Cash Money Records, whose artists include Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Young Money and Birdman, is now an official partner of the service – to some extent, at least.
We know so because the co-founder of Cash Money, Birdman, posted a pic to his Instagram account over the weekend, saying: ‘It’s official… Cash Money makes a power move with Apple Music.’
Apple may well have stumped up a big cheque to make it happen, potentially alongside some promotional guarantees regarding both iTunes and Apple Music itself.
One possible option: Apple paid out a weighty advance to Cash Money, at least some of which will be recouped from the label’s future Apple Music/iTunes income.
Another: the two parties are co-creating content, whether music or video, which will remain exclusive to Apple.
Worth mentioning that another artist signed to Cash Money is… Drake, who agreed a reported $19m deal with Apple last year.
Birdman’s Instagram post on Sunday (August 14) was accompanied an image of the rapper/entrepreneur striking a pose with Apple Music’s Larry Jackson
Jackson, a former A&R exec at Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope, now plays a key role for his former boss at Apple – targeting artists, especially those from the hip-hop/R&B world, with exclusivity deal offers.
Respek to this clown ass nigga now I see why they call him bird man , if your his artist be ready to be paid n eat like A bird,you’ll be hand fed one bird seed at a time lol he controlling all the cash money like some birds!!!