how frank ocean finessed his label

Back in 2009, Frank Ocean signed a deal with Def Jam for two albums. Fast forward to 2012, he gave us Channel Orange, checking off album #1. But when it came time for album #2, Frank had a master plan.

In 2016, he set up a mysterious 140-hour livestream, silently woodworking a staircase. Fans watched, confused and mesmerized, until the final moment—music started playing. That was Endless, a visual album, exclusively on Apple Music. With that, his contract with Def Jam was fulfilled.

But here’s where it gets genius. By paying back $2 million to the label, Frank regained ownership of all his released music. Then, the same day, he surprise-dropped the music video for ”Nikes”, directly followed by the whole album Blonde, that he dropped as an independent artist.

The day after the Blonde release, he also released his own magazine called “boys don’t cry” in a pop-up store. A whole new era started for him as an artist. No label. No middlemen. Just Frank.

Thanks to an exclusive Apple Music deal (rumored to be worth $20 million), he went from owning 17% of his music revenue to 70%. Blonde became a massive success, sitting on the Billboard 200 for 8 years straight. A legendary move. A masterclass in artistic freedom. A real-life heist on the music industry.