Jam felt that somehow Chris’ retweet violated some unwritten code of conduct.
And apparently that breach caused at least one executive to try airing it out on Chris.
And I say “apparently” because Chris put a response on Facebook, essentially blacking out on the dimwit dinosaurs running most major record labels.
Here’s a taste:
This is the abridged version of the blackout.
And with that, it was on.
Shortly after that incident Chris Anokute was released from Def Jam.
The deals of his termination are sketchy, and he’s probably bound to some draconian non-disclosure agreement, so unfortunately I can’t share all the juicy details with you.
Suffice it to say, he’s not up$et.
His termination caps a tumultuous year for Def Jam, which has seen mass exodus of its top A&Rs to rival labels.
And while that spells bad news for Def Jam, it’s great news for Chris’ new company, Young Forever, and his new artist, Bebe Rexha.
Where one chapter closes, another opens.
Chris wasted no time in getting back to work, this time for himself, with the chart-topping The Monster by Eminem featuring Rihanna.
Chris’ artist, Bebe, has co-writing credits on the song and also appears on the hook.
Young Forever is but one of Chris’ latest entrepreneurial ventures.
Quiet is kept, he’s also working on a killer app that will keep folks talking for a hot minute.
If you want to know what Chris is up to, make sure to follow him on Twitter @chrisanokute, where he routinely provides inspiration to independent artists looking to break into the business.
Stephen Chukumba 