Girl Boss: Rihanna Acquired The Rights To The Masters Of All Her Albums

I suppose many of us in the Caribbean have a vested interest in Rihanna. She can do no wrong, but even more than that, she is a product of a sector of people who typically do not have the opportunities she has had, and created for herself.

We want to see her win

Recently it was announced that the self-proclaimed bad gyal acquired the masters to all of her previous recordings. People are calling her smart for doing this because as you know many of today’s artists hand over the rights to their recordings as part of the contract they make with the record company.

The record company can then use the music as they see fit and they get paid whenever the music is played on the radio, featured in commercials or used in any sort of production.

The artist is only entitled to a small piece of that pie depending on what they negotiate with the recording company.

This move is pretty darn smart and almost guarantees to create generational wealth within her own family which many of us strive for these days.

If you are wondering which other black artists own the Masters to their music well here are a few:
Ray Charles (one of the first to ever do it)
Michael Jackson (His was recently bought back by Sony for 750mill)
Prince
Master P
Stevie Wonder (owns everything post 1971)
LL Cool J

Artists like Joey Badass and Keyshia Cole who have been producing music under their own record label also own the rights to all of the music they produce but at the same time they are responsible for every part of the production which can be a lot of pressure.

At the end of the day if you are an artist your goal is to own as much as you can whether you have to buy it or not.

Good job Ri!