Apr 11, 2016 http://djbooth.net/news/entry/2016-04-11-dvsn-sept-5th-bomb-ovo-drake We know that even getting a Drake shout out on Instagram can put a young artist on the map, so actually being signed to Drake has to be a surefire formula for success, right? Right? Now that DVSN's Sept. 5th album has been released to the wider world for over a week now (it was originally an iTunes/Apple Music exclusive), we have yet more evidence that says nope. In fact, unless your name is Drake, being signed to OVO is no guarantee you'll even be able to crack the top 100 in album charts, let alone the top 10. Let's review: DVSN gets the increasingly boring "mystery artist" roll out. Their identity is kept hidden for months, then there's a big reveal consisting of one SXSW show and an Instagram post heading into the album release. Predictably, that results in Sept 5thpeaking at number 133 on the album charts. One...hundred...thirty...three. The album in slot 132? Lana Del Rey's Born to Die, which came out in 2012. Ouch. In comparison the label's release before that, Majid Jordan's self-titled debut album, was a blockbuster, reaching as high as 69 on the U.S. album charts. It's a step upfrom sleeping in a tent, but it's not exactly a platinum plaque. Makonnen's the first to make the leap from Drake remix to OVO-signee and while he's certainly in a better position now than he would have been without any Drake attention, his time at OVO doesn't exactly go well. His debut album tops out at 78, and 2015's follow up, ILoveMakkonen2, failed to chart at all. Hence the reason he's seemingly left the label. PND, the artist Drake clearly signed because The Weeknd realized that he'd never be a star working under Drake at OVO and never signed, is OVO's most successful venture yet, but that's not saying much. His last album, PND2, went as high as #15, but then fell quickly. To date that album's only sold 16K copies, a number truly independent artists routinely surpass. For a point of comparison, let's take another label with a huge superstar on their roster, TDE. Purely commercially speaking, TDE's worst performing album of the last few years is Isaiah Rashad's Cilvia Demo, which has currently sold over 30,000 copies - more than OVO's best-selling (non-Drake) album from PND. And the rest ofTDE's rapping roster - Jay Rock, ScHoolboy and Ab-Soul - all individually have albums that have charted higher than every (non-Drake) OVO album, and in some cases (like Oxymoron, Control System) by huge margins. The music coming out of OVO can be great, DVSN's Sept. 5th project is sonically excellent, so that's not the problem. And OVO's clearly great at marketing and promotion. Drake's the most successful artist, and brand, of his generation for a reason, his team understands marketing in the digital age better than almost anyone. So there can really only be one logical reason why OVO artists often can't even manage to crack the Top 50 - Drake's the reason the label exists at all but also is a vacuum, sucking up priorities and resources. Why rush to put out DVSN's album? Because the label needs all its attention on Views From the 6, that's why. It's the classic logic-circle familiar to so many labels (it's not like Roc Nation's doing much better). They can't justify investing in a new artist without a proven track record at the expense of their superstar breadwinner, so the new artists don't succeed, so the label can't justify investing in them. So signing to Drake may seem like a dream come true for any artist, but the reality of being signed to Drake is a far less glamorous thing
Apr 11, 2016 Yeah the article is great until he puts on his rap fedora and talks about the major success of Cilvia Demo. But I agree OVO needs to sign better artists
Apr 11, 2016 The toronto sound is boring af. I feel like none of the artists under OVO but PnD try to get noticed by the mainstream. People like Majid and Roy had so much mainstream potential but atm they choose to stay underneath Drakes umbrella. DVSN were quite comfortable just letting IG/Twitter promote their albums smh. PND Destined to do great things regardless on how much he sold last time, His stock is forever growing and the Drake co-sign will help that. They need to go back to the drawing board in terms of promo and s--- because OVO Sound Radio/IG/Twitter really isn't doing it. It'll work for Views for sure but OVO Sound ain't all Drake. They need to create their own hype without the Drake name attached first if they want any hope in doing big numbers and have a major presence. Exactly what Weeknd and PND did. Heck, OVO's current promotion techniques wouldn't even work on 09/10 Drake at this rate. The only reason Drake stands out because hes top 3 male artist on the planet.
Apr 11, 2016 Cilvia Demo wasn't a huge success tho. I think he was just trying to make a point by comparing it to TDE since a lot of people call TDE promotion terrible. I just hope they don't do Roy Wood$ like this tbh
Apr 11, 2016 You cant name a major DVSN, Majid and Roy song though. Majid and Roys biggest songs to this date are still a Drake feature. That's the problem
Apr 11, 2016 OVO Sound Radio and all of them platforms are only going to work if the Artist in question has a huge amount of buzz behind them. Not all Drake fans are gonna love Majid ect.. You can't rely on Drakes fanbase to help carry the other artists. It's not hard what they need to do.. breach out on their own and create a fanbase without Drake.
Apr 11, 2016 I swear Instagram and OVO Sound Radio was the only promotion I seen for this. I don't know how much money 5k sales is getting you but s--- must hurt an artists ego foreal.
Apr 11, 2016 U gotta remember though, Loads of people listen to ovo sound radio and IG social stats are high not to mention twitter ect.. Plenty of people knew this project was coming but wasn't something that people really were gonna cop
Apr 11, 2016 thats a problem though. OVO is perceived like a concentration camp fr. PND the only one who can expect 50k + now.
