James Blake has recruited Anderson .Paak and JID for a new song that he’s released via a new app that the he says will “change the game.”
Blake — who in addition to being an established solo artist has worked with some of the biggest names in Hip Hop and R&B including Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Drake, JAY-Z and Travis Scott — took to Instagram on Sunday (March 24) to share snippets of the track, which is called “Affection” and is only available on the Vault app.
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“An honor to create this song with these legends,” he said of the collaboration.
Launched earlier this month, Vault allows artists to “share their unreleased tracks directly from their vault to their fans and tap into a new recurring revenue stream,” according to its website.
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Fans of James Blake can get access to “Affection,” as well as four other songs he has already released through the app, for $5 a month.
Hear snippets of “Affection,” along with photos of Blake, .Paak and JID cooking up the song in the studio, below.
In a video posted to Instagram last week, the British musician explained his decision to partner with Vault, citing the paltry income artists make from major streaming services.
“About a week ago, I went viral with a post about the effects of streaming and TikTok on artists’ ability to support themselves,” he said. “I want to give you some figures. This is how much artists make from streaming: between $.003 and $.005 dollars per stream, depending on the platform. Which is one million plays equals $3,000.
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“If you’re signed to a label, then imagine that number is cut at least by 50 percent. After management cut, which is between 15 and 20 percent, and taxes and recording overheads, it’s just not sustainable for an artist to focus just on their art. Only 19 percent of artists on Spotify have more than 1,000 monthly listeners.”
He added: “So, I’ve been wondering: how do we sort this shit out? ‘Cause most musicians are not extroverts who are social media geniuses — least of all me. And I wanted to find a way for musicians to make money directly from the music they make, not least to be able to reinvest in the very expensive process of [making music].
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“Also, I’ve spoken to a lot of artists that feel frustrated that so much great music goes unreleased because it doesn’t meet certain requirements or trends … Sometimes I’ve had to wait six months to be given a green light to release music, and this cuts the middle man out completely.
“The concept of subscribing to an artist directly, I think, can change the game and release artists from the relentless merry-go-round of the current state of things.”
Blake’s journey to Vault began earlier this month when he penned a number of social media posts about the financial state of the music industry and the struggles facing artists.
Originally commenting on how he never made any money from TikTok from his viral cover of Frank Ocean‘s “Godspeed,” Blake said: “It’s worth noting this is just an example I used in a post talking about the wider effect of TikTok on music. Just seeing this part makes it seem navel gazing but I’m speaking on a thing that’s affecting artists all over the world.
“Something I keep seeing is ‘if you’re lucky enough to go viral, just use the exposure to generate income some other way’,” he continued. “Musicians should be able to generate income via their music. Do you want good music or do you want what you paid for?”
He added: “If we want quality music somebody is gonna have to pay for it. Streaming services don’t pay properly, labels want a bigger cut than ever and just sit and wait for you to go viral, TikTok doesn’t pay properly, and touring is getting prohibitively expensive for most artists. The brainwashing worked and now people think music is free.”
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Blake’s message was co-signed by a number of fellow music stars including Kanye West and Tyler, The Creator.
